Jean-Léon Gérôme: 6 works

'In selecting this subject, Gérôme perhaps sought to flatter Emperor Napoleon III, whose government commissioned the painting and who was identified as a "new Augustus." In preparation for his large mural, Gérôme traveled all over to find the appropriate ethnic types to portray the different peoples of the ancient world.'

'Jean-Léon Gérôme was the most important and influential Orientalist painter in France. His painterly style is highly realistic, with precisely rendered faces, bodies, buildings, and landscapes.'

'In a letter to Walters, Gérôme identified the setting as ancient Rome's racecourse, the Circus Maximus. He noted such details as the goal posts and the chariot tracks in the dirt.'

'Schooled at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and honored by the French Salon, Jean-Léon Gérôme was a prolific and popular artist. Like Delacroix, he traveled extensively in North Africa and the Middle East.'

'Gérôme was famous for his Neo-Grec tastes and his Orientalism. A stickler for archaeological precision, he arranged for casts of antique gladiators' equipment to be sent from Naples and invested large sums in properties for his Parisian model.'