Tags
Jean-Léon Gérôme, Napoléon Bonaparte, Orientalism, The Middle East, The Ottoman Empire, traite des Blanches
Jean-Léon Gérôme (11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904)
My post on Jean-Léon Gérôme‘s Orientalism, Orientalisme: Mostly Gérôme, features several bashi-bazouk. This happened inadvertently. I wanted to show the whippet dogs and the character named Arnaut. I also wanted to show a hookah, a smoking and vaporizing instrument used in the various countries of the Ottoman Empire, as well as Pakistan and India. These were popular items in the 1960s and early 1970s, when smoking cannabis became fashionable.
Gérôme’s artwork also refers to pashas (see France in North Africa), persons who occupied a high rank in the Ottoman army and/or government. Some Europeans became honorary pashas whose title could be compared to that of an Earl in Britain. (See Pasha, Wikipedia.) Other familiar scenes are mosques and harems. As a history painter, Gérôme also recorded the trading of white women, la traite des blanches, going back to the Roman Empire. Arabs were fond of white women whom they bought and enslaved. Gérôme’s paintings of harems and women bathing show white women. (See Traite des blanches, FR Wikipedia.)
I will therefore feature a few paintings that are not portraits of bashi-bazouk, the very cruel irregular soldiers of the Ottoman Empire.

The Slave Market in Rome by Gérôme, 1884 (wikiart.org)

The Muezzin by Gérome, 1865, (Joslyn Art Museum)

Prayer in Cairo by Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1865 (MMA, NY)

Harem Women Feeding Pigeons in a Courtyard by Gérôme, no date (wikiart.org)

Napoléon in Egypt by Gérôme, c. 1863 (Princeton University Art Museum)
Comments
Gérôme was a very prolific artist whose art was at times extremely engaging, which may explain why it appealed to Théophile Gautier. I have a favourite Gérôme, The Duel After the Masquerade, of which there are two copies. La Sortie du bal masqué cannot be classified as Orientalism but it speaks to me, it is evocative.
In the second half of the 19th century, when American started to go to Paris and bought works of art, art such as Gérôme’s were not purchased frequently. It was academic art. The American colony in Paris bought the works of innovators whose art was rejected at the Paris Salon. Emperor Napoleon III authorized the 1763 Salon des Refusés, an exhibition held at the Palais de l’Industrie.
Gérôme is known mainly as an academic painter. He was very well-trained and he painted as he had been taught. He was nevertheless very successful as an artist and art teacher. As noted above, Gérôme specialized in history painting, but he also created art depicting Greek mythology and he became a prominent orientalist.
Works by Gérôme are housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, the Walters Museum of Art, Baltimore, the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, and other museums. Many have been purchased privately, and reproductions are available. A reproduction is not as valuable as the original work of art. However, the ‘image’ is the most important element in the visual arts and Gérôme was an accomplished artist.
I have inserted Rimsky-Korsakov‘s Scheherazade, Symphonic Suite (Op. 35, 2), composed in 1888. Scheherazade is based on the One Thousand and One Nights, Arabian fairy tales, and constitutes an excellent example of Orientalism in music.
RELATED ARTICLES
- Orientalisme: Mostly Gérôme (15 August 1916)
- The Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916 (11 August 1916)
- The Remains of the Past (9 August 2016)
- The Algerian War: the Aftermath (25 July 2016)
- France in North Africa (21 July 2016)
- Algeria: second-class citizens (20 July 2016)
- The Last Crusades: the Ottoman Empire (12 February 2015)

Pelt Merchant of Cairo, 1869 (wikiart.org)
Jean-Léon Gérôme
Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherazade, Symphonic Suite (Op. 35, 2)
Amir Selim

The Whirling Dervishes by Gérôme, 1895 (wikiart.org)
© Micheline Walker
17 August 2016
WordPress
How interesting to learn more about Gérôme. His portrait of Napoleon caught my eye!
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Christie, His portrait of Napoleon also caught my eyes. It’s one of the finest I have seen. It is still a young Napoleon. He was not as short as often depicted. The French inch was not the same as the British inch. It was shorter. I thank you for writing. 🙂
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Oh how interesting that in reality Napoleon was not as short as he is assumed to have been. I heard recently that the heights of Prince William and Kate are one of the most searched-for items this year. Curious to me!
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Napoleon is a fascinating figure. The Napoleonic killed millions, but he rebuilt France, destroyed by the French Revolution. For instance, it needed laws, schools, roads, etc. And he was of average height for his days. The new standard is almost six feet for women. That’s very tall. I enjoy hearing from you. You live in Victoria. I really loved Victoria and may return if I succeed is selling my apartment. I miss the smell of the sea, the climate, its relaxed population. UVIC attracted excellent teachers. As for St Ann’s Academy, I’ll always remember the friendly atmosphere. I lived within easy walking distance from the school. Take good care of yourself. 🙂
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Thank you for the kind note here, Micheline. Aha, Napoleon was average height for his time but short compared to today’s standards. Now I understand (it is all about understanding circumstances). Yes, Victoria is lovely.. although today is rainy! I do hope you return, even just for a visit. Ah, I just walked through St. Ann’s Academy last week on the way to an outdoor movie event and there were so many apple trees 🙂 Sending a smile!
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Thank you Christie,
I have fond memories of Victoria. I lived there before the promoters, so it has changed. I did go back to several times in the 1990s, when my friend Christopher was alive. He choreographed the fireworks at the Butchart Gardens and wanted me to see his displays. Victoria had changed considerably from what it had been. James Bay was gentrified and St. Ann’s Academy had closed. It had also got a little warmer, but it was lovely. Thank you for writing. 🙂
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Thank you. 🙂
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