Jean-Léon Gérôme
No Portrait Available
Jean-Leon Gerome (1824-1904) was a French painter and sculptor who was arguably the most famous living artist by 1880. Born in Vesoul, he studied under Paul Delaroche and traveled to Rome as a teenager. His debut at the Salon in 1847 with The Cock Fight earned him immediate recognition.
Gerome traveled extensively in Egypt and the Middle East, producing Orientalist paintings of mosques, harems, and slave markets that were hugely popular in his time. Works like Pollice Verso (Thumbs Down) inspired the movie Gladiator. He taught at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts for 40 years. Students included Mary Cassatt and Thomas Eakins. In his final decades he turned to polychrome sculpture, applying paint to marble and bronze. Our collection includes 3 works at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Sculptures by Jean-Léon Gérôme
3 sculptures catalogued with museum locations. Browse all sculptures
Museums with Jean-Léon Gérôme's Work
2 museums display Gérôme's works. Click any museum to see visiting info and the specific works they hold.
About Jean-Léon Gérôme
Gerome is best known for highly detailed historical and Orientalist paintings. Pollice Verso (1872), showing a gladiator awaiting the crowd's verdict, is one of the most reproduced paintings of the 19th century and inspired the film Gladiator.
The Musee d'Orsay in Paris, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, and the National Gallery in London hold important paintings and sculptures.
Gerome taught at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts for 40 years. His students included Mary Cassatt, Thomas Eakins, and Osman Hamdi Bey, among many others who became significant artists.
Love Jean-Léon Gérôme's Style?
Explore art inspired by their style.
Browse Collection