{"product_id":"les-baigneuses-du-harem-by-jean-leon-gerome","title":"Les baigneuses du harem by Jean-Léon Gérôme","description":"Jean-Léon Gérôme\u003cbr\u003e 1824-1904 | French \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cem\u003eLes baigneuses du harem\u003cbr\u003e (The Bathers of the Harem)\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Signed \"J.L. Gérôme\" (lower left)\u003cbr\u003e Oil on canvas \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e This monumental masterpiece is among the most important of Jean-Léon Gérôme's iconic harem bather scenes still in private hands. \u003cem\u003eLes baigneuses du harem\u003c\/em\u003e, painted in 1901, reveals why Gérôme was among the world's most famous living artists in his day, renowned especially for his brilliantly alluring Orientalist scenes such as this one. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e During his travels to Bursa in 1879, Gérôme visited the famed Turkish baths, going to great lengths to make careful studies of the mesmerizing atmosphere and luxurious architecture. Back in his studio in Paris, the artist's firsthand observations enabled him to recreate the fantastical magic of these baths. He installed the iconic blue \u003cem\u003eİznik\u003c\/em\u003e tiles on his walls, so that his Parisian models could pose in front of them. \u003cem\u003eLes baigneuses du harem\u003c\/em\u003e reveals Gérôme’s incredible ability to render these enticing interiors with intimacy and authenticity—even though he was never allowed into the women’s bathing quarters himself. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e This work also epitomizes Gérôme's singular talent for capturing the human form perfectly in paint. The women are rendered with astonishing naturalism, and their pearl-white skin gleams with an ethereal radiance. These magnificent bather scenes were an instant sensation with Gérôme's audiences, inviting them into a mystical, faraway world. The first owner of the painting, in fact, paid an astonishing 6,600 francs for it—the equivalent of several years of wages for the average French laborer in 1901. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Gérôme painted only a handful of these intimate bather scenes with a few figures, and this masterpiece is the largest of all of them. It is bigger and more striking than all of the similar examples in prestigious museums, including those in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the State Hermitage Collection in St. Petersburg. It is even more substantial than the bath scene that he exhibited at the Salon of 1885 to widespread acclaim, \u003cem\u003eThe Great Bath at Bursa\u003c\/em\u003e. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The most prominent French academic painter of the 19th century, Gérôme was also among the foremost inventors of Orientalist themes. After the year he spent in Rome with his teacher Paul Delaroche in 1843, he developed an insatiable appetite for traveling, which inspired his treks to Egypt, Turkey and North Africa. During his career, Gérôme achieved great popularity, exhibiting at countless Salons and wielding considerable influence as a defender of academic tradition. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e His skill was so widely admired that he was appointed as professor of painting at the École des Beaux-Arts in 1863. Over many decades, he would go on to teach over 2,000 students there (including Mary Cassatt and Thomas Eakins) and publish the most important instructional book on drawing that would influence many great artists, including William Bouguereau, Odilon Redon and Pablo Picasso. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Painted 1901 \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Canvas: 38 1\/2\" high x 31\" wide (97.79 x 78.74 cm)\u003cbr\u003e Frame: 53\" high x 45 3\/4\" wide x 3 1\/2\" deep (134.62 x 116.21 x 8.89 cm) \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/rau-sfimages.s3.amazonaws.com\/dossier\/Dossier_32-2050.pdf\" target=\"new\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eView the Dossier\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Provenance:\u003cbr\u003e Boussod, Valadon \u0026amp; Cie, Paris, acquired directly from the artist, 1901\u003cbr\u003e Edward Brandus Inc., New York, acquired from the above in 1901 (6,600 ffr.)\u003cbr\u003e Anon. Sale; Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc., New York, 20 Nov. 1947, lot 85\u003cbr\u003e Renaissance, Inc., acquired at the above sale\u003cbr\u003e Anon. Sale; Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc., New York, 24 March 1954, lot 70\u003cbr\u003e Cianis, acquired at the above sale\u003cbr\u003e Private Collection, USA\u003cbr\u003e Private Collection, Europe\u003cbr\u003e M.S. Rau, New Orleans \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Literature:\u003cbr\u003e \u003cem\u003eParis Photographs:Gérôme, Oeuvres, Cabinet des Estampes\u003c\/em\u003e, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, vol. V\u003cbr\u003e G. Ackerman, \u003cem\u003eThe Life and Work of Jean-Léon Gérôme, with a catalogue raisonné\u003c\/em\u003e, London and New York, 1986 (republished 1992, 2000), p. 328, no. 380 (illus. p. 148)\u003cbr\u003e L. de Cars, D. de Font-Reaulx and E. Papet, \u003cem\u003eJean-Léon Gérôme (1824 – 1904): L’Histoire en Spectacle\u003c\/em\u003e, exh. cat., The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Musée d’Orsay, Paris; and Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, 2010, p. 288 (illus. fig. 137)","brand":"M.S. Rau","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51803560870210,"sku":null,"price":4850000.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/5376\/6978\/files\/32-2050_1_7f153f90-a9e1-4a89-9e73-b1d0f6f382f0.png?v=1768102597","url":"https:\/\/www.bullvendors19.com\/es\/products\/les-baigneuses-du-harem-by-jean-leon-gerome","provider":"Bull Vendors 19","version":"1.0","type":"link"}