Jean-Léon Gérôme was painter, sculptor, and teacher, one of the most prominent late 19th-century academic artists in France.
A stylish and well-received exponent of traditional academic art, Jean-Leon Gerome overcame the conservatism of his history painting by the variety and impact of his chosen subjects. Death in the gladiatorial arena, nudity in the kasbah, Greek mythology, Orientalist painting - Gerome did it all.
He was, however, an implacable enemy of progressive schools like Impressionism, and firmly opposed to the generous bequest of 67 Impressionist paintings to the state by Gustave Caillebotte. Gerome's best-known works include, for example: The Duel After the Masquerade, The Death of Caesar, Pollice Verso and L'Eminence Grise.
In 1869, Jean-Leon Gerome was appointed to a coveted professorship at Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He began with sixteen pupils, most of whom had transferred from his own studio. Henceforth, his influence grew considerably and he was a regular guest of Empress Eugenie at the French Royal Court at Compiegne. In 1873 he made a successful return to the Salon with his striking picture L'Eminence Grise. In the work, François Le Clerc du Trembly, a friar nicknamed L'Eminence Grise (the Gray Cardinal), descends a wide ceremonial staircase his eyes glued to his Bible while passers-by either bow or stare.
Gerome's meticulously smooth historical paintings were anecdotal,often melodramatic, and often erotic. For the last 25 years of his life, he focused much of his attention on sculpture, producing a series on famous military leaders, including Bonaparte; Tamerlane; and Frederick the Great. His workshop and studio became a meeting place for actors, painters, sculptors and writers, and he acquired a reputation as a legendary and highly respected teacher, noted for his wit, easy-going nature, and regimented teaching methods. As an artist he was renowned for his orthodox style of polished realism, while he was also known for his implacable opposition to the 19th century's growing taste for loose brushwork and sketch-like painting, exemplified by Impressionist Painters like Claude Monet, as well as emerging groups of pioneer expressionists such Van Gogh.
Jean Gerome died in 1904 at the age of 80 years.