01 Orientalist Painting, Jean-Léon Gérôme's Cafe House, Cairo (Casting Bullets), with footnotes, #118

Jean-Léon Gérôme (French, Vesoul 1824–1904 Paris)

 Cafe House, Cairo (Casting Bullets), c. 1884 or earlier

Oil on canvas

21 1/2 x 24 3/4 in. (54.6 x 62.9 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

While two mercenaries cast bullets and a third, seated behind them, seems to be inspecting one, others engage in revelry and a man and woman converse. Despite these apparent incongruities, the meticulous painting technique renders the scene convincing. Gérôme traveled to Egypt many times from 1855 onward. His recollections of these journeys, together with objects that he brought back to Paris, became ingredients for scenes which today might be regarded as historical fictions. The title of this work derives from the stock book of Gérôme’s dealer, who bought the painting from the artist in 1884, presumably soon after he finished it. More on this painting

Jean-Léon Gérôme (11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as academicism. His paintings were so widely reproduced that he was "arguably the world's most famous living artist by 1880." The range of his oeuvre included historical painting, Greek mythology, Orientalism, portraits, and other subjects, bringing the academic painting tradition to an artistic climax. He is considered one of the most important painters from this academic period. He was also a teacher with a long list of students. More on Jean-Léon Gérôme

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, 365 Saints, 365 Days, and Biblical Icons, also visit my Boards on Pinterest and deviantart

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03 Orientalist Paintings, Dance of the Almeh, with footnotes, #100

Carl Haag, German, 1820 - 1915

Dance of the Almeh, c. 1870

Watercolour over pencil on paper 

51 by 37.5cm., 20 by 14¾in.

Private collection

The title of this painting refers to the Arabic word analeim, meaning learned woman, which originally applied to professional female improvisers of songs and poems.  By 1850, the term meant virtually any woman dancer.  Their alluring dances, accompanied as shown here by musician playing a two-stringed cello.  European travelers came to think of these dances as a required part of their experience of the Orient.  More on Dance of the Almeh

Carl Haag (20 April 1820 – 24 January 1915) was a Bavarian-born painter who became a naturalized British subject and was court painter to the duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Haag was born in Erlangen, in the Kingdom of Bavaria, and was trained in the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg and at Munich. He first practised as an illustrator and as a painter in oils of portraits and architectural subjects; but in 1847 he settled in England, after which he devoted himself to watercolours, and in 1850 was elected an associate of the Royal Society of Painters in Water Colours before becoming a full member in 1853. He travelled a lot, especially in the East, and made a considerable reputation by his firmly drawn and carefully elaborated paintings of Eastern subjects.

Towards the end of his professional career, Carl Haag left England and returned to the newly united German Empire, where he died in Oberwesel. More Carl Haag

Jean-Léon Gérôme, (1824–1904), French

Dance of the Almeh, c. 1863

Oil on wood panel

19 3/4 x 32 inches

 The Dayton Art Institute

Gérôme showed the painting at the 1864 Salon, the official annual exhibition in Paris.  Although Gérôme was by then securely established, Dance of the Almeh was highly controversial.  Though apparently popular with the public and with some critics, the painting provoked others to complain about its overt appeal to sexual sensibilities, some claiming that it was too immoral to be publicly shown.  The controversy seems to have had little effect on Gérôme’s career, as he attracted scores of European and American artists to study with him until the very end of his long career. More on this painting

Jean-Léon Gérôme

Sabre Dance in a Cafe, c. 1875

58.5 x 80 cm

Oil on canvas

Herbert F. Johnson museum, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York

Drawing on the pictorial and literary imagination of his time, Gérôme invented oriental scenes, using meticulously accurate detail and his open recourse to photographs taken during his trips to disguise his strategy. The Orient that Gérôme depicted was dreamed up by Victor Hugo in 1829 in his poetic work Orientales, and his “authentic” images at that time confirmed a view of the Orient as a place of sensuality and violence. More on this painting

Jean-Léon Gérôme (11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as Academicism. The range of his oeuvre included historical painting, Greek mythology, Orientalism, portraits and other subjects, bringing the Academic painting tradition to an artistic climax. He is considered one of the most important painters from this academic period, and in addition to being a painter, he was also a teacher with a long list of students. More on Jean-Léon Gérôme

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, 365 Saints and 365 Days, also visit my Boards on Pinterest

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I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

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02 Paintings by Orientalist Artists, Jean-Léon Gérôme's Egyptian Recruits Crossing the Desert, with footnotes, #95

Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824–1904)

Egyptian Recruits Crossing the Desert, c. 1857

Oil on canvas

64 x 109.8 cm

Private collection

The present works represents a scene common in Egypt during the nineteenth century, when young men from the villages were conscripted into the army of the Khalif, a process which dated back to the first attempt by Mohammed Ali Pasha, to build up a regular army in 1824. As seen in the paintings, the recruits trudge across the desert, escorted by the Arnaut guard, and challenge the heat and wind making their journey long and painful. Characteristic of Gérôme's most acclaimed orientalist paintings, this intense realism prompted the French critic Théophile Gautier to note that Gérôme succeeded in capturing the peculiar qualities of light and heat unique to the Egyptian desert. He further remarked that, contrary to the current fashion for representing hot countries as torrid and highly coloured, Gérôme had observed that extreme light drains all colours from objects and renders the sky and land white. More on this work

Jean-Léon Gérôme, (1824–1904)

The Egyptian recruting officer, c. 1861

Oil on panel 

11 x 16 in. (28 x 40.5 cm.) 

Private collection 

Jean-Léon Gérôme (11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as Academicism. The range of his oeuvre included historical painting, Greek mythology, Orientalism, portraits and other subjects, bringing the Academic painting tradition to an artistic climax. He is considered one of the most important painters from this academic period, and in addition to being a painter, he was also a teacher with a long list of students. More on Jean-Léon Gérôme

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, 365 Saints and 365 Days, also visit my Boards on Pinterest

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

I do not sell art, art prints, framed posters or reproductions. Ads are shown only to compensate the hosting expenses.

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01 Painting by Orientalist Artists, with footnotes, #61

Jean-Léon Gérôme, French, 1824 - 1904

RIDERS CROSSING THE DESERT

Oil on panel

41 by 56cm., 16 by 22in

Private collection

Jean-Léon Gérôme (11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as Academicism. The range of his oeuvre included historical painting, Greek mythology, Orientalism, portraits and other subjects, bringing the Academic painting tradition to an artistic climax. He is considered one of the most important painters from this academic period, and in addition to being a painter, he was also a teacher with a long list of students. More on Jean-Léon Gérôme

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, And visit my Boards on Pinterest

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

I do not sell art, art prints, framed posters or reproductions. Ads are shown only to compensate the hosting expenses.

If you enjoyed this post, please share with friends and family.

Thank you for visiting my blog and also for liking its posts and pages.

Please note that the content of this post primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online.

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, and 365 Saints, also visit my Boards on Pinterest

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

I do not sell art, art prints, framed posters or reproductions. Ads are shown only to compensate the hosting expenses.

If you enjoyed this post, please share with friends and family.

Thank you for visiting my blog and also for liking its posts and pages.

Please note that the content of this post primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online.