History without Values?

Grme's History Paintings Author(s): John House Reviewed work(s): Source: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 71 (2008), pp. 261-276 Published by: The Warburg Institute Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20462785 . Accessed: 06/03/2013 21:50
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HISTORY WITHOUT GEROME'S HISTORY

JohnHouse

VALUES? PAINTINGS*

Jean-Leon Gerome's historypaintings of the i86os pose a fascinatingproblem. At first sight Gerome would appear tohave been a cornerstone of theart estab lishment of the Second Empire: painter of themonumental Siecle d'Auguste, commissioned by the State as a centrepiece for the I855 Exposition Universelle, and appointed Professor of Painting at thenewly reformed Ecole des Beaux-Arts in i864. Yet the history paintings that he exhibited at the Salon in these years appeared systematicallyto undercut thevalues and expectations of historypaint ing as 'highart'. Heroic figures,like JuliusCaesar, were seemingly trivialisedby theways inwhich he treated them; the judges of theAthenian Areopagus were presented as ageing voyeurs; and celebrated female beauties fromantiquity were given bodies more reminiscentof contemporaryparisiennes. Moreover, Gerome seemed topay thegreatest attention to archaeological details, at theexpense of the moral and didactic values thathistorypaintingwas stillexpected to enshrine. Critics did not hesitate to point out theproblems that these paintings raised. Georges Lafenestre characterised the issues inparticularlyrevealingterms in I868: 'Since I855, everyyear he has expended a considerable amount of spiritand talent more completelywith the elevated art that to begin with the aim of breaking ever with he had embraced." The critical commentaries on the paintingswhen they were first exhibitedenable us todefine the which theytransgressed ways in accepted norms.However, beyond this, we must explore thequestion ofGerome's relation ship to the regime ofNapoleon III. Although Gerome was seeminglyone of the regime's favouriteartists,do his paintings suggest thathis attitude towards Napo This paper seeks to clarify leon III's Second Empire was equivocal or even critical? the issue. The aims and purposes of historypaintingwere stillhotlydebated throughout theSecond Empire. Some critics, following long-established academic precepts, continued to insist that art'smission should be ethical.As Olivier Merson put it in i86i, 'So long as art is inspiredby the lofty speculations of the soul, and appeals will win the respect of the to noble instincts,it will pay homage masses, and they
* This essay has its origins in a paper delivered at the conference in Nineteenth 'History Painting Century France', organised by Peter Cooke and Mark at the University of Manchester Ledbury The standard reference book on G?r?me, in 2002. with a first i. 'Depuis 1855, il a d?pens? chaque ann?e une consid?rable d'esprit et de talent dans le but de

dose

avec l'art ?lev? qu'il avait rompre plus enti?rement d'abord compris.'; G. Lafenestre, 'Le Salon de 1868', L'Art vivant. La peinture reprinted in G. Lafenestre, et la sculpture aux Salons 30. de 1868 ? i8yy, Paris 1881, p.

attempt at a catalogue raisonn?, isGerald M. Acker man, The Life and Work ofJean-L?on G?r?me, London in 1986; a revised edition, in French only, appeared 2000.

26I

AND COURTAULD INSTITUTES,LXXI, 200 8 JOURNAL OF THEWARBURG

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HISTORY PAINTINGS GEROME'S

to it as they would to a divine manifestation.'2 Charles Blanc presented its role in comparable terms inhis widely circulated Grammaire des artsdu dessin in I867: 'Withoutacting as eithera religious missionary, or a professorofmorals, or ameans of government, paintingmoralises us, because it touches us and because it can This elevated tone derived from awaken inus noble aspirationsor useful remorse.'3 theway inwhich the subject was treated, as Henri Delaborde insisted in I859, defining the goal of true history painting as the search for 'elevated truth'; this could only be achieved, he wrote, by the 'trulyepic interpretation of events and human actions', in contrast to the currentvogue for 'thepicturesque chronicle or the archaeological reconstructionof customs or objects'.4 Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres's definition of history painting moved in might be triguingly fromheroism to the issue of appropriate dress, something that considered closer to aesthetics than ethics: 'The historypainter ishe who depicts heroic deeds, and such deeds are only to be found in the history of theGreeks and Romans; it is only in depicting them that the artist can demonstrate his skill in painting thenude and draperies. All other periods yield only genre paintings, because the costume conceals the body.'5 For Theophile Gautier, itwas only through theway inwhich a subjectwas treated that a picturewas qualified to be or the values that it a historypainting, seemingly irrespectiveof the subject itself enshrined: 'The expression "historypainting", as everyoneknows, does not always mean a painting depicting a historical subject; it can also be applied to pictures that are raised above genre painting by style,by the grandeur of theirfigures,or by thebreadth of theirexecution.'6 and fore From the outset of his career,Gerome's reputationwas based first His first exhibit at the most on his paintings of subjects fromClassical antiquity. Paris Salon, in I847, Jeunesgrecsfaisant battredes coqs (Musee d'Orsay, Paris) became a point of referencefor latercritical accounts of hiswork, as an exemplar ofwhat seemed like a new formof Classical subject painting, lackinghighmoral purpose, but conveying what critics characterised as Greek naivete.7 Initial disquiet about the tenor and direction ofGerome's artwas raised at the Salon of
les que l'art a pour mobile aux l'?me et qu'il s'adresse nobles le respect aux masses, instincts, il impose comme ? une mani et celles-ci lui rendent homage 2. 'Aussi sp?culations longtemps de est celui qui repr?sente 5- 'Le peintre d'histoire et ces hauts faits ne se trouvent les faits h?ro?ques, compris que dans l'histoire des Grecs et des Romains; c'est seulement en les repr?sentant que l'artiste peut son ex?cution dans le nu et dans les drape montrer ries; toute autre ?poque ne fournit que des tableaux de genre, le costume cachant le corps des person inT. Silvestre, Les Artistes nages.'; Ingres, as quoted fran?ais, 2 vols, Paris 6. 'L'expression 1926,11, p. 21 (first edn 1856). ne veut d'histoire" "peinture

hautes

La Peinture en France. festation divine.'; O. Merson, Exposition de 1861, Paris 1861, p. 146. de la religion, ni 3. 'Sans ?tre ni un missionnaire un professeur de morale, ni un moyen de gouverne ment, la peinture nous moralise parce qu'elle nous touche et qu'elle peut ?veiller en nous de nobles aspi rations ou d'utiles remords.'; C. Blanc, Grammaire des

arts du dessin, Paris 1886, pp. 483-84 (first edn 1867). 4. 'haute v?rit?...', 'interpr?tation vraiment ?pique des ?v?nemens et des actes humaines...', 'la chronique des m urs et la restitution arch?ologique pittoresque, 'Le Salon de 1859', Revue des choses'; H. Delaborde, des deux mondes, xxi, 1 June 1859, pp. 501-02.

pas, comme on sait, toujours dire une peinture repr? sentant un sujet historique; elle s'applique aussi aux tableaux s'?levant, par le style, la grandeur des per sonages tableaux Europe. et la largeur de l'ex?cution, au-dessus de genre.'; T. Gautier, Les Beaux-Arts 1855, 2 vols, Paris 1855,1, p. 10. des en

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263

i. Jean-Leon

Ger6me,

La Mort

de Cesar,

Art Library) (photograph: Bridgeman

85 X I45 cm, I859, The Walters

Art Museum,

Baltimore

grec, a depiction I850-5I, in relation to the overtlyerotic subject of his Interieur of a group of languid female nudes in the courtyardof a building whose details made itclear that it was a brothel.8 However, Gerome's reputation as a 'high art' historypainter seemed to be assured by the monumental Siele d'Auguste:naissancedeN. -S. JUsus-Christ (Musee d'Orsay, Paris, on loan toMusee de Picardie, Amiens), commissioned for and shown at the i855Exposition Universelle. One of the fromIngres's many spin-offs Homere deifie (L'Apotheosed'Homere), the picturewas accompanied in the exhi bition catalogue by a longquotation from Bossuet's HistoireUniverselle, celebrating Augustus forbringing universal peace to theRoman empire after the subjection of his enemies, and juxtaposing the emperor's triumph with the birth of Jesus Christ.Although praised foritsambition, thepaintingwas criticised for itsstylistic Gothicism of the inconsistencies;criticscommented on the contrastbetween the Nativity group in the foregroundand theneo-Classicism of the rest,and the in when set alongside consistency of thegenre-likedetail of the subservient throng, the idealist treatmentof the enthroned figureofAugustus himself.9Theophile Gautier saw thepicture as 'a truehistorypainting in the elevated sense that the word used to be understood', thoughhe, too,noted the mixture of neo-Classical
j. See for example E. About, Voyage ? travers l'Exposition des beaux-arts (peinture et sculpture), Paris 1855, pp. 153-55. 8. See the overtly phallic image in the door jamb in the right background; this long-lost painting re appeared lot 134. in a sale at Sotheby's, London, 3 June 2003, 9- See beaux-arts: PP. 156-57. for example G. Planche, des 'Exposition L'Ecole fran?aise', Revue des deux mondes, 1855, pp. 1153-54; About (as in n. 7),

xii, 15 October

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HISTORY

PAINTINGS

idealisation,Gothic art, and genre-like treatment.In conclusion, he invoked the Roman empire to theattacks of the same tribesthatnow appeared futurefallof the subdued, and the replacement of the temporal power ofRome by Christianity.'0 Gautier claimed thathe did not knowwhether this idea had occurred toGerome, but his reading shows thatwider historical and philosophical lessons might be read into such subjects: the canvas could be interpretedeither as a celebration of the fact thatNapoleon III's imperial ambitions were safely enshrined within a Christian state, or as a warning against the dangers of temporal ambitions over riding religious commitments." At the i855 exhibition,Gerome's credentials as a genre painter were estab lished by his other exhibits, including the first canvas thatresulted fromhis travels Middle East, Recre'ationdu camp: Souvenirs de through eastern Europe and the Moldavie, a scene ofRussian soldier musicians. In the followingSalon, in I857, this aspect of his work was foregrounded,by his Piet'a-likemodern-life masquerade, Sortie du bal masque (Musee Conde, Chantilly), and by his first group of 'Orient alist' subjects, a type of painting thatwas to become his stock-in-trade for the remainder of his career.However, for the followingdecade Gerome's keyworks were, in termsof theirsubjects, clearly history paintings; it was in these thathe challenged traditional tenetsof 'highart'most overtly,and it is these that will be the focus of the remainder of thisarticle.His challenges took a number of forms: unexpected compositional devices, seemingly inappropriate treatment of key detail at theexpense of 'elevated figuresin the scenes, and over-emphasis on trivial truth'. Gerome's compositions resolutely avoided any unequivocal central focus; were often placed near themargins, and the figuregroups instead, key figures be bisected might by disruptiveopen spaces, denying theviewer any coherent over view of the scene. InAve Caesar! Morituri tesalutant! (YaleUniversityArt Gallery, New Haven), shown at theSalon in I859, theprimary action isdisplaced into the middle distance, and theemperorwho isbeing saluted by thegladiators is reduced to a tinyand seemingly trivialised figure.In the largeversion of Cesar, exhibited the same year, JuliusCaesar's dead body is relegated to the lower leftcorner (cf. Fig. i, untraced), while in the smaller version of the same subject, also completed by i859,"2 the scene is extended to include theSenate chamber and thedeparting assassins, with a wide empty area ofmosaic floor in the foreground alongside
io. Gautier (as in n. 6), i, pp. 218-26, quotation from p. 218: 'un vrai tableau d'histoire dans le sens ?lev? o? l'on entendait jadis ce mot'; Gautier's long ganza, Baton Rouge in 2000, pp. 169-80, 368-88); in the Crimean War, in 1855, France was embroiled alliance with Britain, supporting the Ottoman Empire against Russia.

of the canvas presumably derives from description himself. information given him by G?r?me n. Napol?on III saw his building works in Paris

as transforming the city into the new Rome (see for example D. P. Jordan, Transforming Paris. The Life and Labors ofBaron Haussmann, New York 1995, pp. 8-10), and pursued an aggressive mately catastrophic, D. Baguley, Napoleon and expansionist, if ulti foreign policy (see for example III and his Regime. An Extrava

12. Although the smaller version was not exhibited until the Exposition Universelle of 1867, it is described in du Pays's review of the 1859 Salon (A.-J. du Pays, 'Salon pp. de 268-69) 1859', L'Illustration, xxxin, and stated to belong presumably Adolphe relationship 23 April 1859, to an '?diteur

d'estampes',

regular dealer, whose discussed below.

Goupil, G?r?me's with G?r?me is

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265

2. Jean-Leon Ger6me, Museums (reproduced

from a photograph

and Le 7 decembre i8I5, neuf heures du matin, 64 X I03.5 cm, i868, Sheffield Galleries et Cie,Witt Library, Courtauld Institute of Art) published by Goupil

Walters ArtMuseum, Baltimore). Open spaces, divided Caesar's corpse (Fig. I; centres of attention, and sudden jumps of scale and space recur inmany of Gerome's canvases,notably thepaintingsof theCrucifixion (Musee d'Orsay, Paris) Galleries andMuseums), ex Marshal Ney (Fig. 2; Sheffield and theexecution of and Le 7 d&embre i8i5, hibited togetherat the I868 Salon with the titlesJ7erusalem neufheuresdu matin. work ofGerome's There was an obvious precedent forsuch compositions in the former teacher Paul Delaroche, notably in his celebrated Assassinat du Duc de Guise au Chateau de Blois (Musee Conde, Chantilly), shown at theSalon in I835 and widely reproduced thereafter. However, Gerome's compositions aroused much debate: did these deliberatelydisjointed groupings evoke thepathos of the The critics' answers to scenes, or diminish theirhuman and historical import? thesequestions were inseparable fromtheirreactions to another central issue that of the human figure,and specificallyofmale his paintings raised: his treatment inheroic guise. were who viewed figures traditionally In the largeCesar,was theemperor,virtuallycovered by draperies,diminished du Pays argued,'3or did thistreatment as Jules and trivialised, Castagnary and A. J. of the highlight the humanity and drama scene, as Paul Mantz insisted?'4For Mantz, Gerome's unconventional compositionwas appropriate to such a subject:
'Salon de 1859', reprinted in 13- J.-A. Castagnary, J.-A. Castagnary, Salons (1857-1879), 2 vols, Paris 1892, 1,pp. 93-97; du Pays (as in n. 12). 14- P. Mantz, arts, 11,15May 'Salon de 1859', Gazette des beaux

1859, p. 199.

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PAINTINGS

A corpse, and especially the corpse of Caesar, was

is enough to fill a vast canvas, and, to express logical,

the disorder of the tragedy that has just taken place, to render the desertion of the hero who so recently powerful and is now betrayed by everyone, surely nothing ismore legitimate than a deliberately disordered nothing more and knowingly irregular compo

sition.'5 In i868,Mantz again praised the conception and composition of the Ney canvas, with the officerturning round for a finalglance at the body as the firingsquad marches away: '... some sort of salutary moral seems to emerge from thispainful composition."6Edmond About saw in ita 'poignant truth';'7forothers, though,the mud with his hat beside him, resembled nothing figureofNey, face down in the was still more more than a drunk or the victim of a road accident.'8 Jerusalem controversial; by reducing the three crosses to shadows in the lower rightcorner of thepicture,Gerome was feltto have belittled theCrucifixion, failing to under stand the importof the subject,I9 and creating a profanation.20 Alcibiade chezAspasie (Fig. 3; private collection,New Socrate venant chercher York), exhibited in i86i, overturned conventional notions of heroism andmorality in a ratherdifferent way, by subordinating theposition of Socrates to thatof his sensual and self-indulgent pupil,who, asGautier pointed out, seemsmost reluctant to leave the arms of hismistress and followhismaster; forother commentators, thiswas littlebetter than a brothel scene.2' By choosing Socrates as a subject, Gerome was inviting comparisonwith the iconic image of thephilosopher,David's Socrate au momentdeprendrela cigue (LaMort de Socrate) of I787; here, as on other occasions, he seems to have deliberately chosen themeswith an elevated artistic moral tone. pedigree, as iftohighlighthis own refusal to adopt a comparably lofty were also disturbed byGerome's choice and treatmentof subjects The critics inwhich women were the principal protagonists.As with his male figures,their concerns were both moral and artistic: his images offended against both ethical These two issues came together in responses to Le Roi and aesthetic propriety. Candaule (Fig. 4;Museo de Arte de Ponce, Puerto Rico), exhibited in I859. The theme itself was problematic: the ancient Lydian king Candaules arranging for to see hiswifeNyssia, thequeen, naked as member of his staff, Gyges, a favourite she retired to bed. In the Salon catalogue, Gerome included a quotation from
15- Ibid.: 'Un cadavre, le cadavre de C?sar surtout, suffit ? remplir une vaste toile, et pour exprimer le d?sordre de la trag?die qui vient de s'accomplir, pour tout ? l'heure rendre l'abandon du h?ros puissant et maintenant trahi de tous, rien n'est plus logique assur?ment, rien n'est plus l?gitime qu'une composi et sciemment tion volontairement d?sordonn?e irr? guli?re.' 16. 'il semble qu'il se d?gage de cette douloureuse une sorte de moralit? P. salutaire.'; composition Mantz, p. 283. E. About, 'Salon de 17. 'd'une v?rit? poignante'; 1868', Revue des deux mondes, lxxv, 1 June 1868, p. 729. 'Salon de 1868', L'Illustration, Li, 2May 1868, i8. See for example Castagnary (as in n. 13), 1,p. 261; R. de Navery, Le Salon de 1868, Paris 1868, pp. 'Salon de 1868, IF, La Presse, 3 20ff.; M. Chaumelin, June 1868. 'Le Salon 19. See for example A. Cantaloube, 1868', Le Monde illustr?, xxii, 6 June 1868, p. 366. 20. Chaumelin (as in n. 18). de

21. T. Gautier, Ab?c?daire du Salon de 1861, Paris 1861, p. 181;M. du Camp, Le Salon de 1861, Paris 1861, 'Le Salon de 1861', Revue PP- 93-94; H. Delaborde, des deux mondes, xxxm, 15 June 1861, p. 876; see also T. Thor?, Salons 1870,1, pp. 175-76 deW B?rger, 1861 ? 1868, 2 vols, Paris (in a review of the 1865 Salon).

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267

3. Jean-Leon Ger6me,

Socrate venant chercherAlcibiade

chezAspasie,

a photograph York (reproduced from published byGoupil etCie,WittLibrary, Courtauld Institute ofArt)

63 X 97.6 cm, i86i, private collection, New

been retold, Herodotus, theoriginal source forthe story;however, ithad recently in amore vivid and sensual form,in a conte byGautier published in I844, and we must assume that most criticsand many of thepicture's viewerswould have been well aware of this textand its tone.22 Beyond this,though, many reviewerscriti cised the formof the queen's body. Paul Mantz complained at length that this 'poor little puppet' had none of the 'diabolical beauty' that might have aroused the great passions that informed the story; instead, she was no more than just one more useless element among thearchaic furnishings that Gerome had so precisely inventoried.23 was again the issuewhen the criticswere facedwith Appropriate treatment Phrynedevant l'Areopage(Fig. 5;Kunsthalle, Hamburg) at the I86i Salon. Phryne, the model of Praxitiles, chargedwith impietyforpresenting herselfnaked at the festival of Poseidon at Eleusis, was acquittedwhen her defendingcounsel unclothed
22. The primary source isHerodotus, I, paragraphs in paragraph is described 8-13; the incident depicted 10.The following extract appeared in the Salon cata logue: '...Et Candaule, conduisit Gyg?s dans il fut heure de dormir, quand la chambre, et tant?t vint apr?s la femme, pr?s de l'huis, quittant ses v?tements, Gyg?s la vit, et comme elle lui tournait le dos pour aller au elle l'aper?oit sortir.' G?r?me's as a 'sujet tout ? fait scabreux' in in P. Larousse, Grand diction si?cle, 17 vols, Paris 1864-90, vin (1872), p. 1226; see also Delaborde (as in n. 4), pp. 504-05; M. Aubert, Souvenirs du Salon de 1859, Paris 1859, p. 109. Mantz (as in n. 14, p. 198), men text. tions Gautier's 23. Mantz (as in n. 14, p. 198): 'pauvre petite ...beaut? de diable'; on the form of the queen's body, see also M. du Camp, Le Salon de 1859, Paris poup?e Le Salon de 1859, Paris 1859, 1859, p. 64; H. Dumesnil, p. 92; Aubert (as in n. 22), p. no (quoting another, unnamed critic); Delaborde (as in n. 4), p. 504.

lit, s'?chappa; mais canvas was described

the entry on G?r?me naire universel du XIXe

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GEROME'S

HISTORY

PAINTINGS

4. Jean-Leon

Ger6me,

Le Roi Candaule,

67.3 x 99 cm, I859, Museo

de Arte de Ponce,

Puerto Rico

Gerome) Ackerman, (after Jean-Lion

The storyappeared to demand that her and revealedher naked body toher judges. whose transcendentbeauty the female figureshould be treated as an ideal form of theboundary between mortal and divine. her apparent transgression justified However, Gerome's figuredid not meet these criteria.For Olivier Merson, she market more likea girlon sale in a Constantinople slave was a 'confused young girl', a courtesan; than the MediciVenus; fordu Camp, shewas not aVenus but a lorette, her clothes inpublic, in a cafe Leon Lagrange saw her simplyas awoman removing or in a theatre.24 was the reaction of the judges.Accord Worse still,in the eyes ofmany critics, stereotype,in ancientGreece 'nudity ...was inno way ing to a nineteenth-century was a distinctive trait,the prerogativeof theirrace, the condition of indecent; it great national and religious ceremonies theirculture, theaccompaniment of their ...Today we only paint nudes out of pedantry or prurience; for them, thenude On thisargu conception of human nature.'25 and primitive expressed theirintimate ment, as severalcriticspointed out, theexpressionsofGerome's judges,alternately of thepurity was a travesty were utterlyinappropriate;this amazed and enthralled, ofmind that was believed to have characterised ancientAthens: 'They appear to be sensually aroused by thenudity uncovered before theireyes.This is a wholly modern effect ...Admiration, not lust, should animate their impassive faces ...

24. Merson (as in n. 2), pp. 20iff: 'fillette confuse'; du Camp 'Salon (as in n. 21), pp. 87ff;L?on Lagrange, de 1861, IF, Gazette des beaux-arts, x, 1 June 1861, pp. 263-65. pour n'est point elle est nudit? ind?cente; de leur le trait distinctif, la pr?rogative race, la condition de leur culture, l'accompagnement 25. 'Sa eux

des grandes Aujourd'hui p?danterie

c?r?monies nous ne

nationales faisons des

ou par polissonnerie; intime et primitive pour exprimer leur conception H. Taine, Voyage en Italie, 2 de la nature humaine.'; vols, Paris 1865,11, p. 70.

... et religieuses nudit?s que par chez eux, c'?tait

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269

5. Jean-Leon

Ger6me,

Phryne devant l'Areopage, 8o x I28 cm, i86i, Kunsthalle,

(photograph: Bridgeman Art Library)

Hamburg

The Areopagites yielded to a religiousrespect forbeauty . . We . are astonished that M. Gerome, soGreek and so antique, did not interpret the scene in this way ...'26 The sense of immediacy in thepainting isheightened by a small detail: the intru sion of the toe of a shoe at bottom right;this shows that the semicircle of judges continues, and that theviewer isplaced in their midst, as an implicitparticipant, not an outsider to the spectacle. The other key issues incritiquesofGerome's workwere the roles of detail and archaeology in his paintings.His close concern forarchaeological precision was consistentlyemphasised, but thispreoccupation with detail came at a price: by focusingon accessories, he neglected theelevated truthsthatshould be theprime concern of thehistorypainter. From I859 onwards, thisbecame a regular litany among thecritics,as forexample in Mantz's critiqueof the treatment of thequeen's body inLe Roi Candaule.27The extent and intensity of opposition to archaeology in these years is significant. Rather than being viewed as a passport to a more accurate and scientific knowledge of theantique past, it was seen as a threatto the
26. 'Ils paraissent ?mus sensuellement par le nudit? d?couverte ? leurs yeux. C'est l? un effet tout ... L'admiration, et non la concupiscence, moderne ... [L]es ar?o dut animer leurs visages impassibles ? un sentiment de religieux respect ... Nous sommes ?tonn? que M. si grec et si antique, n'ait pas compris la G?r?me, sc?ne de cette mani?re ...'; Gautier (as in n. 21), pp. pagites pour c?d?rent la beaut? 178-79. See also Merson (as in n. 2), pp. 203-07; du (as in n. 21), pp. 86-91; Thor? (as in n. 21), 1, 'Salon de 1861', L'Artiste, pp. 124-25; H. de Callias, n.s. xi, 15 June 1861, pp. 267-68; Lagrange (as in n. Notes sur leSalon 24), pp. 264-65; L. Laurent-Pichat,

Camp

1861, pp. 31-32. (as in n. 14), p. 198. See also Delaborde (as in n. 4), p. 504; Castagnary (as in n. 13), pp. 95-99; C. Baudelaire, 'Salon de 1859', reprinted inC. Baude laire, Ecrits sur l'art, 2 vols, Paris 1971,11, p. 55~57

de 1861, Paris 27. Mantz

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transcendent values for which thatpast was believed to stand; a commitment to archaeological truth was amarker of a secular,materialistworld view.28 In themain, critics accepted that the details inGerome's paintingswere archaeologically accurate. However, in reviewing Siecle d'Auguste: naissance de N. -S. J7esus-Christ in I855, Gautier noted that, in the subservient crowds, 'he needed to represent nations that have for the most part disappeared without leaving any trace ...; when knowledge of the ancient world was lacking, he had recourse to his own ingenious fantasy,and inventedRhe tian,Pannonian, Parthian,Hindu and German barbarians of the most plaus A more blatant rejec ible savagery.'29 6. Jean-Leon Ger6me, "Deux augures n 'ontjamais pu tion of historical exactitude appeared se regarder sans rire", 64.7 X 49.5 cm, i86i, present in Le Roi Candaule in I859; du Camp whereaboutsunknown(reproducedfrom a photo graphpublishedbyGoupil etCie,Witt Library, pointed out that Gerome had included Courtauld Institute ofArt) the Greek goddess Minerva, theEgyp tian Isis, and theHindu elephant god wall ofCandaules's chamber.Du Camp, always Ganesh, seen in a niche on the left a stickler forhistorical accuracy, described this juxtaposition as 'an extravagant [baroque] pantheistic fantasy', a phrase that suggests thathe well realised that Gerome himselfknew that thepresence ofGanesh was totallyanachronistic and geographically inappropriate.30 Gerome clearly felt himselfat libertyto invent his own scenarioswhere necessary, cloaking them in ostensibly archaeological detail so as to lend credence to his inventions, but at the same time including elements that had no possible historical justificationif these heightened the effectof his scenes. Gerome's cavalier attitude to classical antiquity appeared in a different way in the littlecanvas exhibitedwith the title"Deux auguresn'ontjamais pu se regarder sans rire"at the i86i Salon (Fig. 6; untraced), depicting twoRoman augurs, in full costume in theprivacyof an elaborate interior, doubled up with laughter. Though the title was given in invertedcommas in theSalon catalogue, the source of the
28. For further discussion, see J. House, 'Curiosit?', in Impressions of French Modernity, ed. R. Hobbs, Manchester 1998, pp. 33-57 (37-41). 29. plupart science 'il avait disparues ? repr?senter des nations pour la sans laisser de traces ...; quand la lui a fait d?faut, il a eu recours ? archa?que son ing?nieuse fantaisie, et il a invent? des barbares de la Rh?tes, Pannoniens, Pannes, Indous, Germains, (as in n. 6), sauvagerie la plus vraisemblable.'; Gautier i, pp. 225-26. 30. 'une fantaisie (as in n. 23), p. 64. panth?iste baroque'; du Camp

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quotation was not cited; in his Salon review,du Camp, with his customary pre cision, quoted theLatin source-Cicero, himself quoting Cato theElder-and criticised Gerome forgivingno indicationof the source or itscontext.3IIn Cicero's text,thepassage is an indictmentof augury, showingup augurs as charlatans; but, viewed out of context, it was quite unclear who was theobject of the mockery: was it theaugurs, or thecommentators who viewed theancientworld with unquestion ing solemnity? Gautier compared the picture toHonore Daumier's comic series of lithographsfrom the I840s, 'Mythologies grecs'; many critics shared his view was quite out of place at theSalon and especially in the repre thathumour like this sentation of subjects fromantiquity.32 Common to virtually all the criticism ofGerome was a concern about his pictorial treatmentof human emotions. On occasions, as we have seen, a critic might view his unexpected formulationof a subject as bringing out itsemotional Mantz's comments about Cesar in resonance in a novel way, as, for instance, in I859, and his and About's praise for theNey canvas in i868. However, far more often, Gerome was criticised fora failure tounderstand thehuman significanceof thedramas he depicted, or fora failureto express thissignificanceinpictorial form: historypainting, inhis hands, had been strippedof itselevated,moral purpose.
* * *

But what should we make of this? Why, to repeat Lafenestre's comment in i868, did Gerome everyyear expend 'a considerable amount of spiritand talent with the aim of breaking evermore completelywith the elevated art that to begin with he had embraced'? Critics offered two typesof answer to thisquestion, one seeing it as a response to themarket forhis art, the other attributing it to his 'temperament'. There can be no doubt thatGerome's relationship to the artmarket was his relationship fundamental to thedevelopment of his career,and specifically with the dealer Adolphe Goupil. Goupil began to buy Ger6me's work and to publish photographic reproductions of his paintings in I859; in I863, Gerome married Goupil's daughter.Goupil's propagation ofGerome's work, both by sales of his was the single most import paintings and by publication of reproductionsof them, ant factor ingaining the artist thevast internationalreputation thathe enjoyed by the i88os.33Writing in i86i, du Camp imaginedGerome justifying his art in the face of criticismby saying: 'I don't know ifyou are rightor wrong, but I know that my pictures sell at veryhigh prices, thatdealers are queuing up atmy studio, and that is all I need to know.'But, du Camp insisted,he should also know that art should be 'chaste', that the artist should ignore 'la foule' and 'live in thepure regions of art'.34
31. Du (as in n. 21), pp. 92-93. The Camp is from Cicero, De Divinatione, 11,51: 'Vetus quotation autem illud Catonis admodum scitum est, qui mirari cum se aiebat quod non rideret haruspex haruspicem vidisset.' 32. Gautier (as in n. 21), pp. 182-83; see also, for (as in (as in n. 21), p. 93; Merson example, du Camp n. 2), pp. 209-10. 33. See G?r?me & Goupil: Art etEntreprise, exhibi 2000-1. tion catalogue, Mus?e Goupil, Bordeaux,

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Gerome's huge success in the private dealer market was a sign of thewider problem facing history painting in France by the i86os. The dilemma facing would-be historypainters is vividly illustratedby a letterfrom Adolphe William Bouguereau to theComte de Nieuwerkerke, head of the finearts administration, in I863:
I should like to beg for your benevolence Perhaps you may in buying my painting representing Remorse ... think that this is rather forward of me, since you have already had my

Holy Family bought by His Majesty the Emperor; but I would ask you to realise that it is only with the government and nowhere else that I can place this picture, which constitutes

a realeffort and thatthissortofwork, whichwould not be at touphold la grande peinture,

all lucrative if I do manage to sell it,would become a great burden if I do not ... [I hope ... The purchase of this that] you will not decline to take my request into consideration canvas would allow me to continue along a path that ismore and more neglected, and which, since it cannot find support from private collectors, needs to be encouraged by the

government.35 In theevent, the statedid not buy thecanvas inquestion, Les Remords (TheRemorse ofOrestes;The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk,Virginia), from Bouguereau; as a direct consequence of this refusal to support 'la grande peinture', he concentrated his efforts on genre painting, and in i866 established a very lucrativeexclusive contract with Goupil.36 In his Salon review in I863, du Camp made much the same point about Gerome's career: he had turned to genre painting-to 'lower' formsof art thatofferedeasy commercial rewards-because the statehad given him no major commissions afterSiecle d'Auguste.37 methods and in comments like Academic precept, as propagated in teaching du Camp's about the chastity of art, still insisted that 'high art' should remain untainted by commerce; however, these principles were entirely impractical for artists seeking their livelihood.The state, ostensibly the supporter of 'la grande peinture', had inpractice come to adopt a highly eclectic arts policy.The hundred ormore paintings purchased by the state at each Salon during the i86os included ofNapoleon III's government, very few traditionalhistorypaintings; the interests
34- '"J'ignore si vous avez tort ou raison; mais je se vendent tr?s-cher, que les sais que mes tableaux marchands font queue ? mon atelier et c'est tout ce ? savoir." Eh bien non, ce n'est pas qu'il m'importe tout: il faut savoir que l'art est chaste; en regardant la V?nus de Milo qui s'occupe de son sexe? Il faut savoir, quand on s'est acquis loyalement une r?putation s?ri son euse, ne pas la compromettre pour augmenter gain. Il faut laisser la foule s'emporter dans les int?r?ts est un artiste, vivre de chaque jour ... et, lorsqu'on dans les pures r?gions de l'art.'; du Camp (as in n. 21), p. 95. l'ac 35. 'Je viens solliciter de votre bienveillance les remords ... quisition de mon tableau repr?sentant Peut-?tre me trouverez-vous un peu ?pre ? la cur?e, car vous m'avez SM L'Empereur; d?j? fait acheter ma Ste Famille par mais si vous voulez bien consid?rer et du gouvernement que je ne puis trouver qu'aupr?s nulle part ailleurs le placement de ce tableau, v?ritable effort pour le soutien de la grande peinture, que ce travail peu lucratif si jem'en d?fais deviendrait tr?s on?reux dans le cas contraire ... vous ne refuserez pas en consideration de prendre ma demande de ce tableau me permettrait de marcher voie qui ... L'achat dans une

est de plus en plus abandonn?e, et qui ne chez les particuliers a besoin pouvant trouver d'appui d'?tre encourag? letter from par le gouvernement.'; Adolphe William to Comte de Nieuwer Bouguereau exhibition cata kerke, 25 May 1863, in Bouguereau, du Petit Palais, Paris, 1984, pp. 100-01. logue, Mus?e et lemarch? de 36. L. d'Argencourt, 'Bouguereau

l'art en France', inBouguereau (as in n. 35), pp. 95-103. du Camp, 'Le Salon de 1863', Revue des 37. M. deux mondes, xlv, 15 June 1863, pp. 889-90.

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as it sought gradually to cultivate a more liberal image,were best served by prof feringsupport tomany artistic modes, rather than supporting a singlemanner of painting thatcritical and popular opinion increasinglysaw as elitist. Yet in one crucial way Bouguereau's position was differentfrom Gerome's. Bouguereau, even inhis genrepaintings,continued to treat his subjects in a broadly idealistmanner, ennobling his figuresand treating his peasant women as if they were latter-day Raphael Madonnas, whereas Gerome, aswe have seen, evenwhen representingostensibly serious historical subjects, treated them with a calculated matter-of-factnessthatexplicitlyrejected theRaphaelite rhetoricof the Academy. Thus it is clear that Gerome's manner of painting did not simply result fromhis failure to obtain public commissions. Unlike Bouguereau, Gerome had not spent an extended period studying in had been under Delaroche, not at theEcole des Rome, and his primary training cannot be explained Beaux-Arts. But thedifferences between theirartisticinterests simply in termsof theirartisticeducation.The other typeof explanation thatcritics Ger6me's preferences focused on his personality and 'temperament'. offered for Leon Lagrange expressed thisvividly in i86i: 'M. Gerome has within himself a enemy, terrible which paralyses his artistictemperament ...This enemy ishis spirit, in a spirit which no serious idea of thebeautiful has taken root, where all sorts of which is phantoms floataround capriciously thatare foreignto the true aim of art, the expression of beauty.'38 Lagrange's formulation implies that this 'beauty'was moral as well as aesthetic: the amalgam thatunderpinned thenotion of lebeau in Victor Cousin's immensely influentiallectures,published asDu vrai,du beau etdu bien.39 In the same year,Delaborde urged Gerome to pursue more serious subjects, but at the same time acknowledged thathe probably did not have the capacity to acquire 'breadthof thoughtand style'.40Indeed, itseems likelythat Ger^me's own experience in painting Siecle d'Augustehad led him to realise thathis talents and experience were better suited to the specificityand detail of genre painting than to the more generalised, idealist manner that the Academy sought to foster. Du Camp adopted a ratherdifferent notion of esprit from Lagrange indiscuss has undoubtedly penetratedM. Gerome, Gerome in i86i: 'Themodern esprit ing back wholly towardsantiquity.'4I and he cannot ridhimselfof it,evenwhen he turns Unlike Lagrange's invocation of the idea of 'spirit', this spirit, the spirit of the modern, was external toGerome, but one againstwhich he had no defence; again,
a en lui un terrible ennemi qui 38. 'M. G?r?me ... cet ennemi, d'artiste. paralyse son temp?rament c'est son esprit, un esprit o? n'a pris racine aucune id?e s?rieuse du beau, o? flottent au gr? du caprice toutes sortes de fant?mes ?trangers au but v?ritable de l'art, qui est l'expression de la beaut?.'; Lagrange (as in n. 24), p. 263. first version of Cousin's book was 39. The published appeared aesthetic editions in 1837; enlarged and emended Cousin's in 1845 and 1853. Although is not widely cited in the art criticism of the period, his 'eclectic' ideas, a synthesis of Catholic and neo-Platonist formed the basis of philosophy, much French of the aesthetic will be discussed (this writing of the period in detail inmy forthcoming book on

'Realism'). 40. 'une ampleur dans la pens?e et dans le style'; Delaborde (as in n. 21), pp. 877-78. a d?cid?ment 41. 'L'esprit moderne p?n?tr? M. et il ne peut s'en d?barrasser, m?me G?r?me lorsqu'il se retourne tout entire vers l'antiquit?.'; du Camp (as inn. 21), p. 93.

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the implication is that the artist sufferedfrom some weakness of personality that prevented him from transcendinghis immediate surroundings. Itwas later in the his art in terms of the same account thatdu Camp imaginedGerome justifying demand for it fromdealers. In I863, du Camp attributed the course ofGerome's career to his 'profound scepticism'.42 One word recurswith remarkable frequency in the critical writing about was thesubject ofmuch debate and controversy This term Gerome: curiosite. during the i86os.43Roughly translatable as 'curiosity', itcarried two distinctmeanings; it was used to characterise scrutinythatfocused on inappropriate things-prurient or voyeuristiclooking-and also an indiscriminatetypeof attention,one that failed to differentiate between significantelements and trivia. In both of these senses, curiosite was evidentlya definingcharacteristicofGerome's paintings, inhis relish forequivocal and voyeuristic scenarios, as inLe Roi Candaule and Phryne devant le tribunal, detailed attributes inhis scenes,which distracted and in theconsistently and actions. In thecritical attentionfromtheprincipal figures writingof theperiod, modern mode of vision, and one that such curiosite was viewed as a distinctively reflected themalaise and loss of values of the age. In thiscontext,we can now return toGerome's relationship with the artistic and political authoritiesof theSecond Empire, and to Napoleon III himself.Both Gerome and Napoleon were preoccupied by the image of JuliusCaesar, but their forms.In I865,Napoleon published his long-planned intereststookverydifferent Histoire de JulesCesar, a hagiographic biographywhose remarkable preface cele brated the greatmen who had changed theworld, even iftheir legacywas inter rupted by unfortunate circumstances; not surprisingly, perhaps, theparallel that Napoleon drewwas between Caesar and his own uncle Napoleon l.44The rhetoric here is one of transcendentgenius, a farcry from Gerome's seeminglydisrespect ful treatmentof Caesar and other imperial themes. Bearing thisaswell asGerome's unabashed espousal of 'private-sector' patron Gerome would have incurred thedispleasure age in mind, one might imagine that ofNapoleon's artisticadministration and of the imperial court itself. Yet nothing fromthe truth.In I864,Gerome was appointed ProfessorofPaint could be further Ecole des Beaux-Arts, and in I865 he was elected amem ingat thenewly reformed ber of the Institut. He was a regularguest of theemperor at Compiegne, and was part of the intimatecircle of PrincesseMathilde, theEmperor's art-lovingcousin. was he who received thecommission for Finally, it Receptiondes ambassadeurssiam au palais de Fontainebleau (Musee National deVersailles), shown oispar l'Empereur, at the i865 Salon, thepainting that was Napoleon III's repriseofDavid's Sacre de Gerome was, itseems, theultimate insider Napoleon (Le Couronnement). l'Empereur in the artworld of theSecond Empire.

42. 'un scepticisme profond'; du Camp 1863 (as in n. 37)> P- 890. of curiosit? and the de 43. For further discussion bates around the term, see House (as in n. 28); I did

not realise when

I wrote this essay that the term was so central to criticism of G?r?me and his art.

44. [Napoleon III], Histoire de Jules C?sar, 2 vols, Paris 1865/66,1, pp. I-VI; see Baguley (as in n. 11).

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We cannot view this as evidence of the regime's liberalism,of its willingness to embrace dissident opinion; the authorities' difficultiesin dealing with Gustave Courbet arewell documented. Rather, Gerome's stance seems part and parcel of theoverridingcynicismof the regimeas awhole, a regime wedded to theapparatus dominated by self-interest and self-indulgence.45 of power,yet all too evidently The linkagebetween Gerome's reputation and theSecond Empire's culture of excess was made directly inPierre Larousse's Grand Dictionnaire, in itsentryon Gerome, published in I872, shortlyafter the fallof the regime: 'He found in the imperial press people who would praise these Greek obscenities; but honest criticism censured them severely.'46 Yet Gerome was a survivor.Despite his association with a reviled regime, Third Republic. In he was able tomaintain his position in the early years of the I874, in the first Marshal Salon organised during the 'moral order' presidency of MacMahon, he was awarded the Grand Medal of Honour at the Salon for L'Eminence grise (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), showing the austere figureof theCapuchin friar Pere Joseph (FranSois Leclerc du Tremblay), Cardinal Riche lieu's adviser and confessor,ignoringtheobsequious attentionsof a bevy of lavishly dressed courtiers.Such a parade might have suited thehollow pageantry and role playing of the court ofNapoleon III, but under the new regime it could equally whichMacMahon be viewed as an endorsement of the severe repression through France afterthecatastrophes of theFranco-PrussianWar and sought to regenerate theCommune, catastrophes that were attributed to the laxityand immorality of The ambivalence of L'Eminencegrise was heightened by thebrief Napoleon's rule. unattributed text published in the I874 Salon catalogue: '...Andwhen thecourtiers saluted him, he pretended to be reading his breviary and not to notice them.'47 The award of the Grand Medal ofHonour toGerome was very controversial, at amoment when MacMahon's administration was seeking to revive traditional formsof historypainting; indeed, it was rumoured thathe thoughtof rejecting it, before realising thathe could not do this. In the context of this award, Philippe Burty summed up Gerome's career, in an article in theBritish journalTheAcademy, ofhistorical subjects and his commit on a linkagebetween his treatment insisting ment to the commercialmarket:
It is beyond doubt that his interpretation of history is as puerile as it is inaccurate. It is not historical genre, but anecdotal genre, as weak in conception as themythology that is danced and sung on the stage of Offenbach. This painting has its reward in itself - pecuniary success. It needs no supreme honours like thework of artists who strivewith all theirmight for the expression of an ideal, whether this ideal be the human figure in its plastic beauty, in its passions, Nature in its allegorical or fabulous disguises, or whether it be landscape, that is in its conditions of outward harmony or of deep inward significance ...The Eminence

is a fascinating analysis of 45- Baguley (as in n. n) and self-representation of the verbal representation III and his regime. Napoleon 46. 'Il se trouva dans ? vanter ces obsc?nit?s la presse imp?riale des gens la critique grecques; mais

honn?te 22), vm

47. semblant de lire son br?viaire voir.'

les bl?ma s?v?rement...'; (1872), p. 1226. '...Et quand les courtisans

Larousse

(as in n.

le saluaient, il faisait et de ne pas les aperce

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Grise ... is a troupe of valets thatM. Ger6me has here grouped, and that in a way most in decorous to public taste.After showing us antiquity in a burlesque or unbecoming episode, the Augurs' Meeting, or Phryne before the Areopagus, M. Ger6me seems to wish to attack modern Ger6me man history. It is a pity that the jury should have encouraged him in this attempt. But M. is a member of the Institute, Professor at the Ecole des beaux-Arts, a very excellent in his private capacity, and son-in-law of the wealthiest of our modern print-sellers

and picture-dealers.48 It has oftenbeen said that Ger6me reduced historypainting to a formof genre painting, by abandoning academic idealism in favourof a display of learned yet circumstantial detail, and by treatingall of his subjects-ranging from the high drama of Jerusalemto the scabrous voyeurism of Le Roi Candaule-in unconven Yet his attackwas notmerely on the tionalways thatheightened their immediacy. which it formsof traditionalhistory painting; he also challenged the values for stood, indeed challenged thewhole linkagebetween historypainting and ethical values. In his hands, historybecame amarvellous toy-box,a store-house of pictur esque details and anecdotes; he could intriguehis viewers by theparade of bric a-brac, real and imaginary,from thepast, and could tease themwith stories that appealed to theircuriosite', yetprevented any single clear-cutmoral interpretation. History painting, inGerome's hands, became a sophisticated and highly lucrative game. Courtauld Institute ofArt

48. Philippe Academy,

Burty,

'Prizes

at the "Salon"',

The

v, 13 June 1874, pp. 673-74.

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