Jean Léon Gérôme

Jean-Léon Gérôme was a French painter and sculptor and one of the most celebrated academic artists of his day. Born in 1824, he became famous for highly polished, almost photographic scenes of ancient Rome, Greek myth, and, especially, an imagined vision of the Middle East and North Africa. Gladiators in the arena, snake charmers, and bustling markets were among his popular subjects.

His technical skill was dazzling, and reproductions of his work spread his fame worldwide, though later critics attacked the way his exotic scenes flattered European fantasies about other cultures. As a powerful teacher he trained hundreds of students, and he fiercely opposed the rise of Impressionism. Once hugely admired, then dismissed, his crisp storytelling pictures have drawn renewed interest, including from filmmakers who borrow his sense of spectacle.