Gérôme's Pollice Verso (1872) shows a gladiator, standing over a man who he has just beaten, looking to the crowd for the thumbs up or thumbs down signal. According to Richards, Gérôme's art, like other artists of the time, was inspired by recent archeological excavations. This scene is meant to capture the imagination and attention of the 19th century viewer. The work that was put into specific parts of this painting, like the individual members of the crowd and the architecture of the arena, shows Gérôme's attention to detail. This was another trait that surfaced after archeological excavations gave artists more basis for the many details of their paintings, and also allowing their works to hold more historical accuracy.
Are you by chance just quoting Richards word by word? Even if you had given him credit, this would still be plagiarism because not one word is by you. I had hoped to read a summary of what you read in his book in your own words here, and maybe a bit of your own thought as well. Doesn't it make you wonder, for example, that Gerome's group was called Néo-Grecs (New Greeks), but that he's painting a Roman subject? Whom does Gerome want the audience to sympathize with in this picture (gladiator or Roman audience?), and how is that typical?
ReplyDeleteHi Dr. Knorr,
ReplyDeleteWow, I see what you mean! I truly apologize. I hope my re-written response above is better than my first one.
To answer your questions, I would think that Gérôme would want his viewers to sympathize with the Roman audience, because one of the ideas behind the 19th century fad with ancient cultures was that the Greek and Roman people were just like people in the 19th century, just living in a different time and wearing different clothes. This is also typical of other art that depicted everyday scenes. As for Gérôme's painting of a Roman subject, one possibility could be that this painting was inspired, in part, by the excavation in Pompeii. Or, Possibly Gérôme painted a Roman audience because Revolutionary France agreed with the structures of the Roman Republic (even though the French Revolution was before Gérôme's time, maybe the idea of abolishing a monarchy appealed to him).
Thanks for revising your post on Gerome. Now it looks great. The ongoing excavations at Pompeii (started in the 1790s) clearly interested Gerome and directly inspired this work. But I don't think Gerome loved the Romans too much. Did you notice how even the walls of the arena are kept in bloody purple, and there are red and purple carpets handing down from the railings, like blood overflowing into the arena? Moreover, the people sitting to the right of the emperor's box are the Vestal Virgins, and even these priestesses dressed in virgin white bloodthirstily demand the poor defeated net fighter's death.
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