Jean-Léon Gérôme trained under Paul Delaroche and attended the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, where he was appointed professor in 1863. He is an artist emblematic of his times in that he produced history paintings, subjects drawn from North Africa and the Middle East, and undertook decorative cycles, all in a technically meticulous and archaeologically detailed manner.
This silvery study of a woman is a preparatory study for the figure of Science (Scientia) in an Allegory of Arts and Sciences commissioned in 1850 by the Ministry of Instruction to adorn the refectory of Saint-Martin-des-Champs in Paris. The mural consisted of two pairs of allegorical female figures representing "Sculpture and Painting" and "Chemistry and Physics," surmounted by two bust-length medallions containing the heads of women representing Art and Science. The entire mural was destroyed in 1965 when the government decided to convert the building into its present function as the Musée des Arts et Métiers. The decorations are recorded in photographs and in a preparatory study in oils (Montpellier, Musée Fabre, 876.341) that shows the Art and Science roundels above the allegorical figures of Enamel, Ceramics, Physics, and Chemistry. A study for the roundel with Art is also in the Morgan's collection (2005.84).
Signed along the right edge in graphite, "JL Gérôme."
Fiertag, Neal J., former owner.
Cummings, Frederick J., former owner.