Jean-Léon Gérôme

Sale: Christie's, New York, October 18, 2000, lot 98, illustrated
Private European Collector (acquired at the above sale and sold, Sotheby's, London, June 2, 2010, lot 115, illustrated)
Acquired at the above sale

Jean-Léon Gérôme, Paris Photographs: Gérôme Oeuvres, Cabinet des Estampes, Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, vol. III, illustrated
Gerald M. Ackerman, The Life and Work of Jean-Léon Gérôme, with a catalogue raisonné, London, 1986, p. 266, no. 376, illustrated p. 267
Gerald M. Ackerman, Jean-Léon Gérôme, monographie révisée, catalogue raisonné mis a jour, Paris, 2000, p. 326, no. 376, illustrated p. 327

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This work is unlined, but the original stretcher has been replaced. The paint layer is very delicate, and the fine canvas is still supporting it well. The painting seems clean, varnished and retouched. The work is slightly dusty, but it is recommended that it be hung in its current condition. There are a few spots of retouching in the right bicep of the seated woman on the left, and a few tiny dots in her thigh beneath the right forearm. There may also be a few tiny spots in the shadowed area of the left thigh. There are no retouches in the foreground, and no retouches are visible in the background, except possibly a couple of spots along the top edge. The condition also seems to be beautiful in the figure group on the right side. The condition is excellent overall.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Following his trip to Bursa in Turkey in 1879, Gérôme produced a number of bath scene paintings, culminating in his most famous work of the series, The Great Bath at Bursa, (sold, Sotheby's London, June 15, 2004, lot 112). The present work is presumably set in the caldarium in Yeni Kaplica, Bursa's "New Baths" built in 1552. Bursa had been the ancient capital of the Ottoman Empire before the conquest of Constantinople in 1453.

Fréderic Masson records an entertaining account by Gérôme (probably in a letter) of this experience of a visit to the men's baths: "During a stay in Bursa, I was taken by the architecture of the baths, and they certainly offered a chance to study nudes.  It wasn't just a question of going to see what was going on inside, and of replacing [some men by some women], I had to have a sketch of this interior; and since the temperature inside was rather high, I didn't hesitate to sketch in the simple apparel of a beauty just aroused from her sleep — that is, in the buff.  Sitting on my tripod, my paint box on my knees, my palette in my hand, I was a little grotesque, but you have to know how to adapt yourself as necessary.  I had the idea of painting my portrait in this costume, but I dropped it, fearing that my image (dal vero) might get me too much attraction and launch me in a career as a Don Juan" (Frédéric Masson, "J.L. Gérôme. Notes et fragments des souvenirs inédits du maître," Les Arts, 1902, p. 30).

By the time the present work was executed, Gérôme had moved away from heroic history painting towards archeological accuracy and objective realism. That is not to say that he adhered to Courbet's transitory school of Realism — the poses and finish of Gérôme's nudes remain grounded in academic idealism — but rather that he paid greater attention to the ensemble; he studied the relation of the figures to their surroundings, to the floors and to the walls and accessories around them.

The subject of Femmes au bain was not uncommon in nineteenth-century painting; Eugène Delacroix, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and Théodore Chassériau had already received critical acclaim for their various nudes set in Turkish interiors. Ingres' famous rendering of this subject in 1862 is an exotic fantasy of voluptuous flesh, while, in contrast, the present composition seems devoid of lasciviousness or even the mildest evocation of eroticism: the nudes are not shown as examples of primitive sensuality as is the tradition in depicting bath scenes; they do not pose in erotic deprivation or anticipation; they are simply engaged in the social activity of the bath.