Jean-Léon Gérôme

Arnold & Tripp, Paris
Boussod Valadon & Cie, Paris (acquired from the above in 1909)
Mme. Etienne Boussod (the artist's daughter, acquired from the above in 1910)
Thence by descent (and sold: Christie's, London, November 17, 1994, lot 56, illustrated)
John Mitchell & Sons, London
Robert Louis Isaacson, New York (acquired from the above and sold: Christie's, New York, May 6, 1999, lot 1, illustrated)
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Gerald M. Ackerman, The Life and Work of Jean-Léon Gérôme: with a catalogue raisonné, London, 1986, p. 206, no. 117, illustrated p. 207
Gerald M. Ackerman, Jean-Léon Gérôme, Monographie révisée, Catalogue raisonné, mis à jour, Paris, 2000, p. 242, no. 117.3, illustrated p. 243

On stable panel, minor area of loss to lower right edge; under UV: three pindots of inpainting along top edge in sky, dot and dash at horizon line next to structure in the distance.
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Gérôme made his first of many trips to Egypt in 1856, where he spent four months navigating the Nile and then another four months residing at the home of Soliman Pasha in Cairo. He was immediately taken with the people, land and local culture and continued to visit Egypt, as well as Turkey, Palestine and Algeria, numerous times throughout the remainder of his life. Egyptian Grain-Cutters, created during one of these early trips, is related to a larger painting of the same title executed in 1859, known from a photogravure in Gérôme: a collection of the works of J.L. Gérôme in one hundred photogravures  (Edward Strahan [Edward Shinn], ed.,  New York, 1881, fig. 1).

In this small, elegant composition Gérôme depicts two Egyptian Fellahs or peasants cutting grain in the cool, clear light of the morning sun. The frieze-like composition, featuring the figures and animals in strict profile, and shallow foreground space impart a classical quality to the image, which is further enhanced by the limited palette and abbreviated brushstrokes. The area depicted appears to be the middle to upper region of Egypt where the cliffs are located near the valley of the Nile River, unlike the flatter delta region in the south. Small pools of water are evidence of the Nile's flooding of the valley from June until October, allowing the farmers to cultivate the land in the following months.

Gérôme adopted this subject matter several times, most notably in Treading out the Grain in Egypt, executed circa 1859 (see Ackerman, cat. no. 118).