Kasparides and Gerome

Edouard Kasparides 

(1858-1926) Austrian)

The penitent Mary Magdalene in the cave, 1890

Oil on canvas, signed and dated lower right: Ed. Kasparides

The Harem Bath, Jean-Léon Gérôme  (1824-1904), The Harem Bath, “Harem’de Yıkananlar” ( Les Baigneuses du Harem ),1901, Dickinson Gallery Collection

When Jean-Léon Gérôme visited Egypt for the first time, he was amazed by what he saw and when we look at it now, he began to paint his breathtaking Orientalist paintings. Gérôme's works covered a number of themes such as history, Greek mythology, and portraiture. Most of these included magnificent nude female figures bearing his signature. These figures, whose bodies are as bright as the marbles detailed in his paintings, are included in the scenes he depicts in a theatrical way. Gérôme became one of the most valuable painters of the time due to this success he exhibited in his paintings. Some of his paintings were so successful that they became symbols of the Orientalist era. Apart from his painter identity, Gérôme was also a good sculptor. He produced figurative sculptures decorated with materials such as ivory, metal, precious stones, gold and silver. Gérôme studied at the studio of the masters of the classical period, Paul Delaroche and Charles Gleyre, in Paris.