Bacchante à l'Amour

1864–1904

The studio everyone wanted to join

Places in Gérôme’s atelier were limited and keenly sought: only the best students were admitted. Students progressed from drawing after antique works and casts to drawing from the live model and only then were allowed to paint in oils; he attended every Wednesday and Saturday and was known as a severe critic, but helped his students outside the school too, inviting them to his own studio and recommending them to the Salon.

1864–1904

The most “riotous” studio of the École

According to John Milner, who studied with Gérôme, his atelier was the most “riotous” and “lewd” of all the studios at the École: newcomers were put through bizarre initiation rites — slashing each other’s canvases, being thrown down stairs, out of windows and onto upturned stools, and fencing on the model’s dais, nude and with paintbrushes loaded with paint.

1889–1890

Influenza during the Paris epidemic

In 1889–1890 an influenza epidemic raged in Paris and the artist fell victim to it; even American newspapers reported on his health, since he was extremely popular in the United States. He recovered and declared that he would like to die at work.

1891

His son Jean dies

In 1891 Gérôme’s son Jean, who had shown artistic inclinations, died of consumption at the age of twenty-seven; in his memory the artist made the statue “Grief” (La Douleur).

1894

Campaigns against the Caillebotte bequest

After the death of Gustave Caillebotte, who bequeathed sixty-five paintings from his Impressionist collection to the Luxembourg Museum, Gérôme raised a great din in the newspapers, declaring that young artists would now all start with Impressionism because the state wanted it; he also organised a public demonstration in his atelier. No one listened to him, and he found himself isolated.