Jean-Léon GérômeFrench, 1824–1904Chariot Race
Can I see it?
Yes, on view now
Where is “Chariot Race” now? Art Institute of Chicago, Gallery 223, Chicago. Yes, on view now. Checked September 29, 2026.
Chicago, United States
Closed· opens tomorrow at 11:00 AM
On public display.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the painting
Jean-Léon Gérôme claimed that he based this almost cinematic depiction of a chariot race at the Circus Maximus stadium in Rome on archaeological research. The painting was first acquired by New York department store magnate A. T. Stewart, reflecting the popularity of Gérôme’s slickly finished and often dramatic work among wealthy American collectors in the 19th century. Its arrival in the United States made headlines and was reported by young writer Henry James, who described it as “a fierce mêlée of beasts, men, and wheels; the struggle and confusion are powerfully expressed, and the horses and chariots painted with that hard, consummate finish characteristic of the author.”
Art Institute of ChicagoCC BY 4.0
Details
- Accession number
- 1983.380
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Image: Art Institute of Chicago — CC0
In the life of Jean-Léon Gérôme
The whole life1864–1904
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.
1870s
Rising popularity in the United States
In the 1870s Gérôme’s works were particularly sought after by wealthy Americans: over his career he sold American patrons 144 paintings, nearly a quarter of his output; among his American students was Thomas Eakins.
1874
A gold medal of the Salon that he turned down
The 1874 Salon jury unanimously awarded Gérôme a gold medal, which outraged Parisian critics: genre painters, they said, should not be given medals. The artist, then in Holland (he spent the whole of 1874 in the Netherlands studying Frans Hals), telegraphed that he refused the award, but the jury stood on principle too and would not accept the refusal, so the medal had to be handed over to the École des Beaux-Arts.
1875
Walks his colleagues out of Corot’s funeral
At Camille Corot’s funeral the priest began a sermon on the “immoral life of artists”, whereupon Gérôme led all the colleagues present out of the church. He sat on committees helping infirm artists and their widows and always attended his colleagues’ funerals.
c. 1875
Small genre pictures and “harem” scenes
After the fall of the Empire history painting lost value, and after 1875 Gérôme switched mainly to small genre compositions — terse and needing no explanation. This was also when the series of “harem” pictures with nudes appeared (“The Slave Sale”, “Odalisque”, “The Moorish Bath”); from the 1870s he also painted genuine women of the East, especially almehs, Egyptian dancers, giving one of them a cigarette to underline the Europeanisation of Egypt.
