Jean-Léon GÉRÔME
To quote the retrospective the Musée d’Orsay dedicated to him in 2010, he “was one of the most famous French painters of his time”. This universal glory is worth of being exhibited in the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, the Musée Condé of Chantilly, the Palace of Versailles, the State Hermitage Museum of Saint-Petersburg, the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York, the National Gallery of London and dozens of other museums worldwide. Jean-Léon Gérôme is also famous for his rearguard battle against Impressionism, in tradition’s sake. Thankfully, art history has since reconciled the merits of both.