Almeh Performing the Sword Dance (c.1873). Jean-Léon Gérôme (French, 1824-1904). Oil on canvas. Herb
Almeh Performing the Sword Dance (c.1873). Jean-Léon Gérôme (French, 1824-1904). Oil on canvas. Herbet F. Johnson Museum, Cornell University.Drawing on the pictorial and literary imagination of his time, Gérôme invented oriental scenes, using meticulously accurate detail and his open recourse to photographs taken during his trips to disguise his strategy. The Orient that Gérôme depicted was dreamed up by Victor Hugo in 1829 in his poetic work Orientales, and his “authentic” images at that time confirmed a view of the Orient as a place of sensuality and violence. -- source link
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