Lot Essay
The present picture, the whereabouts of which has been unknown since the Berlin sale in 1937, is a major example of the artist's orientalist genre of the 1880s.
In 1879, Gérôme made his last trip to the Orient, however, during the 1880s, aided by sketches and photographs, he painted such masterpieces as The Serpent Charmer, (1880, Francine and Sterling Clerk Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts), The Grand Bath at Bursa (1885), Terrace of the Seraglio (1886), and The Rug Market in Cairo (1887, now in the Minneapolis Institute of Art).
The Pyrrhic Dance, painted in 1885, depicts the frenzied movement of two dancers, accompanied by musicians and several onlookers. 'His command of atmosphere and architecture allowed him to place his studies of Bashi-Bazouks, Turks, Arnauts, Bedouin and Felaheen in settings that increased the feeling of veracity evoked by the details of the costumes', (G. Ackerman, Forbes Collection; sale, Christie's, Oct. 14, 1993, catalogue introduction).
In 1879, Gérôme made his last trip to the Orient, however, during the 1880s, aided by sketches and photographs, he painted such masterpieces as The Serpent Charmer, (1880, Francine and Sterling Clerk Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts), The Grand Bath at Bursa (1885), Terrace of the Seraglio (1886), and The Rug Market in Cairo (1887, now in the Minneapolis Institute of Art).
The Pyrrhic Dance, painted in 1885, depicts the frenzied movement of two dancers, accompanied by musicians and several onlookers. 'His command of atmosphere and architecture allowed him to place his studies of Bashi-Bazouks, Turks, Arnauts, Bedouin and Felaheen in settings that increased the feeling of veracity evoked by the details of the costumes', (G. Ackerman, Forbes Collection; sale, Christie's, Oct. 14, 1993, catalogue introduction).