Lot Essay
Executed in 1900, Gérôme's Caesar franchissant le Rubicon was edited by the Siot-Decauville foundry in two sizes, the present large version and a smaller edition of thirty-eight centimetres. The original plaster model of the composition is in the collection of the Musée de Vésoul.
Having defeated the Gauls in 49 BC, Julius Caesar is depicted here on his return to Rome at the banks of the Rubicon River, in northern Italy. Any military crossings of the River had been forbidden by the Roman Republic as a security measure during the on-going civil war under Pompey. Paying no heed to the ruling, Caesar and his armies marched through the river, defeated Pompey at Pharsalus the following year and established the Empire in Rome with himself as its self-appointed head.
Having defeated the Gauls in 49 BC, Julius Caesar is depicted here on his return to Rome at the banks of the Rubicon River, in northern Italy. Any military crossings of the River had been forbidden by the Roman Republic as a security measure during the on-going civil war under Pompey. Paying no heed to the ruling, Caesar and his armies marched through the river, defeated Pompey at Pharsalus the following year and established the Empire in Rome with himself as its self-appointed head.