拍品专文
In a letter dated August 22, 1990, Gerald Ackerman writes of the prime picture:
'Gérôme never visited Japan and the Japanese setting of his picture is unique in his oeuvre. The subject matter is not so new; he had often depicted men at prayer - in particular Turks and Arabs - in his genre paintings of Near Eastern life. Furthermore, part of his fin de Siècle anti-clericism was an admiration for the 'simpler piety' of other civilizations.
'After Gérôme's death, this painting was listed in the inventory of his house on the Boulevard de Clichy. It was given a high appraisal. As usual, the finished oil was preceded by a smaller oil-sketch, measuring 13½ by 10¼ inches, which differs from this work in having a precipitous single flight of stairs running up to the shrine's top.'
Marcel Jambon (1848-1908) decorated la Comédie Française, L'Odéon, l'Opéra-Comique et l'Opéra.
A sketch for the larger picture offered at Sotheby's New York, 23 Oct. 1990, lot 54
'Gérôme never visited Japan and the Japanese setting of his picture is unique in his oeuvre. The subject matter is not so new; he had often depicted men at prayer - in particular Turks and Arabs - in his genre paintings of Near Eastern life. Furthermore, part of his fin de Siècle anti-clericism was an admiration for the 'simpler piety' of other civilizations.
'After Gérôme's death, this painting was listed in the inventory of his house on the Boulevard de Clichy. It was given a high appraisal. As usual, the finished oil was preceded by a smaller oil-sketch, measuring 13½ by 10¼ inches, which differs from this work in having a precipitous single flight of stairs running up to the shrine's top.'
Marcel Jambon (1848-1908) decorated la Comédie Française, L'Odéon, l'Opéra-Comique et l'Opéra.
A sketch for the larger picture offered at Sotheby's New York, 23 Oct. 1990, lot 54