A Student of the École Polytechnique (Portrait of Armand Gérôme)
Artist
Jean Léon Gérôme
(1824 - 1904)
Date1848
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions50.2 × 43.8 cm
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineSir Hugh Lane Bequest, 1917, The National Gallery, London. In partnership with Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin.
Object number3251
DescriptionAn upholder of the academic tradition, Gérôme, as an official at the École des Beaux-Arts, threatened to resign if the Caillebotte bequest of Impressionist paintings offered to the French State in 1894 was accepted. However, despite such protestations, 40 of the paintings were received, forming an important part of the Luxembourg’s collection of Impressionist paintings. This head study, rendered with immensely tight brushstrokes by Gérôme, depicts the artist’s brother Armand in his smart uniform of gold buttons and tricolour badge of the prestigious École Polytechnique. (JO'D)
Head and shoulders of a young man (Armand Gérôme), his face turned slightly to the right. He wears the dark uniform of the Polytechnique with gold buttons.
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