29

Jean-Léon Gérôme

(1824-1904)

Veritas.

Pencil on wove paper, 1884.
Initialed and dated lower right, and titled lower center.
11 1/4 x 8 in. (28 x 20 cm.)

  • Provenance:
    Private collection, Paris.
    Private collection, New York.
  • Notes:
    Beginning in the mid-1890s, in the last decade of his life, Gérôme made at least four paintings personifying Truth as a nude woman, either thrown into, at the bottom of, or emerging from a well, for which the current pencil drawing might be a preliminary thought. Gérôme had by this time in his career become among the most famous living artists, at the apex of the French academic tradition, for his history and orientalist painting. It has been suggested that Gérôme's espousal of the Truth figure in his work at the time may be connected to the Dreyfus affair, one of the most notable examples of a complex miscarriage of justice and antisemitism in 19th century France, or perhaps was part of Gérôme's ongoing diatribe against Impressionism and the shift away from the academic tradition during the late 19th century.
  • Condition:
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March 12, 2026 12:00 PM EDT
New York, NY, US

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