Cleopatra and Caesar (painting)
According to American art critic Earl Shinn, the work was originally painted on silk and was designed as a "transparency to be lowered or raised midway of a long saloon" in La Païva's mansion, "which it was desirable to divide occasionally into two".[8] Even though Gérôme visited Egypt in 1857, where George W. Whiting of Rice University notes "he acquired numerous abundant local color and exact detail" that informed the painting of Cleopatra and Caesar,[9] the Egyptian background setting in the work is derived from a plate in a volume from the Description de l'Égypte (1809–29) that depicts a temple at Deir el-Medina.[12][9] The painting appeared at the Royal Academy of Arts exhibition in 1871 under the longer name Cléopâtre apportée à César dans un tapis (Cleopatra brought to Caesar in a carpet).[15] A translation of Plutarch's Life of Caesar by John Langhorne and his brother William published in 1770 was the first source to use the word "carpet" to describe the material used by Cleopatra's servant to sneak her into the palace.[8] Gérôme's professional relationship with art collector Adolphe Goupil allowed his paintings to become mass-produced in the form of engravings and photographs, reaching more people and impacting the wider culture throughout Britain and the United States.[note 1][17] Whiting argues that Gérôme's work may have influenced Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw's play Caesar and Cleopatra (1898), particularly the carpet scene in Act III.
Jean-Léon GérômeOil on canvasAcademicLa PaïvaSalon of 1866Royal Academy of ArtsCleopatraJulius CaesarPlutarchsemantic changeEgyptomaniaGoupilDarius Ogden MillsThe Cock FightNeo-GrecThéophile GautierhistoricalOrientalist paintingAcademic artProsper MériméeHôtel de la PaïvaChamps-ÉlyséesEarl ShinnApollodorusLife of CaesarDescription de l'ÉgypteDeir el-MedinaGoupil & CieGeorge Mason UniversityPhryne before the AreopagusEugène DelacroixJohn Langhorneduffel bagGeorge Bernard ShawCaesar and CleopatraR. H. Ives GammellWayback MachineThe Duel After the MasqueradeThe Slave MarketThe Death of CaesarJerusalemThe Execution of Marshal NeyBashi-BazoukPrayer in the MosquePollice VersoReception of the Grand Condé at VersaillesThe Snake CharmerA Chat by the FiresideThe Tulip FollyThe Christian Martyrs' Last PrayerSlave Market in Ancient RomeBonaparte Before the SphinxBathshebaPygmalion and GalateaThe Birth of VenusTruth Coming Out of Her WellOmphaleTanagraList of pupils