Jean-Léon Gérôme

Jean-Léon Gérôme
Photograph by Nadar
Born(1824-05-11)11 May 1824
Vesoul, Haute-Saône, France
Died10 January 1904(1904-01-10) (aged 79)
Paris, France
EducationPaul Delaroche, Charles Gleyre
Known forPainting, sculpture, teaching
MovementAcademicism, Orientalism
Signature

Jean-Léon Gérôme (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ leɔ̃ ʒeʁom]; 11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as academicism. His paintings were so widely reproduced that he was "arguably the world's most famous living artist by 1880." The range of his works includes historical paintings, Greek mythology, Orientalism, portraits, and other subjects. He is considered among the most important painters from the academic period and was, with Meissonier and Cabanel, one of "the three most successful artists of the Second Empire".

He was also a teacher with a long list of students, including Mary Cassatt, Thomas Eakins, and Osman Hamdi Bey, among others.