A Roman Slave Market

A Roman Slave Market (French: Marché romain aux esclaves) is an 1884 history painting by the French artist Jean-Léon Gérôme.Ackerman p.256 It shows a slave auction in Ancient Rome. A group of mean-looking slave traders are bidding for a humiliated nude young woman, who shields her eyes with her arm.Kern p.25-26 Gérome made several paintings with the same theme. These paintings were inspired by the Ancient Greek courtesan Phryne. In the 19th century, Russia conuered Circassia. Circassian women were said to be beautiful. They were traded as luxury slaves in the Ottoman empire. There was also the idea of Circassian beauty. Gérôme  used these ideas for some of his paintings. He  was one of the most prominent painters of the academic style, known for his Orientalist and historical pictures. The painting was displayed at the Salon of 1884 in Paris. It is now in the collection of the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. The museum purchased  it in 1917.https://art.thewalters.org/object/37.885/

 References 

 Bibliography 

 Allan, Scott & Morton, Mary G. Reconsidering Gérôme. Getty Publications, 2010.
 Ackerman, Gerald M. The Life and Work of Jean-Léon Gérôme. Sotheby's Publications, 1986.
 Kern, Stephen. Eyes of Love: The Gaze in English and French Paintings and Novels, 1840-1900. Reaction Books, 1996.

Category:Slavery in art
Category:1880s paintings