Head of Tanagra
Jean-Léon GÉRÔME
(French, 1824-1904)
Head of Tanagra
Dateca. 1890
Mediumpolychromed marble
Dimensionsobject: 17 x 11 x 9 1/2 in. (43.2 x 27.9 x 24.1 cm)
object with base: 21 1/2 x 11 x 9 1/2 in. (54.6 x 27.9 x 24.1 cm)
base: 4 3/8 x 8 in. (diam.) (11.1 x 20.3 cm)
ClassificationSCULPTURE
Credit LineSBMA, Museum purchase, European Deaccessioning Fund
Object number1993.9
Subject(s)
- women
- female figure, allegorical
- heads and faces
- busts
Collection
- 19th century French
Sub-Collection(s)
- Academic
On View
Not on viewCollections
Label TextIn 1878, at the age of fifty-four, the successful academic painter Gérôme took up sculpture. This marble head depicts a female personification of Tanagra, a small village in Boetia, where, in 1870, excavations unearthed a set of terracotta figurines. These figurines were considered an exciting affirmation of the practice of polychromy (painting or tinting) in ancient Greek and Roman sculpture. Gérôme’s enthusiasm for the practice resulted in figures like this one, in which the gleaming marble is given a disturbing realism through the coloring of the hair, eyes, and lips. This head of Tanagra relates to a full-length seated figure holding a painted figurine in the style of the excavated terracottas, completed by the artist in 1890.
