Phryne Before the Areopagus (French: Phryne devant l'Areopage) is an 1861 painting by the French artist Jean-Léon Gérôme. The subject matter is Phryne, an ancient Greek hetaira (courtesan) who was put on trial for impiety. Phryne was acquitted after her defender Hypereides removed her robe and exposed her naked bosom, "to excite the pity of her judges by the sight of her beauty."[1]
| Phryne Before the Areopagus | |
|---|---|
_-_01.jpg) | |
| Artist | Jean-Léon Gérôme |
| Year | 1861 |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 80.5 cm × 128 cm (31.7 in × 50 in) |
| Location | Kunsthalle Hamburg, Hamburg |
The painting was exhibited at the 1861 Salon.[2] It is in the collection of the Kunsthalle Hamburg in Germany.
Context
editPhryne was an ancient Greek hetaira (courtesan), best known for her trial for impiety in which, according to tradition, the jury was persuaded by the sight of her naked breasts to spare her. Phryne was a popular subject for eighteenth- and nineteenth-century French artists, who emphasised her status as a courtesan and usually depicted her nude. From the mid-eighteenth century, artists such as Jean-Baptiste-Henri Deshays had depicted the trial of Phryne, and following Jacques-Louis David's charcoal drawing on the theme in 1818, they had increasingly focused on depicting her nakedness before her judges. Gérôme's version was immediately influenced by works by Charles Gleyre, in whose studio Gérôme had previously worked, and Victor Mottez.[3]
Caricatures
editBernhard Gillam made a famous caricature drawing in 1884 titled Phryne Before the Chicago Tribunal, where Phryne is replaced by the Republican Party presidential candidate James G. Blaine, covered in scandals, and Hypereides by the newspaper editor Whitelaw Reid. Teddy Roosevelt can be seen in the front row.[4]
Another caricature followed in 1908, The High Tariff Phryne Before the Tribunal.[5]
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1884: Phryne before the Chicago Tribunal by Bernhard Gillam, Puck, v. 15, no. 378 (4 June 1884) -
1908: The High Tariff Phryne Before the Tribunal by Udo J. Keppler, Puck, v. 64, no. 1658 (9 December 1908)
References
edit- ^ C. D. Yonge (1854). "Athenaeus: The Deipnosophists". Retrieved 4 March 2017.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Ackerman, Gerald M. (1986). The Life and Work of Jean-Léon Gérôme: with a Catalogue Raisonné. London; New York: Sotheby's Publications. p. 25. ISBN 9780856673115.
- ^ McClure, Laura (2024). Phryne of Thespiae: Courtesan, Muse, and Myth. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 1–10. ISBN 9780197580882.
- ^ "Phryne before the Chicago tribunal". Retrieved 2016-10-09 – via Library of Congress.
- ^ "The High Tariff Phryne Before the Tribunal". Retrieved 2019-12-23 – via Library of Congress.
External links
edit
Media related to Phryne revealed before the Areopagus at Wikimedia Commons