  About the Artwork
  
  
  This sculpted figure of a nude sitting cross-legged encapsulates the illusionistic effect Jean-Léon Gérôme sought in painting and sculpture. The application of pigmented wax to the surface of the polished marble, particularly evident in the fashionable hairstyle and features, heightens the naturalism of the work. Gérôme adapted this figure from earlier sketches and paintings of scenes of the hammam, or steam bath, . He relied on a repertoire of exoticizing imagery he had created over the years during his travels in the Near East and North Africa, along memories of his experiences, photography taken by his companions, and invention. Self-quoting from his paintings, Gérôme equips the nude with the face of a Frenchwoman with a hairstyle fashionable in the late nineteenth century.
  
  
  Title
  Seated Woman
  
  
  Artwork Date
  ca. between 1898 and 1902
  
  Artist
  Jean-Léon Gérôme
  
  
  
  Life Dates
  1824-1904
  
  
  
  
  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  French
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
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  Medium
  Marble, pigment, wax
  
  
  Dimensions
  Overall: 16 15/16 × 13 3/4 × 13 3/4 inches (43 × 35 × 35 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Sculpture
  
  
  Department
  European Sculpture and Dec Arts
  
  
  Credit
  Founders Society Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  1997.1
  
  
  Copyright
  Copyright Not Evaluated
