Jean Leon Gerome was a French Academy Painter (1824-1904) who became well known for his paintings of Oriental themes. As a young art student he started his career by submitting his paintings to the Salons. Upon winnign awards he did official commissions and painted portraits of the elite. After the Napoleonic wars more and more painters turned to the Near East for it's warmer climate and beautiful, exotic sceneries. Gerome got caught up in that craze as well and travelled on several occasions to places such as Egypt, Syria, Algiers, and Israel. He became so enamored with the people, arc
