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| Cafe House, Cairo (Casting Bullets) |
Artist:Jean-Léon Gérôme (French, Vesoul 1824–1904 Paris)
Date:1884 or earlier
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:21 1/2 x 24 3/4 in. (54.6 x 62.9 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Bequest of Henry H. Cook, 1905
Bashi-bazouks, mercenary soldiers in the army of the Turkish sultan, were known for their lawlessness and brutality, but Gérôme usually depicted them at leisure, as he did here, rather than engaged in battle. His frequent repetitions of the subject over a thirty-year period, in conjunction with a technique that matured early and changed little, make these canvases difficult to date on the basis of style alone. Gérôme probably completed this painting soon before he sold it to his Parisian dealer, Goupil, in 1884.
Provenance
[Goupil, Paris, 1884; stock no. 17025; purchased from the artist on April 3, 1884, as "Fondeur de balles dans un café," for Fr 12,500; sold on June 28 for Fr 22,500 to Knoedler]; [Knoedler, New York, 1884; stock no. 4636; sold on November 13 for $8,500 to Morgan]; Mrs. Mary J. Morgan, New York (1884–d. 1885; her estate sale, American Art Association, New York, March 3–5, 1886, no. 221, as "Coffee House — Cairo," for $4,800 to Cook); Henry H. Cook, New York (1886–d. 1905)
Copyright Image
https://images.metmuseum.org
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