Jean Léon Gérôme
Biography

Gérôme made a good living painting scenes like Pygmalian and Galatea, which fuses mythology, history, fantasy, eroticism, and sentimentality. Gérôme accepted and brilliantly fulfilled the standards of finish, detail, and polish established by the Academy, an approach that had found favour from the Middle Ages on. Gérôme gave his audience what it wanted, and he scorned those who took artistic shortcuts. In turn, he and the academicians of his generation were lavishly rewarded with more prizes and awards than any other generation of French artists.

contributed by Gifford, Katya