Gladiators salute the emperor Vitellius in the Colosseum before a bout. Photograph by R.J. Bingham, 1859, after J.L. Gérôme.

Gérôme, Jean Léon, 1824-1904.

Date:: Le 1er 8bre 1859 [1 October 1859]

Reference:: 3043927i

Part of:: Galerie photographique.

Pictures

About this work

Description

The body of a dead gladiator lies in the foreground. The emperor's box is marked with an inscription "Vitellius imp.", and the depiction of the emperor resembles sculpted portraits of Vitellius. The short reign of the Emperor Vitellius in 69 AD occurred before the Colosseum was built in 80 AD, but Vitellius may have been selected by Gérôme as the emperor in this picture because he was regarded as a personification of Roman decadence: cruel, lazy and cowardly. On the left of the emperor's box sit the Vestal Virgins

Publication/Creation

Paris ; London : Goupil et C.ie, Le 1er 8bre 1859 [1 October 1859]

Physical description

1 photograph : photoprint, albumen ; sheet 30.8 x 48.4 cm

Series

Galerie photographique.

Contributors

Lettering

Ave César Imperator: morituri te salutant. Galerie photographique. Peint par Gérôme. Photographié par Bingham. Bears number: 19 (number in the Salon or number in the Galerie photographique?)

Creator/production credits

By Robert Jefferson Bingham (1825-1870)

References note

Laure Boyer, 'Robert J. Bingham, photographe du monde de l'art sous le Second Empire', Études photographiques [online], 12 novembre 2002 (on Bingham as a photographer for Goupil and for Gérôme)

Reference

Wellcome Collection 3043927i

Reproduction note

After: a painting exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1859 and subsequently acquired by Yale University Art Gallery