Jean-Léon Gérôme
French, 1824–1904
A Collaboration (Molière and Corneille), About 1873
Oil paint on canvas, laid down on panel
Seated here are two giants of 1600s literature. On the left, Molière, master of comedies, is relaxed and self-confident. On the right, Pierre Corneille, renowned for his tragedies, leans forward in concentration. He is intently reading the tragicomic play Psyché, which the two wrote together. Jean-Léon Gérôme painted this imagined encounter, set in Corneille’s home, using the academic style that was popular in France for most of the 1800s. Gérôme—a master of this style—shows all its characteristics here: a polished surface, precise definition of details, and a preference for mythological, historical, or literary subjects.
Gérôme won a medal of honor for this painting when it was shown at the 1874 Paris Salon, France’s annual exhibition of art. That same year, the French Impressionists launched their first independent exhibition, a public statement against the rules of the Salon and the style Gérôme embodied.
