*Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904) - René Lalique (1860-1945) Antiquisant head Bronze with a silver patina and silver paint and a blue glass faceH : 12 cm A letter from the artist on a visiting card is attached: "Dear friend, I am sending you a small glass head that you should have had a long time ago. I had completely forgotten them in a piece of furniture that I never open. Yours affectionately JL. Gérôme" (fig. 1) Minor old restoration to the chinRelated works : - Jean-Léon Gérôme, Bellone, 1892, life-size, bronze body, head, arms and feet in polychrome ivory, unlocated, no. S.26 Jean-Léon Gérôme, Buste de Bellone, gilt bronze with black-brown patina, polychrome wooden face, glass eyes, pearl pupils, Lalique glass medallion, H: 87 cm, W: 47 cm, signed on the pedestal "J.L Jérôme", Musée de Vesoul, inv. 945.2 . 5; - After Jean-Léon Gérôme, Actrice grecque antique, ca. 1897, ca. 19 x 11.5 cm, canvas incorporated into the fancy cover of Aristophanes, no. 447 in the artist's catalogue raisonné (Ackermann 2000). Related literature: - Charles Dauzats, "L'art précieux de France," in Le Figaro, Paris, November 15, 1897 p. 3; - Gérald M. Ackerman, "Catalogue des sculpteurs", in Gérôme: Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1824-1904, cat. exp., Vesoul, Musée de Vésoul, August 1981; - Philippe Thiébaut, René Lalique, Correspondance d'un bijoutier Art Nouveau, Suisse, La Bibliothèque des Arts, 2007, p. 36Unpublished until now, this small bronze and blue glass head, a small, precious and intimate object, reveals the abundant creativity of Jean-Léon Gérôme . Although he had already received all the honours for his painted work, the artist began his official career as a sculptor late in 1878. This new medium was a real field of experimentation for him, in which he inscribed his favourite subjects previously presented in his canvases - subjects inspired by ancient culture - and his new involvement in the rehabilitation of polychromy in statuary, as gradually revealed in Greek monumental art. This unwavering quest for colour and his rigorous curiosity led him to test the new processes put at the service of artistic production by the industrial revolution and to collaborate with a circle of innovative artists. The glass face, for example, is a work by René Lalique, whom Gérôme associated with one of his major sculptures, the life-size chryselephantine bronze entitled Bellone, which was presented to great acclaim at the 1892 Salon. The artist commissioned a small decorative mask of Medusa, which he incorporated into the centre of Bellona's armour. A letter indicates that on this occasion he even commissioned the artist to make a number of small masks(1.) (fig. 1): "It will be a matter of trying out the different kinds of coloured masks you have made...". Gérôme's interest in the development of precious arts and his collaboration with Lalique was confirmed in 1897 with the founding of the Société de l'art précieux, of which he became president. Here, the primitive mask of Medusa (the ties forming a knot under her neck are a reminder of its original function) has been integrated into a bronze mounting, forming an antiquisite head in the world of classical Greek culture that Gérôme loved. Our little work thus bears witness to the artist's predilection for ancient theatre masks, which he systematically integrated into the painted scenes set in his studio. We can recognize the headdress of a mask worn on her back by an antique Greek actress in one of his paintings, dated around 1897. (1.)Letter from Jean-Léon Gérôme to René Lalique, Paris, early 1892: "Dear Sir, I have received the little mask: it is a charming colour, perhaps a little monotonous; we will see what effect it will have when in three weeks we have mounted the whole figure . It will be a matter of testing with the different kinds of coloured masks that have been made, and I will take your advice on this. The enamel one has received all the praise; what a pity we cannot use it! We will still find a way to present it. Thank you again for your interest in my research; let me add that it is only fair, as I am very interested in yours. My best regards, JL Gérôme "