January 10, 1904

Who was Jean-Leon Gerome (May 11, 1824 to January 10, 1904). One hundred years ago no one had to ask.  Here is an example of his work. This painting, Tiger and Cubs, was done about 1884 and is now at the Met.  

Here is what Encyclopedia Britannica has to say:


Gérôme,['s]... father was a goldsmith.... [Jean-Leon Gerome's] historical and mythological compositions, such as Pygmalion and Galatea, were anecdotal, painstaking, often melodramatic, and frequently erotic. The surfaces of his paintings were highly finished, and he was fascinated with technical virtuosity. He was a good draftsman in the tight linear style of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres ...  During the last 25 years of his life he concentrated on sculpture. As a teacher at the École des Beaux-Arts, he counted among his many pupils Odilon Redon and the American [artist]... Thomas Eakins....A highly successful artist, Gérôme exerted great influence in the Paris art world. He was exceedingly hostile to the Impressionists and, as late as 1893, urged the government to refuse a bequest of 65 of their works.


A nice slidehow of his work is hosted by the Getty website.