Prayer in the Mosque
1871
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
35 x 29 1/2 in. (88.9 x 74.9 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Department
European Paintings
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Collection, Bequest of Catharine Lorillard Wolfe, 1887
Accession Number
87.15.130
Tags
Art Historical Context
Jean-Léon Gérôme’s *Prayer in the Mosque* (1871) captures a serene moment of worship inside a grand Islamic sanctuary. A leading figure of 19th-century Orientalism, the French academic painter drew on his extensive travels through Egypt and the Near East to portray the interior with meticulous accuracy. Rows of men kneel in orderly devotion beneath soaring arches and slender columns, their figures bathed in soft, filtered light that emphasizes the calm spirituality of the scene. Working in oil on canvas, Gérôme employed his signature precision to render every architectural detail—from the car...
About the Artist
Jean-Léon Gérôme
Gérôme's father, a goldsmith from Vesoul, discouraged his son from studying to become a painter but agreed, reluctantly, to allow him a trial period in the studio of Paul Delaroche in Paris. He traveled and studied in Italy, elsewhere in Europe, and in Asia Minor. The subjects that he enjoyed most were scenes of nature and animals. He is best known for mythological and Comment on works: history pa...