Jean-Léon Gérôme – Pollice Verso (1872)

Description

This work of art has been digitally enhanced without erasing signs of ageing for the sake of authenticity. Digital paintings are very popular right now as an affordable and stylish way to decorate and personalize your home and office.

Jean-Léon Gérôme – Pollice Verso (1872)

“Pollice Verso (from Latin: with a turned thumb) is an 1872 painting by French artist Jean-Léon Gérôme, featuring the eponymous Roman gesture directed to the winning gladiator.

The thumbs-down gesture in the painting is given by spectators at the Colosseum, including the Vestals, to the victorious murmillo, while the defeated retiarius raises two fingers to plead for mercy. The painting was an inspiration for the 2000 film Gladiator, where Commodus holds out a raised thumb to spare the film’s hero, Maximus.

The painting almost immediately kicked off a controversy over the accuracy of Gerome’s use of the thumbs-down gesture by spectators in the Colosseum. A 26-page pamphlet published in 1879, “Pollice Verso”: To the Lovers of Truth in Classic Art, this is Most Respectfully Addressed, reprinted evidence for and against the accuracy of the painting, including a letter dated 8 December 1878 from Gérôme himself.

The controversy remains unsettled. The exact gesture described by the phrase pollice verso is not known. From historical, archaeological and literary records from ancient Rome, it remains uncertain whether the thumb was turned up, turned down, held horizontally, or concealed inside the hand to indicate positive or negative opinions. Gérôme’s painting greatly popularized the idea that thumbs up signaled life, and thumbs down signaled death, for a defeated gladiator.

Gérôme’s depiction of the Colosseum’s architecture is based on accurate drawings, and the armor of the gladiators follows the design of those found in Pompeii, although there are some inaccuracies in the murmillo’s armor. His depiction of blood-thirsty Vestal virgins demanding death may have been inspired by a passage by the ancient Christian author Prudentius, who disapproved of the carnage in the arena.

Then on to the gathering in the amphitheatre passes this figure of life-giving purity and bloodless piety [the Vestal], to see bloody battles and deaths of human beings and look on with holy eyes at wounds men suffer for the price of their keep. There she sits conspicuous with the awe-inspiring trappings of her head-bands and enjoys what the trainers have produced. What a soft, gentle heart! She rises at the blows, and every time a victor stabs his victim’s throat she calls him her pet; the modest virgin with a turn of her thumb bids him pierce the breast of his fallen foe so that no remnant of life shall stay lurking deep in his vitals while under a deeper thrust of the sword the fighter lies in the agony of death.”

After purchase you will have access to a PDF document with a link to these files available for download: 5×7”, 8×10”, 9×12”, 11×14”, 16×20″, 18×24″, 24×36″ and A1.

All files are in JPG format and at 300 PPI/DPI resolution. Please note that colours on your screen may be slightly different from the actual print.

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