Jean Léon Gérôme’s etching, “Tête de Négresse du Hedjaz”, 1860

Jean Léon Gérôme (1824–1904)

“Tête de Négresse du Hedjaz” (Head of a Negress of Hejaz), 1860, published in the “Gazette des Beaux-Arts” (vol. 5, 1860, p. 296 [facing page]).

Archive.org offers an online view of this print in its context in the publication: https://archive.org/details/gazettedesbeauxa05pari/page/296/mode/2up; see also the description of the print: https://archive.org/details/gazettedesbeauxa05pari/page/384/mode/2up.

Etching on buff chine collé (China) on wove paper with small margins (as published) backed with a support sheet to provide wider margins.

Size: (support sheet) 38.4 x 28,7 cm; (sheet) 26.7 x 17.2 cm; (plate) 21.4 x 15.8 cm: (chine collé) 19.8 x 14.5 cm.

Inscribed in plate: (upper left) “Negresse/ du/ Hedj[az]/ … [possibly poorly inscribed Arabic عبد من for “slave from”?]; (lower left) [signature] “J L Gerome/ Gazette des Beaux arts”.

Berald 2 (Henri Béraldi 1888, “Les graveurs du 19e siècles: guide de l'amateur d'estampes modernes: Gavarni–Guérard”, vol. 7, Paris, Librairie L. Gonquet, p. 103, cat. no. 2); IFF 1 (Inventaire du Fonds Français: Bibliothèque Nationale, Département des Estampes).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print: “Portrait of a Black woman from Hijaz, bust-length, facing the viewer, a veil covering her head; published in 'La Gazette des Beaux Arts', 1860/ Etching on chine collé” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1870-0709-170).

See also the description of this print at the Yale University Art Gallery: https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/13672.

Condition: a well-printed impression in near faultless condition with small margins (as published) and laid onto a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. The sheet is in a near pristine condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains, foxing or signs of handling. 

I am selling this original etching by a key Academician, a leading luminary of the Orientalist movement and arguably one of the most famous artists in the late nineteenth century (see Wikipedia for Jean-Léon Gérôme)—for AU$265 (currently US$199.44/EUR178.96/GBP151.66 at the time of posting this print) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world, but not (of course) any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries.

If you are interested in purchasing this very beautiful etching of an equally beautiful woman from Hejaz—the area sometimes call the “Western Province” of Saudi Arabia—please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This print has been sold