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, French, 1824-1904
Title
The Gulf of Aqaba
Datec.1897
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions
60 x 81 cm
Signedlower left: J.L. Gerome
Credit LinePresented, Sir Alfred Chester Beatty, 1953
Object numberNGI.1256
Exhibition HistoryFrench 19th and 20th Century Paintings from the National Gallery of Ireland: Corot to Picasso, Daimaru Museum, Tokyo, 5 September-17 September 1996; Daimaru Museum, Kyoto, 10 October-22 October 1996; Kawaguchiko Museum of Art, Yamanashi, 26 October-2 December 1996; Daimaru Museum, Umeda,Osaka, 22 January-9 February 1997; Aomori Municpal Gallery of Art, Aomori, 2 April-20 April 1997

Chester Beatty: The Paintings, Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, 7 September 2012 - 31 August 2013; The Hunt Museum, Limerick, 1 February - 30 March 2014
Label TextGérôme painted this scene late in his career. It depicts a long line of herdsmen and figures on camelback journeying along the Gulf of Aqaba. In the foreground, a man dressed in white sits on a donkey, while its foal follows behind. Lost in thought, he absentmindedly dangles a slipper from one foot. Gérôme visited the coastline of Aqaba in 1867 and was fascinated by its desolate landscape, blue sea, and skies. He based this painting on some of the many sketches and photographs that he made on that trip.