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Pygmalion and Galatea

ca. 1890
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 800
Between 1890 and 1892, Gérôme made both painted and sculpted variations on the theme of Pygmalion and Galatea, the tale recounted in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. All depict the moment when the sculpture of Galatea was brought to life by the goddess Venus, in fulfillment of Pygmalion’s wish for a wife as beautiful as the sculpture he created. This is one of three known versions in oil that are closely related to a polychrome marble sculpture, also fashioned by Gérôme (Hearst Castle, San Simeon, Calif.). In each of the paintings, the sculpture appears at a different angle, as though it were being viewed in the round.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Pygmalion and Galatea
  • Artist: Jean-Léon Gérôme (French, Vesoul 1824–1904 Paris)
  • Date: ca. 1890
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 35 x 27 in. (88.9 x 68.6 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Gift of Louis C. Raegner, 1927
  • Object Number: 27.200
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

More Artwork

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The Sword-Dance at a Pacha's
Jean-Léon Gérôme
George Barrie
1881
The Christian Martyrs
Jean-Léon Gérôme
ca. 1880
A Muslim Preparing for Prayer, Jean-Léon Gérôme French, Black chalk on wove paper
A Muslim Preparing for Prayer
Jean-Léon Gérôme
ca. 1862–67
The Egyptian Smoker
Jean-Léon Gérôme
1868
Assan, a Young Man, Jean-Léon Gérôme French, Graphite
Assan, a Young Man
Jean-Léon Gérôme
ca. 1855–56

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