Pollice Verso (Gérôme)
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''Pollice Verso'' (from la, with a turned thumb) is an 1872 painting by French artist Jean-Léon Gérôme, featuring the eponymous Roman gesture directed to the winning
gladiator A gladiator ( la, gladiator, "swordsman", from , "sword") was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gla ...
. 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 A ''retiarius'' (plural ''retiarii''; literally, "net-man" in Latin) was a Roman gladiator who fought with equipment styled on that of a fisherman: a weighted net (''rete'' (3rd decl.), hence the name), a three-pointed trident (''fuscina'' or ...
raises two fingers to plead for mercy. The painting was an inspiration for the 2000 film ''
Gladiator A gladiator ( la, gladiator, "swordsman", from , "sword") was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gla ...
'', where
Commodus Commodus (; 31 August 161 – 31 December 192) was a Roman emperor who ruled from 177 to 192. He served jointly with his father Marcus Aurelius from 176 until the latter's death in 180, and thereafter he reigned alone until his assassination. ...
holds out a raised thumb to spare the film's hero, Maximus.


The painting

Along with gladiators, Vestals, and spectators, the picture shows the emperor in his box.
Alexander Turney Stewart Alexander Turney Stewart (October 12, 1803 – April 10, 1876) was an American entrepreneur who moved to New York and made his multimillion-dollar fortune in the most extensive and lucrative dry goods store in the world. Stewart was born in L ...
purchased the painting from Gérôme at a price of 80,000 francs, setting a new record for the artist, and exhibited it in New York City. It is now in the Phoenix Art Museum in Arizona. File:Jean-Leon Gerome Pollice Verso (cropped2).jpg, Detail: the
Vestal virgins In ancient Rome, the Vestal Virgins or Vestals ( la, Vestālēs, singular ) were priestesses of Vesta, virgin goddess of Rome's sacred hearth and its flame. The Vestals were unlike any other public priesthood. They were chosen before puberty ...
signal death for the defeated gladiator.


Historical accuracy

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 Pompeii (, ) was an ancient city located in what is now the ''comune'' of Pompei near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area (e.g. at Boscoreale, Stabiae), was buried ...
, although there are some inaccuracies in the murmillo's armor. His depiction of blood-thirsty
Vestal virgins In ancient Rome, the Vestal Virgins or Vestals ( la, Vestālēs, singular ) were priestesses of Vesta, virgin goddess of Rome's sacred hearth and its flame. The Vestals were unlike any other public priesthood. They were chosen before puberty ...
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 he 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.


Influence on cinema

This painting and others by Gérôme (including his earlier '' Ave Caesar! Morituri te Salutant'') had a strong influence on the visual portrayal of the ancient world by later filmmakers, beginning with silent movies. The painting was a catalyst for director
Ridley Scott Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is a British film director and producer. Directing, among others, science fiction films, his work is known for its atmospheric and highly concentrated visual style. Scott has received many accolades thr ...
; when the producers of ''
Gladiator A gladiator ( la, gladiator, "swordsman", from , "sword") was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gla ...
'' showed him a reproduction of the painting before he read the script, Scott recalls, "That image spoke to me of the Roman Empire in all its glory and wickedness. I knew right then and there I was hooked."Diana Landau, editor. ''Gladiator: The Making of the Ridley Scott Epic''. New York: Newmarket, 2000, p. 26.


Sculpture

In his Thirties , Gérôme took up sculpture. His first work was a large bronze statue of a gladiator holding his foot on his victim, based on ''Pollice Verso'' and first shown to the public at the Universal Exhibition of 1878 in Paris.Chisholm, Hugh, ed. "Gérôme, Jean Léon," ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (11th ed.). Cambridge University, 1901. After Gérôme's death, in 1909, his son-in-law
Aimé Morot Aimé Nicolas Morot (16 June 1850 – 12 August 1913) was a French painter and sculptor in the Academic Art style. Biography Aimé Nicolas Morot, son of François-Aimé Morot and Catherine-Elisabeth Mansuy, was born in Rue d'Amerval 4 in Nancy ...
created ''Gérôme Sculpting "The Gladiators": Monument to Gérôme'', which comprised a new casting of Gérôme's statue along with Morot's portrait sculpture of Gérôme at work. Morot's sculpture resides in the
Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) ( en, Orsay Museum) is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art ...
in Paris.


Gallery

File:Pollice Verso--pamphlet--Paris--1879.jpg, Title page with illustration fro
''"Pollice Verso": To the Lovers of Truth in Classic Art, This is Most Respectfully Addressed''
1879. File:Jean-Leon Gerome Pollice Verso (cropped3).jpg, Detail: close-up of the gladiators File:Gerome The Gladiators bronze 1878--photogravure Goupil c1892.jpg, ''The Gladiators'', bronze, 1878, by Jean-Léon Gérôme; photogravure Goupil c. 1892 File:Gérôme gladiateur.JPG, ''Gérôme Sculpting "The Gladiators": Monument to Gérôme'', 1909, by
Aimé Morot Aimé Nicolas Morot (16 June 1850 – 12 August 1913) was a French painter and sculptor in the Academic Art style. Biography Aimé Nicolas Morot, son of François-Aimé Morot and Catherine-Elisabeth Mansuy, was born in Rue d'Amerval 4 in Nancy ...
,
Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) ( en, Orsay Museum) is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art ...
File:Gérôme exécutant les Gladiateurs (cropped).jpg, Another view of the Morot sculpture File:Ave Caesar Morituri te Salutant (Gérôme) 01.jpg, '' Ave Caesar! Morituri te Salutant'', 1859, by Jean-Léon Gérôme, Yale University Art Gallery File:Étude pour le vaincu dans le tableau Pollice verso. vers 1872. Fusain, 21 x 23 cm.jpg, Chalk study for the defeated gladiator. Photo: Jamie Mulherron


References


Further reading

* Anthony Corbeill. "Thumbs in Ancient Rome: Pollex as Index" in ''Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome'' 42, 1997, pp. 61–81. * Anthony Corbeill. ''Nature Embodied: Gesture in Ancient Rome'', Princeton University Press, 2004. 978-0-691-07494-8 {{DEFAULTSORT:Pollice Verso (Gerome) 1872 paintings Paintings about death Paintings by Jean-Léon Gérôme Ancient Rome in art and culture