Phryne before the Areopagus

Jean-Leon Gerome

Contemporary-Art.org
Keywords: PhryneAreopagus

Work Overview

Phryne before the Areopagus
Artist Jean-Léon Gérôme
Year 1861
Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions 80.5 cm × 128 cm (31.7 in × 50 in)
Location Kunsthalle Hamburg, Hamburg


Phryne before the Areopagus (French: Phryne devant l'Areopage) is an 1861 painting by the French artist Jean-Léon Gérôme. The subject matter is Phryne, a legendary courtesan in ancient Greece who was put on trial for impiety. Phryne was acquitted after her defender Hypereides removed her robe and exposed her naked bosom to the jury.[1]


The painting was exhibited at the 1861 Salon.[2] It is kept at the Kunsthalle Hamburg in Germany.


Bernhard Gillam made a famous caricature drawing in 1884, titled Phryne before the Chicago tribunal, where Phryne is replaced by the Republican Party presidential candidate James G. Blaine and Hypereides by the newspaper editor Whitelaw Reid.