Critique on Pollice Verso - 825 Words

Pollice Verso by Jean-Leon Gerome Pollice Verso, latin for Thumbs Down, is a realistic painting by Jean-Leon Gerome depicting a gladiator battle in the ancient Roman Coliseum. The scene is of a Gladiator standing over his defeated opponent and looking towards the audience, most likely a group of Vestal Virgins, waiting for their order of whether to kill his opponent or let him live. The Vestal Virgins are seen with their thumbs pointed down, which was the order to kill him. Despite living centuries after the gladiatorial battles in the coliseum, Jean-Leon Gerome, known for his realistic style, is able to realistically portray this brutal scene of a gladiator battle and the values of Roman culture through the use of techniques such†¦show more content†¦Gerome effectively used scale, contour, texture, and aerial perspective in his painting. The gladiator stands high and tall in the foreground of the painting, whiles the Emperor and people in the stands pale in comparison to the gladiator in size. Also th e detail of the gladiator is much more in depth than the detail of the common people in the background. Gerome also placed the gladiator in front of objects in the background, which have a paler, bluer hue to them. Geromes excellent use of perspective allows him to bring even more of a sense of realism into the painting, which is absorbed by the viewer, making the scene even more realistic. Jean-Leon Gerome painted Pollice Verso in hopes of created a realistic portrayal of not only a gladiator battle in the coliseum, but also the values of Roman society. Through his research on the Romans, his devotion to accuracy, his use of lighting, and his use of perspective, Gerome succeeded in accurately depicting the values of Roman society and in expressing the full emotion of the scene of Roman society to the viewer . no bibliography