Pollice Verso Gerome Painting by Paul Meijering

Realistic acrylic painting Pollice Verso with portrait of French painter and sculptor Gerome, painted by the Dutch fine artist Paul Meijering- the original painting is 90 x 120 cm and part of a permanent collection

Jean-Léon Gérôme (Vesoul, 11 May 1824 - Paris, 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor. He refused to go along with the impressionism begun by Monet and Manet and tried to stick to the tradition of French neoclassicism and romanticism. Much of his work exudes a historical, orientalist atmosphere.

Gérôme moved to Paris in 1840, where he was able to work as a student under Paul Delaroche, whom he accompanied to Italy (1844-1845). On his return, like so many of Delaroche's other students, he was able to join Charles Gleyre's studio, and he exhibited his painting Combat de coqs, which won him the one medal in the 1847 Salon. This work was seen as the pinnacle of the neo-rec movement that emerged from Gleyre's studio, and was championed by French critic Théophile Gautier.

Gérôme regularly undertook expeditions to the Middle, Near and Far East, including North Africa, Egypt, Sinai, Palestine and Turkey. During these trips, it was his habit to make oil sketches in the open air on location.
In 1854, Gérôme made a trip to Turkey and the banks of the Danube, and in 1857 he visited Egypt.

Pollice Verso (from Latin: with a twisted thumb) is an 1872 painting featuring the eponymous Roman gesture directed at the winning gladiator.
The thumb-down gesture in the painting is given by spectators in the Coliseum, including the Vestal Virgins, to the victorious murmillo, while the defeated retiarius raises two fingers to beg for mercy. The painting was an inspiration for the 2000 film Gladiator.

He died at the age of 79 and was buried at the Cimetière de Montmartre