Dieu le Père soutenu par des anges (God the Father Supported by Angels)

study for the ceiling panel decorating the railway carriage of Pope Pius IX

Celebrated for his great academic paintings of historical, mythological, and Orientalist subjects, Jean‑Léon Gérôme is less known for his pictures of religious themes. Yet in 1858 Pope Pius IX commissioned Gérôme to decorate the ceiling of the papal railroad car; Gérôme’s designs for the ceiling included, at one end, a painting of God the Father, for which this chalk study is preparatory. The looseness of the drawing reveals a refreshingly nonacademic side of Gérôme. Gazing directly at the viewer, chin in hand in an intensely philosophical pose, Gérôme’s God the Father is introspective, almost human. This is not a God motivated by wrath or impulse—as in countless Renaissance depictions—but rather one who is deeply meditative and intellectual.