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Collections

Jean-Simon Berthélemy
A Dying Gladiator1773

Not on view
Oil painting of a nude, muscular male figure slumped against a large green round shield draped over crimson fabric, head tilted back with eyes closed, a small wound on his chest
Oil painting, extreme close-up of a human mouth open wide, pale flesh tones surrounding deep red interior, with a small drip falling from the upper lip; soft blended brushwork and visible craquelure throughout
Oil painting detail showing a bare arm and hand resting against deep olive-green drapery, with two small serpents visible at upper center and lower right, rendered with smooth Academic brushwork.
Oil painting, close-up of a recumbent male figure with bare torso, head tilted back with long auburn hair, a small wound with traces of blood on the chest, red drapery beneath, dark landscape background, smooth academic brushwork.

Jean-Simon Berthélemy, A Dying Gladiator, 1773, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of The Ahmanson Foundation, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Artist or Maker
Jean-Simon Berthélemy
France, Laon, 1743-1811
Title
A Dying Gladiator
Place Made
France
Date Made
1773
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Canvas: 40 1/4 × 53 1/2 in. (102.24 × 135.89 cm) Frame: 49 1/2 × 62 1/2 × 3 1/2 in. (125.73 × 158.75 × 8.89 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of The Ahmanson Foundation
Accession Number
M.83.169
Classification
Paintings
Collecting Area
European Painting and Sculpture
Provenance

Executed at the French Academy in Rome (sent to Paris on 7 Sept. 1774). Possibly Rome, Abbé Terray, Surintendant des Bâtiments du Roi. Possibly Paris (sale, Paris, Berthélemy sale, Olivier, 8 Apr. 1811, lot 15). Private collection. Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. (1909–1988), New York. [Maurice Segoura, New York, sold 1983 to]; LACMA.

Selected Bibliography
  • Schaefer, Scott, and Peter Fusco. European Painting and Sculpture in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art: an Illustrated Summary Catalogue. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1987.

  • Conisbee, Philip et al. The Ahmanson Gifts: European Masterpieces in the Collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1991.


  • Lehmbeck, Leah, editor. Gifts of European Art from The Ahmanson Foundation. Vol. 2, French Painting and Sculpture. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2019.