Atelier of Tanagra

Jean-Léon Gérôme 1893 painting Atelier of Tangara shows a shop in Tanagra with a young woman decorating the molded figurines. The painting has very interesting background, which are three typical Tanagra ladies in daily life. The dress appearance can be seen on those figurines. At that time, Tanagra figurines and the Tanagra town itself are known by people in Paris.

The creator was both painter and sculptor. He exhibited his marble version tanagra figure, which was inspired by the Hellenistic figurines in 1890 at the Paris Salon. The Tanagra figures, with their representations of ordinary men and especially women as well as actors and divinities, had immediately attracted the attention of antiquarians and connoisseurs and sold handily on the antiquities market. The painting helps to indicate that the tangara started to become well-known and popular in Paris Market, these figurines from small Boeotian town of Tanagra took the collectors by storm. Many major museums collected them, include Museum of Louvre, British Museum, and the Staatliches Museum in Berlin. 

The world of aritists and connoisseurs was enchanted with the Tanagras, which were first seen by the general public in an exhibition of Greek art from private collections held at the Trocadéro in Paris in 1878. This example showcases the influences caused by these figurines.

Sources:

Dyson, Stephen L.In pursuit of Ancient Pasts: A History of Classical Archaeology in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.

http://www.sothebys.com/de/auctions/ecatalogue/lot.pdf.L11230.html/f/89/L11230-89.pdf, accessed April 21, 2014