TRUTH COMING OUT OF HER WELL TO SHAME MANKIND
Jean Léon Gérome
1896
French
Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 91 cm × 72 cm (36 in × 28 in)
Musée Anne de Beaujeu, Moulins, Allier
In 1895, Gérôme had painted a similar work, Mendacibus et histrionibus occisa in puteo jacet alma Veritas (English: The nurturer Truth lies in a well, having been killed by liars and actors). It has been suggested that both paintings (like a similar, later work by Édouard Debat-Ponsan) were a comment on the Dreyfus affair.
It has also been suggested that the painting is an expression of Gérôme’s hostility towards the Impressionist movement, to which he was violently opposed. However, in a preface that Gérôme wrote for Émile Bayard‘s Le Nu Esthétique, he refers to the influence photography had had upon painting:
| La photographie est un art. La photographie force les artistes à se dépouiller de la vieille routine et à oublier les vieilles formules. Elle nous a ouvert les yeux et forcé à regarder ce qu’auparavant nous n’avions jamais vu, service considérable et inappréciable qu’elle a rendu à l’Art. C’est grâce à elle que la vérité est enfin sortie de son puits. Elle n’y rentrera plus.[ | Photography is an art. It forces artists to discard their old routine and forget their old formulas. It has opened our eyes and forced us to see that which previously we have not seen; a great and inexpressible service for Art. It is thanks to photography that Truth has finally come out of her well. She will never go back. |
Disputed Meaning
The expression refers to a widespread translation of an aphorism of the philosopher Democritus, “Of truth we know nothing, for truth is in a well [lit. in an abyss].” The nudity of the model refers to the expression ‘the naked truth’.
According to his biographer Charles Moreau-Vauthier, Gérôme slept with the painting above his bed and was found after his death with his arm stretched out towards it in a gesture of farewell.
In Nec Mergitur (Latin: Nor is she submerged) or La Vérité sortant du puits (1898) by Édouard Debat-Ponsan, clerical reaction is attempting to pull Truth back into the well.
The painting was exhibited at the Salon in 1896. Since 1978 it has been part of the permanent exhibition at the Musée Anne de Beaujeu in Moulins, France. Source: Wikipedia.
