Age of Augustus, Birth of Christ (1855 Gérôme), art
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Age of Augustus, Birth of Christ (1855) is a painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme, Musée d’Amiens, Amiens, France.
The large painting was commissioned in 1852 by Alfred Emilien Comte de Nieuwerkerke, Surintendant des Beaux-Arts to the Court of Napoleon III. The painting was based on a passage in Bossuet’s Histoire Universelle (1681) that evoked the apogee of the Roman Empire under Augustus’ pax Romana in the first century A.D. and the simultaneous advent of Christianity with the birth of Christ. Gérôme’s theatrical arrangement combined the birth of Christ with conquered nations paying homage to Augustus. The painting was first exhibited at the 1855 Universal Exposition in Paris.