Belisarius
Attributed to François Gérard
French, 1770–1837

Details
Title
Belisarius
Artist/Maker
Attributed to François Gérard (French, 1770–1837)
Date
after 1799
Medium
Oil on panel
Dimensions
14 x 10 inches
Credit
Purchase
Accession #
1985.53
As a Romantic painter who delighted in capturing emotionally charged moments, François Gérard depicted the blind man Belisarius carrying his wounded guide toward an abyss. Belisarius, a famous general under the sixth-century Byzantine emperor Justinian, was wrongly accused of conspiracy against the emperor and was stripped of his honors and fortune. Gérard’s extraordinary use of color in the landscape and the diagonal movement of the clouds provide a poignant backdrop for the drama.
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