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Gérôme, originally a painter, turned to sculpting late in life. Once he had, he consistently combined sculpture and painting in all his works. Tanagra, the first coloured sculpture in the artist's oeuvre, was a huge success at the Salon of 1890.
In the 1860s, French archeologists digging in the ancient Greek city of Tanagra to the east of Thebes unearthed a number of painted terracotta figures that soon became famous for their charm and subtle delicate colours. Gérôme's female form is of Tyche, a deity who represented the personification of the Greek city. She is seated on an excavation mound with an excavation implement leaning against it. In her open hand she is holding an imitation of a Tanagra figurine, a tiny undulating dancer. Originally the whole group was painted, however, due to the long storage, it is now monochrome.
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