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This Bernhard Gillam cartoon appeared in print just prior to the Republican
National Convention in Chicago (the magazine was postdated). In it, Gillam
mimics a well-known 19th-century painting by French academic artist Jean-Leon
Gerome called "Phryne Before the Areopagus," down to the poses and
gestures of the figures, in many cases. Phryne was a famous courtesan
(prostitute) in ancient Greece, renowned for her beauty, by which she had
accumulated great wealth over the years. At one point, she was charged with a
capital crime and put on trial before the Areopagus (Athenian judicial court).
Her defender, Hypereides, was making no progress with her pleas, so he brought
the great beauty before the judges, tore off her clothes and expressed loud
lamentations for her plight. Superstitiously fearing her power, the judges
decided not to order her execution. |
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