He won their regard by his flow of spirits and his caustic humour. At this period he supported himself by copying paintings and making drawings for the newspapers; but, although a small monthly income of a hundred francs assured him comparative security, he was uneasy. Although only eighteen, the young man was impatient to show what he could do. He was seeking his path.
He took his first step towards finding it when he accompanied his teacher to Italy after the latter had closed his studio. He remained there for an entire year.
Upon his return, he studied for a time under Gleyre, after which he worked for some months on Delaroche's Bonaparte Crossing the Alps.
In 1847, Gérôme made his début at the Salon with a veritable master-stroke. At an exposition where Delacroix's Shipwrecked Bark and Couture's Roman Orgy monopolized the public gaze, the young artist attracted keen attention by his Young Greeks Engaged in Cock Fighting. Théophile Gautier enthusiastically proclaimed the merits of this work, which brought Gérôme much valued praise and some influential supporters.
We shall revert again to this significant canvas, which since 1874 has hung in the Luxembourg Museum, and with which the artist, when he later attained full mastery of his art, found all manner of fault.
The first meeting between this painter of twenty-three, upon whom renown had just begun to smile, and Gautier, magnanimous prince of criticism and poetry, took place under circumstances that deserve to be recorded.
Gérôme was betaking himself to the offices of the Artiste, at that time presided over by Arsène Houssaye; in his hand he held a line drawing of his own recent idyll of classic times. On the staircase he encountered Gautier who had paused there, and who began to talk to him in glowing terms of the Salon and especially of a painting by a newcomer, named Gérôme.
"But that is I, myself!" cried the young man with keen emotion, and he showed his drawing to the author of Enamels and Cameos.
Continuing to draw his inspiration from antiquity, he set to work with a stouter heart, in a studio on the Rue de Fleurus, which he shared with Hamon and Picou, associating with artists and with musicians such as Lalo and Membrée.
His labours were twice interrupted: first, by an attack of typhoid fever, through which his mother came to nurse him; and secondly, by the Revolution of 1848 when, in compliance with the expressed desire of his comrades, he was appointed adjutant major of the National Guards.