Gérôme had this knack for turning moments of human folly into something timeless and almost operatic. The Duel after the Masked Ball is not just about a sword fight in the snow but about the sheer absurdity of ritualized violence dressed in theatrical costume. You have Pierrot, a figure meant for comedy, lying in blood on the cold ground, and a Venetian doge bending to save him. It is almost as if Gérôme is saying that honor, pride, and the codes of masculinity are masks themselves beneath the costume there is only the same fragile humanity...