Alma-Tadema, Sir Lawrence (1836-1912), was a Dutch-born British painter of Greek and Roman subjects. He painted brilliantly colored scenes of classical life that were accurate in archaeological detail, but highly idealized and sentimental in the fashion of the time.
Alma-Tadema’s output was prolific. He numbered all his work with Roman numerals, and his last work, Preparations, painted two months before his death, being Opus CCCCVIII (408). In 1906, he was awarded the Gold Medal by the Royal Institute of British Architecture because of his promotion of architecture in painting. His own house in St. John’s Wood, London, was designed in the style of a villa in ancient Pompeii in Italy. Alma-Tadema also produced stage designs for the British theatrical managers Sir Henry Irving and Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree.
Alma-Tadema had many followers and imitators, including the English painters Edwin L. Long and J. W. Goddard. In contrast with his contemporaries, his work was more realistic, and down-to-earth. Such pictures as A Kiss (1891) or The Coign of Vantage (1895) show his awareness of photography. In the 1920’s and 1930’s, his work became unpopular and was considered an example of Victorian bad taste. However, the American filmmakers D. W. Griffith and Cecil B. DeMille greatly admired him.
Alma-Tadema was born on Jan. 8, 1836, in Dronryp, Friesland, the Netherlands. He entered Antwerp Academy in 1852, where Louis de Taye, the professor of archaeology, greatly influenced his work. In 1860, Alma-Tadema became a pupil of the Belgian painter Baron Hendrik Leys. Alma-Tadema settled in London in 1870 and became a British citizen in 1873. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1869, had a one-man exhibition at Grosvenor Gallery in 1882, and was knighted in 1899. He died on June 28, 1912.
