Lawrence Alma-Tadema
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (January 8, 1836--June 25, 1912) was
a Dutch-born artist.
He studied in Antwerp. He moved to England in 1869 and made a name
for himself with paintings of semi-nudes set against classical backdrops
from ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt. One of his most famous paintings
was The Roses of Heliogabalus (1888), based on an episode from the
life of the infamously debauched Roman Emperor Heliogabalus.
His realistic depiction of marble led him to be called the 'marbelous
painter'. An Audience at Agrippa's shows the emperor approaching
to receive gifts from his clients. When an admirer of the painting
offered to pay a substantial sum for a painting with a similar theme
Alma-Tadema simply turned the emperor around to show him leaving
in After the Audience.In 1870 he married an English woman and moved
to London.
|