Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema
Born – Drontyp, Netherlands 1836
Died – Wiesbaden, Germany 1912
After training at the Antwerp Academy, Lawrence Alma-Tadema became a pupil of Baron Hendryk Leys, a historical genre painter. From Leys, Alma-Tadema absorbed a feeling for the realistic rendering of surfaces. In 1863 Alma-Tadema visited Italy where the ruins of Pompeii made a particularly lasting impression. Another civilization was opened to him through a visit to Egypt in 1902. In 1870, he settled in England where his Neoclassical paintings of ancient civilizations were very popular in Victorian society. He built up a large collection of personal sketches and photographs of archaeological items, jewellery and ornaments to aid re-creation of the domestic genre of the ancient world. A meticulous worker, he took great care in the application of his paint and eschewed the use of glaze and varnish. He also reversed the customary method by working from lighter to darker colours on a white ground. This resulted in a remarkable freshness and intensity of colour, which can be seen in A Favourite Custom. The painting also displays Alma-Tadema’s extraordinary skill at depicting substances, in particular water and marble.
Masterpieces:
- The Roses of Heliogabalus
- The Finding of Moses
Text: The A-Z of Art, Nicola Hodge and Libby Anson.
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Sir Lawrence Alma - Tadema (Pre-Raphaelite Painters Series) (Spanish Edition)
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