Early life , Netherlands Alma-Tadema was born on 8 January 1836 in the village of
Dronryp in the province of
Friesland in the north of the
Netherlands. The surname
Tadema is an old Frisian
patronymic, meaning 'son of Tade', while the names
Lourens and
Alma came from his godfather. He was the sixth child of Pieter Jiltes Tadema (1797–1840), the village
notary, and the third child of Hinke Dirks Brouwer (1800–1863). His father had three sons from a previous marriage. His parents' first child died young, and the second was Artje (1834–1876), Lourens' sister, for whom he had great affection. The Tadema family moved in 1838 to the nearby city of
Leeuwarden, where Pieter's position as a notary would be more lucrative. De Taeye’s greatest influence on his young pupil was his interest in ancient civilisations, particularly the Egyptians, first displayed in
The Dying Cleopatra, begun in 1859 but later destroyed by the artist, and
The Sad Father or
The Unfavourable Oracle (Opus X), painted in 1858. Originally a large processional painting in an architectural setting, it was later cut down to a smaller scale to show only three figures; this reduced painting is now in the Johannesburg Art Gallery. Another section of
The Sad Father was modified by the artist ten years later, in 1869, and exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1871 under the title
The Grand Chamberlain to Sesostris the Great. Of the large original painting,
Sir Edmund William Gosse will later say:
“As the first of a series of Egyptian pictures, some of which are to be counted among the highest expressions of Alma-Tadema’s genius, The Unfavourable Oracle is a work of great interest.” The artist planned two other Egyptian-themed paintings in the years 1857 and 1858, named
Going to the Oracle and
The Contrary Oracle, of which a number of preparatory drawings that were once in Gosse's possession survive to this day. These paintings were either never executed, or else destroyed, as during his student years Alma-Tadema frequently destroyed or painted over works that he was unhappy with. As the artist's contemporary biographer Percy Cross Standing noted of Lawrence Alma-Tadema's early paintings of Egyptian subjects in particular,
“So careful at all times about detail, he took extraordinary care in the preparation of his preliminary sketches for these pictures.” When asked why he had chosen to paint Egyptian themes, Alma-Tadema said:
“Where else should I have begun as soon as I had become acquainted with the life of the ancients? The first thing a child learns of ancient history is about the court of Pharaoh; and if we go back to the source of art and science, must we not return to Egypt?” Several of his early Egyptian paintings contain precise depictions of objects and settings, which reflect the artist's close study of an important reference book of his era: Sir John Gardner Wilkinson's
“The Manners and Customs of Ancient Egyptians”, published in 1837. Alma-Tadema left Taeye's studio in November 1858 returning to Leeuwarden before settling in Antwerp, where he began working with the painter Baron
Jan August Hendrik Leys, whose studio was one of the most highly regarded in Belgium. Under his guidance Alma-Tadema painted his first major work:
The Education of the children of Clovis (1861). This painting created a sensation among critics and artists when it was exhibited that year at the Artistic Congress in Antwerp. It is said to have laid the foundation of his fame and reputation. Alma-Tadema related that although Leys thought the completed painting better than he had expected, he was critical of the treatment of marble, which he compared to cheese. In 1860 he befriended the Anglo-Dutch Dommersen family of artists in
Utrecht.
Early works Players'' (1865), oil on wood, 39.8 × 55.8 cm (private)
Merovingian subjects were the painter's favourites up to the mid-1860s. However Merovingian subjects did not have a wide international appeal, so he switched to themes of life in ancient
Egypt, which were
more popular. In 1862 Alma-Tadema left Leys's studio and started his own career, establishing himself as a significant classical-subject artist. On 3 January 1863 his invalid mother died, and on 24 September he was married, in
Antwerp City Hall, to Marie-Pauline Gressin-Dumoulin de Boisgirard, the daughter of Eugène Gressin-Dumoulin, a French journalist living near
Brussels. Nothing is known of their meeting and little of Pauline herself, as Alma-Tadema never spoke about her after her death in 1869. Her image appears in a number of oils, though he painted her portrait only three times, the most notable appearing in
My studio (1867). The couple had three children. Their eldest and only son lived only a few months dying of
smallpox. Their two daughters,
Laurence (1865–1940) and
Anna (1867–1943), both had artistic leanings: the former in literature, the latter in art. Neither would marry. Alma-Tadema and his wife spent their honeymoon in
Florence,
Rome,
Naples and
Pompeii. This, his first visit to Italy, developed his interest in depicting the life of ancient Greece and Rome, especially the latter since he found new inspiration in the ruins of Pompeii, which fascinated him and would inspire much of his work in the coming decades. There he met
Geremia Discanno, an Italian painter who had been commissioned by archaeologist
Giuseppe Fiorelli to reproduce the brightly painted frescoes being uncovered in the excavations of Pompeii and
Herculaneum before they faded from exposure. He would consult Discanno a number of times before Discanno's death in 1907 to ensure his paintings of antiquity would reflect the lifestyle of residents of the Greco-Roman world accurately. During the summer of 1864, Tadema met
Ernest Gambart, the most influential print publisher and art dealer of the period. Gambart was highly impressed with the work of Tadema, who was then painting
Egyptian Chess Players (1865). The dealer, recognising at once the unusual gifts of the young painter, gave him an order for twenty-four pictures and arranged for three of Tadema's paintings to be shown in London. In 1865, Tadema relocated to Brussels where he was named a knight of the
Order of Leopold. On 28 May 1869, after years of ill health, Pauline died of
smallpox at Schaerbeek in Belgium, aged 32. Her death left Tadema disconsolate and depressed. He ceased painting for nearly four months. His sister Artje, who lived with the family, helped with the two daughters then aged five and two. Artje took over the role of housekeeper and remained with the family until 1873 when she married.
Move to England '' (1881), oil on panel, 24 × 33 cm.
Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight. Lounging next to the
tepidarium, a curvaceous beauty takes her rest. She holds a
strigil in her right hand. The outbreak of the
Franco-Prussian War in July 1870 encouraged Alma-Tadema to leave the continent and move to London. His infatuation with Laura Epps played a great part in his relocation to England and in addition Gambart felt that the move would be advantageous to the artist's career. In stating his reasons for the move, Tadema simply said "I lost my first wife, a French lady with whom I married in 1863, in 1869. Having always had a great predilection for London, the only place where, up till then my work had met with buyers, I decided to leave the continent and go to settle in England, where I have found a true home." File:Lawrence Alma-Tadema by J. P. Mayall.jpg|thumb|352x352px|
Lawrence Alma-Tadema by J. P. Mayall from Artists at Home, photogravure, published 1884, Department of Image Collections, National Gallery of Art Library, Washington, DC With his small daughters and sister Artje, Alma-Tadema arrived in London at the beginning of September 1870. The painter wasted no time in contacting Laura, and it was arranged that he would give her painting lessons. During one of these, he proposed marriage. As he was then thirty-four and Laura was now only eighteen, her father was initially opposed to the idea. Dr Epps finally agreed on the condition that they should wait until they knew each other better. They married in July 1871. Laura, under her married name, also won a high reputation as an artist, and appears in numerous of Alma-Tadema's canvases after their marriage (
The Women of Amphissa (1887) being a notable example). This second marriage was enduring and happy, though childless, and Laura became stepmother to Anna and Laurence. Anna became a painter and Laurence became a novelist. In England he initially adopted the name
Laurence Alma Tadema instead of
Lourens Alma Tadema and later used the more English spelling
Lawrence for his forename. He also incorporated
Alma into his surname so that he appeared at the beginning of exhibition catalogues, under "A" rather than under "T".
Victorian painter '' (1888), oil on canvas, 132.1 × 213.7 cm, private collection. As it was painted during the winter, Tadema arranged to have roses sent weekly from the
French Riviera for four months to ensure the accuracy of each
petal. '' (1893), oil on panel, 45 × 63 cm,
Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery. Alma-Tadema's female figures have a slightly bored pleasure-seeking attitude, as if they were pampered courtesans. There is little action in Alma-Tadema's paintings. The composition is balanced by the flowers in bloom. After his arrival in England, where he was to spend the rest of his life, Alma-Tadema's career was one of continued success. He became one of the most famous and highly paid artists of his time, acknowledged and rewarded. By 1871 he had met and befriended most of the major
Pre-Raphaelite painters and it was in part due to their influence that the artist brightened his palette, varied his hues, and lightened his brushwork. In 1872 Alma-Tadema organised his paintings into an identification system by including an opus number under his signature and assigning his earlier pictures numbers as well.
Portrait of my sister, Artje, painted in 1851, is numbered opus I, while two months before his death he completed
Preparations in the Coliseum, opus CCCCVIII. Such a system made it more difficult for fakes to be passed off as originals. In 1873
Queen Victoria in Council by
letters patent made Alma-Tadema and his wife the last British
denizens, with some limited special rights otherwise only accorded to and enjoyed by British subjects; while the legal process has never been formally abolished, Alma-Tadema's case remains the last time it was applied. The previous year he and his wife made a journey on the continent that lasted five and a half months and took them through Brussels, Germany, and Italy. In Italy Alma-Tadema was able to take in the ancient ruins again; this time he purchased several photographs, mostly of the ruins, which began his immense collection of archival material used in the completion of future paintings. In January 1876, he rented a studio in Rome. The family returned to London in April, visiting the
Paris Salon on their way back. In London he regularly met with fellow-artist
Emil Fuchs. Among the most important of his pictures during this period was ''An Audience at Agrippa's
(1876). When an admirer of the painting offered to pay a substantial sum for a painting with a similar subject, Alma-Tadema simply turned the emperor around to show him leaving, in After the Audience''. On 19 June 1879, Alma-Tadema was made a
Royal Academician. Three years later, a major retrospective of his entire oeuvre was organised at the
Grosvenor Gallery in London, including 185 of his pictures. In 1883 he returned to Rome and Pompeii, where further excavations had taken place since his last visit. He spent a significant amount of time studying the site, going there daily. These excursions gave him an ample source of subject matter as he began to further his knowledge of daily Roman life. At times, however, he integrated so many objects into his paintings that some said they resembled museum catalogues. One of his most famous paintings is
The Roses of Heliogabalus (1888) – based on an episode from the life of the debauched
Roman emperor Elagabalus (Heliogabalus), the painting depicts the emperor suffocating his guests at an orgy under a cascade of rose
petals. The blossoms depicted were sent weekly to the artist's London studio from the French Riviera for four months during the winter of 1887–1888. (1910), depicting
Joseph's return to his people. Among Alma-Tadema's works of this period are:
An Earthly Paradise (1891),
Unconscious Rivals (1893)
Spring (1894),
The Coliseum (1896) and
The Baths of Caracalla (1899). Although Alma-Tadema's fame rests on his paintings set in antiquity, he also painted portraits, landscapes and watercolours, and made some
etchings himself. (Many more were made of his paintings by others).
Personality '' (1894), oil on canvas,179.2 × 80.3 cm, J. Paul
Getty Museum, Los Angeles In his personal life, Alma-Tadema was known to have an extroverted personality. There was not a hint of the delicate artist about him; he was a cheerful lover of wine, women, and parties. He has been said to have had most of the characteristics of a child, coupled with the traits of a consummate professional. A perfectionist, he remained in all respects a diligent, if somewhat obsessive and pedantic worker. He was an excellent businessman, and one of the wealthiest artists of the nineteenth century. Alma-Tadema was as firm in money matters as he was with the quality of his work.
Later years Alma-Tadema's pacing steadied with time, partly on account of health, but also because of his obsession with decorating his new home, to which he moved in 1883. Nevertheless, he continued to exhibit throughout the 1880s and 1890s, receiving accolades including the medal of Honour at the
Paris Exposition Universelle of 1889, election to an honorary membership of the Oxford University Dramatic Society in 1890, and the Great Gold Medal at the
International Exposition in Brussels of 1897. In 1899, he was
knighted by Britain, only the eighth artist from the Continent to receive this honour. He assisted with organizing the British section at the
1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris, as well as exhibiting two works that earned him the Grand Prix Diploma. He also assisted with the
St. Louis World's Fair of 1904, where he was well received. During this time, Alma-Tadema was very active with theatre design and production, designing many costumes. He also began to design furniture, often modelled after Pompeian or Egyptian motifs, as well as illustrations, textiles, and picture frames. In late 1902 he visited Egypt. These other interests influenced his paintings, as he often incorporated some of his furniture designs and female costumes into the composition. Through his last period of creativity Alma-Tadema continued to produce paintings which repeated the successful formula of women on marble terraces overlooking the sea such as in
Silver Favourites (1903). Between 1903 and his death, Alma-Tadema painted less but still produced ambitious paintings such as
The Finding of Moses (1904). On 15 August 1909 Alma-Tadema's wife, Laura, died at the age of fifty-seven. The grief-stricken widower outlived his second wife by less than three years. His last major composition was
Preparation in the Coliseum (1912). In the summer of 1912, Alma-Tadema was accompanied by his daughter Anna to Kaiserhof Spa,
Wiesbaden, Germany, to be treated for stomach ulcers. He died there on 28 June 1912 at the age of seventy-six. He was buried in the crypt of
St Paul's Cathedral in London. ==Style==