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Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema
(Jan.8,1836 Netherlands - Jun.25,1912 Germany) English Oil Painting Artist Biography.
Lawrence Alma-Tadema, was one of the most successful artists of the 19th century. Born Lourens Tadema (Alma being his middle name), from an early age he showed some artistic ability and the beginnings of his highly methodical and exacting nature as demonstrated in his oil paintings to follow. He only adopted the now familiar form of his name after moving to London in 1870.
At the age of 16 he enrolled at the Antwerp Academy. Later he became an assistant to the historical painter Baron Hendryk Leys while living in the house of an archaeologist, Louis de Taye. From these two men he began to develop his interest in history and archaeology, which was further developed from contact with the German Egyptologist, Georg Ebers. He assisted Leys in painting historical murals in Antwerp's Town Hall.
His early artwork depicted the history of the Merovingian dynasty, rulers of Gaul from the 6th to 8th centuries AD. However, having visited the International Exhibition in London in 1862, he became inspired by the Egyptian artifacts in the British Museum, leading him to turn increasingly to Egyptian themes in his artwork. In 1863 he married and they honeymooned in Italy where he encountered the newly-excavated ruins of Pompeii. So fascinated was he by the Roman remains with their preponderance of marble that, within a few years, ancient Roman subject matter came to the fore in his artwork.
The period 1862-1870, he established himself as a significant contemporary European artist. His main works were of classical genre, dedicated to ancient Egypt, Greek and Roman history, Entrance to a Roman Theatre (1876). He became one of the most famous and highly paid artists of his time, acknowledged and rewarded by the fellow artists as well as by the governments of Europe.
In the 1860's, tragedy struck: his only son dying of smallpox in 1865 and his wife four years later, leaving him to care for his two daughters. But fortune in his career followed swiftly and in that year, two of his paintings were exhibited at the Royal Academy in London. Fortunately, so well were his paintings received overall that, upon visiting England the same year to see a doctor, and in part due to the possible impending Prussian invasion of France, he moved his home to London in 1870. The following year he married his seventeen year old student. In 1873 he became a naturalized British citizen, at the same time consciously joining his middle name, Alma, to his surname. He didn't actually hyphenate it himself, but it was done by others and this has since become the convention.
Fame and prosperity soon followed and in 1876 Alma-Tadema became an Associate of the Royal Academy, being elected to a full Royal Academician in 1879. The Grosvenor Gallery staged an exhibition of 287 of his paintings in 1882, he had become one of the most famous oil painters in Britain. Among his most famous works are The Coliseum (1896), The Baths at Caracalla (1899), Silver Favorites (1903) and A Favorite Custom (1909).
Building on this success, he developed plans for a more spectacular home. In fact it was the former home of James Tissot which had been abandoned by the artist in 1882 after the death of his mistress. It was then fairly modest but had a number of classical features which appealed to him. However Alma-Tadema made it almost into a palace, designing every detail himself, from the weather vane in the form of an artist's palette and the doorway modeled on one from Pompeii, to the rainspouts in the form of lions' heads. The halls were lined with panels painted by fellow artists and the enormous galleried and marble-floored studio was crowned with a polished aluminum dome, the brightness of the light it reflected noticeably affected his paintings from then on.
Both of his London homes were famous for their extravagant and well-attended parties, often in fancy dress, the artist himself having a liking for dressing as Nero and where music was always a feature. Distinguished guests included personalities such as Tchaikovsky and Enrico Caruso.
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema received awards and honors from around the world, including a knighthood from Queen Victoria in 1899 followed by the prestigious Order of Merit in 1905. His clients included members of the British Royal family and the Russian Imperial Family, he was in fact a noted society portrait artist. Approximately 60 of his 400 plus oil paintings are commissioned oil portraits of sitters ranging from the British Prime Minister Arthur Balfour to the Polish Prime Minister.
His wife, Lady Laura Alma-Tadema, died in 1909 and was buried, alongside whom he had reserved a plot for himself. However, this was not to be, since, by the time of his own death in 1912 at the German spa of Wiesbaden, he was one of the worlds artist and the British establishment saw it fit for him to be buried in St Paul's Cathedral.
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Antony and Cleopatra
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A Favorite Custom
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The Coliseum
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The Baths at Caracalla
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Silver Favorites
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Entrance to a Roman Theatre
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