Lawrence Alma-Tadema biography in Biographies from the artzine on artrepublic.comLawrence Alma-Tadema is the archetypal Classicist painter and at his peak his reputation rivalled that of Leighton. The unquestionable strength of his technical skill is most notable in the details bestowed on the many marble artefacts that characterise his work. Lawrence Alma-Tadema was born in 1836 in Holland but settled in London in 1869 and became a naturalised Englishman only four years later. He was trained in Antwerp and, like many of his Dutch contemporaries, began by mastering the art of genre painting, specialising in historical genre scenes. His early influences included the famous Egyptologist George Ebers. After a trip to Pompeii in the late 1860s, Alma-Tadema was keen to recreate Rome and Greece by painting beautiful men and women reposing within marble settings of archaeological exactitude. Arguably the most successful painter of the Victorian era, he was also perhaps one of the most prolific, producing more than 400 known paintings during his 60 year career as well as finding time to design a number of musical instruments. Alma-Tadema was knighted and received an order of merit for his highly acclaimed works. After his death, in 1912, his work declined in popularity. He is buried in the crypt in St. Paul's Cathedral, London along with both Leighton and Millais. Browse Prints
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