Sir Lawrence ALMA-TADEMA | ARTWORK + Life | Dutch-British Painter / Artist (*1836 - †1912) | english

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Sir Lawrence ALMA-TADEMA | ARTWORK + Life | Dutch-British Painter / Artist (*1836 - †1912)
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, born on 8 January 1836, died on 25 June 1912, was a Dutch painter of special British denizenship. Born in the Netherlands and trained at the Royal Academy of Antwerp, Belgium, he settled in England in 1870 and spent the rest of his life there. A classical subject painter, he became famous for his depictions of the luxury and decadence of the Roman Empire with languorous figures set in fabulous marbled interiors or against a backdrop of dazzling blue Mediterranean Sea and sky. Alma Tadema was considered one of the most popular Victorian painters. Though admired during his lifetime for his draftsmanship and depictions of Classical antiquity, his work fell into disrepute after his death and only since the 1960s has it been reevaluated for its importance within 19th century British art. Lawrence Alma Tadema was born in a small village in the province of Friesland in the north of the Netherlands. He was the 6th child of Peter Tadema, the village notary.
His father died when Lawrence was four, leaving his mother with five children. His mother had artistic leanings and decided that drawing lessons should be incorporated into the children's education. He received his first art training with a local drawing master.
It was intended that the boy would become a lawyer, but in 1851 at the age of fifteen he suffered a physical and mental breakdown. Diagnosed as consumptive and given only a short time to live, he was allowed to spend his remaining days at his leisure drawing and painting. Left to his own devices he regained his health and decided to pursue a career as an artist.
In 1852 he entered the Royal Academy of Antwerp in Belgium where he studied early Dutch and Flemish art. During Alma Tademas four years as a registered student at the Academy, he won several respectable awards.

On 24 September 1863 he was married to Marie-Pauline, the daughter of a French journalist. Alma Tadema and his wife spent their honeymoon in Italy, and there he developed his interest in depicting the life of ancient Greece and Rome, which fascinated him and would inspire much of his work in the coming decades.
On 28 May 1869, his wife Pauline died at the age of thirty-two. Her death left Alma-Tadema disconsolate and depressed. He ceased painting for nearly four months.
In December 1869, Alma-Tadema was invited to the home of the painter Ford Madox Brown, where he met Laura Theresa Epps, who was seventeen years old and fell in love with her at first sight.
They married in July 1871. He was then 34 and Laura was now only eighteen. Laura also won a high reputation as an artist and appears in numerous of Alma-Tadema's canvases after their marriage.
As a man, Lawrence Alma-Tadema was a robust fun loving and rather portly gentleman. There was not a hint of the delicate artist about him. He was a cheerful lover of wine, women and parties.
Alma-Tadema's career was one of continued success. He became one of the most famous artists of his time.
Alma-Tadema's works are remarkable for the way in which flowers textures and hard reflecting substances, like metals, pottery and especially marble are painted. His work shows much of the fine execution and brilliant colour of the old Dutch masters.
Alma-Tadema was considered one of the most popular Victorian painters. He was one of the most financially successful painters of the Victorian era. For over sixty years he gave his audience exactly what they wanted : Distinctive elaborate paintings of beautiful people in classical settings. He died on 28 June 1912 at the age of 76.