Lawrence Alma-Tadema

b. 1836 — d. 1912

While the artist was christened Lourens Tadema, his name changed several times. His godfather's name, Alma, was prefixed to his family name, and when he moved to Antwerp in 1852 he changed Lourens to Laurens and then anglicized it to Lawrence after his move to London. In 1852 he entered the Antwerp Academy, where his taste for subjects concerning the early history of France and Belgium was cultivated. This interest was further developed during his study with the history painter Baron Henri Leys (1815-1869), whom he assisted on the frescoes in Antwerp's City Hall. He married Pauline Gressin (1837-1869) in 1863 and went on a honeymoon to Italy. Alma Tadema's visit to Pompeii refocused his attention from Northern Europe to the Mediterranean. After several paintings of Egyptian subject matter, one earning him a gold medal at his first Paris Salon (1864), he eventually concentrated on ancient Roman history. Meeting the influential London-based art dealer Ernest Gambart (1814-1902) turned out to be a crucial event in his career, and Alma Tadema provided Gambart with a group of sought-after paintings. Alma Tadema's often trivial genre subjects set in ancient times distinguished him from more traditional and idealizing neoclassicists such as Ingres (q.v.) or Leighton (q.v.). His formidable skills in depicting various materials, notably marble, formed the basis of his fame. Portraying the mysterious Romans as people of flesh and blood added to his work's popularity. His wife, who gave birth to twodaughters, Laurense (b. 1865) and Anna (b. 1867), died in 1869. He moved from Brussels to London in 1870, as his popularity there was steadily growing, and became a naturalized British citizen. Another reason for his move to London may have been that he had met there a young woman, Laura Epps (1852-1909), who would become his student and eventually his second wife in 1871. In his two successive London studio-houses, decorated in historicizing styles, he often entertained the social elite that formed his clientele. Around 1877 the Dutch art critic Carel Vosmaer started collecting information on his friend Alma Tadema's work in preparation for a catalogue raisonné that survives only in manuscript form. In 1879 Alma Tadema became a member of the Royal Academy, and in 1882 the Grosvenor Gallery organized a major retrospective of his work. Every critic agreed that his work displayed superior craftsmanship and archaeolog-ical correctness, although objections were raised as well, for example, against his surfeit attention to details, or his sole focus on a decadent Rome instead of addressing higher moral issues. Toward the end of his career, Alma Tadema also painted many portraits and designed stage decorations for plays. In addition to being knighted in England in 1899, he received many honorary titles through-out Europe. In 1913, one year after his death, the Royal Academy honored the artist by mounting a large exhibition of his work. Poorly visited, this homage paradoxically marked the beginning of a steep decline in the artist's reputation.