Lawrence Alma-Tadema

Description

Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema was one of the finest and most distinctive of the Victorian painters. Dutch-born, he moved to London in 1870, and became famous for his depictions of the luxury and decadence of the Roman Empire, set in fabulous marbled interiors or against a backdrop of dazzling blue Mediterranean sea and sky. This study presents an absorbing and often amusing portrait of an exuberant personality who carved out a brilliant career for himself at the heart of London's artistic and cultural elite. The author also subjects the paintings to fresh scrutiny, and reveals that Alma-Tadema, a knowledgeable student of antiquity, repeatedly used literary and archaeological allusions in his paintings to play a game of interpretation with his viewers. Time and again the seeming innocence of the scenes he depicts is subverted by a mischievously placed inscription or statue, suggesting to the initiated a darker and usually risque meaning. Neglected after his death, Alma-Tadema's paintings are once again admired for their beauty and their remarkable mastery of light, colour and texture. Offering intriguing insights into his personality and intentions, this book aims to offer a challenging reassessment of a major artist.

Dr Rosemary Barrow is a Lecturer in Classics and Faculty of Arts Research Fellow at the University of Bristol. She completed her PhD thesis on Victorian classical-subject painting at King's College, London. She has lectured and published on Alma-Tadema and on Victorian classicism and is currently working on nineteenth-century constructions of decadence in the visual arts.

"This book, like the paintings themselves, is a joy of immaculate and comprehensive research with a lavish attention to detail."-Arts Opinion "In this original and penetrating study, Rosemary Barrow presents a portrait of an exuberant personality who carved out a brilliant career at the heart of London's artistic and cultural elite."-The Argus "A penetrating study of one of the finest and most distinctive Victorian painters."-(Sotheby's Bookshop Brochure) "Scholarly and informative book..."-Times Literary Supplement "A fresh and sympathetic appraisal of this artist."-Daily Telegraph "This fascinating book, well-illustrated with fine colour reproductions will help to reasses his [Lawrence Alma-Tadema's] reputation in the 21st century."-Yorkshire Gazette "Barrow's anecdotal, academic and absorbing study of this Dutch-born Victorian painter breathes life into a man famous for his depictions of the imagined excesses, decadence and languid passion of the Roman Empire."-Antiques