Lawrence Alma-Tadema Week at TechnoChitlins

Lawrence Alma-Tadema - Self-Portrait - 1852
Lawrence Alma-Tadema – Self-Portrait – 1852

Wikipedia:

Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, OM, RA (/ˈælmə ˈtædmə/;[1] born Lourens Alma Tadema [ˈlʌurəns ˈɑlmaː ˈtaːdəˌmaː]; 8 January 1836 – 25 June 1912) was a Dutch painter of special British denizenship.

Born in Dronrijp, 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.

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 re-evaluated for its importance within nineteenth-century English art.

This man’s art falls into two main stages- the work he did up until the death of his first wife, after which he swore off painting, and the work he did after meeting and marrying his second wife. The early phase is presented (in part) in this batch, and his later work, which differs rather dramatically, I will put up at a later time…