A Favourite Custom

Lawrence Alma-Tadema prints bring the gleaming marble, blue Mediterranean skies and leisurely luxury of the ancient world into your home. Alma-Tadema was a Dutch-born painter who settled in London and became one of the most popular Victorian artists, famous for his detailed scenes of Roman, Greek and Egyptian life. Our collection of fine art prints covers his classical scenes, Egyptian subjects, Merovingian history and drawings.

About Lawrence Alma-Tadema

Lourens Alma Tadema was born on 8 January 1836 in Dronryp, Friesland, in the Netherlands, the son of a notary who died when he was four. His mother encouraged drawing lessons. In 1852 he entered the Royal Academy of Antwerp, studying early Dutch and Flemish art, and then worked with Baron Hendrik Leys, helping on Leys's murals for Antwerp City Hall. Leys once criticised his painted marble as looking like cheese, a remark that drove him to become the world's finest painter of marble.

In 1863 he married Marie-Pauline Gressin-Dumoulin de Boisgirard; their honeymoon in Florence, Rome, Naples and Pompeii awoke his lifelong love of ancient Rome. In 1864 he met the dealer Ernest Gambart, who became his great promoter. Pauline died of smallpox in 1869.

At the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 he moved to London with his small daughters, partly drawn by Laura Theresa Epps, whom he had met there and later married; she became a respected painter and often appears in his pictures. He became a British denizen in 1873 and was later knighted. He died at Wiesbaden, Germany, on 25 June 1912.

Style and Subjects

Alma-Tadema painted the ancient world as if it were everyday life: women bathing, reading, waiting for a lover or gathering flowers, set on sunlit marble terraces above a dazzling blue sea. He was admired for his drawing and accurate depiction of classical antiquity, inspired by the ruins of Pompeii.

His marble is famously convincing, cool and translucent, and his colour bright and clear.

Famous Works

• The Death of the Pharaoh's Firstborn Son (1872), Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. The grieving pharaoh with his dead son, a powerful Egyptian scene.
• Pheidias and the Frieze of the Parthenon (1868–69), Birmingham Museums Trust. The sculptor showing his work to friends on the scaffolding.
• Sappho and Alcaeus (1881), Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. The poet Sappho listening to Alcaeus play in a marble exedra.
• The Meeting of Antony and Cleopatra (1883). Cleopatra on her barge as Antony's boat approaches.
• A Reading from Homer (1885), Philadelphia Museum of Art. Listeners gathered on a marble terrace above the sea.
• The Women of Amphissa (1887), Clark Art Institute, Williamstown. Bacchantes waking in a market place, with Laura among the figures.
• The Roses of Heliogabalus (1888), Pérez Simón Collection. Guests smothered under a cascade of rose petals.
• A Favourite Custom (1909), Tate, London. Bathers splashing in a Roman bath.

Decorating with Alma-Tadema Prints

Alma-Tadema's sunny marble terraces, like A Coign of Vantage, bring Mediterranean light to a living room, bedroom or bathroom, and suit classic, neoclassical and coastal interiors with white and blue.

His bath scenes are a natural fit for a bathroom, and his larger historical scenes, such as The Meeting of Antony and Cleopatra, make a grand focal point in a dining room or library.

FAQ

Who was Lawrence Alma-Tadema?

Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836–1912) was a Dutch-born British painter, one of the most popular Victorian artists, famous for scenes of daily life in ancient Rome, Greece and Egypt.

Why is Alma-Tadema famous for painting marble?

Early in his career his teacher Hendrik Leys said his marble looked like cheese. He worked so hard on it that he became known as the finest painter of marble and granite of his time.

What is Alma-Tadema's most famous painting?

The Roses of Heliogabalus (1888), A Reading from Homer and The Finding of Moses are among his best-known works.

Where can I see Alma-Tadema's paintings?

His work is in Tate, the Rijksmuseum, the Walters Art Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Clark Art Institute and the Getty Museum.

Related Artists

• Edward John Poynter: fellow Victorian painter of the ancient world
• Frederic Leighton: leading Victorian classical painter
• John William Godward: later painter of classical women and marble
• Jean-Léon Gérôme: French painter of ancient and Oriental scenes