Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema

Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912) was a Dutch painter who later settled in the United Kingdom. Born in Dronryp, the Netherlands, and trained at the Royal Academy of Antwerp, Belgium, he settled in London, England in 1870 and spent the rest of his life there.

A painter of mostly classical subjects, 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. One of the most popular Victorian painters, Alma-Tadema was admired during his lifetime for his draftsmanship and accurate depictions of Classical antiquity, but his work fell out of fashion after his death, and only since the 1960s has it been appreciated for its importance within Victorian painting.

He married Marie-Pauline Gressin-Dumoulin de Boisgirard in 1863 and the couple spent their honeymoon in Florence, Rome, Naples and Pompeii. This, his first visit to Italy, developed his interest in depicting the life of ancient Greece and Rome, especially the latter since he found new inspiration in the ruins of Pompeii, which fascinated him and would inspire much of his work in the coming decades. 

In 1869, after years of ill health, Pauline died of smallpox at Schaerbeek in Belgium, aged 32. Her death left Tadema disconsolate and depressed. He ceased painting for nearly four months. His sister Artje, who lived with the family, helped with their two daughters then aged five and two. Artje took over the role of housekeeper and remained with the family until 1873 when she married.

During the summer Tadema himself began to suffer from a medical problem that doctors in Brussels were unable to diagnose. He was eventually advised to go to England for another medical opinion. Soon after his arrival in London in December 1869, Alma-Tadema was invited to the home of the painter Ford Madox Brown. There he met Laura Theresa Epps, who was seventeen years old and fell in love with her at first sight.

The outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in July 1870 encouraged Alma-Tadema to leave the continent and move to London. His infatuation with Laura Epps played a great part in his relocation to England and he also thought the move would be advantageous to his career.

With his small daughters and sister Artje, Alma-Tadema arrived in London at the beginning of September 1870. The painter wasted no time in contacting Laura, and it was arranged that he would give her painting lessons. During one of these, he proposed marriage. As he was then thirty-four and Laura was now only eighteen, her father was initially opposed to the idea. Dr Epps finally agreed on the condition that they should wait until they knew each other better. They married in July 1871. Laura, under her married name, also won a high reputation as an artist, and appears in numerous of Alma-Tadema's canvases after their marriage.

Alma-Tadema's output decreased with time, partly on account of health, but also because of his obsession with decorating his new home, to which he moved in 1883. Nevertheless, he continued to exhibit throughout the 1880s and 1890s, receiving accolades including the medal of Honour at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1889, election to an honorary membership of the Oxford University Dramatic Society in 1890, and the Great Gold Medal at the International Exposition in Brussels of 1897. In 1899 he was knighted in England, only the eighth artist from the Continent to receive this honour. He assisted with organising the British section at the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris, as well as exhibiting two works that earned him the Grand Prix Diploma. He also assisted with the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904, where he was well received.

On 15 August 1909 Alma-Tadema's wife, Laura, died at the age of fifty-seven. The grief-stricken widower outlived his second wife by less than three years. His last major composition was Preparation in the Coliseum (1912). In the summer of 1912, Alma-Tadema was accompanied by his daughter Anna to Kaiserhof Spa, Wiesbaden, Germany, to be treated for stomach ulcers. He died there on 28 June 1912 at the age of seventy-six. He was buried in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral in London.