Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, OM, RA (born Lourens Alma Tadema; 8 January 1836 – 25 June 1912) was a Dutch painter of special British denizenship. Born in Dronryp, 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. Alma-Tadema was considered one of the most popular Victorian painters. 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 British art.
oil on canvas in five parts (mounted on panel, the largest diamond shaped, with four roundels), in a decorative frame designed by the artist Top left: The Three Graces of the State: Law, Order and Authority Top right: The Three Graces of the Home: Mother, Wife and Child Bottom left: The Three Graces of Religion: Faith, Hope and Charity Bottom right: The Three Graces of Art: Painting, Sculpture and Architecture
LAWRENCE ALMA TADEMA (1836-1912) TWO COLOURED ENGRAVINGS , CIRCA 1880 each signed in pencil lower left L. ALMA-TADEMA and inscribed lower right by the engraver LEOPOLD LÖWENSTAM (2) 36cm x 25cm
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, OM, RA (British, 1836-1912) A Solicitation signed and dated 'L.AlmaTadema op CLXXXIX-' (lower centre) watercolour on paper mounted on board 23 x 45cm (9 1/16 x 17 11/16in). Footnotes Literature Rudolf Dircks, Sir L. Alma-Tadema, O.M., R.A., 1910, p.30 Constant Cuypers, The Question by Lourens Alma-Tadema, Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek 27, 1976, pp.73–90 Vern Swanson, The Biography and Catalogue Raisonne of the Paintings of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1990, p.191 (entry for Pleading), p.199 (entry for Roman Gardens) This newly discovered watercolour makes an important addition to the sequence of works by Lawrence Alma-Tadema that celebrate romantic love and courtship in the ancient world. It deploys a composition which was a particular favourite with the artist himself, his closest friends, and his wider public audiences: a young woman sits upright on a marble bench, listening to the entreaties of a young man who reclines beside her. The man places himself in an attitude of submission, gazing upwards at the woman. At the same time his pose, firmly ensconced on the bench with his feet crossed, suggests a certain determination: we sense that he will not give up his entreaty until the woman succumbs. The artist's friends and patrons found this composition so irresistibly romantic that Tadema devised multiple versions of it. The present work, which dates from 1878, is the first of three known examples in watercolour: the others date from 1883, Op. CCLVIII (British Museum, London) and Op. CCLIX (Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; see below). Each time he painted the composition, Tadema retained the crucial relationship between the two principal figures—importunate male and meditative female—but he varied the details to make each one an independent work. In this case the variations are skilfully judged to make the most of the watercolour medium. The format is wider in relation to its height than any of the other versions, which gives the sense of a panoramic view over the marble parapet of the bench. Washes of watercolour indicate the blue waters of an expansive sea radiant in sunshine, and Tadema also exploits the delicacy of the medium to suggest the hills of the farther coastline with greater definition than in the other versions. A bravura touch, highly characteristic of the artist, is the depiction of minuscule sailboats on the water behind the figures. One of the tiny boats is piquantly perched just above the male figure's head—an amusing detail, but the juxtaposition also dramatizes the vast space implied by the picture's perspective, calling attention to the distance between the large-scale foreground figures and the sunlit background. By the date of this watercolour, Tadema was famous above all for his painting of white marble: 'Marbellous!' quipped Punch in response to the marble setting of Sappho and Alcaeus of 1881, (Walters Art Museum, Baltimore). In this example, the brightest and blondest of the courtship pictures, Tadema uses the transparency of watercolour to suggest the colour of sun-drenched marble with the subtlest of light effects. Reflected sunlight just catches the chin and profile of the man, emphasizing the piquancy of his upturned glance, while the sun catches the ripples of the woman's golden-red hair. The sunlight also illuminates the top of her right arm, to call attention to the expertness of its foreshortening, but this is not just a painter's tour de force: the way the girl extends her arm behind her own back, so the hand just touches the marble parapet as if to steady herself as she thinks, succinctly conveys her irresolution. Alma-Tadema was as meticulous in his business affairs as he was in his painting, and he kept track of his works (also guarding against forgeries) by assigning a unique opus number to each; the Latin word opus perhaps derives from musical composition but also suits Tadema's ancient settings, and he gave each opus a Roman numeral, in this case CLXXXIX. This, then, is the 189th work he made—or at least the 189th one he considered good enough to assign an opus number; all of his mature oil paintings have one, but Tadema only gave opus numbers to watercolours when he thought them particularly important or successful. That allows the work to be dated quite precisely to the early months of 1878, the time when Tadema and his closest friends were especially interested in the courtship composition. The composition first appeared in an oil painting of 1876 entitled Pleading1 (Guildhall Art Gallery, London); that title remained strongly associated with the composition and was later added to the frame of the current work, whose original title was given in Tadema's work list as A Solicitation. The composition was an immediate success with the writers as well as the painters of Tadema's circle, who had a keen interest in debates of the period about whether the ancient Greeks and Romans had possessed a concept of romantic love. Against the arguments of some classical scholars, that romantic love was a modern invention, the distinguished German Egyptologist Georg Ebers maintained that romance was a universal human emotion, and dramatized this opinion in a sequence of historical novels. He was immediately inspired by the Pleading composition, which he saw in a version exhibited at Munich in 1879 (Colección Pérez Simón, Mexico City), to write a novella that narrated the love story of the two figures under the title Eine Frage (1880, soon translated into English as A Question). Subsequently Tadema borrowed the names of Ebers's fictional characters, Xanthe and Phaon, to make another watercolour version (the Walters version referenced above). Thus the two friends, Ebers and Tadema, influenced one another in turn. Meanwhile, a longstanding friend of the artist, the Dutch author Carel Vosmaer, published The Amazon (1880, English translation 1884), a roman-à-clef whose hero was modelled on Tadema himself, with a love story that culminated in the Borghese Gardens in Rome, where the novel's fictional characters adopt the poses of the courtship composition. For his cousin, the Hague School artist Hendrik Willem Mesdag, Tadema painted a panel showing the courting figures on a bench in the background of a scene set in the Borghese Gardens (Mesdag Collection, The Hague). Yet another version borrows its title from a phrase that plays a key role in Vosmaer's novel, Amo Te, Ama Me ('I love you; love me'); this painting, which dates from 1881, is now in the Fries Museum, Leeuwarden. The composition was also reproduced by Tadema's favourite printmaker, Leopold Lowenstam, who is shown at work on an etching of it in the portrait recently rediscovered on Antiques Roadshow (and featured on their Christmas special programme broadcast on 28 December 2016). A version with different details appears on the easel in a photograph of Tadema in his studio published in 1884 for a series on Artists at Home (see illustration); its inclusion in this context (intended for wide publicity) again indicates how popular the composition had become. Whether or not it was made to replace a previous oil, the present watercolour is at the centre not merely of a compelling sequence of paintings by Lawrence Alma-Tadema, but also of a wider network of works, including novels and stories by his friends, which collectively explored the importance of romantic love to human experience across the ages, from antiquity to modernity. This rediscovered work is therefore of some importance to the study of Tadema's life and career, as well as a superb example of his skill as a painter in watercolour. This work has been requested for the major retrospective exhibition of Alma-Tadema's work, Lawrence Alma-Tadema: At Home in Antiquity, at Leighton House Museum, London, 7 July – 29 October 2017. 1 For further reading on Pleading and other compositions, see: Edwin Becker et al., Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1996–97), pp.199–200 (entry on Pleading), pp.204–5 (on Roman Gardens), pp.224 (on A Declaration) (all by Elizabeth Prettejohn) Elizabeth Prettejohn, 'Seeing and Making Art in Rome: Carel Vosmaer's The Amazon', in Timothy Saunders et al. (eds), Romans and Romantics, 2012, pp.285–303 Elizabeth Prettejohn and Peter Trippi, Lawrence Alma-Tadema: At Home in Antiquity, 2016, pp.66–8 We are grateful to Peter Trippi and Prof. Liz Prettejohn for their assistance in cataloguing this lot.
A Picture Gallery in Rome (1874) Signed and numbered OP C X.XIII Watercolour and ink on paper, 42.1 x 42.3 cm Provenance: - Maas Gallery, London - Private collection, The Netherlands N.B.: This watercolour is based on a section of the renowned painting by Alma-Tadema titled The Picture Gallery, which also dates from 1874, and is part of the collection of the Towneley Hall Art Gallery & Museum in Burnley. The young man's features resemble those of Charles Deschamps; the cousin of the owner of an earlier version of The Picture Gallery, painted in 1873. Like his uncle Deschamps was an art dealer, just as Henry Wallis, who is probably also depicted on this watercolour.
Alma Tadema, L. (1836-1912). (Female dancer). Lithograph, 22,5x16,2 cm., w. lithogr. captions "L.A. Tadema" and "S. Lankhout & Co den Haag", on blueish wove paper. Idem. (Two warriors with shields). Lithograph, 19x27 cm., w. lithogr. captions "L.A. Tadema" and "S. Lankhout & Co den Haag", on blueish wove paper. = Both publ. in the Kunstkroniek of 1877. Provenance: the collection of Carel Vosmaer.
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* nach. Hide and Seek. Radierung auf dünnem China von Leopold Löwenstam. 45,3 x 28,5 cm. (1891). Vgl. Swanson (1990) Nr. 209, opus CLXVII, 1876.Mit den Bleistift-Signaturen von Löwenstam und Alma-Tadema im breiten Unterrand rechts und links, dort ebenfalls die Remarque mit der Ansicht von Alma-Tademas Haus in St. John's Wood, London. Prachtvoller, toniger Druck mit dem vollen Rand. Wenige kleine Stockfleckchen innerhalb des Plattenrandes und der Darstellung, mit feiner Oberflächenverletzung auf der vorderen Stele, alt montiert auf kräftigem Velin, sonst tadellos. Auf dem Untersatzpapier die handschriftliche Erwerbungsnotiz für die Sammlung der Fürsten zu Liechtenstein: "Erworb 29/8 1903" sowie ein Trockenstempel der Printsellers Association innerhalb des Plattenrandes links (Lugt 2051). - Wir bitten darum, Zustandsberichte zu den Losen zu erfragen, da der Erhaltungszustand nur in Ausnahmefällen im Katalog angegeben ist. - Please ask for condition reports for individual lots, as the condition is usually not mentioned in the catalogue.
SIR LAWRENCE ALMA-TADEMA (BRITISH, 1836-1912) OPUS XII -TRIUMPHAL RETURN OF WILLEM SAEFTINGEN TO THE ABBEY TERDOEST, 1860 Oil on canvas: 36 x 26 in. Framed; upper center signed and dated: L. Alma Tadema 1860 Provenance: Gambart, London 1864, sold American Art Association, New York, April 5th 1917 no. 171 for $480; purchased by Boris Sard; Walter White, Ohio; inherited by Mrs. J. Basel White Ward, Ohio, 1957- C. G. Sloan & Company: Sunday, April 5, 1992. lot 02633; Private Collection from the Historic Edmund Jennings Lee House, Alexandria, Virginia Literature: V.G. Swanson, The Biography and Catalogue Raisonne of the Paintings of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1990, pp.124-5, no.46 OPUS X11
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (British 1836-1912) double portrait of John Collier's (1850 - 1934) wife Marian (Mady) Huxley and his daughter Joyce Collier. Signed L Alma-Tadema with thanks also signed J Collier top right watercolour on silk napkin.The Vendor is the great great granddaughter of John Collier and this is the first time this work has been offered for sale. Family history tells us that Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema and John Collier were good friends and during a dinner party hosted by John Collier, Alma-Tadema painted this double portrait as a thank you.
SIR LAWRENCE ALMA-TADEMA, O.M., R.A. (1836-1912) The Mirror signed, inscribed and dated ‘L Alma Tadema/à son ami/J. Dupont’ (lower left) oil on panel 14 x 9 3/8in. (35.6 x 23.9 cm.)
"Opus: 298" Hand colored photogravure. Beautiful interior figural scene depicting languorous women set in a fabulous marbled room. Signed in brown pencil on lower right. Matted and framed under glass. Height: 12 3/4", Width: 14 7/8" & Image Size: Height: 8", Width: 10"(fine art, painter, painting, Netherlands, Royal Academy of Antwerp, England, Belgium, Royal Gold Medal, luxury and decadence of the Roman Empire, 19th Century) STERLING ASSOCIATES STRIVES TO PROVIDE ACCURATE, OBJECTIVE, & FAIR INFORMATION ON ALL LOTS. WE WILL BE HAPPY TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS AND PROVIDE ADDITIONAL PHOTOS. WE ADVISE THAT YOU, OR SOMEONE ON YOUR BEHALF, INSPECT ANY ITEM(S) AND COME TO YOUR OWN CONCLUSIONS BEFORE BIDDING. ALL SALES ARE FINAL. PLEASE SEE TERMS & CONDITIONS.
ATTRIBUTED TO ANNA ALMA-TADEMA (british 1836-1912) PORTRAIT OF A LADY, POSSIBLY MISS LAURENCE ALMA-TADEMA, THE ARTIST'S SISTER Watercolor on paper together with: FIGURAL STUDY verso, pencil on paper, unframed 21 x 15 1/2 in. (53.3 x 39.4cm) provenance: Bonham's, London, sale of August 1, 1979, lot 7. Ms. Hildegard Ryals and Professor Clyde Ryals, Durham, North Carolina. By descent in the family to the present owner. Private Collection, Maryland.
SIR LAWRENCE ALMA-TADEMA (1836-1912) Anglo-Dutch Self Portrait Print Signed in pencil to margin; together with another, similarly signed The former 13 x 15 cm, both loose (2)
"Opus: 298" Hand colored photogravure. Beautiful interior figural scene depicting languorous women set in a fabulous marbled room. Signed in brown pencil on lower right. Matted and framed under glass. Height: 12 3/4", Width: 14 7/8" & Image Size: Height: 8", Width: 10"(fine art, painter, painting, Netherlands, Royal Academy of Antwerp, England, Belgium, Royal Gold Medal, luxury and decadence of the Roman Empire, 19th Century) STERLING ASSOCIATES STRIVES TO PROVIDE ACCURATE, OBJECTIVE, & FAIR INFORMATION ON ALL LOTS. WE WILL BE HAPPY TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS AND PROVIDE ADDITIONAL PHOTOS. WE ADVISE THAT YOU, OR SOMEONE ON YOUR BEHALF, INSPECT ANY ITEM(S) AND COME TO YOUR OWN CONCLUSIONS BEFORE BIDDING. ALL SALES ARE FINAL. PLEASE SEE TERMS & CONDITIONS.
"Opus: 298" Hand colored photogravure. Beautiful interior figural scene depicting languorous women set in a fabulous marbled room. Signed in brown pencil on lower right. Matted and framed under glass. Height: 12 3/4", Width: 14 7/8" & Image Size: Height: 8", Width: 10"(fine art, painter, painting, Netherlands, Royal Academy of Antwerp, England, Belgium, Royal Gold Medal, luxury and decadence of the Roman Empire, 19th Century) STERLING ASSOCIATES STRIVES TO PROVIDE ACCURATE, OBJECTIVE, & FAIR INFORMATION ON ALL LOTS. WE WILL BE HAPPY TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS AND PROVIDE ADDITIONAL PHOTOS. WE ADVISE THAT YOU, OR SOMEONE ON YOUR BEHALF, INSPECT ANY ITEM(S) AND COME TO YOUR OWN CONCLUSIONS BEFORE BIDDING. ALL SALES ARE FINAL. PLEASE SEE TERMS & CONDITIONS.
ARTIST UNKNOWN (20th century) The Favourite Poet 1888 (After Lawrence Alma-Tadema, British 1836-1912) oil on canvas 122 x 184cm PROVENANCE: Private collection, Melbourne
Alma Tadema, L. (1836-1912). (Study of a woman). Lithograph, 16x16,5 cm., signed on the stone, on brown tinted paper w. watermark "M.B.M." - AND 1 other.
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Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912), UK/Netherlands, oil on canvas painting of an interior church scene with a mother and her young child, signed lower right, "L Alma Tadema", 10" x 19 1/2", old if not original molded gilt frame, Museum loan label on panel reverse"see photos" oval stamp in center back "see photos". **PLEASE NOTE** THE BID LIMIT IS BELOW THE STARTING BID FOR THIS LOT. IF YOU'D LIKE TO BID ON THIS LOT, OR IN EXCESS OF $10,000 THROUGHOUT THE AUCTION, PLEASE CONTACT US THROUGH THE INVALUABLE MESSAGE SYSTEM, WHEREUPON THE LIMIT CAN BE EXTENDED UPON RECEIVING ADDITIONAL INFORMATION***
SIR LAWRENCE ALMA-TADEMA (1836-1912), BRITISHPORTRAIT OF MASTER ERNEST ANGELEY (ANGELÉE) (PREVIOUSLY CALLED “HEAD OF A BOY”)Oil on panel, feigned oval; signed, with Opus number “LXXVI” and dated 70 lower left15.25" x 11.75" — 38.7 x 29.8 cm.Provenance:Commissioned by Messrs Ernest Gambart, London, 1870;Sold Estate sale at Christie’s, May 4th, 1903, lot 289; Bt. Messrs Thomas McLean, London;A.B. Yuille, sold Christie’s, Feb. 6th, 1909;Messrs P.D. Colnaghi & Obach, London, sold Christie’s, Mar. 16th, 1913, Lot 124; Bt. Messrs W.W. Sampson, London; The Watson Galleries, Montreal;Estate Collection, CanadaLiterature:Vern G. Swanson, The Biography and Catalogue Raisonne of the Paintings of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, London, 1990, Cat. No. 118, p. 155 cites the following literature references: Vosmaer, c. 1885 (93); Christie’s, 1903 (ac); Dircks 1910. p. 27; Christie’s, 1913 (ac); Maas letter to Swanson Sept. 25th, 1985 in author’s possessionNote:This work previously cited by Vern Swanson as “present location unknown” with an “unknown” exhibition history has resurfaced in a Canadian collection. The portrait was commissioned by Ernest Gambart, the powerful London-based Belgian art dealer. Gambart was a very important patron of Alma-Tadema and together they agreed to a commission of over 70 paintings. Dr. Swanson relates the circumstances surrounding the execution of the present portrait as follows:“Alma-Tadema was still in England when he completed this small portrait of Gambart’s four-year-old ward. When Gounod and Georgina Weldon stayed with Gambart in Spa in 1872, Georgina referred to Mme Angelée several times in her diary (unpublished). The latter was obviously very ill at the time, and because of her poor health, Gambart took special care of her until she died in January 1873. He then put her young son, Ernest, in the care of a clergyman as part of ‘my office as tutor’ to her boy. It seems probable that he was in fact Gambart’s illegitimate son.‘This son’s Christian name of Ernest does tend to suggest that he was Gambart’s… All in all, I think that the chances that this was Gambart’s boy are very strong indeed, What a marvellous discovery!’ [Maas, Sep 25th, 1985]The portrait was still in Gambart’s possession at his death in 1902. Maas does not remember any mention of Ernest Angelée in Gambart’s will, which suggests that the son predeceased him. ‘Or, just as likely, Gambart who, as you will have gathered, was incredibly devious, could have made provision for him in some other way in the event of his death,’ (ibid). The painting’s correct title was suppressed in the Christie’s auction catalogue for the Gambart estate sale of May 4th, 1903, which listed it as Head of a boy, and the painting only brought five guineas. If he was illegitimate, none of the surviving members of the Gambart family would have bought it, hence the unusually low price in sale which raised record Alma-Tadema prices, for it must have been a good picture, otherwise it would not have been bought by Thomas McLean and again by Colnaghi in 1913.“
nach. A Kiss. Heliogravure, auf gewalztem China. 45,9 x 58 cm. London, published May 2nd, 1892 by Stephen T. Gooden. Signiert. Der Stich wiederholt das 1891 entstandene Gemälde Alma-Tademas aus Privatbesitz. Mit dem Blindstempel der Printsellers Association. Ganz ausgezeichneter Druck mit breitem Rand. Leichte Alters- und Gebrauchsspuren überwiegend im weißen Rand außerhalb der Darstellung, sonst sehr schönes Exemplar.
DESCRIPTION: After Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema (British, 1836-1912). Color lithograph. Under the Roof of Blue Ionian Weather. Signed in lithograph. In wooden frame. Born in Holland in 1836, Alma Tadema studied art and law. He became a British citizen, a Royal Academician and was knighted by Queen Victoria. MEASUREMENTS: 13-5/8" x 28". Overall with frame 15-5/8" x 29-5/8". CONDITION: Fading and darkening to lithograph and paper. Some water staining at edges. Foxing and areas of discoloration. Scratches, losses, dents to wooden frame.
LAWRENCE ALMA-TADEMA (1836-1912): PORTRAIT STUDY Pencil on paper laid down on paperboard, 1897, signed 'L Alma-Tadema', dated and inscribed 'with best xmas greetings 1897 to Mrs. J. Blake Wingman' lower left, with label from J.S. Maas & Co., Ltd., London. 12 1/4 x 9 5/8 in. (sheet), 16 1/2 x 15 1/4 in. (frame). Estate of Holland Roberts Melson, Jr, New York
Sir Lawrence Alma Tedema lithograph "Vain Courtship", beautifully framed and accented with hand re-touching. Frame appears to be original to the piece. Measures 17" x 25" framed, and 10.5" x 18" viewable. Retains original title in verso.
Sir Lawrence Alma Tedema lithograph "Under the roof of Blue Ionian Weather", beautifully framed and accented with hand re-touching. Frame appears to be original to the piece. Retains original title in verso. Measures 39" x 21" framed and 32" x 13" viewable.
CIRCLE OF LAWRENCE ALMA TADEMA (Dutch, 1836-1912), Grecian girl stretching over a pool from a terrace to reach a water lily, oils on canvas. Bears fragments of hand written label verso, unintelligible. Signed 'L. Alma Tadema' with Roman Numerals. 9'' x 13'' (23cm x 33cm), Good overall with no obvious holes or lining. Very grubby, possibly smoke, requires cleaning. Some crazing.
Attributed to Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (British/Dutch, 1836-1912), "Portrait of Whittaker Thompson," oil on canvas, unsigned, museum title label (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA) affixed verso, stamped verso, canvas: 30"h x 24"w, overall: 39.75"h x 34"w. Note: William Whitaker Thompson (British, 1857-1920) was chairman of the London county council from 1910-1911 before undertaking the role of the mayor of Kensington from 1911-1912. An identical portrait by Alma-Tadema resides in the permanent collection in the Guild Hall Museum of London.
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema British, 1836-1912 Summer Hours/Study of Landscape with Figures, 1874 [Swanson 170] Signed by the artist's daughter Anna, L Alma Tadema and initialed aat (lr) Oil on canvas 8 7/8 x 14 inches Provenance: The artist, until 1912 Miss Anna Alma-Tadema Sale: Sotheby's Belgravia, Jun. 29, 1976, lot 98 Sale: Sotheby's Belgravia, Apr. 18, 1978, lot 90 Anthony Reed and Andrew Wyld, London Davis & Long Company, New York Exhibited: London, The Royal Academy, Winter Exhibition, 1912, p. 36, no. 124 Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery, 1913, no. 1044 Literature: V.G. Swanson, The Biography and Catalogue Raisonne of the Paintings of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, London, 1990, p. 70, illus. p. 354, no. 394 C
![Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema British, 1836-1912 Summer Hours/Study of Landscape with Figures, 1874 [Swanson 170]](https://image.invaluable.com/housePhotos/doyle/15/430215/H0061-L58417557.jpg)
