Saturday, March 3, 2012

Artist of the Day: Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912)


Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema was Dutch by birth, but moved to England when 33 and lived there the rest of his life as a celebrated artist.  He was a Romanticist, with many of his paintings representing the Roman Empire. He found a lot of success with his nudes, as Victorian England gradually began to accept his work.  He was also an influence in Hollywood, as his paintings represented an ideal of life in ancient times.  However, Alma-Tadema has been criticized for lacking emotion or spirituality in his work, of just being a technical painter.  I wonder what conflicts he felt painting in his style while Impressionism was on the rise. 


Top painting
Phideas Showing the Frieze of the Parthenon to His Friends
Oil on canvas
1868

Bottom painting
The Sculptor's Model
Oil on canvas
1877

This painting is interesting, because evidently it made a lot of Victorians uncomfortable.  Alma-Tedema painted the model standing on a modern platform, and she was viewed not as a classic Venus, but as a contemporary model, thus a painting of a naked girl.  After this painting and the uproar that ensued, Alma-Tadema returned to semi-nudes.  

Click on the images for more info on LAT

Wiki on Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Alma-Tadema

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