Lawrence Alma Tadema
- Category : Artist - Painter
- Type : PE
- Profile : 3/5 - Martyr / Heretic
- Definition : Split - Small (10,20)
- Incarnation Cross : RAX Penetration 4
Biography
Dutch-British painter, one of the most famous of late nineteenth century Great-Britain. Alma-Tadema's work has been linked with that of European Symbolist painters. As an artist of international reputation, he can be cited as an influence on European figures such as Gustav Klimt and Fernand Khnopff.
Lawrence got his education at the Royal Academy of arts in Antwerp and he stayed in Antwerp for 10 years before settling in London in 1870. He became famous for his historical paintings of luxury and decadence in the Roman Empire with figures in marble interiors, blue Mediterranean Sea and azure blue sky.
After his relocation to England, where he was to spend the rest of his life, Alma-Tadema's career was one of continued success. He became one of the most famous and highly paid artists of his time, acknowledged and rewarded.
By 1871 he had met and befriended most of the major Pre-Raphaelite painters and it was in part due to their influence that the artist brightened his palette, varied his hues, and lightened his brushwork.
In his personal life, Alma-Tadema was an extrovert and had a remarkably warm personality.
The last years of Alma-Tadema's life saw the rise of Post-Impressionism, Fauvism, Cubism and Futurism, of which he heartily disapproved. As attitudes of the public in general and the artists in particular became more skeptical of the possibilities of human achievement, his paintings were increasingly denounced.
He is now regarded as one of the principal classical-subject painters of the nineteenth century whose works demonstrate the care and exactitude of an era mesmerized by trying to visualize the past, some of which was being recovered through archaeological research.
Alma-Tadema's meticulous archaeological research, including research into Roman architecture (which was so thorough that every building featured in his canvases could have been built using Roman tools and methods) led to his paintings being used as source material by Hollywood directors in their vision of the ancient world for films such as D. W. Griffith's Intolerance (1916), Ben Hur (1926), Cleopatra (1934), and most notably of all, Cecil B. DeMille's epic remake of The Ten Commandments (1956).