| Born Lourens Tadema (Alma being his middle name) in | | | | also had the fortuitous 'side-effect' of elevating his |
| Dronryp, Friesland, to Pieter Tadema, a notary, and his | | | | name to a top position in alphabetical catalogues! |
| second wife Hinke Brouwer - from an early age | | | | Soon after marriage, the Tademas moved from a |
| Alma-Tadema showed artistic ability and the | | | | rented home in Camden Square to Townshend House, |
| beginnings of his highly methodical and exacting nature | | | | near Regent's Park. Elegant and cosmopolitan in decor, |
| as demonstrated in his subsequent paintings. He only | | | | their home soon became a popular venue for |
| adopted the now familiar form of his name after | | | | gatherings of fellow artists. Fame and prosperity soon |
| moving to London in 1870. | | | | followed and in 1876 Alma-Tadema became an |
| At the age of 16 Alma-Tadema enrolled at the | | | | Associate of the Royal Academy, being elected to a |
| Antwerp Academy where he studied under Gustav | | | | full Royal Academician in 1879. The Grosvenor Gallery |
| Wappers and Nicaise de Keyser, both exponents of | | | | staged an exhibition of 287 of his paintings in 1882. He |
| the Romantic movement in art. Later he became an | | | | had become one of the most famous painters in |
| assistant to the historical painter Baron Hendryk Leys | | | | Britain. |
| whilst living in the house of an archaeologist, Louis de | | | | 'Building' on this success, Alma-Tadema drew up plans |
| Taye. From these two men he began to develop his | | | | for a more spectacular home - the building for which |
| interest in history and archaeology, which was further | | | | he found in St John's Wood. In fact it was the former |
| developed by contact with the German Egytologist, | | | | home of French artist James Tissot that had been |
| Georg Ebers. He assisted Leys in painting historical | | | | abandoned after the death of his mistress, Kathleen |
| murals in Antwerp's Town Hall. | | | | Newton. It was then fairly modest but had a number of |
| His early works depicted the history of the Merovingian | | | | classical features that appealed to him (such as the |
| dynasty, rulers of Gaul from the 6th to 8th centuries | | | | famous colonnade beside a garden pond, which |
| AD. However, having visited the International Exhibition | | | | featured in several of Tissot's canvases). However |
| in London in 1862, he became inspired by the Elgin | | | | Alma-Tadema made it into almost a palace, designing |
| Marbles and Egyptian artefacts in the British Museum, | | | | every detail himself - from the weather vane in the |
| leading him to turn ever more towards Egyptian | | | | form of an artist's palette and the doorway modelled |
| themes. | | | | on one from Pompeii, to the rainspouts in the form of |
| In 1863 he married a French woman, Marie Pauline | | | | lions' heads. The hall was lined with panels painted by |
| Gressin de Boisgirard, and they honeymooned in Italy | | | | fellow artists and the enormous galleried and |
| where he encountered the newly-found ruins of | | | | marble-floored studio was crowned with a polished |
| Pompeii. So fascinated was he by the Roman remains | | | | aluminium dome - the brightness of the light it reflected |
| with their abundance of marble that very quickly | | | | noticeably affected his paintings from then on. |
| ancient Roman subject matter came to the fore in his | | | | Both of his London homes were famous for their |
| paintings. | | | | extravagant parties, often in fancy dress - the artist |
| The Tademas soon moved to Paris where Lourens | | | | himlself having a predilection for dressing as Nero - and |
| entered into a long-term contract with the well-known | | | | where music was always a feature. Distinguished |
| art dealer Ernest Gambart, an influential man with | | | | guests included personalities such as Tchaikovsky and |
| connections throughout Europe. Within a short time he | | | | Enrico Caruso. |
| relocated his studio to Brussels. | | | | Alma-Tadema received awards and honours from |
| But in the 1860s, tragedy struck: his only son dying of | | | | around the world, although notably not from his own |
| smallpox in 1865 and his wife in 1869, leaving him to | | | | country of birth - including a knighthood from Britain in |
| care for his two daughters Anna and Laurence. But | | | | 1899 followed by the prestigious Order of Merit in 1905. |
| fortune in his career followed swiftly and, in the same | | | | His clients included members of the British Royal family |
| year, two of his paintings - A Roman Art Lover and | | | | and the Russian Imperial Family - he was in fact a |
| Phyrric Dance - were exhibited at the Royal Academy | | | | noted Society portraitist. Indeed approximately 60 of |
| in London. | | | | his 400 plus paintings are commissioned portraits of |
| So well were his paintings received overall that, upon | | | | sitters ranging from the British Prime Minister Arthur |
| visiting England the same year to see a doctor, and in | | | | Balfour to the Polish pianist and Prime Minister |
| part due to the possible Prussian invasion of France, | | | | Paderewski. |
| Alma-Tadema moved his home to London in 1870. | | | | By the time of his death in 1912 at the German spa of |
| The following year he married his seventeen-year-old | | | | Wiesbaden, he was so famous an artist that the British |
| pupil, Laura Epps, a doctor's daughter and member of | | | | 'establishment' saw fit for him to be buried in St Paul's |
| a then well-known family of cocoa manufacturers. In | | | | Cathedral. Soon afterwards, his famous house and |
| 1873 he became a naturalized British citizen, at the | | | | contents were sold - the house being converted into |
| same time consciously joining his middle name, Alma, to | | | | apartments, leaving few of the splended architectural |
| his surname. The hyphenation was in fact done by | | | | details. |
| others and this has since become the convention. It | | | | |