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| A Sculpture Garden |
Sir Lawrence
Alma-Tadema's A Sculpture Garden or The Sculpture Gallery (89.45)
was acquired this year through the Strasenburgh Fund and has been installed in
the 19th-century European Gallery. Laurens Alma-Tadema was born in
Holland in 1836. Alma, a family name, was inserted at the request of his
godfather. He was trained in art in Antwerp, and was fascinated by
anthropology—a fact apparent in most of his work. His early training was
in history painting, done with accuracy and realism.
In 1863 he visited Italy
where he saw the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum. From that time on he
strove to recreate the daily life of Rome and Pompeii, using exact
archaeological settings washed in golden Mediterranean sun.
He found a market for
his pictures through Ernest Gambart, one of the most influential of all
Victorian art dealers, and became internationally known. In 1870 he went
to England to live, married an English woman (his first wife had died), and
adopted the English spelling of his name.
Alma-Tadema made
extensive use of the new art of photography, using photographs as references
for ancient architecture and classical ornamental design. Every detail in
his paintings is done with painstaking care— he was known to offer visitors a
magnifying glass with which to examine his work. Each flower is a replica
of a real specimen; all of his materials, whether diaphanous draperies or
animal skins or cold, lustrous marble, were made real through his skill with
paint.
Tad, as he was known to
his friends, was an extrovert, a lover of parties and jokes. He once
appeared at a ball dressed as a Roman emperor; one of his houses resembled a
Pompeiian palace. Knighted in 1899, he was one of the richest and most
successful of all Victorian artists. He died in 1912.
The Strasenburgh fund
was established in honor of Clara and Edwin Strasenburgh. Francesco
Guardi's San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice, is among the MAG works
acquired through the Fund.
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