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This important re-evaluation of the Dutch- born painter Lawrence Alma-Tadema traces his personal and artistic journey towards international fame and success in London and investigates how this exceptionally creative artist used his own houses and studios as laboratories to produce vivid paintings of life in ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt. Lawrence Alma-Tademas paintings were immensely popular among his contemporaries, and have since enchanted a wide audience through the medium of cinema. Anyone who has ever enjoyed the great epic films of antiquityfrom Italian silent classics and Cecil B. DeMille to Ridley Scotts Gladiatorwill instantly recognize their origins in sets and costumes Alma- Tadema invented. Accompanied by glowing reproductions of the artists rich and detailed works, this book boldly re-assesses Alma-Tademas art through the idea of home: from his admiration for the interiors depicted in early Dutch paintings through his fascination with Pompeian ruins, to his creation of large studio houses that were artworks in their own right. Building upon Alma-Tademas renown as "the archaeologist of artists," the new scholarship in this impressive volume shows how the spaces he created and inhabited with his talented artist-wife Laura and their two daughters reflected an aesthetic vision that has thrilled viewers and other artists for more than a century. Appealing to general and scholarly audiences alike, this book underscores Alma-Tademas reputation as one of his eras greatest creative talents.
This important re-evaluation of the Dutch- born painter Lawrence Alma-Tadema traces his personal and artistic journey towards international fame and success in London and investigates how this exceptionally creative artist used his own houses and studios as laboratories to produce vivid paintings of life in ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt. Lawrence Alma-Tademas paintings were immensely popular among his contemporaries, and have since enchanted a wide audience through the medium of cinema. Anyone who has ever enjoyed the great epic films of antiquityfrom Italian silent classics and Cecil B. DeMille to Ridley Scotts Gladiatorwill instantly recognize their origins in sets and costumes Alma- Tadema invented. Accompanied by glowing reproductions of the artists rich and detailed works, this book boldly re-assesses Alma-Tademas art through the idea of home: from his admiration for the interiors depicted in early Dutch paintings through his fascination with Pompeian ruins, to his creation of large studio houses that were artworks in their own right. Building upon Alma-Tademas renown as "the archaeologist of artists," the new scholarship in this impressive volume shows how the spaces he created and inhabited with his talented artist-wife Laura and their two daughters reflected an aesthetic vision that has thrilled viewers and other artists for more than a century. Appealing to general and scholarly audiences alike, this book underscores Alma-Tademas reputation as one of his eras greatest creative talents.