Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema

Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (* 8th January, 1836 in Dronrijp, the Netherlands; † 26th June, 1912 in Wiesbaden) was a Dutch painter and draftsman of the neoclassicism with British, Belgian and Dutch civil right.

Alma-Tadema was the son of the lawyer Pieter Tadema and his second wife. His father died already in 1840 and he got a premouth (whos name "Alma" he later added to his own). At the age of 16 years 1852 Alma-Tadema came to Antwerp and became there pupil in the academy of arts of Gustave Wappers.

With his recommendation he could change later in the studio of Henri Leys and became his assistant. In 1859 Alma-Tadema supported Leys with the decoration of the city hall of Antwerp. The next years Alma-Tadema already worked as an independent artist, however, was to be found over and over again as a pupil in the studios of Joseph Laurent Dyckmans or Gustave Wappers.

In 1863 Alma-Tadema married an Englishwoman and lived with her, up to her death in 1869, in Brussels. In 1864 a picture by him was distinguished on the exhibit of the Paris Salon in 1864 with a medallion. On the world exhibit in Paris in 1867 his exhibited works were likewise awarded.

With his both daughters Laurence and Anna Alma-Tadema 1870 sat down in London and devoted himself during the following years to history painting, he found his subjects over and over again in the antiquity.

In 1871 Alma-Tadema married in London Laura Theresa Epps who came from an artist's family and became known under the name Laura Theresa Alma-Tadema. On the occasion of his 40-th birthday in 1873 the British citizenship was lent him.

In 1876 the royal Academy of Arts took up Alma-Tadema as an "Associate" and already three years later they appointed him as a ordinary member. The respectable Grosvenor Gallery in London honoured him in a much-notable exhibit. On the occasion of the 81-st birthday of queen Victoria in 1899 Alma-Tadema was hit to the knight.

At the age of 76 years sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema died on the 25th June, 1912 in Wiesbaden