by Bingley
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912) was a Dutch-born British painter of the Victorian era. He was famous for his paintings of scenes set in the ancient world. Although the people in his pictures are often unmistakably Victorian, he was meticulous about getting the settings authentic, researching current archaeological knowledge to get the buildings, costumes, and props right. In one famous instance, he calculated that for his picture Caracalla and Geta (see below), set in the Coliseum, there should be 2,500 spectators visible – and proceeded to paint them all in the picture. He was (and is) much admired for his ability to paint the textures of objects, particularly marble.
Russell Ash's book, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (Pre-Raphaelite Painters Series), has an introductory essay about the painter and a selection of his paintings.
Online, the Art Renewal Center has a section devoted to Alma-Tadema. It includes a book length biography, and reproductions of his works – 19 pages in all. Scrolling down each page link below, you can find paintings of particular interest as we read Gibbon:
The Roses of Heliogabalus (1888) with related text and a link to the poem Heliogabulus by Clark Ashton Smith. (hi-resolution image alone)
The Baths of Caracalla (1899). (hi-resolution image alone)
Caracalla and Geta (1909). (hi-resolution image alone)
Postscript from Irene: One of my favorite museums, The Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachutts has several works by Alma-Tadema. The Women of Amphissa (1887) (hi-resolution image alone) is usually displayed in the Permanent Galleries, as is my favorite, an 1887 Steinway piano with fine-arts decorations by Alma-Tadema, supposedly one of the most famous pianos in the world. The museum acquired it a few years ago for $1,200,000 (!) – and a Florida collector had a nine-foot re-creation made for $675,000. It's either fabulous or ghastly, depending on one's taste … take a look.
Lawrence Alma-Tadema and the Modern City of Ancient Rome by Elizabeth Prettejohn, The Art Bulletin 84 no1 115-29 (2002). (JSTOR has the illustrated version of this article)