Laura Theresa, Lady Alma-Tadema ( Epps; 16 April 1852 15 August 1909) was an English painter specialising in domestic and genre scenes of women and children. Eighteen of her paintings were exhibited at the
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...
. Her husband, Sir
Lawrence Alma-Tadema
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, (; born Lourens Alma Tadema ; 8 January 1836 – 25 June 1912) was a Dutch painter who later settled in the United Kingdom becoming the last officially recognised denizen in 1873. Born in Dronryp, the Netherlands, ...
, was also a painter.
Life
A daughter of Dr.
George Napoleon Epps
George Napoleon Epps (22 July 181528 May 1874) was an English homœopathic practitioner and author.
Life
Epps was the half-brother of physician and homeopath John Epps, and was born on 22 July 1815. He was educated at Mill Hill School in London Af ...
(who was brother of Dr.
John Epps
Dr John Epps (15 February 1805 – 12 February 1869) was an English physician, phrenologist and homeopath. He was also a political activist, known as a champion of radical causes on which he preached, lectured and wrote in periodicals.
Life Ear ...
), she had two sisters who were also painters (Emily studied under
John Brett, a
Pre-Raphaelite
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James ...
, and Ellen under
Ford Madox Brown
Ford Madox Brown (16 April 1821 – 6 October 1893) was a British painter of moral and historical subjects, notable for his distinctively graphic and often William Hogarth, Hogarthian version of the Pre-Raphaelite style. Arguably, his mos ...
), while
Edmund Gosse
Sir Edmund William Gosse (; 21 September 184916 May 1928) was an English poet, author and critic. He was strictly brought up in a small Protestant sect, the Plymouth Brethren, but broke away sharply from that faith. His account of his childhoo ...
and a stockbroker, Rowland Hill, were her brothers-in-law.
It was at Madox Brown's home that Alma-Tadema first met her in December 1869, when she was aged 17 and he was 33. (His first wife had died in May that year.) He fell in love at first sight, and so it was partly her presence in London (and partly the fact that only in England had his work consistently sold) that influenced him into relocating in England rather than elsewhere when forced to leave the continent by the outbreak of the
Franco-Prussian War in July 1870.
Arriving in London at the beginning of September 1870 with his small daughters and sister Artje, Alma-Tadema wasted no time in contacting Epps, and it was arranged that he would give her painting lessons. During one of these, he proposed marriage. As he was then thirty-four and Laura was now only eighteen, her father was initially opposed to the idea. Dr. Epps finally agreed on the condition that they should wait until they knew each other better. They married in July 1871 and, though this second marriage proved childless, it also proved enduring and happy, with Laura acting as stepmother to her husband's daughters by his first marriage,
Laurence
Laurence is an English and French given name (usually female in French and usually male in English). The English masculine name is a variant of Lawrence and it originates from a French form of the Latin ''Laurentius'', a name meaning "man from ...
and
Anna
Anna may refer to:
People Surname and given name
* Anna (name)
Mononym
* Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke
* Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773)
* Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th century)
* Anna (Anisia) (fl. 1218 to 1221)
...
.
The Paris Salon in 1873 gave Alma-Tadema her first success in painting, and in 1878, at the
Paris International Exhibition, she was one of only two English women artists exhibited. Her other venues included the
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...
(from 1873), the
Grosvenor Gallery
The Grosvenor Gallery was an art gallery in London founded in 1877 by Sir Coutts Lindsay and his wife Blanche. Its first directors were J. Comyns Carr and Charles Hallé. The gallery proved crucial to the Aesthetic Movement because it provided ...
and others in London. Alma-Tadema exhibited her work at the
Palace of Fine Arts
The Palace of Fine Arts is a monumental structure located in the Marina District of San Francisco, California, originally constructed for the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition to exhibit works of art. Completely rebuilt from 1964 to ...
at the 1893
World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordi ...
in Chicago, Illinois.
She also had occasional work as an illustrator, particularly for ''
The English Illustrated Magazine
''The English Illustrated Magazine'' was a monthly publication that ran for 359 issues between October 1883 and August 1913. Features included travel, topography, and a large amount of fiction and were contributed by writers such as Thomas Hardy, ...
'', and was well known as a hostess in their London residences at Regents Park and later Grove End Road. Alma-Tadema died on 15 August 1909; a letter to the ''
Times
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events, and a fundamental quantity of measuring systems.
Time or times may also refer to:
Temporal measurement
* Time in physics, defined by its measurement
* Time standard, civil time specific ...
'' newspaper printed two days later detailed the circumstances leading to her death:
Lady Alma-Tadema spent the months of June and July in a German cure, from which she returned a few days ago in a very weak state. She was advised to leave town immediately, and she entered an establishment in Hindhead
Hindhead is a village in Surrey, England. It is the highest village in Surrey, with buildings at between 185 and 253 metres above sea level. It is best known as the location of the Devil's Punch Bowl, a beauty spot and site of special scientific ...
. Here her malady suddenly took a critical turn on Friday last and she passed away painlessly after an unconsciousness of many hours on the night of Sunday.
A memorial exhibition of her work was held at the
Fine Art Society
The Fine Art Society is a gallery based in both London and in Edinburgh's New Town (originally Bourne Fine Art, established 1978). The New Bond Street, London gallery closed its doors in August 2018 after being occupied by The Fine Art Society si ...
the following year.
Style
![Laura Theresa Alma-Tadema - At the Doorway](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Laura_Theresa_Alma-Tadema_-_At_the_Doorway.jpg)
Alma-Tadema specialised in highly
sentimental domestic and
genre
Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...
scenes of women and children, often in
Dutch 17th-century settings and style, like ''Love's Beginning'', ''Hush-a-bye'', ''The Carol'', ''At the Doorway'' (c.1898, ''shown right'') and ''Sunshine''. She painted some classical subjects and landscapes akin to those of her husband, but in general her main influence was
17th-century Dutch art, which was a far less restrained influence in her work than his. She studied the works of
Vermeer
Johannes Vermeer ( , , see below; also known as Jan Vermeer; October 1632 – 15 December 1675) was a Dutch Baroque Period painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. During his lifetime, he was a moderately succe ...
and
de Hooch on visits to the
Low Countries
The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...
. Alma-Tadema, like her husband, numbered her work chronologically by giving them Opus numbers.
Depictions
As well as frequently being painted by her husband after their marriage (''The Women of Amphissa'' of 1887 being a notable example), she is also shown in a seated statuette by
Amendola in 1879, a bust by
Jules Dalou
Aimé-Jules Dalou (31 December 183815 April 1902) was a 19th-century French sculptor, admired for his perceptiveness, execution, and unpretentious realism.
Early life
Born in Paris to a working-class family of Huguenot background, he was raised ...
in 1876, and a portrait by
Jules Bastien-Lepage
Jules Bastien-Lepage (1 November 1848 – 10 December 1884) was a French painter closely associated with the beginning of naturalism, an artistic style that emerged from the later phase of the Realist movement.
His most famous work is his lan ...
.
Works
* ''Always Welcome'', showing a child at her mother's sick-bed (held at the
Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum
The Russell-Cotes Museum (formally, the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum) is an art gallery and museum in Bournemouth, England. A Grade II* listed building originally known as East Cliff Hall, it is located on the top of the East Cliff, next ...
)
* ''Ruin (and children)'', an Italianate scene (also held at the Russell-Cotes)
* ''Hawking - Medieval'' (held at the
Bury Art Museum)
* ''Mamma's chair'' (1873; Alma-Tadema's "Opus V")
[W. W. Sampson & Son, their sale, Christie's, London, 4 April 1930, lot 25.]
* ''Sweet Industry'' (1904), showing women weaving (held at
Manchester Art Gallery
Manchester Art Gallery, formerly Manchester City Art Gallery, is a publicly owned art museum on Mosley Street in Manchester city centre. The main gallery premises were built for a learned society in 1823 and today its collection occupies three c ...
)
* ''
George Eliot
Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively Mary Anne or Marian), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She wro ...
'' (pencil portrait, 1877; held at the
National Portrait Gallery)
* ''A Knock at the Door'' (1897; held at the
Currier Museum of Art
The Currier Museum of Art is an art museum in Manchester, New Hampshire, in the United States. It features European and American paintings, decorative arts, photographs and sculpture. The permanent collection includes works by Picasso, Matisse, Mon ...
in Manchester, New Hampshire)
Exhibited at the Royal Academy
![Airs and Graces by Laura Theresa Alma Tadema Rijksmuseum Amsterdam SK-A-2652](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/Airs_and_Graces_by_Laura_Theresa_Alma_Tadema_Rijksmuseum_Amsterdam_SK-A-2652.jpg)
* ''Mamma's Chair'' (1873)
* ''A Bird-cage'' (1875)
* ''A Blue Stocking'' (1877)
* ''A Good Book'' (1880)
* ''Amber and Opal'' (1880)
* ''Winter'' (1881)
* ''Asleep'' (1882)
* ''Saying Grace'' (1884)
* ''Self Help'' (1885)
* ''Nothing venture, nothing have'' (1888)
* ''The Pet Goldfish'' (1890)
* ''Hush-a-bye'' (1892)
* ''Satisfaction Persuasion'' (1893)
* ''The Pain of Parting'' (1895)
* ''A Carol'' (1896)
* ''Emblemata'' (1906)
* ''Peacemaking'' (1907)
* ''Sigh no more, Ladies'' (1909)
External links
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alma-Tadema, Laura Theresa
1852 births
1909 deaths
19th-century English painters
19th-century English women artists
20th-century English painters
20th-century English women artists
Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery
English artists' models
English women painters
Painters from London
Wives of knights
Laura Theresa