--- type: exposition title: Lawrence Alma-Tadema language: en url: "https://www.belvedere.at/en/lawrence-alma-tadema-0" --- # Lawrence Alma-Tadema ![Oil on canvas, 64 x 44,5 cm](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/header_cropped_1920x480_fp/public/jart-images/_468272306430.jpg.webp?itok=EsoTfGf2) **Duration:** 24 February 2017 - 18 June 2017 **Stella Rollig at the exhibition opening: *“… because it simply is really good painting.”*** The Dutchman Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836–1912) lived in Victorian England, where he was a celebrated star among artists. He specialised in sensuous depictions of everyday life in antiquity that made him famous far beyond Britain’s borders. After his death, his work fell into oblivion and was only rediscovered several years ago. Presenting important masterpieces from around the globe, the exhibition offers a glimpse of the life and work of an artist who also influenced, among others, Gustav Klimt during his early phase. Alma-Tadema was born in Frisia and educated in Belgium. From 1870 on he lived in London with his second wife and his two daughters from his first marriage. The couple travelled extensively, visiting antique excavation sites, and collected textiles, objects, and furniture from past centuries. Fascinated by antiquity, the artist conjured up in his work the daily life of ancient Rome, Pompeii, and Egypt. One of the most outstanding stylistic features of his art was his ability to painstakingly render the surface textures of fabrics and materials. His compositions continue to inform our ideas of life in antiquity to this very day, primarily because the filmmakers of epic period dramas used his paintings as models for their sets and film scenes, such as Enrico Guazzoni for “Quo Vadis” (1913) and Ridley Scott for “Gladiator” (2000). “A painting from the chapter ‘Love, Leisure, and Decadence’ called The Roses of Heliogabalus (1888) is particularly impressive. Thanks to Alma-Tadema’s sensuous rendering one almost seems to be able to smell the petals.” Der Standard, Roman Gerold “Beautiful women in flowing antique garments lasciviously reclining on marble, with the azure sea and magnificent landscape settings beyond.” Ö1, Sabine Oppolzer The exhibition is organized by the Fries Museum, the Netherlands. \#AlmaTadema ### [Lower Belvedere](https://www.belvedere.at/en/visit/lower-belvedere) **Opening hours:** Monday to Sunday, 10 am - 6 pm **Address:** Lower Belvedere, 1030 Vienna ([Getting there]()) [Tickets](https://www.belvedere.at/en/tickets?location%5B0%5D=3) ##### In cooperation with - [Logo Fries Museum](https://www.friesmuseum.nl/en/see-and-do/exhibitions/alma-tadema/) ## Impressions - ![Oil on canvas, 132,7 x 214,4 cm — Lawrence Alma-Tadema, The Roses of Heliogabalus, 1888 — Colección Pérez Simón, Mexico, Photo: © Piera, Arturo](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_468272291378.jpg.webp?itok=-j0NzRnV) - ![Oil on canvas, 64 x 44,5 cm — Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Coign of Vantage, 1895 — Collection of Ann and Gordon Getty, Photo: © Collection of Ann and Gordon Getty](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_468272306430_0.jpg.webp?itok=Ih6nypDT) - ![Oil on panel, 45,1 x 62,9 cm — Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Unconscious Rivals, 1893 — Bristol Museums & Art Gallery, Photo: © Bristol Culture, Bristol Museum and Art Gallery](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_468272291940.jpg.webp?itok=VnGHcOl-) - ![Watercolour on paper, 47,3 x 39,4 cm — Lawrence Alma-Tadema, A Votive Offering, 1873 — Lady Lever Art Gallery, National Museums Liverpool, Photo: © Courtesy of National Museums Liverpool, Lady Lever Art Gallery](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_468272291941.jpg.webp?itok=y-YWfath) - ![Opus CCLXI (Section A) Oil on canvas 76.2 × 119.4 cm — Lawrence Alma-Tadema, The Roman Potters in Britain (Hadrian in England), 1884 — Koninklijke Verzamelingen (Royal Collections), The Hague](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_468272305184.jpg.webp?itok=26cqYW9n) - ![Opus CLXI Oil on panel 90.8 × 62.8 cm — Lawrence Alma-Tadema, An Audience at Agrippa’s, 1875 — Dick Institute, Kilmarnock – By permission of East Ayrshire Council / East Ayrshire Leisure](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_468272305185.jpg.webp?itok=GQeZLVg-) - ![Opus XXXV Oil on canvas 67.4 × 96.0 cm — Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Entrance of the Theatre (Entrance to a Roman Theatre), 1866 — Collection Fries Museum, Leeuwarden – Acquisition supported by the Rembrandt Foundation (in part through its Saskia Fund), the BankGiro Lottery, the Mondriaan Fund, the Wassenbergh- Clarijs-Fontein Foundation and the Friends of the Fries Museum](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_468272305183.jpg.webp?itok=71voEBpy) - ![Opus CCCLXXVII Oil on canvas 137.7 × 213.4 cm — Lawrence Alma-Tadema, The Finding of Moses, 1904 — Private collection, courtesy Christie’s](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_468272305182.jpg.webp?itok=fL86LACv) - ![Opus CCCXI Oil on canvas 45.7 × 58.4 cm — Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Portrait of Ignacy Jan Paderewski, 1891 — Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie (National Museum in Warsaw)](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_468272306428.jpg.webp?itok=PR4Bf0oz) - ![Lawrence Alma-Tadema — Exhibition view Lawrence Alma-Tadema – Decadence & Antiquity — Photo: © Belvedere, Vienna, 2017](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_487588463319.jpg.webp?itok=7mlJHNvR) - ![Lawrence Alma-Tadema — Exhibition view Lawrence Alma-Tadema – Decadence & Antiquity — Photo: © Belvedere, Vienna 2017](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_487588463316.jpg.webp?itok=H03oEkVu) - ![Lawrence Alma-Tadema — Exhibition view Lawrence Alma-Tadema – Decadence & Antiquity — Photo: © Belvedere, Vienna 2017](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_487588463315.jpg.webp?itok=PNQhB1ex) - ![Lawrence Alma-Tadema — Exhibiotion view Lawrence Alma-Tadema – Decadence & Antiquity — Photo: © Belvedere, Vienna 2017](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_487588463318.jpg.webp?itok=JirTBXs2) - ![Lawrence Alma-Tadema — Exhibition view Lawrence Alma-Tadema – Decadence & Antiquity — Photo: © Belvedere, Vienna 2017](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_487588463317.jpg.webp?itok=va3IhE05) - ![#AlmaTadema Video Teaser — #AlmaTadema Video Teaser 3](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_495246641861.jpg.webp?itok=hj92ZtlP) - ![#AlmaTadema Video Teaser — #AlmaTadema Video Teaser 1](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_495246641863.jpg.webp?itok=aM23iRmq) - ![#AlmaTadema Video Teaser — #AlmaTadema Video Teaser 4](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_495246641860.jpg.webp?itok=e22CNBLq) - ![#AlmaTadema Video Teaser — #AlmaTadema Video Teaser 2](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_495246641862.jpg.webp?itok=lqLuu94X)