Lawrence Alma-Tadema

Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836–1912) was born Lourens Alma Tadema in the Frisian village of Dronryp in the Netherlands. He trained at the Royal Academy of Antwerp, then worked with Louis Jan de Taeye, who encouraged his interest in ancient Egypt and historical accuracy, and in the studio of Baron Hendrik Leys. In 1870 he settled in London, where he spent the rest of his life; he became a Royal Academician in 1879, was knighted in 1899, and died while taking a cure at Wiesbaden in 1912. A honeymoon visit to Pompeii in 1863 turned him towards Greek and Roman antiquity, and he became one of the most popular Victorian painters, admired for his draughtsmanship and his accurate reconstructions of the ancient world. Stung by Leys's criticism of his early attempts at marble, he became the foremost painter of that material. His work fell out of fashion after his death and has been reappraised since the 1960s; The Finding of Moses, which could not be sold in 1960, set an auction record for a Victorian artist in 2010. Two works here: The Finding of Moses and Joseph, Overseer of Pharaoh's Granaries.