Page:1902 Encyclopædia Britannica - Volume 25 - A-AUS.pdf/375

 A L M A-T ADEMA — ALMEEIA 329 ing 55,000 It). In the Arrayanes sulphurous and lead mines Shop ” is one of his many pictures of historical genre, but 930 men, 18 women and 35 lads were employed, and 18,962 marked with a more robust humour than usual. In 1863 tons of ore were extracted in 1898. The Almaden conces- Alma-Tadema married a French lady, with whom he lived sion covers over 490,872 acres; the Arrayanes only 1397 at Brussels till 1869, when she died, leaving him a widower acres. Population, 7388. with two daughters, both of whom have since made reputations—one in art, the other in literature. In 1869 he Alma-Tadema., Sir Laurence (or sent from Brussels to the Royal Academy two pictures Laurens), British artist, was born on the 8th of “Un amateur Remain ” and “Une danse Pyrrhique,” January 1836, at Dronryp, a Friesian village near Leeu- which were followed by three pictures, including “Un warden, the son of Pieter Tadema, a notary, who died Jongleur,” in 1870, when he came to London. By this when he was four years old. Alma was the name of time, besides the distinctions he gained in Holland and his godfather. His mother (d. 1863) was his father’s Belgium, he had been awarded medals at the Paris second wife, and was left with a large family. It was Salon of 1864 and the Exposition Universelle of 1867. designed that he should follow his father’s profession; In 1871 he married an English lady, Miss Laura but he had so great a leaning towards art that, after Epps, who, under her married name, has also won a a long struggle between duty and inclination, during high reputation as an artist. After his arrival in England which his health broke down, he was sent to Antwerp, Alma - Tadema’s career was one of continued success. where in 1852 he entered the academy under Gustav Amongst the most important of his pictures during Wappers, the leader of that romantic movement in Belgian this period are — “The Vintage Festival” (1870), art which was fast obliterating the old classical school “The Picture Gallery” and “The Sculpture Gallery” of David. Thence he passed to the atelier of Henri (soon (1875), “An Audience at Agrippa’s” (1876), “The afterwards to become Baron) Leys. In 1859 he assisted Seasons” (1877), “Sappho” (1881), “The Way to the Leys in his frescoes in the hall of the Hotel de Yille at Temple” (1883), his diploma work, “Hadrian in Britain” Antwerp. In the exhibition of his collected works at the (1884), “The Apodyterium” (1886), “The Women of Grosvenor Gallery in London in the winter of 1882-83 Amphissa” (1877), “The Roses of Heliogabalus” (1888), were two pictures which may be said to mark the begin- “An Earthly Paradise” (1891), and “Spring” (1895), ning and end of his first period. These were a portrait of Most of his other pictures have been small canvases of himself, dated 1852, and “ A Bargain,” painted in 1860. exquisite finish, like the “Gold-fish” of 1900. These, as His first great success was a picture of “ The Education of well as all his works, are remarkable for the painting of the Children of Clovis” (1861), which was exhibited at flowers, textures, and hard reflecting substances, like metals, Antwerp. In the following year he received his first gold pottery, and especially marble. He paints with much of medal at Amsterdam. The “ Education of the Children of the fine execution and brilliant colour of the old Dutch Clovis” (three young children of Clovis and Clotilde prac- masters. By the human interest with which he imbues tising the art of hurling the axe in the presence of their all his scenes from ancient life he brings them within widowed mother, who is training them to avenge the murder the scope of modern feeling, and charms us with gentle of their own parent) was one of a series of Merovingian sentiment and playful humour. He has also painted pictures, of which the finest was the “Fredegonda” of 1878 some fine portraits, including those of Mr Arthur Bal(exhibited in 1880), where the dejected wife or mistress is four, Mr Henschel, Herr Richter the musician, and Dr. watching from behind her curtain window the marriage of Joachim. He was knighted on the occasion of Queen Chilperic I. with Galeswintha. It is perhaps in this series Victoria’s eighty-first birthday, 1899. He was made an that we find the painter moved by the deepest feeling and associate of the Royal Academy in 1876, and a Royal the strongest spirit of romance. One of the most passionate Academician in 1879. He is a knight of the order Pour of all is “Fredegonda at the Death-bed of Prsetextatus,” le Merite of Germany (Arts and Science Division); of Leoin which the bishop, who has been stabbed by order of the pold, Belgium; of the Dutch Lion; of St Michael of queen, is cursing her from his dying bed. Another distinct Bavaria; of the Golden Lion of Nassau; and of the Crown of series attempts to reproduce the life of ancient Egypt. Prussia. He is an officer of the Legion of Honour, France. One of the first of these was called “Egyptians 3000 He is a member of the Royal Academies of Munich, Years Ago,” and was painted in 1863. A profound Berlin, Madrid, and Vienna. He received a gold medal depth of pathos is sounded in “ The Death of the First- at Berlin in 1872, and a grand medal at Berlin in 1874 ; born,” painted in 1873. Among his other notable a first-class medal at the Paris International Exhibition of Egyptian pictures are “An Egyptian at his Doorway” 1878, and medals of honour at the Paris Exhibitions of (1865), “The Mummy” (1867) (depicting the family of 1889 and 1900. He is a member of the Royal Society of the defunct bringing offerings to a mummy which stands Water-colours. He received letters of denization from the on end at the right of the spectator), “ The Chamberlain Crown in 1873. of Sesostris” (1869), “A Widow” (1873), and “Joseph, See also Georg Ebers. “ Lorenz Alma-Tadema, ” Westermann’s Overseer of Pharaoh’s Granaries ” (1874). On these scenes Monatshefte, November and December 1885, since republished in from Frankish and Egyptian life Alma-Tadema spent great volume form.—Helen Zimmern. “L. Alma-Tadema, his Life Work,” Art Annual, 1886.—C. Monkhouse. British Conenergy and research; but his strongest art-impulse was and temporary Artists. London, 1899. (c> Mo ) toAvards the presentation of the life of ancient Greece and Almendralejo, a town of Spain, province of Rome, especially the latter. Amongst the best known of his earlier pictures of scenes from classical times are Badajoz, 27 miles E. S. E. of Badajoz. Population, “Tarquinius Superbus” (1867), “Phidias and the Elgin 11,766. It has doubled in importance since 1880, owing Marbles” (1868), and “The Pyrrhic Dance” and “The to the fertility of its neighbourhood, the cereals, fruit, Wine Shop” (1869). “The Pyrrhic Dance,” though one and wine produced in which are easily exported by the of the simplest of his compositions, stands out distinctly Merida-Sevilla railway. There are thirty-six factories for from them all by reason of its striking movement. the production of brandy. The town is well built, with “Phidias and the Elgin Marbles” is the first of those broad streets, a good theatre, a bull-ring, and many private glimpses of the art-life of classical times, of which mansions. “ Hadrian in England,” “ The Sculpture Gallery,” and Almeria, a maritime province in the S. of Spain, “ The Picture Gallery ” are later examples. “ The Wine with an area of 3300 square miles. The Linares-Almeria S. I. — 42