Page:The Strand Magazine (Volume 3).djvu/48



R. LAURENCE ALMA-TADEMA was born at Dronryp, in Friesland, and at sixteen was studying art at the Royal Academy of Antwerp, where he painted the portrait of himself which forms the first of our series. At twenty-seven, after placing himself with Baron Leys, whom he assisted in painting several large pictures, he became a Member of the Academy of Fine Arts at Amsterdam. At the age of our third portrait, he received letters of denization from the Queen of England, having resolved to settle permanently in this country. Three years later he was elected A.R.A., and in 1879 R.A. He has been twice married; his present wife, the youngest daughter of Dr. Epps, whose cocoa is of world-wide fame, being herself an accomplished artist, and a regular contributor to the Royal Academy and other leading exhibitions.