- Hardcover: 208 pages
- Publisher: Phaidon Press Ltd (1 Sep 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0714839183
- ISBN-13: 978-0714839189
- Product Dimensions: 29.8 x 26 x 2.9 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,088,704 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Product Description
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema was one of the finest and most distinctive of the Victorian painters. Dutch-born, he moved to London in 1870, and became famous for his depictions of the luxury and decadence of the Roman Empire, set in fabulous marbled interiors or against a backdrop of dazzling blue Mediterranean sea and sky. This study presents an absorbing and often amusing portrait of an exuberant personality who carved out a brilliant career for himself at the heart of London's artistic and cultural elite. The author also subjects the paintings to fresh scrutiny, and reveals that Alma-Tadema, a knowledgeable student of antiquity, repeatedly used literary and archaeological allusions in his paintings to play a game of interpretation with his viewers. Time and again the seeming innocence of the scenes he depicts is subverted by a mischievously placed inscription or statue, suggesting to the initiated a darker and usually risque meaning. Neglected after his death, Alma-Tadema's paintings are once again admired for their beauty and their remarkable mastery of light, colour and texture. Offering intriguing insights into his personality and intentions, this book aims to offer a challenging reassessment of a major artist.
About the Author
Dr Rosemary Barrow is a Lecturer in Classics and Faculty of Arts Research Fellow at the University of Bristol. She completed her PhD thesis on Victorian classical-subject painting at King's College, London. She has lectured and published on Alma-Tadema and on Victorian classicism and is currently working on nineteenth-century constructions of decadence in the visual arts.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Every coffee table should have one,
By A Customer
This review is from: Lawrence Alma-Tadema (Hardcover)
This is a beautifully bound edition, printed on high quality paper. Open it and you soon discover page after page of lush colour plates. However, this is more than a picture book, as the plates are accompanied by text that is every bit as colourful. Barrow clearly knows her subject, and she provides informative and concise commentary on Tadema's work. She also avoids the trap of becoming sidetracked into the flawed argument that Tadema's work was expertly produced but ultimately vacuous tosh for which wealthy philistines would pay high prices. Instead, while covering this argument, she focuses on the content of his pictures, the subject matter, and the humour that Tadema often injected into his pictures.The book is arranged chronologically, beginning with Tadema's earliest exhibited works, and progressing through his career to, at the end, examples of works that remain unfinished. The list of works at the back of the book is not exhaustive, and some works mentioned in the text are not present as plates, but this hardly detracts from what is an attractive and enjoyable book.
36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Luxurious book - great read, great pictures,
By A Customer
This review is from: Lawrence Alma-Tadema (Hardcover)
Elegantly written so that the text, while being informative and erudite, is a constant pleasure to read. We get a sense of the man and a detailed discussion of his paintings (complemented by the fine illustrations). The analysis of classical sources is both fascinating and accessible to those without prior knowledge of the ancient world. Lots of new material and pictures not reproduced elsewhere. Playful, provocative, learned and readible, it is unequalled by any other book on the market on Alma-Tadema. Essential reading for anyone interested in Victorian painting.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Don't buy the wrong book,
This review is from: Lawrence Alma-Tadema (Hardcover)
Please note: the review from "A Customer" is for the R.J.Barrow monograph on Alma-Tadema from Phaidon published in 2001, and NOT for the one by Edmund Swinglehurst from the Fine Art Series as advertised above, so if you want the Barrow monograph, which is 207 pages long, DON'T order this one.
Amazon has conflated two different books into one item. I suspect that all three reviews may be for the Barrow book which you can find by clicking on both the "Hardback" options. One of them has a different cover, and you will see the author's name (Barrow) on the cover photo.
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