Reviews (8)

Fantastic Full Page Reproductions!
This book is filled with full page reproductions of Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema's paintings. It also has an interesting bio with pictures of his home, studio, and himself. I've been looking everywhere for a great book on Alma Tadema and I believe this is the one. Besides reading about a painter's life, I think it is very important that we see color reproductions of the painter's work, and this book does it very well. I hate books with 4x4 black and white images of an artist's paintings, its useless. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book for lovers of Victorian art and Alma Tadema. I recently went to the Getty Museum and saw Alma Tadema's "Spring" and it looks exactly how it appears in the book. The full page color plates are exact reproductions of his paintings, unlike the newer book on Alma Tadema published by Phaidon whose reproductions have been altered and all appear saturated with blue hues. Anyways....GET THIS BOOK IF YOU CAN ONLY GET ONE BOOK ON ALMA TADEMA BECAUSE IT IS THE BEST!

Lovely Art - Spendid Work
If you love Victorian painting of scenes of antiquity (Greece/Rome) then check out this beautiful book.

A short bio on the artist is very interesting and the full sized plates are reproduced in excellent detail and glorious color. No "dup-ey" reproductions here!

An added bonus: Each plate comes with a descriptive page which
describes the painting and what it depicts - a major plus.

Heartily recommended to fans of the genre...or anyone else who loves beautiful artwork masterfully portrayed.

Alma-Tadema,an artist
So that you willunderstand my perspective, I am a professor and a painter mostly of large scale, representational figures, so I buy anything to do with artists who specialize in the figure. In Russel Ash's book, the reproductions were large and fairly clearly reproduced. I enjoy the art of the late 19th and early twentieth century and the detailed realism of Tadema's female figures was, though academic in development, fun to see. Of that era I prefer Waterhouse and others, whose sense of color and less passive work is more powerful and deep, but if you like figure paintings especially of "Victorians in toga's" as one critic of his day describes Alma-Tadema's work, then you will love the large format reproductions. The book is lavishly adorned with semi-nude, sleepy-eyed, languid, supple, neo-classical women and a few men, all painted in the always safe, pastellish colors of the time. The women are engaged in mostly pastoral time passing non-events. "The Roses of Heliogabllus", with it's profusion of rose petals was easily the most colorfully of the reproductions, and a large composition of "Joseph Overseer..." as the most powerful of his offerings. The bio of Alma-Tadema was interesting enough to make me want to know more. If you are an art lover, a collector of large format books of painters, even the 19th cnetury academic styles, this is a good one for you

Eye Candy
These are gorgeous reproductions of some of the most technically adept and intellectually hollow art imaginable. You can't help but admire Alma-Tadema's virtuosity, even as you wonder why on earth he went to all the trouble. Maybe, like that other popular artist British knight, Sir Elton John, Sir Lawrence knew what struck the public's fancy, and was content to make a lot of money by devoting his considerable talents and energy to providing it.

A guilty pleasure
Alma Tadema is not nearly as well-regarded as others who painted in the same era, but there is something about his work that is compelling. This book is nicely done and a real value. ... Read more

Book Description

Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912), 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. In this original study, Rosemary Barrow 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. But above all she subjects the paintings to a 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. With its intriguing insights into his personality and intentions, this book should provide a challenging reassessment of a major artist. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

At last I found a great book about Alma Tadema
Perhaps this book is the only one about Alma tadema-the greatest master of Victorian age- which deals with his life and works the way it should be. It contains a great collection of his works as high quality pictures as well as a great biography. Just buy it and see what you have missed all this time.

Perfect!
This is an excellent book - well-printed, with beautiful reproductions of Alma-Tadema's work, and well-written. Too often, art books lump Alma-Tadema generically with the pre-Raphaelites or shun him entirely (because his paintings catered to Victorian tastes). This book is almost, but not quite, too much of a good thing, with an in-depth view of Alma-Tadema's career, especially the mentors and travel experiences that shaped his style. Very early paintings and watercolor studies which I had never before seen are included, and I paticularly like the side-by-side presentation of watercolor studies with finished oils of the same scene. Alma-Tadema was a skilled artist whose lush, decorative style and atmospheric historical scenes prefigured the art of Maxfield Parrish. It's about time that a collection of this quality has become available.

Buy it before it's late
This is the best book I've ever seen about alma-tadema. Includes high quality pictures of his masterpieces. If you love Almatadema's works you should have this special book. ... Read more

Book Description

The works of the late Victorian painter Alma Tadema have recently enjoyed a revived interest.This second volume in the Getty Museum Studies on Art focuses on Spring, one of Tadema's most renowned paintings.The book is lavishly illustrated and includes details of the painting, a history, and an analysis focusing on sources, composition, and symbolism. ... Read more

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Music Trades, published by Music Trades Corp. on February 1, 2002. The length of the article is 1462 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The most expensive piano ever built! Steinway launches the "legacy" series with a $675,000 reproduction of the famed Alma-Tadema piano. (Product Developments).
Publication: Music Trades (Magazine/Journal)
Date: February 1, 2002
Publisher: Music Trades Corp.
Volume: 150Issue: 1Page: 174(4)

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from Music Trades, published by Music Trades Corp. on December 1, 1998. The length of the article is 946 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: ART CASE PIANO FOR THE MILLENNIUM.
Publication: Music Trades (Magazine/Journal)
Date: December 1, 1998
Publisher: Music Trades Corp.
Volume: 146Issue: 11Page: 66

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from Music Trades, published by Music Trades Corp. on December 1, 2002. The length of the article is 2826 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: World's most expensive piano sold: "new" Steinway dealer sells famed Alma-Tadema grand for $675,000. (Retailer Update).
Publication: Music Trades (Magazine/Journal)
Date: December 1, 2002
Publisher: Music Trades Corp.
Volume: 150Issue: 11Page: 46(5)

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from The Modern Language Review, published by Modern Humanities Research Association on April 1, 2001. The length of the article is 40090 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the supplier: Issues concerning the visual influences late nineteenth-century painter, Lawrence Alma-Tadema had on Gabriele D'Annunzio, are discussed, with particular focus on D'Annunzio's word-painting of feminine beauty.

Citation Details
Title: D'Annunzio and Alma-Tadema: between pre-raphaelitism and aestheticism.
Author: Giuliana Pieri
Publication: The Modern Language Review (Refereed)
Date: April 1, 2001
Publisher: Modern Humanities Research Association
Volume: 96Issue: 2Page: 361(9)

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