Laurens Alma Tadema Painting by Paul Meijering

Realistic acryic painting of Laurens Alma Tadema, painted by teh Dutch fine artist Paul Meijering - the original painting is 90 x 1120 cm and part of a permanent collection.

Lourens Alma Tadema (Dronrijp, 8 January 1836 - Wiesbaden, 25 June 1912), also known as Laurens Alma Tadema and Lawrence Alma-Tadema (since 24 May 1899 Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema), was a Dutch-British painter who worked in the academic tradition. He was one of the most renowned painters of late-19th-century Britain.

He was born in the Frisian town of Dronrijp and went to school in the nearby Frisian capital of Leeuwarden. After training as a painter at the Royal Academy of Antwerp, Tadema first worked in Belgium for just under a decade before settling in London in 1870, where he would spend the rest of his life. As a painter, he stood out for his classical choice of subjects, smooth finishes and realistic fabric expression. He became famous for his historical depictions of luxury and decadence in the Roman Empire, with languorous figures in beautiful marble interiors, depicted against a background of a blue Mediterranean or azure sky.

Although he was admired during his lifetime for his depictions of classical antiquity, his work fell into disfavour after his death and especially after World War I. After which it was ignored for some 40 years - not coincidentally just during the heyday of modernism. It was not until the late 1960s that interest in his work resumed, initially because of its importance to 19th-century English art. Since the late 20th century, astronomical prices have increasingly been paid for his works.