A Day in a Greek Home.
A Greek Library.
Homer and His Writings.
A Description of “A Reading from Homer.”
The Artist.
=The story of the artist.= Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, of Dutch parentage,
was born in the little village of Dronrijp near Leewarden, the
Netherlands, in the year 1836. When he was very young his father died,
leaving his mother with a large family and small means, and it was
decided from the first that Alma-Tadema must learn a good trade or
profession. His progress at school caused his mother much anxiety, for
the boy cared for nothing except Roman history, which he began to study
by himself. Having secured some quaint old coins in the neighborhood, he
spent much of his time copying the heads of the emperors on the coins.
He soon began to show remarkable talent for painting. A portrait which
he painted of his sister was exhibited when he was only fifteen years
old. But his mother wished him to become a lawyer, because she felt it
would bring the best financial returns. He tried to please her, but a
serious illness was the result. When the doctor advised the mother to
let him become an artist she gave her consent, and it is said the boy
recovered with astonishing rapidity.
He studied at Antwerp many years, winning such success that he sent for
his mother and sister to come to live with him. Then he began to make a
special study of Egypt, Greece, and Rome. After his marriage to an
English lady he moved to London, where he lived the rest of his life.
His love for marble and the polished surfaces of bronze, gold, and other
metals is clearly shown in most of his pictures. Even his portraits
usually represent the sitter as glancing in a mirror or in some way
reflected in it.
Perhaps no other artist has ever made so much use of flowers in his
pictures. The flowers seem to add the one touch of bright color which
beautifies the whole picture.
Alma-Tadema gives us a clear understanding of the home life of the
Greeks and Romans, and so has become known as the “Painter of the
Ancients.”
Alma-Tadema became a British subject in 1873. His home in St. Johns
Wood, in the northwest part of London, is described as a most
interesting place. The first glimpse of it, seen through the trees,
shows the gilded weather vane in the form of a palette; later, the stone
pillars of the Roman porch. In all its details the house is carefully
and beautifully furnished: the brass knocker on the door, the entrance
into a sort of sun parlor paved with tiles and bright with beautiful
flowers, and the sound of a fountain near at hand. A flight of marble
steps leads to a hall in which beautiful painted panels (the gifts of
friends) are the chief decoration. Great tiger skins cover the floor.
Mrs. Tadema also is an artist, and has her studio on this floor. In her
studio and the living rooms she has given full sway to her own fancy for
the sixteenth-century old Dutch, most of their contents having been
brought from the Netherlands. Alma-Tadema’s taste is purely classical,
and his studio is consistent in all respects—marble pillars, carved
wood-work, chairs, and cushions. Here he lived and worked with this
motto before him:
“As the Sun colours Flowers
So Art colours Life.”
=Questions about the artist.= Of what nationality was the artist? Why
was his mother so anxious to have him learn a trade or profession? What
did he like to study? What picture did he exhibit when he was fifteen
years old? What prevented his becoming a lawyer? What countries did he
prefer to represent? What materials did he excel in painting? For what
has he become famous?
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[Illustration: THE GOLDEN STAIRS