Lawrence Alma-Tadema: the archaeologist of artists

From his election as Royal Academician in 1878 to his death in 1912, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema’s carefully structured canvases (1 to 8) – elegant in architecture, romantic in narrative, lush in pigment and rich in sensuality – defined the Graeco-Roman past for most high- to middle-brow members of the public. He was well paid, popular and – despite John Ruskin’s reservations – tolerated, if not praised, by the critics. But, when Victorian art fell out of fashion during the early 20th century, the reputation of Alma-Tadema declined, too. In 1955, an anonymous couple bought Alma-Tadema’s lavish processional The Finding of Moses, 1904 (3) from a London dealer – for its frame.