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. According to legend, the buyers left the canvas in the alley outside the gallery with the rubbish.
Five years later The Finding of Moses found its way back to Christie’s, but neither it nor its new frame could find a buyer.
