Between 1874 and 1877 Alma-Tadema painted six pictures dealing with the arts of drawing, painting, sculpture and architecture in antiquity. A Roman Artist was one of four works by Tadema exhibited at the 70th Summer Exhibition of the Society of Painters in Watercolours in 1874 and led directly to Tadema's election as a full member of the Old Watercolour Society in May of 1875. F.G. Stephens wrote of the picture in the Athenaeum: 'A Roman Artist shows a painter in his workshop, seated, with a panel, the curious construction of which is note worthy, on his knees before him, and held by his left hand. It is a capital picture, remarkable here for the force and fidelity of the light represented, and the solidity of the work throughout'.

We are grateful to Dr. Vern Swanson of the Springville Museum of Art, Utah, for his help in preparing this entry.