Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, O.M., R.A. (Dronrijp 1836-1912 Weisbaden)

2 More

DRAWINGS BY SIR LAWRENCE ALMA-TADEMA, FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION(Lots 252-255)The present group of drawings date from 1857-58, a period when Alma-Tadema was living and studying in Antwerp under Professor Louis Jan de Taeye (1822-1890). Having spent four years studying at the Royal Academy of Antwerp from 1852, Alma-Tadema became de Taeye’s studio assistant in 1855. De Taeye’s greatest influence on his young protégé was his interest in ancient civilisations, particularly the Egyptians, first manifested in Alma-Tadema’s 1858 Unfavourable Oracle and 1858-9 The Dying Cleopatra. Heavily influenced not only by his master but by the work of Egyptologists such as Sir John Gardner Wilkinson (1797-1875), Alma-Tadema explored the visual language of this ancient civilisation, translating the flat, formulaic images of Egyptological handbooks into living beings in dramatic narrative compositions, in a series of pictures described by Edmund Gosse as 'among the highest expressions of Alma-Tadema's genius.' ( E. Gosse, Lawrence Alma-Tadema in F. G. Dumas, ed. ‘Illustrated Biographies of Modern Artists’, Part 4, London and Paris, 1883, p. 78).Vern Swanson has confirmed that the present group relate to a series of Egyptian pictures Alma-Tadema planned in around 1857-8 for Going to the Oracle and The Contrary Oracle. No pictures of these titles are known, but as well as the present drawings, a sketchbook was saved and separate leaves were periodically taken from it, and have appeared on the market. The present drawings were all signed and inscribed by Alma-Tadema’s daughter, Anna, and were in the collection of Edmund Gosse, the artist’s brother-in-law, from whose family they were acquired by the family of the present owner in the 1920's or 1930's.

Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, O.M., R.A. (Dronrijp 1836-1912 Wiesbaden)

Three drapery studies for 'The Contrary Oracle', two with nude studies (verso)

Details

Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, O.M., R.A. (Dronrijp 1836-1912 Wiesbaden)
Three drapery studies for 'The Contrary Oracle', two with nude studies (verso)
all three with indistinctly inscribed initials
pencil, red and white chalk
11 ½ x 14 ½ in. (29.2 x 36.8 cm.); 10 5/8 x 13 in. (27 x 33 cm.); and 8 1/8 x 13 in. (20.6 x 33 cm.)
(3)

Provenance

The artist.
Edmund Gosse, from whose family acquired by the family of the present owner in the 1920's or 1930's
and by descent.

Lot Essay

Two of these three drapery studies also have nude studies on the verso, giving a fascinating insight into Alma-Tadema’s working process, building up his figures from the nude, and then adding the drapery over the body.

More from Old Master & British Drawings & Watercolours

View All