.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The present drawing is based on a photographic negative of a painting finished five days later on 22 August, and was used by Auguste Blanchard for his engraving of 1887, V. Swanson, op. cit, no. 280. The seated figure represented in these two pictures has been inspired in reverse by a figure seated in the background of the painting of Sappho and Alcaeus, in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, V. Swanson, op. cit, no. 266, illustrated.
Vern Swanson pointed out that photography played an important part in the composition of Alma-Tadema's pictures. 'Dupont, whose studio was in the same building as Alma-Tadema's, photographed the painting in one of its later phases of execution and Alma-Tadema then relied on the photograph for the painting's tonal value, using it to make corrections in oil. The photographer then reshot the picture in its second state. The process might be repeated several times before the completion of a painting. Alma-Tadema continued to use this technique for the rest of his life' (V. Swanson, op. cit, p. 33). This may explain why the images between the watercolor and the oil are so similar, except that in the watercolor the flower in the muse's hand is absent, and the mountain is more dominant. Alma-Tadema was himself interested in photography, and had a large collection of photographs which is now at the Birmingham University Library, U. Pohlmann, Alma-Tadema and Photography, in Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema 1836-1912, exhib. cat., Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam and elsewhere, 1996, pp. 111-124.
We would like to thank Dr Vern Swanson, of the Springville Art Museum, for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.
Vern Swanson pointed out that photography played an important part in the composition of Alma-Tadema's pictures. 'Dupont, whose studio was in the same building as Alma-Tadema's, photographed the painting in one of its later phases of execution and Alma-Tadema then relied on the photograph for the painting's tonal value, using it to make corrections in oil. The photographer then reshot the picture in its second state. The process might be repeated several times before the completion of a painting. Alma-Tadema continued to use this technique for the rest of his life' (V. Swanson, op. cit, p. 33). This may explain why the images between the watercolor and the oil are so similar, except that in the watercolor the flower in the muse's hand is absent, and the mountain is more dominant. Alma-Tadema was himself interested in photography, and had a large collection of photographs which is now at the Birmingham University Library, U. Pohlmann, Alma-Tadema and Photography, in Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema 1836-1912, exhib. cat., Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam and elsewhere, 1996, pp. 111-124.
We would like to thank Dr Vern Swanson, of the Springville Art Museum, for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.