Lot Essay
This famous picture represents Alma-Tadema at the height of his career and is one of his most spectacular works. When exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1888, it was described by the Art Journal as 'it's painter's chef d'oeuvre', and it is probably the picture which leaps to mind when the artist is described as a precursor of Hollywood.
Heliogabalus was the most debauched of all the Roman emperors. Taking his name from an oriental sun god, he ascended the imperial throne in AD 218 and, according to Gibbon, 'abandoned himself to the grossest pleasures with ungoverned fury.' Eventually he alienated the army which had brought him to power, and on 10 March 222 he was murdered by the Praetorian guards.
Alma-Tadema illustrates the story that one of his whims was to hold a feast during which his entire court was smothered in rose-petals. A canopy has been loosened and the guests are immersed in a cascade of roses. The Emperor, in pontificial robes, reclines at the upper table with his mother and other favourites, watching the dubious fun.
The picture was commissioned by Sir John Aird, a rich contractor and MP who lived at 14 Hyde Park Terrace and formed a large collection of works by academic artists, Leighton, Waterhouse, Marcus Stone and Dicksee being among the others represented. One of his greatest achievements was to build the Aswan dam, and in 1902 he invited Alma-Tadema to join the opening party. (Winston Churchill was also included). The visit inspired another major work, The Finding of Moses, which was again purchased by Aird.
For The Roses of Heliogabalus Alma-Tadema was paid the then enormous sum of #4,000. It is one of his most adventurous compositions, in which he pushes to the limit the idea of scattering the formal elements; the 'lost and found' treatment of the figures among the roses is particularly daring. Flowers always fascinated Alma-Tadema and were often an important feature in his work, but here they actually become the central theme. He took immense pains with them, having roses sent weekly from the French Riviera during the four winter months when the picture was in progress. In fact it was still not finished when the time came to take it to the Royal Academy. The critic M.H. Spielmann, writing in the Magazine of Art in 1896, quoted 'a distinguished Academician' as telling him that 'all the difficult silver-work, marble and mother-of-pearl, with all their complexity of reflected lights and cross-colouring ... were painted in on Varnishing Day ... while the picture was hanging on the wall and the artist, pipe in mouth, and without model or study of any kind, was keeping up a lively conversation with a little ring of men around him. When I asked him afterwards if this were true, he raised his eyebrows in quiet surprise as he replied, "Why not? It was all thought out before."'
For the artist's oil sketch for the picture, see the following lot.
We are grateful to Professor Vern Swanson, Director of the Springville Museum of Art, for his help in preparing the catalogue entries for lots 120-123.
Heliogabalus was the most debauched of all the Roman emperors. Taking his name from an oriental sun god, he ascended the imperial throne in AD 218 and, according to Gibbon, 'abandoned himself to the grossest pleasures with ungoverned fury.' Eventually he alienated the army which had brought him to power, and on 10 March 222 he was murdered by the Praetorian guards.
Alma-Tadema illustrates the story that one of his whims was to hold a feast during which his entire court was smothered in rose-petals. A canopy has been loosened and the guests are immersed in a cascade of roses. The Emperor, in pontificial robes, reclines at the upper table with his mother and other favourites, watching the dubious fun.
The picture was commissioned by Sir John Aird, a rich contractor and MP who lived at 14 Hyde Park Terrace and formed a large collection of works by academic artists, Leighton, Waterhouse, Marcus Stone and Dicksee being among the others represented. One of his greatest achievements was to build the Aswan dam, and in 1902 he invited Alma-Tadema to join the opening party. (Winston Churchill was also included). The visit inspired another major work, The Finding of Moses, which was again purchased by Aird.
For The Roses of Heliogabalus Alma-Tadema was paid the then enormous sum of #4,000. It is one of his most adventurous compositions, in which he pushes to the limit the idea of scattering the formal elements; the 'lost and found' treatment of the figures among the roses is particularly daring. Flowers always fascinated Alma-Tadema and were often an important feature in his work, but here they actually become the central theme. He took immense pains with them, having roses sent weekly from the French Riviera during the four winter months when the picture was in progress. In fact it was still not finished when the time came to take it to the Royal Academy. The critic M.H. Spielmann, writing in the Magazine of Art in 1896, quoted 'a distinguished Academician' as telling him that 'all the difficult silver-work, marble and mother-of-pearl, with all their complexity of reflected lights and cross-colouring ... were painted in on Varnishing Day ... while the picture was hanging on the wall and the artist, pipe in mouth, and without model or study of any kind, was keeping up a lively conversation with a little ring of men around him. When I asked him afterwards if this were true, he raised his eyebrows in quiet surprise as he replied, "Why not? It was all thought out before."'
For the artist's oil sketch for the picture, see the following lot.
We are grateful to Professor Vern Swanson, Director of the Springville Museum of Art, for his help in preparing the catalogue entries for lots 120-123.