Lawrence Alma-Tadema (Fine Art Series) [Hardcover]

Edmund Swinglehurst (Author)

Book Description

Series: Fine Art Series | Publication Date: August 1, 2001

Lawrence Alma-Tadema was born in the Netherlands but spent most of his adult life in England, becoming a member of the Royal Academy and later gaining a knighthood. He was the quintessential Classicist painter, taking many of his themes from Greek and Roman Mythology. His work has a rich dream-like quality which is well illustrated in this book.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dr Rosemary Barrow is a Lecturer in Classics and Faculty of Arts Research Fellow at the University of Bristol. She completed her PhD thesis on Victorian classical-subject painting at King's College, London. She has lectured and published on Alma-Tadema and on Victorian classicism and is currently working on nineteenth-century constructions of decadence in the visual arts. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Thunder Bay Press (CA); First Edition edition (August 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1571452699
• ISBN-13: 978-1571452696
• Product Dimensions: 12.2 x 9.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #388,600 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect!, May 27, 2002

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jessicaelizabeth (United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Lawrence Alma-Tadema (Hardcover)

This is an excellent book - well-printed, with beautiful reproductions of Alma-Tadema's work, and well-written. Too often, art books lump Alma-Tadema generically with the pre-Raphaelites or shun him entirely (because his paintings catered to Victorian tastes). This book is almost, but not quite, too much of a good thing, with an in-depth view of Alma-Tadema's career, especially the mentors and travel experiences that shaped his style. Very early paintings and watercolor studies which I had never before seen are included, and I paticularly like the side-by-side presentation of watercolor studies with finished oils of the same scene. Alma-Tadema was a skilled artist whose lush, decorative style and atmospheric historical scenes prefigured the art of Maxfield Parrish. It's about time that a collection of this quality has become available.

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Flowing and Finely Tuned View of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, October 1, 2005

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Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lawrence Alma-Tadema (Paperback)

Rosemary J. Barrow seems to be having a terrific time writing about the controversial painter Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema. Perhaps not as scholarly a tome as the one by Russell Ash, this beautiful volume is graced with the publisher's decision of pairing apposing images of both watercolor and oil painting forms of many of Alma-Tadema's works. The book is a successful pictorial essay.

But it is the well-groomed good humor that Barrow uses to relate the pictorial puns and innuendoes Alma-Tadema subtly adorned his mythology-influenced subjects that makes this volume sing. She has done her research so well that her writing is conversational, a fact that makes perusing this lovely volume even more of a joy. Though Alma-Tadema's works are usually reviewed with a degree of scorn by art historians, here the truly lovely paintings are displayed and discussed with utmost respect - and with the élan of descriptive terms that are as light and wispy as the flowing garments of the Romanesque players on the canvases of the fantasy-inspired painter. The color reproductions and the layout of the book are up to the usual high standards set by publisher Phaidon. This book is both a visual delight and a journey through Victoriana. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, October 05

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Illustrations not good enough, March 8, 2007

By 

Wyota - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lawrence Alma-Tadema (Fine Art Series) (Hardcover)

I'd seen, downloaded, and printed many of Alma-Tadema's works full page in color from the artrenewal web site. I though they were beautiful. The colors and quality were good and the resolution high, but I really wanted a bound copy containing some of his works and this was the one I chose.

I was fairly disappointed. There are some good, clear, reproductions in the book to be sure but a number of them are so poor that it's not worth looking at them. What strikes me as odd is that these same works look good in my printouts and on the web. I can only conclude that some of the illustrations in the book were scanned from old print or negatives rather than being original for this book. That would be understandable if it weren't for the fact that better images are available on the web.