Anna Alma-Tadema
Encyclopedia
Anna Alma-Tadema was a British
artist
, the second daughter and pupil of the well-known Anglo-Dutch
painter Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, born Laurens Tadema. Her mother Marie-Pauline Gressin Dumoulin, Laurens' first wife, died when she was two years old. She grew up in London
, where her father had settled after leaving the continent. Her elder sister Laurence Alma-Tadema
(born Laurense Tadema,1865–1940) became a novelist and poet, while her stepmother Laura Theresa Alma-Tadema
(1852–1909), also a pupil of her husband, developed into an artist in her own right. Anna Alma-Tadema never married.
She appears at least twice in paintings by her father: the young girl left in the background in This is our corner (1873, also known as Laurense and Anna Alma-Tadema, Van Gogh Museum
, Amsterdam
) and Miss Anna Alma-Tadema (1883, also Portrait of Anna Alma-Tadema, Royal Academy of Arts, London). These paintings were used by her father to exemplify his abilities as a painter of portraits.
A precocious teenager, Anna Alma-Tadema made watercolour paintings depicting the interior of the Alma-Tadema parental home: Townshend House, Tichfield Terrace, near Regent's Park
in Londen, extravagantly decorated by her father to resemble a Roman villa
. Her work was exhibited at the World's Columbian Exposition
at Chicago
in 1893. Her work is considered to be related to academic
classicism
.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, the second daughter and pupil of the well-known Anglo-Dutch
Dutch
Dutch usually refers to:*Something from or related to the Netherlands*Dutch people, people from the Netherlands or their descendants*Dutch language, spoken in the Netherlands, Belgium, Suriname, Curaçao, Aruba, Bonaire, Saba, Sint Maarten, and Sint Eustatius.* Something associated with German, ...
painter Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, born Laurens Tadema. Her mother Marie-Pauline Gressin Dumoulin, Laurens' first wife, died when she was two years old. She grew up in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where her father had settled after leaving the continent. Her elder sister Laurence Alma-Tadema
Laurence Alma-Tadema
Laurence Alma-Tadema , was an English novelist and poet of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who worked in many genres...
(born Laurense Tadema,1865–1940) became a novelist and poet, while her stepmother Laura Theresa Alma-Tadema
Laura Theresa Alma-Tadema
Laura Theresa Alma-Tadema was from 1871 the second wife of the painter Lawrence Alma-Tadema and a painter in her own right.-Life:...
(1852–1909), also a pupil of her husband, developed into an artist in her own right. Anna Alma-Tadema never married.
She appears at least twice in paintings by her father: the young girl left in the background in This is our corner (1873, also known as Laurense and Anna Alma-Tadema, Van Gogh Museum
Van Gogh Museum
The Van Gogh Museum is an art museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands, featuring the works of the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh and his contemporaries. It has the largest collection of Van Gogh's paintings and drawings in the world.-Background:...
, Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
) and Miss Anna Alma-Tadema (1883, also Portrait of Anna Alma-Tadema, Royal Academy of Arts, London). These paintings were used by her father to exemplify his abilities as a painter of portraits.
A precocious teenager, Anna Alma-Tadema made watercolour paintings depicting the interior of the Alma-Tadema parental home: Townshend House, Tichfield Terrace, near Regent's Park
Regent's Park
Regent's Park is one of the Royal Parks of London. It is in the north-western part of central London, partly in the City of Westminster and partly in the London Borough of Camden...
in Londen, extravagantly decorated by her father to resemble a Roman villa
Roman villa
A Roman villa is a villa that was built or lived in during the Roman republic and the Roman Empire. A villa was originally a Roman country house built for the upper class...
. Her work was exhibited at the World's Columbian Exposition
World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition was a World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. Chicago bested New York City; Washington, D.C.; and St...
at Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
in 1893. Her work is considered to be related to academic
Academic art
Academic art is a style of painting and sculpture produced under the influence of European academies of art. Specifically, academic art is the art and artists influenced by the standards of the French Académie des Beaux-Arts, which practiced under the movements of Neoclassicism and Romanticism,...
classicism
Classicism
Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for classical antiquity, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. The art of classicism typically seeks to be formal and restrained: of the Discobolus Sir Kenneth Clark observed, "if we object to his restraint...
.
Works
- Autoportrait, oilOil paintingOil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil—especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body...
, 1883 - The Drawing Room, Townshend House, watercolourWatercolor paintingWatercolor or watercolour , also aquarelle from French, is a painting method. A watercolor is the medium or the resulting artwork in which the paints are made of pigments suspended in a water-soluble vehicle...
, 1885- exhibited in The Palace of Fine Arts, World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893 and in Victoria & Albert Museum, The Cult of Beauty: The Aesthetic Movement 1860-1900, London, April 2011.
- Eton College Chapel, 1886 (private collection)
- The Idler's Harvest, 1900
- At the Window, 1908
- The gold room, watercolour
- Flags, oil
Further reading
- Gere, Charlotte, Artistic Circles: Design and Decoration in the Aesthetic Movement, V & A Publishing, 2010