Thursday, January 10, 2008

Favourite Artists. Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema


The Women Of Amphissa
1887

Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema (1836 - 1912)

"The festival known to modern scholars as the Oreibasia (whose name means "mountain running") took place during the winter months at Delphi. Official delegations from many cities including Athens came to this festival. Plutarch describes the rescue of a group of Thyiads who unwittingly wandered into the city of Amphissa in Phocis during a time of war, and exhausted by their frenzy, fell asleep in the marketplace. The women of Amphissa, fearing that harm would come to them, stood watch silently around them until they revived and could be given a hot dinner and safe conduct to the borders."
Further examples of Tadema's work can be seen at this site:

I have always admired and been influence by the compositional style of Tadema. Often associated with the PreRaphaelites, Dutch born Tamdema won the respect of the Victorian art world with his classical and delicately rendered compositions. If you look at some other works, you can clearly see the division of the picture by the horizontal and vertical lines , often representing architecture...these are complemented by by curves and softness of the figures often creating a perfect balance.

I hope to bring you a new piece very soon which is very exciting...watch this space!

4 comments:

Julie Kwiatkowski Schuler said...

Wow, I'm not at all familiar with Tadema. I will have to check into it. I love the light and textures. I need to get more art books. I keep using the same 17th century French Art book over and over as a reference.

Nessa said...

I love the colors and the contrast between the marble and the soft fabric.

Anonymous said...

I love the color and texture. Stunning!!!

Niall young said...

Julie..there were a few Victorian artists who were similar in stlye to Tadema..but were often guilty of over sentimentalising their work..

Nessa..that is what attracts me too..contrasts.

Kreativemix..Welcome !..thank you for visiting my blog!..very few people know his work, but I agree...stunnning!