STEEL ENGRAVING – “ARCHITECTURE IN ANCIENT ROME”. - ” from the painting by L. Alma-Tadema, etching by L. Lowenstam, published in 1886.  This engraving is in excellent condition.  The picture measures 6 1/2”x 6 1/2”, and is matted to 11” x 14” for easy framing.     

     Alma-Tadema has achieved a world-wide fame by reproducing for nineteenth century certain social phases of classic Greece and Italy.  To see his pictures in succession would be to get a panoramic view of life in those countries in earlier and better days.  Here, for instance, we have a Roman architect standing on a scaffold in front of a building which he is erected, meditating for a moment upon the plan of an elaborate frieze.  His assistant has stooped to hold one end of the paper pattern down, while the foot of the sculptor is upon the other end.   Workman appear at the left, sawing stones and performing other labors, while handsome water-carries come in, their large jugs held by one hand on their heads, and their palpitating bodies rich in the glow and fullness of the physical beauty of the age.  Mr. Tadema’s works, technically considered, are so excellent that one may speak of him in his historical reproductions as the Mecaulay of the studio.   He was born in Holland in 1836, and has married an English wife, herself an artist of note, who, by her influence, has made him a permanent resident of London.  Mr. Ruskin, in 1875, spoke of his picture entitled “The Sculpture-Gallery,” as the principal historical piece of the year, a work showing artistic skill and classic learning, both in high degree, with dexterous execution.  Mr. W. T. Walters, of Baltimore, has probably the best example of Alma-Tadema in this country - a picture of Sappho, surrounded by her maidens, listening to a handsome flute-player.  This well-known collector of art works has done much to create in the United States an appreciation of Alma-Tadema’s genius.  

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