Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, O.M., R.A.

Jules Verspreeuwen, Antwerp by 1882 and thence to Edward Verspreeuwen, Antwerp by 1913;
Sotheby's, 7 June 1995, lot 130;
Private collection

Antwerp, Salon Exposition d'Anvers, August-September 1858, priced 400 francs;
Lodon, Grosvenor Gallery, The Works of L. Alma-Tadema, 1882, no.7;
Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery, 1911, no.1087;
Royal Academy, Winter Exhibition of works by Deceased Members, 1913, no.122

Sir E.W. Gosse, Illustrated Biographies of Modern Artists, 1883, pp.79, 83;
C. Vosmaer, Alma-Tadema Catalogue Raisonne, unpublished manuscript, c.1885, no.10;
G.M. Ebers, Lorenz Alma-Tadema, his Life and works, 1886, pp.6-7;
M.H. Spielman, 'Laurence Alma-Tadema', Magazine of Art XXL, 1896-7, p.45;
H. Zimmern, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1902, pp.19-20;
R. Dircks, 'The Later Works of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema', Art Journal, 1910, p.25;
V.G. Swanson, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1977, p.11;
V.G. Swanson, The Biography and Catalogue Raisonne of the Paintings of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1990, pp.124-5, no.35

The canvas has not been lined and is loose on its stretcher. There are visible horizontal stretcher marks to the upper and centre stretcher edges. There is fine craquelure. There is a small abrasion to the pillar in the centre left of the work, there are a few further minor abrasions and spots of paint loss elsewhere. There is some rubbing and abrasion to the framing edges. There is surface dirt and the work could benefit from a clean. UV light inspection reveals fine retouching to areas of the craquelure and there is a heavy layer of opaque varnish. Held in a simple black frame.
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This picture was the first of Tadema's paintings based upon Merovingian history and was probably based upon his study of Gregory de Tour's History of the Franks and Augustine Thierry's History of the Merovingians. It depicts the Christian wife of King Clovis (AD 493) at the tomb of her grandchildren murdered by their jealous uncles and buried in St Peter's, Rome.