Lot 6
  • 6

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

Estimate
80,000 - 120,000 GBP
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Description

  • Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, O.M., R.A.
  • spring flowers
  • signed and inscribed with the opus number l.r.: L Alma Tadema/ OPCCCCI-
  • oil on panel

Provenance

Maclean, London, February 1911;
G. W. Bowden, London;
Private collector;
Sotheby's, 17 June 1986, lot 41;
Private collection

Exhibited

Venice Exhibition, 1911

Literature

Vern G. Swanson, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, The Painter of the Victorian Vision of the Ancient World, 1977, p. 141;
Vern G. Swanson, The Biography and Catalogue Raisonne of the Paintings of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema,1990,  p. 273, illus. p. 486, cat. no. 426

Condition

STRUCTURE This picture is in excellent condition. The panel is flat and there are no signs of craquelure or damages. The paint surface is clean and the picture is ready to hang. UNDER ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT There is one very small area of flecked retouching to the back of the girl's collar and two very minor flecked retouchings to her hair. These retouchings are very small and have been well executed. There are flecked retouchings along the top edge of the picture where the panel has been rubbed by the rebate of the frame but this is not visible when the picture is framed. FRAME This picture is under glass and contained in an attractive modern Victorian-style carved wood and gilt frame in good condition. For more information regarding this picture please contact the Victorian & Edwardian Pictures Department on +44 (0)207 293 5718.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

Spring Flowers was painted in February 1911 and takes its subject from a vase of yellow narcissi held up by a beautiful auburn-haired girl. The picture has affinities with a work of c.1907 The Golden Hour (private collection) which depicts a girl with her hair coiffured into a style which denotes that she is intended to be Edwardian rather than the usual Graeco-Roman maidens painted by Tadema. Both paintings show the agate windows of Tadema's studio at Townsend Road in St. John's Wood which the artist based upon precedents that he had seen in Pompeii.

Around 1911 Tadema painted a series of essentially subject-less pictures in which the beauty of young women was emphasised by blooms of flowers. When Flowers Return of 1911 depicts two dark-haired voluptuous maenads dancing with garlands of daffodils, celebrating an orgiastic pagan ritual of rebirth. Summer Offering of the same year depicts women bearing silver vases of roses brought to a temple as an offering to the gods. These paintings demonstrate Tadema's ability to render still-life detail along with his dexterity at painting the human figure. The principle subject of Spring Flowers is the contrast of the yellow flowers with the red of her crepe-like cascade of loosened hair. The subtle colour contrast is similar to that of painters of the Aesthetic Movement, particularly Albert Moore who used limited colour-schemes of women dressed in vaguely classical attire involved in domestic activities such as arranging flowers.

The girl shown in Spring Flowers was probably based upon the features of Marion Tattershall, a professional model who posed in the life-drawing school at the Royal Academy Schools. She was probably the model for Ask me no more... for at a Touch I Yield of 1906, Bacchante of 1907 and Preparation in the Coliseum of 1912. 

Vern Swanson also lists a contemporary watercolour version of Spring Flowers.