A Favourite Custom
| A Favourite Custom | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Lawrence Alma-Tadema |
| Year | 1909 |
| Type | Oil on panel, history painting |
| Dimensions | 66 cm × 45 cm (26 in × 18 in) |
| Location | Tate Britain, London |
A Favourite Custom is an oil on canvas history painting by the Dutch British artist Lawrence Alma-Tadema, from 1909.[1]
Description
[edit]It depicts a scene in a bathhouse at Pompeii in Ancient Rome.[2] In the foreground, two naked women are seen playfully in a bathouse. Produced near the end of his career, it characteristically combines two nude women with a meticulously recreated portrayal of the customs of a bathhouse. He had been producing similar such paintings since 1882.[3]
Provenance
[edit]The painting was displayed at the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition of 1909 at Burlington House. It was then acquired for the Tate Gallery through the Chantrey Bequest for £1,750 a large sum for a smaller picture such as this. It remains in the collection of the Tate.[4]
References
[edit]- ^ Barrow p.191
- ^ https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/alma-tadema-a-favourite-custom-n02675
- ^ Liversidge & Edwards p.168-70
- ^ Liversidge & Edwards p.168
Bibliography
[edit]- Barrow, Rosemary J. Lawrence Alma-Tadema. Phaidon Press, 2001.
- Liversidge, Michael & Edwards, Catherine. Imagining Rome British Artists and Rome in the Nineteenth Century. Merrell Holberton, 1996.