[.ca] Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (ISBN 1857936205)

Fantastic Full Page Reproductions!:
This book is filled with full page reproductions of Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema's paintings. It also has an interesting bio with pictures of his home, studio, and himself. I've been looking everywhere for a great book on Alma Tadema and I believe this is the one. Besides reading about a painter's life, I think it is very important that we see color reproductions of the painter's work, and this book does it very well. I hate books with 4x4 black and white images of an artist's paintings, its useless. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book for lovers of Victorian art and Alma Tadema. I recently went to the Getty Museum and saw Alma Tadema's "Spring" and it looks exactly how it appears in the book. The full page color plates are exact reproductions of his paintings, unlike the newer book on Alma Tadema published by Phaidon whose reproductions have been altered and all appear saturated with blue hues. Anyways....GET THIS BOOK IF YOU CAN ONLY GET ONE BOOK ON ALMA TADEMA BECAUSE IT IS THE BEST!

Lovely Art - Spendid Work:
If you love Victorian painting of scenes of antiquity (Greece/Rome) then check out this beautiful book. A short bio on the artist is very interesting and the full sized plates are reproduced in excellent detail and glorious color. No "dup-ey" reproductions here! An added bonus: Each plate comes with a descriptive page which describes the painting and what it depicts - a major plus. Heartily recommended to fans of the genre...or anyone else who loves beautiful artwork masterfully portrayed.

Eye Candy:
These are gorgeous reproductions of some of the most technically adept and intellectually hollow art imaginable. You can't help but admire Alma-Tadema's virtuosity, even as you wonder why on earth he went to all the trouble. Maybe, like that other popular artist British knight, Sir Elton John, Sir Lawrence knew what struck the public's fancy, and was content to make a lot of money by devoting his considerable talents and energy to providing it.

Alma-Tadema,an artist:
So that you willunderstand my perspective, I am a professor and a painter mostly of large scale, representational figures, so I buy anything to do with artists who specialize in the figure. In Russel Ash's book, the reproductions were large and fairly clearly reproduced. I enjoy the art of the late 19th and early twentieth century and the detailed realism of Tadema's female figures was, though academic in development, fun to see. Of that era I prefer Waterhouse and others, whose sense of color and less passive work is more powerful and deep, but if you like figure paintings especially of "Victorians in toga's" as one critic of his day describes Alma-Tadema's work, then you will love the large format reproductions. The book is lavishly adorned with semi-nude, sleepy-eyed, languid, supple, neo-classical women and a few men, all painted in the always safe, pastellish colors of the time. The women are engaged in mostly pastoral time passing non-events. "The Roses of Heliogabllus", with it's profusion of rose petals was easily the most colorfully of the reproductions, and a large composition of "Joseph Overseer..." as the most powerful of his offerings. The bio of Alma-Tadema was interesting enough to make me want to know more. If you are an art lover, a collector of large format books of painters, even the 19th cnetury academic styles, this is a good one for you

A guilty pleasure:
Alma Tadema is not nearly as well-regarded as others who painted in the same era, but there is something about his work that is compelling. This book is nicely done and a real value.