Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Lawrence Alma-Tadema - The Balneator



Price Realized £67,250

signed and numbered 'L Alma Tadema. op CLXXVI' (lower right)
pencil and watercolour with scratching out on paper
14 7/8 x 10 7/8 in. (37.8 x 27.6 cm.)

Alma-Tadema painted several pictures treating the subject of the Roman Baths from 1875 onwards, possibly due to his acquisition of a large portfolio of photographs of Pompeii and the exhibits in the Museum at Naples around this time. The servant carries the tools of his trade, a sponge and strigils to scrape the oil from the skin.

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