Price Realized £52,875
signed 'Alma Tadema' (upper right)
oil on panel
16¾ x 3¾ in. (42.5 x 10 cm).
London, Grosvenor Gallery, Winter Exhibition, 1882-83, no. 44. London, Royal Academy, Winter Exhibition, 1913, no. 66.
The Staircase was executed as a lottery prize to benefit the distressed French peasants in the districts occupied by the German army during the Franco-Prussian war. It was later purchased by the British contractor, Sir Malcolm Aird who was one of the largest collectors of Victorian Art in Europe.
Paintings by Leighton, Poynter, Waterhouse, Dicksee, Orchardson and Alma-Tadema hung in his house, including the latter's masterpiece Roses of Heliogabalus (sold, Christie's, London, 11 June 1993, lot 121) and The Finding of Moses (sold, Christie's, New York, 25 May 1995, lot 187), which he commissioned from the artist.
We are grateful to Dr. Vern G. Swanson, Director of the Springville Musem of Art for his help in the preparation of this catalogue entry.
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