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

Acquired from the artist by Sir Henry Irving (1838–1905);

His posthumous sale, London, Christie's, 16 December 1905, lot 23 to Gooden & Fox, London;

Anonymous sale, New York, Christie's, 15 February 1985, lot 363;

Anonymous sale, Tokyo, Mainichi Auction, 7 December 2019, lot 921.

R.P. Spiers, 'The Architecture of "Coriolanus" at the Lyceum Theatre', Architectural Review, X, 1901, pp. 20–21, reproduced p. 21;

R.P. Spiers, 'Archaeological Research in the Paintings of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema', Architectural Review, XXXIII, 1913, p. 48, reproduced plate. XIII;

R. Barrow, Lawrence Alma-Tadema, London 2001, reproduced in colour, p. 166.

London, Scenic Artists Association, 1905;

London, Royal Academy, Works by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, R.A., O.M., Winter, 1913, no. 133.

Antium seen from outside the city walls was painted by Tadema as part of a collaboration with the great actor/manager Henry Irving to stage Shakespeare’s Coriolanus. As Bram Stoker (manager of the Lyceum theatre and author of Dracula) wrote; ‘the idea was new of getting specialists in various periods to apply their personal skill as well as their archaeological knowledge to stage effect… Irving wanted things to be correct, well, knowing that… that which is accurate is most likely to convince.’¹ Tadema had completed a 'magnificent series of studies for the play’ by July 1880 but it was twenty-one years before the play was staged at the Lyceum – this was due to Irving wanting to make the most of the youth of his leading actress Ellen Terry and therefore prioritised plays like Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night and Much ado About Nothing before returning the Roman tragedies. The play finally opened on 15 April 1901 with Irving himself playing the titular figure, alongside Ellen Terry as Volumnia.

The present watercolour was the last of the eight sets that Tadema made which could be fitted into a specially made scale model of the stage and proscenium arch at the Lyceum. Other example are in the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum and Manchester City Art Galleries. Antium seen from outside the city walls was not used in the final play but elements were incorporated into other scenes. It was described in 1913; ‘Antium seen from outside the city walls. In the entrance gateway we recognise the Etruscan gateway of Perugia flanked by two enormous towers. The battlements and the walls are based on those which have been found in the older part of Pompeii, there being an outer wall about 30ft. high and an inner wall beyond some 16ft. higher. Above the town walls is another wall enclosing the citadel, the semi-circular openings in which are similar to those which existed in the walls of Servius Tullius at Rome. In the distance is the principal temple, of the Tuscan order, with six columns in-antis based on the tomb of Norchia. OIn front of the temple is the great altar, of which we see only the smoke rising from the sacrifice, and in front of that lofty pedestal bearing the double-winged Phoenician goddess Astarte.’²

¹ Personal Reminiscences of Henry Irving, 1906, volume II, pp. 65–66.

² R. P. Spiers, 'Archaeological Research in the Paintings of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema', Architectural Review, XXXIII, 1913, p. 48.