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

Commissioned by Mssrs Lefèvre and Son, London, March, 1890

London, New Gallery, 1890, no. 51

Magazine of Art, 1890, p. 306
The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art, vol. 69, p. 537
Rudolf Dircks, "The later works of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema O.M., R.A., R.W.S.," Art Journal, Christmas issue, 1910, p. 31, illustrated p. 8
Vern G. Swanson, Alma-Tadema, The Painter of the Victorian Vision of the Ancient World, 1977, p. 140
Joseph A. Kester, Mythology and Misogyny, The Social Discourse of Nineteenth-Century British Classical Subject Painting, London, 1989, p. 275
Vern G. Swanson, The Biography and Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1990, p. 241, cat. no. 338
 

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This work is clean and varnished with no retouches. The panel on which it is painted is unreinforced on the reverse. The work is in perfect condition.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

In 1890, the year An Eloquent Silence was painted, Alma-Tadema and his family were staying at Georg Ebers' summer home at Tutzing in Bavaria (Rachel Barrow, Lawrence Alma Tadema, London, 2001, p. 145). The idyllic scene of a white marble balcony under cyan skies and over the deep blue Mediterranean sea presented here could not have been more different than the reality of Kaiser Wilhelm's Europe, but the writing of George Ebers provided ample inspiration for the artist. Ebers was an Egyptologist who is perhaps most famous for discovering and translating the ancient medical document now known as the Ebers Papyrus, but he also sought to popularize ancient lore through historical romance novels, creating the now popular genre and titles such as An Egyptian Princess, Bride of the Nile, Cleopatra and, of particular note, A Question.

Published in 1882, A Question (Eine Frage) was intended to be a literary illustration of the idyllic ancient world created by Alma-Tadema and based on the relationship of the figures in his 1876 canvas, Pleading (fig. 1). In fact, the book features an etching of the painting as its frontispiece. In 1883, one year following A Question's publication and a testament to the collaborative spirit between artist and author, Alma-Tadema painted a variation on the composition and titled it Xanthe and Phaon, named after the two lovelorn protagonists of Ebers' novel. The theme of courtship continues throughout Alma-Tadema's oeuvre, but An Eloquent Silence is a perfect depiction of Ebers' scene of two lovers described as sitting on a marble bench, surrounded by brightly colored flowers overlooking the sea. In chapter VI, it reads: "Then she again gazed into the distance. Phaon shook his head, and both remained silent for several minutes. At last he raised himself higher, turned his full face toward the young girl, gazed at her as tenderly and earnestly as if he wished to stamp her image upon his soul for life."

Alma-Tadema's patrons may not have been familiar with the romantic writing of George Ebers, but they appreciated the technical mastery and attention to detail that he brought to all of his works.

In a review of the exhibition at the New Gallery of 1890, the Saturday Review comments that "Mr Alma-Tadema's three pictures, though small, are finished to the very highest degree. Eloquent Silence is a group of two Roman figures seated side by side on a marble bench with a low wall of white marble at their backs. Over this wall a Jacmanni clematis covered with blossoms like great purple butterflies is seen against the blue Italian sky. A dark blue vase glass stands on the wall. Far away in the distance are Mr. Tadema's favourite streak of azure sea and snow white island. The figures are in suspended action the man bending forward draws with his staff on the marble pavement the girl sits upright waiting for what may happen. This is one of Mr. Tadema's most successful little masterpieces..."