Free Content: Master Copy, Lawrence Alma-Tadema

Portrait

This is a full video demonstration of a multi-day painting process without narrative. I don’t always work in a space where I can record a good audio.

Lawrence Alma-Tadema is one of the most highly renowned romantic artists of late 19th century Britain. He was born in the Netherlands as Laurens Tadema. Later, as he tried to make his niche in the art world, he changed the spelling of his first name to the more English “Lawrence,” and included his middle name “Alma” as part of his surname, so he would be listed among the “A’s” in exhibition catalogues.

As a child, it was decided that Alma-Tadema would pursue the career of a lawyer, but he suffered a mental and physical breakdown when he was fifteen years old. He was diagnosed as consumptive, given a short time to live, and thus free to pursue a life of leisure and pleasure. Once left to his own devices, he decided to study art, as his mother had paid for art lessons in his earlier childhood and it was one of his interests. He regained his health and studied at the Royal Academy of Antwerp in 1852, where he won several respected awards. His first major work was exhibited in 1858, and it won much critical praise, and creating a sensation in the art world. By 1862, he set own in his own studio to pursue his individual career in art.

Reference photo: Portrait of the artist’s daughter

Making master copies is one of the ways artists can learn from great masters. Prior to photography, art academies would give awards to best students to study abroad, in Italy or France and required the artists to produce copies of masterworks for the academy’s teaching material. Many great masterworks are only known through these copies as the original was lost, stolen or destroyed.

Full Video

Day 1 Part 1

Day 1 Part 2

Day 2 Part 1

Day 2 Part 2

Day 3 - finishing

Finished copy