Later Victorian Portraits Catalogue

Laura Theresa (née Epps), Lady Alma-Tadema (1852-1909), Painter; second wife of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema; daughter of George Napoleon Epps

Artist; born London, daughter of George Napoleon Epps, homeopath, sister to artist Ellen (Nellie) Gosse; family friend of the Rossettis, Ford Madox Brown and others. Studied under W. Cave Thomas, William Bell Scott and Lawrence Alma-Tadema, whom she married in 1871 as his second wife; exhibited Royal Academy 1873–1909; Glasgow 1875–91; Paris Salon 1873, 1877, 1881; Berlin International Exhibition 1876; Paris International Exhibitions 1878, 1900; Royal Scottish Academy 1879–89; Grosvenor Gallery 1880–5, 1887; New Gallery 1889; World’s Fair Chicago 1893; [1] her known oeuvre contains around 100 works, chiefly domestic genre scenes in historical Dutch or classical settings, together with child portraits in pastel and the occasional landscape; [2] the National Portrait Gallery holds two portrait sketches of George Eliot by this sitter; [3] died 15 August 1909, at Hindhead, Surrey.

Dr Jan Marsh

Footnotesback to top

1) Patricia de Montfort, entry in Gaze 1997, vol.1, pp.178–80. See also Alma-Tadema 1910.
2) A. Meynell, ‘Laura Alma-Tadema’, AJ, Nov. 1883, pp.344–7.
3) NPG 1758 and NPG 2211.

Referencesback to top

Alma-Tadema 1910
‘The Art of the late Lady Alma-Tadema: Memorial exhibition’ [at the Fine Art Society, London], Graphic, 28 May 1910, p.775.

Becker et al. 1996
Becker, E., and others, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, exh. cat., Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam and Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool; Zwolle, 1996.

Bills & Webb 2007
Bills, M., and D. Webb, eds, Victorian Artists in Photographs: [The World of G.F. Watts]. Selections from the Rob Dickins Collection, exh. cat., Watts Gallery, Compton, 2007.

Callen 1979
Callen, A., Angel in the Studio: Women in the Arts and Crafts Movement, 1870–1914, London, 1979.

Furniss 1923
Furniss, H., Some Victorian Women: Good, Bad and Indifferent, London, 1923.

Gaze 1997
Gaze, D., ed., Dictionary of Women Artists, 2 vols, London and Chicago, 1997.

Hawthorne 1928
Hawthorne, J., Shapes That Pass: Memories of Old Days, London, 1928.

Jones et al. 1996
Jones, S., and others, Frederic Leighton 1830–1896, exh. cat., Royal Academy, London, 1996.

Lanigan 2000
Lanigan, D., A Dream of the Past: Pre-Raphaelite and Aesthetic Movement Paintings, Watercolours and Drawings from the Lanigan Collection, exh. cat., University of Toronto Art Centre, 2000.

Lovett 1991
Lovett, J.G., Empires Restored, Elysium Revisited: The Art of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, exh. cat., Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1991.

Maas 1984
Maas, J., The Victorian Art World in Photographs, London, 1984.

Noakes 1978
Noakes, A., William Frith: Extraordinary Victorian Painter, London, 1978.

Ormond & Ormond 1975
Ormond, L., and R. Ormond, Lord Leighton, London, 1975.

Payne 2010
Payne, C., John Brett: Pre-Raphaelite Landscape Painter, New Haven and London, 2010.

Payne & Sumner 2010
Payne, C., and A. Sumner, Objects of Affection: Pre-Raphaelite Portraits by John Brett, exh. cat., Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham University, Fine Art Society, London, and Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge: Bristol, 2010.

Swanson 1977
Swanson, V.G., Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema: Painter of the Victorian Vision of the Ancient World, London, 1977.

Swanson 1990
Swanson, V.G., The Biography and Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, London, 1990.

[Wood] 1984
[Wood, C., intro.,] A Fraternity of Artists: A Set of Sixty-two Portraits of Late Victorian Artists, by Walker Hodgson, exh. leaflet, Christopher Wood Gallery, London, 1984.

Dr Jan Marsh