SIR L. ALMA-TADEMA

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 151, 26 June 1912, Page 7

SIR L. ALMA-TADEMA

AN OPERATION. By Telegraph.—Press Association.— Copyright (Received June 26, 10 a.m.) LONDON. 25th .Tune. Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, die famous, painter, who is in his 76th year, has undergone an operation for a stomach trouble. He has been ill for some time. SIR LAWRENCE SUCCUMBS. (Received June 26, 10 a.m.) LONDON, 25th Jun«. Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema is dead. IJt -was at Dronryp, a little out-of-tho-way village in Holland, in which nobody possessed any pictures or knew anything at all about art, that Sir Lawrence AlmaTadema was born. The old story was acted once more. The boy jibbed at Greek and vulgar fractions, but ran easily enough when alone with pencil and notebooks, and visions of the "old unhappy gods." One day ho chanced upon a book in. a shop. It wae a translation of Leonardo da Vinci's treatise on the art of painting. Another time he picked up a work on perspective. These books he read over and over again, getting much of them by heart. One result of the training was the appearance of a portrait of his sister, when he was 13, and another of himself, when he was 15. Now came the struggle. It wae decided that Lawrence should be a lawyer ; but the person most interested objected. He wished to be a painter, and on the opposition still showing unbroken front he, fell ill and was like to die. Tho family doctor shook his head and muttered about early deaths. Then the boy was given his way, and in 1852 he entered the Art Academy of Antwerp. He settled in London in 1870, and nine years later was elected a Royal Academician. In 1899 he was knighted, and in 1905 he received the Order of Merit. Hie pictures for the most part are those- of classical subjects.]