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Description: | Signed: yes Description: Ernest Gambart (1814-1902), the most important Victorian print publisher and art dealer and patron of Alma-Tadema, encouraged the Dutch artist to come to England under his patronage. Gambart retired to Nice in 1871, where he was the Spanish Consul at the time that this work was commissioned. Alma-Tadema has depicted Gambart in the centre of this painting. The man leaning forward is his nephew and assistant, Charles Descamps, while the two men with their backs turned to the viewer may be F. J. Pilgeram and Léon Lefèvre, Gambart's business associates. The woman may be either Gambart's mistress, Madame Angelée, or Descamp's wife Christine. The scene is imaginary but details of architecture, costume and furnishings were all studied from photographs or the artist's own sketches of museum objects and existing buildings. This painting, and its pendant The Sculpture Gallery (Glasgow Museums) remained at Les Palmiers, Gambart's marble palace in Nice, until his death in 1902. They both utilise the theme of ancient Roman connoisseurship to introduce a wide variety of artefacts and works of classical art. Both were exhibited at the Royal Academy in London and the Paris Salon, confirming the artist's international fame. There are at least two variants of this picture, of which one was engraved. | Subjects: | F. J. [?]; Lefèvre interior (picture gallery); figure (male and female in classical dress); portrait (Gambart Ernest; Descamps Léon [?]; Madame Angelée or Descamp Charles; Pilgeram Christine [?] ) | Source: | Vads | Creator: | Artist: Alma-Tadema, Lawrence (Dutch and British painter, 1836-1912) Æ | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=8367... | Go to resource |
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Artist: Alma-Tadema, Lawrence, writer -…
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