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Sappho and Alcaeus
(18th and 19th Centuries )
In 1870, the Dutch-born, Belgian-trained artist Alma-Tadema moved to London, where he found a ready market among the wealthy middle classes for paintings re-creating scenes of domestic life in imperial Roman times. In this work, however, he turns to early Greece to illustrate a passage by the ancient Greek poet Hermesianax (active ca. 330 BC) preserved in Atheneaus, Deipnosophistae, "Banquet of the Learned," book 2, line 598. On the island of Lesbos (Mytilene), in the late 7th century BC, Sappho and her companions listen rapturously as the poet Alcaeus plays a "kithara." Striving for verisimilitude, Alma-Tadema copied the marble seating of the Theater of Dionysos in Athens, although he substituted the names of members of Sappho's sorority for those of the officials incised on the Athenian prototype.
Inscription
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.
William T. Walters, Baltimore, after 1881, by purchase [Deschamps as agent]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1894, by inheritance; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Exhibitions
| 2014-2016 | From Rye to Raphael: The Walters Story. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. |
| 2007 | Howard Pyle and the American Renaissance. Brandywine River Museum, Chadds Ford. |
| 2002-2004 | A Magnificent Age: Masterpieces from the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City; Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte. |
| 1997 | Victorians: British Painting in the Reign of Queen Victoria, 1837-1901. National Gallery of Art, Washington. |
| 1991-1992 | Empires Restored, Elysium Revisited: The Art of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema. Amsterdam: Van Gogh Museum, AJ Amsterdam; The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown; The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore; Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati; The Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis. |
| 1977 | Victorian Painting. The Fine Arts Society, London. |
Conservation
| Date | Description | Narrative |
|---|---|---|
| 8/17/1990 | Loan Consideration | examined for loan |
| 4/1/1993 | Treatment | surface cleaned; coated |
| 9/9/1996 | Loan Consideration | examined for loan |
| 5/16/1997 | Examination | other |
| 1/3/2007 | Loan Consideration | examined for loan |
Measurements
H: 26 x W: 48 1/16 in. (66 x 122 cm); Framed H: 41 x W: 61 in. (104.14 x 154.94 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by William T. Walters, after 1881
Location in Museum
Not on view
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
37.159