The picture was commissioned by Sir John Aird, a rich contractor and MP who lived at 14 Hyde Park Terrace and formed a large collection of works by academic artists, Leighton, Waterhouse, Marcus Stone and Dicksee being among the others represented. The Emperor, in pontificial robes, reclines at the upper table with his mother and other favourites, watching the dubious fun. A canopy has been loosened and the guests are immersed in a cascade of roses. Taking his name from an oriental sun god, he ascended the imperial throne in AD 218 and, according to Gibbon, 'abandoned himself to the grossest pleasures with ungoverned fury.' Eventually he alienated the army which had brought him to power, and on 10 March 222 he was murdered by the Praetorian guards.Īlma-Tadema illustrates the story that one of his whims was to hold a feast during which his entire court was smothered in rose-petals. Heliogabalus was the most debauched of all the Roman emperors. When exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1888, it was described by the Art Journal as 'it's painter's chef d'oeuvre', and it is probably the picture which leaps to mind when the artist is described as a precursor of Hollywood. This famous picture represents Alma-Tadema at the height of his career and is one of his most spectacular works. Swanson, The Biography and Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1990, pp. Russell Ash, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1989, pl.18
p.15Ĭhristopher Wood, Olympian Dreamers, 1983, p. 7, 41, (repr.), 48, 56 Rosemary Trebble, Great Victorian Pictures, Arts Council exh., 1978, cat. Mario Amaya, The Victorians: A World Built to Last, 1974, repr. Mario Amaya, 'The Painter who inspired Hollywood', Sunday Times Magazine, 18 February 1968, repr. Mario Amaya, 'The Roman World of Alma-Tadema', Apollo, LXXVI, December 1962, p.772 Leslie, The Inner Life of the Royal Academy, 1914, p.87 Rudolf Dirks, 'The Later Works of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema', Art Journal, Christmas Supplement, 1910, pp. Percy Cross Standing, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1905, pp.80, 102, 117-18 Spielmann, 'Lawrence Alma-Tadema, RA: A Sketch', Magazine of Art, XXI, 1896-7, p.48
Henry Blackburn (ed.), Royal Academy Notes, 1888, p.11 Alma-Tadema's letter to Ebers, 14 December 1887 see Swanson, 1990, loc.cit.
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