Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema
(Dutch-born English, 1836-1912)


A Sculpture Gallery in Rome at the Time of Augustus
(also known as A dealer of statues) (1867).
Oil on panel.
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal.

This work and its pair The Collector of Pictures at the Time of Augustus represented Alma-Tadema’s first excursion into the Ancient culture of art dealers, collectors and artists, informed by the writings of Pliny the Elder.

Himself a collector, Alma-Tadema produced numerous works on this theme throughout his career.