(English, 1836-1912)
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema was a Dutch painter of special British denizenship. Born in Dronrijp, the Netherlands, and trained at the Royal Academy of Antwerp, Belgium, he settled in England in 1870 and spent the rest of his life there. A classical-subject painter, he became famous for his depictions of the luxury and decadence of the Roman Empire, with languorous figures set in fabulous marbled interiors or against a backdrop of dazzling blue Mediterranean Sea and sky. Alma-Tadema was considered one of the most popular Victorian painters.
The texture of that fabric is spectacular.
When he was an assistant to another artist, his boss criticised that the marble in this painting looked like cheese. After that Tadema focused on making materials look as real as possible.
Whaaa... Criticism on a high level.