Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema’s is a story of triumph. He was stricken with tuberculosis as a teenager and given only a short time to live. He spent what were considered his remaining days drawing and painting and somehow recovered and regained strength. He continued to pursue art and was encouraged to depict history paintings by early teachers. He took this to heart and became fascinated with creating images of early Egyptian, Greek and Roman life- especially the latter with inspiration from findings at Pompeii. He amassed references for his paintings by sketching at excavation sites and collecting a large volume of black and white photographs. Originally from the Netherlands, he worked primarily in England where he received many awards and was eventually Knighted. He only knew success in his lifetime, but shortly after his death styles changed and his work became less popular. Hollywood, however, looked to him for set design inspiration, and scenes in early movies such as Ben-Hur, Gladiator and Cleopatra were directly inspired by Alma-Tadema’s paintings. Today, his paintings are having a resurgence and this presentation will spotlight his working technique in two of them. Join Pamela Betts, Senior Paintings Conservator, for this virtual presentation to learn more about Alma-Tadema's work.