Antiquity and Decadence: Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema and The Roses of Heliogabalus
No. 22 (2026-02-27)Author(s)
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Samuel Alberto Muñoz MontenegroUniversidad de los Andes, ColombiaORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-6612-8516
Abstract
This article analyses the relation between the decadent movement and classicism in Victorian art through the painting The Roses of Heliogabalus (1888) by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912), a Dutch painter established in England. In art-historical scholarship Alma-Tadema has traditionally been presented as a representative of academicism; although he does share common elements with this movement (such as the use of classical themes and pictorial realism) one can also stablish a connection with the aesthetics of decadence. In The Roses of Heliogabalus, the influence of the decadent movement on Alma-Tadema becomes evident, his work being characterized by the representation of Antiquity as a place of luxury, immorality, extravagance, and pleasure.
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