Sir Lawrence, a relatively unknown, was not always thus: The painter of "Victorians in togas", Alma-Tadema was one of the most successful artists of the XIX century. He was internationally famous and so immensely popular that scarcely a middle-class Victorian drawing room was without at least one print of Alma-Tadema's painting. Yet a few years after his death he was all but forgotten.

He was born in Holland, educated as an artist in Antwerp, Belgium, studying under Wappers and Leys,but he made his money in England where he moved in 1870. His name Laurens was changed to the English Lawrence. He was elected to the Royal Academy of Arts and knighted by Queen Victoria.