A Favourite Custom

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A Favourite Custom
Alma-Tadema A Favourite Custom 1909 Tate Britain.jpg
Artist Lawrence Alma-Tadema
Year1909
Type Oil on panel, history painting
Dimensions66 cm× 45 cm(26 in× 18 in)
Location Tate Britain, London

A Favourite Custom is a 1909 history painting by the Dutch British-based artist Lawrence Alma-Tadema. [1] It depicts a scene in a bathhouse at Pompeii in Ancient Rome. [2] Produced near the end of his career, it characteristically combines two nude women with a meticulously recreated portrayal of the customs of a bathhouse. He had been producing similar such paintings since 1882. [3]

The painting was displayed at the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition of 1909 at Burlington House. It was then acquired for the Tate Gallery through the Chantrey Bequest for £1,750 a large sum for a smaller picture such as this. It remains in the collection of the Tate today. [4]

References

  1. Barrow p.191
  2. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/alma-tadema-a-favourite-custom-n02675
  3. Liversidge & Edwards p.168-70
  4. Liversidge & Edwards p.168

Bibliography