(1852 C 15 August 1909 in Hindhead) was from 1871 the second wife of the painter Lawrence Alma-Tadema and a painter in her own right. A daughter of Dr George Napoleon Epps (who was brother of Dr John Epps), her two sisters were also painters (Emily studied under John Brett, a Pre-Raphaelite, and Ellen under Ford Madox Brown), whilst Edmund Gosse and Rowland Hill were her brothers-in-law. It was at Madox Brown's home that Alma-Tadema first met her in December 1869, when she was aged 17 and he 33. (His first wife had died in May that year.) He fell in love at first sight,and so it was partly her presence in London (and partly the fact that only in England had his work consistently sold) that influenced him into relocating in England rather than elsewhere when forced to leave the continent by the outbreak of the Franco Prussian War in July 1870. Arriving in London at the beginning of September 1870 with his small daughters and sister Artje, Alma-Tadema wasted no time in contacting Laura, and it was arranged that he would give her painting lessons. During one of these, he proposed marriage. As he was then thirty-four and Laura was now only eighteen, her father was initially opposed to the idea. Dr Epps finally agreed on the condition that they should wait until they knew each other better. They married in July 1871 and, though this second marriage proved childless, it also proved enduring and happy, with Laura acting as stepmother to her husband's children by his first marriage. The Paris Salon in 1873 gave Laura her first success in painting, and five years later, at the Paris International Exhibition, she was one of only two English women artists exhibited.  Related Paintings of Laura Theresa Alma-Tadema :. | A Favourite Custom | A Greek Woman Sir Lawrence Alma | The roses of Heliogabalus | Tarquinius Superbus Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema | A Pyrrhic Dance Sir Lawrence Alma |
Related Artists:
Christian Friedrich Gille
1805-1899 German painter, engraver and lithographer. Between 1825 and 1833 he studied engraving under Johann Gottfried Abraham Frenzel, lithography under Louis Z?llner and painting under Johan Christian Dahl at the Hochschule f?r Bildende K?nste, Dresden. Dahl encouraged in Gille an appreciation for the natural formations and changing conditions of light that had inspired Dahl's friend and mentor, the Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich. Gille, however, did not adopt Friedrich's tendency to find mystical significance in these phenomena. Gille's prints are highly descriptive in style and include Saxon landscapes, genre scenes, animal studies and portraits of celebrated men. His paintings and sketches, in oils, watercolour and pen and brown ink, were mostly of landscapes, many with animal staffage.
Martin van Meytens
(June 24, 1695 - March 23, 1770) was a Swedish-Austrian painter who painted members of the royal Court of Austria such as Marie Antoinette, Maria Theresa of Austria, Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor, the Emperor's family and others. His painting style has inspired many other painters to paint in a similar format.
William Andrews Nesfield
British Painter, 1793-1881 was born in Lumley Park, County Durham. In 1808, after the death of William's mother, the family moved the few miles to Brancepeth where his father became rector of St Brandon's Church. His stepmother was Marianne Mills of Willington Hall, whose nephew was the noted architect Anthony Salvin. William's younger sister in fact married Salvin. Nesfield was educated at Durham School, then located on Palace Green, before entering the army. He fought under Wellington in Spain and at Waterloo and also served for two years in Canada. He retired in 1816 and took up a career as a painter of watercolours, particularly of waterfalls, earning the praise of John Ruskin in Modern Painters. While still exhibiting at the Old Water Colour Society, Nesfield began work as a professional landscape architect, with the encouragement of Salvin. From 1840 until his death he was responsible, either singly or with his sons Arthur Markham and William Eden for no fewer than 259 commissions in the British Isles.