"Death of the Pharoah's Firstborn Son"

Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema OM, RA, RWS,  born Lourens Alma Tadema, ( 8 January 1836 – 25 June 1912) was a Dutch painter.  Born in Dronryp, the Netherlands, and trained at the Royal Academy of Antwerp, Belgium, he settled in London, England in 1870 and spent the rest of his life there. 

A painter of mostly classical subjects, he became famous for his depictions of the luxury and decadence of the Roman Empire, with languorous figures set in fabulous marbled interiors or against a backdrop of dazzling blue Mediterranean sea and sky. One of the most popular Victorian painters, Alma-Tadema was admired during his lifetime for his draftsmanship and accurate depictions of Classical antiquity, but his work fell out of fashion after his death, and only since the 1960s has it been appreciated for its importance within Victorian painting. His style was of the  
Academicism movement.

He painted a series of Egyptian pictures, some of which are to be counted among the highest expressions of Alma-Tadema’s genius, He was noted to be careful at all times about detail, and he took extraordinary care in the preparation of his preliminary sketches for these pictures.

Alma-Tadema's works are remarkable for their depiction of flowers, textures and hard reflecting substances like metals, pottery, and especially marble (leading to the nickname 'marbellous painter'). His work shows much of the fine execution and brilliant colour of the old Dutch masters.