Lawrence Alma-Tadema's Spring

My latest visit to The Getty Museum allowed me the pleasure of discovering Spring, an oil painting by Lawrence Alma-Tadema. Set in ancient Rome, the painting brings to life the Victorian tradition of sending children out to the fields to collect flowers for a May Day celebration. Like all of Alma-Tadema's paintings, he depicts ancient Roman and Greek life with astounding detail. Taking over four years to complete, Spring tells a moving story with Alma-Tedema's use of bronze sculpture, clothing, musical instruments, and the incredible faces (which are said to be those of some of his family and friends), all with his trademark backdrop of marbled interiors and a languid Italian sky. The depth and detail was awe inspiring to me, so much that I typed his name into my blackberry; I had to know more. Alma-Tadema's life long fascination and study of the ancient world made him an expert of Classical antiquities, and his paintings have inspired many set designers in Hollywood, including Oscar-winning Gladiator, and The Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

The view of The Getty Museum from the gardens has similar elements to a Alma-Tadema painting.