Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, O.M., R.A. (1836-1912)

The present lot was one the first paintings executed by Lawrence Alma-Tadema at the Antwerp Academy when he was just nineteen years old, and was the earliest watercolour that he included in his list of works with an opus number. Here, Alma-Tadema has beautifully rendered the Gothic church architecture, and Vern Swanson remarks that this work ‘exemplifies his abilities as a watercolourist’ (V. Swanson, op.cit., 1977, p. 129). At the time of the watercolour’s creation, Alma-Tadema was studying German history and literature as a member of the Antwerp Cercle Artistique, which explains his choice of subject of Faust and Marguerite.