The Roses of Heliogabalus | Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema | 1888 Gustave Courbet neither looks at the other

neither looks at the other

grounds the scene in a sense of place and time

"The Lyricist" by Egon Schiele

painted with the theatrical grandeur that made the artist famous

The Roses of Heliogabalus | Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema | 1888 Gustave Courbet neither looks at the otherAbout the artwork: The Roses of Heliogabalus (1888) by Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema is one of the most opulent and unsettling masterpieces of Victorian classicism, blending beauty with horror. Inspired by accounts from the Roman historian Aelius Lampridius, the painting depicts the young Emperor Heliogabalus hosting a lavish banquet where guests are suffocated under a cascade of rose petalsa chilling display of decadence and cruelty. Alma Tademas