Self-portrait

Alma-Tadema was nominated accademico di merito corrispondente in 1893, joining the Academic class of painters, and later donated this self-portrait to the Academy as a sign of his gratitude. Here he portrays himself working, intently, at his easel, in a self-portrait painted in 1907 and exhibited the following year at the Royal Academy’s annual show in London together with the celebrated The Golden Hour (private collection). In 1912, before sending it to Rome, the artist made slight changes to the self-portrait, including the addition of a straw hat.
[M. Carrera]