Anglo-Dutch artist Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema was a stickler for accuracy. Commissioned to paint ‘The Roses of Heliogabalus’ in the winter of 1887/1888, he required thousands of rose petals for the painting. He imported them from the Riviera in order to have fresh examples.
‘The Roses of Heliogabalus’ is currently owned by Spanish-Mexican billionaire businessman and art collector Antonio Perez Simon. It was recently included in a London exhibition of Victoria art for the first time since the artist’s death in 1912.
The painting measures 52 x 84 inches and has been claimed in certain portions of an enthusiastic British media to depict a Roman orgy. Despite the name it doesn’t. The depraved teenage Roman Emperor Heliogabalus reclines on a divan, surrounded by garlanded guests, observing a group of diners being smothered in the foreground by pink rose petals pouring from a hidden ceiling cavity. Unable to escape they suffocated to death.
The event is almost certainly an invention. According to account of the short and wretched life of Heliogabalus in the Augustan History, it was “violets and other flowers” in the original Latin. The same was earlier claimed for Nero by the Roman writer Suetonius.
Like a more recent ruler of that unfortunate country, Heliogabalus was a debauched Syrian psychotic. Born 204 in Emesa (modern Homs) as Varius Avitus Bassianus he was proclaimed emperor in 2018 following scheming by his grandmother. Taking the divine name of Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antonius Augustus, his four-year reign was said to have been notorious for the indecency of the rites of his Syro-Phoenician Sun-god Baal and his own life. By 2022 Roman leaders, citizens and military had had enough. He and his mother were killed in an uprising by the Praetorian guards.
The painting was commissioned by Sir John Aird for £4,000. It went through several hands for diminishing amounts as Sir Lawrence’s reputation sank following his death in 1912. Later it was purchased by Alan Font, producer of ‘Candid Camera.’ He was forced to offer it for auction at Sotheby’s in London 1973 when financial problems pressed. It then sold for £28,000, proof that appreciation for the artist’s work was again on the rise.
Such events of classical antiquity particularly appealed to Victorians and were frequently depicted by romantic artists of that age. Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema was one of the most renown amongst these. Born in the Friesian village of Dronijp (Dronryp), the Netherlands 1836, and trained at the Royal Academy, Antwerp, Belgium, he settled in England 1870 at outbreak of Franco-Prussian War and was knighted in 1899. An excellent businessman, in addition to 267 paintings he also designed furniture, wallpaper, and frames.
While ‘The Roses of Heliogabalus’ is considered his most important work, and much of his other productions were similarly historically inspired, there are also flower-based works by him scattered through galleries. All feature central figures, although the names evoke floral delight: ‘Bluebells, ‘‘When Flowers Return,’ ‘The Flower Market’ and so on.
