architectural capriccio, not a single known location but rather combining parts of known Roman buildings from several different locations=. To the left rear is a triumphal arch, with an inscription taken from the Arch of Trajan at Benevento, southeast of Rome; its spandrel is decorated with a river god based on the Arch of Constantine, but unusually accompanied by a sheep and bull (for Aries and Taurus, denoting April and May). A building to the left has a frieze showing the battle of Lapiths and Centaurs. Visible to the rear are two bronze equestrian statues, based on marble statues from Pompeii. The painting measures and retains its original, heavy gilded architectural frame, also designed by the artist, with pilasters and a triangular pediment. The frame above the painting displays its title, "Spring", and the bottom of the frame has four lines of poetry from Algernon Charles Swinburne's 1865 poem "Dedication" written in honour of the painter Edward Burne-Jones: "In a land of clear colours and stories, / In a region of shadowless hours, / Where earth has a garment of glories / And a murmur of musical flowers". Reception Alma-Tadema worked on the painting for four years. It was completed in late 1894, and bought by the German banker . It was exhibited at the 1895 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, at the 1899 Große Berliner Kunstausstellung in Berlin, and at the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris. It was a commercial success for Alma-Tadema, who sold many reproductions. The original painting was sold through Thomas Agnew & Sons in London, and acquired by Charles Yerkes in 1901. After his death in 1910, it was sold at the American Art Association, and then bought in 1912 from the dealer Henry Reinhardt Galleries in Chicago by Thomas F. Cole. It was exhibited at the inaugural exhibition at the new building of the Toledo Museum of Art in 1912, and later acquired by Edwin H. Fricke. It was the inspiration for the scene of Julius Caesar's triumphal entry into Rome in Cecil B. DeMille's 1934 film Cleopatra. Along with other works from Fricke's collection, including Alma-Tadema's 1906 painting Ask Me No More, it was sold at Parke-Bernet in New York in 1945. It was acquired through Lewis A. Stone by Mrs. Edward Lane, and sold the same year to Hulett C. Merritt, in Pasadena. It was bought from his estate sale at Ames Art