Oil paint on wood
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<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/sir-lawrence-alma-tadema-6" aria-label="More by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema</a>
A Silent Greeting
Presented by Sir Henry Tate 1894
actions: expressive
actions: postures and motions
actions: processes and functions
adults
architecture
bouquet
classical
classical
couch
cushion
domestic
furnishings
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, ‘The Visit’
greeting
history
interior - non-specific
interiors
jug
literature (not Shakespeare)
literature and fiction
man
military
objects
people
periods and styles
plants and flowers
Rome
sitting
sleeping
soldier
standing
sword
vessels and containers
weapons
woman
work and occupations
<p>The ‘silent greeting’ of the title is the gift of flowers that the young Roman soldier leaves for the sleeping woman. The subject was inspired by The Visit, a poem by the German poet and dramatist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832). Alma-Tadema took great pains over the accuracy of his depictions of the ancient world, carefully researching the architecture and interior details. However, the sentimental subject and the contemporary look of the figures – memorably described as ‘Victorians in togas’ – gives the painting the air of a modern costume drama.</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint wood
29 August 2001 – 25 July 2005
2005-07-25
29 August 2001
2001-08-29
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2001-08-29
Art and Victorian Society
Collection based display
15 September 2012 – 31 January 2013
2013-01-31
15 September 2012 – 31 January 2013
2013-01-31
2012-09-15
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (Birmingham, UK)
http://www.bmag.org.uk
2012-09-15
Love and Death: Victorian Paintings from Tate
Loan-out
9 June 2015 – 13 September 2015
2015-09-13
9 June 2015 – 13 September 2015
2015-09-13
2015-06-09
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2015-06-09
Fighting History
Exhibition
1 October 2016 – 29 October 2017
2017-10-29
1 October 2016 – 7 February 2017
2017-02-07
2016-10-01
Fries Museum (Leeuwarden, Netherlands)
http://www.friesmuseum.nl
23 February 2017 – 18 June 2017
2017-06-18
2017-02-23
Österreichische Galerie Belvedere (Vienna, Austria)
7 July 2017 – 29 October 2017
2017-10-29
2017-07-07
Leighton House Museum (London, UK)
2016-10-01
Alma - Tadema: Houses of Life, Art, and Imagination
Loan-out
26 September 2022
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2022-09-26
Gallery 9
Collection based display
A Silent Greeting
support: 305 × 229 mm
frame: 564 × 488 × 67 mm
Presented by <a href="/search?gid=999999962" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Sir Henry Tate</a> 1894
<p>This painting was commissioned by Sir Henry Tate (1819-99) as a companion piece to <i>A Foregone Conclusion </i>(Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/alma-tadema-a-foregone-conclusion-n03513" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N03513</span></a>) which he had given to his wife, Amy, as a wedding present in 1885. Both paintings depict a male or female gazing at their loved one. <i>A Silent Greeting </i>is characteristic of many of Alma-Tadema’s paintings from this period which depict an anecdotal scene of Roman life set in an archaeologically reconstructed interior. The rediscovery of Herculaneum in 1738 and Pompeii ten years later had revealed a plethora of artefacts, including wall paintings, statues and mosaics. Alma-Tadema built up an enormous collection of photographs of fragments of classical antiquity and architecture which he consistently referred to when composing his pictures. In addition the same items were often included in different paintings. For example the decorative silver jug on the shelf in the background also appears in <i>An Audience at Agrippa’s, A Bath </i>and <i>A Dedication to Bacchus </i>(Barrow, p.173). 
<br/>
<br/>Alma-Tadema rose to prominence in the Victorian art world. He was elected a Royal Academician in 1879 and, three years later, a major exhibition of his work was held at the Grosvenor Gallery. His meticulously painted pictures proved popular amongst the Victorian middle classes and he produced over 400 paintings in his lifetime. 
<br/>
<br/><b>Further reading:</b>
<br/>Christopher Wood, <i>Olympian Dreamer: Victorian Classical Painters 1860-1914, </i>London 1983
<br/>Edwin Becker, ed. <i>Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, </i>exhibition catalogue, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam 1997, p.244, reproduced, p.245, in colour
<br/>R. J. Barrow, <i>Lawrence Alma-Tadema</i>, London 2001
<br/>
<br/>Heather Birchall
<br/>July 2002</p>

Summary
2010-01-08T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<div><p><span>The ‘silent greeting’ of the title is the gift of flowers that the young Roman soldier leaves for the sleeping woman. The subject was inspired by ‘The Visit’, a poem by the German poet and dramatist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832). Lawrence Alma-Tadema took great pains over the accuracy of his depictions of the ancient world, carefully researching the architecture and interior details. However, the sentimental subject and the contemporary look of the figures – memorably described as ‘Victorians in Togas’ – gives the painting the air of a modern costume drama.</span></p></div>
Online caption
2024-04-22T00:00:00
online-caption
ONLINE_CAPTION
actions: expressive actions: postures and motions actions: processes and functions adults architecture bouquet classical classical couch cushion domestic furnishings Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, ‘The Visit’ greeting history interior - non-specific interiors jug literature and fiction literature (not Shakespeare) man military objects people periods and styles plants and flowers Rome sitting sleeping soldier standing sword vessels and containers weapons woman work and occupations