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 Foregone Conclusion
Bequeathed by Amy, Lady Tate 1920
actions: expressive
actions: postures and motions
actions: processes and functions
adults
anxiety
architecture
classical
classical
climbing
clothing and personal items
coast
courting
emotions and human qualities
emotions, concepts and ideas
engagement
features
Greece
happiness
hiding
history
holding hands
hope
looking / watching
man
natural phenomena
objects
people
periods and styles
ring
Rome
sea
seascapes and coasts
sex and relationships
shadow
society
stair / step
standing
sunshine
terrace
urn
weather
woman
<p>A moment from contemporary Victorian life is shown here taking place in ancient Greece or Rome. A man brings an engagement ring to his girlfriend in the hope that she will become his fiancée. Her eager attitude shows that the result of his proposal is ‘a foregone conclusion’. Although Alma-Tadema took great care in the authenticity of his classical settings, the modern subject would have made the painting accessible to a nineteenth-century audience. The painting belonged to Sir Henry Tate’s second wife, Amy Hislop. They were married the year it was painted and he may have given it to her as an engagement present.</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
1 January 2014 – 31 May 2014
2014-05-31
1 January 2014 – 31 May 2014
2014-05-31
2014-01-01
Mitsubishi Ichigokan (Tokyo, Japan)
2014-01-01
Art for Art's Sake
Loan-out
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 Foregone Conclusion
support: 311 × 229 mm
frame: 602 × 525 × 60 mm
Bequeathed by Amy, Lady Tate 1920
<p><i>A Foregone Conclusion </i>was commissioned by the founder of the Tate Gallery, Sir Henry Tate (1819-1899) as a wedding present for his second wife, Amy Hislop. Set in the time of the early Roman Empire, Alma-Tadema depicts a man bringing an engagement ring to his girlfriend in the hope that she will become his fiancée. The expectant look of the lady and her attendant holding hands at the top of the stairs reveals that the result of his proposal will be ‘a foregone conclusion’. Barrow has examined many of Alma-Tadema’s courtship scenes in the light of Roman law and practice. During this period women of high birth often married while they were young for political alliance and social advantage. ‘Love interests’, Barrow remarked, ‘developed through the illicit acquisition of lovers after marriage’ (Barrow, p.102). It is unlikely, however, that Henry Tate, a self-made businessman, would have taken the painting to mean anything other than that which was clearly intended, a compliment to his wife’s affection. Amy Hislop, who was 31 years his junior, was married to Tate in 1885, the year of this painting. 
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<br/>This painting is typical of many of Alma-Tadema’s works from the latter part of his career. In contrast to his illustrations of historical events painted on a large scale, for example <i>An Audience at Agrippa’s </i>(1875), his pictures from the 1880s onwards are generally small scale domestic and sentimental scenes. In addition, although still using a Roman setting, Alma-Tadema includes fewer recognisable statues and artefacts. In 1863 Alma-Tadema had visited Italy, going for the first time to the ancient sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum. He frequently returned, taking photographs which became the source material for his paintings when he was back in his studio in London. His later pictures, however, usually contained no more than ‘a figure, or two figures, seated on a marble bench or semi-circular exedra, with the sea beyond, and flowers to add a note of colour’ (Wood, p.125). By including these features in this painting Alma-Tadema recreates the Italian setting.
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<br/>By the time Alma-Tadema painted <i>A Foregone Conclusion</i> he had risen to prominence in the Victorian art world. He was elected a Royal Academician in 1879 and, three years later, a major exhibition was held of his work at the Grosvenor Gallery. Four years after this painting was completed, Sir Henry Tate commissioned <i>A Silent Greeting </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-silent-greeting-n01523" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N01523</span></a>) as a companion picture.
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<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, reproduced p.244</p>
<h2>
<a name="Heading10"></a>R. J. Barrow, <i>Lawrence Alma-Tadema, </i>London 2001, p.158</h2>
<p>
<br/>Heather Birchall</p>
<h2>
<a name="Heading13"></a>July 2002</h2>

Summary
2010-01-08T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<div><p><span>A moment from contemporary Victorian life is shown here, although it is set in ancient Greece or Rome. A man gives an engagement ring to his girlfriend in the hope she will become his fiancée. Her eager attitude shows that the result of his proposal is ‘a foregone conclusion’. The modern subject would have made the painting accessible to a 19th-century audience. The painting belonged to Sir Henry Tate’s wife, Amy Hislop. They married the year it was painted. He may have given it to her as an engagement present.</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 anxiety architecture classical classical climbing clothing and personal items coast courting emotions and human qualities emotions, concepts and ideas engagement features Greece happiness hiding history holding hands hope looking / watching man natural phenomena objects people periods and styles ring Rome sea seascapes and coasts sex and relationships shadow society stair / step standing sunshine terrace urn weather woman