Alma-Tadema was the Victorian society painter par excellence. Hugely popular, his specialty was paintings of antiquity populated with Victorian characters. They have long been regarded as “sickeningly twee” but current opinion is shifting in his favour. His paintings, exemplars of “painterly technique”, expressed a view of the world as seen from Britain at the height of empire.
Matisse, like Picasso and others, found inspiration from his studio – his world within a world. “[My] state of soul”, he said, “is created by the objects that surround me”. However he did not simply reproduce the interior of his studio on the Cote d’Azur. “He was a great ruthless violator of normal appearances. [This show gives] a really good lesson in what makes a Matisse a Matisse.” More images are here
Post-war jewellers in London focused on loading up their pieces with precious stones – a case of more is more. Grima instead drew inspiration for his creations from art and sculpture. He promptly became a favoured jeweler of the rich and famous and his pieces are still avidly collected. He was, according to one collector “the great impressionist of jewellers.” More images are here.