The Roses of Heliogabalus by Lawrence Alma-Tadema - 1888 - 132.7 × 214.4 cm private collection The Roses of Heliogabalus by Lawrence Alma-Tadema - 1888 - 132.7 × 214.4 cm private collection

The Roses of Heliogabalus

oil on canvas • 132.7 × 214.4 cm
  • Lawrence Alma-Tadema - January 8, 1836 - June 25, 1912 Lawrence Alma-Tadema 1888

Today is the 8th birthday of DailyArt! TIME FOR A PARRRRTY!!! 

We want to thank you for being with us all this time, for all your support and patience. Thanks to you we are reaching 800,000 people around the world in 16 languages AND we are preparing new language versions!  Here, we need to mention our amazing translators and proofreaders who volunteer to help us—thank you!  Besides the app, we publish DailyArt Magazine and spread art history on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Remember we are here for you! : )  As a small thank you gift, today the PRO version of DailyArt will cost $1.99 instead of $5.99. Just click Upgrade to PRO to purchase. Enjoy!

The Roses of Heliogabalus depicts the young Roman emperor Elagabalus (203–222 CE) hosting a banquet, being swamped by drifts of pink rose petals falling from a false ceiling above. The youthful emperor, wearing a golden silk robe and tiara, watches the spectacle from a platform behind them, with other garlanded guests. A woman plays the double pipes beside a marble pillar in the background, wearing the leopard skin of a maenad, with a bronze statue of Dionysus, based on the Ludovisi Dionysus, in front of a view of distant hills.

The painting depicts a (probably invented) episode taken from the Augustan History. Although the Latin refers to "violets and other flowers," Alma-Tadema depicts Elagabalus smothering his unsuspecting guests with rose petals. The original reference is this: "In a banqueting-room with a reversible ceiling he once buried his guests in violets and other flowers, so that some were actually smothered to death, being unable to crawl out to the top."

The painting was commissioned by Sir John Aird in 1888. As roses were out of season in the United Kingdom, Alma-Tadema is reputed to have had rose petals sent from the south of France each week during the four months in which it was painted.

Well, once again, 8 years is really SOMETHING, but we would not be here without you! <3  We continue our mission and promise to continue to do our best and smother you with art, like Elagabalus did with rose petals.  <3  THANK YOU!

- Zuzanna & the DailyArt Team

P.S. Here's the whole story on Heliogabalus and his decadent party with close-ups of this incredible canvas!