Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1909-03-06
A GREAT PICTURE
OF OLD ROME.
"A Vision Of the Coliseum" by
Sir Alma Tadema, a Re-
markable Work of Art.

From a New York Letter to the Chicago
Record Herald.
There is remarkable picture on exhibit
tion at the art store of Arthur Tooth q
Sons, 40 Fifth ave. 1t is entitled "A Vision
of the Coliseum" and represents Sir AL
ma Tadema's ideas of gala performance
in that great place of entertainment in the
golden age of Rome. The picture is not
only remarkable because of its historical
accuracy and it's wonderful color, but be-
cause 1t includes 5000 distinct faces and
figures in the audience-and is the work Of
seven years with the brush and 20 years
of study and preparation. Sir Alma Ia
dema intended it for his masterpiece, and
if an artist can afford to rest his reputa-
tion upon single picture this Is undoubt-
edly as safe venture as any that was
ever made. 1t is an extraordinary revel-
alton of Tadema's technical powers aud
equally so of the breadth and culture Of
his imagination.
The artist explains that he chose as his
subject a gaia performance at the COLI
scum on the occasion of the nomination of
his successor as emperor by Septimus Sew.
erus in the year A. d. 203, and the picture
shows him seated in the imperial box. Be
side him. on the same seat, sits Julia
Donna. his second Wife who did her ut
most to secure for her son. Geta the honor
that had been bestowed upon his half
brother, Bassanus, known to history as
Caracalla. She Is shown In the act OF
passing surreptitiously TO a private at
tendant a letter for some Influential per-
sonage in the audience. Caracalla stands
at the right of the emperor, Geta stands
between his two sisters, and the period
is the interval between the first and Sec
ond parts OF the entertainment while the
audience are resting from excitement and
taking refreshments and slaves are clear
ing the arena Of the Gead bodies and
other reminders of the first act, and sGew-
ing fresh sand over the pools of blood. Tho
first act of these entertainments was lin
tied to the slaughter Of tame animals,
such as asses, deer, rabbits, etc, which
were let loose as a prey to wild beasts.
When the audience was satiated with this
display of cruelty, the keepers came forth
to coax the wild animals into their cages,
which can be seen in the picture under the
tiers of seats that surrounded the amphi-
theater.
Upon the back of Geta's toga n scene is
embroidered showing an old keeper, armed
only with wand, patting the back of a
! lion which follows him obediently
through a door, leaving his victim lying
bleeding on the sand behind.
The picture embraces segment of about
one-seventh of the amphitheater and
shows three galleries of seats of solid mar
BILE which accommodated, not only the
sItters. but the feet of those who occupied
/ the next row above The space, allotted
/ to each person is numbered and marked
! off by lines. The lower tier fronts i'm
| mediately upon the arena, protected by an
eXquiSitely carved marble balustrade. II
| is narrow, and has only three rows OF
! seats. intended for the aristocracy. The
next division OF about 20 tiers of seats is
| occupied by the well to do class of the Ro'
man population, while the upper gallery
is crowded with representatives Of the
! working classes. During the intervals be-
! tween the acts refreshments are served by
attendants in costume, and the audience
| for the moment are relaxed and are gos'
! sping over the incidents of the perform
ance and the events of the day. Theil
| costumes are painted with historic accur'
! acy, and Sir Alma Tadema has endeav'
! worn by the various classes of the people
| of Rome at that period. Septimus Sew
erus, having been North African Is rep
| resented as a negro, with black face
| and crinkly hair. The models used by
Sir Alma Tadema are a bust in the Brit.
ish museum and several medals and coins
! which bear his effigy. 1t was this EN-
, peror who built the wall across Great
| Britain from Carlisle to Newcastle to pre-
vent the inVasiOns of the PiCts and Scots
md while experimenting that great work
| in the year 2l1 A. D., he fell i'll at York
| and died there. His remains We're cremateC
! and the ashes carried to Rome in COLDER
! Urn.