Known for his lavish ancient settings and extreme brilliancy of color, Lawrence Alma-Tadema’s An Eloquent Silence from 1890 is no different.
An Eloquent Silence is a genre painting in the Realist style.
The silence between the upright sitting posture of the woman and the leaning man perhaps speaks of the man’s submission to both his desire and to the woman who is desired. The floral arrangement on the wall behind perhaps refers to the promise of love.
Lawrence Alma-Tadema’s An Eloquent Silence is in a private collection.