This was the last great painting by the famous artist. Above all it strikes by it’s details: the marble, the flowers, the silver, the furs.Most impressive are probably the fruits and the plates on the marble table. Here a detail.
Sometimes people cite it as art as "real art" against modern art is not as well done. But I think it's more symptomatic of the decline of history painting in general. Alma-Tadema almost obsessed accumulates more and more into these details perfectly painted, presumably to insure the value of the painting to highlight his knowledge of the past. But an illusion is not an art much anymore. For example, Alma Tadema was very afraid of falsification and put together a special identification system along with his signature. Of course, this is a stunning picture and much better than a lot of kitsch at the time, but not, for example half the power of a good example of Howard Pyle.
