A Silent Greeting
- Artist: Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema
- Date: 1889
- Medium: Oil paint on wood
- Dimensions: support: 305 x 229 mm
- Museum: Tate Britain
- Collection record: Tate Britain website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is the “A Silent Greeting” by Sir Lawrence Alma‑Tadema. Painted in 1889 with oil on wood, it shows a young Roman soldier pausing at a bedroom door, gently leaving a bouquet of flowers for the woman sleeping in a couch. The gesture echoes the title – a quiet, almost secret welcome – and was inspired by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s poem “The Visit.”
Alma‑Tadema was famous for his painstaking research into Roman architecture and interiors. You can see that in the marble columns, the patterned floor, and even the silver jug on a shelf – a detail he reused in other works. Yet, the figures themselves look oddly Victorian, “Victorians in togas” as art historians have called them, giving the scene a familiar, domestic feel.
The painting was presented by Sir Henry Tate in 1894, and it pairs with his earlier commission “A Foregone Conclusion,” both exploring a quiet moment of intimacy set against a meticulously recreated ancient setting. It’s a fine example of how the Victorian era romanticized antiquity while still making it relatable to contemporary viewers.
See it in person
A Silent Greeting is in the collection of Tate Britain on Millbank, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
