The Roses of Heliogabalus

Alma-Tadema built his career on making ancient Rome feel touchable, and in 1888 a wealthy patron paid him 4,000 pounds for this one. It shows a banquet given by the teenage emperor Elagabalus, who, the old chronicles claim, once smothered his guests under a sudden avalanche of flower petals dropped from a false ceiling. The diners at the front are beginning to realise the drift is not stopping. To get the colour exactly right through an English winter, Alma-Tadema had fresh rose petals shipped up from the south of France every week for four months while he worked. The original story mentioned violets, not roses, but in the Victorian language of flowers roses meant desire, and that is the note he wanted the scene to strike.