The Roses of Heliogabalus

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The Roses of Heliogabalus by Alma-Tadema (1888), oil on canvas.
The Roses of Heliogabalus by Alma-Tadema (1888), oil on canvas.

The Roses of Heliogabalus is a famous painting of 1888 by the Anglo-Dutch academician Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, at present in private hands, and based on a probably invented episode in the life of the Roman emperor Elagabalus, also known as Heliogabalus, (204-222), taken from the Augustan History. Elagabalus is portrayed attempting to smother his unsuspecting guests in rose-petals released from false ceiling panels.

The canvas measures 52" by 84 1/8",[citation needed] or 213cm by 132 cm,[1] dimensions which are almost exactly in the golden ratio, 1:1.618.

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