The Roses of Heliogabalus
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Alma_tadema_heliogabalus.jpg
Alma_tadema_heliogabalus.jpg
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 Heliogabalus (204-222). Heliogabalus is portrayed attempting to smother his unsuspecting guests in rose-petals released from false ceiling panels. The canvas measures 52" by 84 1/8", which may, like ratios within the painting itself, be intended to encode the golden mean. (52" / 84 1/8" = 0.618127..., and the golden mean = 0.618033...)