A watercolour depicting two girls and a man in Roman dress leaning over walls, looking out to sea. Circular. Signed. Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema was a leading artist in late Victorian society, enjoying much royal approval. Having developed a keen interest in classical antiquity from touring Italy and witnessing the first systematic excavations of Pompeii in the mid-nineteenth century, scenes of Ancient Greek and Roman everyday life, such as this one, came to define his career. The Royal Collection also holds an oil painting (RCIN 402147) by the artist in which a woman stands on a balcony overlooking the sea; Alma-Tadema's 'A Coign of Vantage', executed in 1895, is perhaps one of the best known paintings of this type of work (with which this watercolour can be grouped), depicting figures on marble ledges looking out to sea. The number 355 is inscribed in Roman numerals following the artist's signature on this watercolour. From the beginning of his career, Alma-Tadema allocated his finished works opus numbers; his last known painting is numbered 408.