This painting reminds me of what it is like to lounge in the sun and experience those moments when the only thought in our head is that life is good. The fish in the center add the extra notion of carefree child-like distraction.
The scene is officially set along the Bay of Naples, and the painting is set along with lines from Wordsworth's poem Gold and Silver Fishes in a Vase:
Where, sensitive of every ray,
that smites this tiny sea,
Your scaly panoplies repay
the loan with usury.
The poem strikes the infinite feeling one might find in such a setting, enjoying the detail and beauty of every ray of sun, and yet feeling the pain of being in it, eventually craving the relief of shade.
The painting also inspires an interesting contrast, the woman like the fish in the painting are in a controlled and captive space, and both are there to be admired. The fish for the admiration of the woman, and the woman for the admiration of the viewer, dressed in their Himations and Chitons. Alma-Tadema, by the way, is often credited for inspiring the costumes in Hollywood depictions of ancient Greece and Rome.
Browse more Alma-Tadema paintings at ArtRenewal.org
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