The striking figures in Lawrence Alma-Tadema's 1887 oil on canvas, "The Women of Amphissa," gain a unique resonance when considering the artist's personal life. It's known that Alma-Tadema met his second wife, Laura, when she was only seventeen, falling in love immediately. Though he used the Franco-Prussian War as a pretext to move to England, it is believed he relocated to London to be near Laura. After contracting her for private art lessons, he proposed marriage, overcoming her father's initial refusal due to their significant age difference – she was 18, he 34. Their enduring marriage saw Laura Therese Alma-Tadema, a painter herself, frequently model for him. "The Women of Amphissa" stands out as the most prominent example of his wife's presence in his work, a piece of Romanticism. This blend of his Dutch origins, Antwerp training, and later life in London informs a work where the personal becomes palpably public, leaving one to ponder the untold stories behind such painted gazes.