Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema was a Dutch painter who later settled in the United Kingdom, becoming the last officially recognised denizen in 1873. Born in Dronryp, the Netherlands, and trained at the Royal Academy of Antwerp, Belgium, he settled in London, England in 1870 and spent the rest of his life there.
Alma-Tadema in 1870
Lourens Alma Tadema's birth house and statue in Dronryp, Netherlands
The Education of the Children of Clovis (1861), oil on canvas, 127 × 176.8 cm, private collection. Queen Clotilde, wife of King Clovis, is shown training her three young children the art of hurling the axe to avenge the death of her father.
Preparatory studies for The Contrary Oracle, showing Alma-Tadema's early interest in Ancient Egypt as well as his attention to detail and historical accuracy.
Denization is an obsolete or defunct process in England and Ireland and the later Kingdom of Great Britain, the United Kingdom, and the British Empire, dating back to the 13th century, by which an alien (foreigner), through letters patent, became a denizen, thereby obtaining certain rights otherwise normally enjoyed only by the King's subjects, including the right to hold land. The denizen was neither a subject nor an alien, but had a status akin to permanent residency today. While one could become a subject via naturalisation, this required a private act of Parliament ; in contrast, denization was cheaper, quicker, and simpler. Denization fell into obsolescence when the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act 1914 simplified the naturalisation process.
Self-portrait with a sunflower by Anthony Van Dyck, a denizen from 1638
