He was born Lourens Alma Tadema in Friesland. His family were Mennonites. He studied in Antwerp. He moved to England in 1869 and made a name for himself with paintings of semi-nudes set against classical backdrops from ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt. One of his most famous paintings was The Roses of Heliogabalus, based on an episode from the life of the infamously debauched Roman Emperor Heliogabalus.

His realistic depiction of marble led him to be called the 'marbelous painter'. An Audience at Agrippa's shows the emperor approaching to receive gifts from his clients. When an admirer of the painting offered to pay a substantial sum for a painting with a similar theme Alma-Tadema simply turned the emperor around to show him leaving in After the Audience.

In 1870 he married an English woman and moved to London.