It was highly praised by critics: Punch described it as "marbellous". The painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1881, and depicted in William Powell Frith's A Private View at the Royal Academy, 1881, to the far right, being inspected by John Everett Millais. In the background, the Aegean Sea can be seen through some trees. The location, with tiers of white marble seating, is based on the Theatre of Dionysus in Athens, but Alma-Tadema has replaced the original inscribed names of Athenians with the names of Sappho's friends. The painting illustrates a passage by the poet Hermesianax, recorded by Athenaeus in his Deipnosophistae ("The Philosophers' Banquet"), book 13, page 598. Sappho is paying close attention to the performance, resting her arm on a cushion which bears a laurel wreath, presumably intended for the performer. In the audience is fellow Lesbian poet Sappho, accompanied by several of her female friends. It depicts a concert in the late 7th century BC, with the poet Alcaeus of Mytilene playing the kithara. The painting measures 66 by 122 centimetres (26 in × 48 in). It is held by the Walters Art Museum, in Baltimore. Sappho and Alcaeus is an 1881 oil-on-canvas painting by the English artist Lawrence Alma-Tadema. Sappho and Alcaeus (1881) by Lawrence Alma-Tadema
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