Painted in 1861, The Education of the Children of Clovis was Alma-Tadema’s first major work. It created a sensation when it was first exhibited at the Artistic Congress in Antwerp of the same year, and it cemented his growing reputation. According to Alma-Tadema, his teacher Jan August Henrik Leys was accepting of the work, but critical of the marble, which he likened to the texture of cheese. Taking the criticism very seriously, Alma-Tadema spent years perfecting his technique of variegated marble and granite. He became so well known for his realistic marble that he was eventually humorously referred to as a “marbelous painter.”