The Classical Sleeping Beauties of Albert Joseph Moore

Albert Joseph Moore (4 September 1841 25 September 1893) was an English painter, known for his depictions of languorous female figures set against the luxury and decadence of the classical world. These paintings usually featured female figures in different states of consciousness, often sleeping or drowsing, wearing neoclassical drapery and floral accessories. This trend gave way to what later became known as the Aesthetic Movement during the Victorian Era in England. Moore devoted himself entirely to this type of art, carefully thought out and painstakingly rooted in the true Hellenistic spirit. Moore was born at York on 4 September 1841, the thirteenth son and fourteenth child of well known portraitpainter William Moore and his second wife, Sarah Collingham. Both William and Sarah had numerous children with other people. Most of Albert Moores siblings were artists themselves. One of his brothers was Henry Moore, an English landscape and marine painter (not to be confused with the abstractionist