In the Time of Constantine

In the Time of Constantine (1878) is set during the reign of Constantine the Great (306–337 CE), the emperor who made Christianity the favored religion of the Roman Empire and moved its capital toward Constantinople. By choosing this specific period, Alma-Tadema engaged with the great historical transition from pagan antiquity to Christian civilization—a moment of cultural transformation that fascinated Victorian historians and painters alike. The William Morris Gallery holds this canvas, an interesting institutional juxtaposition given Morris's own deep interest in Byzantine and early Christian visual culture. The Constantinian era represented for Victorian viewers both the culmination of Roman grandeur and the first stirrings of medieval Christendom—a threshold moment with special resonance for a culture negotiating its own relationship with faith, empire, and classical inheritance.

Oil on canvas with the late Roman material culture of the early fourth century demanding different archaeological detail than his typical first or second century settings—elaborated textiles, heavier jewelry, and the new Christian iconographic elements beginning to appear alongside traditional Roman decorative schemes.