Art Blogging: Frederick Leighton

Lord Frederick Leighton (1830-1896) was an acclaimed British Academic painter of the Victorian era and the first artist of that country to be raised to the nobility. Note that he is not the Pre-Raphaelite artist of the same name and time period.

Leighton was born in Scarborough but raised in various cities throughout Continental Europe. While still abroad, he exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1855 and groomed a reputation for excellence before his arrival in London in 1860. He was an ardent proponent of Neoclassicism but maintained friendly relations with the Pre-Raphaelite movement. Such was his public appeal and persona that he was elected President of the RA, serving for twelve years. Leighton gradually moved up the ranks of peerage and was elevated to Baron a day before his death.

Flaming June (1895) in the Museo de Arte, Puerto Rico. This is perhaps Leighton's most popular painting today. You can't go into a Hobby Lobby without tripping over piles of Flaming June prints.

The draping and foreshortening are simply exquisite.

The picture looks really small here. That's because in real life, it's more than 17 feet long. This is Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna (1855), Leighton's first submission to the Royal Academy. It was Leighton's breakthrough work that made him famous.

Mother and Child (1865) at the Blackburn Museum. I see Pre-Raphaelite figure drawing technique in much of Leighton's work, such as this woman's face.