Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton

Infobox Artist
bgcolour = #EEDD82
name = Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton

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imagesize = frameless
caption = Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton, self portrait 1880
birthname =
birthdate = birth date|1830|12|3|df=y
location = Scarborough, England
deathdate = death date and age|1896|1|25|1830|12|3|df=y
deathplace = London, England
nationality = English
field = painting and sculpture
training = Edward von Steinle
movement = Academicism
works = "Flaming June"
patrons =
influenced by =
influenced = Frank Bernard Dicksee
awards = Prix de Rome,
Légion d'honneur

Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton PRA (3 December 1830–25 January 1896) was an English painter and sculptor. His works depicted historical, biblical and classical subject matter.

Biography

Leighton was born in Scarborough to a family in the import and export business. He was educated at University College School, London. He then received his artistic training on the European continent, first from Eduard Von Steinle and then from Giovanni Costa. When in Florence, aged 24, where he studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti, he painted the procession of the Cimabue Madonna through the Borgo Allegri. He lived in Paris from 1855 to 1859, where he met Ingres, Delacroix, Corot and Millet.

In 1860, he moved to London, where he associated with the Pre-Raphaelites. He designed Elizabeth Barrett Browning's tomb for Robert Browning in the English Cemetery, Florence in 1861. In 1864 he became an associate of the Royal Academy and in 1878 he became its President (1878–96). His 1877 sculpture, "Athlete Wrestling with a Python", was considered at its time to inaugurate a renaissance in contemporary British sculpture, referred to as the New Sculpture. His paintings represented Britain at the great 1900 Paris Exhibition.

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As he was unmarried, after his death his Barony was extinguished after existing for only a day; this is a record in the Peerage. His house in Holland Park, London has been turned into a museum, the Leighton House Museum. It contains a number of his drawings and paintings, as well as some of his sculptures (including "Athlete Wrestling with a Python"). The house also features many of Leighton's inspirations, including his collection of Isnik tiles. Its centrepiece is the magnificent Arab Hall.

Timeline

* 1864 - Associate of the Royal Academy
* 1868 - Royal Academy Academician
* 1878 - President of the Royal Academy
* 1878 - Légion d'honneur Officer
* 1878 - Knighted
* 1889 - Associate member of the Institute of France
* 1896 - Raised to the British Peerage

elected works

* "Death of Brunelleschi" (1852), oil on canvas
* "The Fisherman and the Siren", c. 1856 - 1858 (66.3 x 48.7 cm)
* " [http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/cgi-bin/WebObjects.dll/CollectionPublisher.woa/wa/work?workNumber=L275 Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna is carried in Procession through the Streets of Florence] " (1853-5), oil on canvas. This was his first major work and was exhibited at the Royal Academy. Queen Victoria was so taken with it that she bought it for 600 guineas on the opening day of the exhibition.
* " [http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999961&workid=8581&searchid=6933&tabview=image The Discovery of Juliet Apparently Lifeless] " (c.1858)
* " [http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/cgi-bin/WebObjects.dll/CollectionPublisher.woa/wa/work?workNumber=L851 The Villa Malta, Rome] " (1860s), oil on canvas
* "The Painter's Honeymoon", c. 1864 (83.8 x 77.5 cm)
* "Mother and Child", c. 1865, (48.2 x 82 cm)
* " [http://cybermuse.gallery.ca/cybermuse/search/artwork_e.jsp?mkey=10042 Actaea, the Nymph of the Shore] " (1868), oil on canvas, (57.2 x 102.2 cm) National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa.
* "Daedalus and Icarus", c. 1869, (138.2 x 106.5 cm)
* "Hercules Wrestling with Death for the Body of Alcestis" (1869-71) (132.4 x 265.4 cm)
* "Greek Girls Picking up Pebbles by the Sea", 1871 (84 x 129.5 cm)
* "Music Lesson", c. 1877, (92.8 x 118.1 cm)
* " [http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999961&workid=8579&searchid=6933&tabview=image An Athlete Wrestling with a Python] " (1877), bronze sculpture
* "Nausicaa", c. 1878 (145 x 67 cm)
* "Winding the Skein", c. 1878, (100.3 x 161.3 cm)
* "Light of the Harem", c. 1880, (152.4 x 83.8 cm)
* "Wedded", (c. 1881 - 1882) (145.4 x 81 cm)
* "Captive Andromache", c. 1888 (197 x 406.5 cm)
* "The Bath of Psyche", (c. 1889−90) (189.2 x 62.2 cm) Tate Gallery
* "The Garden of the Hesperides", c. 1892, (169 x 169 cm)
* "Flaming June" (1895), oil on canvas, Museo de Arte de Ponce, Puerto Rico (120.6 x 120.6 cm)
* [http://www.newforestparishes.com/page8/page2/files/page2_1.jpg'The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins (Fresco)']
* "The armlet"
* "Phoebe" (55.88 x 60.96 cm)
* "A Bather"
* The Leighton Frescoes, The Arts of Industry as Applied to War and The Arts of Industry as Applied to Peace

Gallery

ee also

* "Romola" – the novel by George Eliot for which he did the illustrations

External links

* [http://www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/art.asp?aid=14 ArtRenewal.org] gallery
* [http://www.lordfredericleighton.co.uk Scarborough, Birthplace of Lord Frederic Leighton]
* [http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/LeightonHouseMuseum/General/default.asp Leighton House Museum]
* [http://www.victorianartinbritain.co.uk/obituary/leighton.htm Obituary from The Times]
* [http://www.clevelandart.org/explore/searchlist.asp?searchText=Frederic+Leighton Biography from the Cleveland Museum of Art]
* [http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/picture-of-month/displaypicture.asp?venue=7&id=137 'The Garden of Hesperides' (c.1892)] at the [http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/ladylever/index.asp Lady Lever Art Gallery]
* [http://www.goodart.org/artoffl.htm Brian Yoder's page for Lord Frederic Leighton at goodart.org]
* [http://www.phryne.com/artists/76-39-83.HTM Phryne's list of pictures in public galleries in the UK]
* [http://www.museumsyndicate.com/artist.php?artist=437 Leighton Gallery at MuseumSyndicate]

Persondata
NAME=Leighton, Frederic
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=
DATE OF BIRTH=3 December 1830
PLACE OF BIRTH=Scarborough, England
DATE OF DEATH=25 January 1896
PLACE OF DEATH=London, England