Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton (December 31, 1830 - January 25, 1896) was an English painter and sculptor. His works depicted historical, biblical and classical subject matter, painted for Victorian sensibilities.
Leighton was born in Scarborough. He received his artistic training on the European continent, first from Edward von Steinle and then from Giovanni Costa. 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. In 1864 he became an associate of the Royal Academy and in 1878 he became its president.
Leighton was knighted at Windsor in 1878, and was created a baronet eight years later. He was the first painter to be given a peerage, in the New Years Honours List of 1896. The patent conferring on him the Barony of Leighton was issued on January 24, 1896; Leighton died the next day of angina pectoris. As he was unmarried his Barony was extinguished; this is an all-time 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.
His work includes:
Death of Brunelleschi (1852), oil on canvas
Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna is carried in Procession through the Streets of Florence (http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/cgi-bin/WebObjects.dll/CollectionPublisher.woa/wa/work?workNumber=L275) (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.
The Villa Malta, Rome (http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/cgi-bin/WebObjects.dll/CollectionPublisher.woa/wa/work?workNumber=L851) (1860s), oil on canvas
Actaea, the Nymph of the Shore (http://cybermuse.gallery.ca/cybermuse/search/artwork_e.jsp?mkey=10042) (1868), oil on canvas
Hercules Wrestling with Death for the Body of Alcestis (1869-71)
An Athlete Wrestling with a Python (http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999961&workid=8579&searchid=6933&tabview=image) (1877), bronze sculpture
Flaming June (1895), oil on canvas
'The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins (Fresco)' (http://www.newforestparishes.com/fresco_new_smaller.jpg)
External links
Leighton House Museum (http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/LeightonHouseMuseum/General/default.asp)
Obituary from The Times (http://www.victorianartinbritain.co.uk/obituary/leighton.htm)
'The Garden of Hesperides' (c.1892) (http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/picture-of-month/displaypicture.asp?venue=7&id=137) at the Lady Lever Art Gallery (http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/ladylever/index.asp)
FredericLeighton, 1st Baron Leighton (3 December 1830–25 January 1896) was an English painter and sculptor.
Leighton was knighted at Windsor in 1878, and was created a baronet eight years later.
The patent creating him Baron Leighton, of Stretton in the County of Salop, was issued on 24 January1896; Leighton died the next day of angina pectoris.
FredericLeighton, aided amongst others by his friend the Prince of Wales, was elected the new President, a role he was to hold for the next eighteen years.
Leighton was very fond of Dorothy Dene the (stage name of Ada Pullen), and painted many pictures using her as his model throughout the 1880s.
FredericLeighton as well as being the leading figure in English art in the second half of the nineteenth century was one of the greatest Englishmen of his time.
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