Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton

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Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton

Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton, self portrait 1880
Born 3 December 1830(1830-12-03)
Scarborough, England
Died 25 January 1896 (aged 65)
London, England
Nationality English
Field painting and sculpture
Training Edward von Steinle
Movement Academicism
Works Flaming June
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.

Contents

[edit] 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 legal training on the European continent, first from Edward 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.

Flaming June
Flaming June

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.

Icarus and Daedalus
Icarus and Daedalus

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 Year Honours List of 1896. The patent creating him Baron Leighton of Stretton in the County of Shropshire, was issued on 24 January 1896; Leighton died the next day of angina pectoris.

Sir Frederick Leighton in his studio in 1888
Sir Frederick Leighton in his studio in 1888

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.

[edit] Timeline

[edit] Selected works

Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna is carried in Procession through the Streets of Florence, 1853-1855
Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna is carried in Procession through the Streets of Florence, 1853-1855

[edit] Gallery

Captive Andromache

The Last Watch of Hero

The Garden of the Hesperides

Solitude

The Sluggard

The Fisherman and the Syren, c. 1856–1858

[edit] See also

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[edit] External links

Honorary titles
Preceded by
Sir Francis Grant		 President of the Royal Academy
1878–1896		 Succeeded by
Sir John Everett Millais
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
New creation		 Baron Leighton
1896		 Succeeded by
Extinct

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition article "Frederick_Leighton,_Baron_Leighton", a publication now in the public domain.


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