| The Right Honourable The Lord Leighton PRA |
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Self portrait of Leighton (1880) |
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| Born | 3 December 1830 Scarborough, England |
| Died | 25 January 1896 (aged 65) London, England |
| Nationality | English |
| Field | painting and sculpture |
| Training | Eduard 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), known as Sir Frederic Leighton, Bt, between 1886 and 1896, was an English painter and sculptor. His works depicted historical, biblical and classical subject matter. Leighton was bearer of the shortest-lived peerage in history; after only one day his hereditary peerage ended with his death.[1]
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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.
Leighton was knighted at Windsor in 1878, and was created a Baronet, of Holland Park Road in the Parish of St Mary Abbots, Kensington, in the County of Middlesex, eight years later.[2] 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;[3] Leighton died the next day of angina pectoris.
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 Iznik tiles. Its centrepiece is the magnificent Arab Hall. The Hall is featured in issue ten of Cornucopia.[4]
| Cultural offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Sir Francis Grant |
President of the Royal Academy 1878–1896 |
Succeeded by Sir John Everett Millais, Bt |
| Baronetage of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by New creation |
Baronet (of Holland Park Road) 1886–1896 |
Succeeded by Extinct |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by New creation |
Baron Leighton 1896 |
Succeeded by Extinct |
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). "Frederick_Leighton,_Baron_Leighton". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Frederick_Leighton,_Baron_Leighton.
