Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton

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Frederic Leighton
Flaming June (around 1895)
Biondina , 1879

Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton PRA (also Frederick Leighton , born December 3, 1830 in Scarborough , † January 25, 1896 in London ) was an English painter , illustrator and sculptor of Victorian neoclassicism .

Life

At the age of eleven, Leighton made art studies in Rome under Francesco Meli, and then attended the academy in Berlin . In 1844 and 1845 he studied in Florence under Giuseppe Bezzuoli , later under Eduard Jakob von Steinle and Becker at the Städelsche Kunstinstitut in Frankfurt am Main . The Nazarenes and the Italian Renaissance had significant influences in his youth .

His first composition, painted in oil, was the painting: Giotto, Found Among the Sheep of Cimabue (1847). This was followed by Cimabue's celebrated Madonna carried through the streets of Florence in procession , begun in 1852 and sent to the Royal Academy in 1855 . This painting with life-size figures was a great success at his exhibition and established his reputation as a major artist.

Leighton then settled in Paris , where he got in touch with Arnold Scheffer and Nicolas Robert-Fleury . In 1858 he returned to Rome, where, within a few months, he painted four portraits of the Italian model Anna Risi (Nanna), the later muse of Anselm Feuerbach . Three of the paintings were exhibited at the Royal Academy in London in 1859, where Leighton moved in 1859. There he met the Pre-Raphaelites , but did not consider himself a member of the association. However, some pictures show their unmistakable influence. In the mid-1860s he got to know Albert Joseph Moore , who cultivated an academic aestheticism as a painting style , and brought him great respect and recognition throughout his life. In 1866 he was appointed associate of the Royal Academy, in 1869 a member of the same. In 1878 he became President of the Royal Academy. He took his duties as President of the Academy very seriously and worried about the social and other problems of artists. The speeches he gave as president of the academy were published in 1896.

Honors

Leighton was a member of the renowned Garrick Club . Eventually, he was allowed to exhibit at the Grosvenor Gallery and the Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts , known for promoting progressive artists whose work was ignored by the Royal Academy's traditional art tastes.

In 1878 he was also knighted by Queen Victoria as a Knight Bachelor . In 1886 he received the hereditary title of Baronet , of Holland Park Road in the Parish of St Mary Abbots, Kensington, in the County of Middlesex (Baronetage of the United Kingdom).

On January 24, 1896, Queen Victoria raised him as Baron Leighton , of Stretton in the County of Salop , to hereditary peer ( Peerage of the United Kingdom ), but Leighton died of a heart attack a day later unmarried . His titles of nobility thus expired.

He received several honorary doctorates and many foreign awards. He was an officer of the Legion of Honor (1878), foreign member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts (1884), Knight of the Pour le Mérite (1888) and Commander of the Order of the Leopold .

plant

Leighton's works are in the idealized style that has been valued in the academic arts . His most famous pictures depict young women or girls in biblical or ancient scenes, as well as scenes from Italian and Spanish folk life. He also made several portraits and book illustrations.

Leighton commissioned William De Morgan to furnish the specially built-on Arab hall of his house with the Turkish, Persian and Syrian tiles he had collected during his travels. The architect George Aitchison designed this hall . Leighton House , 12 Holland Park Road, London W14 8LZ, near Holland Park , is now a museum open to visitors.

Private

Since he never married, there were later suspicions that he was homosexual (as well as rumors of an illegitimate child with a model) but no evidence was found. Leighton was always careful about discretion in his private life and there were no references in this direction in his letters either; He did not keep a diary.

He was an avid member of the 38th Middlesex Rifle Volunteers (called Artists Rifles ), a volunteer militia founded by a group of artists who later became part of the British Territorial Army. He joined them in 1860 when they were founded, shortly afterwards became a captain and in 1869 their commander (from 1875 with the rank of lieutenant colonel and finally with the rank of honorary colonel), which he remained until 1883. The office was so important to him that James Whistler ironically described him around 1883 as follows: Colonel of the Royal Academy and the President of the Artists Rifles - aye, and he paints a little (Colonel of the Royal Academy and President of the Artists Rifles - ach yes, and he paints a little).

He traveled a lot, especially to Italy, but also to Spain in 1866, to Egypt in 1868 (accompanied by Ferdinand de Lesseps ) and in 1873 to Damascus. He spoke German, French and Italian.

exhibition

  • 2008: Frederic Lord Leighton. Victorian painters and sculptors , Villa Stuck

literature

gallery

  • Self-portrait 1880

  • Portrait by May Sartoris, around 1860, Kimball Art Gallery

  • music-lesson

  • The sea releases the dead, Tate Modern

  • Damascus, Jewish quarter

  • Hero's last watch

  • Vestal virgin

  • Roman woman

  • idyll

  • Reconciliation of the Montagues and Capulets over the dead bodies of Romeo and Juliet

  • Dante in exile

  • Garden of the Hesperides

  • Chios

supporting documents

Web links

Commons : Frederic Leighton  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Single receipts

  1. ↑ Sabine Schulze (Ed.): Gardens: Order - Inspiration - Luck , Städel Museum , Frankfurt am Main & Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern 2006, ISBN 978-3-7757-1870-7 , p. 99
  2. ^ The Edinburgh Gazette : 10750, 109 , February 4, 1896
  3. ^ Leighton House Museum
  4. ^ History of the House
  5. ^ Lucy Paquette The artists rifles
  6. ^ History of the Artists Rifles
personal data
SURNAME Leighton, Frederic, 1st Baron Leighton
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Leighton, Frederick, 1st Baron Leighton; Leighton, Sir Frederic, 1st Baronet
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English painter, illustrator and sculptor of Victorian neoclassicism
DATE OF BIRTH December 3, 1830
PLACE OF BIRTH Scarborough
DATE OF DEATH January 25, 1896
Place of death London