Frederick Leighton


Frederick Leighton Portrait
Name
Frederick Leighton
Life Dates
1830-1896
Country
UK
Movement
Victorian Classicism

Frederick Leighton Biography

Frederic Leighton was a British painter of the late 19th Century, and one of the pre-eminent artists of the Victorian period. Though the scion of a wealthy family, his considerable talent caused him to pursue the rather unfashionable calling of fine art. An incredibly prolific painter, he left behind hundreds of works and, defying critics, established new fashions in the art of the time. He eventually rose to the position of President of the Royal Academy of Art, which he used to promote an artistic renaissance in Great Britain.

Frederic Leighton was born on 3 December, 1830, in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, into the family of a wealthy doctor, Frederic Septimus Leighton. Leighton's family had longstanding connections to the Russian monarchy through his grandfather, who had been court physician to both Czar Alexander I and, briefly, Czar Nicholas I. Leighton's father thus inherited a great deal of wealth and subsequently retired, perhaps due to his wife's declining health, deciding to focus instead on his family.

Leighton's artistic gifts became evident as early as the age of five, when he took up a pencil and paper and began drawing various household objects and pets while bedridden from a severe illness. At the age of nine, under similar circumstances, when he sketched copies of two of his father's own paintings. These demonstrations of his talent convinced Leighton's parents of giving him a chance at an art education.

His first exposure to professional painting happened in 1839, when he visited the studio of artist George Lance while the family was staying in Paris. The visit had been unplanned, but it made a notable impression on young Leighton. The artist persuaded his parents to allow him to return to the studio several more times.

The following year, Leighton's family moved to Rome, where his father hired the draftsman Signor Francesco Meli to continue Leighton's instruction in art. It was from him that Leighton received his first serious lessons in draftsmanship. In his spare time, the budding artist would tour art galleries, churches and museums throughout the city, becoming acquainted with the history of art and stoking the fires of his newly-discovered passion. This would continue for the next two years, during which the family traveled throughout Italy, visiting the country's other art centers of Florence, Venice, Bologna, and Milan.

By the summer of 1842, the family had returned, by way of Germany, to England, where Leighton briefly attended University College School in London. The diverse, and intensive, education Leighton had acquired on the continent, thanks to the perseverance of his father, soon gained him recognition amongst his teachers and peers. By this time he was already fluent in French and Italian. To top off his mastery of languages with a grounding in German, the family moved to Berlin that winter.

While in the Prussian capital, Leighton took art classes at the Royal Academy. This indirectly led to his work being praised by one of the Academy's professors, Dählinger, when he happened to see some of the boy's work around the family's house during a visit. The professor remarked that Leighton had the makings of a distinguished artist, which was perhaps what finally convinced his father to make art lessons a more serious part of Leighton's education.

In 1844, the family return to Italy, where they settled for a time in Florence. Young Leighton was overjoyed to be back, and wasted no time re-visiting the art galleries, this time with a more experienced eye. Meanwhile, his father, still unconvinced about the wisdom of art as a profession, sought the opinion of his friend, an American sculptor by the name of Hiram Powers, who had somewhat of a reputation for discouraging people from pursuing careers in art. Powers readily agreed to have a look at the boy's work, but, after several days of deliberation, told Dr. Leighton that he could not, in good conscience, oppose his son's endeavors due to his outstanding talent. This was a turning point for young Leighton, for now he had his father's blessing to pursue art in earnest, on the one condition that his general education was not sidelined.

Spring of 1845 saw Leighton attending the Academia delle Belle Arti in Florence, studying under Bezzuoli and Servolini. Both were considered among the best Italian artists of the time, often compared to Michelangelo and Raphael by their students. Whether or not Leighton shared such sentiments is unclear, but he learned a great deal under their guidance. Dr. Leighton, too, contributed to his son's art studies. The father would have his boy copy existing prints of the human body, then tear the drawings up and make him redraw the pictures anew from memory, in this way making sure that Leighton became as familiar with the bones, muscles and organs of the human body as any learned doctor. These exercises instilled in Leighton a remarkable ability to draw from memory.

At the end of 1846 the family moved to Frankfurt, where Leighton continued his studies at the Städel Institute. The institute possessed a robust art gallery, having inherited its founder's extensive collection, and the young artist found plenty of material for study.

The following year was spent in Brussels. At this point Leighton was seventeen and an adult in his father's eyes, so he was allowed to conclude his general studies and devote all of his time to artistic pursuits. However, although he was introduced to multiple well-known teachers, he did not become attached to any one studio, instead choosing to remain independent. Around this period, in 1848, he produced his first major project, the oil painting Cimabue and Giotto.

The period 1849-1850 saw yet more traveling on Leighton's part as the family visited first Paris, then Athens. However, since he was now pursuing an artistic career in earnest, Leighton was drawn back to Frankfurt and the Städel Institute, having made good friends with the professors and finding the environment much to his liking. Leighton's more notable works from this time include The Duel Between Romeo and Tybalt (1850-51) and The Death of Brunelleschi (1850-51), as well as a satirical fresco, painted on the wall of a local abandoned castle and featuring likenesses of some of the institute's better known professors. The last of these was reportedly one of Leighton's personal favorites, but unfortunately hasn't...


Frederick Leighton 115 Most Important Paintings and Artworks

Frederick Leighton Bibliography

The Art of Lord Leighton by Christopher Newall. Phaidon Press, 1994.

Frederic, Lord Leighton: Eminent Victorian Artist by Richard Ormond, Stephen Jones et al. Harry N. Abrams, 1996.

The Life and Work of Sir Frederick Leighton, Bart by Leonora Blanche Lang. Forgotten Books, 2012.

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