UNTIL quite recently, Cimabue's Madonna Carried in Procession through the Streets of Florence (1853-55) hung on a wall above the National Gallery main entrance stairs. Many visitors probably passed beneath without noticing it. The same holds true of the position that its creator Frederic, Lord Leighton (1830-96) holds in the British art world of today: central to its history, yet largely ignored.
Nobody overlooked him in his 19th-century heyday. When Cimabue's Madonna was viewed at the Royal Academy (RA) in 1855, the Art Journal described it as 'the one picture in the collection that will mark this year... as an epoch in British Art'. Queen Victoria purchased it for 600 guineas and Leighton eventually became one of the most fashionable artists of her reign. Of sufficient means not to depend entirely on selling canvases, he produced technically excellent, opulently staged historical and mythological works and moved with ease among the aristocracy. His studio house in London's Holland Park, Kensington, W14 (now Leighton House museum), became a palace of art notable for its Moorish décor. President of the RA from 1878, he was made a baronet in 1886, elevated to the peerage one day before his death (as Lord Leighton, Baron of Stretton, he is the only British artist so honoured) and given a funeral in St Paul's.
It's not difficult to see why his monumental paintings, with their polish and obscure classical references, are less admired today. He was a contemporary of Manet and Degas by the time of Leighton's death, Gauguin had already sailed for the South Seas and Picasso's Blue Period was five years ahead -yet he appears to be from a different age.
Denne historien er fra March 22, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra March 22, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Tales as old as time
By appointing writers-in-residence to landscape locations, the National Trust is hoping to spark in us a new engagement with our ancient surroundings, finds Richard Smyth
Do the active farmer test
Farming is a profession, not a lifestyle choice’ and, therefore, the Budget is unfair
Night Thoughts by Howard Hodgkin
Charlotte Mullins comments on Moght Thoughts
SOS: save our wild salmon
Jane Wheatley examines the dire situation facing the king of fish
Into the deep
Beneath the crystal-clear, alien world of water lie the great piscean survivors of the Ice Age. The Lake District is a fish-spotter's paradise, reports John Lewis-Stempel
It's alive!
Living, burping and bubbling fermented masses of flour, yeast and water that spawn countless loaves—Emma Hughes charts the rise and rise) of sourdough starters
There's orange gold in them thar fields
A kitchen staple that is easily taken for granted, the carrot is actually an incredibly tricky customer to cultivate that could reduce a grown man to tears, says Sarah Todd
True blues
I HAVE been planting English bluebells. They grow in their millions in the beechwoods that surround us—but not in our own garden. They are, however, a protected species. The law is clear and uncompromising: ‘It is illegal to dig up bluebells or their bulbs from the wild, or to trade or sell wild bluebell bulbs and seeds.’ I have, therefore, had to buy them from a respectable bulb-merchant.
Oh so hip
Stay the hand that itches to deadhead spent roses and you can enjoy their glittering fruits instead, writes John Hoyland
A best kept secret
Oft-forgotten Rutland, England's smallest county, is a 'Notswold' haven deserving of more attention, finds Nicola Venning
