Artist of the Month

Lord Frederick Leighton  (Scarborough, 1830 - London,  1896) 
British painter and scutptor

Self portrait (1880)
Oil on canvas, 30 x 25
Uffizzi

 The first British painter to be made a Lord -quite a great statement. Born into a bussiness family, he was educated at the University College School, London and started his artistic training. At the age of 24, he moved to Florence: a stay that would start his passion for the Renaissance. There he painted Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna is carried in Procession through the Streets of Florence (1853-5), which Queen Victoria bought, bringing him international fame. He also lived in Paris and in 1860 he relocated to London, where he was aquantied with the Pre-Raphaelites and the Aestheticists. He was an associate of the Royal Academy and in 1878 he was elected its president. In that same year he was knighted and by 1896, he was created Baron, but died a day later.

Flaming June (1895)
Oil on canvas, 120 x 120 cm,
Museo de Arte de Ponce

  Leighton's art is academicist at its most, with its smooth brushstrokes and historical or mythological subjects. He tried to achieve great monumentality and strengh in his work (probably due to his bonds with Queen Victoria and his lasting fame), which ended up in cold, frieze like compositions. His later works are much looser and humbler, and have a characteristic warmth. However, it is undeniable that he was a wonderful draughtsman and had a precise tecnique, specially in the neat folds of drapery (like in Flaming June, right). As a sculptor, he acomplished a new level of innovation: his mighty Athlete Wrestling with a Python (1877) was considered a renaissance in British sculture.
 A new Renaissance, that's what many artists of the time wanted, but Leighton created it by subtly mixing Classicist, Pre-Raphaelite and Michelangelesque elements, greatly influencing many generations.
 He, and Pavonia, featured in the recent V&A exhibition "Cult of Beauty: The Aesthetic Movement 1860-1900"