Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton
Frederic (also: Frederick) Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton of Stretton ( born December 3, 1830 in Scarborough, † January 25, 1896 in London ) was an English painter, illustrator and sculptor of the Victorian Neoclassicism.
Life
Leighton made already as a boy eleven years of art studies in Rome, Francesco Meli, then in Berlin to attend the academy. 1844 and 1845 he studied in Florence under Giuseppe Bezzuoli, later Eduard Jakob von Steinle and Becker at the Städel Art Institute in Frankfurt am Main. Major influences in his youth had the Nazarenes and the Italian Renaissance.
His first painted in oil composition was the painting: Giotto, Cimabue found among the sheep (1847 ). There followed Cimabue Madonna celebrated is carried in procession through the streets of Florence, begun in 1852 and sent to the Royal Academy in 1855. This painting with life-size figures had a great success in his exhibition and established his reputation as an important artist.
Leighton then settled in Paris, where he came in touch with Arnold Scheffer and Nicolas Robert -Fleury. In 1858 he returned to Rome, where he spent four portraits of the Italian model Anna Risi ( Nanna ), the later Muse by Anselm Feuerbach painted within a few months. Three of the paintings were exhibited in 1859 at the Royal Academy in London, where in 1859, Leighton moved. There he met with the Pre-Raphaelites, although he did not consider himself as a member of the Association. However, some images show her unmistakable influence. The mid-1860s, he met Albert Joseph Moore know who used an academic aestheticism as a style of painting, and brought him great respect and appreciation for life counter. In 1866 he was appointed Associate of the Royal Academy in 1869 as a member thereof. In 1878 he became President of the Royal Academy. He took his duties as President of the Academy very seriously and cared about the social and other problems of artists. The speeches he gave as President of the Academy, were published in 1896.
Likewise, in 1878, he was also raised by Queen Victoria as a Knight Bachelor in the peerage. In 1886 he received the dignity of a baronet.
Honors
Leighton was one of the renowned Garrick at Club. Finally, he exhibited it at the Grosvenor Gallery and the Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, which were known to promote progressive artists whose work was ignored by the traditional art taste of the Royal Academy.
On January 24 1896 Queen Victoria appointed him as a " Baron Leighton of Stretton " the peer, but Leighton died just one day later unmarried of a heart attack. His peerage became extinct with it.
He has received several honorary doctorates and many foreign awards. He was an officer of the Legion of Honour (1878), Associate Member of the Institut de France ( 1889) and Knight of the Pour le Mérite and Commander of the Order of Leopold.
Work
Leighton's works are held in the idealized style, which was estimated in the academic art. His best-known images represent young women or girls in biblical or ancient scenes, plus scenes from the Italian and Spanish folk life. In addition, he produced several portraits and book illustrations.
Leighton House, Leighton House, 12 Holland Park Road, London W14 8LZ, near the Holland Park, is now a museum, open to visitors.
Private
Since he never married, there were speculations later, he would have been homosexual (as well as rumors of an illegitimate child with a model ), but found themselves no proof. Leighton was always careful in his private life on discretion and there were also found in his letters no evidence in this direction, diary he has not done.
He was an enthusiastic member of the 38th Middlesex Rifle Volunteers ( called Artists Rifles ), a volunteer militia founded by a group of painters who became part of the British Territorial Army later. He joined them in 1860 in the foundation at, shortly after became captain and 1869 whose commander ( from 1875 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and last in the honorary rank of colonel ), which he remained until 1883. The Office was so important to him that James Whistler 1883 ironically described him as follows: Colonel of the Royal Academy and the president of the Artists Rifles - aye, and he paints a little ( a colonel in the Royal Academy and president of the Artists Rifles - oh yea, and he paints a little).
He traveled a lot, especially to Italy, but also in 1866 to Spain in 1868 to Egypt (accompanied by Ferdinand de Lesseps ) and 1873 to Damascus. He spoke German, French and Italian.