Edmund Blair Leighton ROI (21 September 1852 – 1 September 1922) was an English painter of historical genre scenes, specialising in Regency and medieval subjects. His art is associated with the pre-Raphaelite movement of the mid-to-late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.[1]
Quick Facts Born, Died ...
Edmund Leighton |
|---|
 Leighton in 1900 |
| Born | Edmund Blair Leighton
(1852-09-21)21 September 1852
London, England |
|---|
| Died | 1 September 1922(1922-09-01) (aged 69)
London, England |
|---|
| Nationality | British |
|---|
| Known for | Painting |
|---|
Close
Leighton was the son of the artist Charles Blair Leighton (1823–1855) and Caroline Leighton (née Boosey). He was educated at University College School, leaving at 15 to work for a tea merchant. Wishing to study art, he went to evening classes in South Kensington and then to the Heatherley School of Fine Art in Newman Street, London. Aged 21, he entered the Royal Academy Schools. Among his first commissions were monochrome illustrations for Cassell's Magazine and its Book of British Ballads. His first painting to be exhibited at the Royal Academy was A Flaw in the Title in 1874; it sold for £200. He soon gave up "black and white" illustrations, working for the rest of his career in oil on canvas. He married Katherine Nash in 1885; they had a son, the painter Edmund J. Blair Leighton, and a daughter. He exhibited annually at the Royal Academy until 1920.
Leighton was a fastidious craftsman, producing highly finished, decorative historical paintings. These were romanticised scenes, often of chivalry and women in medieval dress with a popular appeal.[4] It would appear that he left no diaries, and though he exhibited at the Royal Academy for over forty years, he was never an Academician or an Associate.
Till Death Do Us Part (1878)
Abelard and his Pupil Heloise (1882)
[6] Faded Laurels (1889)
The Elopement (1893)
My Next-Door Neighbour (1894)
In 1816 (1895)
In Time of Peril (1897)
[4] The King and the Beggar-maid (1898) (
legend)
[7] On the Threshold (1900)
[9] Tristan and Isolde or
The End of the Song (1902)
Courtship (1903)
The Queen kisses the sleeping poet Alain Chartier (1903)
[10] Courtship by the Piano (1903)
Ribbons and Laces for Very Pretty Faces (1904)
The Dedication (1908)
To the Land Unknown (1911)
Stitching the Standard (1911)
[11] The Boyhood of Alfred the Great (1913)
My Fair Lady (1914)
The Charity of Elisabeth of Hungary (1915)
The Hostage (1912)
Among Leighton's other works are:
- Un Gage d'Amour (1881), Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki.[12]
- Conquest (1884)[13]
- The Rehearsal (1888), Croydon Clocktower, UK.[6]
- How Liza Loved the King (1890), Towneley Hall Art Gallery and Museum, Burnley.[6]
- Waiting for the Coach (1895), Manchester Art Gallery.[14]
- On the Threshold (1900), Manchester Art Gallery.[9]
- The Accolade (1901), private collection.[6]
- Adieu (1901), Manchester Art Gallery.[15]
- The Shadow (1909), City Hall, Cardiff[16]
- A Nibble (1914), private collection.[6]
- An Arrival (1916), City Hall, Cardiff[16]
- The Lord of Burleigh, Tennyson (1919), private collection.[6]
- Sweet Solitude (1919), private collection.[6]
- After Service (1921), private collection.[17]
- Signing the Register (undated), Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery.[6]
- The Fond Farewell (1891), Messum's, London.[6]
- Lord of the Manor (undated), private collection.[6]
- Sorrow and Song (undated), Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery.[6]
de La Sizeranne, Robert (2008). The Pre-Raphaelites. Parkstone Press International. p. 24.
"In Time of Peril". Auckland Art Gallery. Retrieved 18 January 2021. Edmund Blair Leighton specialised in the historical genre that stood at the apex of the academic system, edifying audiences with scenes of chivalry as well as entertaining them with glimpses of Lady Godiva.
"Off". Manchester City Galleries – Search the collection. The painting was named as "Preparing the Flag" at Christies in 1928, and as "Awaiting his Return" at Philips in 1977. Sotheby's called it "Stitching the Standard" in 1978. It may be the painting catalogued as "The Device" in 1911. "Victorian & Edwardian Art" (PDF). Sotheby's. 15 November 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
.jpg)
.jpg)
