Lord Leighton

This is Flaming June, a painting that Tamara and I saw at the Royal Academy in London a few days ago. It was Tamara’s wish to see the painting before it went back to its permanent home in Puerto Rico.

Now that we are living in London it was easy to make a trip to see just one painting. The story goes that the model fell asleep during a sitting, and that was how it came to be.

I like paintings that have a political angle or reveal something about the human condition. Seen in real life, I can say that the diaphanous orange material is very well rendered. But what is the painting about? Not everything needs to have a message or a lesson to tell, but when they do they engage me more. That’s just me, and thankfully it takes all sorts to make a world.

The painter was Frederic, Lord Leighton, who was a man of independent means. He was elected President of the Royal Academy in 1878 and he exhibited his painting Flaming June at the Royal Academy in 1895.

Who Was The Model

Art historians think Dorothy Dene modelled the face and Mary Lloyd modelled the body. Lloyd modelled for Leighton and for John Everett Millais and others in their Victorian circle at the time, so art historians have a body of evidence (pun) on which to base their conclusions.

After Leighton’s Death

Lord Leighton died the year after exhibiting the painting.

In the early part of the Twentieth century he was seen by critics as a Victorian painter, a description that carried a nuanced criticism that such a person was too conventional, too romantic, producing work with overly ornate designs.

As a consequence Leighton fell out of fashion and the painting was neglected.

Then in the 1960s it was restored and put up for auction. Luis A. Ferré, industrialist, politician, and founder of the Museo de Arte de Ponce bought Flaming June and Leighton was reevaluated and recognised as a major artist.

Ponce is a city on the southern coast of Puerto Rico, and thanks to its founder it houses one of the most important Pre-Raphaelite collections in the Western Hemisphere, with over 4,500 pieces of art.

And that is how Flaming June comes to be in the collection of the Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico.