Frederic, Lord Leighton Could Draw

In January I posted a photo of the painting Flaming June by Lord Leighton that we saw at the Royal Academy in London.

We went because it was Tamara’s wish to see the painting before it went back to its permanent home at the Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico.

Lord Leighton painted it in 1895 and it’s a long story how its permanent home came to be in a gallery in Puerto Rico, but in the early part of the Twentieth century Lord Leighton was seen by critics as a Victorian painter, a description that implied that his work was too conventional, too romantic, and essentially meaningless.

Now fast forward to a couple of days ago when Tamara and I went to see the exhibition American Photographs at the V&A.

On the walls along the long corridor on the upper floor of the museum were cartoons (as in preliminary drawings at large scale) by Frederic, Lord Leighton, and that is how I came to see that he was a talented draughtsman – witness the section of the drawing above that I snapped with my iPhone.

I would have passed them without a glance, but Tamara wanted to see them and I am thankful she stopped us to look at them.

And to round this off – here is Flaming June.