Work by Leighton included in this catalogue
Leighton Study for Elijah {1897} NGV [DR]
Ceramics bought on Leighton’s advice in 1885: see note below.
The artist, described by Christopher Wood as “the Hercules of Victorian classicism,” was knighted in 1878, and was then made a peer shortly before he died.
The drawing listed above was acquired from the sale of the artist’s estate. The NGV has never acquired a major work by Leighton, although several further chalk sketches were bought through the Felton Bequest in 1906. The AGNSW owned two of his paintings by 1883, and has since purchased several others.
For a portrait of Leighton (apparently made prior to his being knighted), see Ward (L.) Frederick Leighton {1881} NGV [DR].
In 1885, Leighton, then President of the Royal Academy, advised on the selection of a number of ceramic pieces for the Melbourne collection from (a) the “Exhibition of Paintings on China” (at the RA?) and also directly from Morris & Co., London: see now Decorative Arts – Introduction for a summary; the group of tiles and other works by William De Morgan & Co. [DA] was particularly noteworthy.
Refs.
For Leighton, see Wood Victorian Painters (1995), esp. vol2, pp.50-52; Bénézit 8, pp.768-69; AKL 84 (2015), pp.4-7 (with further references, including mention of the online Leighton Drawings Project); and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederic_Leighton,_1st_Baron_Leighton (with further references)
For other works by the artist in the NGV, see http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/artist/6918/; and for the works in Sydney, see http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/?artist_id=leighton-lord-frederic
See AR 1885, p.1885, for the detailed list of ceramics bought on his advice