When Frederick Leighton’s Flaming June went to the Royal
Academy Exhibition in 1895, the artist was too ill to attend. In fact he was suffering a nasty bout of angina pectoris.
Like so many of his works, it was exquisite and sensual. It became his most famous work of art, but just too meticulous for an era when
Impressionism, with its carefree brushwork, was all the rage.
Flaming June, which
would now fetch a fortune, hung almost insignificantly at the Maas Gallery in
London until it was eventually purchased by chance, in 1963, for a bargain price of ₤2,000. Since then, it has been at the Museo de Arte de Ponce in the Caribbean island
state of Puerto Rico.
Flaming June (Museo del Arte de Ponce), Puerto Rico
Leighton was born into a wealthy and cultured family in Scarborough in 1820. His father, Frederick Septimus, was a doctor. His grandfather, Jacob Leighton, had been friend and personal physician to the Russian Emperors Alexander I and Nicholas I. Frederick was able to travel when he was still very young, especially as the family sought to find a better climate for his mother Augusta’s ailing health, away from the damp shores of England. He learnt several languages and was offered introductions to art and architecture in Europe.
Frederick, Lord Leighton (Aberdeen Art Gallery)
With such a medical background
young Frederick had also been expected to become a doctor. His father taught
him, in great detail, about human anatomy and this may well have influenced his
meticulous artistic style. Nevertheless, recognising his immense talent, his
father presented Leighton with a set of paints. By the time he was ten he
was receiving his first master classes at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence.
Later, when he lived in Frankfurt, he enrolled at the State Institute of
Art. There he was influenced by other painters like Johann Friedrich
Overbeck and Eduard von Steinle of the German
Nazarene movement, whose religious and spiritual overtones also influenced the
British Pre-Raphaelites.
In 1855 Frederick Leighton exhibited his work at the Royal Academy. When Queen Victoria bought one of
his paintings he instantly became accepted in Society circles in London. Leighton also lived for periods in Rome and Paris, meeting other
European painters and training in their studios. He returned to England
in 1859.
Unfortunately, his
purely classical style toiled against the Impressionists. They were in vogue,
and Leighton was often criticised for lacking temperament and individuality. Apparently
his stiff technique lacked expression and betrayed laborious work and a methodical use of colour rather than natural flair. Consequently critics said
his paintings lacked a certain charm.
Leighton was a generous man, though. He helped younger painters and sculptors and was a pioneer in assisting women artists. After becoming President of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1878 he pushed a case for women artists to have the same privileges as their male colleagues.
In spite of his critics, his art was regarded as being
very refined. Some of his finest paintings evidenced his idealistic
attraction to Greek and Roman mythology, which suggested his own sensuality and
passion.
This sensuality of his became more evident when he became less inclined to subjugate his
own talent and self-esteem to other masters. This change may have coincided with his meeting a nineteen
year old lass in 1879. She was Ada Alice Pullen. Frederic Leighton was nearly fifty when he fell
captive to her beauty and headful of curls. The girl became his favourite model
and muse.
Although some have tried to suggest Frederick Leighton may have
dabbled in homosexuality, possibly in earlier years, this has never been certain. He kept his private life very much to himself. In fact, it is
more likely that he enjoyed a very secret and passionate love affair with his
muse. It is thought she was nude when he painted Flaming June, before
adding her delicate, flaming orange robe to entice and awaken the senses.
Ada posed for Crenaia, The Nymph of the Dargle (Pérez Simon Collection, Mexico)
Do you remember My Fair Lady?
Well, Leighton persuaded Ada to change her name to Dorothy Dene. He educated her and introduced her to fashionable circles. Undoubtedly he helped Ada obtain
a certain amount of success as an actress.
It is believed George Bernard Shaw
used the young lady's extraordinary relationship with Frederick Leighton to conjure up
Pygmalion, which then reached huge fame as the musical, My Fair Lady.
Sir Frederick Leighton was a cultured and handsome man. He spent time at
Cambridge, Oxford, Dublin, Edinburgh and Durham Universities. His talent earned
him the Prussian Pour la Mérite distinction, and the Medal of Honour as
sculptor at the Universal Exposition of Paris in 1889.
His last house in
Holland Park is known as Leighton’s Art gallery. Many of his works are on
display there, as well as treasures collected during his travels throughout
the world. The mansion is regarded as a work of art in itself because it is
filled with the tastes and fantasies of a man who lived for his art but who was
also an enthusiastic volunteer soldier and commanding officer of what was
known as the Artists Rifles.
For those of us lucky enough to live in the Canary Island of Tenerife, it is interesting to note that one of Frederick Leighton’s least known and perhaps forgotten works of art is right here, in Puerto de la Cruz! I'm sure it isn't worth the fortunes other works of Sir Frederick have fetched at Christies in recent years, but the great artist’s history certainly stirred my imagination after I first discovered it hanging in the Mayor's office.
Frederick
Leighton visited Tenerife and Gran Canaria in 1887. He spent most of his time
in the Orotava Valley. Whether or not he painted or sketched during his time here is uncertain, but the light, the colours in the landscapes and the tones of the coast, especially in the
colourful port of Puerto de la Cruz with its volcanic rock pools and Mount
Teide in the nebulous distance, must have caught his imagination.
Frederick Leighton's painting in Puerto de la Cruz
(Courtesy The Town Council, Puerto de la Cruz)
Felipe Machado del Hoyo Solórzano
How Frederick Leighton’s painting should be in the Mayor's office, as unaware of
its artist’s prestige as it is of itself, is quite simple. It was thanks to another
cultured gentleman and soldier, Felipe Machado del Hoyo Solórzano. He was Mayor in Puerto de la Cruz in the 1970s
when he spotted and purchased the painting for the Town Hall at an auction in
Madrid in 1973.
(Certain images have been reproduced from internet with no personal financial gain intended.)
By John Reid Young, author in the Canary Islands.
Books by
John include:
The
Skipping Verger and Other Tales, a selection of historical, very short stories.
A Shark in
the Bath and Other Stories, a selection of longer, semi-biographical short
stories.
El Hombre de La Guancha y Otras
Historias, a selection
of short stories in Spanish.
The
Journalist, a novel described as a political thriller. There is an exciting sequel on the way.
For more information, or if you would like to
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