Frederic, Lord Leighton

Frederick Lord Leighton, Baron Leighton of Stretton PRA, RWS, HRCA, HRSW 1830 – 1896

Michelangelo Nursing his Dying Servant.

Watercolour; inscribed and dated on the original backing sheet

’13th Feb 1857 Paris’, labelled 7 x 5 1/4 inches 24 gns

Literature;

Keren Rosa Hammerschlag, Frederic Leighton: Death, Morality, Resurrection, Ashgate Publishing Ltd, p 57-59

Information:

Leighton painted his heroes in intimate association with one another; Cimabue leads Giotto by the hand in Cimabue’s Madonna (1853-5) Donatello gently holds Brunelleschi’s hand in The Death of Brunelleschi (1852). These large early paintings illustrate the narrative of Western Art as set out by Vasari, an unbroken chain of genius succeeded by genius. In this watercolour of 1857, however, Leighton chose a different, intimate subject from Vassari: the death of Urbino, [Michelangelo’s] servant, or rather, as he may be called, and has been, his ”companion” … [I] n this, Urbino’s last illness, old as he was, [Michelangelo] nursed him and slept in his clothes at night to watch over him’  (Vasari, Lives, vol IX,81) This tender, expressive watercolour, constructed like a Deposition, appears to have been an early idea for the life size oil painting he painted in 1862, but it is the humanity of Michelangelo, rather than his genius, that interests Leighton. From letters, we know that Leighton was aiming at unity and simplicity of composition. From this watercolour, and from other sketches for the picture in Leighton House compared to the final oil version, it is evident that the sensitivity Leighton showed working on paper could be eclipsed by his high finish in oil colours. 

PROVENANCE:  Private collection, Kent.

The Maas Gallery, London.

Exhibited July 2022 at The Maas Gallery, London.                           

The information and illustration is recorded on pages 47 & 91 in the catalogue. 

Leighton was the bearer of the shortest-lived peerage in history; after only one day, his hereditary peerage became extinct upon his death

Height including gilt-wood frame 34.5cm x 28.5cm :

Watercolour size 18cm x 13.5cm

POA