Lord Frederic Leighton and Victorian Classicism

Lord Frederic Leighton - Cimabue’s Celebrated Madonna - 1853-1855 - The National Gallery, London (click photo for larger image)Victorian Classicism was a British form of historical painting inspired by the art and architecture of Classical Greece and Rome. In the 19th century, an increasing number of Western Europeans made the Grand Tour to Mediterranean lands. There was a great popular interest in the region's lost civilizations and exotic cultures, and this fascination fueled the rise of Classicism in Britain, and Orientalism. Orientalism, which was primarily centered in continental Europe, refers to the imitation or depiction of aspects in Middle Eastern, South Asian, and East Asian cultures.

The Classicists were closely associated with the Pre-Raphaelites, and artists in each movement were influenced by both styles, to some degree. Both movements were highly romantic and were inspired by similar historical and mythological themes. The key distinction is that the Classicists epitomized the rigid academic standards of painting, while the Pre-Raphaelites were initially formed as a rebellion against those same standards.

English painter and sculptor Lord Frederic Leighton (1830-1896) was one of the leading Classicists, and in his lifetime was considered by many to be among the finest painter of his generation. Leighton was a great admirer of Italian Renaissance painting (which hearkened back to the classical era) and showed, for his time, an advanced appreciation of the early Italian painters, including Cimabue and Giotto (both discussed elsewhere on What About Art?). He drew heavily on 15th- and 16th-century sources when working on Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna (featured here). Ironically, the altarpiece shown by Leighton (now in the Uffizi) is today recognized to have be done by the artist Duccio (also discussed on What About Art?), not Cimabue.