Edmund Blair Leighton: life and artistic legacy

Edmund Blair Leighton was a Pre-Raphaelite Victorian painter who painted highly finished and decorative works. He became well-known for his elegant depictions of Victorian life as well as for his history paintings. The subjects of his works were highly romanticized and idealized, and this has led to modern criticism of his work as being merely decorative and somewhat irrelevant in relation to more 'serious' art.

While his works are not considered to be "great" art today they are still extremely popular. Little is known or remembered about the life of the artist, but his works and reproductions continue to be seen and bought today. The reason for this continuing popularity of a rather obscure artist leads to the central thesis of this paper. The contention that will be explored is that while Edmund Blair Leighton's works can be described as being merely decorative and without any real artistic depth, yet they still retrain a certain quality that is recognized by the modern art public. It is suggested that this quality refers essentially to nostalgia for a world of heroism, romantic elegance and poise and higher values that are possibly missing from the modern world.

In this light it is therefore not surprising that, in a world which has become often mechanistic and mundane, that paintings which espouse romantic and higher ideals are still admired. In other words, we still find value and have an attraction for paintings which appeal to our sense of order, proportion and harmony. What also should be taken into account is the nostalgia for the heroic and romantic past, which could also go a long way to explaining the contemporary popularity of his works.

Leighton grew up in an artistic family and environment and adopted many of the norms and conventions of an artist of this time. He was the son of an artist, Charles Blair Leighton, and he studied at the Royal Academy Schools. (Edmund Blair Leighton. English Pre-Raphaelite (2nd wave) painter born 1853 - died 1922). He also regularly exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1878 to 1920. (Edmund Blair Leighton. English Pre-Raphaelite (2nd wave) painter born 1853 - died 1922).

During his life he was well respected in art circles, particularly for his history genre paintings and portraits. He was also admired for his meticulous and detailed style and for his romantic realism. This can be seen in the painting entitled "God Speed!."

(God Speed! Source: http://www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/image.asp?id=5210)

The romantic idealism and the combination of heroism and beauty are meticulously rendered in the above painting. This painting also hearkens back to the age of chivalry and decorum. As one commentator notes; "His luxurious canvasses of valiant knights, golden tressed ladies and romanticized royalty in dramatic costume and idyllic settings made him popular in his time and account for his renewed popularity in recent years." (Parker)

This style and mood also applies to the non-historical works. Leighton painted many Victorian scenes and depicted courtship and weddings, among other subjects. All of these works evoke the same sense of idealism and a world that transcends the mundane and ordinary.

The regard that the critics and public of the time had for his work can be seen from an extract from an obituary after his death in 1922.

The death of Mr. Edward Blair Leighton, on September 1st, removed from our midst a painter who, though he did not attain to the higher flights of art, yet played a distinguished part in aiding the public mind to an appreciation of the romance attaching to antiquity, and to a realisation of the fellowship of mankind throughout the ages.

(Edmund Blair Leighton. English Pre-Raphaelite (2nd wave) painter born 1853 - died 1922)

The above quotation also refers to another positive aspect of his art and subject matter; namely, the view that his paintings suggest and evoke a "fellowship of mankind throughout the ages." This is again a romantic ideal that could also be a reason for the continued popularity of this artist.

However, at the same time the critics were also well aware of the artistic shortcomings of his art and were clear in the view that his art only suited a certain category or genre of art. An art critic, Gleeson White, writing in 1897, gives the following assessment of Leighton's work.

To place Mr. E Blair Leighton's work in a class to which it makes no pretence to belong, or to contrast it with the masterpieces of the past, or even of the present, would be to do it an injustice. It is the pictorial equivalent of light literature

(Edmund Blair Leighton. English Pre-Raphaelite (2nd wave) painter born 1853 - died 1922)

This is a very insightful and interesting comment. In other words, the critic is suggesting that we should not judge Leighton's works according the standards and aims of the highest forms of art. It is accepted that they are not masterpieces. We should rather accept his works for what they are. He compares them to light and popular literature.