The Painter's Honeymoon

The Painter's Honeymoon

Artist	Frederic Leighton
Year	c. 1864
Medium	oil on canvas
Dimensions	83.8 cm × 76.8 cm (33.0 in × 30.2 in)
Location	Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

The Painter's Honeymoon is a painting by Lord Frederic Leighton, produced in c. 1864 and currently housed at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

History

This is an interesting composition for Leighton, who usually veered towards Classical images and, in particular, favored nudes - the latter were so prolific in his work that many of his pictures had to be removed from the 1857 exhibition of English art that toured America, because they gave offense.^[1]

The Italian man who sat for the newly married painter occurs often in Leighton's work: he was apparently one of the artist's favorite models. Importantly, his hands are painted in fine detail, emphasizing how crucial they are to his work. The soft tones and accuracy with which Leighton painted the couple contrasts obviously with the harshness of the orange tree behind them. Leighton appears to have had difficulty in painting it - on close inspection, the oranges look as though they have been enameled. Generally, the composition and glowing color of the picture reflect the influence of such 16th-century Venetian painters as Giorgione and Titian.^[2]

The Painter's Honeymoon was first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1866 - it appears that Leighton deliberately prevented it from being shown publicly in the years following its completion.^[3] As Leighton was renowned for his lack of confidence and shyness, many of his contemporaries believed he felt he had betrayed too much of his own emotion to feel comfortable exhibiting the picture.

References

↑ C. Newall The Art of Lord Leighton, Phaidon Press (1993).
↑ Cf. MFA note on respective webpage .
↑ Cf. T. Barringer & E. Prettejohn, Frederic Leighton: Antiquity, Renaissance, Modernity, Yale University Press (1999).

Bibliography

Barringer, Tim & Prettejohn, Elizabeth, Frederic Leighton: Antiquity, Renaissance, Modernity (Paul Mellon Center for Studies in British Art), Yale University Press (1999). ISBN 978-0-300-07937-1
Barrington, Russel, The Life, Letters and Work of Frederic Leighton, 2 Voll., BiblioBazaar (2010). ISBN 978-1-143-23340-1
Newall, Christopher, The Art of Lord Leighton, Phaidon Press (1993). ISBN 978-0-7148-2957-9

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Frederic Leighton.

The Painter's Honeymoon at the MFA
Frederic-Leighton.org 114 works by Frederic Leighton
Frederic Leighton Art

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Associated artists and figures	John Brett Ford Madox Brown Richard Burchett Edward Burne-Jones Georgiana Burne-Jones Charles Allston Collins Frank Cadogan Cowper Henry Holiday Walter Howell Deverell Arthur Hughes Frederic Leighton Robert Braithwaite Martineau Jane Morris William Morris Louisa Beresford, Marchioness of Waterford Joseph Noel Paton Christina Rossetti John Ruskin Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys Thomas Seddon Elizabeth Siddal Simeon Solomon John Roddam Spencer Stanhope Marie Spartali Stillman Algernon Charles Swinburne Henry Wallis John William Waterhouse William Lindsay Windus

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Models	Elizabeth Siddal Fanny Cornforth Alexa Wilding Annie Miller Effie Gray Jane Morris Marie Spartali Stillman Maria Zambaco Dorothy Dene Fanny Eaton

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