Flaming June, Remembering Sir Frederic Leighton Print

"Beauty will save the world," Fyodor Dostoyevsky once said. In his works, however, beauty is a disappointingly rare phenomenon. You should search for it long and hard. But as soon as you finally find it there, in the abyss of evil, you do indeed feel somehow... Saved. Dostoevsky's British contemporaries, the members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, were also of the opinion that the world lacked beauty, but unlike the gloomy classic weiter, they set about producing beauty properly, "en gros". Gorgeous ladies with sensuous lips and powerful manes, sometimes gloriously naked, sometimes draped in airy fabrics, densely populated the Victorian age and brought wealth and local fame to their numerous creators. The most industrious of these creators, Frederick Leighton, was even crowned President of the London Academy of Art, and then, in 1896, appeared in the throne room of Buckingham Palace, to be appointed a peer by Queen Victoria. An honor that until then had never been bestowed on any British artist. Frederick Leighton received this title for his painting "Flaming June", - or as I call it: "Flaming Lady called June". (June is not only the name of the month in English isn't it, but also a popular female name. Why all languages keep to associate the title of this painting exclusively with the calendar is a mystery to me personally). The picture-pretty lady is sleeping in front of us, in her fiery robe. Or... maybe this is no longer sleep, but...? The oleander blossom hanging above her head is poisonous, you know. Is all this splendor thus merely a reminder that beauty is unevitably short-lived? Or that - when there is too much of it, it can be even rather destructive? In any case, the high title of nobility this highly decorative Lady bestowed on Frederick Leighton did him little good: indeed, he wore it for only one day. Nor did this abundant neoclassical Beauty save her homeland, Victorian Britain, from collapse, even though she represented it so picturesquely at the World's Exhibition in 1900....

Print:Giclee on Fine Art Paper

Size:10 W x 10 H x 0.1 D in

Size with Frame:15.25 W x 15.25 H x 1.2 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.