Cathy's Art Diary

Interesting exhibition at the Royal Academy to make Lord Leighton’s “Flaming June” on loan. I assumed the show would just be the picture, but they used it talk about Leighton’s technique and process and showed it with his small sculptures he used to create compositions and sketches for the the picture. It was also used to demonstrate the long running art historical debate on the whether sculpture or painting is the superior art form. As ever it was lovely to see the work, on loan from Puerto Rico, 128 years since it was shown in an annual Royal Academy show. I last saw in it 2017 when it was shown at Leighton House. It is an iconic picture and I love how it sits within its beautiful frame but I was surprised at how rough some of the finish was on the drapery. Closes 12 January 2025 Reviews Times Guardian Telegraph

Fascinating online lecture from the National Gallery looking at the set of paintings “The Four Times of Day” by Corot in the gallery and why they were purchased by Lord Leighton. Christina Bradstreet took us through why and how the pictures were painted in around 1858. She took us through the style of the work and how they were commissioned by the artist Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps for the studio he was building. She then discussed Leighton’s purchase of them and how he too planned to use them in a studio house and designed the décor of a room around them. The artists were very different but the speaker suggested that Leighton may have purchased them as a reminded of his youthful travels in Italy and France where he met Corot.

Confusing exhibition at Leighton House Museum looking at one of Leighton’s last works “Flaming June” which is currently on loan from Puerto Rico. My advice is go to the last room of the show which is fantastic as it brings “Flaming June” back together with four of the other works Leighton painted for what turned out to be his last Royal Academy show. They are hung in the same configuration as in a photo of them in his studio next door. Most of them are in private collections plus one is from the Metropolitan Museum in New York so it’s a wonderful achievement to have brought them together. Once you have seen the pictures do the rest of the show which is studies for them, other work which had influenced them and sketches of another commission he was working on at the time. If you do these first, as the leaflet indicates, you do wonder why you are looking at some of them. You need the grounding of understanding the work before hitting the detail. It’s not helped by the works ...

Interesting exhibition at the Fine Art Society of work by the late 19th century sculptors who were part of the New Sculpture movement. This is a selling exhibition to coincide with the current Tate Show of Victorian Sculpture and features major work by many of the artists in the movement including Alfred Gilbert, Frederic Leighton and Sir Hamo Thornycroft. It made a nice overview of sculpture in this period. Most of the works were small in scale and made a lovely display grouped together but there was also a wonderful 8 foot version of the Piccadilly Eros shooting you are you came up the stairs and a version of the Peter Pan in the entrance lobby.