Edmund Blair Leighton was an English painter of historical genre scenes, specializing in Regency and medieval subjects.

Biography

Leighton was the son of the artist Charles Blair Leighton. He was educated at University College School

University College School

University College School, generally known as UCS, is an Independent school charity situated in Hampstead, north west London, England. The school was founded in 1830 by University College London and inherited many of that institution's progressive and secular views...

, before becoming a student at the Royal Academy Schools

Royal Academy

The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...

. He married Katherine Nash in 1885 and they went on to have a son and daughter. He exhibited annually at the Royal Academy from 1878 to 1920.

Leighton was a fastidious craftsman, producing highly-finished, decorative pictures. It would appear that he left no diaries, and though he exhibited at the Royal Academy for over forty years, he was never an Academician or an Associate.

Obituary

The following obituary of Leighton is taken from a magazine published early in 1923. It is one of several publications to have given the year of birth as 1853 instead of the correct date of 1852, which error is in the process of being corrected in newer publications.

Obituary - The late Edmund Blair Leighton ROI 1853-1922.

The death of Mr Edmund Blair Leighton, on September 1, 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.

Mr Blair Leighton was born in London, on September 1, 1853, his father being that Charles Blair Leighton, portrait and subject painter, whose exhibits at the Royal Academy and other London galleries covered the period between 1843 and 1855. The son was educated at University College School, before taking a position in an office in the city, but entered the Royal Academy Schools after a course of evening study at South Kensington and Heatherley's.

He commenced exhibiting in 1874, and succeeded, four years later, in securing the verdict of the Hanging Committee of the Royal Academy in favour of two works, entitled respectively ‘Witness My Act and Seal,’ and ‘A Flaw in the Title.’ Since then his highly wrought style was regularly represented at Burlington House until two years prior to his decease. Among the better known of his pictures, many of which were published, may be named ‘The Dying Copernicus (1880), To Arms (1888), Lay thy sweet hand in mine and trust in me ( 1891), Lady Godiva (1892), Two Strings (1893), Launched in Life (1894), The Accolade (1901), Tristan and Isolde (1907), The Dedication (1908), The Shadow (1909), ‘To the Unknown Land (1911),’ and ‘The Boyhood of Alfred The Great,’ 1913. For the past dozen years or so, Mr E Blair Leighton had been a member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters. He had married in 1885, Miss Katherine Nash, by whom he had, with a daughter, one son, Mr E J Blair Leighton, who has also adopted painting as a profession.

List of works

• Old Times (1877), private collection.
• Till Death Do Us Part (1878)
• The Dying Copernicus (1880)
• Abaelard and his Pupil Heloise (1882), Phillips Auctioneers, UK.
• Duty (1883)
• The Gladiator's Wife (1884), private collection.
• The Rehearsal (1888), Croydon Clocktower
  Croydon Clocktower
  Croydon Clocktower on Katharine Street in Croydon is an arts centre in London, England. It contains the Museum of Croydon, the Riesco Gallery with a collection of Chinese pottery and ceramics, the David Lean Cinema, the Braithwaite Hall used for concerts and conferences, and a café and bar...
  
  , UK.
• Call To Arms
  Call to arms
  -Television:* "A Call to Arms" , an episode of the television series Charmed* Babylon 5: A Call to Arms, the fourth feature-length film set in the Babylon 5 universe...
  
   (1888), Roy Miles Fine Paintings.
• A Stolen Interview (1888)
• Olivia (1888)
• How Liza Loved the King (1890), Towneley Hall Art Gallery and Museum
  Towneley Park
  Towneley Park comprises Towneley Hall, a large country house, and its surrounding estate on the outskirts of Burnley, Lancashire, England....
  
  , Burnley.
• Lay thy sweet hand in mine and trust in me (1891)
• Lady Godiva (1892), Leeds City Art Gallery.
• Two Strings (1893)
• Goodbye (1893)
• Launched in Life (1894)
• My Next-Door Neighbour (1894), private collection.
• Waiting for the Coach (1895), Manchester Art Gallery
  Manchester Art Gallery
  Manchester Art Gallery is a publicly-owned art gallery in Manchester, England. It was formerly known as Manchester City Art Gallery.The gallery was opened in 1824 and today occupies three buildings, the oldest of which - designed by Sir Charles Barry - is Grade I listed and was originally home to...
  
  .
• A Favour (1898)
• Off (1899), Manchester Art Gallery.
• God Speed! (1900)
• On the Threshold (1900), Manchester Art Gallery.
• The Accolade (1901), private collection.
• Adieu (1901), Manchester Art Gallery.
• Lilac (1901)
• Alain Chartier (1903)
• Ribbons and Laces for Very Pretty Faces (1904)
• Tristan and Isolde (1907)
• The Dedication (1908)
• The Shadow (1909), City Hall, Cardiff
  City Hall, Cardiff
  City Hall is a civic building in Cathays Park, Cardiff, Wales. Built of Portland stone, it became the fifth building to serve as Cardiff's centre of local government when it opened in October 1906. The competition to design a town hall and adjacent law courts for Cardiff was won in 1897 by the firm...
  
  
• The Key (1909)
• Pelleas and Melisande (1910) Williamson Art Gallery and Museum
• To the Unknown Land (1911)
• The Boyhood of Alfred The Great (1913)
• My Fair Lady (1914)
• A Nibble (1914), private collection.
• An Arrival (1916), City Hall, Cardiff
  City Hall, Cardiff
  City Hall is a civic building in Cathays Park, Cardiff, Wales. Built of Portland stone, it became the fifth building to serve as Cardiff's centre of local government when it opened in October 1906. The competition to design a town hall and adjacent law courts for Cardiff was won in 1897 by the firm...
  
  
• The Wedding March (1919)
• The Lord of Burleigh, Tennyson (1919), private collection.
• Sweet Solitude (1919), private collection.
• After Service (1921), private collection.
• Signing the Register (undated), Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery
  Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery
  The Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery is a large museum and art gallery in Bristol, England. It is run by the city council with no entrance fee. It holds designated museum status, granted by the national government to protect outstanding museums...
  
  .
• The Fond Farewell (undated), Messum's
  Messum's
  Messum's is one of the best known art galleries in Cork Street, Mayfair, a street with a concentration of art galleries in London, England. It was founded by David Messum in 1963...
  
  , London.
• Lord of the Manor (undated), private collection.
• Sorrow and Song (undated), Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery.
• Lady in a Garden
• The Charity of St. Elizabeth of Hungary
• The Rose's Day
• Stitching the Standard
• End of the Song
• Knighted
• Waiting
• Cromwell dissolving the Long Parliament
• Forest Tryst
• Sweets to the Sweet
• Courtship
• Con Amore
• The Request
• The King and the Beggar-maid

External links

• Brief biography
• Edmund Blair Leighton at the Art Renewal Center
  Art Renewal Center
  The Art Renewal Center is an organization led by New Jersey millionaire, businessman, and art collector Fred Ross dedicated to the promotion of what it terms classical realism in art, as opposed to the Modernist developments of the twentieth century...
  
   where Kara Ross is researching and writing the Catalogue Raisonné for Edmund Blair Leighton.