The Arts - Edmund Blair Leighton
I have to say that my favorite artist is Edmund Blair Leighton, a British painter of the late Victorian period. His paintings commonly feature male/female relationships in a context of romance, such as courtship or weddings. He also painted several works that portrayed a medieval theme of chivalry and duty. I currently have two of his prints hanging in my study: God Speed and The Accoloade.
Unfortunately, not much is known about his life. He was a common exhibitor in Britain, but there are no journals or diaries that detail his inspirations or reasons for painting. In fact, the Wikipedia article is a stub. I would encourage you to do a Google search on this artist and look at his work. Maybe I’m a big dork with a soft spot for the romantic, but I find that his work speaks to me in a way that other art rarely does.
That brings up a question to occupy us on the weekend here. Who is your favorite artist? Does a particular period of art “speak” to you? Provide some links to famous (or not-so-famous) works in the comments section. If I have some good comments via email (I usually get at least a few), I’ll post those in a lump comment post late tomorrow.
Pete on March 3rd 2007 in Random Ramblings
Foxbat responded on 03 Mar 2007 at 7:24 pm #
Hans-Werner Sahm
Refuge, Meeting Point, Storm in the Light. Wow…
Pete responded on 03 Mar 2007 at 11:06 pm #
http://www.eurofineart.com/images/poster_gallery_01/large/stormli.jpg
The above link shows a nice pic of “Storm in the Light.” He’s an impressive artist.
angie responded on 17 Jul 2008 at 3:01 pm #
Hi pete its good to hear someone else liks leightons work. I have had a picture for over 30 years and have only just found out its a leighton piece. The picture is called The question. the picture has 1892 on it and it is in a very old frame. the signature looks authentic and not printed which makes me wonder if the picture is a print. How can i find out more about the picture i hold?
Pete responded on 19 Jul 2008 at 11:07 am #
I’m not sure, Angie. If you have a local art museum, they will usually have an in-house expert that can at least make an educated guess on on the age of the painting/print. Given the age of the painting and the appearance of signature, you might very well have something wonderful in your hands.
angie responded on 19 Jul 2008 at 5:32 pm #
Thanks for the reply Pete, I will def look into it but even if it is not something wonderful as u say its still a lovely piece of work that i will always keep. Will keep u posted!
Dez responded on 20 Jul 2008 at 1:48 am #
A good friend of mine has prints of Leighton’s most well known works all over his house. It’s like walking into an Arthurian story. I definitely enjoy this artist’s style. His works remind me of those of John William Waterhouse, such as “Hylas and the Nymphs” and “Mermaid.”