“Painter of historical and mythological subjects, and leader of the Victorian neo-classical painters. Born Scarborough, Yorkshire, the son of a doctor. Studied under various teachers in Florence and Rome, including the German Nazarene Steinle. In 1855 his first Royal Academy picture ‘Cimabue’s Celebrated Madonna is Carried in Procession through the Streets of Florence’ was bought by Queen Victoria for £600, thus launching him on a long and successful career. In the 1860s Leighton turned away from medieval and biblical subjects towards classical themes. It is for these Hellenic subjects that he is now best known. Leighton made nude studies and draped studies for each figure in his pictures, and also figure sketches of the whole composition. These drawings and sketches are often more admired than his finished pictures. Exhibited at Royal Academy 1855-96, Society of British Artist, Suffolk Street, Old Watercolour Society, Grosvenor Gallery and elsewhere. Elected ARA in 1864, RA in 1868, and PRA in 1878. Although conscious of his limitations as a painter, Leighton was by the end of his life a pillar of the Victorian art establishment. He was knighted in 1878, made a baronet in 1886, and raised to the peerage in 1896, just before his death. He is the only English artist to have been accorded this honour. His house in Holland Park Road is now a museum with a permanent exhibition of his pictures and drawings. After his death sales of his pictures were held at Christie’s on 11 and 13 July 1896.”

(Biographical source: Wood, Christopher. The Dictionary of Victorian Painters.)