LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2008 May Signature Fine Arts Auction #5004  / 

33080

FREDERIC LEIGHTON Potrait of Stella, circa 1859

Currency:USD Category:Art Start Price:18,000.00 USD Estimated At:20,000.00 - 40,000.00 USD
FREDERIC LEIGHTON Potrait of Stella, circa 1859
<B>FREDERIC LEIGHTON (British, 1830-1896)</B></I><BR><I>Portrait of Stella</B></I>, circa 1859<BR>Oil on canvas<BR>13-1/2 x 10-3/4 inches (34.3 x 27.3 cm)<BR> <BR>PROVENANCE:<BR>Christie's, London, B. G. Windus sale, July 19, 1862, lot 29 (bought by Agnew);<BR>Thomas Agnew and Sons, Ltd., London;<BR>Gift of Estate of Dana Estes, 1910 (inv. 10.81) to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (1910-1999).<BR><BR>LITERATURE: <BR>L. and R. Ormond, <I>Lord Leighton</B></I>, New Haven and London, 1975, pp. 42, 152, cat. no. 49;<BR>A. Murphy, <I>European Paintings in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue</B></I>, Boston, 1985, illus. p. 163.<BR><BR>Shortly after Frederic Leighton arrived in Rome in early October of 1858, he settled into rooms in the Albergo del Sole near the Pantheon, and also managed to take over his former studio in the Via Purificazione. It was there that he began work on a series of studies of Italian models, among them the present work. The most notable of these was Nanna Risi, better known as La Nanna, who was to become famous as the mistress and model of the German painter, Anselm Feuerbach. Besides La Nanna, Leighton employed other models, recording in his notebooks their names and the days on which they sat for him: Stella (the subject of the present work), Tota, Giacinta, Nina, and Louisa. Sums of fifty to a hundred <I>bajocchi</B></I> were regularly recorded for models in the artist's list of expenses. <BR><BR>As Leonee and Richard Ormond have noted: "Two almost identical studies of the same girl, evidently painted at the same time as those of La Nanna but of a different model are variously called <I>Stella</B></I> and <I>Tolla</B></I>. In these studies, Leighton was developing his painterly skills on an informal scale. [Another writer] says that he sought 'character and expression in the heads,' and 'had then Lionardo [sic] da Vinci in his mind,' but the influence of sixteenth-century Venetian painting is equally apparent." <B>Condition Report:</B> Canvas has been relined, scattered strenghtening to face and bonnet, as well as to the background, otherwise good condition.<BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Requires 3rd Party Shipping (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
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