Lord Frederic Leighton Pra (1830-1896) Black & White Chalk Study For Summer Slumber C.1893

Lord Frederic Leighton PRA (1830-1896), a black and white chalk study for 'Summer Slumber'. 

**VERY SIMILAR TO SKETCH OWNED BY KING EDWARD VII (when Prince of Wales)**

Black and white chalk on brown paper focusing on the drape of fabric as per title of work. 

Inscribed lower right "Drapery Study for Summer Slumber". 

At time of listing only known available study for Summer Slumber (possibly currently for any Lord Leighton work). Most in public collections/museums as per Leighton House Museum's"THE LEIGHTON DRAWINGS PROJECT" database cataloguing c. 700 works at Leighton House and recording to a database works at public collections worldwide. 

Dimensions:

32.5 x 50cm 

The work is stable and shows no sign of having been conserved. The numerous images show the various condition issues. Please check listing images as they form a large part of the description. 

Very similar to work donated to the Leighton House Museum by King Edward VII, as described by THE ROYAL BOROUGH of Kensington and Chelsea 'Lord Leighton Drawings';   

"The King, then Prince of Wales, gave one of the finest studies in the collection, that of 'Summer Slumbers'. This is the drawing that was purchased for Leighton House Museum in about 1897, by the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII, d.1910). A photograph of the house, taken shortly after the acquisition of the drawing, shows it on display, on an easle, in the Music Room or Ante Room. A print of the completed painting and images of two other studies were displayed below it, and a royal crest was attached to the top of the easel."

https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/lordleightonsdrawings/ldcollection/drawingrecord.asp?workid=1281

Leighton, although initially an outsider in London's art circles, influenced the Pre Raphaelites with his early works. Once Queen Victoria bought his first submission to the Royal Academy when he was only 25, his reputation was cemented. After becoming a member of the RA, then became its president for 18 years until his death in 1896. He painted Summer Slumber in 1894 and subsequently the work disappeared, giving it a rather enigmatic aura. This study c. 1893.

Current opinion is that Leighton’s strongest works were in his later life. 'Flaming June'..affectionately dubbed the Mona Lisa of the Southern Hemisphere currently on loan at The Royal Academy in London was derived from a bas relief depicted in Summer Slumber.

PROVENANCE:

With circled LLC (Lord Leighton Collection) posthumous studio stamp, as designated/sold by the Fine Art Society in 1897 after Leighton’s death. Would have likely been the same sale where the Prince of Wales bought the work then donated to Leighton House. 

David Ball (assistant and life partner of Angus McBean);  Purchased by photographer Angus McBean from the Ivor Novello sale at Redroofs in 1951, as part of a job lot of frames. 

To give context..in the 1950s and later 60s Victorian art was out of vogue. 'Flaming June' was in a Kings Road antique shop with a price tag of £50 (some accounts say £100) where spotted by a young Andrew Lloyd-Webber who couldn't afford the asking price tried to get a loan from his grandmother who flatly refused advising didn't want any Victorian junk in her home. Opinion now very different. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

c/o:

The British Art Journal

Vol. 17, No. 3 (Spring 2017), pp. 109-111 (3 pages)

Published By: British Art Journal

Reviewed Work: Flaming June: the Making of an Icon by Catherine Blake, Pablo Pérez d'Ors, Susan Grace Galassi, Elizabeth Prettejohn, Daniel Robbins, Patrick Monahan

Review by: Simon Poë

The late painting Summer Slumber is one of the most enigmatic of all of Leighton’s works. This non-narrative painting combines symbols of sleep, life, and death into one mysterious image. Here, another anonymous sleeper lies prone on a stone wall, her arm twisted into an unusual, upright gesture. In the background, a mysterious stone statue places her fingers to her lips, as if to hush the viewer. This gesture of silencing becomes morbid when one realizes that the female figure perches dangerously on the edge of a cistern.

Does the statue merely ask the viewer not to disturb the sleeper, or is the statue warning the viewer not to alert the young woman to the danger of drowning? 

Another statue sits on a pedestal, clasping an overturned vessel, which could symbolize extinction. In the foreground, two bas-reliefs depict figures similar to the woman in Flaming June, as if to reinforce the theme of sleep. Furthermore, the painting’s horizontal composition, which complements the main figure’s prone body, reinforces the theme of unconsciousness and rest. 

The painting seems to demonstrate that sleep serves as a metaphor for death or mortality. However, pigeons and roses, which certainly do not symbolize death, also decorate the scene. Again, Leighton avoids a definitive meaning.

***

c/o

The Life, Letters and Work of

Frederic Baron Leighton

Of Stretton VOL. II

By MRS. RUSSELL BARRINGTON

Published by GEORGE ALLEN, RUSKIN HOUSE, LONDON 1906

Screenshot of donated 'Summer Slumber' sketch to Leighton House Museum by King Edward VII (then Prince of Wales). 

gutenberg.org/files/35935/pg359

***

Exhibition history of the Leighton House Museum drawing;

- 01 November 2001 to 27 January 2002, 'Exposed: The Victorian Nude', Tate Britain, London, catalogue number 121
     
- 18 February 2002 to 26 May 2002, 'Exposed: The Victorian Nude', Haus der Kunst, Munich. 

- February 2003 to August 2003, Prefectural Museum and Kobe City Museum, Kobe, and University Art Museum, Tokyo. 

- 19 September 2005 to 09 December 2005, 'The Leighton Drawings Project: A Preview', Leighton House Museum, London;

The Leighton Drawings Project aimed to catalogue, conserve, photograph and exhibit the collection of almost 700 drawings by Leighton at Leighton House Museum. It was carried out between 2005 and 2007 with the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund. The fully illustrated catalogue can be accessed through this website, along with a database of all Leighton drawings in other public collections worldwide, created with the support of the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. 

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