“Flaming June”
This lovely oil on canvas painting from 1895 is by the English aesthetic artist, Frederic Leighton, and is titled “Flaming June”. This is the last full-size piece that Leighton created. It was painted just one year before he passed away and is considered his greatest work.
In this piece, Leighton depicts a woman sleeping on a marble terrace. She is curled up, with her legs folded up with one bare foot extending to the floor. She is dressed in a sheer orange dress, reminiscent to a Grecian robe. The orange of the dress matches the red auburn color of her hair, which is complimented by her pale skin and rosy, red cheeks. The sun is reflected on the sea behind her, drawing the viewer’s focus to her face. In the back right, you can see oleander growing on the terrace. This is a poisonous plant, associated with death, and is often said to represent the fine line between sleep and death.
The design was originally created as one of several motifs to adorn a tub in Leighton’s painting titled “Summer Slumber”. It was inspired from Michelangelo‘s sculpture, “Night” and George Frederic Watts‘s painting, “Hope”. He liked the design so much that he decided to make it its own standalone piece.
Leighton did several preliminary sketches of “Flaming June” before deciding on the final pose. He had issues making her right arm look natural. As with all of his work, he found it easiest to first draw the figure nude before adding clothes. This piece is a wonderful example of high Victorian art. It is often compared to depictions of Venus.
Dorothy Dene, an English model and actress, is said have been the model for this painting. Dene was declared the most beautiful woman in England in the late nineteenth century and modeled often for Leighton. He even left her £10,000 in his will. However, recent studies have suggested Mary Lloyd as the model, who started posing for him in 1892.
Interestingly, “Flaming June” was lost until the early 1960s, when it was found hidden above a chimney. It was displayed for several years at art galleries in London, England, where it remained unsold. Legend has it that Andrew Lloyd Webber, who currently has one of the greatest Victorian era art collections to date, wanted to buy when it was in a gallery for 50 pounds, but his grandmother wouldn’t loan him the money. In 1963, it was purchased by Luis A. Ferré for the collections of the Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico. He got it for relatively cheap. At that time, abstract art was popular and Victorian Art was viewed as stale. Now it is considered a masterpiece.
“Flaming June” is currently on display at the Museo de Arte de Ponce, in Ponce, Puerto Rico.
For more on Frederic Leighton, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
