Leighton and the Venetian Method, Part I

Although the latter part of these posts can stand alone as an introduction to the Venetian Method of painting, it is, in its entirety, designed as a follow-up to the recent article describing Frederic, Lord Leighton's painting technique.  The explanation of that technique, as described by Leighton's friend, Giovanni Costa, raised more questions than it answered, as the procedure Costa outlined seemed to place, at the very least, its steps in the wrong order.

Giovanni Costa
Young Woman Reading 1879
56 X 48 cm.
oil on canvas

I do not mean to put question to Costa's veracity.  Costa was a learned man who, as part of a small, multi-national group of artists whose members included George H. Mason and Arnold Böcklin, began meeting in Rome around 1850 to uncover the working methods of past Italian masters.  Frederic Leighton joined this group several years later, and formed a friendship with Costa, for whose artwork Leighton had the utmost respect.  Though some people tried to inflate their importance after Leighton's death by claiming close ties to the venerated man, this is not the case with Costa, who had no need to exaggerate his friendship nor his position in the art world;  not only does he appear repeatedly in Leighton's personal correspondence, Costa's own historical significance as an Italian painter of landscapes cannot be overestimated.  Therefore, it is presumed that Costa's description of his and Leighton's technique of painting the figure, although peculiar, is still accurate.

It is the goal of this post to provide some insight into Leighton's early habits and preferences, as this information would have shaped the methods with which the artist later approached his work.

Frederic, Lord Leighton
The Return of Persephone  c.1891
80 X 60 in.
oil on canvas
Leeds City Art Galleries

Frederic Leighton, as the heir to a prominent and wealthy family of physicians, enjoyed a childhood which included sojourns in Europe's varied cultural centers.  This cosmopolitan upbringing exposed him to a variety of contemporary and ancient art, but it was in the work of Italian Renaissance Masters, particularly those from Tuscany and Florence,¹ that Leighton found his first artistic inspiration.  Leighton's analytical mind, love for color, and skill as a draughtsman found their meeting place in these paintings, and his subsequent continental training in Florence, Berlin, Frankfort, Rome, and Paris, only furthered his desire and ability to emulate these works.

Any attempts made to understand Leighton's working methods should be made bearing in mind his earliest training and his career-long artistic inspiration.

Edward Jakob von Steinle
The Tower Watchman 1859
139 X 68 cm.
oil on canvas
Sammlung Schack München

"The dominant personal influence of my early development is that of my dear master Steinle...  His stamp is still upon me..."²  Frederic Leighton 1873

Though Leighton admired Italian art, and had begun his training at age 10 under a drawing master in Rome, it was, perhaps surprisingly,  Germany which had the greatest impact on his life and work.  At only fifteen, Leighton entered the Städelsches Kunstinstitut in Frankfort, where he began studying chiefly with Edward von Steinle, a painter of biblical scenes.  Steinle in turn was a follower of The Brothers of St. Luke - known, somewhat derisively by most as the "Nazarenes" - a group of German artists who had painted alongside each other in Rome during the early years of the 19th century, and who advocated a return to the art and moralistic ideals of the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance.  From Steinle, Leighton gained the discipline essential to creating high art,³ and through the scrupulous adherence to a technical process, a structure for creating paintings which appealed to his innate need for control.  Steinle's influence, Leighton once wrote, was solely responsible for refining his "moderate natural gifts," as if "in a furnace," and for impressing upon those skills a sense of taste which alone could make them effective.⁴

Examples of Nazarene art (clockwise from upper left):  Johann Friedrich Overbeck, Gottlieb Schick,
Johann Friedrich Overbeck, Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld.

From studying in the style of the Nazarene Brotherhood, Leighton assimilated several of the skills at which that school was associated.  First and foremost, his skill at contour linework was increased, a tremendous achievement considering a drawing he had done upon first entering the Städelsches Kunstinstitut was hung as an exemplar of the draughtsman's discipline to which the other students were expected to aspire.⁵  He also learned how to compose a picture, both by line and by harmonious color, and how to achieve a high degree of finish in his completed works.  But as much as he was influenced by his master Steinle, Leighton was not so enamored by the medieval aspects of the painting espoused by the Nazarene, that he did not see its faults - including the lack of naturalistic observation, modeling, and atmosphere, traits which were becoming essential in the contemporary art world.  After completing his studies in Germany, Leighton headed to Italy to enhance his education.