Leighton Frescoes
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/af/Arts_of_Industry_as_Applied_to_War.jpg/220px-Arts_of_Industry_as_Applied_to_War.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/00/Arts_of_Industry_as_Applied_to_Peace.jpg/220px-Arts_of_Industry_as_Applied_to_Peace.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f8/Frederic_Leighton_Peace.jpg/220px-Frederic_Leighton_Peace.jpg)
The Leighton Frescoes were commissioned in 1868 as the central feature of the elaborate decorations of the Victoria and Albert Museum's South Court. The artist of the two enormous works which each measure 10.7 metres across, was Frederic Leighton (1830–1896), one of the most important figures in the late Victorian art world. Leighton's work is remarkable for its command of large-scale design, brilliant technique, intellectual sophistication and skilful, often erotic depiction of the human body.
The two frescoes, The Arts of Industry as Applied to War and The Arts of Industry as Applied to Peace, celebrate human artistic achievements.
War portrays the princess and courtiers of an Italian Renaissance city state setting out for battle. Peace is set in a classical world of order and plenty. It is designed to evoke a sense of beauty rather than illustrate a specific narrative, and depicts a central group of wealthy elegant women dressing while, either side, workmen unload luxurious carpets and ceramics from barges.
Both are spirit frescoes; War was painted using the Gambier Parry process, which was adapted further by Leighton for Peace.[1]
References
- ^ Victoria and Albert Museum, Online Museum (11 January 2011). "Conservation of Lord Leighton's Spirit Frescoes 'War' and 'Peace'". www.vam.ac.uk. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
Bibliography
- Jackson, Anna, ed. (2001). V&A: A Hundred Highlights. V&A Publications. ISBN 1-85177-365-7
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- Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna (1853–55)
- The Fisherman and the Syren (c. 1858)
- The Painter's Honeymoon (c. 1864)
- The Syracusan Bride leading Wild Animals in Procession to the Temple of Diana (1866)
- Venus Disrobing for the Bath (1867)
- Actaea, the Nymph of the Shore (1868)
- Acme and Septimius (1868)
- The Arts of Industry as Applied to War (1870–72)
- The Arts of Industry as Applied to Peace (1870–72)
- The Daphnephoria (1876)
- The Music Lesson (1877)
- Winding the Skein (c. 1878)
- Nausicaa (c. 1878)
- Psamathe (1879–80)
- Crenaia, the Nymph of the Dargle (1880)
- Cymon and Iphigenia (c. 1884)
- Captive Andromache (1888)
- The Bath of Psyche (1890)
- Perseus and Andromeda (1891)
- Lachrymae (1895)
- Flaming June (1895)
- Leighton House Museum
- Alexandra Orr (sister)
- Holland Park Circle
- Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
- Dorothy Dene (model)
- Anna Risi (model)