Edmund Blair Leighton (British, 1852-1922). Return of the Viking raiding party. Oil on panel. 8 x 6-1/4 inches (20.3 x 1...

Description

Edmund Blair Leighton (British, 1852-1922)
Return of the Viking raiding party
Oil on panel
8 x 6-1/4 inches (20.3 x 15.9 cm)
Initialed lower left: EBL

PROVENANCE:
Ronald Ernest Summerfield, Esq. (1916-1989), London;
His sale: Christie's South Kensington (held at Cheltenham Racecourse), October 27-28, 1989, lot 7384;
Halls Fine Art, Shrewsbury, England, July 1, 2005, lot 608;
Private collection, acquired from the above;
Private collection, Oklahoma, gift from the above, 2015.

The work of Edmund Blair Leighton deeply influenced contemporary conceptions of chivalric imagery, with many of his paintings-widely recognized through their reproduction-now icons of medieval romance.

Blair Leighton, together with his friends Frank Dicksee and John William Waterhouse, were outspoken proponents of Pre-Raphaelitism in its last and most fantastical phase. Painting a generation after Rossetti and Millais first revived interest in chivalric tales, Blair Leighton continued to explore stories of knights, damsels, tragic kings, and witty bards, with dramatic vigor. Indeed, meticulous, highly studied detail and a sensitive eye for humanity became the hallmarks of his oeuvre.

Blair Leighton sought perfection through precision, and the present work is a rare oil study. He produced these small preparatory panels to work out ideas for each composition, although a final work related to this particular sketch has yet to surface. The oil sketches reflect the artist's background as a draftsman; to support himself while studying at the Royal Academy, Blair Leighton worked as an illustrator for noted publisher Cassel & Co., and for magazines like Harper's Bazaar (K.L. Ross, "Edmund Blair Leighton: The Prominent Outsider," Fine Art Connoisseur, June 2011). He also became a member of the Langham Sketch Club in 1878, serving as its president in 1880 (Ross, 2011).

Beyond drawings and oil sketches, Blair Leighton was remarkably involved in the costuming that would appear in his work, an enterprise that involved his entire family. Recalling her father's working habits, his daughter Sophie wrote, "Because Papa painted pictures set in earlier historical periods, he collected genuine costumes whenever possible and if none could be found accurate replicas would be made. For this a dressmaker would regularly come in daily for about two weeks at a time. A room on the top floor was taken over where she and my mother would make costumes based on fashion prints of the period or authentic contemporary drawings. They were undefeated and not only made beautiful dresses, carefully measured and fitted for the female models, but also entire male outfits. Some of the fabrics had elaborate patterns which my mother painted on with loving care" (S. Leighton-Harding, Sophie, An Edwardian Childhood, Topsham, England, 2012, pp. 20-21).

Blair Leighton's work is generally divided into two types, those set in the eighteenth century, rife with romantic trysts, and his more dramatic pictures, tales of medieval heroes and heroines, inspired by Tennyson, Shakespeare, and Malory. Return of the Viking raiding party falls into the latter category, and while the precise setting is unknown, the geography suggests the North Sea coast. The fortress looming in the distance recalls the Scottish stronghold of Dunnottar Castle, perched at what feels like the edge of the world, or English fortifications such as Caister Castle and Burgh Castle, both near to Kirby Cane, the Norfolk village where Blair Leighton frequently summered. While difficult to identify, the blonde model recalls the regal manner of Blair Leighton's heroines in masterpieces God Speed (1900) and The Accolade (1901). Turned away from the viewer, she forces us to look at the bearded man's facial expression; their relationship is unclear, she steps forward with her arms outstretched in greeting, but his emotions are concealed by his complexion, reddened by sun and wind from his time at sea.

We are grateful to Kara Lysandra Ross for her help in preparing this catalogue entry. The painting will be included in her forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the work of Edmund Blair Leighton.


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