Nature, science, and myth in the landscape art of Frederic Leighton

This thesis presents the first full-length study of Frederic Leighton (1830-1896) as a landscape painter. Elected President of the Royal Academy in 1878, the artist exerted a wide-reaching influence, and his oeuvre simultaneously reflected the latest trends in landscape art. This thesis unveils the complexity of contexts vital to Leighton’s versatile open-air work, from his formative years shaped by European circles and exchanges with English landscape painters, to interest in scientific and mythographic theories. The artist produced around two hundred oil sketches which represent the traditional category of études, studies from nature. However, they equally functioned as empirical records of natural phenomena and diverse environments varying from the sunlit Mediterranean regions to the dark northern outposts, produced upon extensive annual voyages. Taking into consideration crucial concerns of Victorian culture – nature, science, and myth – the tripartite discussion analyses the evolution of Leighton’s open-air landscape art.

The first part of the thesis addresses the artist’s outlook on nature based on his manifold landscape production, personal correspondence, as well as public discourses. Part II investigates the multi-layered effect of Leighton’s scientific milieu, consisting of such figures as John Tyndall and Lord Kelvin, on his open-air work. The final part of the thesis examines the artist’s spiritual relationship with nature, which drew on Victorian mythographic and philological research, especially that of F. Max Müller. The connection of Leighton’s landscape studies with such ephemeral interpretations is particularly evident in their incorporation in the backgrounds of his subject pictures. Overall, a predominantly chronological approach presents a comprehensive vision of the stylistic and thematic evolution in Leighton’s plein air art, and places it within the broader context of Victorian attitudes to nature, cultural implications of science, and mythographic interpretations of landscape. The thesis is supplemented by an illustrated catalogue of Leighton’s oil sketches.