Frederic, Lord Leighton by Margot Brandlhuber

His 1877 sculpture, Athlete Wrestling with a Python, was considered at its time to inaugurate a renaissance in contemporary British sculpture, referred to as the New Sculpture. In 1864 he became an associate of the Royal Academy and in 1878 he became its President (1878–96). He designed Elizabeth Barrett Browning's tomb for Robert Browning in the English Cemetery, Florence in 1861. In 1860, he moved to London, where he associated with the Pre-Raphaelites. The countries that Leighton visited on at least one occasion include Austria, Algeria, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Lebanon, Morocco, The Netherlands, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland, Syria and Turkey. Once settled in London, he continued to make extensive trips on an annual basis until shortly before his death. By his late twenties, extended periods had been spent living in Rome and then Paris and Leighton had made his first trip outside Europe, travelling to north Africa in 1857. By his late teens, he was living with his family in Frankfurt, Germany and had already visited many of Europe’s major cities, including Florence and Rome places which he would return to on a great many occasions over the next decades.

Travel was an important part of Leighton’s life from childhood. From 1855 to 1859 he lived in Paris, where he met Ingres, Delacroix, Corot and Millet. When he was 24 he was in Florence he studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti, and painted the procession of the Cimabue Madonna through the Borgo Allegri. At age 17, in the summer of 1847, he met the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer in Frankfurt and drew his portrait, in graphite and gouache on paper - the only known full-length study of Schopenhauer done from life. He then received his artistic training on the European continent, first from Eduard von Steinle and then from Giovanni Costa. He was educated at University College School, London. He had two sisters, one of them being Alexandra who was Robert Browning's biographer.

Leighton’s career was always cushioned by this family wealth, with his father paying him an allowance throughout his life. Leighton's grandfather, Sir James Boniface Leighton (1769–1843), had been the primary physician to two Russian tsars - Alexander I and Nicholas I - and their families, and amassed a fortune while in their service. Frederic Septimus Leighton (1799–1892), a medical doctor. Leighton was born in Scarborough to Augusta Susan and Dr.

After Vespers (1871 Princeton University Art Museum)

Frederic, Lord Leighton by Margot Brandlhuber