“Atalanta” by Frederic Lord Leighton

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Atalanta

Frederic Lord Leighton, P. R. A. (1830-1896)

1893

Colour lithograph of oil painting

(Original painting) 26½ x 19 inches

Exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1893; and at the Exhibition of Lord Leighton’s works at the Winter Exhibition of the Royal Academy, 1897 (Great Pictures)

"Atalanta may be noted, perhaps, as the strongest work achieved by Leighton. Here is "enormous power," though shown on a comparatively small canvas" (Barrington 263). Commentary continues below. [Click on the image to enlarge it, and mouse over the text for links.]

Mary Lloyd (Leighton's model)

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Emilie Barrington's Commentary (contd)

For noble beauty of the Pheidian type in the grand and simple pose and modelling of the throat and shoulder, it would be difficult to find its peer in Modern Art, and yet it was only the worthy record of the beauty of an English girl. Flaming June (a design first made to decorate as a bas-relief the marble bath on which the figure in Summer Slumber reposes), is equally perfect in the fine fulness of the modelling, but it lacks the direct simplicity which gives such a [263]distinguished strength to the Atalanta. [263-64]

Commentary in Great Pictures

This beautiful work is generally admitted to be the finest of the many heads of stately women which came from Leighton’s hand. The spirit of dignity is imprinted on the face, and fully developed womanhood in the lovely form. In these heads was often depicted his own idea of some classic beauty; in the present instance, Atalanta. According to Greek mythology, Atalanta was a famous lover of the chase, who, not willing to lose her virgin’s estate, consented to be won only by the suitor who should outstrip her in running; the penalty of her defeating him being the forfeiture of his life. So fleet was she that many brave men, who staked their life against her, lost it. At last came Hippomenes, who, seeing the fate which had befallen others, resorted to the artifice of delaying her in the race by three golden apples, which Venus had given him, and which he threw on the course, one after another, as he ran. These — with a woman’s love of the glittering fruit — she tarried to pick up, and was vanquished in the race, becoming, agreeably to her word, the wife of the victor. [21]

Bibliography

Barrington, Mrs Russell. The Life, Letters and Work of Frederic Leighton. Vol. II. London: George Allen, Ruskin House, 1906. Project Gutenberg. Web. 25 September 2024.

Great Pictures in Private Galleries: with an introduction and notes on the pictures. Vol. I. London: Cassell. 1905. Internet Archive, from a copy in the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign libraries. Web. 25 September 2024.

Created 25 September 2024