Historical genre painter. Son of Charles Blair Leighton, a portrait and historical painter (1823-1855). Blair Leighton exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1878-1920. Typical titles: The Dying Copernicus, Un Gage d'Amour, Romola etc. Lady Godiva is in the Leeds Art Gallery. His pictures of elegant ladies in landscapes or interiors have a similar kind of charm to those of Tissot.
Source: Christopher Wood, 'Victorian Painters'.
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'The Art of Mr. E. Blair Leighton'
Read a contemporary article about Edmund Blair Leighton, written by Rudolph De Cordova, and originally published in The Windsor Magazine (Volume XXI, December 1904 to May 1905, Ward, Lock & Co., Limited, London 1905).
To this day, very little has been published about Blair Leighton: there are no modern monographs dedicated to his work, he is seldom mentioned in books which discuss Victorian art, and yet some of his paintings (e.g. The Accolade, God Speed) number amongst the most recognizable of Victorian art to many people and have fetched large prices at auction in recent years.
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A Dark Deed
In 1888, Blair Leighton penned a short story for The Argosy & it is now republished at ArtMagick: Stories from the Studios: A Dark Deed
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Signature
An example of Edmund Blair Leighton's signature:
(from a letter)
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Examples of Book Illustration
Under Bayard's Banner: A Story of the Days of Chivalry by Henry Firth, with eight original illustrations by E. Blair Leighton. Published Cassell & Company Limited, London, 1888. There are six additional illustrations not shown here.
| Book cover (Possibly designed by Blair Leighton) |
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| "I dub thee knight in the name of God and St. Michael" |
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| "A young, pretty girl, and an attendant man-at-arms emerged from a fir-wood" |
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Edmund Blair Leighton in his studio
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