Lord Frederic Leighton was one of the most famous British artists of the nineteenth century. The recipient of many national and international awards and honors, he was well acquainted with members of the royal family and with most of the great artists, writers and politicians of the late Victorian era. Leighton preferred to paint subject matter that was connected to ancient Greek and Roman mythology. He intended for his paintings to be visually beautiful and his work then and now has a reputation for luminous colors and solidly drawn figures. After his death his house in Holland Park, London has been turned into a museum, the Leighton House Museum. It contains a number of his drawings and paintings, as well as some of his former art collection including works by Old Masters and his contemporaries such as a painting dedicated to Leighton by Sir John Everett Millais.
