Artist: Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton: The Painter’s Honeymoon
Title: The Painter’s Honeymoon
Date: 1864
Medium: painting
Dimensions: 83.8 × 76.8 cm (32.9 × 30.2 ″)
What I like about this painting:
This is a real departure from Leighton’s usual precise nudes. There is a great deal of emotion and closeness depicted here. The folds of the wife’s skirt are shown with his usual vivid sharpness, as are the hands of both the painter and his wife. Their hands are portrayed as gentle and tender—and yet they are clearly defined, as they are the medium through which the painter expresses himself.
Their faces are not as distinct, as if they are still in the romantic haze of their new life together.
According to Wikipedia:
The Painter’s Honeymoon was first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1866 – it appears that Leighton deliberately prevented it from being shown publicly in the years following its completion. As Leighton was renowned for his lack of confidence and shyness, many of his contemporaries believed he felt he had betrayed too much of his own emotion to feel comfortable exhibiting the picture.
Credits and Attributions:
The Painter’s Honeymoon by Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton [Public domain]
Wikipedia contributors, “The Painter’s Honeymoon,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Painter%27s_Honeymoon&oldid=902492011 (accessed October 18, 2019).
Life in the Realm of Fantasy 