Frederic, Lord Leighton, P.R.A.

Pandias Stephen Rallis, London (by 1897)
Viscountess Marie Evelyn Byng (and sold: her sale, Christie's, London, November 30, 1928, lot 171)
William Sampson (acquired at the above sale)
Sale: Bonham's, Knightsbridge, December 14, 1999, lot 130, illustrated
Acquired at the above sale by the current owner

London, Royal Academy, Winter Exhibition, 1897, no. 151 (lent by Pandias Stephen Rallis)

Leonée Ormond and Richard Ormond, Lord Leighton, New Haven and London, 1975, p. 150, no. 25

Unlined; under UV: small dashes of inpainting on face and neck, in background, and in structure on left.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The present work is an oil study for one of Leighton's most famous paintings, Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna is Carried Through the Streets of Florence, which was his first Royal Academy submission in 1855.  Immediately upon its exhibition Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna is Carried Through the Streets of Florence caused a sensation. Taken from the Renaissance writer Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Painters, the composition portrays the move of a painting of the Madonna by Cimabue (circa 1240-1302, considered the last great painter of the Byzantine tradition and Giotto's teacher) from the artist's house to the church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence. The picture carried in procession through the streets in Leighton's painting is the Rucellai Madonna, which at that time was believed to be by Cimabue (and now considered a work by Duccio). In its elaborate detail and historical scope, Leighton's work attracted the attention of one particularly important exhibition-goer: Prince Albert.  A fellow admirer of Italian art, the Prince fell in love with the painting and had Queen Victoria purchase it.  Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna is Carried Through the Streets of Florence is now hung in the central atrium of London's National Gallery (on loan from the Royal Collection) and today is one of the most widely recognized of the artist's works.

Specifically, the present work is a study for the head of the Italian youth playing a stringed instrument at the rear of the group of musicians on the left side of the painting. In the finished painting, the musician's hat is garlanded with laurels, and he rests his instrument on the left shoulder, which is draped in a darker-hued robe. The original tabernacle frame echoes the shape of the roadside icon shown above the musician in the finished painting, and also mirrors the shape of the Rucellai Madonna as depicted in the master work.

Considered an important and desirable work by Leighton in its own right, the study has been owned by a number of important collectors, such as Pandias Stephen Rallis, at one time the head of the Anglo-Greek community in London and the Greek Consul General. The study was later acquired by Marie Evelyn the Viscountess Byng (née Moreton), the wife of the 2^nd Earl of Strafford; she owned at least one other small work by Leighton, including an early landscape entitled Acqua Certosa, Rome.