Red Hair in Art: Edmund Leighton

Edmund Blair Leighton (1852 – 1922) was an English painter of historical genre scenes, specialising in Regency and medieval subjects. His art is associated with the pre-Raphaelite movement of the mid-to-late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Among his first commissions were monochrome illustrations for Cassell's Magazine and its Book of British Ballads. His first painting to be exhibited at the Royal Academy was A Flaw in the Title in 1874; it sold for £200. He soon gave up "black and white" illustrations, working for the rest of his career in oil on canvas.

He exhibited annually at the Royal Academy until 1920, although he was never an Academician or an Associate.

Here are some of his paintings featuring red hair (and I'm sure you know the last one!).

 

 

 

In 1816

 

The Queen kisses the sleeping poet Alain Chartier 

 

 

 

The Boyhood of Alfred the Great

 

 The Shadow

The Keys

Faded Laurels

A Medieval Beauty

The Accolade