The Music Lesson by Frederic Leighton Cutting Board

The Music Lesson by Frederic Leighton, oil on canvas c. 1877, is a painting of a woman holding a little in her lap, teaching her a lesson on a stringed, lute-like musical instrument, set in an elegant, ornate marble interior bathed in golden natural light. The smooth modelling and paint surface, classical drawing and form of the female figures, attention to detail, and subtlety of brilliant colour are hallmarks of the manner of the Pre-Raphaelite style. The painter Leighton depicts the warmth and emotion of a tender domestic scene, with a classical treatment that elevates genre painting to the level of the best of 19th century, Victorian-era painting. Frederic Leighton (1830 - 1896) was an English painter and sculptor associated with the British Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood of artists. After studying in London and on the continent of Europe, and living for a time in Paris, Leighton settled in London where he began producing works based on classical, Biblical and historical subject matter. Leighton was an associate and President of the Royal Academy who helped to spark a renewal of British sculpture, and received the French Legion of Honour. The Pre-Raphaelite movement partook of the brilliant, jewel-like colours, intricate detail and compositional styles of Quattrocento Renaissance art, which Leighton infused with influences from the schools of Romanticism and Realism. Leighton died as the only artist to receive a peerage, and today his house stands as a museum in London.