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Lot Essay
The present drawing is one of a series of studies of Mrs F. R. Leyland (1834-1910), the wife of the Liverpool ship-owner, one of Rossetti’s most important patrons. The drawings were executed in the summer of 1867 as studies for the painting Monna Rosa (Surtees, op.cit., no. 198). Rossetti also executed a watercolour version of the subject (fig. 1), which remained in the artist’s possession until his death.
Leyland (1832-1892) was one of a number of industrialists who commissioned works from the artist. A ruthless self-made businessman who masked his humble origins behind a chilling reserve, Leyland nevertheless became a key figure in the development of the Aesthetic Movement. Under the guidance of Rossetti, the dealers Murray Marks and Charles Augustus Howell, and the architect Norman Shaw, Leyland was to create two great Aesthetic interiors in London houses in the Knightsbridge area, at 22 Queen's Gate from 1868, and at 49 Prince's Gate from 1874. The latter was a particularly sumptuous scheme, in which he realised his dream of living 'the life of an old Venetian merchant in modern London'. He also had a fine country house, Speke Hall, near Liverpool.
Rossetti and Leyland began corresponding in the mid-1860s. In 1865 Rossetti wrote to Leyland stating that he had heard that Leyland wished to buy a painting from him, and offered him Sybilla Palmifera. By 1867 arrangements were being made for Rossetti to paint a portrait of Mrs Leyland. The present drawing corresponds very closely to the finished work. Other studies of Mrs Leyland exist and the present work is either a study for, or perhaps a suggestion for, the composition of the painting. The finished painting was expanded to be three-quarter-length. On 18 June 1867 Rossetti wrote to Leyland 'The picture is much advanced, and in every way altered, as I have again had it considerably enlarged!’ Unlike the present drawing, the finished portrait is far from being a character study or an expression of the sitter’s personality; John Christian describes it as an 'object designed to take its place in a carefully contrived decorative ensemble’. It was in no way a conventional portrait, but an exercise in Aestheticism, the sitter dressed in white and gold drapery, a rose bush grows from a blue-and-white Chinese porcelain jar and in the background are a bamboo and red lacquer stand, and a peacock feather fan hangs on the wall. The present drawing, and others from the series, which Rossetti drew from life, convey an intimacy and immediacy which have disappeared entirely from the finished work.
Monna Rosa was among the first of eighteen paintings that Leyland commissioned from Rossetti, not including unfulfilled commissions. By the time of Leyland’s death in 1892 his considerable collection included works by Burne-Jones (such as The Beguiling of Merlin, now in Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight), Albert Moore, Whistler and others. Around the same time as Rossetti was painting Monna Rosa, Leyland commissioned Whistler to decorate his dining room at Prince’s Gate. The resulting Peacock Room is considered one of Whistler's greatest works. After Leyland's death, the Peacock Room was sold to the American industrialist and art collector Charles Lang Freer. It now resides in the Smithsonian Museum's Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. The sale of Leyland’s collection was held in these Rooms on 28 May 1872 (fig. 2).
Leyland (1832-1892) was one of a number of industrialists who commissioned works from the artist. A ruthless self-made businessman who masked his humble origins behind a chilling reserve, Leyland nevertheless became a key figure in the development of the Aesthetic Movement. Under the guidance of Rossetti, the dealers Murray Marks and Charles Augustus Howell, and the architect Norman Shaw, Leyland was to create two great Aesthetic interiors in London houses in the Knightsbridge area, at 22 Queen's Gate from 1868, and at 49 Prince's Gate from 1874. The latter was a particularly sumptuous scheme, in which he realised his dream of living 'the life of an old Venetian merchant in modern London'. He also had a fine country house, Speke Hall, near Liverpool.
Rossetti and Leyland began corresponding in the mid-1860s. In 1865 Rossetti wrote to Leyland stating that he had heard that Leyland wished to buy a painting from him, and offered him Sybilla Palmifera. By 1867 arrangements were being made for Rossetti to paint a portrait of Mrs Leyland. The present drawing corresponds very closely to the finished work. Other studies of Mrs Leyland exist and the present work is either a study for, or perhaps a suggestion for, the composition of the painting. The finished painting was expanded to be three-quarter-length. On 18 June 1867 Rossetti wrote to Leyland 'The picture is much advanced, and in every way altered, as I have again had it considerably enlarged!’ Unlike the present drawing, the finished portrait is far from being a character study or an expression of the sitter’s personality; John Christian describes it as an 'object designed to take its place in a carefully contrived decorative ensemble’. It was in no way a conventional portrait, but an exercise in Aestheticism, the sitter dressed in white and gold drapery, a rose bush grows from a blue-and-white Chinese porcelain jar and in the background are a bamboo and red lacquer stand, and a peacock feather fan hangs on the wall. The present drawing, and others from the series, which Rossetti drew from life, convey an intimacy and immediacy which have disappeared entirely from the finished work.
Monna Rosa was among the first of eighteen paintings that Leyland commissioned from Rossetti, not including unfulfilled commissions. By the time of Leyland’s death in 1892 his considerable collection included works by Burne-Jones (such as The Beguiling of Merlin, now in Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight), Albert Moore, Whistler and others. Around the same time as Rossetti was painting Monna Rosa, Leyland commissioned Whistler to decorate his dining room at Prince’s Gate. The resulting Peacock Room is considered one of Whistler's greatest works. After Leyland's death, the Peacock Room was sold to the American industrialist and art collector Charles Lang Freer. It now resides in the Smithsonian Museum's Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. The sale of Leyland’s collection was held in these Rooms on 28 May 1872 (fig. 2).