Homes Antiques

went on to create A Moment of Peril – a
sculpture showing a Native American on
horseback about to spear a snake – as a
homage to Leighton’s piece.
Leighton went on to create just two more
sculptures another male nude The Sluggard
(1885) and Needless Alarms a female nude
modelled in 1886. Both were also highly
successful although it is Athlete that is
considered to be his sculptural masterpiece.
A second life-size bronze of Athlete today
resides in the Royal Academy’s collection
while a marble version was also made
commissioned by the wealthy Danish
brewer Carl Jacobsen founder of Carlsberg.
After the artist’s death between 1903
and 1910 Ernest Brown and Phillips at
the Leicester Galleries made an unknown
number of commercial casts in two sizes. It
was one of these in the smaller size of 52cm
that was recently sold by Bonhams. A few
were also made in a larger size of one metre
but these are incredibly rare with perhaps
only seven in existence. Editions of The
Sluggard and Needless Alarms were made in
1890 and 1906 respectively and are slightly
more common usually selling for between
£15000 and £20000 at auction.
‘Leighton’s sculptures had a
disproportionate impact given that there
were so few of them’ says Robbins. ‘The
neoclassical style that had dominated before
then had none of the dynamism naturalism
or energy that there is in Athlete. And one
of the reasons this was so striking is that
there was no hint of this in his paintings
where the figures always have a certain
stillness usually depicted in static poses
and certainly not in situations of dynamic
action such as combat or struggle. There
is something much more vigorous in his
treatment of Athlete than in the more
constrained composed compositions that he
tended to paint. And it was that vigour that
was instrumental in moving sculpture on.’ Q

• The original bronze cast of Leighton’s
  sculpture An Athlete Wrestling with a Python is
  on display in the 1840 room of Tate Britain. The
  Sluggard is also on display as part of the Tate’s
  Queer British Art Exhibition. tate.org.uk

Showing no sign of abating the sales of Lord Leighton’s

paintings have reached heady heights in recent years

TOP LEIGHTON LOTS

AUCTION HIGHLIGHTS

KITTENS

was sold by Christie’s King Street in June

1998 for £859500

PAVONIA

sold at Christie’s Dening British Art sale

on 30th June 2016 for £1594500

VENUS DISROBING FOR THE BATH

sold at Sotheby’s New York in October 2009 for

$1874500 (approx £1470357)

BACCHANTE

sold at Christie’s King Street for

£1161250 on 31st May 2012

GOLDEN HOURS

sold by Christie’s as part of its Dening British

Art sale on 30th June 2016 for £3274500

H&A GUIDE: Sale story