
In Tate Britain
- Artist
- Frederic, Lord Leighton 1830–1896
- Medium
- Oil paint on canvas
- Dimensions
- Support: 2286 × 2286 mm
- Collection
- Tate
- Acquisition
- Presented by Sir Henry Tate 1894
- Reference
- N01511
Summary
This is one of the most dramatic and powerful works, painted in the dark and solemn style of Leighton's late career. It was originally designed as one of eight roundels on the theme of the Apocalypse, intended to decorate the spandrels of the dome of St Paul's Cathedral in London. The scheme was initiated by Alfred Stevens (1817-75), but was abandoned when the original design was rejected as 'unsuitable for a Christian church' (quoted in Wilton & Upstone, p.260). The present, reduced, version was commissioned by Henry Tate, for his new gallery of British art.
Leighton's tondo shows the resurrection of the dead, as described in the Book of Revelation: 'And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.' (Revelation 20:13) It is a terrifying yet essentially optimistic image, meditating on the theme of spiritual salvation. The central group depicts a man, woman and child in various stages of 'awakening': 'The man is alive, his pulses are beating again, his flesh is reddening. His wife wears the greenish ghastly hue of death: his boy is breathing, but still pale and only half alive' (Edgcumbe Staley, quoted in Wilton & Upstone, p.259). All around them, the dead arise from newly-opened graves, some exposing their bodies to the light, others wrapped, mummy-like, in pale shrouds. A trail of cloud bisects the canvas and separates the lower realms of the dead from the spiritual upper realm of the living. Leighton uses colour symbolically, contrasting the grey pallor of the dead or half-living with the brilliance and renewed vigour of the risen. A debt to Delacroix (1798-1863) is clear in the fluid brushwork of the preparatory oil sketch (Leighton House Museum and Art Gallery). The finished work, on the other hand, calls to mind Eugène Delacroix's contemporary, Théodore Géricault (1791-1824) and especially his Raft of the Medusa (1819 Louvre, Paris). The influence of Michelangelo is evident in both the Géricault and Leighton paintings, in their monumental scale and their preoccupation with human anatomy. More specifically, the pose of the figure in the right background of Leighton's picture and the shrouds of the resurrected are clearly inspired by Michelangelo's Entombment, which entered the National Gallery's collection in 1868, and which Leighton greatly admired.
And the Sea
was Leighton's favourite design, but met with only moderate approval. One critic commented that the picture had 'a cold - almost oppressive - dignity', but also that it displayed 'perhaps better than any other the loftiness of his thought, the high-water mark of his mental conception'(Magazine of Art, 1892, p.220).
Further reading:
Stephen Jones, Christopher Newall, Leonée Ormond, Richard Ormond, Benedict Read, Frederic Leighton 1830-1896, exhibition catalogue, Royal Academy of Arts, London 1996, pp.230-2, no.116, reproduced p.230, in colour.
Andrew Wilton and Robert Upstone, The Age of Rossetti, Burne-Jones & Watts: Symbolism in Britain 1860-1910, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1997, pp.259-60, no 120, reproduced p.259, in colour.
Frances Fowle
December 2000
Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? We would like to hear from you.
Display caption
This scene shows the resurrection of the dead as described in the Bible’s Book of Revelation. Figures rise out of tombs and the ocean. Their poses and skin colour show stages of resurrection, from the limp paleness of death to the vigour of renewed life. The work was originally one of eight roundels Leighton designed for the dome of London’s St Paul’s Cathedral on the theme of the Apocalypse. However, the series was rejected as ‘unsuitable for a Christian church’. This reduced, version was commissioned by Henry Tate for his gallery of British art.
Gallery label, October 2020
Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? We would like to hear from you.
Explore
- emotions, concepts and ideas(16,531)
-
- emotions and human qualities(5,349)
-
- hope(71)
- seascapes and coasts(7,993)
- religious and ceremonial(1,733)
- actions: expressive(2,630)
-
- embracing(425)
- arm / arms raised(834)
- floating(36)
- flying(173)
- looking up(124)
- corpse(99)
- boy(1,156)
- group(4,247)
- resurrection(30)
- salvation(15)
- birth to death(1,461)
-
- death(683)
You might like
-
Frederic, Lord Leighton Puerta de los Vientos, near Ronda, Spain
c.1886–9 -
Frederic, Lord Leighton Helios and Rhodes
date not known -
Frederic, Lord Leighton The Bath of Psyche
exhibited 1890 -
Frederic, Lord Leighton Mrs John Hanson Walker
1867 -
George Frederic Watts Time, Death and Judgement
1900 -
Frederic, Lord Leighton Cain and Abel
published 1881 -
John William Waterhouse Saint Eulalia
exhibited 1885 -
Frederic, Lord Leighton Samson and the Lions
published 1881 -
Frederic, Lord Leighton Abram and the Angel
published 1881 -
Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, Bt King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid
1884 -
Frederic, Lord Leighton Sketches for Cimon and Iphigenia
date not known -
Frederic, Lord Leighton Lieder ohne Worte
exhibited 1861 -
Frederic, Lord Leighton Moses Views the Promised Land
published 1881 -
Frederic, Lord Leighton Needless Alarms
1886 -
Frederic, Lord Leighton Cimon and Iphigenia, with Many Smaller Subjects
date not known