弗雷德里克·萊頓小傳

譯/愛藝

Trained in the Continental academic tradition, befriended by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and elected President of the Royal Academy, Frederic Leighton was one of the most eminent British painters of the late nineteenth century.His sumptuous, classically inflected canvases like The Light of the Harem and Captive Andromache exemplify the Victorian pursuit of beauty for beauty’s sake.

2Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton, was born in Scarborough, England in 1830.He was educated at University College School, London.He then received his artistic training on the European continent.At age 17, he met the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer in Frankfurt and drew his portrait, in graphite and gouache on paper—the only known full-length study of Schopenhauer done from life.When he was 24,he studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence, and painted Cimabue’s Celebrated Madonna.From 1855 to 1859 he lived in Paris, where he met Ingres,Delacroix, Corot and Millet.

弗雷德里克·萊頓是19 世紀末最杰出的英國畫家之一，他接受了歐洲大陸學院派傳統教育，結交了拉斐爾前派的藝術家們，還被推舉擔任英國皇家美術學院院長。他的油畫（如《閨房的光》和《被俘的安德洛瑪刻》）華麗精致，帶有明顯的古典風格，體現了維多利亞時代為美而美的追求。

2萊頓一世男爵弗雷德里克·萊頓于1830 年出生在英格蘭斯卡伯勒。他先就讀于倫敦的大學學院學校，后前往歐洲大陸接受正規的藝術教育。17 歲時，他在德國法蘭克福遇見了哲學家亞瑟·叔本華，并用石墨和水粉為后者畫了一幅肖像——這是迄今所知叔本華在生前留下的唯一一幅全身肖像。24 歲時，萊頓在意大利佛羅倫薩美術學院學習，創作了《圣列的行進》。1855 到1859 年，他一直居住在巴黎，結識了安格爾、德拉克洛瓦、柯羅和米勒等畫家。

3In 1860, he moved to London, where he associated with the Pre-Raphaelites.In 1864 he became an associate of the Royal Academy.His 1877 sculpture entitled An Athlete Wrestling with a Python was considered at its time to inaugurate a renaissance in contemporary British sculpture, referred to as the New Sculpture; his paintings of the same year,like the plushly exoticized Music Lesson,demonstrate that he was no less assiduous and imaginative in two-dimensional media.The following year, he became President of the Royal Academy (1878-96).

4Leighton was knighted at Windsor in 1878, and was created a baronet eight years later.He was the first painter to be given a peerage.The patent creating him Baron Leighton, of Stretton in the County of Shropshire, was issued on 24 January 1896; Leighton died the next day of angina pectoris, making him the bearer of the shortest-lived title in British history.His house in Holland Park,London has been turned into a museum,the Leighton House Museum.

5The Lord Leighton’s work is represented in numerous estimable institutions throughout Great Britain and the Commonwealth, including the Tate Gallery in London, the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa and New Zealand’s Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū.■

31860 年，他移居倫敦，與拉斐爾前派的藝術家們過從甚密。1864 年，他成為英國皇家美術學院的準會員。1877年，他的雕塑作品《與巨蟒搏斗的運動員》在當時被認為開啟了英國當代雕塑的復興，即所謂新雕塑運動；同年，他的畫作，比如雅致怡人、異域風情的《音樂課》，表明他在平面創作上同樣勤勉且富于想象力。第二年，他開始擔任英國皇家美術學院院長（1878—1896）。

41878 年，萊頓在溫莎受封爵士，八年后獲封準男爵。他是被授予貴族爵位的首位畫家。1896 年1 月24 日，他正式受封什羅普郡斯特雷頓萊頓男爵；獲封第二天，萊頓便因心絞痛與世長辭，成了英國歷史上最短命頭銜擁有者。他在倫敦荷蘭公園的居所如今已變身博物館——萊頓故居博物館。

5英國及英聯邦各地許多著名的展覽機構都在展出萊頓爵士的作品，這些機構包括英國倫敦的泰特美術館、加拿大渥太華的加拿大國家美術館和新西蘭的克賴斯特徹奇美術館。□