Frederic Leighton, Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna is carried in Procession through the Streets of Florence, The National Gallery, London

Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna, originally called Cimabue's [Celebrated] Madonna [is] Carried in Procession through the Streets of Florence,[4] is an oil painting by English artist Frederic Leighton. Measuring more than two metres tall and more than five metres wide, the canvas was painted by Leighton from 1853 to 1855 in Rome as his first major work. The painting was shown at the Academy in 1855. It was an immediate success, and Queen Victoria bought it for 600 guineas on opening day. She recorded in her diary: 'There was a very big picture by a man called Leighton. It is a beautiful painting, quite reminding one of a Paul Veronese, so bright and full of light. Albert was enchanted with it - so much so that he made me buy it[5].' Leighton had already attempted a number of these scenes from artists' lives which enjoyed an international vogue at this time - Cimabue Finding Giotto in the Fields of Florence (circa 1845-1850), Signorelli Painting his Dying Son (1851), The Death of Brunelleschi (1852). Now he chose another, from Vasari's account of how Cimabue's picture of the Madonna and Child was carried in triumph from his house to the church of Santa Maria Novella[6]. Leighton House has an oil sketch for the painting, and several preparatory drawings.[5]


Frederic Leighton, Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna is carried in Procession through the Streets of Florence, Oil on canvas, 222 cm × 521 cm, The National Gallery, London [1]
The picture shows a scene from the 16th century art historian Giorgio Vasari's description of the 13th century procession of an altarpiece of the Madonna and Child through the streets of Florence.[5] The Madonna is being carried from the studio of the Florentine artist Cimabue to the church of Santa Maria Novella. Cimabue himself is depicted immediately in front of the Madonna wearing a laurel wreath upon his head. He is followed by a group including several leading Florentine artistic figures of the day, including his pupil Giotto, the poet Dante Alighieri (leaning on the wall at right), the architect Arnolfo di Cambio, the painters Gaddo Gaddi, Andrea Tafi, Buonamico Buffalmacco and Simone Memmi; the sculptor Nicola Pisano, and on horseback at the right edge of the image, the King of Naples, Charles of Anjou.[5] The Madonna depicted, seen at a very narrow angle in the centre of the painting, is actually not by Cimabue, but instead it is the Rucellai Madonna by Sienese artist Duccio di Buoninsegna. This error is the result of the misattribution of this altarpiece by Vasari which lasted into Leighton's time, an error which was not corrected until 1889 by Franz Wickhoff.[7] Both the Rucellai Madonna and a similar work that is correctly attributed to Cimabue, the Santa Trinita Maestà, are displayed at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

Duccio di Buoninsegna, Madonna Rucellai, 1285 (commissione), tempera e oro su tavola, 450×290 cm, Galleria degli Uffizi, Firenze	Duccio di Buoninsegna, Madonna Rucellai, (particolare Madonna), 1285 (commissione), tempera e oro su tavola, 450×290 cm, Galleria degli Uffizi, Firenze	Cimabue, Maestà di Santa Trinita, Galleria degli Uffizi, Firenze

The painting was an immediate success for Leighton when he presented it at the 1855 summer exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts in London where it received near-universal acclaim.[8] Queen Victoria purchased it on the first day of the exhibition for 600 guineas. The National Gallery notes Victoria's diary entry about the painting: "There was a very big picture by a man called Leighton. It is a beautiful painting, quite reminding one of a Paul Veronese, so bright and full of light. Albert was enchanted with it—so much so that he made me buy it."[5] The English artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti wrote that the work proved Leighton's "great power of rich arrangement."[9] His brother, the art critic and writer William Rossetti, was not as enchanted: "His picture has largeness, but not greatness; style, but not intensity; design rather than thought; arrangement rather than conception: it is individual, not specially original."[10]

Frederic Leighton, Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna is carried in Procession through the Streets of Florence(details), The National Gallery, London [13]

Leighton prepared his picture with immense care, making an elaborate composition drawing (Leighton House, Kensington; Ormond op.cit., pl. 35) and then a series of detailed studies, of which about thirty are known to survive. Leighton began work on the painting itself in January 1854, blocking in the forms in a monochrome underpainting. Color came later, and it is in this connection that he made (this) sketch. It was completed in May, and follows the designs of the prime picture closely [6].
A Color Sketch for Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna is Carried in Procession through the Streets in Florence

Frederic Leighton , A Color Sketch for Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna is Carried in Procession through the Streets in Florence, National Gallery London (Royal Collection)
Described at URL: http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/frederic-lord-leighton-cimabues-celebrated-madonna Bibliography Barker, Emma (1999). "Case Study 5: Academic into Modern: Turner and Leighton". In Perry, Gillian and Colin Cunningham (ed.). Academies, Museums, and Canons of Art. Yale University Press. p. 268. ISBN 0300077432. Barrington, Emilie Isabel Wilson (1906). The Life, Letters and Work of Frederic Leighton, vol. 2. Harvard University. Clark, Robert (2009). Dark Water: Art, Disaster, and Redemption in Florence. Random House. p. 368. ISBN 0767926498. Monkhouse, William Cosmo (1899). British Contemporary Artists. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. p. 266. Rossetti, William Michael (1867). Fine Art, Chiefly Contemporary: Notices Reprinted, with Revisions. Macmillan & Company. p. 392. L. and R. Ormond, Lord Leighton, 1975, pp. 30, 150, no. 24 and col. pl. 1.

Frederic Leighton, Cimabues gevierde Madonna wordt in processie door de straten van Firenze gedragen (details), The National Gallery, London [13]

[1] Quest'opera è nel pubblico dominio. Source: Google Art Project \| Maximum zoom level on Google Cultural Institute [2] Fonte: Traveling in Tuscany © Some rights reserved [3] This is a retouched picture, which means that it has been digitally altered from its original version. Modifications: detail, rectified. The original can be viewed here: Frederic Leighton - Cimabue's Madonna Carried in Procession - Google Art Project 2.jpg. Modifications made by Rabanus Flavus. [4] The "Celebrated" and "is" come and go in sources. See Cast, David (ed), The Ashgate Research Companion to Giorgio Vasari, 2014, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., ISBN 147241392X, 9781472413925, google books; Barrington, Mrs Russell, The Life, Letters and Work of Frederic Leighton (Complete), Library of Alexandria, ISBN 146556120X, 9781465561206, google books [5] National Gallery London \| "Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna". nationalgallery.org.uk. Retrieved 17 March 2013. [6] Christie's, Frederick Lord Leighton, P.R.A. (British, 1830-1896), A Color Sketch for 'Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna is Carried in Procession through the Streets in Florence', entry 5484417 (sale 2521, lot 57, New York, Rockefeller Plaza, 12 October 2011). [7] "Rehanging the Sainsbury Wing". The Burlington Magazine. 160 (1388). November 2018. Retrieved 11 March 2021. [8] Public Catalogue Foundation/BBC "Your Paintings" website; webpage, The Art Fund [9] Clark 2009, p. 81. [10] Barker 1999, p. 181. [11] Barrington 1906, p. 191. [12] Rossetti 1867, p. 254. [13] This image is in the public domain. Source: Google Art Project \| Maximum zoom level on Google Cultural Institute. Modifications by Traveling in Tuscany © Some rights reserved.				Detail from Leighton's painting, rectified projection of the Madonna [3]


This article incorporates some material from the Wikipedia article Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna, published under the GNU Free Documentation License.