Frederic LEIGHTON, The Fisherman and the Siren, 1856

by Atelier Liesjes

Frederic Leighton is the only artist to be elevated to the peerage. At the age of 48, he became president of the Royal Academy and a mainstay of the Victorian art institution and the classical school. This early work was both illustrated and inspired by a poem by Goethe, which tells the story of a mermaid who rises from the water to complain to a fisherman that he is tempting her children to death. Gradually, the mermaid's own beauty lures the fisherman into the water and oblivion. One contemporary critic noted the "irresistible seduction" of the mermaid, but he also noted that this "young artist has clearly drunk long and eagerly from the fountain of beauty that has quenched the thirst of Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael. It was precisely in this spirit that Leighton was to be so admired. He was seen as the successor to that great tradition and his work, by its associations, seemed worthy of the times.

Frederic Leighton (Scarborough, December 3, 1830 - London, January 25, 1896) was a lauded English painter and sculptor of the Victorian era. His themes included historical and subjects and scenes from Greek and Roman mythology. Based on his choice of subjects and style, he is associated with the Pre-Raphaelites.