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Creator:
Frederic Leighton, 1830–1896
Title:
The Sluggard
Former Title(s):
The Sluggard; statue, bronze [1886, Royal Academy of Arts, London, exhibition catalogue]
Date:
ca. 1895
Materials & Techniques:
Bronze
Dimensions:
Overall: 20 × 9 1/2 × 6 1/2 inches (50.8 × 24.1 × 16.5 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:

Incised on front of base: "THE SLUGGARD"

Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Fund
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1982.17
Classification:
Sculptures
Collection:
Paintings and Sculpture
Subject Terms:
figure study | man | nude | sensuality | statuette
Access:
Not on view
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:1492
Export:
XML
IIIF Manifest:
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Frederic Leighton was one of the most influential figures in the late nineteenth-century art world and served as president of the Royal Academy from 1878 until his death. Although best known as a painter, Leighton also made a number of accomplished sculptures. This bronze was cast from a sketch-model, which Leighton developed into a full-size statue, shown at the Royal Academy in 1886. His Sluggard refers to indolence and lassitude, states that for Leighton and other artists associated with the aesthetic movement opened new and unexplored avenues of sensuality and beauty.

Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2020


Frederic Leighton was one of the most influential figures in the late nineteenth-century art world and served as president of the Royal Academy from 1878 until his death. Although best known as a painter, Leighton also made a number of accomplished sculptures. This bronze was cast from a sketch-model, which Leighton developed into a full-size statue, shown at the Royal Academy in 1886. His Sluggard refers to indolence and lassitude, states that for Leighton and other artists associated with the aesthetic movement opened new and unexplored avenues of sensuality and beauty.

Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2016


Life study was not confined to art schools, but also took place in artists' studios, where models were engaged to sit privately. Frederic Leighton developed the pose for this sculpture when he caught sight of his model Giuseppe Valona casually stretching. The life-size bronze version (1885, Tate Britain, London) was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1886, when Leighton was president.

Gallery label for Connections (Yale Center for British Art, 2011-05-26 - 2011-09-11)


This figure, which was modeled by Leighton after seeing one of his artist's models stretch spontaneously after posing in the studio, is among Leighton's most famous works of sculpture. A representation of it is held by the allegorical figure of sculpture that (with the pendant figure of painting) adorns Sir Thomas Brock's monument to Leighton (1896-1902) in St. Paul's Cathedral. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a sluggard is "naturally or habitually slow, lazy, or idle; one who is disinclined for work or exertion of any kind." To mainstream Victorians, indolence was laden with disturbing moral implications. But for Leighton, and other adherents of the Aesthetic Movement of the 1870s and 1880s, indolence, sleep, and reverie opened new and unexplored avenues of sensuality.

Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2005

Connections (Yale Center for British Art, 2011-05-26 - 2011-09-11) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

"Nature straight from God" or "galvanised mummy"? : Resurrecting Classicism in Frederic Leighton's And the Sea Gave Up the Dead Which Were In It, Nineteenth - Century Art Worldwide : [ electronic resource ] : a journal of nineteenth - century visual culture, vol. 9, Autumn 2010, available online via Art & Architecture Source [ORBIS]

[ Article 39 - No Title ], Scotsman, March 6, 1922, p. 8, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

[ Editorial Article 1 - No Title ], Scotsman, July 9, 1896, p. 4, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

[No Title - Article 16], Scotsman, July 9, 1896, p. 7, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

A French View of English Art, Artist, vol. 19, February 1897, p. 58, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

William T. Arnold, The Manchester Exhibition, The Art-Journal, July 1887, p. 252, J10 +Ar74 Oversize (LSF) [ORBIS]

William T. Arnold, The Manchester Exhibition, The Art-Journal, July 1887, p. 252, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

Art at the Manchester Exhibition, Athenaeum, July 16, 1887, p. 93, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

Art Chronicle, Portfolio: An Artistic Periodical, vol. 21, January 1890, p. 8, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

Art Chronicle, Portfolio, new ser. vol 23, January 1892, p. i, J10 +P835 Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]

Art Chronicle, Portfolio, new ser. vol 23, January 1892, p. i, available online via ProQuest [YCBA]

Art in January, Magazine of Art, January 1892, p. xiv, N1 +M34 Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]

Art in January, Magazine of Art, January 1892, p. xiv, available online via ProQuest [YCBA]

Art Notes, Art Journal (1839-1912), September 1883, p. 306, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

Art Notes, The Academy and Literature, January 30, 1904, p. 132, A88 +Ac122 Oversize (LSF) [ORBIS]

Art Notes, The Academy and Literature, January 30, 1904, p. 132, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

Art. IX.-1. The National Gallery of British Art., The Quarterly Review, vol. 187, January 1898, p. 233, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

Autumn Exhibitions, Art Journal (1839-1912), October 1886, p. 317, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

Timothy J. Barringer, Frederic Leighton, antiquity, renaissance, modernity , v. 5, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, London, 1999, pp. 48, 129, NJ18 L531 F73 1999 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Mrs. Russell Barrington, The Life, Letters, and Work of Frederic Leighton, George Allen, 1906, pp. 259, 389 (v.2), NJ18 L531 B37 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Sir Wyke Bayliss, Lord Leighton : The Painter of the Gods, Good Words, vol. 40, December 1899, p. 44, Film S4032 (SML) [ORBIS]

Susan Beattie, The New Sculpture, The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, New Haven and London, 1983, pp. 149-150, fig. 143, NB467.5 N48 B42 1983 (YCBA) [YCBA]

David Bindman, The History of British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2008, pp. 36-37 (v.3), fig. 18, N6761 +H57 2008 Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]

Kenyon Cox, Masterpieces That Have Molded Artistic Taste, Fine Arts Journal, vol. 22, January 1910, p. 28, available online via JSTOR [ORBIS]

Laura Cumming, Oh Please, Put Some Clothes On, Tate Britain's new Linbury Gardens are splendid. But inside them is an exhibition of British art at its lowest ebb. , Observer, November 4, 2001, p. 156, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

Martina Droth, Leighton's House : Art In and Beyond the Studio, Journal of Design History, vol. 24, 2011, pp. 352-353, 358n68, NK1175 J68 (HAAS) [ORBIS]

Martina Droth, Leighton's House : Art In and Beyond the Studio, Journal of Design History, vol. 24, 2011, pp. 352-353, 358n68, available online via JSTOR [ORBIS]

Anthony Ellis, Display Ad 308 - Collecting, Observer, February 9, 1992, p. A52, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

Exhibition of Works by the Late Lord Leighton of Stretton, President of the Royal Academy : Winter Exhibition, Twenty Eighth Year, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1897, p. 53, no. 323, Fiche B133 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Exhibitions, Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art, vol. 72, December 19, 1891, p. 696, A88 +Sa8 Oversize (SML) [ORBIS]

Exhibitions, Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art, vol. 72, December 19, 1891, p. 696, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

Fine Art at the Exhibition : Introductory Notice, Manchester Guardian, May 3, 1887, p. 5, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

Fine Art at the Glasgow Exhibition, Manchester Guardian, July 14, 1888, p. 8, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

Fine-Art Gossip, Athenaeum, May 24, 1890, p. 681, A88 +At421 Oversize (SML) [ORBIS]

Fine-Art Gossip, Athenaeum, May 24, 1890, p. 681, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

Fine-Art Gossip, Athenaeum, December 9, 1882, p. 781, A88 +At421 Oversize (SML) [ORBIS]

Fine-Art Gossip, Athenaeum, December 9, 1882, p. 781, available on ProQuest [ORBIS]

Fine-Art Gossip, Athenaeum, December 29, 1883, p. 874, A88 +At421 Oversize (SML) [ORBIS]

Fine-Art Gossip, Athenaeum, December 29, 1883, p. 874, available on ProQuest [ORBIS]

Fine-Art Gossip, Athenaeum, November 22, 1884, p. 666, A88 +At421 Oversize (SML) [ORBIS]

Fine-Art Gossip, Athenaeum, November 22, 1884, p. 666, available on ProQuest [ORBIS]

Fine-Art Gossip, Athenaeum, February 6, 1886, p. 208, A88 +At421 Oversize (SML) [ORBIS]

Fine-Art Gossip, Athenaeum, February 6, 1886, p. 208, available on ProQuest [ORBIS]

Fine-Art Gossip, Athenaeum, March 17, 1883, p. 352, A88 +At421 Oversize (LSF) [ORBIS]

Fine-Art Gossip, Athenaeum, March 17, 1883, p. 352, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

Fine-Art Gossip, Athenaeum, April 10, 1886, p. 494, A88 +At421 Oversize (SML) [ORBIS]

Fine-Art Gossip, Athenaeum, April 10, 1886, p. 494, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

Frederic Lord Leighton President of the Royal Academy, Architecture, vol. 1, London, February 1896, p. 74, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

Frederic, Lord Leighton of Stretton, PRA, RWS : The Sluggard, Apollo, vol. 127, April-June 1988, pp. 12-13, N1 +A54 Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]

Margaret Garlake, Tate Trials, Art Monthly, July/August 2000, p. 8, available online via Art & Architecture Source [ORBIS]

David J. Getsy, Body Doubles : Sculpture in Britain, 1877-1905, The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, New Haven, 2004, pp. 40-42, 68, 171, figs. 16-17, NB467.5 N48 G48 2004 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Glasgow International Exhibition : The Fine Art "Press View", Scotsman, May 7, 1888, p. 7, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

Edmund Gosse, The Place of Sculpture in Daily Life, Magazine of Art, January 1895, p. 372, N1 +M34 Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]

Edmund Gosse, The Place of Sculpture in Daily Life, Magazine of Art, January 1895, p. 372, available online via ProQuest [YCBA]

Keren Rosa Hammerschlag, Excavating Evidence from Frederic Leighton's Paintings of the Female Nude, Victorian Studies, vol. 56, Spring 2014, p. 453, DA550 V53 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Keren Rosa Hammerschlag, Excavating Evidence from Frederic Leighton's Paintings of the Female Nude, Victorian Studies, vol. 56, Spring 2014, p. 453, available online via JSTOR [YCBA]

Keren Rosa Hammerschlag, Frederic Leighton : death, mortality, resurrection, Ashgate Publishing, Burlington, VT, 2015, pp. 133-34, 192, 199-200, fig. 6.8, NJ18.L531 H36 2015 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Jackie Heuman, Removing Corrosion on a Painted Outdoor Bronze Sculpture with Mild Chelating Agents, The Conservator, vol. 16, 1992, pp. 12-16, figs. 1-7, N8554 C66 (YCBA) [YCBA]

H. W. Janson, 19th-Century Sculpture, , Harry N. Abrams, New York, 1984, pp.241-242, fig. 290, NB197.3 +J36 1984 Oversize (Bass) [ORBIS]

Stephen Jones, Post-Victorian?, History Today, vol. 40, April 1990, pp. 7-8, D1 +H787 Oversize (SML) [ORBIS]

Mrs. A. Lang, The Life and Work of Sir Frederick Leighton, Sir John E. Millais, L. Alma Tadema, , Art Journal office, London, 1886, p. 25, N6767 +L55 Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]

Leonora B. Lang, The Sculpture of the Year, Art Journal (1839-1912), November 1886, p. 329, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

Frederic Leighton, Frederic, Lord Leighton, 1830-1896 : Painter and Sculptor of the Victorian Age, Prestel, Munich ; New York, 2009, p. 116, no. 43, NJ18 L531 +A12 2009 Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]

Lord Leighton, Manchester Guardian, January 27, 1896, p. 5, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

Lord Leighton, P.R.A., Athenaeum, February 1, 1896, p. 155, A88 +At421 Oversize (SML) [ORBIS]

Lord Leighton, P.R.A., Athenaeum, February 1, 1896, p. 155, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

F. J. M., Some March Exhibitions, Speaker: The Liberal View, new ser. vol. 5, March 15, 1902, p. 672, A88 056 (SML) [ORBIS]

F. J. M., Some March Exhibitions, Speaker: The Liberal View, new ser. vol. 5, March 15, 1902, p. 672, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

Dianne Sachko Macleod, Review : The Cult of Beauty : The Victorian Avant-Garde 1860-1900, CAA Reviews, December 19, 2012, p. 2, available online via Art & Architecture Source [ORBIS]

Naked Truth : Life of a Victorian Model, The Guardian (1959-2003), November 5, 2001, p. 11, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

Christopher Newall, Leighton : The Centennial Exhibition, vol. 143, January-March 1996, p. 74, N1 +A54 Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]

Christopher Newall, Leighton : The Centennial Exhibition, vol. 143, January-March 1996, p. 74, available online via Art & Architecture Source [YCBA]

Notes on Art and Archaeology, Academy, May 24, 1890, p. 361, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

Notes on Current Events, British Architect, vol. 26, July 23, 1886, p. 78, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

Notes on Current Events, British Architect, February 28, 1902, p. 147, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

Leonee Ormond, Lord Leighton, The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, New Haven, 1975, pp. 89, 94, 167, no. 301, pl. 131, NJ18 L531 +O73 Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]

Our London Correspondence, Manchester Guardian, February 20, 1902, p. 5, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

Paul Mellon's Legacy : a passion for British art [large print labels], , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2007, v. 1, N5220 M552 P381 2007 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Alan Powers, Awaking the Sleeping Beauty, Art Newspaper, June 2011, p. 69, available online via Art & Architecture Source [ORBIS]

Val C. Prinsep, New Art and Old Masters : Then and Now. - A Vision., Magazine of Art, new ser. vol. 1, January 1903, p. 6, N1 +M34 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Val C. Prinsep, New Art and Old Masters : Then and Now. - A Vision., Magazine of Art, new ser. vol. 1, January 1903, p. 6, available online via ProQuest [YCBA]

Benedict Read, Leighton as a Sculptor : Releasing Sculpture from Convention, Apollo, vol. 143, January-March 1996, pp. 68-69, N1 +A54 Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]

Ernest Rhys, Frederic Lord Leighton , Late President of the Royal Academy of Arts ; An Illustrated Record of his Life and Work, G. Bell & Sons, London, 1900, pp. 46, 67-68, NJ18 L531 R49 1900 (YCBA) [YCBA]

W. B. Richmond, Lord Leighton and His Art, The Nineteenth Century, vol. 39, January-June 1896, p. 472, A88 N694a (SML) [ORBIS]

Sale of the Late Lord Leighton's Art Treasures, Manchester Guardian, July 9,1896, p. 6, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

Sculpture at Manchester, Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art, vol. 64, September 10, 1887, p. 354, A88 +Sa8 (SML) [ORBIS]

Sculpture at Manchester, Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art, vol. 64, September 10, 1887, p. 354, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

Sculpture at the Royal Academy, British Architect, vol. 25, June 25, 1886, p. 656, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

Sculpture in 1886, Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art, vol. 61, p. 883, A88 +Sa8 (SML) [ORBIS]

Sculpture in 1886, Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art, vol. 61, p. 883, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

Sir F. Leighton's Statues, Athenaeum, January 2, 1886, pp. 41-42, A88 +At421 (SML) [ORBIS]

Sir F. Leighton's Statues, Athenaeum, January 2, 1886, pp. 41-42, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

M. H. (Marion Henry) Spielmann, The Late Lord Leighton, P.R.A., D.C.L., LLD., Magazine of Art, January 1896, p. 214, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

M. H. (Marion Henry) Spielmann, The Late Lord Leighton, P.R.A., D.C.L., LLD., Magazine of Art, January 1896, p. 214, N1 +M34 Oversize (YCBA) [ORBIS]

Edgcumbe Staley, Lord Leighton of Stretton, W. Scott Publishing Co., London, 1906, pp. x, 116, 130, 131, WB 19804 (LSF) [ORBIS]

J. Harris Stone, Leighton House, English Illustrated Magazine, London, October 1905, p. 16, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

The Autumn Exhibition at the City Art Gallery, Manchester Guardian, September 4, 1886, p. 8, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

Mr. Peyton Skipwith, [ Exhibition Review : ] Hamo Thornycroft Leeds, Burlington Magazine, vol. 125, June 1983, p. 379, N1 +B87 Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]

The Guildhall Loan Collection, The Musical World, vol. 70, July 19, 1890, p. 567, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

The Late Lord Leighton, Scotsman, January 27, 1896, p. 7, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

The Leighton Sale, Athenaeum, July 18, 1896, p. 105, A88 +At421 (SML) [ORBIS]

The Leighton Sale, Athenaeum, July 18, 1896, p. 105, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

The Royal Academy : Second Notice, Manchester Guardian, May 5, 1891, p. 8, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

The Royal Academy, Athenaeum, May 1, 1886, p. 590, A88 +At421 Oversize (SML) [ORBIS]

The Royal Academy, Athenaeum, May 1, 1886, p. 590, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

The Royal Academy, Manchester Guardian, May 10, 1886, p. 6, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

U., Character Sketch : May, The Review of Reviews, May 1893, p. 497, A88 195 (LSF) [ORBIS]

U., Character Sketch : May, The Review of Reviews, May 1893, p. 497, available online via ProQuest [ORBIS]

Philip Ward-Jackson, Exhibition Review : Leighton's Sculptural Legacy, Burlington Magazine, vol. 138, May-August 1996, p. 418, N1 +B87 Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]

Neville Weston, Exhibition Review : The Cult of Beauty : The Aesthetic Movement, 1860-1900, Craft Arts International, October 2011, p. 85, available online via Art & Architecture Source [ORBIS]

Greenough White, Lord Leighton's Art, The Sewanee Review, vol. 7, October 1899, p. 478, available online via JSTOR [ORBIS]

George Charles Williamson, Frederic, Lord Leighton, G. Bell & Sons, London, 1902, p. 48, WA 7059 (LSF) [ORBIS]


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