The Leighton Frescoes were commissioned in 1868 as the central feature of the elaborate decorations of the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

's South Court. The artist of the two enormous works which each measure 10.7 metres across, was

Frederic Leighton Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton, (3 December 1830 – 25 January 1896), known as Sir Frederic Leighton between 1878 and 1896, was a British painter, draughtsman, and sculptor. His works depicted historical, biblical, and classical subjec ...

(1830–1896), one of the most important figures in the late Victorian art world. Leighton's work is remarkable for its command of large-scale design, brilliant technique, intellectual sophistication and skilful, often erotic depiction of the human body. The two frescoes, ''The Arts of Industry as Applied to War'' and ''The Arts of Industry as Applied to Peace'', celebrate human artistic achievements. ''War'' portrays the princess and courtiers of an

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...

city state setting out for battle. ''Peace'' is set in a classical world of order and plenty. It is designed to evoke a sense of beauty rather than illustrate a specific narrative, and depicts a central group of wealthy elegant women dressing while, either side, workmen unload luxurious carpets and ceramics from barges. Both are spirit frescoes; ''War'' was painted using the

Gambier Parry process The Gambier Parry process is a development of the classical technique of fresco for painting murals, named for Thomas Gambier Parry. True fresco is the technique of painting on fresh lime plaster whereby the pigments are fixed by the carbonatati ...

, which was adapted further by Leighton for ''Peace''.

References

Bibliography

* {{Frederic Leighton Paintings in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum Paintings by Frederic Leighton