Sir Frederic Leighton

"Sir Frederick Leighton maintains a level of excellence that would be wonderful if the reason of it were not so manifest. He invariably sets up a lofty standard, and to that standard he as invariably attains; for he knows his own power so accurately, and in accomplishment is so certain, that he is as unlikely of failure as he is indisposed to shoot beyond the mark which he presumably regards as his limit" – Magazine of Art, 1895.

Frederick Leighton regarded himself as of a very different School to that of the Pre-Raphaelites, yet was friends with many of them, and from our perspective we can see close links between his Aesthetic Classicism and the Pre-Raphaelite style. He was for a time the pupil of Edward von Steinle, a follower of the Nazarenes, who were also directly inspirational to the Pre-Raphaelites.

Leighton studied almost entirely on the Continent, in Germany, France, Belgium and Italy. It was while he was in Rome that he was visited by the novelist Thackeray, who on returning to London, commented to Millais that he "should look to his laurels... as there is a young fellow called Leighton in Rome ... who if I'm not mistaken, will one day be President of the Royal Academy." Leighton did indeed become PRA before Millais, in 1878.