Winding the Skein explained

Winding the Skein
Artist:	Frederic Leighton
Medium:	Oil on canvas
Height Metric:	100.3
Width Metric:	161.3
Metric Unit:	cm
Imperial Unit:	in
Museum:	Art Gallery of New South Wales

Winding the Skein is an oil painting by Frederic Leighton, first exhibited in 1878.

Description

Two canvases by Leighton were hung at the Royal Academy in 1878, the year of his enthronement as President: Winding the Skein and Nausicaa.^{[1] [2]} Edgcumbe Staley gives the following description of the first picture:

Analysis

In this picture, a simple theme is treated in a classic fashion—not dissimilar to that employed for the earlier Music Lesson. Ernest Rhys writes in praise of this perceived quality in Leighton:

See also

• Greeks in Syria

References

1. Staley 1906, p. 112.
2. Rhys 1900, p. 37.

Sources

• Ash, Russell (1995). Lord Leighton. London: Pavilion Books Limited. p. 55 [Plate 20].
• Jones, Stephen, et al. (1996). Frederic Leighton, 1830–1896. Royal Academy of Arts, London: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. pp. 52, 179, 185, 186, 206.
• Rhys, Ernest (1900). Frederic Lord Leighton: An Illustrated Record of his Life and Work. London: George Bell & Sons. pp. 37, 111, 126.
• Staley, Edgcumbe (1906). Lord Leighton of Stretton. London: The Walter Scott Publishing Co., Ltd.; New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 112, 217.
• Trumble, Angus (4 December 2005). "Winding the skein". The Victorian Web. Accessed 2 July 2022.
• "Winding the skein, circa 1878 by Lord Frederic Leighton". Art Gallery of NSW. Accessed 2 July 2022.