Artwork of the Week: August 25
World-renowned works of art are often embellished with stories. Such is the case with Flaming June. According to one such story, a chimney is where Flaming June was found by a laborer in 1962. The painting was sold for its frame, which was considered to be more valuable than the “passé” Victorian painting at the time. At one point, it was also said that Andrew Lloyd Webber wanted to buy the painting and asked his grandmother for a loan, but she ultimately dismissed his request. The work eventually ended up in the hands of Luis A. Ferré, a Puerto Rican politician and industrialist who was in the process of enriching the collection of the museum he founded in 1959. This painting is now celebrated today as one of the paragons of late nineteenth-century art.
Flaming June features a slumbering woman draped in sheer fabric. She is ensconced within rich textiles of dark burgundy and ochre, which offset the exquisite apricot-orange of her gown. Behind her, sunlight reflects off an expansive body of water, evoking molten gold. The rosiness of her cheeks and ear suggests the heat of a sweltering summer’s day.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder - but what else does the beholder’s eye see? While the disposition of this sleeping woman might appear spontaneous or improvised, the pose itself draws on art historical precedent, such as Night, an Italian Renaissance sculpture by Michelangelo, completed by 1533 for the Medici Chapel in Florence. Here, Leighton adds his own flourish by foreshortening the woman’s toes into our space. The young woman seen here is likely Dorothy Dene or Mary Lloyd, both of whom modeled for Leighton and were likely active participants in the creative process.
For further reading, see Alison Hokanson, “The Fascination of Flaming June - The Metropolitan Museum of Art,” August 23, 2023, https://www.metmuseum.org/perspectives/flaming-june and Simon Poë, review of Flaming June: The Making of an Icon, by Catherine Blake et al., The British Art Journal 17, no. 3 (2017): 109–11.
This work is currently on display in the exhibition The Sense of Beauty.
