Desdemona
In 1888 ‘The Graphic’ commissioned a series of 21 paintings of Shakespeare’s heroines, each from a different artist. This is an oil study for Leighton’s contribution, a picture of Desdemona the doomed wife of Othello. An engraving of the picture was published in the magazine’s Christmas supplement for 1890. This was not the first time that Leighton had based a work on the character. In fact his first picture, painted in 1848, was titled Othello and Desdemona. In 1848 his elder sister sat as a model for Desdemona but for this later work Leighton used Dorothy Dene, who at this point was his preferred model.
1889
Oil on canvas
80.0 x 71.0cm
LH0393
Image and text © The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, 2020
Waar je dit vindt
Leighton House
Permanente colletie