Portrait of Carlo Eduardo Perugini (1839 - 1918)

Lord Frederic Leighton (1830 - 1896)

Leighton House Museum

1855

Leighton met Perugini in Rome in 1854 and they struck up a friendship. Perugini family legend suggests that the portrait was inspired by a fancy-dress ball that the two men attended together. Perugini is depicted in the costume of an Elizabethan gentleman with ruff but none of the jewellery that was popular during that period. Leighton wanted to express greater naturalism in his work and considered this portrait to be a wonderful example of this period of his artistic development.

• Medium: oil on canvas
• Dimensions: 35.5 x 30cm
• Art Fund Grant: £35000 ( Total: £48,000)
• ArtFunded in: 2006
• Vendor: Bonhams

Provenance

Family of Charles Edward Perugini by descent since 1855; Bonhams.

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