Description
About the painting. Flaming June shows a young woman asleep on a marble bench in a dress of transparent orange silk, curled into a square canvas, with the sunset sea behind her and a branch of poisonous oleander over her shoulder. Painted by Frederic Leighton in 1895, the year before his death, it fell so far from fashion that it was once priced at fifty pounds. Painted 1895. Oil on canvas, 120.6 x 120.6 cm. Original in the Museo de Arte de Ponce, Puerto Rico.
The subject announced by Flaming June becomes the center of Lord Frederick Leighton’s carefully structured image. The composition develops through the placement of its dominant shapes and quieter intervals, giving the subject both clarity and room to breathe.
Lord Frederick Leighton’s handling of tone, edge, and color gives the work its individual atmosphere. The balance between active detail and calmer space gives the composition room to develop without weakening its main point of focus. These qualities invite close viewing, where smaller transitions and the relationship between broad passages become increasingly apparent.
A skilled oil reproduction gives the composition a tangible surface through layered paint and individually handled passages. The painted surface provides a sense of depth and touch that printing cannot duplicate, while respecting the balance and character of the source composition.




