Angela Swanson Jones and Dr. Mark Magleby, Art History and Curatorial Studies
Understanding the education of an artist has always been a major focus in the study of the history of art. Asking and answering questions about an artist’s development helps historians to interpret the artist’s message, ability, and influence upon his or her contemporaries. For these reasons I became interested in the teacher-pupil relationship of one of the greatest artists of the Victorian age, Frederic Lord Leighton (1830-1886) and his Nazarene instructor Edward von Steinle (1810-1886). Leighton’s style underwent a dramatic change from 1850 to 1852 when he was a student of Steinle in Frankfurt. The impact that this master had upon his young pupil has been recognized as immeasurable by many scholars, and as a result, few have attempted a thorough investigation of this topic. The purpose of my research was to understand why Leightonwrote, “In a record of whatever concerns me as an artist…[Steinle’s] name should be at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end.”1
Initially, I had intended to focus on the German Nazarene principles adopted by Leighton as a result of his contact with Steinle. However, as I began my research, I found examining Steinle’s impact on Leighton and his early work made a stronger essay. As an illustration of my points, I have used Leighton’s famous early piece, Cimabue’s Madonna (1853-55), in my essay. I argue that the figures of Cimabue and his young pupil Giotto are a reflection of Leighton’s own relationship with his master. Much research was required to prove this thesis.
The majority of my research took place between the months of April and August of 2002. I began by collecting and reading texts on Lord Leighton. As president of the Royal Academy for eighteen years, much has been published on him. However, very little is written about his interaction with Steinle. The research done on this Germanic aspect of the development of Leighton has been long overlooked. A thorough assessment of Steinle was therefore necessary. Obtaining research material on him proved to be a challenging task. Since Steinle is scarcely known in the U.S., few texts are available on him.
As proposed, I continued my research in Frankfurt, Germany. In the archives of the Städelsches Kunstinstitut, the academy where Steinle taught, I found a wealth of material on both Leighton and Steinle. The archives possessed books, articles, exhibition catalogues, auction catalogues, and valuable school records, many of which I have cited in my essay. Following my persistent requests, the original correspondence of Leighton and Steinle was made available to me. With excitement, I leafed through the one hundred and fifty-year-old letters. Included in one of the letters, I found a small, but important, sketch of Cimabue’s Madonna (See figure 1). The letters from the archives have been invaluable in constructing my thesis and arguments.
My research at the Städelsches Kunstinstitut put me in touch with a professional art history researcher who wrote her thesis on Edward von Steinle. She offered constructive advice that led me to the city archives, where I was able to find many articles on Steinle. I also found several books written on Steinle in the Stadt Bibliothek (city library) and the Deutsches Bibliothek (library of German reading materials), which would have been difficult to locate in the States. Upon returning to Utah, I was also able to obtain an important book titled The Life, Letters, and Work of Frederic Leighton by Mrs. Russell Barrington’s. This book has helped fill in the gaps in Leighton and Steinle’s correspondence.
After reading many pages in both English and German, I collected my ideas and organized them into a cohesive essay. Currently, I am nearing the final stages of writing and proofreading. Researching in Germany has allowed me to include in my essay more biography then has been previously discussed in any text on Lord Leighton, and to come up with original ideas about Steinle’s influence. I was also able to use my German skills and improve them considerably. My experience gave me an excellent perspective into the requirements of researching at a higher and more intense level. These new skills will help me in this upcoming school year and beyond. No activity that I have engaged in thus far has better prepared me for the requirements of graduate school and work within the field of art history. I am very appreciative to BYU and the Office of Research and Creative Activities for this opportunity to challenge myself.
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1Mrs. Russell Barrington, The Life, Letter, and Work of Frederic Leighton, Vol. I, (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1906) p. 61-62.