Frederic Lord Leighton - St Paul's Bay, Lindos, Rhodes

oil on canvas
25.5 by 44cm.; 10 by 17¼in.
ESTIMATE 10,000 - 15,000 GBP

This picture was painted in the autumn of 1867 on the rocky southern slope of the acropolis of Lindos looking down on the bay and the white-washed church dedicated to the saint who brought Christianity to the island in 43ad. The present work was owned by the artist Solomon Joseph Solomon who almost certainly purchased it from Leighton's studio sale in 1896. It was certainly still at Leighton House in 1880 when the interior was photographed and it can be seen in a photograph of the corner of the studio (see Royal Academy exhibition catalogue, Leighton, 1996, fig.
23, p.43 left wall, 2nd row, 2nd from top). Another rocky coastal landscape was sold in these rooms (13 July 2010, lot 32) and Leighton also painted several views of the mountains of Asia Minor from Rhodes a view of the acropolis and another of the town of Lindos.