William Leighton Leitch

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William Leighton Leitch, R.W.S.
(Scottish, 1804-1883)

A River Landscape, possibly Near the Lago Maggiore

Watercolor over graphite on wove paper, 6.0 x 9.25 in (15.2 x 23.5 cms); inscribed "Leitch", verso

	Provenance: A 19th-century album of watercolors, one section of which devoted to the works of Leitch; Sotheby's London, April 3, 1996. Museums and Collections: The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; The Art Gallery of New South Wales; The Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco; Deutsches Historiches Museum, Berlin; many other public and private collections throughout the United Kingdom and the world.

	The landscape painter, William Leighton Leitch, could be said to be the quintessentially Victorian artist. He taught the art of watercolor to Queen Victoria and various other members of the royal family and found inspiration on grand tours of the continent, travelling widely in Italy and Sicily. Leitch began his career as an apprentice to a sign painter in Glasgow. In 1824, he became a scene painter at the Glasgow Theatre Royal, a trade he continued after his move to London in 1830. It was in London that he began to produce watercolors and oil paintings. While in his twenties, Leitch traveled to Italy where he stayed for several years, returning with a large collection of sketches and finished watercolors, extensive teaching experience, and numerous introductions to aristocratic families. Starting in 1842, and continuing for a period of 22 years, Leitch gave drawing and watercolor lessons to Queen Victoria and members of the royal family. Leitch was of seminal influence on the great Hungarian painter, Miklós Barabás. The two artists met in the 1830's at the Palazzo Ducale in Venice, where Leitch's quick, light watercolor technique captured Barabás' fancy. The two became close friends, and Barabás learned the freer English method of executing watercolors with a wide brush on damp paper. As a result of this friendship, Barabas was able to modernize watercolor landscape painting in 19th-century Hungary. In 1834, Barabás and Leitch left Venice together and toured the area of the Lago Maggiore. There, the Hungarian artist made a watercolor reminiscent of our work, using the method he had learned from his Scottish friend. (See, Drawings from Budapest, Teréz Gerszi and Szuzsa Gonda, 1994, exh. cat., no. 39.) In 1862, Leitch was elected to the N.W.S. (New Society of Painters in Watercolours), serving as Vice-President for twenty years. He also exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1833 and 1861.