Frederic Leighton was born in Scarborough, England in 1830, the son of a doctor. His grandfather, Sir James Leighton, was court physician to Czar Alexander I of Russia. Soon after Nicholas I became Czar in 1825 the Leighton family left Russia and spent the ensuring years traveling around Europe, giving Leighton first-hand acquaintance with its culture and treasures. Unlike most major artists of the nineteenth century Leighton did not study at the Royal Academy Schools, but received his training in Brussels, Paris and Frankfurt.

Leighton was the only painter ever to be raised to the English peerage. He seems to have lived a charmed life; he was possessed of golden good looks. He studied in Rome as a young man and between studies rompe...