Fine Canvas Art Blog

Jonathan’s Token to David by Frederic Leighton, 1868

Academician / British / Inspirational prints / Leighton / Paintings (Reproductions) - 1 year ago - troycapc

A reproduction of Lord Frederic Leighton’s “Jonathan’s Token to David” of 1868.  This masterpiece portrays a scene from the Old Testament where Jonathan is preparing to shoot three arrows as a warning to David.  Jonathan is the son and heir of King Saul, yet the prophet Samuel has anointed David to be the next king over Israel.  Leighton choses this moment in the story of David and Jonathan to center the heroism of the prince in betraying the evil designs of his father, the king.  The original work is in the Minneapolis Institutes of the Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Frederic Leighton was born in 1830 in Scarborough, England and did not study art until after attending University College School in London.  He studied on the continent, notably in the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence in 1854.  He was in Paris between the ages of twenty-five to twenty-nine and there met Ingres, Delacroix, Corot and Millet.  He returned to London where he joined the Pre-Raphaelites and began to create sculputes as well as paintings.  A great success, he was knighted when aged fifty-eight and was created Baron Leighton in 1896.  He died the next day.  As a bachelor, he left no children and his home became the Leighton House Museum.