ABOUT THE ARTWORK:
Elijah in The Wilderness (1878) – By Lord Frederick Leighton (1830-1896). His works normally depicted historical, biblical, and Greco-Roman subject matter within the academic style. He was a strong supporter of the arts involving the male body.
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Leighton remained a bachelor; rumors of him having several illegitimate children with one of his models, in addition to the “gossip of the day,” that Leighton may have been a homosexual, continue to be debated within artistic circles today. There was a rumored affair with the British poet, Henry William Greville. From archival materials (letters, diaries, etc.), it seems that Greville loved Leighton and the affair was a “one way” crush, versus a love affair. Greville is to have been rumored to have posed for some of his works.