| Description | The Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea holds a significant collection of papers relating to the artist Frederic Leighton and his home on Holland Park Road. Frederic Leighton (1830-96) was President of the Royal Academy from 1878 and one of the foremost artists of the Victorian era. In 1896 he became the first English artist to receive a peerage, that of Baron Leighton of Stretton. His unique home, designed by himself and the architect George Aitchison, is now a museum. In addition to the correspondence and papers relating to Leighton himself, there is a small amount of material relating to members of his family - notably his father Dr Frederic Septimus Leighton and his grandfather, Sir James Boniface Leighton. There is also a significant amount of material relating to the efforts to preserve Leighton House following Leighton's death, its acquisition by RBKC in 1926 and its subsequent use as a museum and cultural resource. Until 2001 the collection was divided between Leighton House and the Local Studies Library, Kensington. Some material has been donated or purchased from salerooms and dealers. |