'The Last Watch of Hero'

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Painting details

Title: 'The Last Watch of Hero'
Date: c.1887
Media: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 158 x 90 cm
Location: Manchester Art Gallery
Picture credit: Courtesy of Leighton House Museum, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (illustrated from a photogravure)

Interpretation

Leighton described this painting in a letter to Charles James Pooley (1845/6-1900). "The subject is 'the last watch / of Hero' from the beautiful 'Hero / and Leander' story - at the casement / of her watch tower you see her worn / & weary of soul with the night long / perriless watch - the dawn has still found her at her window. - in / the predella (painted in monochrome) you see the body of Leander washed / up on the rocks& the heavy waters rolling in on / him." Pooley was a cotton spinner who was a leading figure in the Manchester art world at the time. He was vice-chairman of the Manchester Art Gallery committee, and took a particular interest in the Gallery's purchases. With Pooley's approval, the painting was purchased by the Gallery in c.1898.

Provenance

Purchased from the artist by Manchester Art Gallery in 1887-89

Bibliography

• Jones, Stephen et al., 'Frederic Leighton', Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1996, p.40,131,193
• Ormond, LeonTe and Richard, 'Lord Leighton', Yale University Press, London, 1975, pp.125-126, 135, 169 catalogue number 330, plate 166

Exhibition history

• 1887, Royal Academy of Arts, London, catalogue number 229 and 230
• 04 January 1897 to 13 March 1897, 'Exhibition of Works be the Late Lord Leighton of Stretton President of the Royal Academy: Winter Exhibition', The Royal Academy of Arts, London, catalogue number 67
• "Victorian Favourites", Manchester, catalogue number 195

Reproductions

Photogravure, 1897