Artist Frederic, Lord Leighton is one of the titans of Victorian art. His classically inspired paintings are as much admired for their dignity and grace as for their flawlessly beautiful technique. For these reasons, Leighton was a well respected and successful artist even during his own lifetime. Indeed, his glorious artistic career represented the pinnacle of achievement for a painter during Victoria's reign.

Frederic Leighton was born in Scarborough, England, in 1830. The early years of his life were spent travelling and absorbing European art and culture. This exposure to some of the world's great art works must have had a lasting impression on the young man, and influenced Leighton's decision to become an artist himself. Inspiration from Italy, for example, can be seen in such paintings as A Roman Lady (La Nanna) of 1859 and the equally striking Pavonia, which was painted in the same year. In time, Leighton's mature style emerged. Leighton tended to focus on Classical subjects, such as The Garden of the Hesperides, Antigone, and The Return of Persephone. In honor of his accomplishments as an artist, Leighton was made a President of the Royal Academy in 1878, the same year he was Knighted.