Flaming June on flame

4 June 2015

Sir Frederic Leighton created for sure a legendary piece of art "Flaming June": a sleeping girl with a see-through dress dreaming in a balcony... or lying dead due to the poisonous oleander that is hanging over her head? We will never know. But, we are now starting to put the pieces of this painting's story together:

Last year, Bamber Gascoigne, inherited the West Horsley Place from his 99-year old aunt. He tried to put everything in place and through this process, discovered a lot of hidden treasures, like the scetch "the girl with the orange dress" which was found 7 years ago during an insurance valuation from the Sotheby's Victorian art specialist Simon Toll. “I immediately realised what it was," Toll told the Press Association. "It is a thrilling find, one of the most heart-stopping moments of my career". The fact of the scetch's discovery wasn't revelead till last year due to a confidentiality agreement.

The house was left abandoned for many years and it was only logical to be full with useful and useless "treasures". And "the girl with the orange dress" was hiding behind an anteroom door. The scetch, made with pencil and chalk, depicted the "early days" of the girl, the study for the painting, lost for 120 years. How did we initially become aware of its existence? It was published in a magazine in 1895 but noone saw it ever since.

The scetch "the girl with the orange dress" is coming up for sale (Sotheby's) on July the 15th and the "Flaming June” painting is on view (9th June - 6th September) at the Frick Collection in New York. Pre-sales estimations consider that the painting will be priced at £40k to £60k.

Flaming June on flame

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