1859

Portrait of a Roman Lady (La Nanna)

English, 1830 - 1896

Leighton painted several pictures of the model Anna ("Nanna") Risi (1835–1880) during a visit to Rome between October 1858 and the summer of 1859. Nanna’s costume, pose, and setting all evoke the Italian Renaissance, but Leighton’s greatest tribute to this era lies in his masterful paint handling, from the luminous sheen of Nanna’s sleeve to the smoky shadows around her eyelids and cheekbones. Leighton was academically trained in Germany but also spent time in Paris, where he absorbed the philosophy of "art for art’s sake," the idea that art did not need to be understood or morally useful but simply beautiful. While this painting draws from the conventions of portraiture, it can be seen more broadly as a meditation on female beauty and the fall of light across fabric and skin. Shown to acclaim at London’s Royal Academy in 1859, the portrait ushered in a wave of radical experimentation with non-narrative painting in Britain.