The Bay of Cadiz - Moonlight by Sir Frederic Lord Leighton

The Bay of Cadiz - Moonlight - Sir Frederic Lord Leighton - Oil Painting Wall Decor

Product Overview

From the first sketch to the final varnish, The Bay of Cadiz - Moonlight is made by hand. Based on Sir Frederic Lord Leighton's original. This timeless oil painting wall decor is crafted on artist-grade canvas for anyone who wants fine art oil painting with the character of an original.

About the Artwork

circa 1866
Oil on canvas

A painting that went missing from a London museum in the early 20th century is returning to London to be displayed for the first time in over a century.

Leighton Museum is the former home of the important Victorian artist Frederic, Lord Leighton and his painting of the Bay of Cádiz disappeared from the museum sometime between 1900 and 1926. But now, it’s returning to the house where he lived and to the museum where it was intended to be displayed.

The painting, Bay of Cádiz, Moonlight was painted during Leighton’s trip to the southernmost part of the Spanish mainland in 1866 and is a very unusual example among his numerous landscape studies; with few painted at night or containing figures.

Unusually for the artist, the painting reveals Leighton at his most innovative, demonstrating his more experimental and spontaneous side, which will be explored fully through the forthcoming exhibition, in stark contrast to his much more famous large-format pictures, such as Flaming June.

After Leighton’s death in 1896, the collector Wickham Flower bought four of Leighton’s paintings, including the Spanish one, and seemed to have either loaned or donated them to the museum being built in Leighton’s Kensington home.

There are records in the museum archive showing the painting on display in the museum, and an early guidebook has photos of the rooms, and the Spanish painting has been confirmed as one of the ones on display there.

The mystery is how the painting left the museum.

All that is known is that the painting vanished sometime between 1900 and 1926, when the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea took over Leighton House.

It was in the museum around 1900 but not in the inventory when the council took over in 1926.

The painting first reappeared in 1996, when it was sold at Christie’s auction house by an anonymous seller. It came up for sale again earlier this year, with an auction note that Leighton House Museum had asked to borrow it from the future buyer for an exhibition.

In fact, Leighton House Museum was able to buy it themselves, and now it can return permanently to the museum that it so mysteriously vanished from a century ago.

Until recently, Leighton’s landscape paintings were a relatively unknown aspect of his oeuvre. Moreover, by the mid-20th century, his work had largely fallen out of favour, further compromising the documentation of his work.

Now, as part of an exhibition of over 60 of Leighton’s en plein air paintings, Bay of Cádiz, alongside several other paintings on loan from private collections, will return ‘home’ for the first time in over 120 years.

Every hand painted oil painting in this fine art series is finished on artist-grade canvas and checked against the original before it leaves the studio.

Materials & Craftsmanship

This is a genuine hand painted oil painting, not a canvas print. Our painters match the palette of The Bay of Cadiz - Moonlight by eye and build up the fine art forms in thin layers, which is what gives the finished fine art oil painting its luminosity.

Specifications & What You Receive

• 100% hand-painted oil painting on artist-grade canvas — never a print or digital reproduction.
• An extra 2-inch blank border is left around all edges for easy stretching and framing.
• We dispatch worldwide ourselves, so there are no middlemen in the chain.
• Available canvas sizes for this hand painted oil painting: 20 X 24 in, 24 X 36 in, 30 X 40 in, 36 X 48 in, 48 X 72 in.
• Made-to-measure options are available for this fine art canvas.
• Choose from DHL, UPS, FedEx, USPS and other competitively priced carriers.
• Free professional stretching on wooden stretcher bars — contact us for framing options.
• Before dispatch we email a digital proof so you can approve the finished canvas.

Where to Hang It

Hang this fine art oil painting above a sofa, console, or bed to give a bedroom an instant focal point. Its timeless palette works with both minimalist and period interiors, and the piece also makes a considered gift for housewarmings, weddings, and art lovers.

Shipping & Guarantee

In short: The Bay of Cadiz - Moonlight - Sir Frederic Lord Leighton - Oil Painting Wall Decor combines a timeless composition, a 100% hand painted oil painting process, and the flexibility of made-to-order canvas sizes — a dependable choice for fine art oil painting and bedroom wall art.