Frederic, Lord Leighton, 'Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna', 1853-5

‘There was a very big picture by a young man called Leighton’, wrote Queen Victoria in her diary after a visit to the Royal Academy. The date was 3 May 1855. ‘It is a beautiful painting quite reminding one of a Paul Veronese [sic], so bright and full of lights. Albert was enchanted with it, so much so that he made me buy it.’

In 1285 the Rucellai Madonna (Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence) was taken from the artist’s house and carried through the streets of Florence to the Rucellai Chapel in the church of Santa Maria Novella. The artist and biographer Giorgio Vasari tells the story in his Life of Cimabue (1st edn 1550), but the painting is now thought to be by Duccio. The story appealed to Leighton because it chimed with his thoughts on the Renaissance. This was a time when devotion to art, beauty and creativity was more widely understood and acknowledged.

The wood panel with the Madonna dominates the colourful, frieze-like procession. It leans forward from its frame as if looking down on the crowd. A group of painters and sculptors carry the panel on a trestle. Their costume and demeanour suggest they are of high status. Cimabue leads the way, dressed all in white and wearing a laurel wreath. Walking with him, hand in hand, is his student and protégé, Giotto.

In the foreground to the right is the poet Dante. He leans against a pillar watching the procession, thoughtful and detached. Charles of Anjou, King of Naples, is on horseback and stands out in scarlet and ermine. He had apparently broken a journey to see the painting before it left the artist’s workshop. Civic leaders and stylish young men gather behind the trestle, deep in discussion. Dancing children carrying flowers, musicians, an acolyte, priests and a bishop are on the left. They rub shoulders with alluring maidens and a couple discussing haberdashery. A nursemaid on a balcony holds up a crying baby to see the procession. Strangely, the baby seems to be the only person looking at the Madonna.

Leighton’s research for the costumes and buildings was thorough. He made many detailed preparatory sketches and designs.