Portrait of Captain Burton, from "The Portfolio"

Sir Richard Francis Burton|Léopold Flameng|Frederic, Lord Leighton

January 1879 · Etching · Drawings and Prints

This print reproduces Leighton's arresting portrait (National Portrait Gallery, London) of the renowned diplomat, explorer, linguist and writer Sir Richard Burton. According to the sitter’s wife, "Leighton began to paint Richard on the 26th of April [1872], and it was very amusing. Richard was so anxious that he should paint his necktie and his pin, and kept saying to him every now and then, 'Don’t make me ugly, there’s a good fellow'...both Richard and I always retained the pleasantest memory of the many happy hours we passed in his studio." At that time, Burton was awaiting a new diplomatic post, and would leave London for Iceland in early June. The deep scar on the left cheek had been received in a javelin attack at Berbera Somalia in 1855, as Burton set out with British explorers on the first of two expeditions to seek the source of the White Nile.

Artist

Sir Richard Francis Burton|Léopold Flameng|Frederic, Lord Leighton

Date

January 1879

Medium

Etching

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift of Donato Esposito, 2015