Winding the Skein, Lord Frederic Leighton
Link is to zoomable version on Google Art Project; downloadable file on Wikimedia Commons; original is in the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
I think the Google Art Project version — and the downloadable version of that file on Wikimedia Commons — are too warm and saturated. The images on the Art Gallery of New South Wales site are much lighter and seem more naturalistic (in contrast to the tendency many museums have to post images that are too dark). For the images above, I’ve adjusted the file from Wikimedia Commons to be closer in appearance to the smaller images from the museum.
While the Art Gallery of NSW doesn’t offer a high resolution image, they do feature a number of detail enlargements on their page for the painting.
Leighton’s dreamily idealized bit of labor is set against the backdrop of a real place, the bay of Lindos on the Greek island of Rhodes.
I’ve spent quite a bit of time looking at this painting in Sydney and I think you did a good job of getting the colour right. It is very luminous. In the same room of the gallery is a small plein air landscape that Leighton did as a study for the background of this painting. Thanks for continuing to share beautiful images Charlie, it’s always inspiring.
Thanks, Andrew. I’m always pleased to know when I can get close with paintings I haven’t seen in person. The color consistency of art images on the web is frustratingly uneven.