Live Auction 21955British and European Art
FREDERIC, LORD LEIGHTON, P.R.A., R.W.S. (BRITISH, 1830-1896)
Lot 23

FREDERIC, LORD LEIGHTON, P.R.A., R.W.S. (BRITISH, 1830-1896)

Rizpah, a colour sketch

Closed14 December 2023

Price Realised

GBP 7,560

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FREDERIC, LORD LEIGHTON, P.R.A., R.W.S. (BRITISH, 1830-1896)
Rizpah, a colour sketch
oil on canvas
7 ½ x 7 ½ in. (19 x 19 cm.)

The artist's studio sale (†); Christie's, London, 11 and 13 July 1896, lot 93 (13 gns to H. Baldwin).
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 13 May 1977, lot 59.
with The Fine Art Society, London, December 1977.

Specialist note

This painting is a study for Rizpah, Leighton's Royal Academy exhibit of 1893 (no. 159). In the Bible King David ordered the execution of the two sons of Saul to appease the Gibeonites. Their mother, Rizpah, faithfully guarded their bodies, and came to symbolise grieving motherhood.