Leighton Fund (Royal Academy of Arts), 1896-1951
Start Date: 1896
End Date: 1951
Type: Scholarship
Description: The first proposal for a commission through the Leighton Fund was for a memorial to Van Dyck in St Paul's Cathedral, to replace the original lost in the Great Fire of London in 1666. Although a sketch model by Thomas Brock was approved the project came to nothing (Hutchison, 1968, p. 153).
In 1939 the fund was used to purchase a bronze cast 'of the model of the statue of T. Gainsborough, R.A., by Sir T. Brock, K.C.B., R.A., was made by Messrs. A. B. Burton for £258 at the cost of this Fund. The statue has been placed in the left-hand niche at the top of the main stairs, facing the statue of J. M. W. Turner, R.A., by Mr. W. McMillan, R.A.' (see 'Annual Report, 1939', 1940, p. 21).
Policy: At the death of Frederic Leighton in 1896, a sum of £10,000 was given to the RA, the interest of which was to be used 'for the purpose of acquiring or commissioning works of Decorative Painting, Sculpture and Architecture' to be located in public places (Hutchison, 1968, p. 146).
Exhibits
Led to creation of Statue of J. M. W. Turner
1936
The fund was used to commission the work.
Stimulated creation of Memorial to John Constable
1936
Stimulated creation of Portrait Head of the Prime Minister
1944
Related Events
Funded Fountain for Sloane Square (Royal Academy of Arts), 1948
1949
Note that this competition was solely financed through the Leighton Fund.
Participants
Beneficiaries included Thomas Brock
1916
Brock was paid £210 for a bronze replica of 'his bust of the late Lord Leighton, P.R.A., which he had made and delivered with a pedestal to the Town Hall, Scarborough (see Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1916', 1917, p. 20).
Beneficiaries included (Edward) Alfred Briscoe Drury
1917 - 1932 (Presumed)
Drury was commissioned to create a 'statue of Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A., to be erected in the courtyard of Burlington House'. Models were submitted by Drury and F. Derwent Wood, and Drury's model was selected in 1917 (see 'Annual Report, 1917', 1918, p. 6).
The Council decided in January 1932 to increase the total sum payable to him for the work from £2,000 to £2,500 (see Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1932', 1933, p. 23).
Beneficiaries included Gilbert Ledward
1950
Leighton Fund gave £1,500 for Ledward's work on a fountain in Sloane Square (see Royal Academy, 'Annual Report, 1950', 1951, p. 21).
Citing this record
'Leighton Fund (Royal Academy of Arts), 1896-1951', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/event.php?id=msib4_1264606858, accessed 27 Jan 2022]
