The museum has a collection of 76 oil paintings by Leighton. These range from the small and loosely-painted colour sketches that he produced as part of the process of making his pictures, through to large-scale finished works produced for exhibition at the Royal Academy. An important group of Leighton's landscape sketches, made at various times as he travelled, represents this lesser-known aspect of his artistic production.
T
he collection of paintings is 'bookended' by two major works. The Death of Brunelleschi was painted in 1852 as Leighton's final work as a student at the Stadelesches Kunstinstitut in Frankfurt, Germany. Acquired for the museum in 1909, it is testament to Leighton's early accomplishment and ambition. Clytie, the picture that he was working on at the time of his death almost 45 years later, was acquired by the museum in 2008.
