Flaming June – Frederic Leighton (1895)

A woman curled up asleep in the summer heat, wrapped in fabric the colour of fire. In Flaming June, Frederic Leighton paints a sleeper on a marble bench, her limbs folded into a perfect circle, her translucent orange dress glowing as if lit from within. Behind her, the sea shimmers under a golden afternoon sky.

Above her head, a branch of oleander hangs over the parapet. The flower is beautiful and poisonous, and Victorian viewers read it as a quiet reminder of the thin line between sleep and death. It gives this luminous image its slightly unsettling charm.

Why it works on your wall

• A colour that warms a room: the orange and gold glow beautifully against white, sand or terracotta walls.
• Calm and restful: a natural choice above a bed, in a reading corner or in a bathroom with natural light.
• Framing tip: a thin gold or walnut frame echoes the warm tones; a wide white mount gives it the feel of a museum piece.

The painting

Leighton painted Flaming June in 1895 and showed it at the Royal Academy the same year. The pose is often compared to Michelangelo's sculpture of Night in the Medici Chapel in Florence, and the model is usually identified as Dorothy Dene, his favourite sitter. Out of fashion in the 20th century, the painting was bought in 1963 by Luis A. Ferré for his new museum: it still belongs to the Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico. Read its full story, from Christmas gift to forgotten masterpiece, in our article Flaming June by Frederic Leighton: meaning, model and history.

Frederic Leighton (1830–1896) was President of the Royal Academy and the first painter to be raised to the peerage, as Baron Leighton, the day before he died.

• Artist: Frederic Leighton (1830–1896)
• Date: 1895
• Technique: oil on canvas
• Original: Museo de Arte de Ponce, Puerto Rico
• Movement: Victorian classicism, Aesthetic movement

Your print

• Colours restored from a high-definition scan of the original
• Printed in Europe on thick archival matte paper, FSC certified
• From A4 to A0, plus 40×60, 50×70, 60×90 and 70×100 cm and 12×18 to 27×40 inch sizes, all made for standard frames
• Free shipping, no minimum order. Shipped rolled in a sturdy tube

Pair it with Leighton's The Music Lesson, or explore our classic painting prints and Pre-Raphaelite art prints.