Royal Academy, London
A clever, titillating work offering easy visual thrills – Look at all that orange! Notice the nipple! – Frederic Leighton’s iconic painting is back in the UK while its Puerto Rico home undergoes repairs
Some artworks are iconic the moment they are created, such as the Mona Lisa or Warhol’s soup cans. Others become famous in more twisty ways. Frederic, Lord Leighton’s late 19th-century painting Flaming June was forgotten and lost for much of the 20th century, and when it did turn up in the 1960s no one wanted it except Andrew Lloyd Webber, who claims he tried to borrow £50 from his granny to purchase it, and the Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico, which leapt in where young Lloyd Webber failed. It is now lending its treasure to the Royal Academy for nearly a year while it remains closed following an earthquake. The RA has announced this loan as a triumphant return of a British masterpiece, and it has also been shown with great excitement by other museums around the world, an overnight success at last.
It’s easy to see why it was a hit when it was first shown at the Royal Academy in 1895: it let Victorians enjoy a sneaky sensual peak. Flaming June is supposedly a symbol of Summer. With her red hair and fiery garment, a model curls up on a marble seat, allowing us to look at her while she has her eyes closed. Respectable onlookers could not fault its mild aestheticism. But while Dr Jekyll smugly approved, any Mr Hydes visiting the exhibition might notice the nipple that’s firmly visible through her dress, and the way the tight, glowing fabric reveals the fleshy ampleness of her upraised thigh.
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