Study of three standing draped female figures, for "Music"

This sheet relates to "Music," a frieze Leighton painted in 1885 for Stewart Hodgson's drawing room at 1 South Audley Street, London. It was conceived to complement one he had completed two years earlier titled "Dance." Typically, the artist worked in well-defined stages—first making a color oil sketch, then nude studies in chalks, and finally drawings of draperies. The classical robes seen here are worn by three girls who sing, play a stringed instrument, and hold music, appearing at right in the completed composition.
Leighton's childhood was spent mostly on the Continent, where he pursued academic studies at Florence and Frankfurt before return to London for a sensational debut at the Royal Academy in 1855. When he showed "Cimabue's Madonna Carried in Procession through the Streets of Florence" that year, it was purchased by Queen Victoria. The young artist's precocity and continental training rubbed many academicans the wrong way, however, and delayed his election to full membership until 1869. From that date forward, however, Leighton assumed a leading place within London's art world.