Carlo Perugini (1839–1918)

Carlo Perugini (1839–1918), painted in oil on canvas in 1875 and held at Leighton House, depicts Leighton's close friend and artistic colleague, the Italian-born painter who became one of the leading figure painters of the Victorian era after settling in England. Perugini had been adopted by the painter Charles Edward Perugini following his own Italian family connection, and had married Kate Dickens, daughter of the novelist Charles Dickens. By 1875 he was established in London's artistic world and exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy. The friendship between Leighton and Perugini was longstanding and artistically significant — both worked in the tradition of idealised figurative painting and were at the centre of the Holland Park artistic community. The portrait thus documents a friendship within the Victorian art world as much as it records an individual likeness.

Portraits of fellow artists were typically made with greater informality and mutual understanding than commercial commissions. Leighton's rendering of Perugini can be expected to reflect the ease of a friendship relationship, with the sitter's artistic identity informing the composition. The palette and handling are likely to show Leighton's mature portrait technique at its most self-assured, portraying someone whose visual intelligence equalled his own.