Study of Hills

Study of Hills, painted in oil on canvas in 1879 and held at Leighton House, belongs to the landscape studies Leighton made during his extensive travels in southern Europe and the British Isles. The unspecified title leaves the geographic location open — it may document Italian, Spanish, Greek, or British hills observed directly during travel. For Leighton, landscape study served primarily as a support for his figure compositions, providing authentic environmental settings that could be drawn on selectively. The study of hills in particular — their forms, colours, and the quality of light across their surfaces at different times of day — provided the spatial backdrops for his classically posed figures in outdoor settings. Leighton's landscape studies are generally understated compared to the ambition of his figure work, but reveal a careful and sensitive observer.

Hill landscape studies require management of the tonal recession from foreground slope through middle-distance hill to distant ridge — a problem of atmospheric perspective in which closer hills are warmer and more saturated while distant peaks cool into blue-grey. The quality of light on the hill surface — harsh midday shadows, golden afternoon raking light, diffused overcast — determines the overall tonal character of the composition.