The Martyrdom of Saint Justina (sketch after Veronese)

The Martyrdom of Saint Justina (sketch after Veronese), undated and held at Leighton House, is a copy study after Paolo Veronese's celebrated Martyrdom of Saint Justina, which hangs in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Copy studies after great masters were a fundamental component of academic training, and Leighton — who spent formative years in Florence — made copies after Titian, Veronese, and other Venetian masters as part of his education. Copying Veronese in particular would have taught lessons in the management of large figure groups, the use of strong colour in architectural settings, and the rendering of complex drapery and costume. Leighton's subsequent career as a painter of monumental figure compositions owed much to the Venetian tradition he absorbed through these exercises. The sketch format suggests this is a working copy rather than a highly finished replica.

Copy studies after Veronese presented specific technical challenges: the Venetian master's use of large colour areas in contrast, his layered approach to building complex figure groups, and his management of architectural space and light. Leighton's copy would have attempted to understand the structure underlying Veronese's apparently spontaneous handling by working through the same compositional problems from a different starting point.