Frederic Leighton. Desdemona, c. 1888.


Oil on canvas, approximately 18 x 21.5 inches. Leighton House, London.


This is a sketch in oils for Leighton's contribution to Shakespeare's Heroines, an exhibition mounted by the Graphic in 1888. The complete set of paintings by twenty-one different artists was published in 1890 as a special supplement to the Christmas issue of the Graphic.

The finished painting, oil on canvas, 22 x 27.5 inches, is in the collection of Mr. Terence Rowe.