Frederick Leighton was knighted at Windsor in 1878. The painting, Flaming June, was finished in 1895, and the following year he became the first painter to be given a peerage. Unfortunately it came a little too late for him; he died the day after the patent came through, and as he was unmarried and childless, it also made his hereditary peerage the shortest on record.
George Bernard Shaw was a friend of Sir Frederick, and had met Dorothy Dene on several occasions. It is speculated that she was his inspiration for Pygmalion.
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George Bernard Shaw was a friend of Sir Frederick, and had met Dorothy Dene on several occasions. It is speculated that she was his inspiration for Pygmalion.
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