Leighton, Mary, Lady, -1864
Person
Dates
- Existence: 1864
Found in 9 Collections and/or Records:
Album, 1827
Item — Box: Vol. 2
Call Number: MSS 16
Scope and Contents:
Inscribed “Drawings by Mary Parker Lady Leighton” on front pastedown. Leighton made the album during an extensive tour of the Rhineland, Switzerland, and northern Italy, in the company of her mother and brother. The journal and drawings of the tour by her brother, John Parker, are at the National Library, Aberystwyth. See: Parry, Edward, "The Revd John Parker: ‘a warm partizan of Gothic art'", Transactions of the Ancient Monuments Society, vol. 64, (2020), pp. 90-114.The album...
Dates:
1827
Album, circa 1826-1829
Item — Box: Vol. 3
Call Number: MSS 16
Scope and Contents:
Contains numerous caricatures in pen-and-ink and watercolor; many of these satirize contemporary women’s fashion. Mary’s comic drawings are interspersed with landscapes, copies after Old Masters, and prints clipped from various sources. Among these are twenty-three lithographs from Keller and Füssli’s Collection des costumes de la Suisse (Zurich, n.d.); seven illustrations from an unidentified volume of natural history; satirical prints; an article on the...
Dates:
circa 1826-1829
Album, circa 1826–1854
Item — Box: Vol. 4
Call Number: MSS 16
Scope and Contents:
Inscribed at front: "Mary Parker, 1829." Album reveals Mary’s ongoing interest in comic scenes, picturesque views, and fine art. It includes drawings from key tourist sites, such as Northern Italy’s Lago Maggiore and Switzerland’s Lake Lucerne, as well as a series of copies after works in the British Museum. These drawings occasionally identify the collection from which the artworks come; many are from the bequests of Reverend Clayton Mordaunt Cracherode (1730–1799) and Richard Payne Knight...
Dates:
circa 1826–1854
Album, circa 1846-1853
Item — Box: Vol. 5
Call Number: MSS 16
Scope and Contents:
Bound by Shrewsbury bookseller R. Davies, the scrapbook features drawings primarily by Baldwyn and Stanley. These provide a clear sense of how Mary guided her children in art instruction, encouraging them to copy from illustrations. Though the original sources for the drawings are unclear, the family must have had in its possession at least one illustrated copy of Pilgrim’s Progress, from which Baldwyn drew two scenes. Stanley seems to have been interested as...
Dates:
circa 1846-1853
Album, 1825-1851
Item — Box: Vol. 6
Call Number: MSS 16
Scope and Contents:
Inscribed at front: “Baldwin Leighton, Loton Park, Shrewsbury, Augst. 1846”; but whether this is Mary’s husband or son is uncertain. Though the younger Leighton took the spelling “Baldwyn” in contrast to his father’s “Baldwin,” in his youth he seems to have alternated between the two. The scrapbook again reveals the children’s practice of copying from book and journal illustrations to develop their skills. Included among the drawings are Baldwyn’s awkward copy of the engraving “General Tom...
Dates:
1825-1851
Album, circa 1847–1852
Item — Box: Vol. 7
Call Number: MSS 16
Scope and Contents:
Inscribed “Mary Leighton / Scraps from her Children / Loton Park 1847–50” on front pastedown. Drawings by Baldwyn, Stanley, and Frances comprise much of the scrapbook, with only a few additions by Charlotte and Isabella. There is also a loose silhouette interleaved among the pages, captioned “Eton 1852,” which portrays Baldwyn during his study there. Drawings by Baldwyn and Stanley focus on notable battles and include figures from contemporary campaigns—such as soldiers from the Anglo-Sikh...
Dates:
circa 1847–1852
Album, circa 1850?
Item — Box: Vol. 8
Call Number: MSS 16
Scope and Contents:
Scrapbook features prints clipped from various sources; several business cards from shops in London, Florence, and Chiavenna; and a small group of drawings by Mary and Baldwyn. The collection of prints is peculiar in its range of subjects: among portraits, picturesque scenes, and fine-art reproductions, there are several newspaper engravings that suggest especially lurid stories. The most notable include the beheading of a prisoner—an undated journal illustration, likely for a report on the...
Dates:
circa 1850?
Mary Leighton Collection
Collection
Call Number: MSS 16
Overview:
The collection comprises ten original sketchbooks, albums, and scrapbooks compiled by Mary Leighton and her children, 1824-1860.
Dates:
1824-1860
Sketchbook, 1824
Item — Box: Vol. 1
Call Number: MSS 16
Scope and Contents:
Inscribed “Mary Parker / Sweeney at Oswestry— / 1824” on front pastedown. The sketchbook contains graphite and watercolor sketches of scenes in the vicinity of her family’s home, Sweeney Hall, in Oswestry, Shropshire, on the border of Wales. It also includes sketches of picturesque sites from North Wales, such as the Llyn Peninsula and the countryside about Conwy. Mary displays a marked interest in Gothic architecture, as well as in recent technological developments, seen in her sketches of the...
Dates:
1824