{{short description|English painter}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2015}} {{Use British English|date=October 2015}} [[File:J_M_Leigh.jpg|thumb|Portrait by Henry Stacy Marks]] '''James Mathews Leigh''' (1808 &ndash; 20 April 1860) was an English art educator, painter, writer, dramatist and critic. He is best known as the founder of a popular private art school in London known as "Leigh's Academy", which eventually became the present day Heatherley School of Fine Art.<ref>[http://www.heatherleys.org/history.html History of Heatherley's] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100909010425/http://www.heatherleys.org/history.html |date=9 September 2010 }}.</ref><ref name="dnb">{{cite DNB|wstitle=Leigh, James Mathews}}</ref>

==Life and work==

Leigh was born in London in 1808, the son of Samuel Leigh,<ref name="obit">[https://books.google.com/books?id=vY1CAAAAcAAJ Obituary of J. L. Leigh] (The Art Journal, London, 1 July 1860) p200.</ref> a well-known bookseller who ran a shop at 18 The Strand, near the Adelphi Theatre London - William Blake was apparently a frequent visitor.<ref>Gerald Eades Bentley. ''The Blake records'' (Clarendon P., 1969) p264.</ref> James's uncle was the popular actor and theatre manager Charles Mathews ("the elder"). He studied art under William Etty,<ref>Leonard Robinson. ''William Etty: the life and art'' (McFarland, 2007) p144.</ref> deciding to make historical painting his speciality. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1830 with two paintings, ''Joseph presenting his Brethren to Pharaoh'' and ''Jephthah's vow''.

Soon afterwards, he went on a tour of the continent, visiting galleries in France, Germany and Italy to study the works of the Old Masters and make sketches.<ref name="obit" /> Around this time also he devoted himself to writing, and, in 1838, privately published ''Cromwell'' an historical play in five acts,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=hJIVAAAAYAAJ&q=%22James+Mathews+Leigh%22 Cromwell: An historical play in five acts] (London: Leigh & Son, 1838).</ref> and later ''The Rhenish Album''. He then travelled to Spain where he made further sketches,<ref name="obit" /> resuming, on his return to England, work as a painter, and continuing to send paintings of sacred subjects and portraits to the Royal Academy and other exhibitions up to 1849.<ref name="dnb" /> [[File:Leigh, James 1860.jpg|thumb|Grave of James Mathews Leigh in Highgate Cemetery]] However, Leigh is now better known as a teacher of drawing than as an artist. In 1848, he founded an academy of art, "Leigh's Academy", at 79 Newman Street,<ref>Stuart MacDonald. ''The history and philosophy of art education'' (James Clarke & Co., 2004) p73.</ref> off Oxford Street in London. It was well attended and became a formidable rival to the other main London art academy run by Henry Sass ("Sass's Academy").<ref name="dnb" /> He was said to be "a first rate teacher and a profound critic in matters of art". Many distinguished artists received their early training at Leigh's academy including Sir Frederic Leighton, Sir John Millais, Philip Hermogenes Calderon, Henry Stacy Marks, Edward Poynter, Joseph Boehm<ref>[http://www.answers.com/topic/joseph-boehm Joseph Boehm] (Answers.com).</ref> Edwin Long, Henry Holiday, Frederick Walker, John Bagnold Burgess, Walter Goodman<ref>''The Biograph and Review Volume IV For the Second Six Months of 1880'' [1880], E.W.Allen</ref> Thomas Holroyd,<ref name="National Archives - Holroyds" >{{cite web |title=Photographs related to Holroyds gallery and photographic studio |url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/7b1b2176-ece9-4a3b-af7f-18cf04fc700c |website=discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ |publisher=The National Archives |access-date=25 April 2021}}</ref> and others.<ref>Tinsley, 1900, pp. 193-4.</ref>

In his last twenty years, Leigh exhibited no work at any of the recognised exhibitions, instead showing it on the walls of his art academy. He was also in the habit of sketching the same subjects - often of themes from literature - as his students in their drawing classes.<ref name="dnb" /><ref name="obit" />

Leigh had been a heavy pipe smoker throughout his life and developed cancer of the throat.<ref>Tinsley, 1900, p195.</ref> He died shortly afterwards in London on 20 April 1860 and was buried on the western side of Highgate Cemetery. His son, Henry Sambrooke Leigh (1837–1883) was a writer and dramatist. After his death, the running of Leigh's art school was taken over by Thomas Heatherley and the school renamed (as was the fashion) "Heatherley's Art School".<ref name="dnb" />

==References== {{reflist}}

==Further reading==

*William Tinsley. ''[https://archive.org/details/randomrecollecti01tins Random recollections of an old publisher, volume 1]'' (London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & co, 1900) pp.&nbsp;189–201.

==External links== *[http://www.artnet.com/artist/594874/james-matthews-leigh.html J. M. Leigh on Artnet] *[http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person.php?LinkID=mp53087&role=art Engraving of a portrait by Leigh] (National Portrait Gallery, London)

;Attribution {{DNB|wstitle=Leigh, James Mathews}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Leigh, James Mathews}} Category:19th-century English painters

Category:British critics Category:English male painters Category:English history painters Category:English portrait painters Category:British art educators Category:Deaths from esophageal cancer Category:1808 births Category:1860 deaths Category:Burials at Highgate Cemetery Category:English male dramatists and playwrights Category:19th-century English dramatists and playwrights Category:19th-century English male writers Category:19th-century English male artists