Flaming June《炽热的六月》

爱艺/译

A year before his death， Frederick Leighton painted one of his most well-known works of art， Flaming June. Flaming June went to the Royal Academy Exhibition in 1895， but Leighton was too sick to go.

弗雷德里克·萊顿在去世前一年创作了《炽热的六月》，这是他最出名的画作之一。1895年，该画在皇家美术学院画展上展出，但他本人因病重未能出席。

The work depicts a woman curled up asleep on a marble bench. Wearing a translucent orange dress， she nestles in layers of red and yellow fabric. Behind her a thin strip of sea is illuminated by the sun， the faint outlines of land visible on the horizon. The setting for the work is unclear， but it may allude to1 the exotic locations of Leightons travels during the 1870s-80s， perhaps suggesting a Mediterranean veranda.

画作描绘了一个蜷坐在大理石长凳上睡觉的女子。她身着半透明橘黄色连衣裙，身下铺着一层层红色和黄色的织物。后方是一道狭长的海面，阳光铺洒，海平线上隐约可见陆地的轮廓。该画的地点背景并不明晰，但其显露的异国风情或会让人想到莱顿19世纪70年代到80年代曾在国外游历，也许画中所示是地中海某处的阳台。

There is a tangible intensity to this painting， achieved through color palette and formal composition. The dominance of red， yellow， and golden shades almost seems to set the figure aflame2 as she lies compacted into an orb-like shape. She therefore stands in for the absent sun， whose presence is implied by the almost-white strip of illuminated sea above her head. Balancing upon the toe of one foot even while she reclines， she exudes3 the combined qualities of physical tension and relaxation for which Leightons human figures are renowned.

通过精选色调和规整构图，这幅画带给观者一种切实的视觉冲击。或浓或淡的红色、黄色和金色占据了大部分画面，使蜷成一团的中心人物看上去近乎一个燃点。可以说，她替代了未露面的太阳——头顶处阳光照耀得几乎泛白的那道海面暗示了太阳的存在。女子斜躺时还踮着一只脚保持平衡，显得既紧张又放松，莱顿画笔下的人物往往以这样的特点著称。

By reducing the sky and sea to a single strip， topped by a decorative scroll， Leighton renders the work somewhat airless and claustrophobic4： the viewer is confronted with the compressed， erotic figure of a woman as bright， powerful， and inescapable as the June sun. Also inescapable is death， which many art historians have argued weighs heavy upon5 Leightons later works; aside from sleep standing as a metaphor for death， the art historian Kenneth Bendiner has identified the foliage in the top right as the poisonous oleander.

莱顿将天空和大海压缩为一道宽带，顶部还有一条涡卷形装饰，整幅画由此透着些许憋闷和封闭：观者看到一个身体蜷缩、充满情欲的女子，形象如六月阳光般明媚、耀眼和无法逃避。死亡也无法逃避，许多艺术史学家认为，死亡这一概念对莱顿后期作品的影响很大——此画中，除入睡象征死亡外，艺术史学家肯尼思·本迪纳还发现，右上角的绿叶植物是有毒的夹竹桃。

Flaming June was at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford until 1930， before entering a private collection and disappearing from view. In 1962， it was discovered behind a false wall over a mantelpiece while renovating a house outside London， the worker took the painting and sold it to an antique store for ?50 pounds. In a surprising unforeseen turn of events， a young fourteen-year-old Andrew Lloyd Webber saw it for sale in the London antique shop that year for ?50 （equal to US$1100 today） but his grandmother refused to lend him the cash， saying “I will not have that Victorian junk in my flat”. The painting would not sell， so the antique shop owner gave up and sold the beautiful picture frame to limit his loss.

1930年之前，《炽热的六月》一直在牛津的阿什莫尔博物馆展出，之后转由私人收藏，自此在公众视野中消失。1962年，伦敦郊外的一所房子进行翻修时，在壁炉台上方的假墙（填充墙）后发现了这幅画。维修工人取走了画并以50英镑的价格卖给了一家古董店。不曾想，那一年，14岁的安德鲁·劳埃德·韦伯在伦敦这家古董店偶然看到了这幅画，售价50英镑（相当于今天的1100美元），但他的祖母拒绝借钱给他买画，祖母表示：“我可不想在公寓里放这种维多利亚时代的旧货。”发现画卖不动后，古董店主索性放弃卖画，为减少损失把漂亮的画框单卖了。

One day， the art dealer Jeremy Maas who liked Victorian art， saw it and bought it to put in his art gallery， still， no one would buy it. But a year later in 1963， Luis Ferré， who would become the future governor of Puerto Rico， purchased the work of art for ?2，000 （equal to US$50，000 today）， making it the highlight of the new museum Museo de Arte de Ponce， which needed art， having opened in 1959.

一天，喜欢维多利亚时代艺术的艺术品经销商杰里米·马斯看到了这幅画，他把它买了挂在自己的画廊里，可依然无人问津。但一年后，即1963年，后来担任波多黎各总督的路易斯·费雷花2000英镑（相当于今天的5万美元）买下了这幅画，将其作为1959年刚刚开馆的蓬塞艺术博物馆的镇馆之宝——这座新博物馆亟需充实馆藏。

Of all the paintings Frederick Leighton painted， he is best remembered for this one， now one of the most famous and recognized paintings in the world. It is widely considered to be Leightons magnum opus6， showing his classicist nature.

在弗雷德里克·萊顿的所有画作中，这幅画最为人熟知，如今也是最受认可的世界名画之一。该画被广泛认为是莱顿的代表作，彰显了其古典主义画派风格。