James Mathews Leigh

James Mathews Leigh (1808 – 20 April 1860) was an English art educator, painter, writer, dramatist and critic.

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.

[3] Around this time also he devoted himself to writing, and, in 1838, privately published Cromwell an historical play in five acts,[6] and later The Rhenish Album.

He then travelled to Spain where he made further sketches,[3] 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.

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[8] Edwin Long, Henry Holiday, Frederick Walker, John Bagnold Burgess, Walter Goodman[9] Thomas Holroyd,[10] and others.