“The pose of the woman in Flaming June was inspired by one of the most famously erotic images of the Renaissance, the picture of Leda and the Swan painted by Michelangelo for Duke Alfonso I d’Este in 1529," writes Pablo Pérez d’Ors in the catalogue for Leighton’s Flaming June, presently on display in The Frick Collection.
A friend had urged me to see Flaming June so on Wednesday I went to the Frick. I’m not sure about the eroticism of Flaming June, peacefulness and eroticism are not always compatible, but like many others I fell in love with her hair. Love and baldness aren’t very compatible either, at least as far as I’m concerned.
For a wedding you need a hairdresser, for love and sex you need hair. With these thoughts I left the Frick Collection.