The Accolade Auction History
Leighton’s The Accolade was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1901 and later appeared at Christie’s London on 13 June 2001 (lot 15). No public price has been located for that sale, and the work is consistently recorded as in a Private Collection. Comparable top-tier Leighton canvases have realized £481,250–£707,750 in recent decades.
- Artwork
- The Accolade
- Artist
- Edmund Leighton
- Best-known sale or transfer
- Christie’s London, 13 June 2001 (lot 15)
- Sale type
- Public auction
- Current location / owner
- Private Collection
Auction and Ownership Timeline
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
Royal Academy of Arts, London
Exhibited at the Royal Academy, London (RA no. 434) and illustrated in Royal Academy Pictures [2].
Provenance and Ownership
1901: Painted by Edmund Leighton and exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London (RA no. 434), where it was illustrated in Royal Academy Pictures [2].
13 June 2001: Handled at Christie’s, London, Important British & Irish Art, lot 15; no public price has been found in accessible sources. The appearance is corroborated by later Christie’s catalogue cross-references and the Yale Center for British Art’s record of the printed sale catalogue [3][4].
Thereafter: Repeatedly referenced as being in a Private Collection by image libraries and auction literature [1][6].
Quick Facts
- Last known sale
- 13 June 2001
- Known sale price
- Not publicly reported
- Sale type
- Public auction
- Venue / institution
- Christie’s, London
- Current owner or location
- Private Collection
- Publicly viewable?
- No
Why This Sale Matters
The Accolade is a signature subject in Leighton’s medieval-romance oeuvre and was publicly introduced at the Royal Academy in 1901, a credential that aligns it with the artist’s most coveted exhibition canvases [2]. The painting’s modern auction visibility rests on a Christie’s London appearance on 13 June 2001 (lot 15), which is cited in later Christie’s literature and documented by the Yale Center for British Art’s catalogue record; however, no public price has been located [3][4]. The work has since been consistently noted as in a private collection [1].
In the absence of a published price for this exact canvas, market context is drawn from closely related, large-scale RA-period works. Leighton’s God Speed (1900), the closest companion to The Accolade, realized £707,750 at Christie’s in 2000 and £481,250 at Sotheby’s in 2012 [5][6]. Another flagship subject, A King and a Beggar Maid (1898), sold for £662,500 at Sotheby’s in 2014 [7]. These benchmarks outline the top end of Leighton’s market for prime, exhibition-scale chivalric scenes and are frequently used as comparators when assessing the significance of The Accolade. Taken together with its RA provenance and enduring cultural recognition, the 2001 Christie’s appearance indicates strong historical demand even if the exact transaction result remains unpublished [2][3][4].
Related Pages
Sources
- The Accolade (1901) — work record — Bridgeman Images
- Royal Academy Pictures (1901) — illustrated coverage — Royal Academy of Arts via Wikimedia Commons
- Christie’s catalogue note citing ‘The Accolade’, 13 June 2001, lot 15 — Christie’s
- Important British and Irish Art, 13 June 2001 — sale catalogue record — Yale Center for British Art
- Edmund Blair Leighton, God Speed — Christie’s 2000 result — Christie’s
- Edmund Blair Leighton, God Speed — Sotheby’s 2012 result and note — Sotheby’s
- Edmund Blair Leighton, A King and a Beggar Maid — Sotheby’s 2014 result — Sotheby’s