Cimabues gefeierte Madonna wird in Prozession durch die Straßen von Florenz getragen

Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna is carried in Procession through the Streets of Florence

The subject is taken from Vasari's 16th century account of the life of the 13th century painter Cimabue, in which he describes how his Madonna and Child (now attributed to Duccio) was carried from his house to the church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence. Cimabue himself appears in front of the painting with a laurel wreath on his head, while Dante can be seen to the right. This was Leighton's first monumental work, painted in Rome and exhibited to great acclaim at the Royal Academy in London in 1855. Queen Victoria purchased it on the first day of the exhibition, noting in her diary how it reminded her of Paolo Veronese.