By the time Edmund Blair Leighton exhibited “In Time of Peril” at the Royal Academy in 1897, Victorian England was awash in nostalgia. The nation was marking the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria’s reign with the Diamond Jubilee, a celebration that brought both national pride and an underlying anxiety about what would come next. Into this charged atmosphere, Leighton delivered a painting that looked backward to the 14th century while speaking directly to the present: a mother, two young children, and the desperate urgency of sanctuary.
The painting now belongs to the Mackelvie Trust Collection at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki in New Zealand, where it has been a favorite since its acquisition. Its popularity is easy to understand. The image is immediate, emotionally direct, and technically accomplished—everything Victorian academic painting aspired to be.
