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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/35935-8.txt b/35935-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cd918f5 --- /dev/null +++ b/35935-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,19096 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life, Letters and Work of Frederic +Leighton, by Mrs. Russell Barrington + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Life, Letters and Work of Frederic Leighton + Volume II + +Author: Mrs. Russell Barrington + +Release Date: May 20, 2011 [EBook #35935] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE, LETTERS OF FREDERICK LEIGHTON *** + + + + +Produced by Jeannie Howse, Jonathan Ingram and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + * * * * * + + + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original | + | document has been preserved. | + | | + | The Errata at the end of the book have been incorporated | + | into this e-book. | + | | + | Index entries referring to footnotes have been renamed | + | to match footnote numbers in this document. | + | | + | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. For | + | a complete list, please see the end of this document. | + | | + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + + [Illustration] + + + + + The Life, Letters and Work of + Frederic Baron Leighton + Of Stretton + + VOL. II + + + + + "_I am a workman first, and an official after._" + --FRED. LEIGHTON, 1888. + + "_Es bildet ein Talent sich in der Stille, + Doch ein Character in dem Strom der Welt._" + --GOETHE. + + + + + The Life, Letters and + Work of + + Frederic Leighton + + BY + MRS. RUSSELL BARRINGTON + AUTHOR OF "REMINISCENCES OF G.F. WATTS," ETC. ETC. + + + IN TWO VOLUMES + + VOL. II + + + LONDON + GEORGE ALLEN, RUSKIN HOUSE + 1906 + + [All rights reserved] + + + + + Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. + At the Ballantyne Press + + [Illustration: LORD LEIGHTON + From the portrait by G.F. Watts] + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + INTRODUCTION 1 + + CHAPTER I + FIRST STUDIO IN LONDON, 1859-1863 36 + + CHAPTER II + ILLUSTRATIONS FOR _CORNHILL MAGAZINE_--FRESCO FOR LYNDHURST + CHURCH--ASSOCIATE OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY--MRS. LEIGHTON'S + DEATH, 1863-1865 91 + + CHAPTER III + JOURNEYS TO THE EAST--CONSTANTINOPLE--SMYRNA--ATHENS--DIARY + "UP THE NILE TO PHYLĘ," 1866-1869 128 + + CHAPTER IV + ROYAL ACADEMICIAN--MUSIC--ARAB HALL, 1869-1878 188 + + CHAPTER V + LEIGHTON AS PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY, 1878-1896 223 + + CHAPTER VI + LIFE WANING--DEATH, 1887-1896 312 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +VOLUME II + + 1. PORTRAIT OF LORD LEIGHTON (_Photogravure_) To face Dedication + By G.F. WATTS. + + 2. HEAD OF YOUNG GIRL (_Colour_) To face page 1 + A wedding gift to H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES, who + graciously gave permission for the painting to be + reproduced in this book. + + 3. "EUCHARIS," 1863 (_Colour_) 9 + By kind permission of Mrs. STEPHENSON CLARKE. + + 4. "A NOBLE LADY OF VENICE," 1866 (_Photogravure_) 10 + By kind permission of Lord ARMSTRONG. + + 5. "GREEK GIRLS PICKING UP SHELLS BY THE SEASHORE," 1871 18 + (_Photogravure_) + By kind permission of the Rt. Hon. JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN. + + 6. PORTRAIT OF MRS. SUTHERLAND ORR, 1861 57 + + 7. PENCIL SKETCH FOR "MICHAEL ANGELO NURSING HIS DYING + SERVANT," 1862 93 + Leighton House Collection. + + 8. ORIGINAL SKETCH FOR "SAMSON WRESTLING WITH THE LION" 94 + Designed as an illustration for Dalziel's Bible. Leighton + House Collection. + + 9. ORIGINAL DRAWING FOR THE GREAT GOD PAN, ILLUSTRATING MRS. + BROWNING'S POEM, "MUSICAL INSTRUMENT" 102 + In "_Cornhill Magazine_," July 1861. + Leighton House Collection. + + 10. "AN EVENING IN A FRENCH COUNTRY HOUSE," ILLUSTRATING MRS. + ADELAIDE SARTORIS' STORY, "A WEEK IN A FRENCH COUNTRY + HOUSE," PUBLISHED IN THE _Cornhill Magazine_, 1867 103 + By kind permission of Messrs. SMITH, ELDER, & CO. + + 11. "DRIFTING." SECOND ILLUSTRATION FOR SAME 104 + + 12. LORD LEIGHTON 107 + Photograph taken at Lyndhurst, 1863. + + 13. FRESCO FOR LYNDHURST CHURCH--"THE WISE AND FOOLISH + VIRGINS," 1864 111 + + 14. "GREEK GIRL DANCING," 1867 125 + By kind permission of Mr. PHILLIPSON. + + 15. SKETCH FOR A "PASTORAL," 1866 125 + Leighton House Collection. + + 16. SKETCH IN OILS--"EGYPT" (_Colour_) 131 + + 17. "S. JEROME." DIPLOMA WORK, 1869 188 + Gallery in Burlington House. + + 18. "ELECTRA AT THE TOMB OF AGAMEMNON" 189 + + 19. "HERACLES WRESTLING WITH DEATH FOR THE BODY OF ALCESTIS," + 1871 190 + By kind permission of the FINE ART SOCIETY. + + 20. "SUMMER MOON," 1872 193 + By kind permission of Messrs. P. & D. COLNAGHI. + + 21. "A CONDOTTIERE," 1872 193 + The Walker Fine Art Gallery, Birmingham. + + 22. STUDY FOR FIGURE IN FRIEZE, "MUSIC," 1886 193 + Leighton House Collection. + + 23. STUDY OF MAN'S FIGURE FOR THE "ARTS OF WAR," 1872 193 + Leighton House Collection. + + 24. STUDY OF MAN'S FIGURE FOR THE "ARTS OF WAR" 193 + Leighton House Collection. + + 25. STUDY OF MAN'S FIGURE FOR THE "ARTS OF WAR," 1872 193 + Leighton House Collection. + + 26. "ANTIQUE JUGGLING GIRL," 1874 (_Photogravure_) 194 + By kind permission of Mr. HODGES. + + 27. "CLYTEMNESTRA FROM THE BATTLEMENT OF ARGOS WATCHES FOR + THE BEACON FIRES WHICH ARE TO ANNOUNCE THE RETURN OF + AGAMEMNON," 1874 (_Photogravure_) 194 + Leighton House Collection. + + 28. STUDY FOR "CLYTEMNESTRA" 194 + Leighton House Collection. + + 29. STUDY FOR "SUMMER MOON" (_Colour_) 194 + Executed by moonlight in Rome. Given by the late A. + WATERHOUSE, R.A., to the Leighton House Collection. + + 30. "THE DAPHNEPHORIA," 1876 197 + By kind permission of the FINE ART SOCIETY. + + 31. "AT A READING-DESK," 1877 197 + By kind permission of Messrs. L.H. LEFEVRE & SON. + + 32. ORIGINAL STUDY FOR "AN ATHLETE STRUGGLING WITH A PYTHON," + 1876 199 + Given by the late G.F. WATTS to the Leighton House + Collection. + + 33. "NAUSICAA," 1878 201 + + 34. STUDY FOR GROUP IN THE "ARTS OF PEACE," 1873 202 + Leighton House Collection. + + 35. STUDY FOR THE FIGURE OF CIMABUE, CARRIED OUT IN MOSAIC IN + THE SOUTH COURT OF THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, 1868 203 + Leighton House Collection. + + 36. STUDY FOR THE FIGURE OF NICCOLA PISANO, CARRIED OUT IN + MOSAIC IN THE SOUTH COURT OF THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT + MUSEUM, 1868 203 + Leighton House Collection. + + 37. SKETCH OF THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS OF WALES, ATTENDED BY + LORD LEIGHTON, WHEN PRESENT AT A MONDAY POPULAR CONCERT + IN ST. JAMES'S HALL 216 + Drawn at the time by Mr. Theodore Blake Wirgman. + + 38. PORTRAIT OF SIR RICHARD FRANCIS BURTON, K.C.M.G., 1876 218 + + 39. VIEW OF ARAB HALL, 1906 221 + Leighton House Collection. + + 40. PORTRAIT OF PROFESSOR GIOVANNI COSTA 222 + Executed at Lerici in 1878. + + 41. "ELIJAH IN THE WILDERNESS," 1879 255 + + 42. STUDY FOR THE FIGURE OF "ELIJAH" 255 + Leighton House Collection. + + 43. "NERUCCIA," 1879 (_Photogravure_) 255 + By kind permission of Mrs. C.E. LEES. + + 44. "THE BATH OF PSYCHE," 1890 (_Photogravure_) 255 + The Tate Gallery. + + 45. "THE LIGHT OF THE HAREM," 1880 256 + By kind permission of the LEICESTER GALLERY. + + 46. DRAWING OF COMPLETE DESIGN FOR "AND THE SEA GAVE UP THE + DEAD THAT WERE IN IT," 1892 256 + + 47. STUDY FOR "MUSIC." A FRIEZE, 1886 256 + Leighton House Collection. + + 48. STUDY FOR "ANDROMEDA," 1890 256 + Leighton House Collection. + + 49. STUDY FROM CLAY MODEL FOR "PERSEUS," 1891 256 + Leighton House Collection. + + 50. STUDY FOR "PHOENICIANS BARTERING WITH BRITONS" 256 + Leighton House Collection. + + 51. "CYMON AND IPHIGENIA," 1884 (_Photogravure_) 256 + The Corporation of Leeds. + + 52. SKETCH IN OILS FOR "CYMON AND IPHIGENIA" (_Colour_) 256 + By kind permission of Mrs. STEWART HODGSON. + + 53. STUDY FOR SLEEPING GROUP IN "CYMON AND IPHIGENIA" 256 + Presented to the Leighton House Collection by G.F. WATTS. + + 54. FROM BRONZE FROM SMALL MODEL IN CLAY BY LORD LEIGHTON OF + "A SLUGGARD," 1886 258 + Leighton House Collection. + + 55. "NEEDLESS ALARMS," FROM BRONZE STATUETTE, 1886 258 + Leighton House Collection. + + 56. "THE LAST WATCH OF HERO," 1887 259 + Corporation of Manchester. + + 57. SKETCH IN OILS FOR "TRAGIC POETESS," 1890 (_Colour_) 259 + By kind permission of Mrs. STEWART HODGSON. + + 58. "ATALANTA," 1893 261 + By kind permission of the BERLIN PHOTOGRAPHIC CO. + + 59. "FLAMING JUNE," 1895 261 + By kind permission of Mrs. WATNEY. + + 60. STUDY FOR "FLAMING JUNE" 261 + Leighton House Collection. + + 61. "FATIDICA," 1894 261 + By kind permission of Messrs. T. AGNEW & SONS. + + 62. STUDIES FOR "FATIDICA" 261 + Leighton House Collection. + + 63. "MEMORIES," 1883 266 + By kind permission of Messrs. P. & D. COLNAGHI. + + 64. "THE JEALOUSY OF SIMOETHA THE SORCERESS," 1887 266 + + 65. "LETTY," 1884 (_Colour_) 266 + By kind permission of Mrs. HENRY JOACHIM. + + 66. STUDIES FROM DOROTHY DENE FOR "CLYTIE," 1895 268 + Leighton House Collection. + + 67. SKETCH IN OILS FOR "GREEK GIRLS PLAYING AT BALL," 1889 + (_In Colour_) 274 + By kind permission of Mrs. STEWART HODGSON. + + 68. "BACCHANTE," 1892 (_Photogravure_) 287 + By kind permission of Messrs. HENRY GRAVES & CO. + + 69. SKETCH IN OILS FOR "BACCHANTE" (_Colour_) 287 + By kind permission of Mrs. STEWART HODGSON. + + 70. "_Der Winter_" 304 + Drawing by EDUARD VON STEINLE. + + 71. SKETCH IN OILS FOR "SOLITUDE" (_Colour_) 310 + By kind permission of Mrs. STEWART HODGSON. + + 72. "SUMMER SLUMBER," 1894 (_Photogravure_) 316 + By kind permission of Mr. PHILLIPSON. + + 73. SKETCH FOR "SUMMER SLUMBER" 316 + Presented to the Leighton House Collection by + H.M. THE KING. + + 74. "THE FAIR PERSIAN," 1896 324 + By kind permission of Sir ELLIOTT LEES. + + 75. "THE SPIRIT OF THE SUMMIT," 1894 334 + + 76. STUDY FOR "LACHRYMĘ," 1895 335 + Leighton House Collection. + + 77. "CLYTIE," 1896 336 + By kind permission of the FINE ART SOCIETY. + + 78. MEMORIAL MONUMENT IN ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL TO FREDERIC BARON + LEIGHTON OF STRETTON 340 + + 79. VIEW OF HALL AND STAIRCASE OF LEIGHTON HOUSE, GIVEN BY LORD + LEIGHTON'S SISTERS TO THE PUBLIC AS A MEMORIAL TO THEIR + BROTHER 340 + By kind permission of Mr. J. HARRIS STONE. + + + [Illustration: HEAD OF YOUNG GIRL + Wedding present from Lord Leighton to H.R.H. the Prince of + Wales, who has graciously allowed the painting to be reproduced + in this book] + + + + +THE LIFE OF LORD LEIGHTON + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +SIR WILLIAM RICHMOND, R.A., and Mr. Walter Crane have kindly +contributed the following notes:-- + + It was in 1860 that I first knew Leighton. We met over affairs + connected with the Artist Rifle Corps at Burlington House, and + afterwards at the studios of various artists, where discussions + took place regarding the formation and means of conduct of the + Corps. On several occasions I walked home with Leighton to his + house in Orme Square. + + I don't think I have ever known a man who grew more steadily + than Leighton did. The effort of his artistic life was to remove + the effects of a certain mannerism and over-education in his + early artistic life. His knowledge was wonderful, his powers of + design without immediate consultation with Nature were + phenomenal; he feared the facility in himself and went always to + Nature, that out of her manifold gifts he should be inspired + directly by them. And this constant study had its drawbacks as + well as its merits, because in one sense it stood in the way of + the development of an abstract power of invention. If ever an + artist made the most of his conscious abilities, Leighton did. + His character was so curiously simple on the one hand, and so + complicated on the other, that a balance between a very + emotional and extremely accurate temperament had to be found, + and it was found. How far a certain charm of spontaneity was + obscured a little, perhaps by erudition and a sort of + Aristotelian preciseness, it is not for me to say. There is in + all things a balance which, when once obtained, reduces the + weight in both scales. But we must take a life as it has been + made by circumstances, by early training and after influences; + and probably most men who are in earnest,--and Leighton was + pre-eminently in earnest,--find their proper issue finally. That + the best of Leighton's work will live, I am convinced; that it + will hold its own when a great deal of other work praised, + admired, even worshipped during the life of his contemporaries + shall be dead, I feel quite assured; and one may very justly be + asked--Why? The simple answer is that it was thorough, definite, + sincere, accomplished. Leighton never put out his hand towards + the limbo of vulgarity or fashion. Like Virgil, like + Mendelssohn, Leighton was a stylist, and his life's work showed + a perfection of attainment upon the lines which he drew out for + his progress almost to my thinking unrivalled in the work of any + of his contemporaries. Here and there he struck a deep note of + poetry, here and there he was like a Greek for his simplicity, + here and there his work shows the luxury of the Venetians, the + restraint of the Florentines, but never perhaps the majesty of + M. Angelo or the strong charm of Raphael. His art was eclectic; + still it was Leighton, and could have been done only as the + result of great natural gifts, assiduous study, force of + character, and, withal, independence of vision. His love of + beauty was his own personal love, not learnt, hardly perhaps + inherited, but spontaneous and lasting. This devotion to beauty + may have sometimes led his emotions away from character, which + sometimes is very nearly ugly as well as very nearly allied to + the highest beauty, which Bacon says has always something of + strangeness in it. The pursuit of beauty, _per se_, may be + purchased at the expense of character. + + But Leighton was always pulling himself up; and when he found + himself too facile, too ornate, he resolutely set his mind to + correct any tendency in that direction by fidelity to Nature, + sometimes even to her ugly movements. Excess was not in his + nature, which was curiously logical; his mind was swift, + far-seeing; in debate he was admirable, always seeing the weak + point of an argument at once, and "partie pris" was his + abomination. A man so gifted in the essence and laws of form, so + learned in the construction of the human frame, so deeply + sensitive to line and movement as well as to structure, surely + would have given to the world great works of sculpture. Indeed + he did, but not enough! One regrets that--still one must accept + the fact that form is but little cared for in this country, and + Leighton sinned by reason of his love of form; by many he was + called not a painter because he did not smear, did not trust to + accidents, did not leave works half done--because he was sincere + to his conviction that a work of art must be, to last, complete + "ad unguem." The present craze for incompleteness, for sketches + instead of pictures, for unripe instead of ripe fruit, must die + as all false notions die; the best, the rightest will live; and + when the present ephemeral fashion has worked itself out, the + nobility of Leighton's works, his best, are certain to take + their place in the estimation of those that know as surely as + that they are good. + + How many out of the multitude really, if we could test them, + care one jot for the Elgin Marbles, for the Demeter of Knidos, + for the vault of the Sistine Chapel?--very few. Really great + things never can be accepted by the commonplace. How should they + be? for to understand the highest in music, in architecture, + sculpture, or painting, the observer or listener must have a + spark in his constitution which is a portion of the flame that + burned white heat in the soul of the conceiver. How can such an + attitude of intimate sympathy belong to the many? It never has, + and probably never will. Great men are rare, and those who are + mentally or organically made to comprehend them are rare also. + The great can afford to wait because they are immortal. In all + one's dealings with Leighton what did one find? a noble nature, + restrained, charitable, in earnest; and if in many discussions + as to the desirability of certain events, certain compromises, + certain acts of conformity, one did not agree with Leighton, one + knew "au fond" that the attitude was quite logical, not hastily + arrived at, and the position taken up was to be strenuously + held: and it was that power of consistency which made Leighton + so trustworthy. He was fearless when his principles were + touched, he was loyal to his associates in the Academy even if + he did not see eye to eye with them, and he was loyal to his art + and to his friends. If Leighton had chosen politics for his + career he would probably have been Prime Minister, just as + Burne-Jones might have been Archbishop of Canterbury had he + continued his early and very remarkable theological studies. All + really great men have endless possibilities. It is more or less + chance which decides the direction of ability, which, once + discovered, forcibly, dominantly present, must find + opportunities for its highest development and achievement in the + tenure of the goal. It was ability and natural gifts that made + Leighton great, industry that nourished his greatness, and + stability to principle which made it lasting in his lifetime, + and must for all time stamp his work. The thing that really + engages one's interest about a great man is not so much his + "technique" as his general disposition and character, which + forms for itself a suitable "technique" by which his + achievements have been manifested. Should any one by-and-by + describe the "technique" of Joachim, the supreme violinist, he + would probably interest a few, but in reality he would say + nothing really valuable, excepting inasmuch as he touched upon + first principles. The "modus operandi" of an artist's life is + moulded by his personal aims, the means are those by which he + found his own way of stating them; and one doubts very much if, + after all, the points which differentiate one man's work from + another's are not those which have obliterated the conscious + efforts, preserving just the touches which genius gives beyond + and above all laws that may be learnt. Verse no doubt is much + dependent for its beauty on the system of the arrangement of + syllables, and the music they make when harmoniously handled + upon the final perfection which they reach, and so become + rule-making instead of being the result of rule-following. Hence + lies that unaccountable beauty which is the inexplicable result + of the ego--that taste, that selection, that special word which + creates an impression immediately, and which seems inimitable + even, and obviously the only one which could have been used; + that is style--the very essence of the ego which cannot be + copied, or indeed again brought into relation with the idea. And + isn't that the reason why the copy of a picture can never be + really like an original? even if the "technique" is identical, + it lacks that last touch, that last word which transcends + tradition, almost transcends thought, for it is just the thought + which has been summed up in a moment of inspiration, + uncalculated, spontaneous. Leighton was far too wise a man to + believe in the constant recurrence of inspirations: he knew that + the moment when the whole spirit is ready to act is involuntary; + he knew that to reach the supremacy of that moment, labour was + necessary; that in labour is the foundation of the building for + that moment of inspiration. One may question if the first vision + in Leighton was very strong--strong as Blake's, strong as many + artists whose powers of attainment were much less than + Leighton's, but whose vision was clearer at the outset. Rougher + minds than Leighton's have produced more epic effects, and a + ruder, less accomplished "technique" has borne with it more + original, more trenchant ideas. Leighton was not a mystic; he + dealt with thoughts which he embodied in forms that he saw, but + which he also made his own in their application; that was his + genius of originality. The rugged verse of Ęschylus had no place + in his temperament, much as he admired it; the polished diction + of Virgil bore more similitude to Leighton's inspiration. + Sometimes one missed in his work just the touch of the rugged + which would have given more grace by comparison, by contrast. + His grace of diction, his oratory, his writing, was sometimes + over-refined, and missed its mark by over-elaboration. The very + speciality of Leighton was completeness. One has seen pictures + in his study only half finished, which had a charm of freshness + that vanished as each portion became worked into equal value. + But that fastidiousness was his characteristic, it was part of + him; and therefore we must not deplore it. His originality was + exemplified by his power of taking pains, his power of will to + do his very best according to his guiding spirit of + thoroughness. Temperaments are so different. Whistler could not + be Leighton. Because we admire the one, it is not necessary to + decry the other; that is weak criticism, or rather none at all. + The spirit which inspires the impressionist is not the spirit of + design, but a limited observation in a very restricted area. We + can have the Academic as well as the Impressionist: both are + useful as foils to each other, and it is just as narrow of the + Impressionists to want all men to see nature and art as they see + them, as it has been for the Academics to see "nothing" in the + newer if more limited system. I believe that Leighton's real + love was early Italian art; all that came to him after was the + result of growth. His enthusiasm for Mino da Fiesole, for the + earlier Raphaels, for Duccio of Siena, for Lorenzetti, was + evident and absorbing; other enthusiasms were more branches from + the stem than its roots. He loved line; he found it there: he + loved restraint of action, pure sensuous beauty; he found it in + early Italian Art. The reserve of emotions touched him in Greek + Art--its suavity, its almost geometrical precision, the + tunefulness and melody of its rhythmical concords. His love of + music was on the same lines: Wagner never appealed to him as + Mozart did; it was too strenuous, too busy in changes of key, + too incomplete in the finish and development of phrases. It was + not that he liked dulness--not a bit; he was emotional, often + gay, often depressed--excitable even; but to him Art was an + intellectual more than a purely emotional system, and he liked + it to be finished, consistent, perfect--and those qualities he + strove for, without a doubt he obtained in a high measure. It + will be long before we see again the like of Frederic Leighton, + a man complete in himself. + + W.B. RICHMOND. + _June 1906._ + + * * * * * + + I first met Leighton about 1869 or '70, I think. I went to one + of his receptions at the Studio in Holland Park Road, at the + time he was showing his pictures for the Academy. I think his + principal work of that year was "Alcestis," or "Heracles + Wrestling with Death." About the same time Browning's poem of + "Balaustion's Adventure" appeared, in which he alludes to + Leighton and this very picture in the lines beginning: + + "I know a great Kaunian painter" + + (if I remember rightly). + + I availed myself of a friend's introduction, and presented + myself. One recalls the courteous and princely way in which he + received his guests on these occasions, and the crushes he had + at his studio--Holland Park Road blocked with carriages, and all + the great ones of the London world flocking to see the artist's + work. + + About this time, or shortly before, he had done me the honour to + purchase two landscape studies I had made in Wales from among a + number in a book, which was shown him by my early friend George + Howard (now Earl of Carlisle), and I remember his kind words in + sending me what he deemed "the very modest price" I had asked + for them. + + His kindness to students and young artists was well known. He + would take trouble to go and see their work, and he was always + an admirable and helpful critic. + + I remember, on my first visit to Rome in the autumn of 1871 (on + our marriage tour), going into Piali's Library one evening to + look at the English papers. No one was there, but presently + Leighton came in. He did not remember me at first, but I + recalled myself to him. He was very kind, in his princely way, + and gave me introductions to W.W. Storey, the sculptor, and his + great friend, Giov. Costa, and he called at our rooms to see my + work, in which he showed much interest. In a letter I had, dated + March 1st, 1872, written from the Athenęum Club, he speaks of + some drawings I had sent to the Dudley Gallery, one he had seen + on my easel in Rome, and he says: "I have seen your drawings, + all three--one was an old friend; of the other two, the 'Grotto + of Egeria,' with its 'sacrum numes,' most attracted me through + its refined and sober harmony. _The quality of your light_ is + always particularly agreeable to me, and not less than usual in + these drawings"; he goes on to say he is glad to hear I have + "made friends with my excellent Costa, who as an artist is one + in hundreds, and as a man one in thousands"; he adds, "Have you + sketched in the 'Valley of Poussin'? It strikes me that old + castle would take you by storm." + + I saw Leighton again in Rome in 1873, meeting him on the + Palatine, among the ruins of the Palace of the Cęsars. He was + with a lady who, I believe, was the author of the story + published in _The Cornhill_, "A Week in a French Country House," + for which Leighton made an illustration. (His black and white + work was always very fine, and I recall seeing some of his + drawings on the wood for Dalziel's Bible and "Romola.") + + Later, he came to see us when we settled in London, in Wood + Lane. + + I had further relations with him about the time he was building + the Arab Hall, when (through George Aitcheson, his architect) I + designed the mosaic frieze. On some sketches I made for this he + writes: "Cleave to the Sphinx and Eagle, they are + _delightful_--I don't like the duck-women." With regard to these + Arab Hall mosaics, he said that he hoped to have more, and + eventually "to let us loose (Burne-Jones and myself) on the + dome." + + After this, I saw something of Leighton on the committee of the + South London Fine Art Gallery, Peckham, in its earlier days, + when he was chairman, and helped to pilot the institution from + the somewhat exacting proprietorship of its founder towards its + ultimate position as a public institution. + + From the aristocratic point of view, he certainly had a keen + sense of public duty, and probably laid the motto "Noblesse + oblige" to heart. + + I met him again at the Art Conference at Liverpool, when a + trainful of artists of all ranks went down together, and some + notable attacks were made on the Royal Academy. Leighton was + tremendously loyal to that institution, which I notice is always + stoutly defended by its members, whatever opinions they may have + expressed while outsiders. + + I suppose we differed profoundly on most questions, but he was + always most courteous, and, whatever our public opinions, we + always maintained friendly personal relations; and I may say I + always entertained the highest admiration for Leighton's + qualities, both as an artist and as a man. + + At the time when the election for the presidency of the Academy + was in view (after the death of Sir Francis Grant), it was said + that Leighton was the _only_ man, and that if they did not elect + him the institution would go to pieces; but probably as + president he had less power of initiative than before. + + I remember, after one of our committees at his studio, he drove + me home to Holland Street in his victoria; and as he set me down + at my door, he pointed to a little copper lantern I had put up + over the steps, and said, "Is that Arts and Crafts?" + + His fondness for Italy was well known, and I think he went every + autumn. I recall meeting him at Florence in 1890, while staying + at the delightful villa of Mrs. Ross (Poggio Gherardo), when he + came to luncheon. + + In death he was as princely as in life; and on the day of his + burial at St. Paul's I was moved to write the following as a + tribute to his memory, which will always be vivid in the hearts + of those who had the privilege of his friendship:-- + + Beneath great London's dome to his last rest + The princely painter have ye borne away, + Who still in death upholds his sumptuous sway; + Who strove in life with learned skill to wrest + Art's priceless secret hid in Beauty's breast + With alchemy of colour and of clay, + To recreate a fairer human day, + Touched by no shadow of our time distrest. + + What rank or privilege needs art supreme-- + Immortal child of buried states and powers-- + Who can for us the golden age renew? + Let worth and work bear witness when life's hours + Are numbered: honour due, when, as we deem, + To his ideal was the artist true. + + WALTER CRANE. + + [Illustration: "EUCHARIS." 1863 + By permission of Mrs. Stephenson Clarke] + + * * * * * + +Having settled in England in 1860, Leighton found that there, contrary +to his expectations, his sense of colour became developed; and with +this his individuality as a _painter_ asserted itself. Between the +years 1863 and 1866 he painted pictures which proved that, as a +distinct artificer in painting, he had found himself, and was no +longer under the controlling influences of German or Italian Art, +though, unfortunately, hints of German methods in the actual +manipulation of his brush clung more or less to his painting to the +end. From boyhood Leighton's power of designing, his sense of beauty +in line and form and of dramatic feeling, his extraordinary facility +in drawing with the point, proved his genius as an artist; but it was +not till the early sixties that his pictures proved him to be +possessed of individual distinction as a painter, probably because the +method of handling the brush associated with the teaching which, in +other respects, commanded his reverence and admiration, were alien to +his finest artistic sense. No later works are to be found more notable +in luminous quality of painting than "Eucharis," 1863, and "Golden +Hours," 1864; none in strength and solidity of texture, or in beauty +of distinguished handling, than "A Noble Lady of Venice," about 1865; +none in richness of arrangement combined with the fair aerial +atmosphere appropriate to a Grecian scene, for which Leighton had so +native a sympathy, than "A Syracusan Bride Leading Wild Beasts in +Procession to the Altar of Diana," 1866.[1] Later works may claim a +greater public prominence among his achievements, but for actual +individuality and feeling for the beauty which appealed most strongly +to Leighton in colour as in form, none he painted after evinced any +fresh departure. + + [Illustration: "A NOBLE LADY OF VENICE." 1866 + By permission of Lord Armstrong] + +As early as 1852, at the age of twenty-one, Leighton wrote to Steinle +from Venice: "I must candidly confess that great as my admiration for +Titian (& Co.) was, yet the well-known art treasures here have seized +me and entranced me anew. You, dear master, are so familiar with all +these things that there is nothing I can write you about them; but on +one point I am fairly clear, namely, that the admirers and imitators +of Titian (particularly the latest) seek his charms quite in the wrong +place, and I am convinced that the impressiveness of his painting lies +far less in the ardour of his colouring than in the stupendous +accuracy and execution of the modelling." In another letter to Steinle +he refers to the necessity of mastering the capacities of the brush in +order to render form in a complete manner independently of the +function of the brush to render colour. + + "Those who place the brush behind the pencil, under the pretence + that _form_ is before all things, make a very great mistake. + Form _is certainly all important_; one cannot study it enough; + _but_ the greater part of _form_ falls within the province of + the tabooed _brush_. The everlasting hobby of _contour_ (which + belongs to the drawing material) is first the _place_ where the + _form_ comes in; what, however, reveals true knowledge of form, + is a powerful, organic, refined finish of modelling, full of + feeling and knowledge--and that is the affair of the brush + (_Pinsel_)." + +In January 1860 Leighton wrote to Steinle: "You will perhaps be +surprised, but, in spite of my fanatic preference for colour I +promised myself to be a draughtsman before I became a colourist," and +in fact Leighton was fighting, throughout his whole career, against +allowing the sensuous qualities in his art to override those which the +teaching of Steinle had proved to his nature to be the most truly +elevating and ennobling. Up to the age of thirty he had been +overshadowed by the influence of others in the matter of actual +technique in painting. From the time he settled in London he freed +himself from the tutelage of all masters. As we have read in his +letters, his intention was to do so in 1856 when he painted "The +Triumph of Music;" but at that time he failed in finding his real self +in his painting of that picture, and fully realised that he must +_reculer pour mieux sauter_, returning in the autumn of that year to +Rome to be fed by the greatest art of the past, and to study again, +"face to face with Nature--to follow it, to watch it, and to copy, +closely, faithfully, ingenuously--as Ruskin suggests, choosing nothing +and rejecting nothing." The studies of a Pumpkin Flower (Meran), +Branch of Vine (Bellosquardo), Cyclamen (Tivoli), reproduced in +Chapter III., and others, were made during this autumn of 1856. + +In a letter written to Mr. M. Spielmann, a few years before his death, +Leighton describes the procedure he pursued in accomplishing a serious +work. + + "In my pictures,--which are above all decorations in the real + sense of the word,--the design is a pattern in which every line + has its place and its proper relation to other lines, so that + the disturbing of one of them, outside certain limits, would + throw the whole out of gear. Having thus determined my picture + in my mind's eye, in the majority of cases I make a sketch in + black and white chalk upon brown paper to fix it. In the first + sketch the care with which the folds have been broadly arranged + will be evident, and if it be compared with the finished + picture, the very slight degree in which the general scheme has + been departed from will convince the spectator of the almost + scientific precision of my line of action. But there is a good + reason for this determining of the draperies before the model is + called in; and it is this. The nude model, no matter how + practised he or she may be never moves or stands or sits, in + these degenerate days, with exactly the same freedom as when + draped; action or pose is always different--not so much from a + sense of mental constraint as from the unusual liberty + experienced by the limbs to which the muscular action invariably + responds when the body is released from the discipline and + confinement of clothing. + + "The picture having been thus determined, the model is called + in, and is posed as nearly as possible in the attitude desired. + As nearly as possible, I say; for, as no two faces are exactly + alike, so no two models ever entirely resemble one another in + body or muscular action, and cannot, therefore, pose in such a + manner as exactly to correspond with either another model or + another figure--no matter how correctly the latter may be drawn. + From the model make the careful outline on brown paper, a true + transcript from life, which may entail some slight corrections + of the original design in the direction of modifying the + attitude and general appearance of the figure. This would be + rendered necessary probably by the bulk and material of the + drapery. So far, of course, my attention is engaged exclusively + by 'form,' colour being always treated more or less ideally. The + figure is now placed in its surroundings, and established in + exact relation to the canvas. The result is the first true + sketch of the entire design, figure, and background, and is + built up of the two previous ones. It must be absolutely + accurate in the distribution of spaces, for it has subsequently + to be 'squared off' on to the canvas, which is ordered to the + exact scale of the sketch. At this moment, the design being + finally determined, the sketch in oil colours is made. It has + been deferred till now, because the placing of the colours is, + of course, of as much importance as the harmony. This done, the + canvas is for the first time produced, and thereon I enlarge the + design, re-draw the outline--and never departing a + hair's-breadth from the outlines and forms already obtained--and + then highly finishing the whole figure in warm monochrome from + the life. Every muscle, every joint, every crease is there, + although all this careful painting is shortly to be hidden with + the draperies; such, however, is the only method of insuring + absolute correctness of drawing. The fourth stage completed, I + return once more to my brown paper, re-copy the outline + accurately from the picture, on a larger scale than before, and + resume my studies of draperies in greater detail and with still + greater precision, dealing with them in sections, as parts of a + homogeneous whole. The draperies are now laid with infinite care + on to the living model, and are made to approximate as closely + as possible to the arrangement given in the first sketch, which, + as it was not haphazard, but most carefully worked out, must of + necessity be adhered to. They have often to be drawn piecemeal, + as a model cannot by any means always retain the attitude + sufficiently long for the design to be wholly carried out at one + cast.[2] This arrangement, is effected with special reference to + painting--that is to say, giving not only form and light and + shade, but also the relation and 'values' of tones. The + draperies are drawn over, and made to conform exactly to the + forms copied from the nudes of the underpainted picture. This is + a cardinal point, because in carrying out the picture the folds + are found fitting mathematically on to the nude, or nudes, first + established on the canvas. The next step then is to transfer the + draperies to the canvas on which the design has been squared + off, and this is done with flowing colour in the same monochrome + as before over the nudes, to which they are intelligently + applied, and which nudes must never--mentally at least--be lost + sight of. The canvas has been prepared with a grey tone, lighter + or darker, according to the subject in hand, and the effect to + be produced. The background and accessories being now added, the + whole picture presents a more or less completed + aspect--resembling that, say, of a print of any warm tone. In + the case of draperies of very vigorous tone, a rich flat local + colour is probably rubbed over them, the modelling underneath + being, though thin, so sharp and definite as to assert itself + through this wash. Certain portions of the picture might + probably be prepared with a wash of flat tinting of a colour + the opposite of that which it is eventually to receive. A blue + sky, for instance, would possibly have a soft, ruddy tone spread + over the canvas--the sky, which is a very definite and important + part of my compositions, being as completely drawn in monochrome + as any other of the design; or, for rich blue mountains a strong + orange wash or tint might be used as a bed. The structure of the + picture being thus absolutely complete, and the effect + distinctly determined by a sketch which it is my aim to equal in + the big work, I have nothing to think of but colour, and with + that I now proceed deliberately, but rapidly." + +So far Leighton explained the conscious processes he went through in +creating his pictures; but does this explanation record truly the real +agencies which brought about the result we see in his finest +achievements? I should say no,--most emphatically no. Where we can +trace the sign of these processes, there the picture fails in the +power of convincing. No such process produced "Eucharis" nor the +"Syracusan Bride." The process may have been gone through in painting +the procession, but it is obliterated by touches instinct with a true +painter's inspiration. All _teachable_ qualities Leighton could +_teach_ on the lines of soundest principles. His extreme modesty left +others to find out that where his preaching left off the real work +began in his own pictures. No one knew better than Leighton that no +theoretic knowledge ever made an artist; no teachable processes ever +made a beautiful picture; no one knew better that head without heart +never produced any work that was truly cared for. + +"God forgive me if I am intolerant," he wrote to Steinle, "but +according to my view an artist must produce his art out of his own +heart; or he is none." + + "The chord that wakes in kindred hearts a tone, + Must first be tuned and vibrate in your own" + +were the words with which he ended his first address to the students +of the Royal Academy. + +In the world's estimate of things and people, classification plays at +times a pernicious part. Classification in art matters may be tolerated +as useful only in the education of the non-artistic. Invariably the +most convincing touches escape the possibility of being reduced to so +dull a process of reckoning. Art marked by individual spontaneity, +emanating from the ego of the artificer, refuses to be levelled down +into a class. Critics seem at times to be strongly tempted to fit an +artist's achievements into certain classes, because they have +previously made up their minds as to the class the work belongs to. +Hence the perversion often of even an intelligent critic's estimate: +certain squarenesses exist which will not fit into round holes, so, for +the sake of classification, the corners must be shaved off. Surely no +artist ever existed who evaded being comfortably fitted into either a +square or a round hole more completely than did Leighton. Every serious +work he undertook was an entirely separate performance from any +previous invention--a new venture throughout--and, once decided on, +carried through with absolute conformity to the original conception. +Therefore any classification, beyond his mere method of working, is +more sterile in producing a just estimate of Leighton's art than of +those workers who are in the habit of painting pictures in which the +same motive recurs. Essentially original in his conceptions as in his +aims, and vibrating with receptiveness, he sounded nevertheless every +impression he received by unchanging principles adhered to as implicit +guides. He had within him at once the steadiest rock as a foundation, +and the most fertile of serial growths on the surface. Abiding rock and +surface flora alike had had their earliest nurture, it must be +remembered, in foreign parts, under other skies than that of our veiled +English light--under other influences of nature and of art than that of +our English climate and schooling--and it is partly owing to this fact +that it is not realised by those who have never seen nature under the +aspects which most delighted him, that Leighton's conceptions were +directly and invariably inspired by nature. Those who are conversant +with Italy and other Southern countries will possess the key to much +that is misjudged by others in Leighton's work. Scenes which entranced +his sensibilities as a boy, and, lingering ever in his fancy, gave +subjects for his paintings when his art was mature, may appear to one +without special knowledge of the South as mere echoes of classic art. +When he was thirty-one Leighton exhibited the picture "Lieder ohne +Worte."[3] It is no record, probably, of any particular place, nor of +any particular fountain; but when strolling on a road in or near a +southern town or village in Italy, a view which might originally have +inspired the motive may be seen at any moment. Encased in a wall near +Albano is a fountain which certainly recalled to me the picture as, in +the bright light of a May morning, the song of nightingales in the +grand foliage of overhanging magnolia trees echoed the sound of the +water springing from the glistening lip, and flowing over the clean +curve of the marble basin into the trough below. There was the same +lion's head which served as spout, the same arrangement of ornament +encircling it; also a finely shaped pitcher placed below to catch the +water, and--more recalling than any detail--was the echo of the real +motive of the picture--the dream-like poetry of the sunlit scene, with +the musical accompaniment of trickling water. Had Leighton painted a +Discobolus, it would probably never have occurred to most English +critics that nature and living action had inspired the work. Above the +lake of Albano is a road--"the Upper Gallery"--where every day are to +be met men playing the game. Any one watching it may see repeated over +and over again the action in the well-known statue. Nature inspired the +creations of the great ancients, and it was also invariably first-hand +impressions from nature that inspired Leighton's creations, whatever +superstructure of learning he added in the course of their development. +Living in Italy when his feelings were most sensitive to impressions, +the origin of the suggestions he imbibed is to be found in her +atmosphere, colouring, and the scenes which surrounded him when his +imagination was most free and fertile. Later, when he lived in England, +his travels in Italy and Greece supplied him with the subjects for the +most beautiful sketches he made direct from nature. No one, I believe, +has ever painted the luminous quality of white, as it is seen under +heated sunlight in the South, with the same charm as Leighton. The +sketches he made of buildings in Capri[4] are quite marvellously true +in their rendering of such effects. He made equally beautiful studies +of mountains and sea, under the rarefied atmosphere of Greece. He +seemed always happiest, I think, when the key of his pictures and +sketches was light and sunlit; in such pictures, for instance, as +"Winding the Skein," "Greek Girls Picking up Shells by the Seashore," +"Bath of Psyche," "Invocation," and others remarkable for their +fairness and their light, pure tone. + +Leighton's sympathies were adverse to the more sensuous qualities in +painting. Often, in discussing the works by Watts, he would strongly +discourage those who were, he considered, unduly influenced by the +charm of the great painter's quality and texture, from endeavouring to +aim at it in their own work. Such a treatment, Leighton maintained, +might be legitimate as the natural expression of the intuitive genius +of one gifted individual, but was not the treatment to copy by the +student on account of any intrinsic merit. He had almost an aversion +to any process which obtained effects through roughness and inequality +of surface. His genuine youthful predilection, which he retained +consistently throughout his life, was for the early Italian art and +Italian method of painting _al fresco_. "To see the old Florentine +school again is a thing which always enchants me anew, for one can +never be sated with seeing the noble sweetness, the child-like +simplicity, allied with high manly feeling, which breathes in it. But +I speak to you of plain things which you know far better than +I."--(Letter to Steinle from Florence, 1857.) + + [Illustration: GREEK GIRLS PICKING UP SHELLS BY THE SEASHORE. 1871 + By permission of The Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain] + +After Leighton became President of the Royal Academy he made Perugia +his halting-place for some weeks during his autumn travels, while he +wrote his biennial discourses for the students. He invariably stayed +at the well-known Brufani Hotel,--Mrs. Brufani, with whom he made +great friends, always reserving the same two rooms for him, from the +windows of which he could watch the sun set behind the glorious piles +of Umbrian mountains to the west of Perugia. From these windows he +also made sketches in silver point of the distant ranges, each form +modelled with exquisite delicacy and perfection, though in faintest +tones. Other inmates of the Brufani supposed he lived in his two +rooms, as he was seldom seen elsewhere in the hotel; but Leighton had +found a restaurant which, like his old quarters in Rome--the _Café +Greco_--was the resort of the artists living in Perugia. There he +would lunch, and then repair to the Sala del Cambio. Sitting on the +raised seat near the window, he would, day after day, spend an hour or +more revelling in the beauty of the frescoes by Perugino. Then he +would mount to the Pinacoteca and take a deep draught of enjoyment +from the tempera paintings of Perugino's master, Benedetto Bonfiglio, +Leighton's favourite of favourites ("They are all my _Bonfigli_!" he +would exclaim), whose angels' aureoles rest on wreaths of roses, and +whose lovely work Perugia seems to have monopolised. The old paintings +of Martino, Gentile da Fabiano, Pietro da Foligno, and their +followers Leighton also loved, likewise the later work of Bernardino +Pinturicchio and Lo Spagna, pupils with Raphael of Perugino. Among his +greatest favourites were the painted banners--the _Gonfalone_--which +are peculiar to the Umbrian cities. He loved the freshness of their +quality--the result of a first painting never retouched--the masterly +ease of the workmanship, full of tender, gracious beauty. These days +were Leighton's real holidays, where, in rapturous admiration of the +art he loved so profoundly, he put behind him for the time the weight +of official responsibility, and the no less exhausting social duties +of his life. + +Had Leighton been able to devote himself to the method of painting in +fresco, and to work in a warm, dry climate, which admits of painting +into the wet surface of plaster without danger of the wall retaining +the moisture, he would, undoubtedly, have felt a freer impulse to work +rapidly and more spontaneously than when his touch was controlled by +the complicated procedures in oil painting. In the process of painting +_al fresco_, colour, in a sense, models itself--its absorption into the +wet plaster softening the edges of one touch into another; hence, over +a first painting no half obliteration is necessary, and any elaborate +finish is avoided. Being obliged to complete before the plaster was +dry, Leighton could not have yielded to the temptation to over-refine +his surface; and his splendid power as a draughtsman, allied to his +sense of beauty, would have found a perfectly spontaneous, happy +utterance. As a boy he had imbibed one great principle, and from this +principle he never deviated. He wrote, "The thoroughness of all the +great masters is so pervading a quality that I look upon them all as +forming one aristocracy." In his sketches alone did Leighton relax from +the strain which absolute thoroughness involves; and then, in all the +fervour of ęsthetic inspiration, colour would fly on canvas, chalk or +paper, with a charm of quality and exquisite grace of line and form +which, as Mr. Briton Rivičre remarks, is the very best that can be +obtained from a great artist thoroughly trained, but which condition +Leighton would never admit into what he considered his serious work. He +writes to his father from Rome, January 1853: "I was deeply impressed +with the glorious works of art I saw in Venice and Florence, and was +particularly struck with the exquisitely _elaborate_ finish of most of +the leading works by _whatever_ master; the highest possible finish +combined with the greatest possible breadth and grandeur of disposition +in the principal masses. Art with the old masters was full of love, +refined,--sterling." Leighton formed his standard from these old +masters, and never for a moment allowed his standard to be replaced by +another. In certain types of Englishmen chivalric loyalty develops at +times into obstinacy. Leighton, with all his passion for Italy, his +artistic sensitiveness, his excitability, his finely wrought nervous +temperament, and his intense power of sympathy, had also in his blood +something of the old English Tory, which made him adhere and remain +loyal to the strongest impressions of his youth. Catholic and generous +as he always proved himself to be when it was a question of considering +the work of others, when he was considering his own he ever maintained +absolute consistency with the tenets of his early illuminations. +Speaking of his extraordinary sense of duty and the consequent tension +involved, Mr. Briton Rivičre writes:-- + + "No doubt the constant wear and tear occasioned by the perpetual + strain of mental and physical watchfulness did much to shorten + his life; I think it sometimes injured his own work as an + artist, because, though a great artist can never be evolved + except by years of patient work and strenuous effort to do his + very best always, yet, on the other hand, it is often the happy, + easy work and absolutely spontaneous effort of the moment by + such a hand which is his very best. Such happy, easy work + probably Leighton would seldom allow himself to do, and never + would leave at the right moment, but would still strive to make + better and more complete. He must still elaborate it and try to + make it more perfect; and this it was that made his enthusiastic + admirer Watts sometimes say, 'How much finer Leighton's work + would be if he would admit the accidental into it.'" + +A fact, little suspected by the public, certainly affected the element +of strength in some of Leighton's works. Besides often suffering from +a positive want of health, his normal physical condition was far from +robust; and, as appears in his letters, he suffered much through +weakness and irritation in the eyes from the time he was a boy. He did +not wear his physical (or any other) distress on his sleeve, and +experienced many hindrances in his work never dreamt of, even by his +intimate acquaintances. These might not have been so serious had he +been willing to sacrifice all other duties in life to his own special +vocation; but though he realised that Art, the language of beauty, was +his main passion, his conscience would not allow him to make this +passion an excuse for avoiding help to his generation on other lines, +if he distinctly felt he could do so. In the happiest of surroundings, +with his life unburdened by public responsibilities, he painted +"Cimabue's Madonna"; and, for pure vigour in the manipulation, this +painting has a robust quality which is scarcely to be found in any +other of the larger works which followed, though these may possess +many other virtues, and evince a more definite individuality, than +does the early work. + +Leighton's art appeals to the artists (comparatively few in England) +possessed of cosmopolitan culture--also to many who love beauty, a +sense of refined distinction in feeling and in form and in the +arrangement of line. Beyond these it appeals also to the great public +outside the radius of specialists, a public which is impressed by a +sense of beauty and achievement without possessing the knowledge of +experts. It is not much cared for by the disciples of either of the +latest schools in England, and in France, which have governed fashion +in the matter of taste for the last twenty years. In the first place, +it appeals but little to those to whom the highest province of art +appears to consist in conveying didactic sentiments and poetic ideas +through a language of form and colour--to suggest thought to the brain +rather than beauty to the eye. Respecting this theory of the province +of art, Leighton expresses himself clearly in his second address to +the Royal Academy students in December 1881:-- + + "Now the language of Art is not the appointed vehicle of ethic + truths; of these, as of all knowledge as distinct from emotion, + though not necessarily separated from it, the obvious and only + fitted vehicle is speech, written or spoken--words, the symbols + of ideas. The simplest spoken homily, if sincere in spirit and + lofty in tone, will have more direct didactic efficacy than all + the works of all the most pious painters and sculptors from + Giotto to Michael Angelo; more than the Passion music of Bach, + more than a Requiem by Cherubini, more than an Oratorio of + Handel. + + "It is not, then, it cannot be the foremost duty of Art to seek + to embody that which it cannot adequately present, and to enter + into a competition in which it is doomed to inevitable defeat." + +That so great a painter as Watts should have taken a contrary view, +and preached this contrary view as that which inspired his own +_conscious_ aims, was quite sufficient to secure to it many adherents. +He preached his doctrine, moreover, with a most convincing argument, +but one which cannot logically be used in favour of it, namely, his +own great genius as a _painter_. Watts was essentially a +_painter_--one who at his best ranks with the best painters of all +times. + +Mr. Arthur Symons, writing on "The Psychology of Watts,"[5] quotes a +popular preacher who affirmed that "Critics who approach his (Watts') +work from the side of technical excellence do not interest him at all. +His endeavour has been to make his pictures as good as works of art as +was possible to him, for fear that they should fail altogether in +their appeal; but, beyond that, their excellence as mere pictures is +nothing to him." "Now," writes Mr. Symons, "it is quite possible that +Watts may have really said or written something of the kind; he may +even, when he set himself down to think, have thought it. The +conscious mental processes of an artist have often little enough +relation with his work as art; by no means is every artist a critic as +well as an artist. But to take a great painter at his word, if he +assures you that the excellence of his pictures 'as mere pictures' is +nothing to him; to suppose seriously that at the root of his painting +was not the desire to paint; to believe for a moment that great +pictorial work has ever been done except by those who were painters +first, and everything else afterwards, is to confuse the elementary +notions of things, hopelessly and finally. And so, when we are told +that the technical excellence of Watts' pictures is of little +consequence, we can but answer that to the 'painter of earnest +truths,' as to all painters, nothing can be of more consequence; for +it is only through this technical excellence that 'Hope,' or 'The +Happy Warrior,' or 'Love and Life,' is to be preferred to the picture +leaflet which the district missionary distributes on his way through +the streets." + +All who knew Watts intimately and watched him working day by day can +testify that he spared no labour, time, or patience, in working over +and over on a picture in order to attain the finest quality in the +actual surface which his material--paint--could possibly produce. + +Neither the disciples of the original brotherhood of the +pre-Raphaelites nor those of Burne-Jones care, as a rule, for +Leighton's art. Though starting as one with the pre-Raphaelites, +Burne-Jones, possessing a remarkably fine intellect, a subtle fancy, a +rich inventiveness in the detail of design, an exquisite sense of +grace, and great genius as a colourist, developed so distinct an +individuality that his followers cannot be precisely identified with +those of the pre-Raphaelites. Leighton fully appreciated the genius of +Burne-Jones, and did all in his power to secure his adherence to the +Academy; but he had no sympathy for that feeling in art evinced by +Burne-Jones' followers, which is so essentially rooted in purely +personal moods that even distortion of the human frame is condoned, so +long as prominence is given to the suggestion of such moods. + +Imbued with a rare, peculiar refinement all its own, a kind of +ęsthetic creed sprang up in the later days of the nineteenth century +apart from the arid soil of commonplace respectability and tasteless +materialism. Burne-Jones painted it, Kate Vaughan danced it, +Maeterlinck wrote it, the "Souls" (rather unsuccessfully) attempted to +live it, the humourists caricatured it, the Philistines denounced it +as morbid and unwholesome. Leighton was tolerant and amused, but could +not be very solemn over it. And, assuredly, already this creed has +been whisked away into the past by fashions diametrically opposed to +it in character. Its text may be found in Melisande's reiterated +refrain, "I am not happy"--though the unhappiness does not seem ever +to have been of the nature of the iron which entered into the soul, +but rather the shadow of sadness, adopted with the idea that such a +condition betokens a more rare and tender grace than the radiance of +joy can give. Every mood of the subjective has been lately in fashion +in ęsthetic circles, and is still rampant in much of the up-to-date +(or down-to-date, as it may be) conditions of the present taste. This +is probably consequent on the leadership of those artists who +possessed not only genius and sense of beauty, but a peculiar charm of +texture in their work which seems a native adjunct to certain +temperaments. It is a purely personal manner, and crops up without +reference apparently to any special school of art. In Sodoma we find +it allied to a development of the splendid completeness of Italian +Art; again in the Celt, Watts, to a lofty imagination and to a +Pheidian sensibility for noble form; it appears in the work of the +Jew, Simeon Solomon; and is an element in Burne-Jones' lovely quality +of painting especially noticeable in his water-colour drawings--and, +on a smaller scale of workmanship, in the pictures by Pinwell. It is +more a matter of quality than of colour, and yet it is only colourists +who have possessed it--most obviously, however, where the key of +colour is restrained almost to monochrome. A hint of it can be found +in Tintoretto's paintings, where few positive tints are prominent, as +in some of the ceiling paintings in the Ducal Palace at Venice. There +is a something which this special handling suggests which possesses a +very subtle charm, the charm of dreamland,--less tangible, less real +than direct appeals from nature. A slight mystery seems to veil the +vision like a reflection swayed by the surface of the water. It is +less explicit than any real object, and only suggests completion +without quite achieving it; there is something left out from the +aspect of nature, something added from the ego of the artist. There +are those to whom such a treatment suggests a deeper truth than can +any wholly explicit expression, because they feel forcibly that +mystery is the soul of all earthly conditions--"we see through a glass +darkly." There are others--and Leighton was among these--who are so +strongly imbued with a sense of the wonderful and marvellous in actual +creation that they need no art, no veiled suggestion of the hidden, +in order to realise that our lives are wrapped in mystery from the +cradle to the grave. This quality in painting alluded to, fits in with +that taste in literature which prefers hints to assertions--that +insistency on the value of what is, after all, but a _fugitive_ phase +in special temperaments--that setting most value on the principle of +suggestion rather than of definition, of which we hear so much. The +devotees of Maeterlinck delight in the shadow of a thought rather than +the thought _arrźté_; they feel that a further stage of refined +culture is reached in worshipping a style you have to get somehow +behind, rather than one in which thoughts are fully and frankly +expressed. Doubtless it requires a more subtile weapon to catch the +fleeting aroma, the hint of a thought trembling in the brain and +giving it permanent existence in Art, than to carve the expression of +a complete idea explicitly with cameo-like precision, be it in the +form of words or a visual impression--the wise sayings of a Solomon or +a Bacon, the sculpture of a Pheidias or the painting of a Leonardo da +Vinci. The actual visible facts in the aspects of nature, which were +of such entrancing interest to Leighton, become of less and less +interest to the wide public as the human intelligence is trained more +and more through books, less and less through the eye; our modern +conditions making the world we live in, more and more ugly and +uninspiring to the echoing tune of nature within us. Even if we recede +into the depths of the country, we find the signs all round us of the +sense of beauty being deadened, the revulsion against ugliness having +ceased--corrugated iron supplanting thatched roofing, and the +loveliest, most rural spots in England year after year newly deprived +of some special charm they have possessed for centuries. Those who +seek for beauty have been led to find it in the unreal--the things +which might be, but are not. We cannot help it, but we certainly +become more artificial as our civilisation becomes more complicated, +and everything we see around us grows uglier. It is because the +general public has so little genuine interest in Art or love of +beauty, however great may be its professions, that the tendency has +developed to care for the art which appeals rather to the mind and the +ęsthetic sensibilities generally, than to the actual vision. + +This reign of the subjective has brought in its train the undue +monopolising of the world's most ardent interest in one passion. +French novels of great literary power secured to it the monopoly in +France, and magnates in ęsthetic culture have grafted it on to our +English taste. This strongest and most beautiful feeling in human +nature has been so monotonously forced upon us in literature _ą tort +et ą travers_--the assumption that this is the only feeling worth +serious consideration has been dwelt on with such a tiresome +pertinacity--it has been so often caricatured, so often debased in +books and pictures, that even the real thing itself runs a danger of +palling. This human passion may be the greatest, but it is not the +only great feeling with which the lives of men and women are enriched; +and surely the absorbing prominence which has been given to it +latterly in literature is out of proportion with its real position in +healthy lives. Little sympathy seems left for other deep and stirring +emotions. In Leighton's art we find no monopoly of this kind either +recorded or suggested. He painted the passion of lovers in the "Paolo +and Francesca," but with no more sincere interest than he did other +feelings; than, for instance, his fervent and reverent worship of art +in "Cimabue's Madonna," or in the ecstasy of joy in the child flying +into the embrace of her mother in "The Return of Persephone," or in +the exquisite tender feeling of Elisha breathing renewed life into the +Shunammite's son, or in that sense of rest and peace after struggle in +the lovely figure of "Ariadne" when Death releases her from her pain; +or in the yearning for that peace in the "King David": "Oh that I had +wings like a dove! for then would I fly away and be at rest." + +As the climax of nature's loveliest creations Leighton treated the +human form with a courageous purity. In his undraped figures there is +the same total absence of the mark of the degenerate as there is in +everything he did and was; no remote hint of any _double-entendre_ +veiled by ęsthetic refinement, any more than there is in the Bible, +the _Iliad_, or in the sculpture of Pheidias. + +To quote lines that were written about Leighton very shortly before +his death:-- + + "There is truly to be traced in the feeling of his art that + 'seal on a man's work of what is most inward and peculiar in his + moods'; the sign of individual intimate preferences and of the + moving power which certain aspects of beauty have had upon the + artist's innermost susceptibilities, though these may be + somewhat veiled and distanced by being translated through the + reserved form of a classic garb. Perhaps it is this reserve + which invests Sir Frederic Leighton's art with the special aroma + of poetry which Robert Browning found in it to a greater extent + than in any other work of his time.[6] Whether in his larger + compositions, in the complicated grouping of many figures, such + as the Cimabue picture being led in procession through the + streets of Florence, the 'Daphnephoria,' 'Heracles struggling + with Death,' the 'Andromache,' the 'Cymon and Iphigenia,' and + others; or those simpler compositions, such as the 'Summer + Moon,' 'Wedded,' 'The Mountain Summit,' 'The Music Lesson,' + 'Sister's Kiss,' in all can be traced the sentiment of a poet + inspiring the touch; not overriding by any assertiveness of + sentiment the complete scheme of the picture, but lingering here + and there with a wistful loveliness which has to be sought for + within the barriers of the formal classic design. And it is this + reticence in the expression of individual sentiment, this + subduing it to the larger conditions of a more abstract style + of art which, though it will never make Sir Frederic Leighton's + work directly popular, gives to it a quality of distinction. In + such reticence is an element of greatness which probably will + only be duly appreciated when the more transient moods of + thought in the present generation have passed. His work lacks + altogether the sentimental, brooding-over-self quality, which, + when allied to genius, is contagious, and gives an interest of a + subtle, but perhaps not altogether wholesome kind to some of the + best work of this era." + +And again after his death:-- + + "Beauty of every kind played on a very sensitive instrument, + when it made an appeal to his nature, giving him very positive + joy: no complication of subtle interest beyond the actual + influence being required before a responding echo was sounded, + because so pure and innocent was this joy he had in the charm of + beauty;--so also attendant on his personal influence, there was + no power of mesmerism, nor of the black arts. In every direction + it was healthy and bracing. Even a Nordau could have discovered + no remotest taint of the degenerate!" + +It is the emotions which art suggests outside itself which have been +viewed by one school as more interesting than art itself, and it is +the sensuous qualities in painting--colour and texture--which are the +visible agents, and convey more readily these suggestions of emotions +in our northern temperaments than do beautiful lines and forms. Our +northern temperaments also love symbolism and mysticism, therefore are +apt to favour the art that meets a veiled condition of things; and the +perfection of complete finish in nature's form is no longer held up as +a standard for the student to aim at. Leighton had no sympathy with +the artificial, neither had he any with the shadow put in the place of +the substance. The actual was ever sufficient for him, for in nature +herself he never failed to find sufficient inspiration. The mind of +the Creator in matter is what the ingenuous artist temperament +searches for and is inspired to record; whereas it is, on the one +hand, phases of human moods, selections from human passions, good, +bad, and indifferent, which are made to saturate the feeling in much +of our modern art, or, on the other hand, aspects of nature's moods +given without the framework of her structure, and without the detail +of her perfection. + +It may be argued, however, that there are among the most beautiful +effects in nature those which are not fully distinct to the sight--the +shimmering iridescence on a shell, where one colour is seen sparkling +against another through a film, or the waving branches of a willow, +the liquid shifting of a flowing stream, or the endless effects of +cloud and mist in a northern sky. To express this in paint requires an +appropriate treatment in the manipulation of the pigment itself. +Watts' theory was that you have to unfinish the record of certain +facts in order to render the truth of the whole fact (see also +Steinle's criticism on Leighton's head of "Vincenzo," 1854). He would, +therefore, film his painting over with a scumble of white, and only +partially repaint the surface, in order to get at that whole truth +which includes the bloom of atmosphere and the veil of northern mists. +Leighton is thought at times to have erred on the side of +explicitness, and the texture of his surface is apt undoubtedly to +lack the vibrating quality which carries with it a beauty of its own. +This is partly accounted for by the fact that he had imbibed the +rudiments of his teaching in a school whose followers were not +sensitive to the finest qualities in oil painting, but also probably +from his extreme desire to give expression to his sense of the intense +finish in nature. + +Doctrinaires of the very latest fashion in art insist that nothing +comes legitimately within the province of the pictorial, except the +impression of nature transmitted to the physical organ detached from +memory, experience, and mind. By this faction the eye is treated +solely as a machine. Sound as may be the doctrine that art has +nothing to do with what the eye cannot see, or with those facts which +experience alone teaches us are there, it is also no less true that +the human eye sees, according to its intuitive power of transmitting +to the brain, the different component parts of the actual object of +its vision. It was no knowledge of anatomy which enabled Pheidias to +see every subtilty of form in the human figure with consummate +insight--any more than it was a knowledge of the laws of the flow and +ebb of the tides, which enabled Whistler to give an actual sense of +the swaying surface of the waves in "Valparaiso Bay"; again, it was no +knowledge of botany which enabled Leighton and Millais to reproduce +the structure of plants so perfectly, that they evoked unmitigated +admiration as botanical studies from so high an authority on botany as +Sir W.C. Thistleton Dyer. We may be told that what we really see is +only the relation of tone, of light and shadow; but the fact that the +architecture of the whole visible world, the meaning-full construction +of all things that nature builds, is being constantly realised by our +sight, makes the truth of this theory at least doubtful. That our eye +cannot discern these natural objects without light goes without +saying; further, that light and shadow shape the forms to be rendered +by the brush is also true: but the assertion that what we see is only +light and shade playing upon form, is shutting the door on another +equally obvious truth. The eye, gifted with a natural sense of form, +records ingenuously to the brain the sense of projecting and receding +planes, the foreshortening of masses, the straightness, slant, or +curve in a surface or in a line. A complete and exhaustive result may +be achieved in a painting through this sense of form, as in the work +of Van Eycke and of Leonardo da Vinci; or a shorthand record may be +made, as in that of Phil May's sketches. But we feel that in both the +sense of the whole form has been felt. However, volumes would not +exhaust the arguments for and against the so-called impressionist's +view of art; so-called--but surely a term unfortunate and misleading, +and in nowise explanatory. Every touch a true artist ever puts upon +canvas is a record of an impression--whether that impression comprises +the structure, light and shade, true colour and tone, all +combined,--or only certain surface qualities extracted from its +entirety and enforced so that the most obvious appearances start into +relief, giving doubtless a sense of vitality to a work, but remaining +nevertheless only a partial record of the object. Needless to say, +Leighton sought to record his impressions of nature in their entirety, +and this necessitated a balancing of their component attributes. The +startling element is never found in his art. + +He viewed the influence of art as one which should perfect the life of +every class; should purify in all directions the debasing elements of +materialism and self-interest; should put zest and gratitude into the +hearts of all men and women who can see and feel, by awakening a sense +of the perfection and beauty of nature, art forming an explanatory and +illuminating link between her and mankind--a translation of her +perfection transmitted with all reverence by the artificer;--a +perfecting beautiful pinnacle in the erection and development of a +noble human being. + +No words could better describe Leighton's high endeavour in training +his own mind and those whom he tried to influence, than the following, +written by Lord Acton and quoted by his friend, Sir M. Grant Duff.[7] +"If I had the power," writes Sir M. Grant Duff, "I would place upon +his monument the words which he wrote as a preface to a list of +ninety-eight books he drew up, and about which he still hoped to read +a paper at Cambridge when he wrote to me on the subject last autumn. +'This list is submitted with a view to assisting an English youth, +whose education is finished, who knows common things, and is not +training for a profession, to perfect his mind and open windows in +every direction; to raise him to the level of his age, so that he may +know the forces that have made the world what it is, and still reign +over it; to guard against surprises and against the constant sources +of errors within; to supply him both with the strongest stimulants and +the surest guides; to give force and fulness, and clearness and +sincerity, independence and elevation, generosity and serenity to his +mind, that he may know the method and lay of the process by which +error is conquered and truth is won, discerning knowledge from +probability and prejudice from belief; that he may learn to master +what he rejects as fully as what he adopts; that he may understand the +origin as well as the strength and vitality of systems, and the better +motives of men who are wrong; to steel him against the charm of +literary beauty and talent, so that each book, thoroughly taken in, +shall be the beginning of a new life, and shall make a new man of +him.'" In a like spirit Leighton sought to arrive at viewing art; and +what Lord Acton sought to effect by the general culture of men's minds +and natures through reading, Leighton sought to effect in his special +vocation by inducing other artists to study all that was greatest in +Art from a wide and unprejudiced point of view--making it their own, +so to speak, by thoroughly realising and appreciating the qualities in +it which make it great. Each true masterpiece in Art, he urged, should +be thoroughly taken in, and should be the beginning of a new effort. +On the other hand, he sought to make the student "learn to master what +he rejects as fully as what he adopts, that he may understand the +origin as well as the strength and vitality of systems, and the better +motives of men who are wrong." His desire was to guide art into the +current of the world's best interests--the current in which good +literature is so forcible an agent--on the highest, broadest, most +catholic lines. He endeavoured to do so by his example as a working +artist, by his Discourses, by his labours for the public in every +direction where the Art of his country was concerned, and more +directly by his influence on those with whom he personally came in +contact. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] This picture has, I believe, unfortunately left the country. It was +suggested by a passage in the second Idyll of Theocritus: "And for her, +then many other wild beasts were going in procession round about, and +among them a lioness." Sketches for portions of the picture and the +squared tracing for the complete design can be seen in the Leighton +House Collection. The full-length portrait of Mrs. James Guthrie was +exhibited the same year as this second processional picture, which +appeared on the walls of the Academy eleven years after the "Cimabue's +Madonna." The head of the central figure, the Bride, Leighton painted +from Mrs. Guthrie. The following charming letter from Mrs. Norton, the +most notable of Sheridan's three beautiful daughters, refers to this +picture:-- + + 3 CHESTERFIELD STREET, + _April 9_. + + DEAR MR. LEIGHTON,--I was so amused by the little grandson's + observation on the picture that I cannot help writing about him. + I asked him "what he thought of it"? He said, "Oh! it was + _beautiful_! but you told me it would be beautiful--_Mr. + Leighton_ was like a _man in a story_! you did not look so much + at him as Carlotta and I did, but I suppose you have seen him + before, and you did not seem to _pity the little panther_! There + was, in the picture, a little young _puppy_ panther, and one of + the young brides was coaxing it so tenderly, and looking down at + its head; and she was one of the prettiest and kindest looking + of all the brides (it was the side of the picture furthest from + the screen); and I could not help thinking, 'Ah, my poor little + panther! you little know when the brides get into that temple, + and she gets married, how she'll forget all about you, and get + coaxing other things, her husband and her children'; and I felt + quite sorry for the panther." So spoke my grandson (just as I + felt sorry for the cripple beggar). + + Now, as I am quite sure no one else will take this view of what + is the principal interest in your glorious procession of youth + and hope, I thought it as well to let you know, that you might + give that little panther his due importance (a little leopard, I + think he is), and not suppose him a subordinate accessory! That + whole procession was tinged with mournfulness in Richard + Norton's eyes for that little leopard's sake. I shall see that + "Dream of Fair Women" again in the Exhibition, and admire it, as + I did to-day, in a crowd of other admirers, I know. I do not + mind the crowd. I see over them and under them, and through + them, when there is anything so worth being eager + about.--Believe me meanwhile, yours very truly, + + CAROLINE NORTON. + +[2] In a letter from Leighton to his mother, the following sentence +occurs:--"Will you please explain to him" (his father) "that I am not +going to model the _drapery_ of my figures, but the _figures +themselves_ to lay the drapery on, as my models could not fly +sufficiently long for me to draw them in the act; it is of course a +very great delay, but the result will amply make up for the extra +trouble, I hope." + +[3] The picture has left the country, but sketches of the complete +design are among those in the Leighton House Collection. + +[4] Lent by Lady Wantage to the Exhibition, in Leighton House, of the +smaller works and sketches in 1903. + +[5] _Outlook_, July 15th, 1905. + +[6] When standing with me before Leighton's picture "Wedded" in the +studio Robert Browning exclaimed, "I find a poetry in that man's work I +can find in no other." + +[7] "The Late Lord Acton." _The Spectator_, July 5, 1902. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +FIRST STUDIO IN LONDON + +1859-1863 + + +In 1858 Leighton was represented on the Royal Academy walls by two +pictures, "The Fisherman and the Syren"--a subject from Goethe's +ballad, + + "Half drew she him, + Half sunk he in, + And never more was seen"-- + +and by a scene from "Romeo and Juliet," both small canvases painted in +Rome and in Paris.[8] + +Leighton at this time received an encouraging letter from Robert +Fleury, from whom he had learned much:-- + + Que parlez vous de reconnaissance, mon cher Monsieur Leighton? + de l'amitié je le veux bien, et je reēois, ą ce titre seulement, + le dessin que vous m'avez envoyé. Ne me suis je pas fait plaisir + en vous reconnaissant du talent et en vous rendant la justice + qui vous est due? si vous m'avez donné l'occasion de vous faire + part de ma vieille espérance n'est ce pas une preuve de l'estime + que vous faites de mes conseils? Puisque vous m'offrez + généreusement votre amitié, je l'accepte de bien bon coeur, et + votre petit dessin me restera comme un gracieux souvenir de + vous. + + ROBERT FLEURY. + PARIS, _le 18 Mars 1858_. + +In the autumn of 1858 Leighton was back in Rome, and it was at that +time the King, then Prince of Wales, first visited his studio. "I +myself had the advantage of knowing him (Leighton) for a great number +of years--ever since I was a boy--and I need hardly say how deeply I +deplore the fact that he can be no more in our midst," were the words +spoken by the King--thirty-nine years after this first meeting--at the +Royal Academy banquet, which took place after Leighton's death, 1st +May 1897. + +He worked in Rome till his pictures were finished for exhibition in +the spring, 1859. + +He wrote to his mother:-- + + It is my particular object and study to go to no parties, in the + which I have succeeded admirably. I go often to Cartwright's in + the evening, that don't count; now and then to Browning, now and + then to the play, see a good deal of Lady Hoare; and that + reminds me that Hoare sent you some game the other day, which, + however, was returned, as you were not forthcoming. By-the-bye, + when I say I have made no acquaintances of interest, that is not + true; Odo Russell, son and brother of my friends, Lady William + and Arthur Russell, and our diplomatic agent here, is a great + friend of mine, and particularly sympathetic. I see him often at + Cartwright's, who is his _alter ego_; also I know and like Miss + Ogle, who wrote that (I hear) exceedingly remarkable novel, "A + Lost Love." She is a country clergyman's daughter in a remote + corner of Yorkshire, and wrote this book when she had, I + believe, never lived out of a circle of "kettles." She is not + young, but agreeable and quaint. + + I am just finishing the largish studies of a very handsome model + here, and am about to send them off for exhibition. They seem + very popular with all who see them, and are, I think, my best + things. + + + 1859. + + DEAREST MAMMY,--I find to my annoyance that I have mislaid your + kind letter, so that I must answer as best I can from memory. + + That the French and Austrians have been formally requested by + the Pope to withdraw their troops from the States of the Church + is, I have ascertained from good authority, true, though how on + earth you can have known in Florence so long ago a thing which + has only just happened, and which is still in great measure a + secret here, is what I can't make out; but, dear Mamma, I trust + this won't prevent your coming to Rome in April, as there is no + chance of the evacuation being carried into effect by that time. + There will be particularly (indeed exclusively) on the side of + Austria a great demur and _pourparler_, inasmuch as the + consequences of this step will probably be most serious to her; + so that for the next few months we need fear nothing. I trust + you will come; however, of course I dread the responsibility of + insisting too much. You will see how matters look in a few + weeks. I am just about to despatch to the Royal Academy some + studies from a very handsome model, "La Nanna." I have shown + them to a good many people, artists and "Philistines," and they + seem to be universally admired. Let us hope they will be well + hung in the Exhibition. Talking of exhibitions, you will be + rather amused to hear that my "Samson" has been _refused_ at the + British Institution, which this year is particularly weak and + insignificant. It is gone in to the Suffolk Street now, unless + too late. Neither I nor anybody else has the least idea what is + the cause of this strongish measure. I have sent my "Negroes" to + Paris, and if it is not too late the "Juliet" and "Paris" will + go there also. I think they will be well hung, as they are + godfathered by Mr. Montfort, my kind and valuable friend. This + afternoon the Prince of Wales came to my studio, with Colonel + and Mrs. Bruce, Gibson, &c. &c. Gibson spoke in the very highest + terms of my pictures, so of course all the others were + delighted! + + + _Tuesday Morning._ + + I have not been able to answer your letter till now, and indeed + even now I am interrupting my work to do it; I will answer all + your questions categorically. First, about the brigands--I have + made inquiries, and have heard of nothing new since these two + cases about five weeks back, and am told that now the roads may + be considered safe; indeed, no time is generally so good for + travelling as just after an accident of that kind, as the + authorities are on the look out: if you go by _vetturino_, there + will in all probability be other _vetturini_ on the road, and + you will start together and arrive together from and to the + different stations on the road. You quite misunderstood the + sense of my letter, dear Mamma, if you imagined that I knew + nothing of rumours of war, &c. &c.--so far from not knowing what + is going on, I live in a hot-bed of politics, what with + Cartwright and what with Odo Russell. I expressed my surprise + that you should speak with confidence of the withdrawal of the + French troops when the official news of the Pope's _formal + request_ to that effect could not yet have reached Florence, for + the reason that it had not taken place; with the Florentine + politicians the wish must have been father to the thought. What + really will happen is impossible to say; they won't withdraw + till the Austrians do--that is pretty certain; the French, I + think, like to mislead people about it. A French general told a + friend of mine that in _six weeks_ they would all be gone, but + _Antonelli_, who ought to be the best authority, told Odo + Russell they would not go for six _months_, though the + occupation has already ceased (as the _Moniteur_ expresses it) + "en principe." You see, dear Mamma, that it is entirely + impossible for me to give you any _definite_ information at a + moment when nobody seems to know what is coming next. I should + be very much disappointed if you could not come; if you settle + to come, let me know in time to look for rooms at an Hōtel, and + tell me what you expect to give. My work would not allow me to + go to Florence. My pictures for the R.A. this year are three + portraits in different sizes and attitudes from the same model, + all _dressed_--one a small half-length, the other a kit-cat, the + third a small head the size of my hand--this I have sold to Lady + Hoare for forty guineas. It has been much coveted--Lady + Stratford de Redcliffe wanted a repetition (I never do + repetitions), and Mrs. Phipps seemed quite distressed it was + sold. The Prince and his party told O. Russell they liked my + studio better than any they had seen in Rome. My "Pan" and + "Venus" are stowed away in London. + +Besides the three portraits of a model mentioned in his letter, +exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1859, Leighton sent "Samson and +Delilah" to Suffolk Street. For studies of this picture, see Leighton +House Collection. + +Later, from Naples, he wrote:-- + + _Wednesday Morning, 1859._ + + I scribble two lines in haste before starting to Capri to + announce my safe arrival here in the middle of the day on + Monday. I found here several letters from England; but, as I + had presumed, that report about the sale of all my pictures was + a _canard_. Lord Lansdowne wishes very much for a repetition of + my small profile of Nanna, but as I refused to make one for Lady + Stratford, I of course can't for him. George de Monbrison has + very kindly consented to give up his Nanna to the Prince,[9] but + is evidently sadly disappointed--so much so, that I have written + to offer to do what I could not under any other circumstances, + _i.e._ copy it for him. + + This place is in great beauty. I have been received with the + greatest hospitality by the Hollands, with whom I have dined and + supped both days. + + Yesterday I breakfasted with Augustus Craven,[10] who + photographed me. He is a great adept at this art, and devotes + much time to it. He has a most lovely house here, looking out on + to the sea. + + I have nothing to add for the present, and I will write again + from Capri. + +This visit to Capri produced the famous drawing of the Lemon Tree.[11] +Mr. Ruskin wrote: "Two perfect early drawings are of 'A Lemon Tree' +and of a 'Byzantine Well'" (see List of Illustrations), "which +determine for you without appeal the question respecting necessity of +delineation as the first skill of a painter. Of all our present +masters, Sir Frederic Leighton delights most in softly-blended +colours, and his ideal of beauty is more nearly that of Correggio than +any since Correggio's time. But you see by what precision of terminal +outline he at first restrained and exalted his gift of beautiful +_vaghezza_." In letters to Leighton, Ruskin refers to these +drawings:-- + + 1860. + + DEAR LEIGHTON,--Unless I write again I shall hope to breakfast + with you on Friday, and see and know evermore how a lemon + differs from an orange leaf. In cases of doubtful temper, might + the former more gracefully and appropriately be used for bridal + chaplet?--Most truly yours, + + J. RUSKIN. + + + _15th December 1882._ + + DEAR LEIGHTON,--Of course I want the lemon-tree! but surely you + didn't offer it me before? May I come on Tuesday afternoon for + both? and I hope to bring "Golden Water," but I hear there's + some confusion between the Academy and the Burlington Club. + "Golden Water" is perhaps too small a drawing for the + Academy--but you'll see. + + I wish the lecture on sculpture you gave that jury the other day + had been to a larger audience, and I one of them.--Ever + affectionately yours, + + J. RUSKIN. + + + _17th November._ + + DEAR LEIGHTON,--I brought up the "Byzantine Well,"[12] but was + forced to trust my friend, John Simon, to bring it across the + Park to you, and then forbid him till I wrote you this note, + asking you to spare a moment to show him the "Damascus Glass and + Arab Fountain." He is, as you know, a man of great eminence, + with a weakness for _painting_, which greatly hinders him in his + science.--Ever your loving, + + J.R. + + I can't get lectures printed yet. + +With reference to differences of opinion which had arisen between them +on certain art questions, Ruskin wrote in 1879: "I expected so much +help from you after those orange (lemon) trees of yours!" Later (1883) +he wrote: "The Pre-Raphaelite schism, and most of all, Turner's death, +broke my relations with the Royal Academy. I hope they may in future +be kinder; its President (Leighton) has just sent me two lovely +drawings (the 'Lemon Tree' and the 'Byzantine Well') for the Oxford +Schools, and, I think, feels with me as to all the main principles of +Art education." + +After his visit to Capri Leighton returned to London. He stayed with +Mr. Henry Greville, and while there wrote to his mother the following +letters:-- + + 19 QUEEN STREET, + _Wednesday Morning, 1859_. + + I have so far altered my plans that I stay on until Saturday + morning instead of going to-morrow with Mrs. Sartoris as I had + intended. I have still a call or two to make, and, besides, am + going to dine to-morrow with Mario and spend the evening of + Friday at Lord Lansdowne's, whose invitation I got though I had + not called on him. I suppose that a card was sent me because my + name was on the old list. I have since met him (at Henry's + party), and he made himself very amiable, renewing the + invitation by word of mouth. I have just been spending two or + three days at Old Windsor with Miss Thackeray, who has been + kindness itself as usual; the weather was divine, and we took + exquisite drives. Chorley[13] also has been a kind friend to me; + he took me twice to the Handel Festival, seating me, conveying + me, breakfasting me, and, but that I was engaged, would have + dined me. The Festival was, as you have no doubt read in the + papers, most successful, the choruses, considering the enormous + difficulty of training such masses of people (2000!) were + excellent; the quantity of sound produced was, of course, + enormous, still there was no _din_, nothing stunning, only an + exceedingly dense and close-textured quality of sound. The solo + singers varied in excellence. Clara Novello shone by the quality + of her voice, which carries any distance, and by the correctness + of her singing, but to me she is entirely without charm, and + left me as cold after the great song of the Nativity in the + "Messiah" as if she had not sung at all. Miss Dolby sang well + throughout; she was remarkable for the excessive decorum and + simplicity of her singing. She finishes a phrase with great + breadth; her voice, to some people disagreeable, is to me very + _simpatica_, and she gave me altogether the greatest pleasure. + Sims Reeves, whom but a few days back I heard sing so badly at + Liverpool, astounded me here by the remarkable care and study he + brought to bear on his solos. He sang in the "Messiah," + beginning with "Behold and see if there be any sorrow," &c. He + sang exquisitely; and in the "Israel" he sang "The enemy said" + (a very ungrateful song) as well as possible. He was + vociferously encored, and well deserved it. ---- was simply + abominable, without a redeeming point. ----, though less + aggressively bad, was too insignificant to say much about at + all. Of course, altogether, the solos, especially the more + vigorous ones, were too weak for the choruses; that could not be + otherwise short of having four pair of Lablache lungs. Costa led + to perfection; it was a sight to see him. + + + _Friday_, PARIS. + + DEAREST MAMMA,--I write you a few lines just to announce my safe + return to Paris. You have no doubt by this time got the box back + again. Henry was, as always, very kind to me, and I spent three + days very simply at his house. I had intended, when I left this, + to stay only two days in London, but those days being Saturday + and Sunday, I remembered that all the Galleries were shut, and + therefore, being most anxious to see the new Veronese, I stayed + over Monday. I was delighted with the pictures in the National + Gallery and also at Marlborough House, but the annual exhibition + at the British Institution is _deplorable_. I have decided, on + the advice of Buckner, Colnaghi, and others, to send my + "Niggers" ("A Negro Dance"--water-colour--from sketch made in + Algiers) to the Suffolk Street Exhibition (where I shall be well + hung through Buckner's intervention) _if_ I get done in time: it + will be a hard race, as the Exhibition opens a month sooner than + the R.A. + + I reached home Tuesday evening at 10-1/2 o'clock, after a good + passage; I was, however, suffering from a shocking indigestion, + and, to crown all, was kept awake till four in the morning by a + ball immediately under my bed. Next morning I had to paint away + at Gallatti (my model) willy nilly (particularly nilly), + feeling seedy and frightfully cross. However, my "Gehazi" is now + as near as possible finished, and to-morrow I go in for the + "Niggers." I hope, dear Mamma, you will let me hear at once what + Lina or Suth. write; I am most anxious to hear more. + + Good-bye, dear Mamma. Best love to all from your most + affectionate + + FRED. + + + _Friday, 26th._ + + I am happy to say I have just done my "Niggers," and though too + late for the ordinary mode of conveyance on account of an + accident in the papers, I am saved by the exceeding kindness of + a secretary of the Sardinian Embassy, a great friend of mine; it + will be taken over on Monday night by a messenger under the + seals of the Embassy, and will just arrive in time. On Sunday I + hope to show it to Monfort, Fleury, and Scheffer. I will let you + know their verdict. + + From America I have good and bad news. The bad is that my "Pan" + and "Venus" are _not being exhibited at all_ on account of their + nudity, and are stowed away in a cupboard where F. Kemble with + the most friendly and untiring perseverance contrived to + discover them. This is a great nuisance. I have sent for them + back at once; they know best whether or no it is advisable to + exhibit such pictures in America, but they certainly should have + let me know. I have written to Rossetti about it to-day, + expressing my regret and desires, and have added "my pictures + have been exposed to the wear and tear of several long journeys + _not only_ entirely for no purpose, but, being shut out from the + light, they are even suffering an injury; meanwhile I am + neglecting the opportunity of showing and disposing of them in + England, a possibility which I might willingly forego for the + sake of supporting an enterprise in which I am interested, but + not to adorn a hidden closet in the United States." Fanny Kemble + was charmed with the pictures, went often and pluckily to the + forbidden cupboard, and said she only wished she could afford to + buy them. + + + _Friday._ + + Since I last wrote I have had a note from Rossetti, the + Secretary of the American Exhibition, giving me a piece of + information about my "Romeo" which can't fail to gratify you. He + said that, had my picture not been bought by Mr. Harrison, a + public subscription would have been opened to procure it for the + Academy of Arts at Philadelphia. Rossetti answers me (as indeed + I did not doubt) that he had not the remotest notion of the fate + of "Pan" and "Venus." He has written on my request to beg they + may be sent back at once to Europe. By Henry Greville's urgent + advice I have given notice that I shall send the "Orpheus," as + they have applied for more pictures; things were selling so + satisfactorily that there was scarcely anything left to exhibit + in Boston. I am glad to be able to reassure you about the + "Niggers." Sartoris _did_ like them exceedingly even before they + were anything like as good as they are now. Cartwright, who is + not _géné_ to dislike, is enchanted with them, and says if they + are not sold at once people are fools, for he has not for some + time seen anything he likes so much. Puliza Ricardo and other + "publics" like it extremely. Robert Fleury considered it highly + original, and said that if he only saw one little head in it he + would say, "c'est d'un coloriste." R. Fleury, you know, blames + very roundly what he does not like. Montfort, my most candid + adviser, was delighted, and said of a particular bit "je vous + assure c'est tout ą fait comme Decamps." This is unconditional + praise. Again I consulted him about its chances of success in + the gallery of water-colours. He said, "_Comme aquarelle_ je + vous promets qu'il n'y en a pas beaucoup qui font comme + cela;"--about water colour being _infra. dig._, showing myself + competent in _two_ materials can only raise me. Poor Scheffer + was unwell and could not come. You see, dear Mammy, you need not + be so uneasy. I fully appreciate your and Papa's anxiety about + my pictures; but it has too great a hold on you when it makes + you think that I am entirely reckless and foolish, and that + rather than give in I should tell a lie and say it was too late + to withdraw a picture when it might still be done. Many thanks + for the extract about Sutherland which, however, I had already + seen, Henry Grev. having sent it me a week ago. My "Niggers" + arrived in time by great luck. Buckner godfathers them. + + In haste with very best love, your affectionate boy, + + FRED. + + + 19 QUEEN STREET, 1859. + + I have got, through the kindness of Elmore (R.A.), a sort of + studio at the other end of the world; I believe I told you this + in my last note; I suppose my things will come over in a week or + less. I am in great doubt about being able to paint in that + studio, and about its having been any use to come over to London + without the possibility of a really good _locale_: however, here + I am. I shall brush up my acquaintances and see a good deal of + my friends. Don't reckon on my _selling_ anything--_I_ don't at + all. My picture is hung so that it is virtually _impossible_ to + see it. I went to look at my "Niggers" in Suffolk Street, and am + confirmed in the idea (that also of my friends) that it is my + best work. I have as yet nothing worth writing about, so + good-bye, dearest Mamma, best love to all. + + + 2 ORME SQUARE, _Sunday, 1859_. + + Having got on Monday last into my studio and been very busy ever + since, this is absolutely the first moment I have found to sit + down and write to you. + + You will wish to know some particulars about my studio. Of + course after Paris and Rome it is a sad falling off--narrow and + dark, though I believe, for London, very fair; when I _live_ + here I must have a much larger light or I shall go + blind--however, I must not look a gift horse in the mouth. I + have had to furnish--this costs me about nine or ten shillings a + week; I keep a servant (a stupid, pompous, verbose, dirty, + willing, honest scrub) to run my errands and clean my brushes, + &c. &c., at half-a-crown a day; models are five shillings a + sitting here--ruination!--men with good heads there are + none--women, tol-lol!--a lay figure, twenty-five shillings a + month; in short, historical painting here is not for nothing; I + am working at my "Samson" picture; God knows how I shall finish + it in so short a time! Dearest Mammy, I shall have but a very + short peep at you this year, I am very sorry to say--I lost a + full month waiting for this wretched studio. I don't see my way + through my work before the middle or even end of the second week + in August, and I cannot well give up going to Scotland though + only for a very few days, as I have accepted so long ago. I am + to go there on the 20th; after that I must rush back post-haste + to Stourhead to finish Lady Hoare; all this will make me very + late for Italy, as I am anxious to revisit the north of that + country and study the Correggios a little at Parma before going + south. I shall be obliged to scamper across the country. I + _must_ be in Rome or the neighbourhood in October; I am going to + finish my Cervara landscape on the spot. + + I am in very fair health, London decidedly agrees with me, and I + don't suffer as much as I expected from the obligato spleen of + blue devildom. I need not say this is a source of immense + congratulation to me. + +When the picture "Nanna" returned from the Royal Academy, where it was +exhibited in 1859, Leighton sent it to Bath, writing to his mother to +announce its arrival. + + LONDON, 1859. + + DEAREST MAMMY,--I scribble a word in haste to announce to you + that I have sent "Nanna" off to Bath for you to see, she wants + varnish very badly as you see, but is not dry enough for that + yet. You must mind and put her in the right light, the window + must be on the left of the spectator--the more to the _left_ of + the picture you stand yourself the less you will see the want of + varnish. If you stand to the _right_ of the painting you won't + see it at all. Please send "Nanna" back when you have shown to + whom you wish, as she is overdue at Paris. + + + _Saturday Morning, 1859._ + + I returned yesterday from the Highlands, and have at last time + to write you a little word. My stay in the North has been most + satisfactory, I have enjoyed myself thoroughly, and have felt + particularly well in the keen bracing air of the mountains. My + time has been spent exclusively in walks, rides, and drives, for + the weather was great part of the time too uncertain to allow of + sitting out to paint (even had there been time), whereas no + amount of showers prevented our going out, and indeed to those + showers I owe seeing some of the most superb effects of colour, + light and shade, that I ever beheld. We used sometimes to have + three or four duckings in one ride, drying again in the sun, or + not as the case might be, and never catching even the phantom of + a cold, so healthy and invigorating is the breath of those + healthy hills. I said I painted nothing and bring home an empty + portfolio (all but a flower I drew one _very_ wet morning), but + I have studied a great deal with my eyes and memory, and come + back a better landscape painter than I went. On my road home, at + Dunkeld, where I lingered a day (exquisite spot), I jotted down + in oils two reminiscences of effects observed at Kinrara with + which I am rather well pleased--one is a stormy Scandinavian bit + of cloud and hill, the other a hot sunny expanse of golden corn + and purple heather, which looks for all the world like a bit of + Italy. Mind, they are the merest little sketches, but accurate + in the _impression of the effect_. + + I go on Monday morning to Stourhead, where I stay till Saturday, + and start Monday week for the Continent. Please send me a line + to Stourhead. How are you, darling? and Lina and Gus? and Papa? + Have you had any more drives?--Your loving boy, + + FRED. + +On returning to England Leighton took up his abode in his first studio +in England. Hitherto he had paid visits to London,--Rome, and +subsequently Paris, being his real home, for an artist's true home is +in his studio. In the autumn of 1859 he settled in 2 Orme Square, and +from that time to his death London became his headquarters. + +After having settled into his studio in Orme Square in the winter of +1859, he wrote to Steinle and to Robert Browning the following +letters:-- + + _Translation._] + 2 ORME SQUARE, BAYSWATER, LONDON, + _December 5, 1859_. + + MY DEAR FRIEND AND MASTER,--What a long time it is since I heard + from you! my last letter, despatched from Rome, has had no + answer. + + I enclose a photograph of a memorial tablet which I executed in + Rome last winter for my poor widowed sister. The monument is of + white marble with black mosaic decoration; the four dark circles + are bronze nails, which secure the marble tablet to the wall. + + When I had finished work in Rome, I went south and spent five + weeks in Capri. You would hardly believe, dear Friend, how this + wonderful island delighted me. I made vigorous use of my visit + and executed a fairly large number of conscientious studies. I + also took the opportunity to visit Paestum for the first time. I + may say that the _Temple of Neptune_ gave me the most exalted + architectonic impression that I have ever received; I shall + never forget that morning. The two neighbouring temples, + however, are not worth looking at, except from a painter's point + of view. + + Meanwhile, the season being advanced, I was obliged, with real + regret, to give up my plan of going to Frankfurt, and to hurry + back to England. Here I am now permanently established. I + confess that I did not pitch my tent here without some anxiety; + I had not spent _a single winter_ in England since my earliest + childhood, and I had good reason to fear that to me, with my + love of sunshine, it would prove a little harsh. I also feared + the climate for my bodily health. However, "native air" appears + to be not altogether an empty phrase, but I find myself, + notwithstanding the fog, well and in good spirits. Man must + indeed carry the sun in his heart--if he is to have it. Of work + in particular, I have nothing much to say. Later, in the course + of the winter, I will report more at length. + + Meanwhile, dear Master, write to me very soon. Tell me whether + you still think of your pupil, and especially tell me about your + certainly numerous works.--Your grateful pupil, + + LEIGHTON. + + + _Translation._] + 2 ORME SQUARE, BAYSWATER, + LONDON, _January 12, 1860_. + + I spoke little in my last letter of my present work, partly + perhaps because of the feeling I have already described, but + partly also because I intend to send you a photograph directly + the picture is finished, which will not be till spring. It is a + commission, and the subject is religious. There is only a single + figure, and I would describe it to you now, but that I fear you + would imagine the picture much more beautiful than I can paint + it, and you would consequently suffer a disappointment later on + in my work which would be painful to me. For the rest, I am + striving as hard as I can to make it fine and simple. You will + perhaps be surprised, but, in spite of my fanatic preference for + colour, I promised myself to be a draughtsman before I became a + colourist. + + And now adieu, my dear Friend. Directly I can show you anything + in "black and white" you shall hear from me again, and I shall + expect from you, as my old master, the most unsparing criticism; + that is the greatest proof of love you can give me. + + FRED LEIGHTON. + + + 2 ORME SQUARE, BAYSWATER, + _January 29, '60_. + + DEAR BROWNING,--It is not till the other day that I at last + received from Cartwright your Rome address, or I should have + written to you some time ago; before it was too late to wish you + a merry Xmas and health, happiness, and all prosperity for + yourself and Mrs. Browning in the present year. I don't know + that I have anything worth telling you to write about, for all + the little incidents which have their importance for the space + of a day, all appear too trivial to write about after a lapse of + a week or two. Still I write to assure you I keep up my most + affectionate remembrance of you, and to beg that you won't + entirely forget me. I received your kind letter at the beginning + of the winter, and was truly concerned to hear that Mrs. + Browning had been so alarmingly unwell; I trust that the air of + Rome, which once before was so beneficial to her, will have + strengthened and recruited her again this time. Dear old Rome! + how I wish I could fly over and spend a week or so with you all + in my old haunts. I suppose I shall never be entirely weaned of + that yearning affection I entertain for Italy, and particularly + for Rome and the "Comarea." You must have it all to yourselves + this year. What a delight it must be to see neither Brown, + Jones, nor Robinson. + + I suppose Cartwright, Pantaleone, and Odo Russell are the staple + of your convivial circle; and, by-the-bye, how much more freely + Mrs. Browning must breathe this winter without certain daily + visitations which I remember last year. I wonder whether you + will write to me and tell me what you are doing, socially and + artistically; everything about you will interest me. + + As for myself, you would not believe it, in spite of my old + habits of continental life and sunshine, I take very kindly to + England; _it agrees_ with me capitally, really better than Rome. + I am fattening _vue d'oeil_. The light is certainly not + irreproachable, still I can work, and don't find that my ideas + get particularly rusty. On the contrary, for colour, certainly + my sense seems to be sharpened in this atmosphere. + + I am soldiering too. I drill three times a week, and make as bad + a soldier as anybody else. The Sartoris, you know, are no longer + in London--a great loss to all their friends--but I go pretty + often to see them in the country, and have spent many a happy + day there in the course of the winter. By-the-bye, do you hear + or know anything of those two drawings I did of you and Mrs. + Browning? If so, will you give the one of you to Hookes that he + may send with some other things he has? And now, dear Browning, + "_vi leverņ l'incomodo_," and will bring this very tedious + epistle to a close. Remember me most kindly to Mrs. Browning, to + Cartwright and his wife, to Odo Russell, B----, Pantaleone with + better half, Storeys, and last, but not least, dear little + Hatty! Love to Cerinni; tell me about him. Good-bye.--Believe + me, very affectionately yours, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + + I am hand-and-glove with all my enemies the pre-Raphaelites. + Woolner sends his affectionate remembrances. + +Leighton writes to his sister in Italy:-- + + 2 ORME SQUARE, BAYSWATER, + _March 12_. + + MY DEAR GUSSYKINS,--You may have heard from Mamma that I went to + Paris to hear Madame Viardot in "Orphée." What wonderful + singing! what style! what breadth! what pathos! You would have + been enchanted, I am sure. Do you know the music? It is + wonderfully fine and pathetic, the first chorus particularly is + quite harrowing for the accent of grief about it. Madame + Viardot's _acting_, too, is superb--so perfectly simple and + grand, it is really antique. And when you consider all she has + to overcome--a bad, harsh voice, an ugly face, an ungainly + person; and yet she contrives to look almost handsome. She + enters heart and soul into her work; she said it was the only + thing she ever did that (after fifty performances) had not given + her a moment's _ennui_. I am afraid there is no chance of her + singing it in England this year, if at all; I don't believe the + Covent Garden audience would sit through it.[14] + + I also saw Gounod's new opera, "Philémon et Baucis," and was + disappointed. Nothing but the care and distinction of the + workmanship redeems it from being a bore; the subject is ill + adapted for the stage, and is dragged through three acts with + portentous efforts. Striking melodies there are few, charming + accompaniments many; all the pretty music (or nearly) is in the + orchestra--_c'est la sauce qui fait avaler le poisson_. The + introductions to the first and second acts, but particularly the + latter (a little _motif_ on the oboė), are charming; there is + also a capital chorus. All this, however, is an impression after + one hearing; I might alter my mind on hearing it oftener, but I + think not. + +In the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1860 Leighton sent one picture +only, "Sunrise--Capri." + + _Translation._] + 2 ORME SQUARE, _September 15, 1860_. + + MY VERY DEAR FRIEND,--I was almost afraid that you would think + that I had entirely forgotten you, but this would be a very + undeserved interpretation of my long silence. No, my dear + Master, you still live in my constant memory, in my most + grateful recollection. + + When I last wrote, I promised to send you a photograph of my + large picture. This work has taken up my time far beyond my + expectations, and I always put off writing in order not to send + you an empty letter. At last it is thus far, and I enclose both + the large photograph and some little ones, in the hope that you, + dear Master, will be interested also in the unimportant works of + your old pupil. + + Have I already told you the subject of my religious picture? I + think not. At the turning-point of a very critical illness, the + lady who commissioned my picture dreamt that she, as a + disembodied spirit, soared up heavenwards in the night.[15] + Suddenly she was aware of a point of light in the far vault of + heaven. This light grew, developed, and soon she saw coming + forth from the night the shining form of the Saviour. Full of + confidence she approached the holy apparition. Jesus, however, + raised His hands and, gently repulsing her, enjoined her to + return to earth, and during her life to make herself worthier to + enter the company of the blessed. She awoke, recovered, and + ordered the picture. + + You will be able to imagine, my dear Friend, how little + contented I am with my work; however, I am accustomed to show + you my weaknesses, and I therefore send you also this + unsatisfactory work. As regards the photograph, it is in certain + respects successful, although it makes the whole picture _four + times too dark_. + + I send also a portrait of my sister; a head of an English + soldier, who lost an arm at Balaclava, and recently died of + consumption; and finally a photograph after a drawing on wood, + which I drew for a book, but which has been _incredibly_ + disfigured by the engraver. Fortunately I had the drawing + (although bad) photographed before I sent it to be engraved. + + But enough of me and my affairs. + + And you, dear Master, what are you working at? Are your + cartoons all finished? Shall you soon begin your frescoes? What + other beautiful things have you composed? + + Do not punish my long silence, but send me a couple of lines to + tell me what interests me so deeply. So soon as I have finished + anything new (and I have many pictures in prospect) I will send + you another specimen of my handiwork. + + Meantime I beg you will remember me most cordially to your wife + and daughters, and to my other friends in Frankfurt. And + yourself do not altogether forget, your loving pupil, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + +It was in 1860 Leighton joined the Artist Rifle Corps. It was also +then he first made the acquaintance of Sir William B. Richmond (now +Chairman of the Leighton House Committee). + + _December 12, 1860._ + + DEAREST MAMMY,--I have deferred until now answering your kind + letter that I might be able to announce to you a little + circumstance which took place yesterday, and which, though not + of any real importance, may give you and Papa pleasure. I was + yesterday raised to the rank of Captain; I command the 3rd + Company--Lewis was at the same time made Captain of the 2nd--his + election of course came before mine; he has done three times + more for the Corps than I have or could have done--he lives very + near and goes _every day_--as a man of business, and a very + clever one, he has entirely organised the bookkeeping + department, and in fact has been altogether the vital principle + of the Corps. I was chosen next for having shown some zeal in + this service and some little capability for teaching. The vacant + lieutenancies go to Nicholson (the musician) and Talfourd. One + of the ensigncies has been given to Perugini, contingent on its + being lawful for him to hold such commission; another to old + Palmer. So much for our volunteering. I wish we had a commander. + The next question in your letter I thought I had answered in my + last--however, though Ruskin stayed about three hours and was + altogether very pleasant, he did not say anything that I could + quote about my paintings. He was _immensely_ struck by my + drawing of a lemon-tree, and was generally complimentary, or + rather, _respectful_, that is more his _genre_. I don't think, + however, that he cared for Sandbach's picture--which leads me to + the third point in your letter. Neither of the S.'s have seen + their picture; last time they were in London, having made no + definite appointment, I missed them. He wrote to say that when + he came up to town again, he would fix a day to call on me. + Gibson, the old traitor, never turned up at all. By-the-bye, I + see you ask whether I shoot much--no, not often; I am an + ordinary, average shot--my unsteady hand prevents my shooting + well. My general health is pretty fair. Many thanks, dearest + Mammy, for your kind wishes and congratulations on that + melancholy occasion, my birthday--it is a day I always + hate--fancy my being _thirty_!!! About marrying, dear Mamma, you + must not forget it requires two to play at that game. I would + not insult a girl I did not love by asking her to tie her + existence to mine, and I have not yet found one that I felt the + slightest wish to marry; it is no doubt ludicrous to place this + ideal so high, but it is not my fault--theoretically I should + like to be married very well. + +In another letter to his mother Leighton writes on the subject of +marriage: "If I don't marry, the reason has been that I have never +seen a girl to whom I felt the least desire to be united for life. I +should certainly never marry for the sake of doing so." The same +subject is again alluded to in a letter written in 1863, from +Leighton's mother to her younger daughter who was in Italy. The letter +begins by referring to a servant who was dismissed by Leighton. + + "He has such an effect on him by his profound stupidity and + intense conceit he can't keep him, for if he did, the irritation + would render him wicked if he indulged it, and ill if he + repressed the same--at least that's Fred's feeling just now. He + means to take an Italian servant if he can find one. + + "Fred has received an invitation to Sandringham (the Prince of + Wales). If he has not found a suitable servant we are to lend + him ours--Ellen's husband, a very superior person. I must not + forget to tell you that we saw ----'s new baby, a very dear + little thing. Freddy was enchanted with it. He noticed him more + than ----, who is a delightful little chap, and after caressing + it several times with exceeding tenderness, he suddenly grew red + in the face, and said, 'I must nurse him,' which he did for a + long time, to the wonder and admiration of Miss ---- and the + nurse. For my part, it gave me actual pain to see that proof of + his strong love for children, believing that he will never have + any of his own. He declares he has never seen a girl he could + marry. Of course this shows he is unreasonably fastidious; + more's the pity!" + + [Illustration: PORTRAIT OF MRS. SUTHERLAND ORR. 1861] + + + 2 ORME SQUARE, _April 10, 1861_. + + DEAREST MAMMY,--I have deferred writing until now that I might + be able to tell you the result of my little "private view," now + over. I am happy to say I have a great success. The "Vision" + pleased many people much, but was altogether, as I expected, the + least popular; the subject, though very interesting, was less + attractive to the many, and besides I have progressed in + painting since the date of that picture. My little girl at the + fountain, christened for me by one of my visitors, "Lieder ohne + Worte," has perhaps had the greatest number of votes.[16] The + "Francesca,"[17] on the other hand, has had, I think, the + advantage in the _quality_ of its admirers. Watts, for instance, + and Mrs. Sartoris think it by far my best daub. + + By-the-bye, you will be particularly pleased to hear that Lina's + portrait has had an immense success, and indeed, on second + thoughts, perhaps it was more admired than anything else. The + "Capri" and the "Aslett" were also much liked. Mind, dear Mamma, + this letter is "strictly confidential," because although, of + course, you want to know what people say of my pictures, anybody + else seeing this letter would (or might) suppose I was devoured + with vanity. + + I have just made an unexpected acquaintance in the Gladstones, + who sent me, I don't know why, a card for two parties. It was + very polite of them, and of course I went. This is a very + egotistical letter, dear Mamma, but I know that is what you + want. + + I am very sufficiently well, not strong, but never ill. I + marched to Wimbledon with the Volunteers last Monday, and got + wet several times but did not catch cold.[18] + + + LONDON. 1861. + + DEAR PAPA,--If the _Public_ receives my pictures as favourably + as the _Private_ has done, I shall have no cause to complain; as + far, at least, as the maintenance and increase of my reputation + is concerned. I should, however, have liked the "market" to be a + little more "brisk." + + Tom Taylor and Rossetti (Wm.), the only critics that came (as + far as I know) besides Stephens, were, as far as I can judge, + both of them much pleased with what they saw. I know at least + that both spoke well of my pictures behind my back. + + As for Ruskin, he was in one of his queer moods when he came to + breakfast with me--he spent his time looking at my portfolio and + praised my drawings most lavishly--_he did not even look at the + pictures_. However, nothing could be more cordial than he is to + me. + + I bolted out into the passage after you when you left the other + day to tell you that one of the gentlemen you saw come in was + Sir Edwin Landseer, but you had disappeared. + + + PARIS. _Monday_. + + DEAREST MOTHER,--I must wind up with bad news, which I hope you + will bear well: my pictures are badly hung, ill lighted, and + almost entirely ignored by the press.[19] Of course this is _au + fond_, a bitter disappointment to a man of my temperament, + especially after all the praise my work got before the + Exhibition. However, I shall wear a brave face, and who knows + but that some good may arise to me out of this? My little + energies will be sharpened up and my tenacity roused. I trust in + some future day, as long as hope lives. God bless you, Mammy; + best love to dear Gussy. From your affectionate son, + + FRED. + + + _May 1, 1861._ + + DEAREST MAMMY,--Life being a pump handle, first up then down, + you won't be too much surprised to hear that after the real + success my pictures had on "private view" they are with one + exception (the landscape) badly hung, "The Vision" over a door, + the others above the line, which will make it impossible to see + the finish or delicacy of execution which is an important + feature in them. I have not seen them myself, but am told this + by those who have. Don't take on, dear Mammy, nor let Papa worry + himself about it. Things come right in the end, and I know that + many people will be much annoyed at this treatment of me. + _Millais_, like a good fellow that he is, spoke up for me like a + man, though he himself feels so differently on art from what I + do. My good friend Aļdé is furious. After all perhaps, though + badly hung, the pictures may still be seen well enough to be + judged, that is all I really want, then perhaps some of the + papers will speak up for me. I am glad I let so many people see + them at the studio, those at least know what the pictures are + like. Of one thing be sure: if my works have real value, public + opinion will in the _long run_ force the Academy to hang me--but + enough of this subject. + + The Prince of Wales saw a photo-portrait of me in Valletort's + book the other day and begged him to ask me for one. I have had + some new ones done, and mean at the same time to send H.R.H. a + photograph of each of my larger pictures, "The Vision," the + "Francesca," and "The Listener," which, by-the-bye, I have + christened on the suggestion of a lady friend of mine (a sister + of Cockerell's) "Lieder ohne Worte." + + Landseer said nothing that was worth repeating, though he gave + me one or two useful practical hints. He is eminently a + practical man, and I suspect in his heart sneers at style. He + was, however, I believe, pleased with my things. + + + 9 PARK PLACE, ST. JAMES'S, + _Sunday, May 5, 1861_. + + DEAR MRS. LEIGHTON,--I know that the news of the bad hanging of + your son's pictures has reached you (unpleasant tidings + generally travel fast) and I hasten to tell you, what I hope may + a little mitigate the annoyance you must have felt about it, + that they are spoken of in terms of great eulogium by both the + _Times_ and _Athenęum_. I was afraid that their unfortunate + placing might have prevented the possibility of any justice + being done them by the public critics, but after all the _Times_ + and _Athenęum_ are the most influential and leading of all our + public journals. Mrs. Orr's portrait is consistently praised by + all the papers, even by those which review the others less + favourably. Fortunately, the pictures were well seen in the + studio by numbers of people of all classes before they went to + the Academy, and excited very general admiration in those who + felt no particular interest either in art or in your son; while + his friends, and those who _know_, were delighted not only with + the works themselves, but at the visible indications in them of + increased power in all ways. They have been thought by all whose + opinion is of value a great advance upon what he has hitherto + done. All this will, I hope, be pleasant to you; what will be so + most of all will be to know that he took the exceeding trial and + vexation of the abominable hanging of his pictures with the most + perfect temper, and an admirable desire to be just about those + who were doing him this ill turn. You will care for this, as I + do, more than for any worldly success his talent could have + brought him. I think he is looking well, although he complains a + little of feeling tired. I daresay it is nothing but the + weariness that must make itself a little felt after a great and + all-engrossing exertion. His volunteering occupation is quite + invaluable to him, giving him the exercise he never would + otherwise get. I think he seems to like his life in London, + where he has many friends, so many that if you were here you + would no longer feel as jealous about me as you once owned to + feeling--do you remember? I do not apologise for writing all + this to you, for although excess of zeal may be a sin in the + eyes of others, and even indeed of those whom one would die to + serve, a mother will hardly count it as such when her child is + in question. With best remembrances to Mr. Leighton and your + daughters, I am, ever faithfully yours, + + ADELAIDE SARTORIS. + +To his father Leighton wrote:-- + + 1861. + + As to the article in _Macmillan_, I don't in the least deny its + value as far as it goes and _quo ad_ the public; it is in that + sense very gratifying to be spoken of in such flattering terms + in a periodical of some standing, but I can't individually feel + much elated at the praise of a critic who in other parts of his + article shows he is not _au fond_ a judge; as for what he says + in _interpretation_ (I am not now alluding to the _praise_), it + is so verbatim what I said myself to those who visited my + studio, that I suspect he must have been of that number. I + remember, it is true, telling you _before_ I began to paint + "Lieder ohne Worte" that I intended to make it _realistic_, but + from the first moment I began I felt the mistake, and made it + professedly and pointedly the reverse. I don't think, however, + that we understand the word realistic alike; the Fisherman and + Syren which you quote was as little naturalistic as anything + could be, and, while you urge me to take up some subject + possessing that quality, I would point out that the Michael + Angelo and the Peacock Girl both fulfil that condition--to _my_ + mind _to a fault_. I have sent in (or am about to) a formula + which I received to fill up, stating what I would contribute to + the Great Exhibition of 1862 (International). I have offered the + Cimabue, four "Nannas," the "Lieder ohne Worte," "Francesca," + and the "Syren." I have obtained permission for all. + + + _Translation._] + 2 ORME SQUARE, BAYSWATER, + _30th April 1861_. + + MY DEAR FRIEND AND MASTER,--When I last wrote you I promised in + the spring to send you photographs of my pictures for the + exhibition. I have just received some prints and hasten to + enclose them. + + One of them (the girl by the fountain) gives, as is so often the + case, an entirely false impression of the picture, in that the + drapery of the principal figure should be much darker, and that + of the retreating figure much lighter. I have called this + picture "Lieder ohne Worte." It represents a girl, who is + resting by a fountain, and listening to the ripple of the water + and the song of a bird. This subject is, of course, quite + incomplete without colour, as I have endeavoured, both by colour + and by flowing delicate forms, to translate to the eye of the + spectator something of the pleasure which the child receives + through her ears. This idea lies at the base of the whole thing, + and is conveyed to the best of my ability in every detail, so + that in the dead photograph one loses exactly half, also the + dulling of the eyes, which are dark blue in the picture, gives a + look of weakness in the photograph that is not quite pleasant. + + The second subject is, as you will know well, the old, ever-new + motive of Paolo and Francesca. I endeavoured to put in as much + glow and passion as possible without causing the least offence; + this picture also would, perhaps, have pleased you in colour. + How I should like to show it to you, my dear master! However, + you will no doubt send me your candid opinion of the photographs + in a few lines, and not spare criticism. + + I am exceedingly curious to know how _your_ work is getting on. + What are you working at just now? When is the fresco to be + begun? What easel pictures have you undertaken? I want to know + all that. I also hope with all my heart, my dear master, that + your health keeps good, that your wife and children are all + well. Please remember me most kindly to your family and all in + Frankfurt who remember me. And yourself, my dear friend, keep in + remembrance.--Your grateful pupil, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + + + _Translation._] + 2 ORME SQUARE, BAYSWATER, LONDON, + _June 30, 1861_. + + MY DEAR FRIEND,--Forgive my not having thanked you sooner for + your kind note. The same thing has happened to me as to you: + work has left me but little leisure for writing. Now, however, + my hearty thanks for the open sincerity with which you have + spoken of my latest work, I am only sorry that you have not gone + into it even more closely. I shall endeavour in my present works + to diminish the excessive mannerism of the lines, which will be + all the easier for me as I am now painting principally from + nature; in my last picture the subject permitted that but + little. In any case I hope, dear master, that you will always + speak to me with the same candour; it is the best proof to me + that I still possess your friendship. + + I am extremely eager to see how far your works have got on. + Amongst them, however, my dear friend, keep in remembrance your + grateful pupil, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + + _P.S._--I notice with regret that already I do not write a + German letter with my former fluency. + +In a letter to his sister, Mrs. Matthews, January 24, 1860, Leighton +wrote: "I am horrified to hear the account you give of Mrs. Browning. +I knew she was a confirmed invalid, but had no idea that one of her +lungs was already gone! What will poor Browning do if she dies? He +adores her, you know." + + LONDON, _July 1861_. + + DEAREST MAMMY,--Thanks for your kind letter, which I have been + unable to answer till now. I had heard of poor Browning's + bereavement; we were all very much shocked at it, knowing, as we + do, how entirely irreparable his loss is. I wrote a few lines to + him that he might know how sincerely I grieved with him; I don't + at all know what were the circumstances of her death, we have no + particulars. + +Leighton undertook to design the monument over Mrs. Browning's grave +in the English Cemetery at Florence. The work appealed to him in +every sense, and remains as a permanent memorial of those friendships +which made the years spent in Italy so full, so rich, so entrancing. +With reference to the monument Browning writes:-- + + CHEZ M. LARAISON, + STE. MARIE, PRČS PORNIC, LOIRE INFÉRIEURE, + _August 30, 1863_. + + MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--Don't fret; you will do everything like + yourself in the end, I know; wait till the end of October, as + you propose. I cannot return before the beginning of it, though + I would do so were it necessary, but it is not, for I have only + this morning received the notification of which I told you, that + "the marble is in the sculptor's studio." We shall therefore be + in full time. + + The portrait you saw was the autotype which I lent to Mr. + Richmond, and concerning which I wrote to him before leaving + London, directing that it should be sent to you. He engaged to + let you have it whenever you desired. I therefore enclose (oh, + fresh attack on your envelopes and postage stamps!) a note which + I presume he will attend to, and which you will of course burn + should he have sent the portraits meanwhile. I have also two + others nearly like that portrait, taken the same day with it, + which I was unable to find, but which shall be found on my + return. + + Dear Leighton, I can only repeat, with entire truth, that you + will satisfy me wholly. I don't think, however, you can make me + more than I am now--Yours gratefully and lovingly, + + ROBERT BROWNING. + +Continuation of letter to his mother:-- + + I am glad to hear Papa reported favourably of my work, and that + you like the photographs of my pictures now in the Exhibition. I + am very glad also that Gussy liked the _receding figure_ in the + "Lieder ohne Worte," as it was a favourite also with me, the + _tallness_ of said figure was inseparable from the sentiment of + it in my mind. I have a photograph of that picture still + remaining; I will give it to Gus when she comes through, I can + get myself another some future day. I am getting on tol-lol with + my pictures, but am rather anxious just now about the extreme + difficulty of getting a peacock. I want to _buy_ one to have the + skin prepared, and if I don't get one soon they will all lose + their tails; and there I shall be--in a fix! A friend of mine + has written to Norfolk, and hopes to get me one. The season, + even in the extremely moderate form in which I take it, is a + fatiguing affair. I get up late and never feel fresh and + vigorous. I have serious thoughts of entirely giving it up next + year. I will go now and then to stay at people's houses, but not + to their parties--_le jeu ne vaut pas la chandelle_. _A propos_ + of country houses, I am going to spend a few days with Lady + Cowper at Wrest Park towards the end of this month; there are to + be theatricals and great hilarity. And now about Bath, I hope, + dearest Mammy, you won't be hurt if I propose to come at the end + of the _first_ week in September instead of the _last_ week in + August. The fact is I have a great "giro" I want to make, and if + I could take Bath in the regular progress it would be both a + great convenience and a saving of expense. I mean to stay three + weeks in Bath and have thoughts of painting a _pot-boiler_ of + little Walker if he is still handsome. I wish Papa would look + after him, and let me know what he is doing and how he is + looking. These are my plans: I want, whilst the summer is still + hot and green, to visit South Hampshire, New Forest, Isle of + Wight, South Devon, North Devon, and so work my way round to + Bath, whence to Stourhead for a few days; then to Mason in + Staffordshire, and then back to London. My pictures will be done + long before the Exhibition next opening, so I can manage all + this. I shall visit the following people: Sartoris, Aļdés, + perhaps Morants, I hope _Tennyson_, Lady E. Bulteel, and look in + at Mount Edgcombe--the rest of the journey will be purely + artistic. + + + CLOVELLY, _Sunday_. + + DEAREST MAMMY,--I could not find time to answer your note (for + which best thanks) before I left Ventnor. I am now in one of the + most picturesque spots on the north coast of Devon--the + _rendezvous_ of painters and tourists, the _pays de cocagne_ of + Hook and one of the chief lions of my trip. + + The places I have visited so far are Salisbury, Exeter, and + Bideford; with the latter I was much disappointed, and think it + far below its reputation; not so Salisbury, which is a most + interesting town, full of quaintness and character beyond my + expectations; it has, however, a look of decay and depopulation + about it which makes me feel awfully low-spirited. The + Cathedral, perhaps, _altogether_ rather disappointed me--though + of course much about it is very beautiful; then, too, its + general (internal) aspect is entirely marred by a brutal coat of + whitewash laid on in the last century, covering up the marble + columns and killing out all life and colour. Unfortunately, it + would cost very many thousands to restore the church and its + ancient glories. + + To-morrow I start for Ilfracombe--the next day for Lynton. + +Again, later:-- + + Many thanks for your letter just received and for all the kind + wishes therein contained, which I most warmly return for you + all--a double portion to dear Taily in honour of her birthday. + + I will come on the 8th if I possibly can, and bring some little + sketches to show you. + + I shall exhibit this year IF I get done in time, but I can't + hurry--it is entirely immaterial whether I exhibit or not--I + would rather, of course. + + We have begun drilling, but it will be many weeks before we get + to rifle-shooting--this is the sort of thing we are doing now. + Our uniform is plainness itself, all grey, and the cheapest in + London. + + I weather the cold so-so--I have a gas-stove beside my + fireplace, but am still tolerably cold when it comes very sharp. + + My dinner with Millais was put off till Monday next--I think + Millais _charming_ and _so_ handsome. + + I am exceedingly sorry, dear Mamma, you have reckoned on me for + cotillon figures--with the exception of the one I led at Bath + once, _I have not seen one for years_, and have not the faintest + notion what is done--I will, however, _back_ anybody else with + great zeal. + + I was indeed truly sorry to hear of Lord Holland's death--I had + expected it for some time; nothing could exceed their kindness + to me, and the House is an irreparable loss to me. + + I hope to have a very merry Christmas Day. I am running down to + Westbury (the Sartoris); there is to be a tree; I come up again + of course Monday morning. + + I am never _ill_. I take my human frailty out in never being + very well--never equal to much fatigue. + + + LONDON, 1861. + + My dinner at Millais' yesterday was very pleasant. I like him + extremely, and his wife appears an agreeable person. I met there + John Leech, the man who does all those admirable caricatures in + _Punch_--he is a very pleasant and gentleman-like person. + + I don't feel sure whether I told you that I am about shortly to + send my "Paris and Juliet" with the "Samson" to America on spec. + Mrs. Kemble will do all she can to godmother them; I got a very + kind letter from her from Boston the other day--she has asked me + to send her a little sketch of Westbury with the pictures--of + course I shall. + +The following letters from Mrs. Fanny Kemble reveal the interest which +this friend took in Leighton and his pictures, also the genius of the +writer in penning delightful epistles:-- + + REVERE HOUSE, BOSTON, + _Friday, December 9, 1861_. + + DEAR MR. LEIGHTON,--It was very kind and amiable of you to write + to me of Westbury and my sister; you cannot imagine the + forlornness one feels when, to the loss of the sight of those + one loves, is added that bitter silence which leaves one almost + ignorant, as death does, of all the conditions in which our + friends remain. God knows, written words are a poor substitute + for the sound of a voice and the look of living eyes; still, + when they are all that can reach us of those towards whom our + hearts yearn, it is miserable not to be able to obtain them. The + friends with whom I constantly correspond see and know little or + nothing of her, and so no one of them can in any degree supply + me with the news that I most desire from across the sea--how it + is faring with my sister; so I am very grateful to you for your + intelligence, which was just what I would give anything for + (though not in itself, perhaps, very satisfactory) out here, + where I think you have none of you an idea how _banished_ I + feel. Now, my dear Mr. Leighton, to your business, about which + I began my inquiries almost immediately after my return to this + country, but only received the last of these communications last + night, and you perceive the other was incomplete without it. You + must command me entirely in any and every thing that I can do to + forward your aims, and I will promise to be _severe_ in my + obedience to any instructions you may like to give me. New York + is undoubtedly a better market for pictures, and therefore a + better place to exhibit them than this, but I do not know + anybody whom I trust there. Mr. Ordway, however, seems inclined + to take charge of your pictures if they are exhibited there. + + Good-bye. Do not fail to employ me in this matter to the fullest + extent that I can be of the least use to you; it will be a great + pleasure to me to help you in any way that I possibly + can.--Yours very truly, + + FANNY KEMBLE. + + I wish you would send me out some sketch of Westbury with your + pictures, if they come. I wish for one very much. I wish you + could see the world here just now--a sky as pure and brilliant + as it is possible to conceive, and every bough, branch, blade of + grass and withered leaf coated with clear crystal and _blazing_ + with prismatic colours. There are, every now and then, + _sentiments_ in this sky that I have seen in none other. There + are certain points of view in which Boston, rising beyond broad + sheets of water that repeat them still more tenderly, seems to + me worthy of a great painter. But do not come out and try unless + you are quite sure of going back, or you will break your heart. + + + REVERE HOUSE, BOSTON, + _Friday, February 7_. + + I feel terrified, when you speak of my determining what is to be + done with your pictures when they arrive in Boston, for + assuredly I am utterly incompetent to any such decision, and can + only refer myself to the judgment of my friend Mr. Cabot, who + will certainly advise for the best in the matter, but who, + nevertheless, is not infallible. I should think it rather late + in the season for exhibiting them here, but again would not take + upon myself to say. I do not know what the percentage on sale + here is, but presume it is not higher than in London. But here + people exhibit their pictures at a shilling a head, _i.e._ put + them in a room hung round with black calico, light up a flare of + gas above them, and take a quarter of a dollar from every sinner + who sees them. Two of Churche's pictures (he is a great American + artist, though you may never have heard of him) have been, or + rather are, at this moment so exhibiting--his "Falls of + Niagara," and a very beautiful landscape called the "Heart of + the Andes." Both these pictures were exhibited in London, I know + not with what success; they have both considerable merit, but + the latter I admire extremely. Page had a "Venus" here the other + day, exhibited by gas-light in a black room; but indeed, dear + Mr. Leighton, it sometimes seems to me as if you never could + imagine or would consent to the gross charlatanry which is + practised--how necessarily I do not know--here about all such + matters. Certainly your gold medal should be trumpeted--and your + profession of art and your confession of faith, and anything + most private and particular that you would not wish known, had + better be published in several versions in all the newspapers of + the United States. Your pictures must be placarded over all the + walls in all the sizes of type conceivable, and all the colours + of the rainbow. If you will write me your personal history, and + rampant puffs of your own performances, I will copy them and + send them to those sources of public instruction, the + enlightened public press. Moreover, I will go and sit before + them daily and utter exclamations of admiration on every note in + my voice, and if anything else remains to be done I will do it; + but you must not make me in any way responsible for the result, + because it is not in the least likely that you will write + yourself up to the mark of puffing as practised here. Basta--I + will take the very best advice and do the very best I can about + the pictures, and rejoice in my heart to see them myself, that I + can assuredly promise you. By-the-bye, I gave your address only + a few days ago, to be sent to a person now in Europe negotiating + with French and English artists for pictures to exhibit. I + wonder if he will find you and enlighten your mind about art in + America. Thank you for the account of Westbury and its Christmas + festivities, and thank you, thank you for the sketch of the home + you are so very kind as to promise me; it will be a blessed + treasure to see, for you cannot conceive the dreary + heart-sickness that utterly overcomes me here sometimes. To-day + I was singing the quartette in "Faust" that we used to sing, and + was obliged to stop for crying. I wished extremely to have a + photograph of the house, and, if I could only have afforded it, + should have asked you to sell me every sketch you took about the + place. The skies here are beautiful, wonderful in their + transparent purity. They seem to me of a different _texture_ + from any other I ever saw, more diaphanous, and there is a + colour in them when they are quite free from clouds that + surpasses in delicacy all other skies I have seen. It is like + the complexion of the young girls here, a miracle of evanescent + brilliant softness. My winter is wearing along pretty tolerably. + My Christmas was passed entirely alone, but I am quite used to + that. I am beginning to be much occupied about the plans and + drawings for a house, which I am thinking of building on some + land I own in Massachusetts. It is a great undertaking, and + really at fifty years old seems hardly worth while, and yet, + till I am ready for my coffin, I must have some place in which + to rest my head. Perhaps some fine day--who knows?--you will + come to see me there. That would be a very pretty plot, and I + think I need not say how welcome you would be, dear Mr. + Leighton, to yours very truly, + + FANNY KEMBLE. + + + LENOX, _Tuesday_. + + A thousand thanks, my dear Mr. Leighton, for the minute account + of Westbury--as I cannot know anything about my sister, it is + something to know how her house is settled and decorated, and + how the place where she lives looks. The red velvet drawing-room + sounds gorgeous, and it must be very becoming to the pictures. + Of your pictures that have "wandered west" you may be sure I + should have written you, if I had had the good news to give you + that either of them was sold, but I am sorry to say this is not + the case. The New York Exhibition is now closed, and the + pictures have been sent back to Boston, where they are at + present hanging in the Athenęum under the care of Mr. Ordway, + who wishes, but does not much hope, to be able to sell them. It + seems that one or two people asked the price of the pictures in + New York, but considered it, when they received the + information, "rather a tall price." I am a little consoled at + the ill success of this venture of yours, by Henry Greville's + writing me that your hands are full of orders, for which you are + to be well paid. Your small acquaintance, Fanny, who left me + this morning after a visit of a month, propounded to me the + expediency of desiring the purchaser of the reconciliation of + old Capulet and Montague to buy as its pendant the "Paris and + Juliet"; and though she has no personal acquaintance with the + lover of art in question, she said, when she got to Philadelphia + she should set about intriguing to that effect; and she had my + full permission to try and to succeed. I wish I could tell you + anything pleasant in return for your description of the rooms at + Westbury, but I have nothing very cheerful to impart. I have + been quite unwell, and am still very far from flourishing; my + spirits are much depressed, and the life I lead, of incessant + worry and discomfort with servants and all one's domestic + arrangements, is something quite too tedious to relate--and that + indeed it would be impossible to _realise_, as the Yankees say, + unless you witnessed it. I saw Hetty Hosmer three days after her + arrival in Boston. Her father is a hopeless invalid, and she + will certainly not leave him while he lives; but I suspect that + he is likely to die before this year ends, and then she will + return to live in Italy. The State of Missouri has voted two + thousand pounds for a statue of Colonel Benton, one of its + "great men," to be erected by her, which, of course, is a whole + plume of feathers in her cap. + + Good-bye, dear Mr. Leighton; believe me always yours most truly, + + FANNY KEMBLE. + + You must not fail to write to me any directions that you wish + observed about your pictures, while they remain here. I am only + too glad to try to serve you. + + + LENOX, BERKSHIRE, MASSACHUSETTS, + _Monday, March 12_. + + Pictures of very high pretensions are exhibited, like the scenes + in a theatre, by gas-light, and advertised in coloured _posters_ + all over the streets like theatrical exhibitions. However, it is + no use vexing your soul with what neither of us can help. I + cannot and will not accept the responsibility of disposing of + your pictures; but I will get the best advice I can about them + and follow it, and spare no personal pains to have them + advantageously dealt with; only, I hope it will not be very long + before they arrive, because my own stay in Boston is now drawing + to a close, and after the end of the present month I shall be at + Lenox, a remote village in a lonely hill district one hundred + miles from Boston, or rather I should say seven hours distant + from the nearest railroad station, which is six miles away again + from Lenox. When once I come here--for I write at this moment + from this snowy wilderness--it will be to remain for the next + nine or ten months, so you see I must make all arrangements + about your pictures before taking my leave of civilised + communities. I came up to this place from Boston yesterday to + look at a house that I think of hiring for a year, and shall + return to the city next week. I have left your pictures (should + they arrive during my absence) to the charge of a friend of mine + who is one of the directors of the Athenęum, and will see that + they are properly received. Thank you a thousand times for the + promised likeness of Westbury, which will be a treasure to me. + What a contrast is my recollection of that charming place, to + the abomination of desolation of the dreary savage winter + landscape of low black hills, bristling with wintry woods and + wide, bare, snow-covered valleys, that stretch before me here at + this moment. I am well, but much worn out with my last course of + public readings, which I had just ended in Boston. My daughters + are well, and write to me tolerably frequently; the eldest seems + happy and contented in her marriage; your small acquaintance, + Fanny, writes to me from Savannah of sitting with the doors and + windows wide open, and wiping the perspiration from her face in + the meantime; and here everything is buried in snow. I shall + wait till I return to Boston to finish this, as I shall hope to + send you then news of the arrival of your pictures. + + + _Wednesday, March 14._ + + Your pictures are arrived, my dear Mr. Leighton; they reached + Boston last week while I was absent at Lenox. I only returned + yesterday evening, and found a letter from Mr. Cabot announcing + that they were at the Athenęum; thither I went this morning, and + spent a most delightful half-hour in looking at them. I like + the "Samson" very much indeed; I think it is beautiful, and am + charmed with the treatment of the subject, though you have + chosen a different moment for illustration from the one I had + imagined. This evening I have been having a long conversation + with Mr. Ordway about the future destinations of the pictures. I + am little sanguine, I regret to say, about their being bought + here, for the only rich picture purchaser that I know here has a + predilection for French works of art, small _tableaux de genre_, + and Troyon's landscapes. However, it must be tried. Mr. Ordway + says he will exhibit your pictures in the Athenęum, which + (should they be sold while there) will save you your commission, + because, being an artist himself, he will not charge you any. If + after due experiment they do not seem likely to sell here, we + will send them to New York, and then to Philadelphia; in short, + the best that can be done for them shall, as far as my agency is + concerned, you may be sure. + + + BOSTON, _Thursday, March 15_. + + I have this moment received your letter of the 25th February, + for which I thank you very much. It does not require any further + answer with regard to your pictures, of the safe arrival of + which I wrote you word last night. I did not tell you, + by-the-bye, that they are both slightly _streaked_ across from + side to side with what Mr. Ordway thinks must have been small + infiltrations of sea-water; he says the pictures are not injured + by them, nor do they indeed appear to be so in the least, and + that he can wipe off the stains with no damage whatever to them. + Thank you for all you tell me of my sister; it is not much, + indeed, nor very cheerful, but it is more than reaches me + through any other channel, and far better than the miserable + conjectures of absolute ignorance. Dear Mr. Leighton, thank you + a thousand times for the _portrait_ of Westbury--it is exactly + what I wished for--but, oh, why could there not be the lovely + upland beyond, and the sheep slowly rolling up and down the + slopes, and the tinkle of the bell, and you and she and they and + all of us. Oh dear, if you could conceive what it is to me to be + _here_, you would know a thousand times better than I can tell + you how precious such a memento of _there_ is to me. Thank you, + too, for the good inspiration of telling me about the change of + place of the pictures at Westbury; it is wonderful how much one + small particular has power to bring the whole of what surrounds + it, back to the mind, and what vividness it gives to the picture + that, in spite of the distinctness with which it was stamped + upon the memory, becomes so soon, and yet so unconsciously, + obliterated in the minor parts that give it charm and vitality. + I spent a long hour to-day again looking at your pictures and + wishing most heartily that I could afford to buy them both. + Good-bye, dear Mr. Leighton; I shall leave this open till + to-morrow, in case I should hear anything more about them before + I go. I enclose the receipts for what I have paid. I suppose it + is all right, but it seems a most monstrous price for mere + conveyance, and indeed reminds us that our humorous forefathers + called _stealing_ _conveying_. + + + LENOX, BERKSHIRE, MASSACHUSETTS, + _Friday, April 27_. + + Your pictures are at present in the New York Exhibition. Mr. + Ordway tells me that it is extremely rare for pictures to sell + without the intervention of dealers. In this country they cry + down and undervalue all pictures that are not expressly + committed to them, and the ignorance of the rich shopkeepers who + purchase works of Art, is so excessive that they do not feel + safe in making any acquisition without the advice and permission + of some charlatan of a dealer, to whom these wiseacres come + saying (verbatim, so Mr. Ordway informed me), "I want some + pictures; can't you recommend any to me?" and then, of course, + the picture-dealer recommends what brings him the highest + percentage; and the man who buys pictures exactly like + looking-glasses, window-curtains, or any other _furniture_ for a + new house, departs satisfied that he possesses a work of Art. + The things that are bought and sold here in the shape of + pictures, and the things that are said about them, _vous + feraient pouffer de rire_, if you did not live in this country. + If you did, they would be like many other proofs of the + semi-civilisation of the people, that would be rather doleful + than otherwise to you. Thank you for all you tell about my + sister and her children. I feel very much both for my sister and + Anne in their separation. I have just parted with my maid Marie, + who has lived with me fifteen years, and who leaves me now + because her health is so much broken down that her physician + tells her, she must go to some other climate or she will die. + So she is gone, and here I remain absolutely alone, looking, not + for the "wrath to come," but what may be supposed no bad + instalment of it--the advent of four new servants with whom I am + to begin housekeeping in my small cottage next week. Just before + leaving Boston I saw Hetty Hosmer. She has come home to her poor + old paralytic father, who, I suppose, is not likely to live very + long. Whenever the event of his death happens, Hetty will gather + up her substance, and depart hence for the rest of her natural + or artistic life. She is very little changed in appearance, and + only a little in manner. She seemed very glad to see me, and so + was I to see her, for she represented to my memory a whole world + of things and places and people that I am fond of. I have not + seen Lord Lyon, and do not expect to do so, as I understand he + does not mean to stir from Washington all the summer, and + thither I shall assuredly not go, though I would go a good way + to see him. I'm told he lives in dread of being married by some + fair American, and it is not always a thing that a man can + escape; but he is too good for that, and I trust will not + succumb to these intrepid little flirts. Good-bye, dear Mr. + Leighton; I have a settled nostalgia, which is the saddest thing + in the world. Your sketch of Westbury is always before me, and + your letters are the most kindly return you could possibly make, + for any service that you could require of me. I wish with all my + heart I might have the great pleasure of writing you, now that + one of your pictures was sold. + + Addio. + + + LENOX, _Friday, June 7_. + + Thank you, dear Frederic Leighton, for your letter and the + photographs, by means of which, and your description, I have a + sort of vision (not quite what the Yankees call a "realising + sense") of your pictures. The girl at the fountain is + charming,[20] the other beautiful and terrible, as it should + be.[21] I can well imagine the beautiful effect the sentiment of + the picture must receive from that regretful return, as it were, + of the daylight that has set upon the poor people for ever. In + the English newspapers that are sent to me I looked eagerly + among the notices of the Exhibition for your name, and read the + meagre little bit allotted to each picture. I was especially + delighted with the critic who thinks your "Paolo and Francesca" + too _earthly_ in the intensity of their passions. The gentleman + apparently forgets that it was not in Heaven that Dante met + these poor things. With regard to your other pictures, dear Mr. + Leighton, I think you are right to withdraw them from America. I + wish with all my heart that I could have presented myself with + one of those pictures; however, that is one of the vainest of + all human desires. My income is already docked of two hundred + pounds this year by the disastrous state of public affairs; but, + of course, if one is in the midst of a falling house, one can + hardly hope to avoid bruises and broken bones. The attitude of + England is highly unsatisfactory to the North, who now choose to + consider the whole action of the Government a crusade against + slavery--which it is not, and was not, and will not be except in + the New England state where the Abolitionist party has always + been strongest, and where the character of the people is more of + the nature to make fighters for abstract principles. The + Southerners hate the Yankees, and _vice versā_, for this very + reason; and if the crisis comes really to anything like + fighting, the New England, especially the Massachusetts men, + will probably fight very maliciously as against slaveholders, + and the slaveholders against them as Abolitionists, which _they_ + now are, pretty much to a man. A huge volunteer force is levying + and being prepared for action; but in spite of the very + unanimous feeling of the North and North-West, and the warlike + attitude of the South, I shall not believe in anything deserving + the name of war till I see it. The South is without resources + that can avail for a six months' struggle. The North has a huge, + unarmed, undisciplined force of men at its command; but the + Southerners do not want to fight, and neither do the + Northerners; _but_ if any combination of circumstances (and of + course matters cannot stand still, especially with the border + states all _au pied en l'air_) should occasion any collision + accompanied with considerable effusions of blood, I believe the + North would pour itself upon the Southern States and annihilate + the secessionist party. It is extremely difficult to foresee the + probable course of events, but I believe eventually the Southern + States will be obliged to return to their allegiance, and + _then_ I believe the North will, once for all, legislate for the + future limiting of the curse of slavery to those states where it + _now_ exists, and where, of course, under such circumstances, it + would very soon cease to exist, as if it cannot extend itself it + must die. In one sense slavery is undoubtedly the cause of the + present disastrous crisis--and in the profoundest sense, for the + character of the Southerners is the immediate result of these + infernal "institutions"; and but for Southern slavery Southern + "Chivalry," that arrogant, insolent, ignorant, ferocious and + lawless race of men, would never have existed. + + Oh, how thankful I shall be to be at home once more! Farewell, + dear Mr. Leighton; pray, if there is anything special to be done + about your pictures, write to me and let me have the pleasure of + doing something for you. Oh, I am so enraged that I could not + get them sold; and yet though you may not think it, I should + have thought it a pity for them to have to live the rest of + their lives here. Thank you again for the photographs; I look at + them constantly. All _such things_ are like being lifted into + another atmosphere from that which surrounds and stifles one + here. Believe me always your obliged and sincere friend, + + FANNY KEMBLE. + + Emil Devrient's was the best Hamlet I ever saw. It would not + have been if my father's had not been too smooth and harmonious. + I hope I shall see Fechter's. + + + LENOX, _Thursday, October 11_. + + How good an inspiration it was that made you send that beautiful + photograph to me! It came to me really like a special + providence, on the day when I had parted from my children for an + indefinite time, and with more than usual sadness and anxiety; + for my eldest child's health has failed completely since her + confinement, and she came to me for a visit of ten days only, + looking like the doomed, wan image of some woman whose enemies + were wasting her by witchcraft. My small comfortless home was + intolerably lonely to me, and towards sunset I went out to find + some fortitude under the open sky. I wandered into a copse of + beech trees that clothe the steep sides of a miniature ravine + with a brook at the bottom, and here gathered a handful of the + beautiful blue fringed gentian (do you know that exquisite + flower that grows wild in the woods here?). The little glen with + its clusters of mysterious blue blossoms was all but dark, but, + emerging from it, I stood where I saw a wide valley flooded with + the evening light, and hills beyond rising in waves of amber and + smoke colour and dark purple; it was so beautiful that it cannot + be imagined. The autumn has turned all the trees into gold and + jewels, like the enchanted growth of fairy-land, and the whole + world, as I saw it from the entrance of that shadowy dell, + looked as if it was made of precious metals and precious stones. + I was very sad, and stood thinking of our Saviour and the widow + of Nain, and how pitiful He was to sorrowful human creatures, + and with some sparks of comfort in my heart I returned home, + where I found your letter waiting for me. I have told you all + this of my previous state of mind and feeling, because--without + knowing that--you could not conceive how like an express message + of consolation your work appeared to me. May it be blessed to + many hearts for admonition and for consolation as it was to + mine, dear Mr. Leighton. It is no wonder that it seemed to me + beautiful, and I do not think I shall ever sufficiently + disconnect it with this first impression, to be able to judge of + its merit as a work of art; it was, as I said before, a special + Providence to me. I long to have it framed and hung where I can + see it constantly. I have within the last few days moved into a + house which I have hired for the next two years. It is all but + in the village of Lenox, and yet so situated that it commands + from the windows of every room a most beautiful prospect. The + whole landscape is a harmonious confusion of small valleys and + hills, rolling and falling within and around and beyond each + other, like folds of rich and majestic drapery. Oh, what lights + and shadows roam and rest over these hill-sides and in the + hollows between them! The country is very thickly wooded, and + the woods are literally of every colour in the rainbow, all + mixed together under a sky, the peculiar characteristic of which + is not so much softness or brightness, as a transparent purity + that seems as if there was _no_ atmosphere betwixt oneself and + the various objects one sees. I expect this would make it + difficult to paint these beautiful aspects of nature here; but, + oh, how I _do_ wish you could see it, for, in the matter of + American autumnal colouring, seeing alone is believing. The + house itself is very tolerably comfortable, but hideous to + behold both within and without; and I have begun my residence in + it under rather depressing circumstances, _i.e._ without _being + able_ to obtain the necessary servants for the decent comfort of + my daily existence. Ever since the beginning of May I have been + endeavouring, in vain, to procure and keep together a decent + household. Not for one _single week_ have I had my proper + complement of people in the house, and I have done every species + of house-work myself, from cleaning the cellar and kitchen to + washing the tea-cups; it is a state of things as incredible as + the colour of the autumn woods, and as peculiar, thank God, to + America. I am now making my last experiment by trying coloured + servants. Their manners and deportment are generally much better + than those of either the Irish or American, and they seem + capable of personal attachment to their employers, which neither + of the other races are. The incessant worry, discomfort, and + positive fatigue that I have undergone during the whole summer + has completely shaken my nerves, so that I have been in a sort + of hysterical condition of constant weeping for some time past. + I trust, however, it will not be so wretched now, for I am at + any rate close to the village inn, and if I am left without + servants, can go there and get some food; it is a state of + existence _qu'on ne s'imagine pas_. You will not wonder, after + all this, to hear that I declined a ticket to the Prince's ball + at New York, to which the whole population of the United States + are struggling to get admittance; but at the best of times "I am + not gamesome," and feel as if I had swept my own rooms quite too + recently to be fit company for my Queen's son. Thank you, dear + Mr. Leighton, for all you tell me about my sister and the + children; she never writes, you know, and so I am thirsty all + the time for some tidings of her. It is very sad to be so far + away and hear so seldom from those one loves. Good-bye, God + bless you; and thank you once more for the "Vision." I am sorry + I cannot tell you of the sale of either of your pictures; they + are in the Boston Athenęum, very safe, and highly ornamental to + it, but not, I regret to say, sold. If you wish me to do + anything more about them, you must write me your directions, + which I will fulfil with every attention and accuracy of which I + am capable. + + + LENOX, _Sunday, November 11_. + + I trust before long you will receive your children safe and + sound. I wish the two hundred pounds I have lost this year had + been invested in one of those pictures instead of in St. Louis. + Thank you for your account of Adelaide and her children; it is + not much, but it is all that much better than nothing. The state + of the country is very sad, and any probable termination of the + war quite out of calculable distance. England, no doubt, will + maintain her absolute neutrality in spite of secession, cotton, + and anti-slavery sympathies; it is her only part. Good-bye, dear + Mr. Leighton. + + I beg you will not scruple to write me now if there is anything + more that I can do, either in the matter of the pictures or any + other by which I can be of use to you here. + + + NEW YORK, + _Sunday, March 10_. + + I am sure you have not forgotten the charming farmhouse at West + Mion, to which you and your sketch-book were the means of + introducing us, ---- farm: well, his brother is one of the + richest shopkeepers in New York--and, upon the strength of my + visit to the paternal acres in Hampshire, his wife, a funny + little specimen of vivacious vulgarity, called upon me, and I, + of course, upon her. I was shown into a drawing-room at least + thirty feet long, with two massive white marble chimney-pieces, + green silk brocade curtains and furniture to match, magnificent + carpets, mirrors, gildings, hideous _works_ in marble on + scagliola pillars--in short, the most marvellous palace of + shopkeepers' _beaux ideaux_ that you can conceive; through this + to a beautifully fitted-up library; through this to a picture + gallery, noble _seigneur_, _pensez y bien_! Oh, my dear Frederic + Leighton, it was enough to make one fall down and foam at the + mouth, to see such a hideous collection of daubs and to think of + the money hanging on those walls; and then I thought of your + pictures, and why the wretched man couldn't have procured them + for some of his foolish money; and then I begged your pardon + internally for the desecration of imagining your pictures in + such company; and then I gazed amusedly about me, and at length + gave tongue: "Mr. ----," said I, "this is a vastly different + residence from the old homestead in Hampshire." The worthy man + could not see in my heart which way the balance of preference + inclined, and answered with benignant self-satisfaction: "Ah, + well, you see, ma'am, they've been going on there for the last I + don't know how many hundred years, just about in the same social + position; they haven't a notion of the rapidity of our progress + here." I hate to advise you to have your pictures back, for + there really does seem to me to be a _greedy desire for + pictures_ (I cannot qualify in any other way the taste which + covets and buys such things) here; but I suppose pictures, at + any rate, must be what these people want, and will not buy dear + and good ones, when cheap and nasty do as well. I think, while I + am here in New York, I shall take the liberty of making some + further inquiry as to whether the great print and picture seller + here does not think they could be seen to selling advantage in + his shop; in short, it throws me into a melancholy rage to think + what pictures are bought while yours are not. The state of this + country is curious--strange and deplorable beyond precedent in + history, it seems to me; and it is absolutely _impossible_ to + foresee to what issue things are tending. The opinions one hears + are all coloured by the particular bias of the speaker, and the + confusion is so great in the general excitement of sectional + partisanship that even one of the members--and a very + influential one--of the peace convention sent to Washington for + the purpose of proposing terms of conciliation--which should + not, however, compromise the Northern principles--said that + nothing had been done, that all was "sound and fury, and + signifying nothing"--or if anything at present, the confirmed + secession of the Southern, the disruption from the North of the + Northern slave States, and, not impossibly, civil war. Of + course, the more time elapses in palavering before the first + fatal blow is struck, the less probability there is of its being + struck at all; but, on the other hand, the longer the present + state of things continues, the more accustomed people become to + the idea of the dismemberment of the Union, and therefore, + though the clangour of an appeal to arms diminishes, so I think + does the prospect of anything like "making up" the family + quarrel--indeed, if it were patched, and soldered to the very + best, I do not believe that it will ever "hold water again"; but + it is impossible to foresee from day to day what may be the turn + of events. + + If I live till a year from this summer I will be in England in + July, and if I live till the November after that I will be in + Rome, and you and Edward and Adelaide have my full permission to + come too. + + Good-bye, dear Mr. Leighton. Your letters are a great comfort as + well as pleasure to me; I am extremely obliged to you for them. + + I showed my daughter the photograph of your "Vision," and she + was enchanted with it. She has not a cultivated or educated + taste in matters of art--this country affords no means for such + a thing--but she is a person of very fine natural perceptions + and great imagination and sensibility, and she was so charmed + with it that I hope you will not think it foolish or impertinent + in me to tell you of it. + + The last political news I have is that the border or Northern + slave States will probably not join the cotton states, in which + case the latter will, of hard necessity, very soon be compelled + to abandon their absurd and infinitely perilous position; but + one does not see the end of it all, for if they _do_ come back + into the Union, it will be under a burning sense of humiliation + which will hardly facilitate their future intercourse with the + North, for humiliation and humility are difficult things, and + the cotton Lucifer under coercion will not be a pleasant devil + to deal with. + + + LENOX, _Saturday, September 7_. + + You owe me nothing, and you will owe me nothing, dear Mr. + Leighton, for expediting your pictures to England. When I wrote + to Mr. Ordway about them desiring him to send them back to you, + and to let me know the amount of any expenses he incurred in + doing so, his reply was that the mere cost of packing and + putting them on board ship would not be worth charging you with, + and that the possession of your pictures in his gallery was well + worth the small outlay of merely despatching them to you. I + hope they will reach you safely. I am sorry, _sorry_ they have + not remained here; but latterly, as you will easily believe, + people's minds have been little inclined to the peaceful arts or + any influences of beauty and grace; moreover, the pockets of the + wealthiest amateurs are affected, as those of their poorer + neighbours are, by the public disasters. My own loss this year + is two hundred pounds of my income. What it may be next year, or + how far my capital itself is safe, is more than anybody can + tell. We are to be taxed moreover beyond all precedent in this + country hitherto, and as it is already nearly the dearest place + in the world to live in, what with onerous imports and the + failure of interest from one's investments it will be simply + ruinous. Thank you for all you tell me of my sister and her + children. I am beginning to _see them again_, as the time when I + may really hope to do so draws nearer. I am sorry for what you + and all my friends tell me about Harry's strong dramatic + propensities. Of course, if he is fit for nothing else, or + fitter for that than anything else, he had better become an + actor, and his being so in England need not prevent his being a + worthy fellow and respectable and respected member of society. I + am, however, much reconciled to what at first disappointed me + extremely--my not being able to bring him out to this country; + for if he should eventually take to the stage, here that is + simply in most instances equivalent to taking to the gutter. My + daughters are both with me just now, and Fanny desires me to + remember her very kindly to you. The incidents of the war which + reach the other side of the water no doubt strike you as amazing + enough; but anything more grotesque than the daily details in + the midst of which we live, you cannot conceive. A young + gentleman, a friend of ours who has just returned from his share + in the campaign in a three months' volunteer regiment (he has + entered the regular army, as a very large proportion of the + volunteers did as soon as their three months' amateur service + expired), described to us a volunteer corps which happened to be + encamped in the neighbourhood of his company. He said they were + one of the finest bodies of men he ever saw. Lumberers, that is, + wood-fellers from the forests of Maine and New Hampshire, + perfectly brave and reckless and daring--perfectly undisciplined + too, to the tune of replying to their officers when ordered to + turn out on guard, "No, I'll be damned if I do," with the most + cheerful good humour. Thereupon the discomfited "superior" + simply turns to some one else and says, "Oh, well--you're so and + so--go." Good-bye; I shall rejoice to see you again, and be once + more at home among people who know how to behave + themselves.--Believe me, always yours most sincerely, + + FANNY KEMBLE. + +After the Prince Consort's death in 1861 Leighton wrote the following +letter to his younger sister, who was in Italy: + + I have just returned from a fortnight in Bath, where I have at + last finished the Johnnies,[22] I believe, and hope you will + like them; they are at all events much improved. I am glad for + the poor lad that the _corvée_ of settling is over; he was dying + to get back to his work. If zeal and enthusiasm can make an + artist, he ought to become one. + + I don't attempt to give you home news, as you are amply supplied + with that article by Mamma. Everybody here is in great sorrow + for the poor Queen. She bears up under her overwhelming grief + with admirable fortitude, and expresses her anxious desire to do + _her duty as he_ would have wished it, but she speaks of all + earthly happiness as at an end. The tender sympathy manifested + by the whole nation is touching, but deserved. + + Whether there will be war or not, the beginning of the year will + show; it is, I think, more than probable; there is no + probability of the Americans giving up Mason and Slidell. If we + do fight, it will be agreeable to feel that we are supported by + the sympathy and approval of _all Europe_; that we are entirely + in the right is _universally_ recognised, even by those who have + no love for us. Sooner or later, a war with America was, I fear, + unavoidable. There is a limit to what even we can overlook. All + this need not prevent your coming to England that I can see; it + won't stop the Exhibition, nor make any perceptible difference + in anybody's doings, except perhaps the picture buyers.--Your + very affect. brother, + + FRED. + + + _Sunday, 1862._ + + Arrived here safe and sound on Thursday night, and began my work + on Friday. I am making studies[23] for the "Eastern King" which + I shall begin to paint shortly after New Year. I found the frame + for the large "Johnny" on my return. It improves the picture + very much, and looks very handsome. I also found a letter from + Henry Greville waiting for me. He says the Queen bears up + admirably, because, she says, _he_ would have wished it, but + that she always talks of her earthly career as at an end. The + equerries, &c., will remain attached to the court. + +In 1862 Leighton sent eight pictures to the Royal Academy, and six +were accepted. Before the sending in he writes to his father:-- + + 1862. + + DEAR PAPA,--I am afraid I don't take exercise _very_ regularly, + still, I walk a _little_ nearly every day. + + With regard to the volunteering, the zeal for the matter is + necessarily not what it was when every third man really expected + to be called to defend the country. Nevertheless, the movement + is not dead, but has found a level on which I fancy it will + remain; the _shooting_ will keep it together a good deal. We + (the artists) shall join the great business at Brighton on + Easter Monday. + + Had I thought you would have taken my remark about the M. Angelo + and the Johnnies so much to heart, I should have thought twice + before I made it. Against what I said you must set the paragraph + in the _Athenęum_ two or three weeks back--my doubt is not + whether they will be admired--I think they will be _that_--my + only question is whether they will be _cared_ for. Mrs. Austin + admires and likes the M.A. beyond anything, and if she could + afford it would, I believe, buy it at once. + + You will perhaps be surprised to hear that the pictures from + which I expect most are the three which you have not seen--the + "Eastern King" and the two others I mentioned in my last. One of + them is Pocock's smaller order, a girl with a _swan_ (not with + _peacocks_ as the _Athen._ says)--the other is a kitcat of a + girl listening to a shell. Both these are very luminous, and are + in that respect the best things I have done. + +And later:-- + + LONDON, 1862. + + DEAR PAPA,--I think I may confirm the report made to you of the + success of my pictures, particularly the "Odalisque" and + "Echoes" (by-the-bye, I have just received a letter from + somebody who wants to know if they are sold). What the papers + say, you have seen. You will be glad to hear that I have + received congratulations on all sides, which gives me the idea + of being tolerably secure; at all events, I got no such last + year, nor indeed at all since the "Cimabue." That two of my + pictures should not have been accepted does not indeed surprise + me, and least of all would it do so if they were rejected on the + score of _number_, but I have reason to suspect that they were + _not_ liked; in fact I _know_ it. I have put my name down as a + candidate for associateship. + + I don't think I have anything of interest to communicate; nobody + has as yet asked the price of the "Eastern King" or the "Michael + Angelo." There is no mistake now about what people in this + country like to buying point; whether I shall conform to their + taste is another question. + + Pocock liked the "Michael Ang." much, but did not seem to wish + to have it. The same remark applies to the Johnnies. + + Millais has been, and liked the yellow woman[24] extremely. I + think he liked them all _of their kind_, but the yellow woman + was his favourite by far. Stephens has also seen my pictures. He + seemed altogether much pleased, but most especially with the + design for the "Eastern King," which is also Fred Cockerell's + favourite. + +To his mother he wrote:-- + + 1862. + + I have deferred answering your letter till now, that I might be + able to inform you definitely of my fate as regards the Royal + Academy. I have just been there; I must tell you at once the + least pleasant part of my news--they have rejected the large + "Johnny" and "Lord Cowper." On the other hand, the other + pictures are well hung; two (the "Odalisque" and the yellow + woman), _very_ well, being on _the line_ in the _East Room_. The + "Michael Angelo," the "E. King," and the shell girl are just + above the line and well seen--the small "Johnny" just below the + line. I think the pictures all look well, though not so luminous + as in the studio. I am confirmed in my opinion that the Academy + Exhibition is a false test of colour; what looks sufficiently + _silvery there_ is _chalky_ out of it. The "Odalisque" looks + best from general aspects. Lady Cowper wrote me a very nice note + about the rejection of her son's portrait, and said she was + delighted to get it so soon. I am sorry about the large + "Johnny," because my chance of selling it is much diminished. + +That Leighton received great encouragement from personal friends there +can be no doubt. The following is one of very many letters he received +which expressed warm appreciation. + + 64 RUTLAND GATE. + + MY DEAR MR. LEIGHTON,--I do not know how to express my thanks to + you. I have this moment come home and found your beautiful + drawing, and can hardly hold my pen, I am in such a state of + delight at possessing such a reminiscence of my favourite + picture. You really _do_ not know what pleasure you have given + me, and I think it _too kind_ of you to have parted with this to + give to me. One thing you may be quite sure of, that the + "Eastern King" will receive the greatest homage to the end of + days from his devoted admirer and your sincere friend, + + MARY SARTORIS.[25] + _Past Midnight, Tuesday._ + +Among Leighton's friends was Charles Dickens. The following notes, +written in 1863, have turned up in a packet of miscellaneous +correspondence:-- + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + NO. 26 WELLINGTON STREET, STRAND, LONDON, W.C., + _Thursday, April 9, 1863_. + + MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--I owe you many thanks for your kind reminder. + It would have given me real pleasure to have profited by it had + such profit been possible, but a hasty summons to attend upon a + sick friend at a distance so threw me out on Friday and Saturday + in obliging me to prepare for a rush across the Channel, that I + saw no pictures and had no holiday. I was blown back here only + last night, and believe that I shall deliver your message to + Mrs. Collins to-day; that is to say, I am going home this + afternoon and expect to find her there. + + When the summer weather comes on, I shall try to persuade you to + come and see us on the top of Falstaff's Hill. A hop country is + not to be despised by an artist's eyes.--Faithfully yours + always, + + CHARLES DICKENS. + + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, + HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Saturday, July 18, 1863_. + + MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--Shall I confess it? I never went out to + breakfast in my life, except once to Rogers'. But what I might + have done under this temptation is a question forestalled by my + having engaged to go down to Bulwer Lytton's in Hertfordshire on + Monday, to stay a few days.--Cordially yours, + + CHARLES DICKENS. + +It was in 1863 that Leighton paid the notable visit to his friend of +the Roman days, George Mason, to whom the world's Art owes so much. +Assuredly, without Leighton's encouragement and help, those lovely +idylls which stand with the most precious treasures of the English +school of painting would never have been created. Mason had returned +to England in 1856; he married and settled in his own manor-house, +Wetley Abbey. Children were born and expenses increased, and little or +nothing was there with which to meet them. After Rome England seemed a +hopeless place to work in, and Mason's surroundings were quite dumb to +his artistic sense. Leighton, when he heard of his depression and +poverty, sought him out in his rural retreat, beamed mental sunshine +on his spirits, made him walk with him, pointing out the pictorial +beauties of Mason's own native country, and ended by taking him a tour +through the Black Country. Mason's poetic sense was again awakened; an +artistic purpose was again inspired; and, feeling the despair of +hopeless poverty removed (Leighton was ever ready with substantial +aid), he painted the pictures for which the world has so much reason +to be grateful. When in 1872--nine years after this visit--George +Mason died, Leighton arranged for a sale of his pictures and property, +from the proceeds of which his wife and children obtained an income of +£600 a year. Leighton wrote to Mrs. Matthews at the time of Mason's +death: "Poor Mason's death has been a great shock to me, though indeed +I should have been prepared for it at any time. His loss is quite +irreparable for English Art, for he stood entirely alone in his +especial charm, and he was one of the most lovable of men besides." + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[8] The critics, judging from the following extracts, were amiably +inclined towards him that year:--"Among the pictures familiar to London +loungers of 1858, is Mr. F. Leighton's scene from 'Romeo and Juliet,' a +work lost and, it may be submitted, undervalued, owing to the +disadvantageous place given it in Trafalgar Square. The depth and +richness of its colour, the picturesque manner in which the story is +told, the contrast in some of the heads, that, for instance, of Friar +Lawrence, hopeful in the consciousness of knowledge of Juliet's secret, +with that of the entrancing maiden of Verona, or again with that of the +weeping nurse, whose grief is a trifle too _accentué_. The truthful +conception and careful labour of this picture have now a chance of +being appreciated, and but that Pre-Raphaelitism is resolute not to +give in, might fairly have entitled it to the prize bestowed +elsewhere."--_Athenęum_, 1858. + +"We will take the second-named gentleman first, and come at once to his +'Fisherman and Syren.' The picture is not of any commanding size, nor +does it relate any very exciting legend. The story is of the mystic +Undine tinge, and with a shadowy semblance in it to that strange +legend, current among the peasants of Southern Russia, of the 'White +Lady' with the long hair, who, with loving and languishing gestures, +decoys the unwary into her fantastic skiff, then, pressing her baleful +lips to theirs, folds them to her fell embrace, and drags them +shrieking beneath the engulfing waves. The 'Fisherman and Syren' of Mr. +Leighton has something of this unreal, legendary fatality pervading it +throughout. There is irresistible seductiveness on the one side, +pusillanimous fondness on the other. That it is all over with the +fisherman, and that the syren will have her wicked will of him to his +destruction, is palpable. But it is not alone for the admirable manner +in which the story is told that we commend this picture; the drawing is +eruditely correct, most graceful, and most symmetrical. The syren is a +model of form in its most charming undulations. The fisherman is a type +of manly elegance. That Mr. Leighton understands, to its remotest +substructure, the vital principle of the line of beauty, is pleasurably +manifest. But there is evidence here even more pleasing that the +painter, in the gift of a glowing imagination, and a refined ideality, +in his mastery of the nobler parts of pictorial manipulation, is worthy +to be reckoned among the glorious brotherhood of disciples of the +Italian masters--of the grand old men whose pictures, faded and +time-worn as they are, in the National Gallery hard by, laugh to scorn +the futile fripperies that depend for half their sheen on gilt frames +and copal varnish. This young artist is one of Langis' and Nasasi's +men. He has plainly drunk long and eagerly at the painter's Castaly. +The fount of beauty and of grace that assuaged the thirst of those who +painted the 'Monna Lisa' and the 'Belle Jardiničre'; who modelled the +'Horned Moses' and the 'Slave'; who designed Peter's great Basilica, +and the Ghiberti Gates at Florence."--_Daily Telegraph_, 3rd May 1858. + +[9] The Prince of Wales, who lent the picture to the exhibition of +Leighton's works at Burlington House, 1897. + +[10] Mr. Augustus Craven's wife, _née_ Pauline la Ferronnay, was the +authoress of the famous book, _Le Récit d'une soeur_, in which several +of the most charming scenes took place at Naples. + +[11] Mr. George Aitchison wrote: "In 1859, while at Capri, he drew the +celebrated Lemon Tree, working from daylight to dusk for a week or two, +and giving large details in the margin of the snails on the tree." + +[12] The drawing had been lent to Ruskin at the time he was lecturing +at Oxford. + +[13] Leighton knew Mr. Chorley through Mrs. Sartoris. He accompanied +the great _cantatrice_ when she made a tour abroad. "Mrs. Kemble's +children and their nurse are with them, and Mary Anne Thackeray, a +life-long friend, and Mr. Chorley, and the great Liszt, who +subsequently joined them in Germany."--Preface by Mrs. R. Ritchie to "A +Week in a French Country House," by Mrs. Adelaide Sartoris. + +[14] Leighton was perfectly right. "Orphée" was produced at Covent +Garden, and the great artist, Madame Viardot, sang in it superbly. The +opera was given after one or two acts of a well-known work, and I can +vouch for the fact, having been one of the audience, that the house was +very nearly empty at the close of "Orphée," Lord Dudley and a very few +true lovers of music only remaining in the stalls to the end. + +[15] The lady was Mrs. Sandbach, a _Hollandaise_, who was Maid of +Honour to the Queen of Holland. In after years, on an occasion when she +and I paid a visit together to Leighton's studio in Holland Park Road, +she recounted the incident above related by Leighton, which happened in +the palace at the Hague when she was in waiting. She also added that +from her description Leighton painted what she had seen in her dream to +perfection; but that he subsequently added two _amorini_, which in her +opinion did much to mar the otherwise true feeling of the picture. + +[16] See sketches in the Leighton House Collection. The picture itself +is, I believe, in America. + +[17] _Ibid._ + +[18] A visitor to Leighton's "private view" wrote him the following +suggestions:-- + + 13 CHESTER TERRACE, N.W., _Easter Monday_. + + DEAR MR. LEIGHTON,--Pardon intrusion. I thought much of your + beautiful pictures after my yesterday's visit, and I anticipated + a struggle with the difficulty you mentioned of worthily naming + them. + + Don't think me impertinent for volunteering the result. It + seemed impossible without verbal description to explain the + sacred subject to the profane imagination, while a prose + translation of its sentiment must be heavy and subversive of + romance. + + I think, were I fortunate enough to own the picture, I would + call it "Not Yet," and I would put some little lines in the + catalogue, which, for aught any one knows, might have come from + some volume of rhyme, and which should explain that it is a + story of a dream, and that the rejection is not final: something + in this spirit, only better:-- + + "Not yet--not yet-- + Still there is trial for thee, still the lot + To bear (the Father wills it) strife and care, + With this sweet consciousness in balance set + Against the world, to soothe thy suffering there. + Thy Lord rejects thee not." + Such tender words awoke me, hopeful, shriven, + To life on earth again from dream of heaven. + + For the beauty at the fountain I once thought the best title + might be some couplet like the following:-- + + "So tranced and still half-dreamed she, and half-heard + The splash of fountain and the song of bird." + + But my wife, from my description of the picture, suggested a + name better suited to the "suggestiveness" of the work:-- + + "Lieder ohne Worte": don't you think it rather pretty? + + In the multitude of counsellors some one says there's wisdom, + and this liberty we take with you may beget some thought that + had not struck you. + + I have Mr. Cockerell's commands to express to you the + gratification his visit afforded him and his sense of your + kindness and attentions.--I am, faithfully yours, + + RALPH A. BENSON. + +Another friend wrote of "Lieder ohne Worte," adding a poem suggested by +the "Francesca":-- + + TRINITY HOUSE, E.C., _8th April 1861_. + + MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--If you did not paint better than I write you + would not be the man of abounding promise that you are. + + What I meant to say was that Law and Restraint are healthy life + and the infraction of them ghostly death and dissolution, and + that meaning is in your picture, whether you know it or not. + Your "dęmon" may have put it there, but then you can trust + _your_ dęmon. + + Still, best love to the little girl at the fountain, who knows + that though Speech may be silver, Silence is Golden.--Ever + yours, with many thanks, + + ROBIN ALLEN. + FRED. LEIGHTON, Esq. + + LEIGHTON'S "FRANCESCA DI RIMINI." + + "That day they read no more." Virtue grows faint, + One hand lies powerless, the wife's sweet face + Is half-convulsed by loss of self-restraint. + Outstretched to resist, remaining to embrace, + The extended arm will clasp her guilty lover, + And all the bright, pure world beyond for her be over. + + Their very forms grow blurred and change their colour + Into dim snaky wreaths of purple pallor, + Fading away with Honour's fading Law + Into the pale sad ghosts that Dante saw; + Which we too see, crowned with departing glory, + When Leighton's genius deepens Dante's Story. + + R.A. + _6th April 1861._ + +[19] D.G. Rossetti, in a letter to William Allingham, May 10, 1861, +writes: "Leighton might, as you say, have made a burst had not his +pictures been ill-placed mostly--indeed one of them (the only very good +one, _Lieder ohne Worte_) is the only instance of very striking +unfairness in the place." + +[20] "_Lieder ohne Worte._" + +[21] "Paolo and Francesca." + +[22] These two pictures were painted from John Hanson Walker. Leighton +sent both to the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1862 with the titles +"Duet" and "Rustic Music." The first only was accepted. + +[23] See water-colour and chalk drawings: Leighton House Collection. + +[24] "Sea Echoes." + +[25] The Hon. Mrs. Alfred Sartoris, sister-in-law of Leighton's friend, +Mr. Edward Sartoris. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +ILLUSTRATIONS FOR _CORNHILL MAGAZINE_--FRESCO FOR LYNDHURST +CHURCH--ASSOCIATE OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY--MRS. LEIGHTON'S DEATH + +1863-1865 + + +In 1860 Leighton drew his first illustration for the _Cornhill +Magazine_:-- + + _Translation._] + _Friday, 30th November 1860._ + + MY DEAR FRIEND AND MASTER,--Best thanks for your dear letter of + the 7th, thanks also especially, because in your kind praise you + do not spare criticism also; you could give me no better proof + that you still esteem and love your old pupil. I feel the + justice of your remarks about the drapery of the Saviour very + much, and can only say in my excuse that I have treated this + kind of subject very little, for I am only really a profane + fellow; but should I at some future time again treat such a + theme, I should endeavour to avoid similar faults. I send you + this time, for fun, a proof impression of a woodcut after a + drawing I made for one of our good monthly periodicals (_The + Cornhill Magazine_). It seems to me to be not bad for wood. It + illustrates a poem, and represents Ariadne kneeling on an + eminence, looking out for Theseus. This as a preliminary; I hope + to send you something in April. + + + DEAREST MAMMY,--My wretched picture is causing more delays! I am + very sorry to say I shan't be able to get to Bath before + Wednesday evening. I am due at Stourhead the 27th; this I cannot + defer any more, as I must be on duty with the Rifle Corps at the + beginning of September, and can't do all I have to do in less + than a week--this will, however, still leave me three weeks, all + but two days, at Bath. + + I enjoyed myself at Panshanger very much--did I write to tell + you who our party was? In case I did not, it was as follows: + Henry Greville, Lord and Lady Katherine Valletort, Lord and Lady + Spencer, Mrs. Leslie, Lord Listowel, Mr. Clare Vyner, and Mr. E. + Lascelles--all young people; so that it was very pleasant. + + There are, as you know, most beautiful pictures at Panshanger--a + magnificent Vandyke, a splendid Rembrandt, Correggio, Andrea del + Sarto, and two beautiful Raphaels. + + G. Smith sent me a kind note and a cheque to fill up for drawing + in the _Cornhill_ ("Ariadne"). I put ten guineas, telling him + that I could not, as a general rule, interrupt my work for that + sum, but that I would not take more because the cut had turned + out so extremely bad. + + I am going to expend the money, adding a few pounds, on a cup, + to be shot for in the spring by our Rifle Corps. Arthur Lewis + has already given one, and another of our men has promised a + second prize to go with my cup. My picture will be _finished_ by + the time I go to Bath. My eye is too accustomed to it to know + whether it is successful; I shall know better when I return from + the country. + + I have no news, so good-bye, dear Mammy. Best love to all.--From + your very affectionate boy, + + FRED. + + I go to Windsor (to Miss Thackeray) for two days next week; that + also is an old invitation; I have no time for it, but must go. I + keep my parties going tolerably, but shall give that up with a + few exceptions when I settle here; it makes work impossible from + unavoidably late hours, and produces a general deterioration of + mind and body, mostly the former; the Hollands I shall always + keep up--they are most kind; I dine there frequently and meet + interesting and remarkable people. + +Very remarkable drawings in pencil on other lines followed the +celebrated "Lemon Tree"--surpassing in dramatic truth of expression +any Leighton had executed since the early design he drew of the +"Plague in Florence in 1850."[26] + + [Illustration: SKETCH FOR "MICHAEL ANGELO NURSING HIS DYING + SERVANT." 1862 + Leighton House Collection] + +The group of drawings for "Michael Angelo Nursing his Dying Servant" +are among those preserved in the Leighton House collection, but were +not seen by the public before Leighton's death. Though slight, they +are among the most admirable he ever achieved in subtle tenderness of +feeling and expressive truth of drawing. The feeble twitching clutch +of the hands of the old man--announcing the speedy approach of +Death--is a convincing proof of imaginative realism of a high order. +This group of sketches, however, exemplify the curious artistic +discrepancy which at times existed, especially before and about the +time when the Michael Angelo was painted, between Leighton's pictures +and the studies he made for them--a discrepancy which had no reference +to his feeling for colour, but simply arose from an absence of +sensitiveness for texture. In turning from the drawings to the +painting, we find the noble feeling and conception, the lines and +forms of the design much the same in all; but the heavy and yet +insufficient texture of the actual surface mars the full conveying, +even in the completed painting, of the feeling of the motive--so +imperative is a simultaneous union of the idea with a happy echo of it +in the touch of the human hand, if a work of art is fully to convey +its message. Leighton's genius for using the point is referred to in a +letter from Mrs. Browning, on the subject of a drawing he had made of +her husband:-- + + _Copy._] + + DEAR MR. LEIGHTON,--The portrait is beautiful, and would satisfy + me entirely except for a want of strength about the brow, which + I must write of, because I can't trust Robert himself with the + message. I think the brow is feeble, less massive than his, + with less fulness about the temples. In fact, your temple is + _hollow_, instead of full. Will you look at it by the original? + The eyes and mouth are exquisite. _Your pencil has the + expressiveness of another's brush._ + + How much I thank you for having put so much of my husband on + paper is proved by the very insolence of my criticisms.--Most + truly yours, + + ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING. + _April 1._ + +In the same category as the Michael Angelo studies may be placed the +first sketch of "Samson Wrestling with the Lion," designed as an +illustration for Dalziel's Bible. This drawing is also in the Leighton +House Collection, also the original drawings for "The Spies' Escape" +and "Samson at the Mill." The following was written with regard to it: +"An animal model never 'sits.' The artist must catch the action he +wants from fleeting suggestions. His imagination alone can guide his +pencil when he depicts such action with realistic power. It is in a +pencil drawing of a lion that we find the work that evinces, more +distinctly perhaps than does any other of Leighton's utterances in +art, the highest kind of imagination in the drawing of form in action, +namely in the sketch of 'Samson Wrestling with the Lion' for the +illustrations in Dalziel's Bible. Where, indeed, for vigour of +invention, can we find a drawing to surpass these few pencil lines? +The sinews in the legs and claws of the animal are drawn up, clenching +the vacant air with a quivering grip; the tail straightened stiffly +through the strain of the wrestling; the whole animal convulsed with +the force of the struggle. This is treatment of form no model could +suggest, no knowledge evolve, no labour or industry produce. A true +imagination alone can inspire such vivid realism." The other subjects +Leighton illustrated were "Death of Abel," "Moses Viewing the Promised +Land," "Samson Carrying the Gates," "Abraham and the Angel," +"Eliezer and Rebecca at the Well," "The Slaying of the First-born." + + [Illustration: ORIGINAL DRAWING FOR "SAMSON AND THE LION" IN + DALZIEL'S BIBLE + Leighton House Collection] + + * * * * * + +In 1862 Leighton illustrated George Eliot's great novel "Romola." He +writes to his father:-- + + _Tuesday._ + + DEAR PAPA,--Though I am not able, I am sorry to say, to report + the sale of any more of my pictures, you will be glad to hear of + a commission just given me by G. Smith of the _Cornhill_ which + is very acceptable to me. I am to illustrate (by-the-bye this is + "_strictly confidential_") a novel about to appear in the + _Cornhill_ from the hand of _Adam Bede_. It is an Italian story, + the scene and period are Florence and the fifteenth century, + nothing could "_ganter_" me better. It is to continue through + _twelve_ numbers, in each of which are to be _two_ + illustrations. + + I am to have for each _number_ £40; for the whole novel, + therefore, £480. I have conferred with the authoress to-day, and + am to get the first-proof sheets this week. The first number + will be published in July. Miss Evans (or Mrs. Lewes) has a very + striking countenance. Her face is large, her eyes deep set, her + nose aquiline, her mouth large, the under jaw projecting, rather + like Charles Quint; her voice and manner are grave, simple, and + gentle. There is a curious mixture in her look; she either is or + seems very short-sighted. Lewes is clever. Both were extremely + polite to me; her I shall like much. + + I have no other news; no one asks about my pictures, though + their success is decidedly great; hard times! Are you writing to + Gussy? if so will you tell her that I mean to give her some + lessons with Hallé when she comes to London? she shall have + _three_ a week for a month. Tell Lina with my love not to be + jealous, it will be her turn next. How is she? and how is Mamma? + Give them my best love, and believe me, your affectionate boy, + + FRED. + +That George Eliot should write a Florentine story at a time when +Leighton was available to illustrate it, was certainly a most +fortunate coincidence. Each scene which he represents is impregnated +with a feeling which records the strong hold Italy had on his artistic +resources. With a few exceptions, these illustrations for "Romola" are +the last examples of his art, when a dramatic or a humorous treatment +was a prominent feature of the designs. The last picture exhibited at +the Royal Academy in 1897--the passionate, despairing figure of +"Clytie"--was notably one of these exceptions. Unfortunately +Leighton's letters to George Eliot respecting the "Romola" drawings +cannot be found, and were probably destroyed before the author's +death. The following were preserved by Leighton:-- + + 16 BLANDFORD SQUARE, N.W., + _Friday_. + + DEAR MR. LEIGHTON,--Thanks for the sight of the Vignettes. They + are satisfactory. + + Your delicious drawing was with me all day yesterday and made + the opera more delightful to me in the evening. I never saw + anything comparable to the scene in Nello's shop as an + illustration. There could not be a better beginning. + + I should very much like to have a little conversation with you, + and will arrange to see you at any hour that will best suit you, + in the evening if you like, any time after the morning working + hours, which last till two o'clock. I know your time is very + precious to you just now, but I think we shall both benefit by a + little talk together after you have read the second + proof.--Yours very truly, + + M.E. LEWES. + F. LEIGHTON, Esq. + + + 16 BLANDFORD SQUARE, N.W., + _Wednesday_. + + DEAR MR. LEIGHTON,--I feel for you as well as myself in this + inevitable difficulty--nay, impossibility of producing perfect + correspondence between my intention and the illustrations. + + I think your sketch is charming, considered in itself, and I + feel now with regret that if we had seen each other and talked a + little together after you had read the proof, the only important + discrepancy might have been prevented. It is too late for + alterations now. If it had not been, I should have wished + Bardo's head to be raised with the chin thrust forward a + little--the usual attitude of the blind head, I think--and + turned a little towards Romola, "as if he were looking at her." + + Romola's attitude is perfect, and the composition is altogether + such as gives me a very cheering prospect for the future, when + we have more time for preparation. Her face and hair, though + deliciously beautiful, are not just the thing--how could they + be? Do not make yourself uneasy if alteration is impossible, but + I meant the hair to fall forward from behind the ears over the + neck, and the dress to be without ornament. + + I shall inevitably be detestable to you, but believe that I am + + (Unfinished) + + + 16 BLANDFORD SQUARE, N.W., + _Thursday_. + + DEAR MR. LEIGHTON,--Unmitigated delight! Nello is better than my + Nello. I see the love and care with which the drawings are done. + + After I had sent away my yesterday's note, written in such haste + that I was afterwards uncomfortable lest I had misrepresented my + feelings, the very considerations you suggest had occurred to me + and I had talked them over with Mr. Lewes--namely, that the + exigencies of your art must forbid perfect correspondence + between the text and the illustration; and I came to the + conclusion that it was these exigencies which had determined you + as to the position of Bardo's head and the fall of Romola's + hair. You have given her attitude transcendently well, and the + attitude is more important than the mere head-dress. I am glad + you chose Nello's shop; it makes so good a variety with Bardo + and Romola. In a day or two you will have the second part, and I + think you will find there a scene for Tessa "under the Plane + Tree." But perhaps we shall see each other before you begin the + next drawings.--Ever yours truly, + + M.E. LEWES. + + + 16 BLANDFORD SQUARE, N.W., + _Monday_. + + DEAR MR. LEIGHTON,--Your letter comforts me particularly. I am + so glad to think you find subjects to your mind. I have no + especial desire for the view from S. Miniato, and indeed a plan + we started in conversation with Mr. Smith this morning, namely, + to have moderately sized initial letters--the opening one being + an old Florentine in his _Lucco_ and generally the subjects + being bits of landscape or Florentine building--seems to do away + with any reason for having the landscape to begin with. The idea + of having Tessa and the mules, or Nello's sanctum, smiles upon + me, so pray feel free to choose the impression that urges itself + most strongly. Your observation about the "che, che" is just the + aid I besought from you. With that exception, I have confined + myself, I believe, to such interjections as I find in the + writers of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and in them, + curiously enough, this exclamation now said to be so constant + and "to mean everything" (according to our authority) does not + seem to occur. + + Thank you. Pray let me have as many criticisms of that kind as + you can. I am more gratified, I think, by your liking these + opening chapters than I have yet been by anything in these + nervous anxious weeks of decision about publication.--Very truly + yours, + + M.E. LEWES. + F. LEIGHTON, Esq. + + + 16 BLANDFORD SQUARE, N.W., + _Tuesday Evening_. + + DEAR MR. LEIGHTON,--I am enchanted! purely delighted! which + shall I begin with, to tell you that I delight in Baby's toes or + that exquisite poetry in the scene where Romola is standing? Is + it not a pleasant change to have that opening made through the + walls of the city, so as to see the sky and the mountains? In + the scene with Baldassarre and Tessa, also, the distant view is + charming. Tessa and her Babkin are perfect--Baldassarre's is, as + you say, an impossible face to draw, but you have seized the + framework of the face well, both in this illustration and the + previous one. + + I want to tell you that a man of some eminence in art was + speaking of your drawings to a third person the other day as + "remarkable" in a tone of genuine admiration. I don't know + whether you care about that, but it is good to know that there + is any genuine admiration in one's neighbours. + + I am glad to have the drawings left. I shall go now and have a + long look at them. The February number will soon be out of my + hands, but you will have it when it pleases the pigs--or + printers.--Ever yours truly, + + M.E. LEWES. + + + PARK HOTEL, LITTLE HAMPTON, + SUSSEX, _September 10, '62_. + + DEAR MR. LEIGHTON,--Thanks for your letter, which I have + received this morning. + + My copy of Vasari has a profile of Piero di Cosimo, but it is of + no value, a man with a short beard and eyes nearly closed. The + old felt hat on his head has more character in it than the + features, but the hat you can't use. + + Of Niccolo Caparra it is not likely that any portrait exists, so + that you may feel easy in letting your imagination interpret my + suggestions in the First and the Fifth Parts of Romola. There is + probably a portrait of Piero di Cosimo in the portrait room of + Uffizi, but in the absence of any decent catalogue of that + collection it was a bewildering and headachy business to assure + oneself of the presence or absence of any particular personage. + + If you feel any doubt about the _new_ Romola, I think it will be + better for you to keep to the original representation, the type + given in the first illustration, which some accomplished people + told me they thought very charming. It will be much better to + continue what is intrinsically pretty than to fail in an effort + after something indistinctly seen. If you prefer the action of + _taking out_ the crucifix, instead of the merely contemplative + attitude, you can choose that with safety. In the scene with + Piero di Cosimo, I thought you might make the figures + subordinate to those other details which you render so + charmingly, and I chose it for that reason. + + But I am quite convinced that illustrations can only form a sort + of overture to the text. The artist who uses the pencil must + otherwise be tormented to misery by the deficiencies or + requirements of the one who uses the pen, and the writer, on the + other hand, must die of impossible expectations. _Apropos_ of + all that, I want to assure you again of what I had said in that + letter, which your naughty servant sent down the wind, that I + appreciate very highly the advantage of having your hand and + mind to work with me rather than those of any other artist of + whom I know. Please do not take that as an impertinent + expression of opinion, but rather as an honest expression of + feeling by which you must interpret any apparent criticism. + + The initial letter of the December part will be W. I forgot to + tell you how pleased I was with the initial letter of Part V. + + I am very much obliged to you for your critical doubts. I will + put out the questionable "Ecco!" in deference to your knowledge. + I have a tremulous sense of my liability to error in such + things. + + I don't wonder at your difficulty about the modification of + _com_ into _ciom_. The writers of the fifteenth century, + speaking of the insurrection of the _Ciompi_ which occurred in + the previous century, say that the word was a corruption of the + French _compčre_, the same word of course as _compare_, + constantly on the lips of the numerous French who were present + in Florence during the dictatorship of the Duke of Athens. The + likelihood of the derivation lies in the analysis of transition + in the meaning of words _compčre_ and _compare_, like the + English "gossip," beginning with the meaning of godfather and + ending with, or rather proceeding to that of companion. Our + "gossip" has at least parted with its secondary meaning as well + as its primary one. + + The unlikelihood of the derivation lies in the modification of + the sounds, and I felt that unlikelihood as you have done. But + in the absence of a Max Müller to assure me of a law to the + contrary, I thought the statement of Tuscan writers a better + authority than inferences. I ought to have written "is stated by + the old historians." + + I am really comforted by the thought that you will mention + doubts to me when they occur to you. My misery is the certainty + that I must be often in error. + + Mr. Lewes shares my admiration of the two last + illustrations.--Ever yours truly, + + MARIAN E. LEWES. + F. LEIGHTON, Esq. + + + 16 BLANDFORD SQUARE, N.W., + _Tuesday_. + + DEAR MR. LEIGHTON,--Since I saw you I have confirmed by renewed + reference my conclusion that _gamurra_ was the equivalent of + our _gown_, _i.e._ the constant outer garb of femininity, + varying in length and cut according to rank and age. The poets + and novelists give it alike to the peasant and the "city woman," + and speak of the _girdle_ around it. Perhaps it would have been + better to call Tessa's gown a _gamurrina_, the word sometimes + used and indicating, I imagine, just that abbreviation of + petticoat that active work demands. + + If you are going to see Ghirlandajo's frescoes--the engravings + of them I mean--in the choir of Santa Maria Novella, I wish you + would especially notice if the women in his groups have not that + plain piece of opaque drapery over the head which haunts my + memory. We were only allowed to see those frescoes once, because + of repairs going on; but I am strongly impressed with a + belief--which, _au reste_, may be quite false--in the presence + of my "white hood" there. As to the garb of the luxurious + classes at that time, a point which may turn up in our progress, + I think the painters can hardly be believed to have represented + it fully, since we know, on strong evidence, that it ran into + extravagances, which are even in contrast with the general + impression conveyed not only by the large fresco compositions + but by the portraits. You must have had sufficient experience of + the _eclecticism_ in costume which the artist's feeling forces + upon him in the presence of hideous or extreme fashion. We have + in Varchi a sufficiently fit and clear description of the + ordinary male costume of dignified Florentines in my time; but + for the corresponding feminine costume the best authority I have + seen is the very incomplete one of a certain Ginevra's + _trousseau_ in the Ricordi of the Rinuccini family of rather an + earlier period, but marking even there the rage for embroidery + and pearls which grew instead of diminishing. + + I imagine that the woman's _berretta_, frequently of velvet + embroidered with pearls, and apparently almost as prevalent as + our bonnet, must have been that close-fitting cap, square at the + ears, of which we spoke yesterday. I trouble you with this + note--which pray do not think it necessary to answer--in order + to indicate to you the very slight satisfaction my anxiety on + this subject can meet with, and the obligation I shall be under + to you if you will ever give me a positive or negative hint or + correction. + + Approximative truth is the only truth attainable, but at least + one must strive for that, and not wade off into arbitrary + falsehood.--Ever, dear Mr. Leighton, yours very truly, + + MARIAN E. LEWES. + +Leighton preserved the records of a friendship with Mr. Robin +Allen,[27] established and for most part continued through a +correspondence which lasted for many years from the early 'sixties. +The letter sent with the following poem refers to Leighton's +illustration to Mrs. Browning's poem, "Musical Instrument," of which +the original drawing is reproduced. (See List of Illustrations.) + + TRINITY HOUSE, E.C. + + MY DEAR SIR,--If I send this to the author of a lovely + illustration to a lovely poem, it is not for its worth, but to + give me an excuse for saying that I go out of town for a month + next Wednesday, and hope that I may call on you on my return, + perhaps get leave to show you over Loughton Woods in the + autumn.--Believe me, my dear sir, yours truly, + + ROBIN ALLEN. + F. LEIGHTON, Esq. + + SEQUITUR TO MRS. BROWNING'S "MUSICAL INSTRUMENT" IN THE + "CORNHILL MAGAZINE" OF JULY 1860. + + A greater God than the great god Pan + Planted the reed in the river, + And he is the only God who can + Break through its heart without killing the reed, + And make of its very life indeed + An organ, to utter His psalm as the Giver. + + This greater God than the beast-god Pan, + As He watches the reeds in Time's river, + Counts for best poet that perfect Man + Who holds lightly his song, at its loftiest strain, + So he live a man's life!--and at all cost and pain + _Is_ a reed among reeds in the river. + + R.A. + + [Illustration: "THE GREAT GOD PAN" + Original Sketch for Illustration to Mrs. Browning's Poem in the + _Cornhill Magazine_, 1861] + + [Illustration: "AN EVENING IN A FRENCH COUNTRY HOUSE" + Illustration for Mrs. Adelaide Sartoris's story, "A Week in a + French Country House," published in the _Cornhill Magazine_, 1867 + By permission of Messrs. Smith, Elder, & Co.] + +In a letter to his mother Leighton expresses a warm admiration for +these lines by Mr. Robin Allen. + +In the autumn of 1863 the following letter to his mother mentions a +notable visit to Compičgne. The charming story Mrs. Edward Sartoris +wrote, which appeared some years later in the _Cornhill Magazine_, "A +Week in a French Country House," owes its local colour to this home at +Compičgne to which Leighton refers. It belonged to Mr. Edward +Sartoris' brother-in-law, the Marquis de l'Aigle. For this story +Leighton made two admirable illustrations--"An Evening in a French +Country House" and "Drifting." Leighton is supposed to have suggested +the character of Monsieur Kiowski, the Polish artist in the story; and +the figure in the boat holding the rudder in "Drifting" he certainly +meant to represent himself, while the figure singing is Adelaide +Sartoris--drawn, as shown by the head-dress, from the sketch Leighton +made in 1856. (See List of Illustrations.) + + _Commencement of letter missing._] + 1862. + + I have a fit of the blues instead. + + I hope for the sake of my pictures that I shall soon get over + them (the blues, not the pictures). I believe if I could find + models I should recover at once; but I foresee that I shall have + no such luck. + + I had a delightful time at Compičgne--the place is charming, the + house comfortable in the extreme, and the life the perfection of + unconstraint (if that is English); I have told you already how + hospitable and kind my host and hostess were. I have, of course, + no news to give you yet, except, by-the-bye, that the bailiffs + were in the house the other day because Mr. and Mrs. Gedy had + not paid £3, 5s. 6d. taxes; they stayed two days in the house, + and if the money had not come, would have walked off with some + of _my_ furniture. I wish I had a house; they are beginning a + house on Campden Hill, and would build it for an artist after + his own designs. + +Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Sartoris, the admirer of "Eastern King," were also +among the visitors during this week in a French country house, and +write the following anecdote:-- + + "Those who knew Lord Leighton require no record of his kindness + and unselfishness. For those who had not that privilege the + following little anecdote may be interesting. In the late autumn + of 1863 we were all staying with my sister-in-law, the Marquise + de l'Aigle, at Francport, near Compičgne. Mrs. Sartoris was also + there and Mr. Leighton. There was to be a service on the Sunday + in a little neighbouring village church for some children who + had made their first communion, and it occurred to Mme. de + l'Aigle to have some special music on the occasion, and profit + by the glorious voice of Mrs. Sartoris, who kindly offered to + sing. Mr. Leighton also volunteered to take the tenor part in + various sacred pieces. We were all to help in the concerted + music, and the old curé was in the seventh heaven of delight at + the prospect of such a grand service. Our dismay can be imagined + when three days before the service Mr. Leighton announced that + he must leave us as business required his presence in London. + 'Oh!' we all exclaimed, 'what shall we do? the tenor pieces must + be given up; the curé will die of grief,' &c. ... 'No, no,' said + Mr. L., in his cheery way, 'don't change anything; I shall be + back all right on Sunday morning in time to sing;' and so, sure + enough, he did return, having travelled two nights to London and + back. He never would tell us why he had gone; and it was not + till long afterwards that it transpired that he had made the + hurried double journey to help a struggling artist, whose work + he wished to bring forward and introduce to some influential + person. He attained his object, and thought nothing of the time + and trouble involved, only glad to have been a help to one who + needed assistance, and also to keep his promise by singing in + the little village church." + + [Illustration: "DRIFTING" + Illustration for Mrs. Adelaide Sartoris's story, "A Week in a + French Country House," published in the _Cornhill Magazine_, 1867 + By permission of Messrs. Smith, Elder, & Co.] + +In 1863 Leighton began painting the fresco of "The Wise and Foolish +Virgins," which he presented to the Church at Lyndhurst. It was +painted on the plaster wall above the altar at the east end. While +at work on it, he stayed with his old friend Mr. Hamilton Aļdé, who +formed one of the happy company of _intimes_ of the Roman and Lucca +days. Several visits to this charming home in the New Forest were made +before the work was finished. + +In the following letter to Steinle he mentions his first experiment in +Mr. Gambier Parry's medium for painting in fresco. + + _Translation._] + 2 ORME SQUARE, BAYSWATER. + + MY VERY DEAR FRIEND,--When I last wrote I asked you when the + German exhibition of which you spoke was to take place, and + whether it was to be held in Cologne itself; but as I received + no answer I supposed that this exhibition either had not come to + anything (as I have seen nothing about it in the newspapers), or + that it did not seem sufficiently important to you for me to go + specially to Germany for it. Nevertheless, I would have gone to + Cologne, if it had been in any way feasible, exclusively on + account of you and your works, which I am very anxious to see; + unfortunately, however, I could not arrange it, and must content + myself with learning from a letter (if you will write me one) + how your work succeeds, and how far you have got with it. Two + walls are already finished, are they not? + + As for myself, I am fairly industrious. Amongst other things, I + am painting at present the composition which you have already + seen, of Michael Angelo and his old servant Urbino. I have + endeavoured to keep the action of the figures simpler and + smoother than in the first sketch; and, in fact, I think the + picture will please you better than the drawing. For the rest, I + am sick of painting small pictures, and would like to undertake + something large; but it is not very agreeable to paint pictures + which will probably remain always hanging round one's neck. + + I think I shall very soon test the public again in this + respect--but _what_ I shall paint I do not know. A friend of + mine (Mr. Gambier Parry), a great art devotee and first-rate + amateur, has discovered a medium to replace fresco painting in + our damp climate. I have seen his experiments, and have myself + painted a head under his rules,[28] and to my complete + satisfaction. The result is scarcely to be distinguished from + fresco, and is quite as easy, indeed even easier to achieve. At + the same time this method has advantages which _buon_ fresco + does not possess; it dries exactly as one lays it on (and is + then flat), it has no deposit (_Ansätze_), and one can go over + it as often as one likes. The wall (a granular lime wall) is + saturated with the same preparation as you paint with. This + preparation, which is _stone hard_ against water, can always + dissolve _itself_ with moisture, so that one can retouch it + perpetually, at the same time the _whole_ of one's palette is + available. My friend is going to publish his system; I will + then, if you like, tell you exactly about it. + + And now, farewell, dear Master. Remember me most kindly to your + wife and children, and keep in remembrance your friend and + pupil, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + +He wrote to Steinle in 1862 that he was making studies for the +Lyndhurst fresco, and expected to finish it that summer; but it was +apparently only begun in August 1863. + + _Translation._] + 2 ORME SQUARE, BAYSWATER, + _April 22, 1862_. + + MY VERY DEAR FRIEND,--When I last wrote to you, I promised and + hoped that this time I should be able to send you some + photographs of my latest works, but unfortunately at the last + moment time ran short. My pictures are only just ready for + exhibition, and I must send them off unphotographed. In order + that you may not think I have been idle, I write these lines; + also because I am unwilling, my dear Master, to fade entirely + from your memory. I am exhibiting _eight_ pictures this year, an + unusually large number. But the case is not so bad as it looks + at the first glance. Two only of these pictures are important in + size and subject. One of them you already know from a former + composition. It represents Michael Angelo with his dying servant + Urbino. In the principal idea I have not deviated much from the + first sketch, but have endeavoured to treat the whole with more + unity and the details with more simplicity than in the + drawing which you saw, and the faults of which you pointed out + to me. This picture is life-size, and extends down to the knees. + + The other is of a somewhat fanciful description. I have imagined + one of the three holy kings, when he sees the Star in the East + from the battlements of his palace. The picture is curious and + open to much fault-finding, but I think it will please you by a + certain poetry in the conception. The shape is long and narrow. + The king, half life-size, almost turns his back upon the + spectator, and is, in the midst of the dark night, only lit by + the mystic rays of the Star. In contrast to this pure light one + sees, quite at the bottom, through an arch, into the hot + lamp-light, which illuminates a gay orgy. I have allowed myself + a certain amount of pictorial licence, which may well surprise + the general spectator at first glance, but which to me heightens + the poetical impression of the whole. + + Five other pictures are smaller, and three of the subjects are + idyllic or fanciful (_e.g._ a shepherd playing on a flute, an + Oriental girl with a swan, &c. &c.), all carried out with great + love, and certainly my best works. + + At present I am busy making studies for a large wall painting + (the "Wise and Foolish Virgins"), which I am giving to a church. + I shall execute it this summer, and tell you more about it. + + Now, my dear Friend, I have given you a long and full report of + myself; I hope you also will tell me what you are doing. I am + very anxious to know how the Cologne frescoes get on. How I + should like to see them! PERHAPS I may manage it this autumn. In + the meantime, however, write to me, and believe me to be, your + devoted pupil, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + + [Illustration: PORTRAIT FROM A PHOTOGRAPH OF LORD LEIGHTON TAKEN + IN 1863] + + + _April 1863, Saturday._ + + DEAREST MAMMA,--You have seen in the papers that the Review at + Brighton went off capitally. I enjoyed my day very much, and + though I was a _little_ tired and _very_ sleepy for two days + after, was altogether the better for it. It was a stiff day's + work too--nine or ten hours without sitting down, and with the + additional responsibility of having the command of the Artists' + Company. I was sure you would be pleased at the reception of my + "Fruit Girl"[29] by my brother artists--you must understand, + though, that this applies chiefly to the younger men (and not to + _all_ of _them_), for there are several of the older painters + who strongly object to my style of painting and are bent on + suppressing it. + + Will you thank Papa for his hint about the _Athenęum_--I am + pretty sure he is mistaken about it, but I shall take measures + about it--indeed I _have_. + + I spoke to _Charles_ Greville (Henry's brother) and told him I + thought I should be coming on before very long; he very kindly + overhauled the lists and said he thought I might be up by the + end of the summer, and, what was still more kind, seeing me + unseconded, he put his name down as seconder. + + + FOREST BANK, LYNDHURST, + _Thursday, August 6, 1863_. + + If I was not more explicit about being with Aļdé, it was because + I made sure you knew it. You will be pleased to hear that when + after many _péripéties_ I did begin my fresco I got on + capitally; I have now finished the task for this year, having + painted _three_ life-size figures, with a good bit of + background, in _four_ days. I worked hard for it, and am rather + tired--head and eyes; otherwise flourishing. + + I am delighted with my new fresco material (Parry's)--the effect + is excellent--nearly as fine as real fresco. Everybody seems + much pleased with what I have done, particularly the parson. I + like it myself; I enjoy working at it immensely; it is my real + element. I find it (for mere _manipulation bien entendu_) + absurdly easy. + +The following letter from Mr. Gambier Parry explains the "fresco +material" Leighton used. + + HIGHNAM, GLOUCESTER, + _August 3, 1863_. + + MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--In reply to your last note about the use of + the wall itself rather than of canvas, there can be no doubt on + the subject, if only the plaster is _good_ and _well put on_. + You speak of two or three months to get it dry. I assure you + that that is _not near enough_. When the surface feels dry to + your hand you must not suppose that it is all dry inside, and if + the _wall_ is new, I doubt a year being enough to dry it. The + water must evaporate somewhere--it is drawn _to the_ surface of + _interiors_ because they are the warmest. + + You ask whether the rough cast on the wall must be scraped off + before you wash the wall for painting. If by the _rough cast_ + you mean rough plaster, which is a totally different thing to + rough cast, certainly use it as it is. The coarser the plaster + the better, because it is all the more porous, so long only that + it is of the best materials (viz. perfectly _washed_ sand, and + good lime), and well put on a good wall. _Nothing in the world + could equal it for painting upon_, except a surface of _coarse + clean_ Bath stone, with _all its pores open_. If you have such + plaster as I have just described, and both it and the wall + thoroughly dry, nothing could be better. The smooth surface, + with what granulated texture you please, can be got according to + the directions in my paper--viz. after two or three washes of + pure diluted medium, give another or two more of the same, with + dry whiting and a little white-lead, then go ahead _while it is + all fresh_, viz. _two or three days_ after the process of + preparation has been completed. + + Take care in painting not to rub it up too much, for fear of + _drawing up the glossy resins to the surface_ away from the wax. + Paint right _into_ your prepared surface _solidly_ and with + _decision_ in the way of fresco painting, not as oil. Keep the + brush clean, and the volatile oil in the dipper clean, and then, + oh! how shall I envy you your power to use them all![30] + + At the _Ely ceiling_, which is of hard wood _not_ porous, but + prepared with three coats of oil white-lead, I am painting with + + Liquid Measure. + Pale drying oil 2 + Japan gold size 2 + Turpentine 2 + Artist copal 1 + + well shaken up every time it is used. The colours are all ground + up in it, and then painting is done as in water-colour, using + _pure spirits of turpentine_ as a vehicle. Colours dry extremely + rapidly and with a dead surface. The stuff looks horribly black, + but the colours are not materially affected by it. Of course it + is not to be compared with my former medium, because there is + that bane of the palette oil in it, but I used it because of its + great facility (used transparent like _water-colour on a white + ground_), and because the surface was hard, so that wax might + (in great heat) shrink or play tricks on it, as it has done in + Murillo's pictures and many others.--Ever most sincerely yours, + + T. GAMBIER PARRY. + + If I can do anything for you, command me; we go to Scotland on + the 14th. + + + LONDON, _April 26, 1863_. + + DEAREST MAMMA,--You were no doubt surprised to see a sock arrive + in Bath in solitary grandeur, unaccompanied by any sort of note. + The fact is, for some days past I have been working at a rate + which made me altogether unfit for correspondence. I have just + returned from Lyndhurst, where I have been doing a bit more + fresco--and very stiff work it was--up and at work at seven, and + at it best part of the day, perched generally on an + uncomfortably narrow ladder, and with my head almost blown off + by the agreeable but overpowering smell of the vehicle with + which I painted. The result is as far as it goes tolerably + satisfactory--everybody there is delighted, and though that, of + course, does not prove much, it is at all events agreeable to me + that they derive so much pleasure from my work. The + stained-glass window, too, which has been executed at my desire + from Jones' designs, gives great satisfaction--is a lovely piece + of colour, and (which was, to me, of paramount importance) does + not hurt my fresco, though, of course, in the nature of things, + it outshines tenfold in point of brilliancy; hence the folly, to + my mind, of ever putting glass and wall painting in immediate + juxtaposition. I shall go and paint another slice in June, after + which Aļdé leaves, so I may not be able to finish my work till + he returns in autumn. On my road to Lyndhurst, I paid a visit + to Lady Dorothy Neville (Lady Pollington's sister) at + Dangstein--a very beautiful place near Petersfield. + + On Monday week the Royal Academy opens--I shall be curious to + see what pictures they have taken; my work at present will be a + woodcut for Dalziel--then that for the _Cornhill_--then a + drawing for Cundall's Bible--Mrs. Magniac's portrait--the + cartoon for the remainder of the Lyndhurst fresco--then perhaps + a new picture. I wish some one would buy the old ones! + + Have you read "Sylvia's Lovers"? Don't read "Salammbo"--it is + hideous. + + + DEAREST MAMMA,--My chair has arrived safe and sound; once more, + my very best thanks for it. + + Aļdé _is_ one of the most _excellent_ men that ever lived--I + like him extremely. + + By-the-bye, I am made one of the ensigns in our Rifle Corps, so + that when you come to town you have a chance of seeing me + strutting about with a sword. + + I write in haste. Good-bye, best love to all.--From your very + affectionate boy, + + FRED. + + [Illustration: THE FRESCO PRESENTED BY LORD LEIGHTON TO + LYNDHURST CHURCH--"THE WISE AND FOOLISH VIRGINS." Completed 1864] + +In a letter to his father dated 1864 Leighton announced the completion +of the fresco, "The Wise and Foolish Virgins." The design of the whole +and the lines of the draperies in each figure are all admirable, and +the work is one which proves Leighton's powers of achieving rapidly, +and under great difficulties, a complete work and one in which his +great sense of beauty is very salient. There is also sufficient +dramatic feeling in the gestures and expressions of the faces. Perhaps +the most interesting (because the most spontaneous) attitude in the +figures of the wise virgins is that which is kneeling, profile-wise, +under the figure of the angel, who is indicating to her the presence +of her Saviour. She seems dazed with awe and rapture. Her arm is +caught up with a sudden unstudied angularity of movement which, though +not so beautiful intrinsically as are most of those in Leighton's +work, is very expressive, and produces a happy effect amid the more +obviously arranged lines in the rest of the design. Among the many +drawings preserved in the Leighton House Collection made for this +fresco there is a slight but very sensitive sketch for this figure, +also a finished pencil drawing for the head of Christ. The model who +sat for this head was the Italian whom Leighton painted in "Golden +Hours," and whom Watts used for the picture he (many years after its +execution) entitled "A Prodigal." The type of this model may be felt +by some to have been an unfortunate one to choose for the central +imposing figure in the design of the fresco. It is, perhaps, weak--too +good-looking in a commonplace style for such a subject. + +Ruskin, on seeing the photograph of this work, wrote to Leighton (a +postscript to a letter): "I was much struck--seriously--by the +photograph from your fresco; it is wonderfully fine in action." + +Leighton wrote to Steinle on receipt of his criticisms on the +Lyndhurst fresco:-- + + _Translation._] + _3rd December._ + + MY DEAR FRIEND,--Just now returned from a long journey (to + Constantinople and Athens), I find two very welcome letters from + you, by which I see with great pleasure that your old pupil may + still reckon upon your invaluable friendship and sympathy, and I + see it all the more certainly because you enclose a kind but + pertinent criticism of the photographs I sent you.[31] I agree + entirely, and can only pretend in my defence that it was + difficult, with the long space (all having to be filled) and the + altar standing in the middle of it, not to fall into rather a + panic. That, after all, is but a lame excuse, and I hope that + you will always rap me over the knuckles with the same friendly + sincerity. + + My dear Friend, the idea of appearing as a collaborator beside + you, my master, would be in the very highest degree delightful + and flattering to me. It is therefore only after mature + deliberation, and in the firm confidence that you will at least + appreciate the sincerity of your Leighton, that I have to + decline with real regret Herr Bruckmann's flattering invitation. + _You_, more than any one else, will agree with me that an artist + can execute no first-rate work, indeed dare undertake no work, + that is not a genuine expression alike of his feelings and his + convictions. I must candidly confess I cannot agree about a + complete illustration of the Shakespearian plays, those + masterpieces already in existence as _exhaustively finished_ + works of art; it seems to me that in literature only those + subjects lend themselves to pictorial representation which stand + in the written word more as _suggestion_. Subjects perhaps which + are provided in the Bible or in mythology and tradition in great + variety, or are not already generally in possession of the minds + of the spectators of living plays (_e.g._ the Greek Tragedies). + It is for the most part a struggle with the incomparable, + already existing _complete_--which is quite intimidating to my + capabilities. Do not take this ill, my dear Friend, and do not + consider it too great a presumption that I, your pupil, declare + so plainly against you where you think so differently. To go + back over one detail, I must also confess that _to me_ a + _coloured cartoon_ is not a natural mode of expression; a + _drawn_, or a _grey in grey_ (grau in grau) painted + cartoon--well enough. A size five feet high is to me, for a + _suggestion_ of colour, at least five times too large; just as + little could I give a suggestion of form in this size. Colour is + not necessary; but if one should use it in half life-size, it is + too noble and poetic, I think, for one to venture, so to speak, + to clarify it. Will you forgive me for all this, dear master? + However, I shall see with deep interest the progress of the + beautiful work which you will certainly execute. + + I have heard with some sorrow of the burning of the venerable + Dome, and am just writing to Otto Cornhill in respect to a + lottery which is to be arranged for the re-erection of the + tower. + + I have read what you tell me of your dear family with great + pleasure; please remember me most kindly to your wife and + children; also to my old comrades V. Müller, Wecker, and the + rest. I am very glad to hear that G. Wecker, the apostate, has + returned to art. He was, undoubtedly still is, a very gifted + man, but had to guard somewhat, had he not? against the + _ornamental_. + + But my letter is becoming too long. + + Farewell, my dear Master; take nothing amiss from your grateful, + devoted pupil, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + + + _Friday 10, 1864._ + + DEAR PAPA,--You will be disappointed, after waiting so long, to + receive no paper after all, and a skimpy note instead. I am + amused at the studied ill-nature of the _Spectator_; I wonder + who _V._ is. The author of an article on sensation pictures in + the _Realm_, in which I am flatteringly quoted, is by Mrs. + Norton. _En somme_ I think my "_Golden Hours_" is the most + successful of my pictures (perhaps more than anything since + "Cimabue") and the "Orpheus" (deservedly) the least. I am about + to begin two new pictures. Mrs. Guthrie's portrait--a full + length--is postponed for her health till the winter. + + + 1864. + + I should not leave the place I am in except to build; a mended + house would be most unsatisfactory and _temporary_. I feel sure + I shall nowhere get standing room for a house for less than £28, + still less room for a house and _large garden_. If I find the + terms exactly as I expect and my lawyer (Nettleship) satisfied + with the title I shall, I think, close the bargain, the more so + that another painter (I don't know who) is after it.[32] I am + staying for a day or two at Dangstein (Lady Dorothy Neville's). + I met here last night Mr. Henry Woolfe, who very kindly offered + me introductions to one or two charming Venetian families + (Mocenigo) which will be very pleasant for me, as I want to see + a Venetian interior. Gambart has paid the £1050 for "Dante." The + "Honeymoon" was bought by a Cornhill dealer yclept Moreby. + + I will let you know how all goes off on Saturday at the Council, + meanwhile best love to Mamma.--From your affectionate son, + + FRED. + + + _August 23, 1864._ + + I found your letter on returning from Lyndhurst this morning. I + may as well tell you at once that I have finished my fresco, + retouching a great deal of what was already painted, and I think + I may add, greatly improving it--so much for that. + + With regard to the draft, my assent was only general and + preliminary (besides being subject to the approval in the + details of my solicitor) and bound me to nothing. My surveyor + and solicitor have conferred together and with Lady H.'s agent, + and though the agreement is not yet signed, the matter is + virtually settled. I have several minor clauses altered which + had been inserted originally in the general draft to meet cases + different from my own. With regard to the title, I was surprised + and vexed to hear that it was stipulated that _no title should_ + be called for. My lawyer told me that this was frequently the + case--that he would go to Doctors' Commons to see the Will to + ascertain the truth of the statement that the property was Lady + H.'s in fee simple (as it is). Even this he said did not + _legally_ exhaust the matter, as there might be encumbrances not + alluded to in the Will. He said, however, that many other leases + had been granted on that property on precisely the same terms, + that the matter turned on the character of the landlord, and + that, _en somme_, I ran but little risk. _Since then_ I have + seen him, and he tells me that he has fortunately been able to + ascertain through a very respectable firm of solicitors, who + _have_ seen the titles, that _it is all right_; he has therefore + not thought it desirable to put me to the expense of + investigating the Will--so far so good. As to the possible + expense of the house, my dear Papa, you have taken, I assure + you, false alarm. I shall indeed devote more to the + architectural part of the building than _you_ would care to do; + but in the first place architecture and much _ornament_ are not + inseparable, and besides, whatever I do I shall undertake + _nothing without an estimate_. + + You need never fear that I shall take otherwise than it is + meant the advice that your experience and interest in me suggest + to you. You will also, I am sure, allow for the difference of + feeling between yourself and an artist who lives by his eyes. + + A line will find me at Venice, _poste restante_, all September. + I am just off. + + Best love to Mammy.--From your affectionate son, + + FRED. + + I knew neither _Poole_ nor _Jones_. Grant said he thought it + probable I should be an R.A. before long. + + + VENICE, _September 20, '64_. + + MY DEAR PAPA,--Many thanks for your letter, which reached me + safely a few days ago. I do indeed contemplate building my house + so as to be enlarged at a future day. I find, however, that I + shall probably be obliged to build at once rather more than I + absolutely require for practical building reasons, but I need + not therefore furnish more than I require. About the well I am + now entirely in the dark. It would never have occurred to me to + ask myself the question, Are there not _pipes_ or something? + With regard to the Will, if the perusal of it only cost a + guinea, it might have been worth while to look at it, though + Palmer and Nettleship thought it superfluous; but then P. and N. + tell me it would cost £20! to have it gone over, and as my + expenses with Browne (Lady H.'s agent) are already very + great--he makes a preposterous charge, _which I can't dispute_, + for the agreement--I don't think I shall care to add to them. + + My architect is Aitchison, an old friend. + + I wrote to the Academicians (Poole, Grant, and Jones) almost + immediately on hearing from them, and expressed a hope, vague + but polite, that we might meet on my return. _Poole_ I should + like to know; he is a man of poetic mind. I need scarcely tell + you that the idea of my being elected President (!!!) for many + years to come is simply _ludicrous_, even if there is a chance + of my ever having the offer of that dignity. + + I am quite aware that people do talk of it _laughingly_, but I + don't think it goes beyond "chaff" yet. No doubt many other + young artists are chaffed in the same way with imaginary + dignities. I am delighted that Mamma is better; I should have + said this before but that I have answered your letter + systematically. I trust the improvement will be lasting. + + I congratulate you on Colenso's visit, and shall be very anxious + to hear from you how it went off. + + As for myself, I am very snugly ensconced in a little mezzanino + on the Grand Canal, with a sort of passage which I use as a + studio and a bath-room, inasmuch as it opens straight on the + water, and enables me to take a very jolly swim every day. I am + not attempting a picture, but am making a sketch for one which I + shall probably paint on the spot next autumn, staying here a + couple of months or so. Meanwhile I have got several heads in + hand--_studies_, _not_ for _sale_, for use--and a few sketches in + Saint Mark's, which I think promise well. _Et voilą._ + + I stay here a fortnight longer, so that a letter written on + receipt of this would still catch me; after that _Rome_ is the + safest address. I shall be there from the 20th to the 28th of + October. + + Best love to Mamma, and believe me, your affectionate son, + + FRED. + +In the preceding letters mention is made of the final arrangements for +the building of Leighton's house in Holland Park Road. Mr. George +Aitchison, R.A., his old friend, undertook to be the architect. It was +begun in 1865, and first occupied by Leighton in 1866. + +Referring to opinions expressed regarding Florentine Art, past and +present, Leighton wrote to his younger sister: "----'s remark about +----, if I remember it, was utter bosh and pedantry. The Florentines +of the end of the fifteenth century were _emphatically_ realists, +though their realism was animated by a higher genius and a deeper +humanity than the modern Italians exhibit, though _they_, by-the-bye, +are mostly not _realists_ but mannerists. The chief characteristic of +English Art is (I speak of course of the better men) originality and +humanity on the one hand, and on the other, absence of acquired +knowledge and guiding taste. Some day I will write you a lot more +about it." + +Fully launched into the English art world, deeply interested in every +phase of sincere work produced by contemporary brother artists, +Leighton nevertheless adhered in his own practice to the views and +principles which he held from the time he became Steinle's devoted +pupil. To a question which referred to his art development, asked by +Mrs. Mark Pattison when she was about to write an account of his life +in 1879, Leighton answered, "I can only speak of what is not a +_change_ but virtually a growth, the passage from Gothicism to +Classicism (for want of better words) _i.e._ a growth from +multiplicity to simplicity. Artists' manners are not changed by +books!" "As regards English artists," he writes in the same letter, "I +can only of course speak with great reserve. Elmore treated me with +marked kindness, lending me a studio. Millais, Rossetti, Hunt were +most cordial and friendly, though I openly told them I was wholly +opposed to their views; but, indeed, few men have more cause to speak +well of their brethren." + +The artistic events of the years 1862, 1863, and 1864 culminated in +Leighton being elected an Associate of the Royal Academy. His old +friend, Mr. George Aitchison, wrote at the time of Leighton's death: +"In 1860 he took a studio at Orme Square, Bayswater. It was during +this time that his conversation was so brilliant and so free from +restraint. I remember a summer afternoon I spent with him, Mason, and +Murch on the terrace at the Crystal Palace, when he gave vent to the +freest criticism on books, artists, philosophy, science, and the +methods of teaching, and deplored the waste of time to students of +making large chalk studies, when everything that was wanted could be +shown on a sheet of smooth paper, seven inches high, with a hard +pencil. He was a great admirer of Boxall and his delicate painting, of +Mr. Watts' and Sir E. Burne-Jones' work, and persuaded the last two to +join the Royal Academy. In 1864 he was made an A.R.A., and after this +he became very cautious of expressing any but the most general +opinions on contemporary English art, as his remarks generally got +into the papers." + +"Eucharis," 1863; "Dante at Verona," and "Golden Hours," 1864, are +three works which might be placed in the first rank of Leighton's +achievements. In the following letters references are made to the +pictures:-- + + _April 29, 1863._ + + DEAR MAMMY,--I have just been to the R.A., having been invited + to the "Varnishing Day." _Four_ pictures are hung--"Elijah," + _high_, of course, but in a centre place; it looks well, but + _much_ darker than in the studio. "Peacock Girl,"[33] very well + hung, exactly where "The Vision" was a few years ago; it looks + well. "The Crossbowman" and "The Girl with the Fruit"[34] are + fairly hung, but look, to me, less well than in the studio. The + "Salome"[35] is the one not taken. Altogether I am well treated. + +In the following letters from Ruskin his interest is expressed in the +pictures exhibited in the Academy of 1863, and for the "Romola" +illustrations:-- + + MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--I've only just had time to look in, + yesterday, at R. Ac., and your pictures are the only ones that + interest me in it; and the two pretty ones, peacocks and basket, + interest me much. Ahab I don't much like. You know you, like all + people good for anything in this age and country (as far as + Palmerston), are still a boy--and a boy can't paint Elijah. But + the pretty girls are very nice--very _nearly_ beautiful. I can't + say more, can I? If once they _were_ beautiful, they would be + immortal too. But if I don't pitch into you when I get hold of + you again for not drawing your Canephora's basket as well as her + head and hair! You got out of the scrape about the circle of it + by saying you wanted it hung out of sight (which _I_ don't). But + the meshes are all wrong--_inelegantly_ wrong--which is + unpardonable. I believe a Japanese would have done it better. + Thanks for nice book on Japan with my name Japanned. _It_ is + very nice too. I wish the woodcuts were bigger. I should like it + so much better in a little octavo with big woodcuts on every + other page. But I never do anything but grumble.--Faithfully + yours, + + J. RUSKIN. + + + MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--The public voice respecting the lecture you + are calumniously charged with, is as wise as usual. The lecture + is an excellent and most interesting one, and I am very sorry it + is not yours. + + I am also very sorry the basket _is_ yours, in spite of the very + pretty theory of accessories. It is proper that an accessory be + slightly--sometimes even, in a measure, badly--painted, but not + that it should be out of perspective; and in the greatest men, + their enjoyment and power animated the very dust under the feet + of their figures--much more the baskets on their heads: above + all things, what comes near a head should be studied in every + line. + + There is nothing more notable to my mind in the minor tricks of + the great Venetians than the exquisite perspective of bandeaux, + braids, garlands, jewels, flowers, or anything else which aids + the _roundings_ of their heads. + + It is my turn to claim Browning for you, though I know what your + morning time is to you. I must have you over here one of these + summer mornings, if it be but to look at some dashes in sepia by + Reynolds, and a couple of mackerel by Turner--which, being + principals instead of accessories, I hope you will permit to be + well done, though they're not as pretty as peacocks. + + I have been watching the "Romola" plates with interest. The one + of the mad old man with dagger seemed to me a marvellous study + (of its kind), and I feel the advancing power in all. + + Will you tell me any day you could come--any hour--and I'll try + for Browning.--Ever faithfully yours, + + J. RUSKIN. + + I'm always wickeder in the morning than at night, because I'm + fresh; so I'll try, this morning, to relieve your mind about the + peacocks. To my sorrow, I know more of peacocks than girls, as + you know more of girls than peacocks--and I assure you solemnly + the fowls are quite as unsatisfactory to me as the girl can + possibly be to you; so unsatisfactory, that if I could have + painted them as well as you could, and _had_ painted them as + ill, I should have painted them out.[36] + + + _Monday._ + + DEAR LEIGHTON,--I saw Browning last night; and he said he + couldn't come till Thursday week: but do you think it would put + you quite off your work if you came out here early on Friday and + I drove you into Kensington as soon as you liked? We have enough + to say and look at, surely, for two mornings--one by ourselves? + + I want, seriously, for one thing to quit you of one impression + respecting me. You are quite right--"ten times right"--in saying + I never focus criticism. Was there ever criticism worth + adjustment? The light is so ugly, it deserves no lens, and I + never use one. But you never, on the other hand, have observed + sufficiently that in such rough focussing as I give it, I + measure faults not by their greatness, but their avoidableness. + A man's great faults are natural to him--inevitable; if _very_ + great--undemonstrable, deep in the innermost of things. I never + or rarely speak of them. They must be forgiven, or the picture + left. But a common fault in perspective is not to be so passed + by. You may not tell your friend, but with deepest reserve, your + thoughts of the conduct of his life, but you tell him, if he has + an ugly coat, to change his tailor, without fear of his + answering that you don't focus your criticism. Now it so happens + that I am in deep puzzlement and thought about some conditions + of your work and its way, which, owing to my ignorance of many + things in figure painting, are not likely to come to any good or + speakable conclusion. But it would be partly presumptuous and + partly vain to talk of these; hence that silence you spoke of + when I saw you last. I wish I had kept it all my life, and + learned, in place, to do the little I could have done, and enjoy + the much I might have enjoyed.--Ever faithfully yours, + + J. RUSKIN. + + Send me a line saying if you will give me the Friday morning, + and fix your own hour for breakfast to be ready; and never mind + if you are late, for I can't give you pretty things that spoil + for waiting, anyhow. + +Leighton writes to his mother:-- + + I had a kind note this morning from Ruskin, in which, after + criticising two or three things, he speaks very warmly of other + points in my work and of the development of what he calls + "enormous power and sense of beauty." I quote this for what it + is worth, because I know it will give you pleasure, but I have + NOT and _never shall have_ "enormous power," though I have some + "sense of beauty." The "Orpheus" and "Golden Hours" are not in + the _great_ room but in the next to it. I have not seen Gambart + lately, and do not, therefore, know whether he has got rid of + any more of my pictures (by-the-bye, I have sent the + "duet"--"Johnny"--to America to an Exhibition for the Sanitary + Commission, on the request of Mrs. Kemble's daughter). He will, + _I think_, engrave the "Honeymoon," but probably only photograph + the others; by-the-bye (again), Mammy, tell Gussy with my love + that I shall present her with a copy of each and shall not + "_think her greedy_," having no thoughts for her but + affectionate ones. With regard to the money paid me by Gambart, + I invested as soon as I got it £1000 in Eastern Counties Railway + _debentures_, at par, 4-1/2 per cent., this on the advance of + Coutts' stock clerk. Lord Ashburton's portrait was scarcely + begun.[37] I have offered to try to finish _tant bien que mal_ + from photographs, and to _give_ it to Lady A. She is very + grateful. The child's picture also goes to the wall, as she + won't be able to sit for some time, and would then be _changed_. + Lady A. wanted to pay the price of the sketch as it stood; this + I of course refused. She has commissioned me to paint her a + fancy picture for £300. + +Leighton was for five years an Associate before being elected a full +member of the Royal Academy in 1869. During these years the number of +important pictures he exhibited each season notably increased. In at +least twelve of these works the many-sided Leighton is worthily +represented--"Dante at Verona,"[38] "Golden Hours," "David," +"Syracusan Bride" (exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1866 and in the +Paris International Exhibition in 1868), "Helen of Troy,"[39] +"Greek Girl Dancing," "Venus Disrobing from the Bath," "Ariadne +Abandoned by Theseus, Ariadne Watches for his Return, Artemis Releases +Her by Death," "Actęa, the Nymph of the Shore," "Dędalus and Icarus," +"Electra at the Tomb of Agamemnon," "Helios and Rhodos." The extreme +variety from every point of view which exists in this group of twelve +pictures, chosen from the twenty-six paintings and the numerous +sketches executed in these five years, would be a proof in itself, if +one were needed, of Leighton's extraordinary versatility as regards +the _motives_ of his pictures. + + [Illustration: "GREEK GIRL DANCING." 1867 + By permission of Mr. Phillipson] + + [Illustration: DRAWING FOR THE PAINTING "A PASTORAL." 1866 + Leighton House Collection] + +In the spring of 1865, after years of delicate health, Mrs. Leighton +at the last died suddenly, at her home in Bath. At the time Leighton +was staying at Sandringham where he received a telegram announcing her +death, and on the same day he joined his family at Bath. It has been +said that, as long as a man is blessed by possessing a mother, he +still retains the blessing of being--in the eyes of one person at +least--a child. To Leighton's tender-hearted nature this blessing was +a very real one, as is testified by his correspondence with his +mother.[40] The first chapter of Leighton's life seems, in a sense, +only to end with this great sorrow. + + _Translation._] + FRANKFURT AM MAIN, + _April 30, 1865_. + + DEAREST FRIEND,--As your last friendly lines of 14th March did + not bring your address, I grasp the opportunity offered me by + Mr. Tobie André to express to you my heartfelt sympathy on the + loss of your dear mother. I remember that you often spoke to me + of this mother with true filial affection, and I have secretly + blessed you for it; I know now also that you will treasure her + memory!--Always, your truly devoted, + + STEINLE. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[26] See Appendix, "Lord Leighton's Sketches." + +[27] See page 59, vol. ii., poem, Leighton's "Francesca di Rimini," by +R.A. + +[28] Head painted on the wall of the Vestry of Highnam Church--since +destroyed. + +[29] "Eucharis." + +[30] Sir Hubert Parry writes: "I remember Leighton made a practical +test of my father's medium by painting a fine dashing sketch of a head +on the wall of the Vestry at Highnam Church. I used to admire it +greatly. Unfortunately that Vestry was pulled down; and though efforts +were made to preserve the sketch by cutting a great piece of plaster +out of the wall, I understand that during the many years when I was +hardly ever at Highnam, the plaster crumbled and collapsed." See letter +to Steinle. + +[31] Photographs of the Lyndhurst fresco. + +[32] The ground on which Leighton built his house, 2 Holland Park Road, +now preserved for the public. + +[33] "Girl feeding Peacocks" (see sketches in Leighton House +Collection). Leighton painted a small and exquisite water-colour on +ivory of the picture, which was sold at Christie's after his death. + +[34] "Eucharis." + +[35] See List of Illustrations: reproduction from sketch in Leighton +House. + +Mr. Frith, R.A., wrote the following respecting the rejection of +"Salome":-- + + 10 PEMBRIDGE VILLAS, BAYSWATER, W., + _April 29, 1863_. + + MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--We have been unable to hang one of your best + pictures--not because it was an excellent work, as the profane + world would say--but because we had already placed so many of + your pictures that the space due to Leighton was more than + exhausted. M.C. Mortlake called us over the coals dreadfully on + your behalf, but I, for one, resisted his arguments, and I + believe you have to blame me for your picture being returned to + you. I should have said nothing about the matter, but for the + fear that I might be thought so stupid as not to see the merit + of your work. Pray believe that my motive was a good one, and + that I have tried to do what is right to you and to the + rest.--Ever, dear Leighton, faithfully yours, + + W.P. FRITH. + +[36] Ruskin would not, I believe, have spoken thus of the peacocks in +the exquisite water-colour on ivory--presumably a sketch in colour for +the picture. + +[37] Refers to Lord Ashburton's death. + +[38] This picture illustrates the verses in the _Paradiso_:-- + + "Thou shalt prove + How salt the savour is of others' bread; + How hard the passage, to descend and climb + By others' stairs. But that shall gall thee most + Will be the worthless and vile company + With whom thou must be thrown into the straits, + For all ungrateful, impious all and mad + Shall turn against thee." + +"Dante, in fulfilment of this prophecy, is seen descending the palace +stairs of the Can Grande, at Verona, during his exile. He is dressed in +sober grey and drab clothes, and contrasts strongly in his ascetic and +suffering aspect with the gay revellers about him. The people are +preparing for a festival, and splendidly and fantastically robed, some +bringing wreaths of flowers. Bowing with mock reverence, a jester gibes +at Dante. An indolent sentinel is seated at the porch, and looks on +unconcernedly, his spear lying across his breast. A young man, probably +acquainted with the writings of Dante, sympathises with him. In the +centre and just before the feet of Dante, is a beautiful child, +brilliantly dressed and crowned with flowers, and dragging along the +floor a garland of bay leaves and flowers, while looking earnestly and +innocently in the poet's face. Next come a pair of lovers, the lady +looking at Dante with attention, the man heedless. The last wears a +vest embroidered with eyes like those in a peacock's tail. A priest and +a noble descend the stairs behind, jeering at Dante."--_Athenęum_, +April 1864. + +The following expresses the admiration of a brother artist, Richard +Doyle, for the exiled "Dante":-- + + 54 CLIFTON GARDENS, MAIDA HILL, + _April 5, 1864_. + + MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--I feel so awkward whenever I attempt to + praise a man's works to his face, and I felt that you, + yesterday, were so likely to be bored with the repetition of + similar speeches from your large influx of visitors, that at the + moment of my going I could not bring myself to say what I wished + to say--how much I liked your pictures. To-day, however, when + "Dante" and "Orpheus," and the music and drawing parties are + before my mind as vividly as they were yesterday before my eyes + in your studio, I cannot resist sending you a few lines to say + what pleasure my visit gave me, although I was "without words." + + The "Dante" seemed to me a very impressive picture, and I think + one of the most important as well as most successful of your + works, historical in a higher sense than the mere representation + of an event--an illustration of the man and the time. I could + mention many of the figures that especially pleased me, but, for + beauty, can only single out that most delightful little child in + the foreground, toddling at the feet of Dante, laden with + flowers, the childhood and innocence of whose whole figure and + face, although we do not see the face, contrasts so beautifully + with the worn, ascetic, melancholy Poet. I think these two are a + poem in themselves. + + The lady in the "drawing lesson" struck me as a charming figure, + so graceful, and the painting of her dress as a perfect piece of + work. The lady leaning over the instrument in the "music" + ("Golden Hours") subject is also a great favourite of mine. + + The "Orpheus," although there is a great deal to admire in it, I + don't think I liked so well as the others. Perhaps it is that + the classic subject does not come home to me, but I say this + doubtingly, feeling that it is a picture that would very likely + grow upon me. + + Anyhow, I end by offering you my most hearty + congratulations.--Most sincerely yours, + + RICHARD DOYLE. + +[39] Referring to Leighton's painting of "Helen of Troy," exhibited in +1865, Mr. Martin Tupper wrote:-- + + ALBURY HOUSE, NR. GUILFORD, + _May 23, 1865_. + + DEAR SIR,--It is just possible that the following few words of + comment upon your wonderfully spiritualised "Helen of Troy" may + be acceptable to you from the undersigned. + + The "Helen" of Euripides is very little read amongst us, and yet + it is as strangely sensational as "The Woman in White": there + being two Helens in the play, the real substantial wife + remaining faithful to Menelaus in the island of Pharos, while + Juno gives to Paris--out of jealous rage at him for his + "judgment" in favour of Venus--"an image composed of ether" in + the likeness of Helen. + + This Ethereal Presence you have so exquisitely portrayed that it + is probable you know the play! only that I think you would then + have quoted from it in the R.A. catalogue, in explanation of + what confuses some of your ignorant reviewers as to this + embodied spirit. + + The counterfeit Helen was of "unsubstantial air," a figure + marvellously rendered in your picture, and which I can fully + appreciate: and you quote a very apposite passage from Lord + Derby's "Homer," as that which you illustrate; but if there are + reprints of the catalogue, I would suggest the addition of a + line from Euripides, as thus:-- + + "Juno to Paris gave me--yet not me, + But in my semblance formed a living image + Composed of ether." + WODHALL'S _Eur. Hel._ + + If haply you do not know the book, inquire at Longman's for the + fifth volume of the Greek Tragic Theatre (in English); or, + should you prefer it, of course it is extant in the Greek. If + not easily attainable in London, I shall be happy to lend you + the volume by post. Congratulating you on your difficult and + exquisite achievement--I am, dear sir, truly yours, + + MARTIN F. TUPPER. + F. LEIGHTON, Esq. + +[40] + + WARNFORD COTTAGE, + BISHOP'S WALTHAM. + + MY DEAR MR. LEIGHTON,--I was very sorry indeed when I returned + to Park Place on Sunday evening and found that you had been so + kind as to call upon me. + + I have not ventured to intrude upon you in your late affliction + with the expression of a sympathy which cannot have much value + for you, but had I seen you when you called I should hardly have + refrained from telling you how sincerely I feel for your + sorrow.--Pray believe me, yours always most truly, + + FANNY KEMBLE. + WARNFORD, _Thursday, 2nd_. + + + FOREST BANK, + LYNDHURST. + + MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--I cannot let the post go out without offering + you my sincere sympathy on your loss. I know how deeply attached + you were to your mother, and am very sure the bereavement is a + heavy grief to you. You are right in saying that to me your + sorrow comes especially home. My mother sends you her + affectionate love, and we both beg you to remember that, + whenever you have a few spare days and want quiet, you must + consider this home as a temporary home.--Believe me always, in + all affection, yours, + + HAMILTON AĻDÉ. + + + MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--I must write to you to express the grief both + myself and my wife felt on hearing of the loss which has + befallen you. I am well aware that no words can afford + consolation against such afflictions, but I should be sorry if + you had construed silence into want of sympathy. If you have + time I should be glad to hear from you, and to know how may be + your father, from whom I have received on every occasion so much + kindness. You have much distress to go through, for death has + recently touched you in many ways by striking your own family, + your friends, and imperilling others to a degree that must have + inspired every pain it can produce. + + Good-bye, my dear Leighton; remember me to your father, and + express to him my deep sympathy with him in his + misfortune.--Yours ever affectionately, + + W.C. CARTWRIGHT. + PALAZZI GIORGI, ROME, + _January 31_. + + + 13 EATON PLACE (WEST), + _Tuesday, January 17, 1865_. + + MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--I heard at the Marqs', on Sunday, of your + late bereavement; and, as perhaps the one of all your many + friends whose mind the most habitually dwells among thoughts of + loss and deprivation, I can assure you of thought of it with + sincere concern and sympathy, and just write a line to say so. + There is nothing to be said, I well know, which is of any + immediate good or alleviation, and time only strengthens + affectionate recollection: but after a time, among gentler + thoughts which will come, I hope you will, as you may justly, + find comfort in thinking that your mother's life was spared so + as to permit her to be cheered by the certainty of your success. + This is much--especially to a woman's heart.--Faithfully and + sincerely yours, + + HENRY J. CHORLEY. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +JOURNEYS TO THE EAST--CONSTANTINOPLE--SMYRNA--ATHENS--DIARY "UP THE +NILE TO PHYLĘ" + +1866-1869 + + +Leighton visited Spain in 1866. There exists apparently no letters or +written record of this journey, but he made many sketches remarkable +for strong and characteristic colouring. + +The letter written to Mrs. Mark Pattison in 1879, already quoted, +contains an amusing endeavour on Leighton's part to date the various +journeys he had made in answer to questions she had asked. + + "I am sorely perplexed to answer this; I can only approach an + answer by a sort of _memoria technica_. I made studies in + Algiers for 'Samson Agonistes'; that will give you roughly the + period. This visit made a deep impression on me; I have loved + 'the East,' as it is called, ever since. By-the-bye, I drew here + my (almost) only large water-colour drawing, 'A Negro Festival' + [the picture Leighton alluded to as 'The Niggers'], which was + thought very well of by my friends. To Spain (into which I had + made a raid of a few days on a previous occasion when visiting + the South of France for architecture, to which I am much + devoted) I went the year of the cholera. I remember this because + I was going to Constantinople, but was dissuaded by a friend + there because of the ravages of that epidemic. The following + year I _did_ go: Vienna, Danube, Varna, Constantinople, Broussa, + Smyrna, Rhodes, Athens (the greatest architectural emotion of my + life, by far), &c. This was the year _before_ those poor young + Englishmen were murdered on Pentelicus, up which I had been + with _the same_ guide. My visit to Egypt, and up the Nile on a + steamer, given me by the Khedive, was a year before the opening + of the Suez Canal; I rode over the Salt Lakes with Mons. de + Lesseps and a party of his friends. Damascus a year before I + exhibited the 'Jew's House,' I _think_. Spain, revisited, and + Morocco, the year before last. This is a roundabout way of + getting about dates, but, contrary to my expectation, I think I + have contrived to fix all the chief journeys approximately." + +In 1867 Leighton wrote to his father:-- + + LLOYD STEAMER "ADRIATIC," + _November 28, 1867_. + + MY DEAR PAPA,--As I am likely to be busy during my very short + stay in Venice, where I hope to find a letter from you, I take + advantage of the leisure which I find in excess on board this + steamer to begin an epistle which, however, I shall not close + till I have seen yours, in case anything in the latter should + require an answer. Of course my getting to the end of even this + first page depends upon the state of my feelings--physical, not + moral, for I am a poor sailor at best. I told you, I believe, in + my last how much I had enjoyed and, as I hope, profited by my + stay in Rhodes and Lindos. I am uncertain whether I added that I + had received great kindness and attention from our consul and + his brothers, and also from one or two other gentlemen with whom + I became acquainted. Through the assistance of Mr. Biliotti (our + consul) I had an opportunity, which could never present itself + again, of buying a number of beautiful specimens of old Persian + _faience_ (Lindos ware), chiefly plates, which will make a + delightful addition to my collection of Eastern china and + pottery. I know that you, personally, care little for such + things, and have small sympathy with purchases of that nature; + you will, therefore, be glad to hear that though I spent a + considerable sum, knowing that such a chance would never again + be given me, I could, _any day_, part with the whole lot for at + least double--probably treble--what I gave. + + The weather, which was very beautiful at the beginning--indeed + during the greater part of my stay in the Island--was not + faithful to me to the end; it broke up a few days before my + departure, and, to my very great regret, prevented my painting + certain studies which I was very anxious to take home: on the + other hand, I had opportunities of studying effects of a + different nature, so that I can hardly call myself much the + loser as far as my work in Rhodes was concerned. In Athens, + however, the effect of the absolute instability of the weather + (an instability of which I have never seen the like anywhere) + was that I left that place almost empty-handed, although I + stayed there a week longer than I had originally intended. If, + however, I got through little or no work, I had infinite + enjoyment in the frequent and unvaried study and contemplation + of the ruins on the Acropolis. Familiar as I was, from casts and + photographs, with the sculptures and some part of the + architecture which I found there, my expectations were very + highly wrought, but it is impossible to anticipate, nor shall I + attempt to describe, the impression which these magnificent + works produce when seen together and under their own sky. + Indeed, it is quite strange how one seems to read with new eyes + things which one conceived oneself to have understood thoroughly + before. The scenery about Athens, depending a good deal on + effects of light, only rarely displayed its full beauty during + my stay; sufficiently often, however, for me to see that it is + of exquisite beauty, and that that part of it described by Byron + in certain favourite lines of yours does not receive full + justice at his hands. I had letters, as you probably knew, to + Mr. Erskine, our Minister, and to Mr. Finlay, the historian; + both of them received me with the greatest cordiality and + kindness, as did also two or three other persons with whom I + became acquainted, so that my stay was socially agreeable as + well as artistically delightful; but herewith ends my journey, + for heavy weather, rain, sleet, fog and the rest prevented my + seeing any of the scenery of the Gulf of Lepanto, which I might + as well not have visited, and although I passed Zante, + Cephalonia, and Corfu under rather more favourable skies, I did + not see them to advantage--_ce sera pour une autrefois_. Your + letter, which I have found on my arrival, and for which thanks, + does not call for any particular reply beyond that I have + painted _no_ figures, though I might have been tempted by + several fine heads I saw, but time only sufficed for my + landscape studies, which in this journey were my chief care. The + extract from the _Saturday Review_, which is highly flattering, + was shown me by Mr. Finlay in Athens. + + Of Venice I have nothing to say, except that my first impression + of the Gallery, coming as I did straight from the Parthenon, was + that everything but the very _finest_ pictures was wanting in + dignity and beauty, and was _artificial_. I was much surprised + myself, as the Venetian school always exercises a great + fascination over me. You may infer from that what an impression + of beauty Athenian Art has left on me. I was incessantly + reminded, in looking both at the sculpture and architecture of + the Acropolis, of the admirable words which Thucydides puts into + the mouth of Pericles: those are the beginning and the end of + the Greek artistic nature. + + I shall be in London by the 10th, and right glad to get home + again--meanwhile, with best love to Taily.--I remain, your + affectionate son, + + FRED. + VENICE, HOTEL DE L'EUROPE. + + [Illustration: SKETCH WITH DONKEY. EGYPT. 1868] + +Respecting the knowledge Leighton possessed of the Greek language, he +wrote in a letter to a friend, "In Greek I never got beyond Homer and +Anacreon. I have just retained this, that, having read a passage in a +translation (I generally read Homer in _German_ or _Latin_), I am able +to feel, on referring to the original, its superiority to the foreign +rendering." + +In 1868 the great desire which Leighton for many years had felt to see +Egypt was gratified. In October of that year he wrote to his father +from Cairo:-- + + _Beginning of letter missing._] + + I find that the Prince (the Prince of Wales) asked him in the + said letter to introduce me as a personal friend of his to the + Viceroy, adding that he would be obliged by anything he (Col. + Stanton) could do for me. This was more than I had expected + from what Col. Tait also had written me. Well, to make a long + story short, I communicated to Col. S. the ambitious desires + that Smart had stirred up in me, assuring him, however, that I + should never have dreamt of entertaining them of my own accord. + He took my case in hand at once, by asking for an audience, + which the Viceroy granted as soon as he should have returned to + Cairo; he was too busy to see me at Alexandria. Meanwhile Col. + Stanton hinted to the secretary of H.H. what my wish was, but + nothing was said to the Viceroy himself. Wednesday being fixed + for my reception, I went to his palace of Abbassia with Col. S., + and was there received in a pavilion in the open air, which + overlooked a tract of country covered with tents in which some + 5000 men were quartered. Round His Highness' pavilion were the + tents of his chief ministers in attendance. It was rather a + picturesque sight. The Viceroy was alone, and, having received + us very courteously, and asked after the health of the P. and + Pcess. of Wales, made us sit down. He then clapped his hands, + and on a word from him long _tchibouques_ were brought, of which + the amber mouthpieces were enriched with enormous diamonds and + emeralds. A little conversation on general matters then followed + between him and Col. S., after which he questioned me about my + projects; and after asking whether he could assist me, and Col. + S. throwing out a little hint about a steam tug to get me on + quicker, he said, "Would you not rather have a steamer to go in? + it is the same to me, and you will be more comfortable." Here + Col. Stanton, very judiciously and promptly, said he was sure + the P. of Wales would be much gratified by this mark of favour + to me; so that I have only to name the day, and the vessel will + be at my orders, and I shall do all I wish in _half the time_, + or less, it would otherwise have taken me. I bowed myself out + with my best thanks, and went home much pleased at my good + fortune and at everybody's kindness. I should not forget to say + also that Mr. Ross (Lady Duff Gordon's son-in-law, you know) was + full of _empressement_ and kindness to me, and Lady D.G. lent me + a gun for the Nile. I start in ten days or thereabouts, and hope + before that to hear from you, for no letters will follow me and + I shall lose sight of everybody for nearly two months. I will + write again before I start; meanwhile, when you write which it + will be no use your doing till _November_, address, please New + Hotel, Cairo, Egypt. + + And believe me, meanwhile, with best love to Taily, your affte. + son, + + FRED. + +Happily, while Leighton lost sight "of everybody for nearly two +months," he kept the following diary:-- + + _Wednesday, October 14, 1868._--Went on board, dined and slept. + + _Thursday, 15th._--Started at about 7 A.M. There had been a + storm in the night, and the east was still heavy with clouds; + but the western sky was pure and soft. + + At about ten caught up the Sterlings, becalmed in their + dahabyeh; their crew was making a futile attempt to tow them + against the current. I let out a rope and tugged them as far as + Benisoėf, which, owing to the additional weight, I did not reach + till Friday morning (16th). + + The first day's journey up the Nile is enchanting, and I enjoyed + it thoroughly. The sky was bright, but tempered by a glimmering + haze which produced the loveliest effects; those of the early + morning were the most striking. The course of the river being + nearly due north, the western bank was glowing in varied sunny + lights; the other seemed made up of shadowy veils of gauze + fainting gradually towards the horizon. The boats that passed on + the left, dark in the blaze of light, looked, with their + outspread wings, like large moths of dusky brown; those on the + right shone against the violet sky like gilded ivory. The + keynote of this landscape is a soft, variant, fawn-coloured + brown, than which nothing could take more gratefully the warm + glow of sunlight or the cool purple mystery of shadow; the + latter perhaps especially, deep and powerful near the eye (the + local brown slightly overruling the violet), but fading as it + receded into tints exquisitely vague, and so faint that they + seem rather to belong to the sky than to the earth. At this time + of year the broad coffee-coloured sweep of the river is bordered + on either side by a fillet of green of the most extraordinary + vivacity, but redeemed from any hint of crudity by the golden + light which inundates it. The brightest green is that of the + Indian corn--the softest and most luminous that of an exquisite + grass, tall as pampas (perhaps it _is_ a kind of pampas, I have + not seen it close yet), and like it crowned with a beautiful + plume-like blossom of the most delicate hue; seen against a dark + shady bank, and with the sun shining through it, it shimmers + with the sheen of gossamer. + + Frequent villages animate the river's edge; they are built of + unbaked bricks coated with mud, and have a most striking effect. + The simplicity and variety of the shapes of the houses, with + their slightly sloping sides and flat roofs, give them a certain + dignity in their picturesqueness which delights me; the colour, + too, is particularly agreeable, and is the most beautiful foil + to the bronze-brown of the naked, or nearly naked, fellaheen and + the indigo of the robes of their wives; to the sparkling white + of the doves that swarm in the gardens, and to the cinder-colour + of the buffaloes that wink and snooze along the bank. Every + village nestles in a dense grove of date-palms, and one cannot + conceive a lovelier harmony than that which is made by the + combination of the browns below with the sea-green of the + sweeping branches and the flame-like orange of the fruit. The + acacia (here a large, massive tree, with a vigorous dark green + foliage) is frequent in the villages. + + The shape of the hills and mountains is very peculiar and + striking. It gives the idea of a choppy sea of sand thrown up + into abrupt peaks and then uniformly truncated by a sweep of a + vast scythe, sweeping everything from horizon to horizon. Here + and there a little peak, too low to be embraced in the general + decapitation, raises its head amongst innumerable table-lands + and gives great value and relief to the general outline. + + Meanwhile an occasional train and not infrequent lines of + telegraph poles don't add to the poetry of the scene. + + Nor the flies to one's comfort! What a curse they are! they + _infest_ one's face. I wonder what the epiderm of Egyptian + children is made of; you see babies with a dozen flies settled, + no, stuck, embedded in and round each of their eyes, and as many + in and about their noses and mouths; and they make no attempt to + remove them--seem absolutely unconscious of them. + + Scenery this afternoon less interesting--river wider--banks more + monotonous. + + Opposite a place called Magaga, some fine mountains on the east + bank, scored with innumerable horizontal lines marking the + monotonous parallel strata of which they are composed; a + characteristic peculiarity in all the Egyptian hills I have seen + as yet. (The finest in outline are the Quarries opposite + Sakkara, on the right bank, and like those behind the Citadel at + Cairo.) + + Spent the night at a village called Kolosana, not having made + Minyeh owing to delay at Benisoėf, where we coaled, and took + leave of the Sterlings, with whom I breakfasted. The sunset + before reaching Kolosana was magnificent, like a sunset at sea; + almost as grand in its simplicity. Between the broad flaming sky + and the broad flaming river there was only a long narrow strip + of dark bronze-green bank, that seemed to burst into flame where + the almost white hot sun sank scowling behind it. The after-glow + was also very fine, though less grand than I should have + expected. The sky was of a deep violet, and the distant rolling + sand-tracks wore the most mysterious tints, faint, glimmering, + uncanny, vague fawn colours, pale dun browns, and ghostly pinks. + + _Saturday, 17th._--Started at dawn, and arrived at Minyeh about + eight o'clock. + + Stayed two hours and coaled. + + Obeying the custom of the country, I have presented the crew + with a sheep--great satisfaction. + + Took a stroll in the Bazaars, which are rather picturesque. + Minyeh is a largish place (chef lieu), and, like every second + village on the Nile, disfigured by the tall chimneys of sugar + factories. + + There is a striking line of hills opposite Minyeh, quaintly + jagged in outline and curiously regular in the marking of its + strata. + + Passed Beni Hassan, where I shall stop on my return. + + It is curious to see the incessant toiling of the natives at + irrigation. The poor people literally _make_ their country every + year, and it is marvellous to see how a narrow fillet of water + will, as by enchantment, conjure up in a few weeks an oasis out + of an arid desert. The land of Egypt is born afresh out of the + Nile every returning year. + + I observe, with pleasure, in this part of the country those + little white-domed tombs of Sheykhs which make such a pretty + feature in the landscape of Algeria. + + At Minyeh there is one, close to the riverside, in which rests + the "Sheykh of the Crocodiles" whose holy dust prevents those + man-eating ornaments of the Upper Nile from going any further + towards Cairo--below this tomb they never venture. + + Not having reached Manfalūt by sunset, we have drawn up for the + night by the bank of the river, nowhere in particular. This + entire freedom in our movements (I should say _mine_, for the + steamer stops exactly where, when, and as often as I choose) is + very agreeable. Less pleasant is the storm of flies and insects + of every kind, that rush in literally by myriads as soon as + candles are lighted within reach of shore; my tablecloth is + darkened with thousands of little flies no larger, wings and + all, than a moderate flea; the nuisance is intolerable. + + A wonderful sunset again this evening. The western bank like + yesterday was low and brown and green, but, unlike yesterday, it + was alive with the sweet clamour of many birds. On the eastern + side the long wall of rock which seems to enclose the whole + length of the valley of the Nile came flush, or almost flush, to + the water's edge; and with what an intense glory it glowed! The + great hills seemed clad in burnished armour of gold fringed and + girt below with green and dark purple; but the smooth face of + the water was like copper, burnished and inlaid with sapphire. + + I sat in the long gloaming enjoying the soft, warm, supple air, + and watching the tints gradually change and die round the sweep + of the horizon, and across the immense mirror of the Nile as + broad as a lake. It was enchanting to watch the subtle + gradations by which the tawny orange trees that glowed like + embers in the west, passed through strange golden browns to + uncertain gloomy violet, and finally to the hot indigo of the + eastern sky where some lingering after-glow still flushed the + dusky hills; and still more enchanting to watch the same tones + on the unruffled expanse of the water, slightly tempered by its + colour and subdued to greater mystery. A solemn peace was over + everything. Occasionally a boat drifted slowly past with + outspread wings, in colour like an opal or lapis lazuli, and + then vanished. It was a thing to remember. + + I hear an altercation between Ottilio (my Italian waiter) and a + stoker who has put down his grease can on one of the Pasha's + smartest plates. "O--(adjective)--Madonna! se si puņ vedere una + carogua simile! e se me la rompi pas? costa pił di te--sa!" + + My young dragoman having fastened a hook to a bit of string, and + the bit of string to the stern of the steamer, has been waiting + some hours for a fish. After the first hour he reasoned with + himself, and said: "Brabs (perhaps?) he know!"--then, dolefully, + "He come touch the 'ook, and then he go run away!"--_cela c'est + vu._ To-morrow to Asyoot. 10-1/2 P.M. Just been on deck again. + Dragoman still fishing! He says, "I tink he _won't_." I incline + to agree with him. + + _Sunday, 18th._--Started about six. Reached Syoot, or rather El + Hamza for Syoot, which is a mile inland, at eleven. Between + Manfalūt and Syoot the Nile takes an immense sweep west, and + assumes altogether a tortuous course; the plain opens out, the + eastern mountains recede, and for the first time an important + chain closes in on the west. Game is already beginning to be + abundant. I saw a sandbank full of pelicans and geese just below + this place. I wish I could get at the names of the small birds I + see here, which are mostly new to me; an Arab invariably answers + your questions on this subject by the word "asfoor," _i.e._ a + bird--thankee! The peasants here all wear a loose dark brown + robe like that of a Franciscan monk; and as they squat fishing + on the brown bank of the river with their skull-caps and black + beards, I fancy I see the monks of the Thebaļd coming, as in old + days, to get their daily meat out of the Nile. + + Irrigation seems to go on more actively even than lower down; I + saw to-day no less than twenty-four shadoofs all in a row, and + in full play. The men that worked them, mostly naked, were of + every colour between a new halfpenny and an old shoe, and the + effect of them all toiling away and surrounded by groups of + squatting onlookers was very striking. + + Hosseyn, my servant, the angler, is having his head shaved on + deck; when he has done I shall visit the town. + + Meanwhile I have had a visit from the government doctor, a + rather intelligent man who made his studies in Pisa. + + Pipes and coffee as usual. + + Here comes Hosseyn clean-shaven. He is a nice boy, eager and + willing--but wants varnish; he can never address me without + scratching his spine at its lowest extremity; Audrey herself + could not have done it in a manner more naļvely unconventional. + Though only twenty, he has had two wives; not liking the first, + who snubbed his relations, he gave her three months' wages and + dismissed her. To avoid further unpleasantness he then married + his cousin: "She good woman--very quiet--good tongue." + + The village at which we have landed is very picturesque. The mud + and brick architecture is here carried out with some care and is + entirely delightful. The walls are mostly crowned with an + openwork finish made by a simple arrangement of the bricks which + is most effective. Sometimes, as, for instance, in the cemetery, + they are surmounted by crenulations like those we see in the old + Assyrian monuments; the heads of the doorways are decorated with + a charming sort of diapered ornament, capable of great variety + and produced entirely by the arrangement in patterns of the + bricks; the patterns being painted black and the ground filled + in with white. The woodwork in the windows is also very pretty, + and altogether the general aspect of the houses most novel and + striking. + + Beyond the village I wandered into a delightful garden; a half + cultivated wilderness of palm and gum trees in which one came on + unexpected pergolas, and lovely garden trees all pouring out + their most intoxicating scents under the fiercest sun I ever + walked beneath. I saw oleanders, the flowers of which were as + thick as roses and smelt like a quintessence of nectarines; + there were also some beautiful olive trees with weeping + branches--a thing I had never seen before--and with berries as + large as plums. Overhead, amongst the yellow dates, sat doves + the colour of pale violets. + + Syoot itself is beautifully situated amongst groves and gardens; + except in that it is brown and not white, it reminded me much of + an Algerine town; it is very unlike Cairo. The rock-cut tombs in + the mountain above the town are so mutilated and disfigured that + little can be made of them; but they have that stamp of + vastness which is so characteristic of all the ancient monuments + of this country. + + The view from the height is very fine. The river has barely + begun to fall yet, so that everything is reflected in the great + sheets of water that cover the land. At evening I saw the sunset + through the tall palm trees, with the domes of Syoot dark + against its flaming light. + + For a fine showy assertion that looks very original and + striking, but is not calculated for pedantic verification, + commend me to a Frenchman. The other day, at Boulay, Mariette + Bey, the creator and the curator of the Museum of that ilk, and + a man of high standing as an Egyptologist, told me that the Nile + was turned into its actual course by a great chain of hills at + Syoot which, serving as a rampart, alone prevented it from + following its obvious tendency to flow into the Red Sea. "Il + allait _évidemment_ se jeter dans la Mer Rouge;" in fact, but + for this hill, there would have been no Lower Egypt, that + country being literally the child of the Nile which alone + prevents the sands of the central deserts from ruling over the + whole breadth of the land. Here was a dramatic revelation of + coincidences! Here was a startling suggestion of contingencies! + + It fairly took your breath away! without that hill no Nile north + of Syoot! half Egypt would not have been! No Memphis! Memphis + with its wisdom! No Alexandria with its schools! No Cairo with + its four thousand mosques! No Pharaohs! No Moses! (The poor + devil of a sculptor who drowned himself in his own fountain + because he found he had made _his_ Moses too short might have + died in his bed.) No Cleopatra! (turn in your grave, noble dust + of Antony!)--"forty centuries" would have had no Pyramids from + which to look down on the conquering arms of Buonaparte. Mr. + Albert Smith's popular entertainment would have been shorn of + half its glories! Let me breathe! To what fantastic proportions + did that hill grow as one thought of it! + + Alas! then, for prosaic fact; and oh! for unimaginative maps! On + consulting the latter I observed that, by the time it reached + Syoot, the Nile had been flowing for nearly two hundred miles in + a _north-westerly_ direction, away from the Red Sea rather than + towards it; and on visiting the spot I saw, oh confusion! that + the hills which bore the responsibility (according to Mariette) + of making the history of the world what it is, were on the + _western_ bank of the river!--there, at least, or nowhere, for a + vast plain closes in on the east. + + This evening more visitors on board--lemonade and cigars--_pour + changer_; Consuls, &c. &c.--tedious. + + _Monday, 19th._--Left Syoot at six, and arrived at Sohag before + three. Suffered a good deal in the morning from spasms of some + sort, and was not in a frame of mind to appreciate the scenery. + Was, moreover, driven near the verge of exasperation by the + steersman (Reis Ali), who droned select passages from the Koran, + _sotto voce_, within two yards of my ears from 8 A.M. till 2 P. + ditto; the same four bars over and over, for ever and for ever + in one unceasing guttural strain. I trust the pious exercise did + more for his soul than for my temper. Hosseyn informs me that he + is about to buy a lamb, and "make him big sheep." It appears + that, during a serious illness three years ago, he vowed a + votive sheep to Sitteh Zehneb--the granddaughter of the + Prophet--on condition that he should recover. Since then he has + put her off (oh, humanity!) with candles and occasional prayer; + now, at last, he is going to fulfil his vow. Admire thrift + combined with piety, and observe the economy on the _lamb_. + + Habit is a strange thing! Hosseyn, whose manners have been + corrupted by evil communication with Europeans, occasionally + attempts to use a _fork_ in the bosom of his + family--particularly when salad is put before him. On these + occasions his elder brother invariably asks him with grim + sarcasm whether he has no fingers. Hosseyn desists at + once--"Brabs he beat me!--he big!" + + This evening I went out shooting amongst the palms and gum + trees. It was very delightful, though ferociously hot. The + village is charmingly situated; the ground prettily tumbled + about, and trees and houses group themselves in the most + picturesque manner. (I noticed some new mouldings over the + doorways that had a very artistic effect.) I can't shoot at all; + but the birds are so plentiful that something is sure to cross + your gun if you only fire. I got a hawk, some doves, a dozen + little birds nameless for me, and two little green birds of a + kind that I have not seen before; they are quite lovely; must + ascertain what they are called. The sun had set when I reached + the boat, and all the dark plumes of the palm trees stood clear + over the black outlines of the village; above, the new moon, a + keen, golden sickle. + + Hosseyn has given up fishing. "Oh, oh! nasty fish! he to laugh + me!" + + Was much amused this morning by the device and trade-mark on a + tin of jam. (Jam, if you please, of Messrs. Barnes & Co. of + Little Bush Lane _and_ Tooley Street.) The device was "Non sine + labore"--and the trade-mark?--a beehive?--no!--the Pyramid of + Cheops! _Excusez._ + + Some twenty miles above Syoot, or, say, fifteen, the eastern + chain of mountains makes a bend towards the river, and for some + distance ranges near it; the stream, in its usual tortuous + course, sometimes flowing for a few hundred yards towards them + and then for a few hundred yards in the opposite direction. I + wonder whether one of these bends served as a foundation, or + rather as a blind, for Mariette's astounding assertion that the + Nile "allait évidemment se jeter dans la Mer Rouge." Did he "to + laugh me," as the fish did by Hosseyn? Or did he merely mean to + say that, if the Valley of the Nile had not turned north-west + between Keneh and Manfaloot, it might have turned north-east? If + so, joke for joke, I prefer the great Pyramid on the jam-pot of + Mr. Barnes of Little Bush Lane and Tooley Street. + + _Tuesday, 20th._--Started at about half-past five, and reached + Disneh in the evening. There was a dead calm in the morning, and + I congratulated myself, not for the first time, on my steamer; + in a dahabieh I might have taken a week, and more, over the + stretch of river I have just covered in a day; and the scenery + just here, though fine, is monotonous. I am sorry for the + Sterlings, who will, I fear, be unusually long getting up. This + afternoon I saw Sheykh Selim, a sort of St. Simeon Stylites + without the column. This holy man's peculiar form of piety + consists in sitting stark naked on the bank of the river and + exacting presents in money and kind from all passers-by. + + Hosseyn had spoken to me at great length of his wisdom and + piety, and assured me that when the crocodiles, which are + numerous about here, presented themselves before the eyes of + the Sheykh, he merely waved his hand and said "Biz, biz!" + whereat they fled, rebuked. He informed me also that no boat + refusing him tribute could expect to get on--it would infallibly + be becalmed until his holiness was propitiated. To my surprise I + found that my captain, a sensible old gentleman in other + respects, believed this just as firmly, though he expressed his + faith more vaguely. When I asked him whether the Sheykh's power + extended also to steamers, which did not wait on the wind, he + said: "Well, Allah was great, and though, certainly, a _steamer_ + might, no doubt--so well appointed a steamer particularly--might, + no doubt, get past--yet who should say? Allah was great!" In + fact he believed with the best; so, of course, I said, by all + means let the Sheykh be propitiated. Accordingly when we hove in + sight of the little mound where he sits, and has sat for God + knows how many years, we turned the steamer (a vessel of + seventy-five horse-power) and ran straight in for the bank at + considerable risk, it struck me, of not getting off again. The + whole crew then went ashore in great excitement, headed by the + captain, and surrounded the Saint, kissing his hand and + salaaming. As I did not wish to hurt the old gentleman's + feelings by not kissing his hand, I stayed on board and looked + on. Sheykh Selim is a very vigorous-looking old fellow of the + colour of a very dusky mahogany table; his hair and beard are + woolly and of a dirty white; his countenance, as far as I could + judge from a little distance, good-humoured and sagacious. He + squats on the ground with his knees up and his arms folded + across them. He inspects his presents, and asks for more. After + the levée was over, and when our crew were about to come on + board, he called after them and asked for roast meat, and then + again a second time for oil wherewith to anoint himself. + "There," said Hosseyn triumphantly, "he know everything! he know + we have roast meat--how he know that?" + + I was amused at the intellectual superiority of Ottilio, the + Italian waiter. "Quanto sono stupidi questi Arabi!" For my part + I don't see much more difficulty in swallowing Sheykh Selim than + a stigmatised nun or a winking picture--I told him so. + + We should have reached Keneh to-day, but the coals were bad, and + we had to stop at Dishulh, three hours this side of that place. + Where was thy favouring grace, O Sheykh? It appears that, like + the gods of ancient Greece, the Sheykhs of Egypt have their + little misunderstandings; I am told that on one occasion Selim, + having a few words with another holy man thirty-five miles up + the river, by name Sheykh Fadl, and waxing wroth, threw a stone + at him (what are thirty or forty miles to a saint?) and blinded + him of one eye; whereon Sheykh Fadl returned the amenity by + throwing "some fire" at Sheykh Selim, thereby sorely burning + him. "I have seen the scar," my coxswain informs me. + + Killed another fatted sheep for the crew. + + _Wednesday, 21st._--Arrived at Lougsor (El Uker) about three. It + was too hot for sightseeing, so I waited till evening and went + out shooting in a boat; at least I went out with the idea of + shooting--if possible a pelican or a crane--but the birds were + too shy--I could not get within fair shooting distance; wounded + a pelican, but could not get after him in the deep mud. Got + belated on the river, and the crew had to pull hard for an hour + and a half to reach the steamer; fortunately there was a moon. + Anything more good-humoured or more ineffective than the way in + which the sailors pulled and shoved, I never saw; they hopped in + and out of the boat in the shallows, up to their hips in the + water--pushed, tugged, rowed and sang _die era im piacus_; they + can do nothing without the accompaniment of some rhythmic, + droning refrain, which they can keep up for an indefinite time. + Anything will do; my fellows pulled on this occasion to the + following words-- + + "Min Min_yeh_ + fi Beniso_ef_," + + which is as who should say-- + + "From Hen_lee_ + to Cookham _Reach_," + + giving the stroke and the emphasis on the last syllable. + + In the evening was visited by Mustafa Aga, H.B.M. Consular + Agent, one of his sons, the Turkish Governor (Hassan Effendi), + and the local doctor. Mustafa is a very courteous old gentleman, + with half a nose, and much respected by all who know him; I + observed that Saļd, his son, would not smoke in his father's + presence, in accordance with an Arab custom, which did not much + remind me of the manner in which "the gov'nor" is treated in + England. + + On Thursday morning, 22nd, I started to see the tombs of the + kings, leaving the eastern bank and Karnak for my return. It was + a lovely morning, and I crossed the Nile before the air had had + time to get thoroughly heated. On the other side I found horses, + kindly lent me by Mustafa (whose son accompanied me), and + donkeys for the rest of the party. There were a good many of us, + and we made a very absurd-looking procession--_en tźte_, a + couple of fine brawny Arabs, one of whom has been the guide to + these ruins since Champollion; then Saļd and I on our + horses--mine a good-looking chestnut, caparisoned with scarlet + finery; behind us, on their respective donkeys, the captain in + full uniform holding a large umbrella over his head, Hosseyn in + his Arab dress, the French cook in his official white jacket and + cap, the Italian waiter with a large handkerchief over his head, + and the engineer; further behind, lesser menials and the hamper. + I forgot the Turkish Cawass in uniform and armed to the teeth. + Hovering round, brandishing water-bottles, was a swarm of Arab + boys and girls, in sizes, and of various qualities of chocolate; + they were dressed in the most fantastically tattered remnants of + dark brown shirts that I ever saw; there was one little monkey + of a dull ebony colour turned up with pale blue, whose form was + revealed rather than covered by a few incoherent brown shreds of + garment, and who was inexpressibly droll from the way in which + he cocked his little head demurely on one side with a + half-consciousness of insufficient drapery. + + The ride to the tombs, which takes about an hour, and the latter + half of which lies through an arid valley, is very striking from + the form and colour of the mountains. Nothing announces that one + is approaching the city of the dead, and it is not till you + stand before them that you become aware of the plain square + openings which lead down to these magnificent last + resting-places of the kings. It was a right royal idea this, of + the old rulers of Egypt, to plunge these shafts into the bowels + of the rock, and give themselves a mountain for a tombstone over + the palace which was their grave. The design of these houses of + the dead is simple and apparently always much the same: a long + corridor, sometimes with lateral galleries, sometimes with + recesses or small chambers on each side, leads downwards by a + not very rapid incline to a great hall, in the centre of which + is the sarcophagus which contained the mummy of the king in its + magnificent case; these cases have of course been all removed. + All these lateral chambers were also originally filled with + mummies--those, I believe, of the relations of the sovereign. + The walls of these subterranean palaces and the ceilings are + adorned throughout with coloured hieroglyphs and flat sculptured + "graven images" representing mostly sacred and mystical scenes, + but often, also, illustrating the different trades and crafts + practised by the Egyptians. These paintings are of high interest + from an ethnographic point of view--Poynter would have a fit + over them. In the innermost places scores of bats dart about in + intense alarm. The effect of the scanty light from the candles + on these painted walls and on the dark bony forms of the Arabs + is extremely fine--what your literary tourist would call "worthy + of the pencil of Rembrandt." + + After lunching in a shady spot we took an anything but shady + ride to the temple-palace of Koorneh, and from thence to the + Memnonium. Both are very interesting, but the latter by far the + finest; there is about it a breadth and a vastness, together + with much elegance and variety, that are very impressive. + Nothing that I have seen is comparable to the monuments of + Egypt, for the expression of gigantic thoughts and limitless + command of material and labour; withal there is about them + something stolid and oppressive that is unsatisfactory; and as I + looked at these vast ruins, vivid memories of Athens and its + Acropolis invaded me, and the Parthenon in all its serene + splendour rose before my mind; mighty, too, in its measured + sobriety, stately in the noble rhythm of its forms; infinitely + precious in the added glory of its sculptures; lovable as a + living thing; and then more, perhaps, than ever before, I felt + what a divine breath informed that marvellous Attic people, and + what an ineffaceable debt of gratitude is due to them from us, + blind fumblers in their footsteps. + + I was less struck than I had expected to be by the two colossal + statues, of one of which it was poetically fabled by the + ancients that a mysterious clang rose from it as the first rays + of the rising sun smote its forehead. The myth is more striking + than the statues, though their size and isolation give them + something impressive. I had expected them, too, I don't know + why, to be in a desert, and they are in a field. How infinitely + grander is the great Sphinx, with its strange, far-gazing, + haunting eyes, fixed, for ever, on the East, as if expecting the + dawn of a day that never comes; immovable, unchanging, without + shadow of sorrow, or light of gladness, whilst the gladness of + men has turned to sorrow and their thoughts to ashes before + them, through three times a thousand years! Century by century + the desert has been gathering and growing round it--the feet are + buried, the body, the breast are hidden. How soon will the + sealing sands give rest at last to those steadfast, expectant + eyes? + + In the evening Hosseyn had a great "fantasia" and fulfilled his + vow--and spent all his money. He killed his sheep and roasted + it, bought some rice and boiled it, some flour and had it made + into bread; then mixing the whole, he distributed it in six very + large trays; three were put before the crew, one he had placed + on the wayside for all comers (and they all came); the other two + were sent to the nearest mosque for the same purpose, and with + similar results; then, being unable to read himself, he paid + five men to recite from the Koran at night, in the mosque, and + invited thereto the captain, Mustafa Aga, and his son and + several others; he, the while, sitting outside and offering + coffee to whoever passed by. When it was all over he came to me + radiant: "El Hamdul illah," he said, throwing up his hands, + "this is good! I am happy, everybody to be satisfied! this is + rich day! El Hamdul illah! my money is all gone! why shall I + mind? I spend it for God! brabs something good happen for me, el + Hamdul illah!" His delight at the performance of his vow and his + absolute faith were the prettiest thing one could see. Talking + of faith, I am much struck by the dignified simplicity with + which Mahometans practise the observances of their religion; + praying at the appointed times without concealment, wherever + they happen to be, and as a matter of course. + + _Friday, 23rd._--Started early and coaled, first at Erment and + then again at Esne, after which, being stopped by the night and + shallow water, we anchored off a bank nowhere in particular. + Heavens, what a hot day! this is indeed "the fire that quickens + Nilus' slime," but has a vastly different effect on me. + Sketching will be quite out of the question unless it gets + rapidly cooler. + + At Esne I was visited by the chief magistrate, and by the + governor of the province; the former a jolly old _bonhomme_ who + offered me snuff, the other a very refined old gentleman with + most charming manners. Both were Turks; and as they spoke no + Christian tongue our conversation was carried on entirely + through a dragoman; I was, however, pleased to find that I + recognised several words that I learnt last year at + Constantinople; I was glad, too, to hear again that fine + vigorous language, the sound of which is extremely agreeable to + me. Eastern manners are certainly very pleasing, and the + frequent salutations, which consist in laying the hand first on + the breast and then on the forehead, making at the same time a + slight inclination, are graceful without servility. When an + Egyptian wishes to express great respect he first lowers his + hands to the level of his knees, exactly as in the days of + Herodotus. + + Talking of Herodotus, here is a first-rate subject for Gérōme + suggested by that author; it is ethnographical and ghastly. The + scene is laid in the establishment of an ancient Egyptian + embalmer and undertaker, fitted up with all the implements and + appliances of the trade; in the background, but not so far as to + exclude detail, groups of assistants should be shown busied over + a number of corpses and illustrating all the different stages of + preparation, embalsamation, swathing, &c. &c. In the centre a + bereaved family have brought their lamented relative, and are + selecting, from specimens submitted to them by the master + undertaker, a style of treatment suited to their taste and + means, and expressive of their particular shade of grief. A + large assortment of mummy-cases would form appropriate + accessories and give great scope for the display of knowledge + and the use of a fine brush. It seems to me that so pleasing a + mixture of corpses and archęology, impartially treated by that + polite and accomplished hand, could not fail to create + considerable sensation. + + Took a stroll through Esne whilst the ship was coaling. The + darker tints of skin are beginning to preponderate more and + more; mummy colour is in the ascendant here, together with a + fine Brunswick black. The _men_, I observe, spin in this + country. The children are quite fascinating; they have nothing + on but a little tuft of hair on the top of their shaven heads; + those dazzling little teeth of theirs are wonderful to see, and + funny--like a handful of rice in a coal-scuttle. Fine sunset + again; the hills, ranged in an amphitheatre from east to west, + showed a most wonderful gradation from extreme dark on one side + to glowing light on the other. I make the profound reflection + that no two sunsets are alike; this remark, however, does not + extend to _descriptions_ of sunsets--_verb. sap._ + + When I saw Holman Hunt's "Isabel," his pot of basil puzzled me + sorely; I had seen a great deal of basil, and have an especial + love for it; but I had never seen it except with a very small + leaf. I was sure, however, knowing his great accuracy, that Hunt + had sufficient foundation for the large leaf he gave the plant + in his picture; the very fellow of it is now before me in a + nosegay of flowers, very kindly sent me by the old governor of + Esne. As I smell it I am assailed by pleasant memories of + Lindos--"Lindos the beautiful"--and Rhodes, and that marvellous + blue coast across the seas, that looks as if it could enclose + nothing behind its crested rocks but the Gardens of the + Hesperides; and I remember those gentle, courteous Greeks of the + island (so unlike their swaggering kinsfolk--if they are their + kinsfolk--of the mainland), and the little nosegay, a red + carnation and a fragrant sprig of basil, with which they always + dismiss a guest. + + As we lay anchored by the shore in the evening, the dahabiehs + came sweeping past in the moonlight; and the faint glimmering of + the shell-like sails, and the flutter of the water against the + swift, cutting keels, and the silence of the huddled groups, and + the dark watchful figure of the helmsman at the helm, were + strangely fantastic and beautiful. + + _Saturday, 24th._--Started at half-past five--passed Edfou + (which I leave for my return) at half-past seven. Shall we reach + Assouan to-day? Hosseyn's pious orgies have, I fear, turned his + head, for I observed yesterday that he has taken to fishing + again. "Brabs!--Insha Allah!" His interpretation of dreams is + worthy of the ancient oracle-mongers; on the night before his + sacrifice he dreamt that he had bought a slave, and then + released it: "Wull! the slave is my sheep--is it not my slave? + Wull, have I not buy it? Wull, I give it to the beebles--go!--I + release it!" Whether the sheep, personally, considered itself + released is problematic. + + _Saturday Evening._--Reached Assouan this afternoon at four, + and, after the usual visit from the governor, took a stroll. I + don't yet know whether I am disappointed in the place or not. At + all events it is quite unlike my expectations of it. I had + imagined, I suppose from descriptions, a narrower gorge and + higher rocks; in point of fact there is no gorge at all, but the + river is narrowed, or, rather, split by several islands and some + fine granite boulders cropping up here and there to fret the + river, and announcing the rapids; otherwise the country is open + enough, and original and striking in aspect; I shall know better + to-morrow what I think of it all. I saw during my evening + stroll, and for the first time in my life, a group of slaves, + mostly girls. If I had seen them subjected to any ill-treatment + I should have felt very indignant; but I am bound to own that, + seeing them squatting round a fire like any other children, + showing no mark of slavery, and occupied in cooking their food, + scratching themselves (as well, no doubt, they might!) and + looking otherwise very like monkeys, I found it difficult to + realise to myself the hardship of their position, however much + it may revolt one in the abstract. They were black, and uglier + than young negroes generally are; their hair was arranged in an + infinity of minute, highly-greased plaits all round their heads; + the elder ones were draped; the youngest wore a fringe _pour + tout potage_. This is a noisy night; there is a "moolid" going + on on the high bank to which we have made fast, and which + borders the public square. A double row of howling dervishes are + squatting and rocking and howling after their kind, almost over + my head. In the brief lulls during which they take breath for + further efforts, I hear from the other side of the river the + mournful, weary, incessant creak of the water-wheel (with its + blindfold cow or camel plodding round and round and round, + apparently for ever), which in this region almost entirely + supersedes the hand-worked bucket. The contrast is very curious. + + I have just returned the governor's visit. I found him sitting + on a sofa in the piazza opposite the Government House, with + half-a-dozen hand lanterns brought by the guests in front of + him, and on each side a long row of benches (forming an avenue + up to his seat) on which squatted and smoked numbers of + picturesque folk, who looked to great advantage by the + flickering glimmer of the lamps and under the soft warm light of + an African moon. I sat in the place of honour, smoked my + conventional _tchibouque_, drank my inevitable cup of coffee, + conveyed through my dragoman the usual traveller's remarks and + questions (cardboard questions, so to speak, of which I knew the + answers) to my host, who, like all the Turkish officials that I + have seen, has the manners of a perfect gentleman and much + natural dignity. + + _Sunday, 25th._--Started for Phylę at half-past seven; arrived + there at nine o'clock. The road leads through a broad tract of + yellow sand (where, I believe, an arm of the Nile is supposed to + have flowed in remote antiquity) along which on either side crop + up, in wild, irregular fashion, bumps and hillocks and hills of + dark red granite, covered over with innumerable fragments of the + same stone, scattered in the most incredible confusion, and + having rather a ludicrous appearance of having been _left about_ + and forgotten. You could get an excellent notion of the thing in + miniature, by hastily spilling a coal-scuttle on a gravel walk + and running away. + + Above Assouan we are fairly in Nubia, and of course none but the + darkest complexions are to be seen; but so large a number of + negroes make their way here from the Soudan (the Nubians are not + _black_, but of a beautiful dark cairngorm brown), that the + whole place has an air of negro-land which is disagreeable to + me. The young men, indeed, both black and brown, are sometimes + extremely fine fellows (bar the legs, which are never good), but + the girls, as far as one can see them, are tolerably + ill-favoured, and the old women, of an ugliness which passes all + belief. They are _far_ worse than apes. The ladies in this part + of the country gladden the hearts of their admirers by anointing + their bodies with castor oil, so that the atmosphere of their + villages, however full of sweet suggestion to a native, is much + the reverse to a traveller with a nose not attuned to these + perfumes; the smell that greets you through an open door is a + mixture of the bouquet just named, and a penetrating flavour of + accumulated stuffed beasts, and naturally interferes much with + my enjoyment. + + At Mahatter we left our donkeys and took a boat to Phylę, a + quarter of a mile, which takes half an hour owing to the + rapidity of the current just above the cataract. The scenery + about Phylę has been spoken of as Paradise; I never saw anything + less like my notion of Paradise, and so far, therefore, I am + disappointed. Original and strange it is, in a high degree. It + is in fact exactly like the valley of which I spoke a little + further back, only that the hills are four times as high, and + water takes the place of the sand; the same breaking up of the + rocks into a myriad of fragments, putting all grandeur and + massiveness of form out of the question--and, with the exception + of a few palm trees and a sycamore or two, the same barrenness. + Looking up in the direction of Wādy Halfā, the mountains appear + to grow finer in outline, and a tract of very yellow sand + amongst their highest crests is striking and original--gold dust + in a cup of lapis lazuli. With the island itself and its + beautiful group of temples it is impossible not to be delighted. + Nothing could be more fantastic or more stately than the manner + in which it rises out of the bosom of the river like a vast + ship, surrounded as it is on all sides by a high wall sheer from + the water to the level on which the temples stand. One hall in + the main temple, and one only, shows still a sufficient amount + of colour to give a very good idea of what the effect must have + been originally; the green and blue capitals must have been very + lovely. It is needless to say that here, as elsewhere, + travellers have left by hundreds lasting memorials of their + brutality, in the shape of names and dates drawn, painted, + scratched, and cut on every wall and column, so that the eye + finds no rest from them. This strange and ineffably vulgar mania + is as old as the world, and the tombs of the kings at Thebes are + scrawled over with inscriptions left there by ancient Greek and + Roman visitors. I shall return to Phylę shortly to make a sketch + or two--_Insha Allah._ + + Here, at last, I have found that absolutely clear crystalline + atmosphere of which I had so often heard; I own it is not + pleasing to me; a sky of burnished steel over a land of burning + granite would no doubt be grand if the outlines of the granite + were fine--but they are not. Meanwhile, perspective is + abolished--everything is equally and obtrusively near, and I + sadly miss the soft mysterious veils and pleasant doubts of + distance that enchant one in other lands. I think it very likely + that in winter one has great compensation from the exhilarating + purity of the air; but just now the heat, which is simply + infernal, is too trying for me to do justice to these + advantages; no doubt the air is light and dry, but I feel + unfortunately so very heavy and wet, that I am not in a position + fully to appreciate it. Returning to Assouan in the evening, saw + a dahabieh that had just got through the jaws of the cataracts, + always rather a nervous matter; at least so they say; "to be + very dyinger" (dangerous?), according to Hosseyn; the men were + chanting a monotonous strain that had little of triumph in it, + but rather conveyed a feeling of an always impending calamity + escaped _this_ time; it was melancholy and very striking, I + thought, in the silence of the gloaming; very likely pure fancy + on my part, for I doubt whether more than a couple of boats are + lost in a season, and the sailors of the Nile must be well + accustomed to the dangers of these rapids; but the impression on + me at the time was very strong. + + _Monday, 26th._--The dragoman of the ship having a swelling of + some sort on his arm, an Arab doctor was sent for, and forthwith + informed him that his arm was possessed of the devil!! Went to + see the island of Elephantina opposite Assouan, but saw nothing + to suggest its ancient magnificence. Gave a silver farthing to a + funny little child, which (the farthing) being perforated, his + mother immediately tied into one of his little oily locks--an + ingenious substitute for a pocket. I observed several little + boys simply attired in a piece of string tied round their + loins--there, Diogenes! + + _Tuesday, 27th._--Began sketching, but am out of form from the + heat. I am working chiefly because I am weary of idleness. I + don't much care for the two sketches I have begun; they will + therefore probably turn out badly. Going to try another + presently. + + Tuesday Evening._--Have begun a sketch which interests me more + than the others; it is taken amongst the tombs and shrines on + the hills south of the town towards Phylę. As my evening's work + was drawing to a close, I heard a shuffling of feet a little + behind me, and, turning round, saw, in the full fire of sunset, + what appeared to me at first to be a procession of golden apes + with dark blue robes, light blue lips, and nose-rings; on closer + inspection they turned out to be Nubian women going home to + their village. Hosseyn, _qui a le mot pour rire_, apparently, + engaged in conversation with them, and convulsed them with + laughter; the flashes of teeth were very funny to see. At last + he gave them a few halfpence, and desired them to sing; whereon + they set up a series of the most uncouth howls I ever heard; one + baboon in particular got up and, using a flat date basket as a + tambourine, accompanied her vocal performance with hops and + jumps that would have done honour to any inmate of the + monkey-house in the Zoological Gardens. + + The twilight, walking home, was lovely. The earth was in colour + like a lion's skin; the sky of a tremulous violet, fading in the + zenith to a mysterious sapphire tint. "Dolce color d'oriental + zaffiro." + + Slew another sheep--"Allah hou akbar!" (without which formula in + the killing a good Muslim must not touch the meat): this sheep + is no empty formality, for the unfortunate sailors would never + see meat without it; they live on bread and occasional beans. + This is the fourth night of the moolid, which is to last the + whole week! At this very moment the tambourines of the dervishes + are driving me nearly wild with their diabolic din. + + _Wednesday, 28th._--Got on indifferently with my sketches; only + one of them interests me much. The morning was almost cool and + really delightful, but the heat was as great as ever in the + daytime. I have always been unable to see the extraordinary + difference which is said to exist between the length of the + twilight in the north, and in southern countries; I could have + read large print to-night three-quarters of an hour after + sunset. Habit is everything, no doubt, as we are reminded by + Herodotus, _ą propos_ of a certain people who ate their dead + relatives instead of burning them; but I wonder whether I should + ever get accustomed to the aching, straining, creaking complaint + of the water-wheel far and near, morning, noon and night, + morning, noon and night; I can _just_ fancy its becoming + attaching as the clacking of a mill. + + I have often wondered why, contrary to all analogy, the + Spaniards call oil _azedo_, which at first sight appears to be + the same word as the Italian _aceto_. I find that the word is + Arabic: _zeyd_. Mem.: Look up the etymology of the English word + _cough_, to which no European word that I remember has any + affinity, and which rather appears to be onomatopoeic. The Arabs + say _kokh_ (guttural ending); is this a mere coincidence, and + does the word date beyond the Crusades? I find a good many words + that have a curious likeness to English. My endeavours to pick + up a little Arabic are almost entirely frustrated by Hosseyn's + utter inability to pull a sentence to pieces for me. In an + Arabic sentence of two words (_e.g._ _azekan tareed_--if you + please) he could not tell me which word was the verb! literally; + I had to find out as best I could. I never saw anything to + approach his obtuseness in the matter, except perhaps that of + Georgi, my dragoman in Turkey. As I was sketching this evening a + Nubian passed me, very grandly draped and erect, and followed by + two green monkeys that were fastened by leading-strings to his + belt. They toddled very snugly after their stately master and + made a queer group. + + _Sunday, November 1._--I am in a state of appreciative enjoyment + of the comforts and civilised cleanliness of my steamer, having + just returned from three or four days' roughing in the ruins of + Phylę. "Roughing" is a relative term, and my trials were of a + very mild description, for though I slept _ą la belle étoile_ + (or rather tried to sleep), at all events I had a bed to rest + in, and the air at night was delightful; moreover, the + commissariat was very satisfactorily managed, so that food and + drink were abundant; nevertheless, I must maintain that living + in an open ruin is not comfortable. I made two or three + sketches, and should probably have enjoyed myself, but that on + the second day I was entirely thrown off the rails by the heat + whilst sketching; I thought I should get a _coup de soleil_; I + was very indisposed in the evening, and utterly unable to work + the next morning, so that I took the place _en grippe_, and + could see nothing but the ugliness of the rocks and the wearing + monotony of the hieroglyphs. Picked up in the evening, and + liked the place better; made some original and striking + reflections about the desirability of health. + + Having heard much of the beauty of the full moon at Phylę, timed + my visit to see it, and was entirely delighted. The light was so + brilliant that one could read with ease, but at the same time so + soft, so rich, and so mellow that one seemed not to see the + night, but to be dreaming of the day. The Arabs say of a fine + night, "it is a night like milk," but there is more of amber + than of milk in the nights of Phylę. The rising of the moon last + night was the first thing of the sort I ever saw; the disc was + perfectly golden, not as in a mist, but set sharp and clear in + the sky, and exactly like the sun, except that you could look at + it without pain to the eyes. The effect of this effulgent light + on the shoulder of the hill was magical. The last hour of the + afternoon I spent in strolling about the villages, which are + picturesque. The cottages are four brown, roofless walls, built + of the usual unburnt brick, and coated with mud; but the + doorways are always highly decorated with painted geometrical + devices which, in the mass of plain, sober brown, have a very + cheerful and artistic effect. The people, too, amuse me; a + pleasant, gentle, grinning folk these Nubians seem; I like their + jargon--after the guttural Arabic it sounds so soft and round, + and the women have funny, cooing inflections of voice (pretty + voices, often) that are pleasing. Some of the girls are + good-looking; chiefly through the brightness of their eyes and + the milky whiteness of their teeth. The coiffure of the children + is too funny; it consists in tufts of hair of various shapes and + patterns left on an otherwise shaven head; often a crest all + down the middle and a tuft on each side, exactly like the + clown's wig in a pantomime; it is irresistibly droll. + + A grand sight is to see the villagers keeping the birds from + their crops; they all serve in their turn, men, women, and + children; they stand each on a rude sort of scaffold which rises + about two feet clear of the corn; they are armed with slings + from which they hurl lumps of clay at the birds, uttering loud + cries at the same time. Their movements are full of grandeur and + character. I wonder Gérōme has never treated a subject so well + suited to him. Why, too, has he never painted mine enemy the + sakkea, which is even more emphatically in his way, for, besides + the scope for fine and quaint forms both in the men and the + animals that work it, the accessories are abundant and + interesting, and there are ropes in great abundance. + + _Is_ the sakkea my friend or my enemy? Its chant is so incessant + that I should have to make up my mind if I stayed longer in the + country; it would either fascinate me or drive me mad. As I + listen in the silence of the evening, the rise and fall, the + shifting and swaying of the wind bring its complaint from across + the gurgling river in such a fitful way that it has the + strangest and most unexpected effects: sometimes I fancy I hear + deep, drowsy tones of a distant organ, sometimes the shrill + quavering of a bagpipe; sometimes it is like a snatch of a song, + sometimes like a whole chorus of voices singing a solemn strain + in the sad, empty night; sometimes, alas! too often, like a + snarling, creaking door-post. + + Phylę being above the cataracts, my steamer stopped at Assouan, + and I went there by donkey as before; returning, I chartered a + dahabieh to see the said cataracts, of which for some days I had + heard so much; amongst other things, that a ship was wrecked + there three weeks ago (I saw it stuck on its rock to-day). The + cowardice of the people here, at least in this particular + matter, is very funny; too naļf to inspire disgust: my captain, + an old sailor, and the nicest old gentleman possible, told + Hosseyn that nothing would induce him to go down them; I thought + I observed a shade of respectful interest in his reception of me + on my return from an exploit which most English _women_ would + consider good fun. I make no doubt that when the water is much + lower, and your dahabieh shoots a good six or eight feet drop, + and goes half into the water besides, considerable excitement + may be got out of it; but now that the drop is not or does not + look more than about a yard, and that the whole affair consists + in a few plunges and shipping a little water, the emotion is + very mild, and I own to considerable disappointment, though as + far as it went it was pleasant. Nevertheless I did not for a + moment regret coming if only on account of the amusement I got + out of the sailors and pilots; the latter were men of years; the + former, fine, jolly-looking lads as one could wish to see; but + their demeanour throughout was infinitely droll; they rested + their feet (according to custom here) on inclined planks, up + which they ran three steps with their arms well forward to fetch + the stroke, getting back into the sitting position as they + pulled through the water (and wonderfully fine the action looks + in a large crew all pulling well together); but the contortions + in which they indulged, the gnashing and grinding of teeth, the + throwing back of agonised heads, the frowns, the setting of + jaws, the straining of veins, the rolling of eyes, the groans, + and, absurdest of all, the coming down on one another's laps and + the cutting of crabs, were ineffably grotesque, and would have + convulsed me with laughter if I had not controlled myself + manfully. Meanwhile the pilots were howling at one another and + them with all the vehemence of a violent altercation, and for no + discernible reason. When they were not shrieking at one another, + the crew took up the usual Arab boatmen's chant (I know no + better word); one man gives out a short sentence, or name, or + form of prayer (not exceeding four syllables) in a quavering + treble, and the rest then repeat it in chorus in a graver + key--the effect is very original. As we got within sight of the + big cataract and the stranded ship, Hosseyn loudly exhorted the + crew to pray to the Prophet, and all the saints who have their + shrines on the heights of Assouan, to see them safely through + the danger; the invitation was loudly responded to, and + everybody who had not an oar to pull held up his hands and + prayed with great fervour--which was very pretty, and done with + the dignified simplicity which always accompanies an Arab's + devotions; but it was certainly disproportionate to the + emergency. When we had danced up and down (or rather down and + up) three or four times, I had the curiosity to look about for + the _sailor_ and waiter I had brought with me from the steamer; + they were respectively green and yellow in their unfeigned + terror. Then there was a nominal _small_ cataract (the first one + is called the _great_ cataract), and indeed I believe there was + a _third_ little commotion; then Hosseyn, throwing up his arms, + exclaimed, "El Hamdul illah!! finish!!" and it was, as he said, + "finish." I am utterly ignorant of the mysteries of navigation, + but one figure we executed between the cataracts and Assouan + struck me as novel: it consisted in turning entirely round in a + wide circle to take (as it were) a fresh start; this manoeuvre + we performed with much gravity and success two successive times. + An elaborate salute from the guns of the dragoman and engineer, + responded to with appropriate solemnity by Hosseyn, announced my + return to my steamer--and, oh joy! my tub. + + In the evening governor of course. + + _Monday, 2nd._--Resumed work; painted for a couple of + hours--badly--in a high wind at an ugly study of a view I don't + like. I consider it a sort of discipline. The wind to-day is + tremendously high; the dahabiehs will come flying up now. I saw + my friend the captain just now sitting on the bank in the midst + of an interested circle having his fortune told. There is a + blessing for them that wait. Hosseyn has caught a fish! two + fishes, to-day! his glee is unlimited, he is radiant; when that + boy is at the near end of his fishing rope, he is so absorbed I + can't get him to attend to me or to answer a question. His + brilliant piscatorial success is an opportune set-off against a + chagrin the poor boy had this morning; he was taking a dip + somewhere under the paddle-box, and lost, in putting away his + clothes (_he_ thinks by a black but improbable theft), a Koran + with which he travels and to which he attributes much luck; he + was greatly cut up, and after telling me how much he valued the + book, proceeded to inform me that it contained a little piece of + wood from Abyssinia with something written on it, "some, what + you call, scription," which, when worn round the neck, + infallibly cured the bite of the scorpion; seeing that this + announcement did not impress me as much as he had expected, he + asked me with some warmth how I supposed, pray, that the + snake-charmers prevented the snakes from biting them if it was + not by saying something out of the Bible. + + Another sheep to-day; there was some hitch about the manner of + the killing which caused a little excitement; his throat was not + turned to the sun (or the East?) whilst he was being + slaughtered; an important matter. I observe that Turkish + officials are not expected to be able to write; my captain can, + but I remarked that when his secretary, a poor, wizened little + thing, whose nose and trousers are far too short, but whose + mouth and ears offer ample compensation through their length, + brought him to-day the ship's accounts, he stamped his signature + at the foot of the page instead of writing it, although he + happened to have a pen in his hand; I was giving him his English + lesson. Talking of accounts, the Arabs have a curious way of + singing or rather intoning their sums, rocking all the while + backwards and forwards like so many Dervishes. I have seen a + large house of business (at Sohag) where _all_ the clerks were + doing it at once; it was like a madhouse. Oh, Lombard Street, + and oh, Mark Lane! what would you have felt at the sight? + + _Tuesday, 3rd._--My last day at Assouan. Finished my sketches, + took leave of the governor, and had a final stroll about the + streets of the town, which seemed to me unusually picturesque. I + remark that I invariably like a place best the day I leave it; + if I am sorry to go, my regret casts a halo over it; if I am + glad, my gladness makes everything brighter. How picturesque the + people are! their flowing, flying draperies are wonderfully + grand. I hope I may carry away with me some general impressions, + but the immense multitude and rapid succession of striking + things drive individual memories fatally out of the field. + Sketching figures is out of the question--the effects are all + too fugitive. This was also the last day of the moolid, and high + time too; I met in the morning, in a narrow street, a procession + of sailors carrying a boat, which they were about to deposit in + the tomb of the sheykh in whose honour the moolid is held, and + whose name they were loudly invoking. In front, drums and flags, + and cawasses firing guns; behind, in front, everywhere, a host + of most paintable ragamuffins enjoying the fun; above, over the + brown house-tops, dark blue figures of women huddled peering at + the procession; over them a blue sky with a minaret standing + against it, a palm tree; some doves--there was the picture, it + was charming. The children as usual called out, "Baksheesh + howaga;" the so-called begging of the people has been + ludicrously exaggerated; in the first place, only the children + ask for baksheesh (I mean, of course, without the pretext of a + service rendered), and in the next, they treat the whole thing + as an excellent joke, and evidently have seldom the slightest + expectation that they are to get anything. When you approach a + village, every child, from as far as it sees you, whether from a + window, or a doorway, or half-way up a palm tree, or the middle + of the road, holloas out lustily, "Baksheesh, baksheesh," + generally with much laughter, and frequently with a universal + scamper in every direction except towards you. What I call + begging is that importunate whining that clings to you, and + harasses you wherever you turn in the south of Italy or Spain, + and with which this clamorous performance has nothing in common. + I have remarked, with regard to grown-up Arabs, that though they + wrangle vehemently with the dragoman on the subject of payment, + they invariably show the master a pleasant and satisfied face. I + speak, of course, only of my own experience. As strange a thing + as a satisfied man is a _barking_ fish; the fish that Hosseyn + has caught of late--for Fortune is his handmaid now--all utter a + sound which I can only describe as a faint bark; perhaps + everybody knows that some fishes do this, but I did not, and my + surprise was extreme. They are nasty-looking objects, all fins + and teeth (a thick row of little bristle-like teeth). They are + fat and shiny and most insipid eating. + + _Wednesday, 4th._--Started at six down stream; my face is turned + towards bonny old England again, and I feel as if I had wings. + At Kom Ombo (the first halt to-day) there are some ruins on a + rock which crops up abruptly by the riverside in the midst of a + flat country. The morning was divine, and the view from the + temple, looking north, surpassingly lovely in colour. The form + was nothing much; a vast sandy plain (tigered here and there + with stripes of green), and in the distance a long low nest of + mountain peaks; but the colour!--the gradation from the + fawn-coloured glimmering sands in the foreground to the faint + horizon with its hem of amethyst and sapphire was as enchanting + a thing, in the sweet morning light, as I have ever seen. The + temple is fine though heavy, and less delicate in detail than + Phylę. On the under surface of the architrave, between the + columns, are some most curious and interesting unfinished + decorations, on squares marked out in red, and showing (slight + sketch) such as for instance a figure tried two ways on the same + spot. The outlines are drawn out, in red also, with + extraordinary firmness and freedom. Speaking of the squares, + Gardiner Wilkinson--in his, I am told, most erudite, and, I am + certain, most dry and heavy, guide-book--says that they were + used (in the manner in which "squaring off" is practised in the + present day) for the purpose of transferring a design. In this, + however, he is obviously mistaken, because the squares are + adapted not to the pictures but to the space to be decorated; + the hieroglyphs and the figures being adapted to the squares, + not the squares to them: that these squares, once made the + _basis_ of the decoration and fixing its proportions and + distribution, may then have been used also for enlarging a small + design, or even, instead of tracing, for transferring one of the + same size, is probable enough; but that was not their original + function. In corroboration of this view, compare the frets and + ornaments painted on the _back_ of the architrave of the + Parthenon, which I have examined closely; they are painted in + squares marked out with a sharp instrument, and determining the + space to be decorated exactly as at Kom Ombo. The case is so + entirely parallel as to suggest the idea that the Greeks learnt + the practice in Egypt. The great temple of Edfou, where we + stopped next, far surpasses anything I have yet seen in Egypt; + not so much, perhaps, for any especial beauty of + detail--although the sculptures are extremely fine--as for its + general aspect, which is superb, and its wonderful state of + preservation; many parts of it look as if they had been finished + yesterday. The gigantic Propylęa, and the no less gigantic wall + which encloses the whole of this fortress-temple, are almost + entirely intact, and make it unlike any other ruin I know. The + great court, a giant cloister into which one first enters, + discloses the temple itself, blocked out in vast masses of light + and gulfs of shade, and tunnelled through by a corridor which + reaches to its extremest end; the absence of some portions of + the roof, by letting the light play fantastically into the inner + spaces, only adds to the mysterious grandeur of the effect. A + broad, open peribolus runs round the temple, dividing it from + the towering _mur d'enceinte_ which encloses the whole building. + The western part of the temple is as full of staircases, secret + passages, and dark chambers as any Gothic castle. Every square + inch of the whole immense fabric is covered with sculptures and + hieroglyphs. + + I forgot to say that I stopped between Kom Ombo and Edfou at the + ancient quarries of Gebel Silsily, from which the material of + the sandstone temples was mostly quarried. They are extremely + striking, and have a grandeur of their own. It was curious to + compare them mentally with the marble quarries of Pentelicus + from which Ictinus carved the Parthenon and Pheidias the Fates. + + In a tomb at El Kab are some most amusing and interesting + sculptures (with the colour almost intact on them) representing + the various occupations of Egyptian life, agricultural, &c. The + reaping of the corn and durrah is pretty--a vintage and + wine-treading pleased me vastly. Had they wine in this district? + + Coming upon a magnificent view, stopped the steamer for the + night; want to see it by sunrise. The absurd spurious importance + my steamer confers on me in the eyes of the natives is too + funny. At Edfou I found the whole place _en émoi_; horses + handsomely caparisoned, a most polite governor, sheykhs, and a + general profusion of salaams. It appears that the viceroy had + the authorities in the different places telegraphed to be civil + to me; and God knows they are. I was struck with the + magnificence of the population here, the men at least; they are + most stately fellows. I should like immensely to paint some of + them, but for that there is no time; I can only hope that + something will stick to me from this dazzling multitude of fine + things. We are now again in the region of doves, whose presence + in large numbers affects the architecture of the villages in a + most curious manner. Every house has, or rather, _is_, a + dovecot, the chief _corps de bātiment_ being a tower, or several + towers, of which the whole upper part is exclusively affected to + the doves. Their sides are inclined like the sides of the + propylęa of the temples, with which they harmonise amazingly + well; they are divided horizontally by bands of colour which + have an excellent effect, recalling strongly the marked parallel + strata of the mountains. (There is no more curious study than + the concord which constantly manifests itself between national + (and notably domestic) architecture, and the nature in the midst + of which it grows up.) The construction of these towers is both + peculiar and ingenious; they are built up entirely with earthen + jars, sometimes placed topsy-turvy, but most often on their + sides, and tier above tier like bottles in a cellar. The + exterior is then filled in with mud, and the interior presents + the appearance of a honeycomb, the cells being formed by the + hollow jars; in these jars the doves have their abode. It is + easy to see that by turning a few of the jars _outwards_ a very + simple but pretty decoration may be obtained; a crest is added + at the top by placing jars upside down at certain intervals; the + bands of colour are generally divided by a string-course of + bricks something after this fashion, but with much variety; and + each of these string-courses is garnished with a perfect hedge + of branches and twigs projecting horizontally a yard or more, + and forming resting places for thousands of doves. Many houses + have two towers, and the wealthier people have towers of great + size subdivided again into small turrets; but in all cases the + height of these edifices is the same, or nearly so, so that the + villages received from them a very monumental look. The large + towers are divided after the manner shown in the sketch. The + natives also make to themselves curious pillar cupboards of mud + (about man high), which from a distance have the oddest + appearance; they look like raised pies on pedestals. + + _Thursday, 5th._--Made a little sketch from the paddle-box + before starting. Then to Esne to return the visit of my amiable + friend, the governor; him of the flowers. There is a temple + here; a heavy-looking portico of the Roman period, coarsely + executed, but with a grand, cavernous look, buried as it is in + the ground which rises all round it to half the height of the + columns, so that you have to descend a considerable flight of + steps to get at it. At Arnout, or at least within three miles of + it, are a few fragments of the Cęsarium. The portraits of + Cleopatra and Cęsarion (he is always seated on her lap), which + occur here several times, would be of the greatest interest if + they were not utterly conventional, and exactly like everybody + else in every temple of the date. Got to Lougsor at sunset, and + found no letters, no Sterlings, no Lady Duff Gordon. I trust the + letters may still turn up before I go, for, if not, I shall + probably lose them entirely, through my desire to get them a + little earlier. In the evening dined with Mustafa Aga, and met + there the American Consul-General, Mr. Hale, who had run up from + Alexandria to show the Nile to a friend of his; both are + agreeable men (Mr. Hale earned my warmest blessings by lending + me a pile of English newspapers); there was also the Consul from + Syoot with a friend of his. After dinner the dancing girls were + asked in, and, presently, a buffoon who stripped to his waist + and performed various antics; he was clever and a good mimic, + but became terribly tedious after a short time. His performance + was of the most Aristophanic coarseness. With the girls, of + whom I had heard so much, I was decidedly disappointed; in the + first place they were mostly ugly, one or two only were + tolerably good-looking--_et encore!_ Then they were clumsily + built, and their dress was quite ludicrous: it consisted in a + body fitting tight to the figure and four inches too long in the + waist, tight sleeves, a petticoat, in shape exactly like a + pen-wiper, and very full, loose trowsers (bags) down to the + feet; the whole of printed calico. In front of their waists hung + a sort of _breloque_, or chain, looped up at intervals in + festoons, the object of which was to jingle as they moved, and + to add to the effect of certain little brass _castagnette_ + cymbals which they held on the middle finger and thumb of either + hand. A profusion of ornaments hung round their necks. Their + dancing is very inferior to that of the Andalusian dancers of + the same class, whose performance is full of a quaint grace and + even dignity--inferior, too, to the Algerine dancing, to which + that of the south of Spain more nearly approaches in character; + it is monotonous in the extreme--very ugly for the most part, + and remarkable only as a gymnastic feat; sleight of loins, so to + speak. These are, however, no doubt, unfavourable specimens; I + shall see the best of the kind in Keneh at the house of the + Consul, who has come all the way here from that place to invite + me thereto. + + _Friday, 6th._--Went to the palace and temples of Medinet Haboo, + with which I was delighted beyond my expectation. What pleased + me most, and was an entire surprise to me, was a bit of purely + secular architecture--the remains of a royal residence, with its + towers flanking the great entrance, its windows of various + shapes, balconies, semicircular crenelations, outer wall; in + fact, identically such a building as one sees occasionally in + Egyptian sculptures, and, curiously enough, as if it were a + portrait of it, on the walls of the very temple to which this + palace leads. The temple, too (the large one), interested me + extremely from the wonderful preservation of the coloured + decoration in parts of it; one really gathers an excellent idea + of the original effect, and a most brilliant and magnificent + (though barbarous) effect it must have been. The columns in the + great hall here are of what, for want of a better word, I shall + call the "ninepin" pattern; and I think on the whole I prefer it + to the bell-capped pattern; because, besides its character and + massive strength, there is no suggestion in it (as in the other) + of the Doric order, with which comparison is obviously + dangerous. As far as I can observe, there is no trace of colour + on any of the propylęa, but the pylon is always richly decorated + and highly coloured. This decorative importance given to the + door must have had a very striking effect, and reminds me of the + same peculiarity in the dwellings of Upper Egypt. + + Visited a private tomb near Medinet Haboo, which is full of the + most curious paintings, many of them in excellent preservation, + and representing every sort of domestic and professional + occupation. They are very superior in execution and character to + those of El Kab. In the evening had a dinner on board: Mr. Hale + and friend, Mustafa Aga and the Syoot Consuls (one of whom does + not speak a word of anything but Arabic). I had also invited + Mustafa's younger son, but find that he may not sit down with + his father. (He accompanied me this morning, and insisted on + lunching with the servants; on the other hand, my servant is + addressed as Hosseyn _Effendi_, if you please! and conversed + with as a gentleman. Service appears to be looked upon in an + entirely patriarchal light.) The entertainment went off + successfully, and Ottilio, the Italian waiter, covered himself + with glory by his excellent waiting. After dinner Mr. Hale + received a telegram to the effect that General Grant had been + elected President of the United States, with Mr. Colfax as Vice. + He was in great excitement and delight; we had a recrudescence + of champagne, and gave the new President three cheers in British + fashion. The news had come in _three days_ from Washington to + Thebes! it is marvellous. + + _Saturday, 7th._--Went to Karnak. Wilkinson advises the + traveller to see this group of temples last; and wisely, for it + is indeed the crowning glory of all, and must satisfy, if it + does not surpass, the most sanguine expectations. The vast + unfinished propylęa of the large temple prepare one by their + colossal dimensions for the gigantic grandeur of the great + central hall, in which one is at a loss what most to admire--the + originality of the general design, combining, as it does in a + surprising degree, freedom and variety with the gravest + simplicity--the massive and reposeful breadth of the forms or + the exquisite subtlety of the colour. The latter has of course + gained very much from the blending hand of time, and is now of a + most delightful mellowness, but, judging from the better + preserved portions, it must have been at all times of singular + beauty. It seems strange at first that a decoration consisting + entirely of small blots of vivid colour on a white ground, like + butterflies on a wall, can have a _large_ architectural effect; + but, in fact, the _repetition_ over large surfaces of wall and + column restores, through its monotony, the balance of breadth. + The design of this hall is very curious: the great central nave, + flanked on each side by two aisles of the same height as itself, + but of less breadth (diminishing, roughly, in a proportion of + 10, 7, 5), runs, as in a Gothic cathedral, perpendicular to the + main entrance; beyond the second aisle, however, on either side, + the lintels or architraves which connect the columns run at + _right angles_ to the nave; the effect of this arrangement must + have been peculiar and striking. (Too little remains now, except + the columns, to enable one to form a distinct idea.) The central + nave, with the aisles immediately adjoining, rises in a + clerestory thirty or forty feet above the rest of the building, + and was lighted by massive square windows filled with slabs of + stone (sketch), perforated vertically, and of a severe and very + fine (sketch) effect. These windows fill the space between the + entablature of the lateral columns and of the roof of the + clerestory, and must be some twenty to twenty-five feet high. I + find it difficult to reconcile my eye to the far-fetched + "asymetria" in the arrangement of the columns, the lesser ones + standing in no definite relationship, on the plan, to the two + central rows, neither immediately behind them nor half-way + between them. How differently the Greeks managed these things! + The inner row of columns at the east and west ends of the + Parthenon differs also in size, height, and level from the outer + row, and also stands back; but it is only _one row_ at each end; + so that variety and play of form are obtained without a repeated + jar on the eye; and an otherwise uniform rectangular plan is not + gratuitously distorted. In a very ancient temple beyond and + behind that of the great hall are some curious polygonal columns + that have a very Doric look about them, though they are very + rude and undeveloped. + + The walls of Karnak are of course defaced and disfigured by the + usual amount of inscriptions; one commemorative tablet, + however, like a similar one at Phylę, inspires a different + feeling. Both are memorials of the French Campaign in Egypt; the + one at Phylę, dated "an VIII. de la République Franēaise," + alludes with simple dignity to the victorious march of the + French army to the first cataract, giving the names of the + generals who were fighting "sous les ordres de Bonaparte"; the + other, under the same date, is a simple scientific memorandum + giving the latitude and longitude of the chief towns on the + Nile. It is impossible to read the first of these inscriptions + without emotion: how remote from us, already, seems that stern, + invincible French Republic, tracing its proud name with an + undoubting finger here in the grave-dust of an empire that stood + more centuries than this young giant completed years! How + thickly, already, does the dust lie now on the grave of this + thing of yesterday! + + In writing about Phylę, I forgot to notice the henna tree, which + grows in great quantities round the skirts of the temple, and + has a delicious scent. In this wilderness of granite and most + unsavoury haunt of bats, its perfume wafted unexpectedly on the + air is infinitely delightful. + + _Sunday, 8th._--Sketched. + + _Monday, 9th._--Ditto. In the evening went out to shoot, but + could not get near the pelicans and crows--they see you half a + mile off. Returning, against stream, Hosseyn, anxious to be + useful, took a _punting pole_ and _rowed_ away with an air of + conviction which was worthy of the fly on the coach-wheel in the + fable. + + The heat, though still considerable (greater than with us at + midsummer), has diminished within the last few days, and does + not inconvenience me as much as it did in sketching. Towards + evening, soft autumnal veils of mist rise from the smooth, swift + river, and shroud everything in their mysterious folds; to-night + the effect was especially striking; a pale golden sun hung in a + pale golden mist, tempered so that one could look at it + undazzled, and so shorn of its fires that the eastern bank, + instead of burning orange, showed only a faint violet flush over + its dark-brown ridges. On a dahabieh alongside me an Arab is + singing endless strophes of some poem of love and war, + accompanied by the thud and jingle of a tambourine; the melody, + a wandering, nasal strain, full of turns and runs and triplets, + appears to be entirely improvised, and is full of character and + melancholy. At the end of each strophe I hear a prolonged, deep + groan of approval uttered in a chorus by the audience, rising in + pitch after a particularly happy effort of the rhapsodist, whose + song begins again and again in mournful gusts like the song of + the wind. It is dark; I only hear--don't see--the singer and his + listeners. + + _Tuesday, 10th._--Sketched. A frequent companion in my work is + my friend, little Fatma, a sweet, small child of about five, + with a bright face and two rows of the whitest teeth ever seen. + She squats down snugly by my side, sometimes looking at the + picture, sometimes at the painter, most often at the paint-box, + at which she twiddles silently; sometimes she pensively draws a + pattern with a little brown finger on my dusty boots. I remember + at Rhodes, last year, a knot of little girls used to watch me + sketching in the Street of the Knights; but the little Turks + were not so nice as Fatma, the little Arab; some used to giggle, + and some used to frown at the Djiaour; but one very chatty young + lady of about six with the manners and graces of sixteen would + exclaim in a little fluty voice, "Mash Allah! Mash Allah! + beautiful indeed! nobody here can write like you!" (Turk., if my + memory helps me: _Guzel! guzel! Bir khimse burda senci zhibi + yazamas!_) I had a visit on board the other day from Mustafa + Aga's youngest son, bonny and rosy as an apple. He wore a + flowing robe of linen, _ą ramages_, buttoned summarily and once + for all at the neck, but entirely open from the neck downwards; + over this an enormous embroidered jacket with anticipatory + sleeves turned up at the wrists, and on, or rather about, his + feet, a pair of his papa's shoes; he was irresistibly funny and + pretty; an _amorino_, dressed up as the Dog Toby. He was very + chatty; not so his playfellow, "Genani," the son of Abdallah, + the servant of Mustafa, a putto by Raphael modelled in + chocolate; a wild, black-eyed, trembling, romping, dusty, + stark-naked little imp (I used to call him Afreet), and the + finest child I ever saw. The nearest approach to social + intercourse I could get out of him was a sudden plunge at a + proffered cake; after which he would dart off with affected + dismay, and frown at me through an ill-suppressed grin from + behind the nearest place of safety. + + _Wednesday, 11th._--Got on with my sketches. Have begun two or + three rough small studies of heads. Hate sketching heads + rapidly; it is unavoidably and odiously free and easy, and + nearly all that is worth escapes. But I have no time for more, + and, I suppose, the sketches will be useful. One man, with a + face like a camel, whom I drew in profile, was annoyed (though + in a general way complimentary) at seeing only one eye in the + picture. This struck me as quaint; for he was _blind_ of the + other; he had not been defrauded of much. My delight, in the + evening, is to watch the processions of women and girls coming + down to the Nile to fetch water. The brown figures, clad in + brown, coming, in long rows, along the brown bank in all the + glow and glory of sunset, look very grand; very grand, too, + returning up the steep bank, along the violet sky, with their + long, flowing folds and the full pitchers now erect on their + heads (when empty they carry them horizontally). They are + neither handsome individually nor particularly well made, but + their movements are good, and the repetition of the same + "motive" many times in succession makes the whole scene + impressive and stately. There is no more fruitful source of + effect in Nature or Art than iteration. + + The suppleness of the limbs of the children here is + extraordinary. I have seen little girls squatting like + grasshoppers in the Nile drinking, _ą mźme_, the water in which + they were standing little more than ankle deep. + + An hour after nightfall the dahabieh, my neighbour, slipped her + cables and began to drift down the river; but not till the + rhapsodist had chanted his ditty to the approving murmurs of his + little circle as on the preceding night. His singing has a great + charm for me; I shall miss it. It reminds me much of Andalusian + singing and moonlight nights in the Bay of Cadiz--there is about + it a strangeness and a wayward melancholy that attach and charm + me. It was a love song (I am told, for I could not hear the + words, and should have understood very few if I had). + + "Ya leyl! ya leyl! ya leyl!"--the eternal refrain of Arab songs. + "Oh night! oh night! oh night! you have left a fire in my heart, + oh my beloved! Oh my beloved, do not forget me!" &c. &c. &c. + + A day or two ago I heard a youth calling the faithful to noonday + prayer, from the gallery of a minaret, with one of the finest + voices I have ever heard; he was tearing his notes from the + inmost depths of his chest with that eagerness of yet + unconscious passion that I have often noticed in southern + children, and which to me is singularly pathetic; he retained + his last notes as long as his breath allowed it, and they + vibrated in distinct waves like a sonorous metal set in motion: + from a little distance the effect was _saisissant_. I could not + see him, and the air seemed to throb with sound as well as with + heat in the sultry noon. + + The departure of the dahabieh was celebrated with the usual Arab + waste of powder, and all the echoes of the valley of the tombs + across the river were aroused by the popping of many guns. All + the consuls fired officially, everybody else fired unofficially. + Hosseyn fired officiously--chuckling and nearly tumbling over; + and the dahabieh itself, having opened the ball, fired again at + intervals from a long distance as if it had forgotten + somebody--they are too funny. + + _Thursday, 12th._--More sketching. The weather, which is a + little too canicular at noon, is deliciously fresh and cool for + an hour after sunrise; the Arabs, however, look much aggrieved + at the severity of the cold; they sit huddled in muffled groups + with a pinched look that would become a British December day. + + I observe that half the men in middle life have no forefinger to + their right hand. They all of them mutilated themselves to avoid + conscription under Said Pasha, who, however, having found them + out, enlisted them all the same. A curious equality prevails + here: whilst sketching two of Mustafa Aga's servants this + morning, I learnt from his son that they were both his + relations. One of them appears to be a particularly nice fellow, + and is a perfect gentleman in his manners. + + _Friday, 13th._--My last day in Thebes. When I arrived here and + found neither friends nor letters, I thought, caring little for + the place apart from the ruins, that I should stay four or five + days; to-morrow when I leave I shall have been here _nine_, and + shall go with regret. Work has exercised its usual attaching + influence. + + I have drawn in pencil a few heads that will be of use and + interest to me. The subject of one of my studies (Mustafa's + gardener) on receiving from Hosseyn two shillings for one hour's + sitting, accused him, to his infinite disgust and anger, of + having suppressed the _remaining_ eighteen shillings out of a + putative pound which he conceived to be destined for him. + _Excusez!_ + + _Saturday, 14th._--Got up early to finish a couple of sketches, + and started at half-past eleven amidst salutes and salaams. To + my great relief, the letters which I very rashly sent for from + Cairo three weeks ago have just turned up at the last + moment--fewer than I had expected, but a great delight: the + first and only news I have received since leaving home--such are + Egyptian posts! + + Weather divine: the Nile like an opal mirror, reflecting without + a break the faint, sleeping, sultry hills on the horizon: a + lovely, drowsy scene. Arrived shortly after three at the village + at which one lands for Keneh; a very cheery town about a mile + inland. It is generally separated from the landing place on the + river during the floods by a vast sheet of water; this year, + however, owing to the calamitous lowness of the Nile, a narrow, + shallow strip of water, only, intercepts the road, and a large + tract of country remains untilled and unfruitful from the want + of the quickening flood. Keneh is a very pretty sample of an + Egyptian town; it is animated and full of colour, has some + pretty minarets, some charming gardens, and more than the usual + allowance of ornamental doorways: the effect of the mosaic of + black and white bricks is most satisfactory, and has the charm + which always accompanies a considerable result produced by very + sober and simple means. Great relief is frequently obtained by a + band or frieze of carved wood, running across the decorated + surface at the springing of the arch; this band is generally + carved in circles enclosing patterns and picked out with green + and red. In the jambs of the door of one of the mosques, a very + beautiful effect was produced by alternate bands of brickwork + and minutely carved wood, _not_ coloured (three courses of brick + to one band of wood). + + Visited a pottery, and for the first time in my life saw a + pattern-wheel and the artist at work--a most fascinating sight: + the bottles and jugs flow into the most graceful forms as if by + magic, and look incomparably prettier than when they are baked. + I could hardly get away. A little boy scratches a pattern on + them as they leave the wheel. + + The Consul's white donkey, on which I ride about here, is as + fleet as the wind and as oily in his movements as a two-oared + gondola. + + _Ą propos_ of consuls, Mustafa at Thebes showed me his + travellers' book--in it I saw an entry of the names of Speke and + Grant, with the numbers of their regiments, and the dates of + their departure from Zanzibar and their arrival at Khartoum and + Thebes. A simple conventional travellers' entry, as if they had + returned from an ordinary journey--nothing to hint at the great + achievement which brought them such honour and lasting fame. + + _Sunday, 15th._--Made a sketch, a little after sunrise, of the + chain of hills on the west bank of the Nile, then crossed the + river to see the ruins of Denderah. Horses were waiting on the + other side, and would have been most enjoyable if the weather + had been cool; but, under a fierce sun, absolutely incessant + prancing and waltzing ("he make 'fantasia,'" quoth Hosseyn) was + fatiguing after a bit. Was so much struck with the beauties of + the mountains, as seen from the left bank, that I resolved to + stay a couple of days to paint them. The temple is extremely + fine, and in parts unusually well preserved--_the sculpture_, + that is, for the colour is almost entirely lost. These + sculptures, being of a late period (Roman), are clumsy enough; + on the other hand the general scheme of decoration is more + artistic, more varied in distribution and rhythm than in most of + the temples. On the external wall I remarked here, as at Edfou + and at Medinet Haboo, massive and very handsome gargoyles--half + a lion, couchant, on a large bracket, the water flowing from a + spout between the paws--a more important feature in the + architectural aspect of the wall than in northern countries, and + calculated for five months' rain rather than for five minutes', + which is the average annual fall here, I believe. This temple + boasts a portrait of Cleopatra on a large scale, but, like those + of Armout and Karnak, it is absolutely conventional, and any + pretence of detecting an individuality is mere humbug. One + fancies at first one has discovered some peculiarity in the + features, but on a candid examination one must own that the same + peculiarities occur in other faces on the same wall, or that + they are owing to the mutilation to which two-thirds of the + figures in all Egyptian temples has been assiduously subjected. + In a lateral chamber of the temple, on the ceiling, is a most + striking mystical design, representing the firmament and the sun + fecundating the land of Egypt. It is fantastic and poetic in the + extreme; it would delight Rossetti. In the evening made another + sketch, and then rode to Keneh to dine with the Consul--a most + interesting glimpse into a real old-fashioned Muslim interior. + Si Syed Achmet (forty-five years British Agent in this town and + at Khossayr) is a very wealthy old gentleman with large property + in this part of the world. He is of the blood of the Prophet, a + good and pious Muslim, tolerant and full of kindliness. A son, + three nephews and a daughter form his immediate family circle, + living with him in the house to which I was bidden--a bald, + uninteresting place enough. It is entered from a narrow, + irregular triangular court, ornamented on one side with some + good brick and wood work, but ugly and plain on the others, and + disfigured by something between a ladder and a staircase which + leads to the clean but singularly naked room in which we were to + spend the evening. This room was whitewashed, but so roughly + bedaubed that the plain deal cupboards, the doors of which + formed the only embellishment (?) of the walls, were all + besmeared with ragged edges of white. Three windows, innocent of + glass, and protected by a close, plain trellis-work of ordinary + white wood, lighted the room, which boasted in the way of + furniture the usual ugly divans, three red muslin curtains, a + small deal table, two lanterns and two candles in candlesticks. + Shortly after my arrival and most kindly reception by the old + gentleman, who had come up from the country expressly _ad hoc_, + dinner was served. The son, as the eldest, sat at table; the + nephews waited on us; we squatted, I on a cushion, they on the + floor, round a very low table on which was a large, round, brass + tray, containing four plates, some wooden spoons, and a great + many small loaves of bread arranged round it in a circle; a soup + tureen, into which, after washing of hands, everybody plunged + his spoon, was the central feature. After the soup, came in + rapid succession several dishes containing savoury messes which + were really very good, though perhaps too rich, but which I was + entirely unable to enjoy in the sight of a number of hands, + shining with gravy, mopping in succession at the dishes with + crusts of bread, or fetching out a coveted morsel with fingers + too recently licked. It is a delicate and hospitable attention + to put a bit with your own hand on to your guest's plate--an + attention of which I was the frequent but unworthy recipient. + After the made dishes had been done justice to, half a + sheep--head and all--was put on the table and _clawed_ asunder + by Hosseyn. The roast being disposed of, the sweets appeared, + and were eaten out of the common dish with spoons, like the + soup: I was not sorry when it was over, for I had gone through + all the sensations of a sea voyage. I observe that Arabs make a + point of eating with as much noise and smacking of lips as + possible; it is as if they were endeavouring to convey a sort of + oblique expression of thanks to Providence by manifesting their + relish of the blessings vouchsafed. When dinner was over, and a + by no means superfluous washing of hands had been gone through, + we had pipes and coffee. Hosseyn having gone to dine, I was now + thrown on my own extremely limited stock of Arabic for + conversation; and as I had about exhausted that during my ride + to Keneh with one of the nephews, I was hard put to it. However, + I just managed to get through a few broken sentences, to the + great satisfaction of Achmet, who informed me that he had been + for forty years the servant of the English, of whom he thought + very highly, chiefly because, as he expressed it, they have "one + word"--a satisfactory character to leave behind. In the evening + the governor (Mudir) came to see me with a tail of employés and, + if you please, a pocket-handkerchief, of which he was not a + little conscious, holding it in his hand rolled into a neat + tube, which he occasionally drew with dignity across the basis + of the official nose. The Consul for France and Prussia also + came and made his salaam. My borrowed and temporary plumes have + been of real use to somebody here, for the Mudir, hearing that + an Englishman (whom he erroneously supposed to be somebody) was + on board a viceroy's steamer, immediately gave the crew two + months' pay--an alacrity not sufficiently often displayed in + this country, if I am not much misinformed. The dancing-girls + who came to entertain us in the evening were no doubt better + than those of Lougsor, though, with one exception, at least as + ugly; but some of them were gorgeously attired (from the + dancing-dog point of view), and all were a mass of gold + necklaces and coins and glittering headgear, which produced at a + certain distance and in the doubtful light a prodigiously fine + effect of colour. The dancing was a little more varied than that + of the Lougsor women, chiefly, no doubt, because they got more + to drink; but, _en somme_, I am confirmed in my first impression + that it is an eminently ugly performance, though a very + remarkable gymnastic feat. Of course a graceful and good-looking + girl may do a good deal to redeem it by personal charm, and this + was in some degree the case with Zehneb, who is a noted dancer + and the _fine fleur_ of the profession. She is pretty though + coarse in feature, and not without grace; but has a + semi-European smack about her dress and ways that spoils her in + my eyes--hers, by-the-bye, are splendid. Just as the "fantasia" + was at its height, a ragged, dust-soiled, old beggar came, + chattering and grinning, into the room, and at once installed + himself, uninvited but unhindered, on the divan, from which + comfortable post he proceeded to witness the performance and + apparently thoroughly to enjoy his evening. The contrast between + his beggar's garb and the scrupulously cleanly attire of his + neighbours was very curious. He is a fakeer, as I am told; + everybody feeds him, no doors are closed to him; he is not, I + believe, exactly an idiot, but is certainly in his second + childhood--"rimbambito," as the Italians say. On one side of him + squatted a sweet little brown girl, Achmet's daughter, of about + five or six, in a pink cotton shift and with anklets hanging + about her little naked feet. On the other side, a little further + off, was an umber-coloured dancing-girl, with bright bold eyes + painted round with black, covered with a mass of gold coins on + her head, in her hair, on her ears, and round her neck, and + wearing a blue silk dress all bespangled with gold. He looked + like a dust-heap between them. It was a queer picture, taken out + of the "Thousand and One Nights"; from which work also, I + presume, the numerous one-eyed people that I see everywhere in + Egypt, are copied. (I prefer this view to that of unimaginative + pedants who, attaching undue importance to facts, inform me that + this blindness is self-inflicted, to avoid conscription.) My + ride home was a fitting close to such an evening; a fantastic + procession we made, headed by a handful of torch and lantern + bearers, brandishing enormous staves; after which "Meine + Wenigkeit" on a sumptuously caparisoned steed, the consul's + nephew, the captain, Hosseyn, a cawass, all of them on horses, + others on donkeys, and odd men bustling about amongst us and + dispersing the few stragglers that were to be found at that late + hour in the streets. The fitful flare of the torches, dressing + in fugitive, fantastic lights the gateways and dim walls of the + slumbering town, had a very fine effect. More curious still was + our ride _through_ a quarter of a mile of _dourah_ that stood at + least ten or twelve feet high all round us; the train of light + and shower of sparks in the tall graceful corn was of a + surprising aspect. Except that nothing took fire, it was as if + Samson's foxes had been let loose in front of us. + + _Monday, 16th._--Sketched. In the evening, yielding, I own, with + some reluctance, to a pressing invitation, returned to Keneh to + dine with Si Achmet. Had, except the roast, exactly the same + dinner as on the previous day, which leads me to conjecture that + the _répertoire_ of Arab cookery is limited. After dinner we + rode out to see the moolid, which is just beginning here. It is + _the_ great moolid of Central Egypt, and to it, but only towards + the end, flock people from all parts of the country till the + concourse is enormous. It must be an interesting sight when in + full swing, but as yet there is little or nothing worth seeing + except the tomb of the sheykh in whose honour the moolid is held + (Sheykh Abd-er-Rahim, the "Genani") to which I was taken by my + host. The building was like most others of the same class in + Egypt: a square chamber with a dome, and windows through which + the coffin, placed conspicuously in the centre, can be seen by + the pious crowds outside. On entering, I was conducted, after + taking off my boots, to a post of honour, on the ground of + course, in the midst of a grave circle of worthies who were + squatting in the _ruelle_ between one side of the coffin and the + wall. On my right was one of the civic functionaries, on my left + the priest attached to the tomb. The spectacle before me was + wonderful both in colour and form, though composed in great part + of the simplest elements. It was like the finest Delacroix in + aspect and tone, but with a gravity and stateliness of form very + foreign to that brilliant but epileptic genius. To the left of + me, covered with a showy embroidered cloth, stood behind a + railing the sarcophagus of the saint, illuminated from above by + various lanterns hung from the ceiling (the central one, and the + handsomest, the gift of Lady Duff Gordon) and from the corners + by gigantic candles, standing in candlesticks of proportionate + dimensions; at the same corners stood great banners of sober but + rich tone, which added much to the general colour. On each side + of the carpet at the head of which I squatted, squatted, in far + more picturesque attire, some of the notables of Keneh, half + hidden in the shadow, their large turbans cast on the rich + carpet they sat on. At the further end stood and stared, with + the solemnity of a chorus in an opera, a motley, dazzling group + of lesser folk; magnificent, too, in the flow of their + draperies, the grace of the half untwisted turbans wreathed + round their necks or hanging from their shoulders, the + stateliness of their forms, and the fiery glow of colour in + which they burnt under the clustered lanterns. Unfortunately, I + could not gaze with attention as undivided as I could have + wished, because the gentleman on my right insisted on making + conversation, the very meagrest form of which exercise absorbed + for the time my powers of attention. Hosseyn, who is very pious, + bled me of an enormous baksheesh for the shrine of the saint. + + _Tuesday, 17th._--Completed my sketches in the morning. In the + evening, Si Achmet, his son, and three nephews, one of whom I + neither knew nor had invited (this is entirely Arabic--I might, + also, have taken any one with me to dine with them) came to dine + on board. It was a very droll ceremony--the Arabs had, with one + exception, probably never sat at a table on a chair before, but + they were so entirely simple as not to be (also, by-the-bye, + with one exception) at all ridiculous. Ottilio had, perhaps with + a little malice, arranged the napkins in a most artistic and + intricate fashion; these edifices so impressed my friends that + they did not sit down opposite to their plates but on one side + of them. I set them at once comparatively at their ease by + requesting them, through Hosseyn, to consider themselves at home + and eat with their fingers, forgiving me if I followed the + custom of my country; the proposal was received with great + satisfaction by the old gentleman and his son, who fell to in + their own way, the father muttering his appreciation of the + dishes in low, sonorous ejaculations: "Allah!"--"Mash + Allah!"--"Ou Allah!"--"Ameer! Ameer!" &c. &c. &c. The son, a man + of about forty, with a broken nose and a very strong squint, and + whose movements carried a general impression of contemplative + dreaminess, always verging on surprise, ate with his usual + deliberation and spent his odd moments in contemplating a + shining bunch of fingers, which he periodically and slowly + licked with the utmost impartiality; he did not mix in the + conversation. Of the three cousins on my left, two made a very + fair attempt at using the knife and fork, though it must have + been a virgin effort; the third, who had been a great deal with + English people when he was consul at Khossayr, ate his dinner + and put down his wine like the best European; I suspect, in + fact, that he was brought as a show man. Achmet, in a climax of + gratification, exclaimed towards the end of dinner, "By Allah! + if the Ameer comes to my house another year, he shall be served + after the Frankish custom." Arabs appear to be much devoted to + _limonade gazeuse_--without being the forbidden fruit of wine + itself, it dwells in bottles, and has a sort of air of crime + about it which no doubt pleases them; my left-hand neighbour + took off at least two bottles during dinner. + + Hosseyn, whose father was a great friend of Si Achmet, proved + invaluable; he hopped about like a delighted child, filling the + glasses, cutting the meat of the two digitarians, and generally + making conversation--a great relief to me. In the evening one of + the nephews asked for some tea to take home, which I gave him; + another pocketed all the tobacco that was brought them to make + cigarettes. Arabs are hospitable and generous, and I like them + much, but they are indiscreet in the extreme. "Arabs," says + Hosseyn, "have no face; they never take shame." I have seen + instances of this which I won't put down; one only, for it is + very droll: my squinting friend with the pensive look asked Lady + Ely last year if she would just procure for him from the Queen a + title, or an order, as a mark of her regard. I am the bearer of + a letter to her from him now, which I have no doubt is a + reminder. Slew a sheep again. + + _Wednesday, 18th._--Left Keneh early, and with regret; the + place, the people and the scenery have left many pleasing + pictures in my memory. I little expected at starting the + annoyance that awaited me! As we approached the spot where + Sheykh Selim receives his devout visitors, I sent word to the + captain that I did not wish to lose any time in landing, but + that the bag of money which had been collected for the saint was + to be delivered, and we were to go on. I had scarcely uttered + this almost sacrilegious order, when the steamer, which had been + judiciously steered within ten yards of a flat, shelving bank, + ran hard and fast into the mud, with the apparent intention of + sticking there permanently, the engine being utterly powerless + to get her out. Nobody on board doubted for an instant but that + Sheykh Selim had stopped us in his resentment; the captain + instantly dispatched sailors with money to propitiate him, and + after a few futile attempts on the part of five or six of the + crew (to loud cries of "Help us, O Prophet! help us, O Sheykh + Selim!") to heave out a vessel that was four or five feet in the + mud, jumped himself into a boat, and hurried, of course + accompanied by Hosseyn, and leaving his vessel to take care of + herself, to beseech the sheykh to get us off. Their conversation + was afterwards reported to me by one who was present. "What is + this, O Sheykh, that thou hast done to us? in what have we been + wanting towards thee? did I not give thee a shirt when we last + came by? and the tobacco, was it not good? was the roast meat + not sufficient? why are we thus punished?"--to whom the sheykh: + "Don't be a fool! why do you come to me about your boat? am I a + sailor? how do you expect me to get her off--or on? Allah got + her on the sand, not I, who am a man like yourselves." The + captain: "Allah is indeed great, but if he ran us aground it was + on thy instigation--thou knowest it, O Sheykh!" &c. &c. In this + strain the conversation lasted at least twenty minutes, during + which time and for the rest of the day I was literally sick with + disgust and anger at the lot of them. Everything that ought not + to be done under the circumstances, including losing the anchor + (which is still at the bottom of the river), was done before + evening; everything that should have been done was left undone. + + Next morning (Thursday, 19th) we obtained (by force, after the + fashion of this country) through the governor of the + neighbouring town a gang of two hundred Arabs, magnificent + fellows some of them, who, at last, by heaving and tugging, + contrived to get her off--not without the most unearthly + _charivari_ I ever heard. In the morning I made a sketch; + reached Bellianeh in the evening, appeased, at last, and rather + amused at the abject condition of the captain, to whom I had + conveyed my mind (he had never seen me angry before), and who + swore that in future one hundred sheykhs should not take him out + of his course. My misadventure will benefit my successors in the + good ship _Sheberkheyt_--_ą quelque chose malheur est bon._ + + _Friday, 20th._--Started at seven on horseback to see Abydos, + and had a delightful morning. The weather was fresh and clear, + and the canter of six or seven miles across a fine open plain to + the foot of the mountains where the ruins lie was most + enjoyable. The temples, very strikingly situated on a slope + which sweeps down from a grand amphitheatre of bastion-like + rocks, have a great advantage over all those that I have yet + seen, viz. that their sculptures have almost entirely escaped + mutilation, and are in admirable preservation. This is the more + fortunate, that they are of a very fine period, and most + delicate in workmanship; the type of the faces has considerable + beauty and refinement. The colours, notably in the more recently + excavated temple of Osiris, are often extremely well preserved, + and I am confirmed in my conjecture, that they must have been + much less beautiful in their freshness than now that time has + toned and tuned them. In the larger temple are some very + beautiful wagon-head vaults _cut in the thickness of two layers + of stone_, the upper ones laid on end to get more thickness of + material. They are charmingly decorated with cartouches and + stars on a blue ground, and divided by a band of hieroglyphs + running like a ridge-rib along the head of the vault. The stars + on Egyptian ceilings are always pentagonal, and placed very near + together. At the temple I was joined by the obligato governor, a + puffy Turk with a tight, shiny face that had a look of having + been stung all over by a wasp; he was heavy and stupid, and I + left him in the hands of Hosseyn, galloping ahead myself with + the mounted cawass, a very picturesque Arnout on a very good + horse. _N.B._--Never come to the East again without an English + saddle; the back-board of a Turkish saddle is in the long run an + intolerable nuisance, as are also, though in a less degree, the + shovel-stirrups in which one's feet are imprisoned. In the + afternoon reached Sohag, a sail, or rather a steam, of three or + four hours, in time for a most pleasant evening's walk. + + _Saturday, 21st._--Got to Syoot in the afternoon, and was very + glad to catch Lady Duff Gordon on her way up the river. Was + received with great hospitality by the American and Spanish + consuls, wealthy Copts of this town who kindly put their + carriages at my disposal and, better still, their + donkeys--splendid Arabian donkeys, looking, in their trappings, + like cardinals' mules. Nothing is more pleasant than the swift + amble of a good donkey from the Hejaz. Dined in the evening with + Mr. Wonista, the consul for Spain, quite "ą la Franca" with + knives and forks and the whole thing. A curious house, and the + rooms small but of enormous height, so that they looked as if + they had been set _on end_ by mistake. The walls were bare + whitewash, but the furniture was of the most gorgeous brocade, + as were also the curtains; there was a European carpet all over + the floor and as many candles on the walls (in glass bells) as + in a _café chantant_. I met there a Scotch clergyman belonging + to the American Mission (Episcopalian) which is very active in + Egypt. After dinner the singer from Lady Duff Gordon's boat was + sent for, and in a short time arrived with some of the crew who + acted as chorus; it is this chorus, I find, that gives the + approving murmur after each strophe. He sang well, but his + performance of course lost three-fourths of its charm by not + being heard in its proper place and surroundings. I remember + once in the Sabine hills hearing unexpectedly at a distance, in + the silent dimness of night, the droning song of a _piffera_; + nothing could be more strangely pathetic than this voice rising + in the utter silence from out of the heart of the valley + below--yet those same sounds heard close in the broad daylight + would have seemed uncouth and strident. Arab singing has a + similar quality, and is equally dependent on time and place for + its full effect. Whilst the performance was at its height, and + the minstrel was tuning his note to the most ambitious + _fioriture_, I heard in the room overhead some European + part-singing of a melancholy order, and was informed that the + Scotch minister had been invited by a few proselytes to retire + upstairs "to worship and explain an obscure passage in the + Gospel." On the invitation of the master of the house, I went up + and joined the congregation, who thought it right to favour me + with another psalm. The clergyman then read in Arabic, and + expounded in the same language a chapter from the Bible, and I + must say did it (I speak of his manner only, for Koran and Bible + Arabic is so different from the current idiom, here at all + events, that I did not understand four words in the whole + sermon) in a very simple and impressive way. He had, too, an + admirable accent. He tells me that in spite of vehement + opposition from the Coptic prelates he finds a good deal of + sympathy amongst the people. + + _Sunday, 22nd._--Lovely day. Strolled about with a gun. This + place is full of "sparrows of paradise," a little bird of an + exquisite golden green. Since I was here last, the aspect of the + country has changed very much and for the better. Where I saw, a + few weeks back, nothing but pools and mud, is now a vast expanse + of clover and grass of an intense green, sunny and brilliant to + a wonderful degree. The plain looks like one immense jewel, and + contrasts deliciously with the tawny sand-rock which walls it in + on the west, behind the gleaming white domes of the cemetery. + Dined with the other consul in the evening. Same sort of house, + but much larger. No Scotch clergyman this time, but an + Anglo-Arab who teaches in the Coptic school, and, embracing + Coptic views, inveighs bitterly against the converts to + Protestantism. At sunset, to my agreeable surprise, the + Sterlings turned up, _musique en tźte_, the singer in the bows + quavering a jubilant strain, and the vessel magnificent with + fresh paint. + + _Monday, 23rd._--Killed a sheep. Sketched. Had the consuls and + the Scotch missionary to dine with me. The latter brought me + some newspapers, which I read greedily. + + _Tuesday, 24th._--Sketched. At last an evening to myself!--these + festive gatherings are an ineffable bore, if the truth were + told. + + _Wednesday, 25th._--Completed my sketches with one exception--a + study of my beautiful grey (_hechtgrau_) donkey. Unless I make a + study at Sakkara, which is just possible, this will be the end + of my work on the Nile. In twenty-two skies which I have painted + there is not a vestige of a cloud, such has been the divinely + serene weather I have had all along. This evening, indeed, + faint, shining flakes of vapour were drawn across the sky, + breaking and tempering the last rays of the sun; but by a + curious piece of luck they did not appear till I was just giving + the last touches to my day's work. Saw a beautiful and original + effect at sunset. Just as the sun was about to sink behind the + hills, a dahabieh drifted past with its sails spread, and + reaching up into the region where the light was still golden, + whilst the face of the water was darkened, and the long, low + banks were already shadowy and grey, the burning sail was + reflected in the night of the river, and looked astonishingly + beautiful. It was like the mellow splendour of the rising moon. + + I delight in seeing the sailors climbing the tall, oblique yards + of the Nile boats. Sometimes five or six of them perch on one + yard at the same time, looking at a distance like great birds. + + _Thursday, 26th._--Finished my donkey and started; as I get + further north, the weather is much cooler--the mornings and + evenings are quite fresh, though not so cold but that I can + sketch in the shade an hour after sunrise in summer clothes. The + natives, however, seem to take a severe view of the temperature, + and leave nothing unmuffled but their mouths, with which they + occasionally blow their fingers in the most approved winter + fashion. Was more struck than before with Gebel Aboofada--the + infinite and strongly marked strata of which it is made up + writhe and heave in a very grand and fantastic manner. Some of + the Egyptian mountains are ruled like a copy book from head to + foot, and are very monotonous. + + At the foot of Aboofada, I saw, for an instant, my first and + last crocodile; a small one. They are very seldom seen from a + steamer below the cataracts, as the noise frightens away the few + there are. I had looked forward to getting a shot at one, and + was a good deal disappointed at finding none up the river. It is + curious how rapidly time lends its perspective to the past. + Every now and then a boat from the cataracts laden with dates + comes floating down the river, and the melancholy chant of the + Nubian sailors, as they strain at the oars, already falls on my + ear as a sudden memory of an almost distant past--not a month + old. + + Arrived at Roda this evening. I have been reading, amongst other + things, a book everybody else read thirty years ago, "Les + Natchez," and am greatly disappointed with it. I am especially + struck with the extraordinary contrast between the masterful + sobriety and simplicity of the style, and the far-fetched + affectation of the ideas which are, more often than not, + distorted, tawdry and inflated, sometimes disgusting and not + seldom maudlin in the extreme. This singular discrepancy between + form and matter is especially French, and may frequently be + traced in the works of their painters and sculptors. No living + people has so sensitive a perception of form or so artistic an + epiderm, but an ineradicable self-consciousness develops in them + a theatrical attitude of mind which too often betrays itself in + their artistic and literary conceptions. It is the absolute + consent between conception and execution which constitutes one + of the chief sources of delight in the art of the Greeks, to + whom they are fond, too rashly, of comparing themselves.[41] + + I notice in the Natchez a peculiar use of comparisons. That mode + of adding light and colour to an idea which consists in + suggesting analogies, has always been the delight of poets; but + Chateaubriand (whose analogies, by the way, are often singularly + far fetched and unfortunate) occasionally, in a morbid endeavour + to be original, seeks his effects in a suggestion of + dissimilarities; I remember an instance: he has been describing + with minute and gratuitously sickening detail a mangled heap of + dead and dying warriors after a ferocious encounter. "How + different," he exclaims, but in more flowery terms, "is a + haycock in a field with girls rolling down it!" Few will be + disposed to contradict him. His exorbitant personal vanity which + continues to peep through everywhere, and makes even his + unbounded praise of his country seem an oblique tribute to + himself, is droll and nauseating at the same time. + + Took a stroll in the evening, and met an English baby! pink and + delicate like a flower; with cape and cockade complete--a pretty + sight. + + Thick folds of rose and violet-coloured cloud hung along the + horizon at sunset, and looked autumnal. I have left eternal + summer behind me. + + _Friday, 27th._--Such a morning as the evening of yesterday + foreboded; rather chilly and misty, and as near an approach to + winter as Upper Egypt may be expected to afford. The sky was + veiled on all sides with soft grey clouds, wrinkled and fretted + like the grey sands when the sea has left them. It was a fitting + background to the desolate tombs of Beni Hassan, which I visited + an hour or two after sunrise. The range of hills on the face of + which these tombs are excavated is not unlike Gebel Aboofada in + its configuration, except that the strata with which it is + scored are more level and regular. This monotony is, however, + relieved by the sky-line, which is extremely fine. Along the + foot of these hills runs a level strip of barren land, broken + abruptly in its whole length by a steep bank which rises like a + ruined wall from the plain below, and which is, when the Nile is + exceptionally high, the bank of the river itself. Standing, as + it now does, nearly a mile inland, and crested with two deserted + villages, it has a grand but uncanny aspect. I had long been + eager to see the tombs, which show what is considered by many to + be the first rudiment of the Doric order. The similarity, more + striking even than I expected, is so great that, taken with our + knowledge of the early and frequent intercourse of the Greeks + with Egypt and of the assimilating power of their genius, it + certainly offers a strong _prima facie_ presumption in favour of + this view. It may be objected that the echinus, the conical form + of the shaft and its entasis, all three inseparable features and + especial beauties of the Greek order, are wanting here, though + they are present in the earliest specimen of the style preserved + in Greece, the temple of Corinth. This argument would deserve + more consideration if it could be conceived that the order as + seen at Corinth was a spontaneous conception, and not a + development of some more elementary form which, whether native + or imported at a remote period, has not been handed down to us. + In point of fact, the chamfering of a simple stone pier into an + octagon and then further to a polygon of sixteen, or more, + sides (specimens of the two forms are seen side by side in two + of the tombs of Beni Hassan) is so elementary an effort of + architecture and one so obvious, that its independent and + spontaneous adoption by two different nations would be matter + for no surprise. On the other hand, it is to be remarked that + these tombs and the early temple at Karnak already mentioned are + the only instances of this style known in Africa--that not only + are they isolated in themselves, but they form a step to no + further developments--a link in no chain; that in character and + conception they have nothing in common with any of the great + monuments of Egypt, to which indeed they are antagonistic in + feeling; that they stand side by side with other monuments of + the _same_ date (about 2000 B.C.?) of a developed and absolutely + different type--a type certainly indigenous and based on the + imitation of natural forms which is especially characteristic of + Egyptian architecture; and lastly, that the tombs of Beni Hassan + show certain dissonances, such as one might expect to find in + the case of an unintelligent and unperceptive manipulation of a + foreign style. In the face of these considerations, I find it + difficult to resist a suspicion that the view generally received + exactly reverses the truth of the case, and that these tombs are + not indeed the prototypes of the Doric temple, but rather the + results, themselves, of contact at some remote period between + the Egyptians and that branch of the great Aryan family which, + at long intervals, and in successive waves, covered the shores + of the Egean Sea, and one of the latest offshoots of which + poured down into Greece from the heights of Thessaly under the + name of Dorians. I believe the earliest Egyptian _record_ of the + pressure of Greeks in this country goes no further back than + 1500 B.C.; but a peaceful intercourse between the two races may + have existed over a long period, without necessarily finding a + place in public records. + + The (quasi) Doric tombs are divided into a nave and aisles by + two rows of piers, carrying an architrave and disposed at right + angles to the portico, agreeably carrying out the likeness of a + Greek temple. The circles which intersect the extremity of the + other group of tombs are _parallel_ to the portico, and have a + deplorable effect, much heightened by the shape of the ceiling, + which is that of a very flat pediment. The architrave follows + the line of the roof, but at a still more open angle. It would + be difficult to conceive anything more hideous. Nearly all the + tombs are decorated with frescoes of a rude kind, but displaying + frequently an amount of freedom unusual in Egyptian art. + + Our guide was a splendid fellow, looking, in his flowing robes, + like a figure from the "School of Athens" on the "Disputa." The + longer I live, the more I am struck by the identity of Raphael's + frescoes with the noblest aspects of Nature. + + To Benisoėf in the evening. Passed some travellers; nothing + looks so gay and pretty as a dahabieh with its colours flying + and its sails spread. + + _Saturday, 28th._--Lovely morning once again. Reached Sakkara + early, but found that the road to the Pyramids was obstructed by + water, so moved on at once to Ghizeh, opposite to Old Cairo, + where I shall remain till to-morrow morning; meanwhile I have + sent on Hosseyn to secure a room at the inn, and to fetch the + means of leaving a pleasant memory of me on board the + _Sheberkheyt_. + + I have stripped the walls of my cabin of the paintings I had + hung round them, and they look desolate and like the coffin of + my now past journey. A most enjoyable journey it has been, full + of pleasant things to remember; full, too, I hope, of artistic + profit and teaching. I have been indeed fortunate, for, as I now + see more clearly than ever, in a dahabieh I could not have + achieved a third of the journey, and in a passenger steamer I + could not have done a stroke of work. Every study I take home I + owe entirely to the viceroy's munificent kindness. + + _Sunday, 29th._--Left for Boulay, my destination--gave a parting + sheep to the crew, distributed _largesse_, shook hands all + round, and drove off to the hotel. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[41] See Chap. IV. p. 239. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +ROYAL ACADEMICIAN--MUSIC--ARAB HALL + +1869-1878 + + +In 1869, the year after his journeyings in Egypt, Leighton was elected +a Royal Academician. The picture which he chose as his Diploma work to +be deposited in the Academy on his election was the "S. Jerome," one +of those few works which reflected the side of his nature about which +he was profoundly reserved. Another work of which the same might be +said is "Elijah in the Wilderness," painted in 1879. Leighton told a +friend he had put more of himself into that picture than into any +other he had ever invented. Three paintings which are among Leighton's +very best appeared on the walls of the Academy in 1869--"Dędalus and +Icarus," "Electra at the Tomb of Agamemnon," and "Helios and Rhodos." +In no work did Leighton indulge his passion for colour so successfully +as in the last-named picture. He wrote to his master, Steinle, in +1860: "You will perhaps be surprised, but, in spite of my fanatic +preference for colour, I promised myself to be a draughtsman before I +became a colourist." Again, in a letter to a friend in 1879 he wrote: +"Colour was supposed to be my _forte_ (_par parenthčse_, though I am +not a colourist, albeit passionately fond of colour, I have always +been, and am, a great _cuisinier_; I have tried quite innumerable +methods and vehicles)." Some of Leighton's appreciators cannot help +feeling jealous of this obstinate determination to struggle with those +gifts for which nature had not given him the preference, many +considering his artistic error to have been that of putting the screw +too tightly on his preconceived determinations. Had he _sometimes_, at +all events, allowed his "fanatic preference" to have free play, more +of his works might have glowed with the revelry in rich colour we find +on the canvas of "Helios and Rhodos." + + [Illustration: ST. JEROME. 1869. DIPLOMA WORK + Deposited in the Academy on Lord Leighton's election as an + Academician] + + [Illustration: "ELECTRA AT THE TOMB OF AGAMEMNON"] + +No complete work evinces more conclusively the force of Leighton's +dramatic gift than "Electra"; and--further--masterly and beautiful as +are all Leighton's arrangements of drapery, those in this design +strike me as specially expressive. They are truly superb. The balance +of the masses, and the sweeping lines from the feet up to the shoulder +and over the chest, are grandly conceived--the arrangement of the +folds notably adding to the suggestion of tragic feeling in the +attitude of the figure. + +"Icarus," in the picture of the inventive father and the aspiring son, +is a beautiful figure of a youth. The conception, design, and +colouring of the picture are worthy of Leighton at his best. + +Though Egypt had made a deep impression on Leighton's ęsthetic +emotions, as is obvious from his Diary, his visit there apparently did +not actually suggest any pictures except "A Nile Woman"--the only work +exhibited at the Academy in 1870--and "Egyptian Slinger Scaring Birds +in Harvest-time: Moonrise," exhibited in 1875. A subject suggested by +an event, which had occurred some years previously, appears to have +been engrossing his mind, before he found expression for it, in the +painting "Heracles Wrestling with Death for the Body of Alcestis," +exhibited 1871. Many persons admired this work more than any that had +previously appeared.[42] It evoked the lines from Browning:-- + + "I know, too, a great Kaunian painter, strong + As Hercules, though rosy with a robe + Of Grace that softens down the sinewy strength: + And he has made a picture of it all. + There lies Alcestis dead, beneath the sun + She longed to look her last upon, beside + The sea, which somehow tempts the life in us + To come trip over its white waste of waves, + And try escape from earth, and fleet as free. + Behind the body I suppose there bends + Old Pheres in his hoary impotence; + And women-wailers, in a corner crouch + --Four, beautiful as you four,--yes, indeed! + Close, each to other, agonising all, + As fastened, in fear's rhythmic sympathy, + To two contending opposite. There strains + The might o' the hero 'gainst his more than match, + --Death, dreadful not in thew and bone, but like + The envenomed substance that exudes some dew, + Whereby the merely honest flesh and blood + Will fester up and run to ruin straight, + Ere they can close with, clasp and overcome, + The poisonous impalpability + That simulates a form beneath the flow + Of those grey garments; I pronounce that piece + Worthy to set up in our Poikilé!" + +Leighton had taken the lines from Euripides as his text:-- + + "There slept a silent palace in the sun, + With plains adjacent and Thessalian peace." + + "....Yea, I will go and lie in wait for Death, the king of souls + departed, with the dusky robes, and methinks I shall find him + hard by the grave drinking the sacrificial wine. And if I can + seize him by this ambush, springing from my lair, and throw my + arms in circle round him, none shall snatch his panting body + from my grasp till he give back the woman to me." + + [Illustration: "HERACLES STRUGGLING WITH DEATH FOR THE BODY OF + ALCESTIS." 1871 + By permission of the Fine Art Society, the owners of the + Copyright] + +This work made a landmark in Leighton's career. "Dante at Verona" had +combined a complicated design of many figures with a dramatic feeling; +"Cimabue's Madonna" and the "Syracusan Bride" had proved Leighton's +"great power of rich arrangement," to quote D.G. Rossetti's words +respecting "Cimabue's Madonna"; but in the "Heracles Wrestling with +Death" there was felt to be a more profound tragedy; indeed, the +objective treatment had in this instance ceded to one more subjective, +in so far that the subject had appealed to him through a personal +experience, though the feeling was, as in nearly all Leighton's +greatest works, veiled in a classic garb. In a letter to his mother, +dated November 13, 1864, he wrote:-- + + _November 13, 1864._ + + I returned so suddenly on account of a grave and terrible + anxiety, _now quite removed_, about my dear friend Mrs. + Sartoris. + + I must tell you that for some time past she has been looking + dreadfully ill, getting daily worse, haggard and thin. I, in + common with all her friends, had been growing very anxious, and + conjectured that some day or other a crisis must come in which + only the surgeon could avail her. I little thought how near at + hand the moment was! She on her part had borne up with an amount + of moral and physical courage which everybody says was quite + incredible. Her nearest relations have not known from her that + she was in so dangerous a state. A week ago I arrived at + Francport, the chāteau of the Marquis de l'Aigle, where I + expected to find Mr. and Mrs. Sartoris and their children. I + found instead Mme. de l'Aigle in the deepest anxiety and + commotion, having received a letter saying that on that very day + poor Mrs. S. was undergoing an operation of which the event was + very doubtful! I need hardly say that I instantly hurried off to + England in the greatest alarm, and in fear and trembling lest + she should have succumbed. You may judge of my relief, next + morning, on hearing from the servant in Park Place that she was + doing well. I hurried off to the doctor, a friend of mine, and + heard that for six hours her life had been in jeopardy, but + that, thank God, she was doing amazingly well, that for a week + there could be no _certainty_ of her recovery, but that the + possible chances doubled every day. Since then, thank God, she + has progressed so _astoundingly_ owing to her immense roots of + vitality and health, that one may be almost _certain_ + (_unberufen_) of her complete recovery, in which event she will + enjoy life more than she has done for several years. Her family + and friends have escaped an entirely irreparable loss. + +The very beautiful picture, "Greek Girls Picking up Pebbles by the +Shore of the Sea," was also exhibited in the Academy in 1871, likewise +a smaller work, "Cleoboulos Instructing his Daughter Cleobouline." +This is one of several which proves Leighton's gift for catching the +grace and singular refinement of childhood. "Lord Leighton's drawings +and paintings of children show the protecting, caressing tenderness he +felt towards them. He loved little things, little children, +kittens--'caressing littleness, that littleness in which there is much +of the whole woeful heart of things'--everything lovely that had in it +the unconscious grace of helplessness seemed especially to touch him." + +In 1872 "Summer Moon" was exhibited--the picture Watts told me he +thought he preferred to all of Leighton's paintings. I believe the +cause of this preference arose from the fact that the quality and +texture in "Summer Moon" is looser and more vibrating, and gives a +greater sense of atmosphere than is suggested by Leighton's works as a +rule. Moonlight mystifies the tints of purple and blue, and creeps +over and into every fold of the beautiful drapery--glistening on the +white garment of the recumbent figure. In every line and touch in the +exquisite design of the figures and drapery lurks the poetry of +moonlight; the song of a nightingale perched on the branch of a +pomegranate tree enhancing the sense of deep restfulness in the +scene.[43] + + [Illustration: "SUMMER MOON." 1872 + By permission of Messrs. P. & D. Colnaghi, the owners of the + Copyright] + + [Illustration: "A CONDOTTIERE." 1872] + + [Illustration: STUDY FOR FIGURE IN FRIEZE. "MUSIC." 1886 + Leighton House Collection] + + [Illustration: STUDY FOR FIGURE IN "THE ARTS OF WAR," + Victoria and Albert Museum. 1872 + Leighton House Collection] + + [Illustration: STUDY FOR FIGURE IN "THE ARTS OF WAR," + Victoria and Albert Museum. 1872 + Leighton House Collection] + + [Illustration: STUDY FOR FIGURE IN "THE ARTS OF WAR," + Victoria and Albert Museum. 1872 + Leighton House Collection] + +It is thought by some that the design would have carried out the +feeling of absolute repose better had the lower curves of the round +aperture behind the figures been absent--these lines rather suggesting +horns springing up on either side of the group. The end of the foot of +the sitting figure being cut off by the bottom line of the picture has +also a somewhat uncomfortable effect. The same thing occurs in the +picture "Greek Girl Dancing," producing the feeling that the canvas +has run short. These criticisms, however, only refer to minor matters. +"Summer Moon" is an exquisitely beautiful picture, one which will ever +sustain the great reputation of its creator. "A Condottiere" and the +monochrome version of "The Industrial Arts of War" (76 × 177 in.), +exhibited at the South Kensington International Exhibition the same +year, strikingly contrast in character with "Summer Moon." If the one +is notable for gentle, womanly grace and a sense of relaxation induced +by slumber, "A Condottiere" is full of verve and virile power,[44] and +in the design for "The Industrial Arts of War" all is action and +movement. Leighton made many studies for all his principal pictures, +but the finest group of sketches are certainly those made for mural +decorations. Being executed under more difficult conditions than the +easel pictures, doubtless he felt more preparation for frescoes was +required. The studies in Leighton House for the "Arts of War," "Arts +of Peace," two friezes, "Music," "The Dance," "And the Sea gave up the +Dead that were in it," the painted decoration for the ceiling of a +music room, "Phoenicians Bartering with Britons," are the most +completely worked out and powerful studies in the collection. In the +following year, 1873, the companion lunette in monochrome, "The +Industrial Arts of Peace," was exhibited at the Royal Academy. This +design is more comfortably fitted into its space than that of the +"Arts of War," as the whole is lifted up from the bottom line of the +lunette, and no part of the figures is cut off (as in the case of the +men's feet and the drapery of the otherwise most beautiful group of +women on the left hand in the "Arts of War"). "Weaving the Wreath," a +small picture of lovely colour and subtle technique, appeared in 1873, +and in 1874 three of the most remarkable of Leighton's pictures of +single figures. "In a Moorish Garden: a Dream of Granada" the charming +child "Cleobouline" reappears in an Eastern turban and drapery, +holding a copper vessel and followed by two peacocks, walking across a +square canvas filled in by a background of the delightful garden at +Generalife at Granada. "The Antique Juggling Girl" is one of the best +examples in Leighton's work of his "ardent passion for colour," and +his perfect mastery in painting the beauty of an undraped figure. The +form of the torso recalls the exquisite fragment from the Naples +Museum.[45] The actual painting, however, exemplifies the truth of +Leighton's very notable words written to Steinle, "What reveals true +knowledge of form is a powerful, organic, refined finish of modelling +full of feeling and knowledge--and that is the affair of the brush." +The principal scheme of colour is effectively carried throughout the +picture--in the golden flesh tint against the ivory-white of the +parchment banner hung as a screen background, the crown of dark ivy +leaves and the golden balls telling out as notes of a deeper tone; the +crinkled folds of white drapery resting on the darker mass, the full +tawny browns and yellows of the leopard skins on which the figure +stands making a dark, luminous basis, the metal jar and the +dense foliage of deep verdant green enriched by the orange of the +fruit springing up and continuing the dark framework of the central +design. This picture is a very original work, and should, I think, be +placed very high in the rank of Leighton's achievements. "Clytemnestra +from the battlements of Argos watches for the beacon fires which are +to announce the return of Agamemnon" is, in every sense, a contrast to +the "Antique Juggling Girl." The figure is powerful and heavily +draped, the drapery being superb, and the limbs those which might +truly overpower even Agamemnon.[46] + + [Illustration: "ANTIQUE JUGGLING GIRL." 1874 + By permission of Mr. George Hodges] + + [Illustration: "CLYTEMNESTRA WATCHES FROM THE BATTLEMENTS OF + ARGOS FOR THE BEACON FIRES WHICH ARE TO ANNOUNCE THE RETURN OF + AGAMEMNON." 1874 + Leighton House Collection] + + [Illustration: STUDY FOR "CLYTEMNESTRA." 1874 + Leighton House Collection] + + [Illustration: STUDY FOR "SUMMER MOON" + From Oil Sketch painted by Moonlight in Rome + Given by the late A. Waterhouse, R.A., to the Leighton House + Collection] + +The bar of red, which strikes a warm note among the cool lights and +shadows of moonlight, adding immensely to the value of these tones, +was suggested by the coral necklace, worn by the model from whom +Leighton painted the study by moonlight for "Summer Moon" in Rome. +"Egyptian Slinger" was Leighton's principal work exhibited in 1875, +"The Daphnephoria" already engrossing most of his time and thought. +This picture (89 × 204 inches), "a triumphal procession held every +ninth year at Thebes in honour of Apollo and to commemorate a victory +of the Thebans over the Aeolians of Arne" (see Proclus, "Chrestomath," +p. 11), and the very fine portrait of Sir Richard Burton were +exhibited in 1876. From some points of view "The Daphnephoria" is +Leighton's greatest achievement. The difficulties he surmounted +successfully in the work were of a character with which few English +artists could cope at all. The size of the canvas alone would +certainly have insisted on ten years' devotion to it from most modern +artist-workmen. The extreme breadth of the arrangement of the masses, +united with great beauty of line and form in the detail; the sense of +the moving of a procession swinging along to the rhythmic phrases of +chanted music; the brilliant light of Greece, striking on the fine +surface of the marble platform along which the procession is moving +and on the town below, which it has left behind, contrasting with the +deep shadowed cypress grove rising as background to the figures;--all +this is more than masterly: it is convincing. It is probably quite +unlike what took place at Thebes every ninth year;--but Art is not +Archęology. The written account of what took place fired Leighton's +imagination to create a scene in which he treated the Greek function +as the text; the wonderful light and the fineness of Greek atmosphere +as the tone; the processional majesty and grace of movement as the +action. The element of beauty which the record suggested to him was +the truth of the scene to Leighton, and he has recorded the essence of +it in an extraordinarily original work. + +It was after Leighton's death that the picture first "struck home" to +me. The last day of the exhibition of a wonderful man's life-work had +come to an end one Saturday afternoon in the spring of 1897. It had +been a record day at Burlington House; crowds had filled the galleries +from morning till the light had begun to wane. Only a very few +stragglers remained, but the keeper, Mr. Calderon, R.A., was there. +One of the porters in his red gown came up to him, and petitioned for +a half-hour more before the final closing of the doors on the +message which Leighton had left to the world. Both men, the keeper and +the porter, looked grave and sad. The great President had been beloved +by all. The porter's request was granted, and it was during that short +half-hour that I seemed for the first time fully to realise the great +qualities of "The Daphnephoria"; the room being empty, it could be +seen from the right distance, and the conception of the work and its +completion spoke out very plainly and convincingly. + + [Illustration: "THE DAPHNEPHORIA"--A TRIUMPHAL PROCESSION HELD + AT THEBES IN HONOUR OF APOLLO. 1876 + By permission of the Fine Art Society, the owners of the + Copyright] + + [Illustration: "AT A READING-DESK." 1877 + By permission of Messrs. L.H. Lefevre & Son, the owners of the + Copyright] + +Different as a picture could be was the exquisite "Music Lesson" of +1877. Again we have the lovely little Cleobouline, her delicate +fingers learning to make music on a mandoline. The grouping and grace +in the attitude of the teacher and the pupil, the ease and pleasant +arrangement of the draperies, the texture and fine distinction in the +feeling and technique of the work, can only be suggested by a +reproduction; whereas to appreciate in any way the delicate brightness +and charm of the colour is impossible without seeing the original. +This is the one of all Leighton's paintings which--perhaps more than +any other--conclusively contradicts the statement made, that "the +inspiration stage was practically passed when he took the crayon in +his hand." Another Cleobouline also appeared in the same Academy +Exhibition--as fascinating as the little lady learning music; "Study" +it was called--a child in a delightfully painted glistening pink silk +dressing-gown, sitting cross-kneed on an Eastern carpet before an +inlaid prayer-desk. Very characteristic of Leighton's bewitching +painting of children's feet are the little toes of the child peeping +out between the folds of pink drapery. The finest woman's portrait +Leighton ever painted appeared the same year as a "Music Lesson." This +was Miss Mabel Mills.[47] The breadth and delicacy in the modelling of +the cheek and throat rivals the work of Greek sculpture. The most +serious work exhibited in 1877 was the bronze version of Leighton's +"Athlete Strangling a Python,"[48] the small sketch of which was made +in 1874. This statue showed to the world his power as a sculptor. +Every work he modelled evinced in an equal degree his consummate +ability as such, though the more flexible treatment--in the modelled +sketches for the "Python," the sleeping group in "Cymon and +Iphigenia,"[49] and the "Perseus and Andromeda"--may carry with it a +greater charm than is found in the completed statues. The following +letters from the French sculptor Dalou, the painter George Boughton, +and Sir Edgar Boehm are testimonies to the effect which the "Python" +in bronze, and the sketch, produced on artists at the time they were +executed:-- + + 217A GLEBE PLACE, CHELSEA, S.W., + _2 Mai 1877_. + + MON CHER LEIGHTON,--Si mes humbles félicitations peuvent vous + toucher j'en serais trés heureux. + + J'espérais vous voir lundi dernier ą l'Academy et vous + complimenter comme vous le meritez pour votre belle statue. Ą + quoi sert de gratter toute sa vie un morceau de terre, quand + prčs de soi on voit tout ą coup surgir un chef d'oeuvre d'une + main ą qui la sculpture était jusque lą restée étrangčre? + + Si j'étais envieux ce serait une belle occasion pour moi, mais + loin de lą j'ai été trés heureux d'admirer votre oeuvre, et trés + flatté de l'honneur qu'on a fait ą ma pauvre terre cuite, en la + plaēant en pendant avec votre bronze; c'est encore un bon + souvenir de plus qui me viens de l'Academy et de vous, mon + cher Leighton, car je sais toute la part que vous avez prise au + déplacement dont ma figure a été l'objet. + + Aussi croyez que je suis heureux de pouvoir me dire votre + sincčre admirateur et trés reconnaissant ami, + + J. DALOU. + + [Illustration: "AN ATHLETE STRANGLING A PYTHON" + From small sketch, 1876] + + + GROVE LODGE, + PALACE GARDENS TERRACE, KENSINGTON, W., + _December 11, 1874_. + + DEAR MR. LEIGHTON,--I fear that the note which I sent with the + bronze did not explain itself sufficiently. I _meant_ to ask you + to _accept_ it--"to have and to hold for yourself your heirs and + assigns for ever," to speak legally. + + I can in no way express the pleasure I felt when I saw your + small study for the man battling with the serpent. I hope the + report in the _Academy_ that it is to be done life-size in + bronze is true. It will be worthy to go with the best of the + antiques. The other study for the singing maidens was + delightful[50] as the other was grand. To put it in the + picturesque parlance of the Far West, "I was knocked over and + sat on." It will be a slight relief to give my words a little + form and weight; as I am unfortunately not a Roman Emperor and + have not a golden crown of laurel about me, pray do me the + favour to accept the only thing I have worth sending.--Believe + me, yours very sincerely, + + GEO. H. BOUGHTON. + + + GROVE LODGE, + PALACE GARDENS TERRACE, KENSINGTON, + _December 14, 1874_. + + DEAR MR. LEIGHTON,--I don't know which to admire most--the + "sketch," as _you_ call it (it seems "heroic" in size even now), + or your great kindness in sending it to me. Now that I may enjoy + it at my leisure--and I take my leisure very often--it seems + finer even than I thought it was. Not merely the _spirit_ of the + antique, but the antique _itself_, and the "antique" I mean is + the everlasting, the best mortal may ever hope to make. + + This is, as far as my capacity for judging is worth, _sincere_. + I know how perilous it is to say warmly what one feels, how it + is put down as "gush" and "bad form"; but when in this very + London fog of Art one sees a spark of pure light, there is some + excuse for shouting with joy. + + I should reproach myself with taking up overmuch of your time in + this matter, but I know that you are very good-natured; besides + you might have taken my poor little bronze tribute in as few + words as I sent it, and there it might have ended--though for + myself I am glad you did not, and shall be ever selfishly + thankful that you acted as kindly as you did. + + Pray don't bother to reply to this, I am too much your debtor + already.--Yours very sincerely, + + GEO. H. BOUGHTON. + + + 78 CORNWALL GARDENS, + QUEEN'S GATE, _May 11, 1877_. + + DEAR LEIGHTON,--I follow my instinct and sincere desire in + congratulating you on your magnificent statue in the Academy, + which I have just seen. It is superb. I think it the best statue + of modern days. I was riveted with admiration and astonishment; + and whatever you may think of my judgment, pray take this as my + humble and heartfelt tribute to a work of genius, which to my + mind ranks nearer "zur Antiken" than anything I have seen, + during my career, produced in any school or country. + + Believe me, with sincere admiration, yours, + + J.E. BOEHM. + +In 1890 Leighton made a replica of the statue in marble for the +Glyptothek in Copenhagen. It was exhibited in the Royal Academy +Exhibition in 1891. + +Many were the voices heard exclaiming that Leighton ought to give +himself entirely to sculpture. His masterly power in understanding +form, and giving expression to it in Art, was readily understood and +appreciated when he worked in the round, whereas it had been but +scantily appreciated in his painting; the fact being, that the public +is unaccustomed to find that power developed in modern pictures, +whereas in sculpture it is the principal and obvious aim in any +statue. However, whatever the public thought or expressed, Leighton +went on painting. In 1878 "Nausicaa" and "Winding the Skein" were +exhibited, both among Leighton's happiest works. A reticent grace in +the attitude of the figure, and a tender yearning sadness in the face, +makes this rendering of "Nausicaa" very attractive. "Winding the +Skein" is the best example of those fair pictures which Leighton +painted, and evidently delighted in painting, as records of +Southern--and more particularly--Greek light and atmosphere. For the +special charm in the tone and colouring to be understood, the picture +itself must be seen; but the design and delightful feeling in the +movement of the figures can be rendered in the reproduction. Again in +this work the fascinating little figure of Cleobouline appears and +also the teacher in the "Music Lesson." In all, Leighton painted +thirty-six important pictures, twenty-six slighter works,[51] and +executed his first statue, "Athlete Strangling a Python," in the ten +years between 1869 and 1879. + + [Illustration: "NAUSICAA." 1878] + +During these years the Royal Academy Exhibition took place in +Burlington House, it having previously been held in a suite of rooms +at the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. + +Leighton sent photographs of the cartoons for the "Industrial Arts of +War" and of "Peace"[52] to Steinle, who wrote his criticisms on the +designs. The following is Leighton's answer:-- + + _Translation._] + _February 3, 1874._ + + MY VERY DEAR FRIEND,--Your very welcome lines arrived + auspiciously a few days ago. I need not say how delighted I am + that you are not displeased with the two compositions of your + old pupil, and that you recognise in them a not unworthy effort. + I am especially grateful to you that while giving your + approbation you have enclosed a criticism, and only regret that + you have blamed but one thing, where there are unfortunately so + many faults. I shall endeavour, if these cartoons ever come to + be carried out, as far as possible to repress the faults which + you remark in "Peace"; for, as I am by all means passionate for + the true _Hellenic_ art, and am touched beyond everything by its + noble simplicity and its unaffected directness, so the _Roman_ + or Napoleonic at its highest is antipathetic to me--I had almost + said disgusting. The two compositions are intended for a large + court (where there are objects from all parts of the world and + of all epochs); they will not, however, stand _near_, but + opposite to one another. The figures will be life-size, the + foremost ones almost colossal. The "Arts of Peace" I transported + to Greece, partly out of sympathy, and partly on account of the + special beauty of the Greek ceramic and jewel work; the conduct + of arms seemed to me to find its highest expression in medięval + Italy, and I gladly seized this opportunity to tread the old + path again in which my feet now so seldom wander. + + If you really believe that my old friends in Frankfurt will be + interested in these works, I shall be extremely pleased if you + will put them in the Gallery; I wish only one thing, namely, + that it may be made quite clear to the spectator that they are + merely _cartoons_; their entire lack of effect would otherwise + be surprising. + + But the Pinta, of which you write, haunts my mind! If I had only + time to run over myself!--but it is impossible. + + Once more heartiest greetings, from your devoted pupil, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + +The Prince Consort, I believe, first conceived the idea of decorating +spaces on the walls of the Victoria and Albert Museum with frescoes, +as a memorial of the nation's gratitude on the close of the Crimean +War, and mentioned the subject to Leighton. It was not, however, till +1868 that Sir Henry Cole approached him officially on the subject in +the following letter:-- + + _July 14, 1868._ + + SIR,--The Lords of the Committee of Council on Education having + had under their consideration the subject of the permanent + decoration of the lunettes at the ends of the South Court of the + South Kensington Museum, have directed me to inquire if it would + be agreeable to you to undertake to execute a picture for one of + these lunettes, for which lunette their Lordships would be + prepared to authorise a payment of £1000, it being understood + that all rights of copying the work belong to the Department. + + When the court is completed, there will be four lunettes of a + similar size. At the present time, however, there are only two + spaces actually ready; and should you be willing to accept the + commission now offered to you, your picture would be placed in + one of these two finished lunettes. Mr. Watts, R.A., has been + asked to execute a similar commission for the second lunette; + and, in order that the works may have a certain symmetry in + respect of the scale of the figures, &c., it would be desirable + that you should place yourself into communication with him.--I + am, Sir, your obedient servant, + + HENRY COLE. + + [Illustration: STUDY FOR GROUP IN "THE ARTS OF PEACE," + Victoria and Albert Museum. 1873 + Leighton House Collection] + + [Illustration: FIRST SKETCH FOR FIGURE OF CIMABUE + Carried out in Mosaic in the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1868] + + [Illustration: ORIGINAL SKETCH FOR THE FIGURE OF NICCOLA PISANO + Carried out in Mosaic in the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1868] + +Watts was not prepared to accept the commission to execute one of the +frescoes, being already immersed in work which absorbed his whole time +and attention. He did, however, accept the commission to make a +cartoon for the figure of Titian to be worked in mosaic in one of the +spaces which form a kind of frieze along the side of the Southern +Court. Leighton, besides agreeing finally to paint frescoes on the +lunettes at each end of the court, made cartoons in 1868 for two of +these side spaces, one of the figure of Cimabue, the other of Niccolo +Pisano. Sketches for these are in the Leighton House Collection. (See +List of Illustrations.) + +A controversy took place between Leighton and Sir Henry Cole +respecting the question whether these figures were to be treated +pictorially or decoratively, whether the background was to be of plain +gold mosaic or whether there were to be objects depicted in +perspective behind the figures. The following part of a letter from +Leighton concluded the agreement. + + I submit that I have given reasons _why_ the figures under + discussion should not be pictures, and that you, on the other + hand, have not put forward a single reason why, a single + principle on which they _should_ be pictures. You have contented + yourself with adducing some precedents; as the question, + however, is entirely one of principles, precedent alone means + nothing, one way or another; if it were not so, I should have + opposed to you cases in which the, to my mind, sounder principle + is observed. + + Raphael's ceiling in the Vatican, for instance--an example you + will scarcely cavil at. There is not in the whole range of art a + single aberration that cannot be endorsed with some good name. + To glance once more at the principle: whether the gold behind + the figures be in effect the background of flat, or whether it + be, as you hold, "essentially something round"; whether or not + it be this, as I certainly assert, the wall throughout the + decoration, it is unanswerably a conventional _abstraction_, it + represents no concrete object, and as an _abstraction_ is + incompatible with any perspective representations of solid + objects, which presuppose space and distance--everything that is + on the _same_ plane as the figure is submitted to the same + conditions, hence any accessory on the pedestal is admissible; + everything _beyond_ the pedestal is part of the background, + which may be abstract or concrete, as you please, but _cannot_ + logically be _both_. + + I am the first to admit and admire the intimate connection which + existed formerly between architecture and painting: to say + "architecture and pictures," is to beg the whole question. In + condemning the loose practice of modern times, you cannot + propose upholding for admiration the mere fact that in old times + picture and wall were sometimes one, but no doubt allude with + just admiration to the harmony existing between them, in the + best examples, and to the wise adaptation of the one to the + other. You, I submit, are attacking and attempting to subvert + the very principles on which this harmony rests; my sole desire + is to assert and defend them, and I earnestly desire that, + actuated, as I am entirely convinced you are, more by the desire + to forward the truth than to triumph in argument, the views I + have put before you may eventually commend themselves to you, + and deter you from further encouraging a practice which may be + supported by precedent, but cannot be made tenable in theory. + +In the autumn of 1873 Leighton visited Damascus, where he made studies +for the picture exhibited in the 1874 Academy, "Old Damascus--Jews' +Quarter,"[53] and a fine sketch of the interior of the Grand Mosque +which he enlarged into a picture 62 × 49 inches, and exhibited in +1875. He also made a remarkable moonlight study preserved in the +Leighton House Collection. + + "One afternoon, late in the autumn of 1872," wrote Dr. William + Wright, "I was on the roof of my house trying to cool after a + long ride in the sun, when there came a loud knock at my door; + the latch was lifted, and presently a resplendent kavass mounted + to my platform. He explained to me that a noble Englishman was + coming up to see me, and with that Frederic Leighton skipped + gaily up the steps. After a courteous greeting and apology, he + sat down and became silent, absolutely wrapped up in the + pageantry of the sky. When I excused myself for the lapse of the + time, he looked at me, and said quietly, 'No artist ever wasted + time in accurately observing natural phenomena,' and added, + 'That sunset will mix with my paint, and will tint your ink as + long as either of us lives. It will never be over, it has dyed + our spirits in colours which can never be washed out.'" + +To his father he wrote:-- + + DAMASCUS, _October 18, 1873_. + + DEAR PAPA,--I find that I am not as completely cut off from the + western world here as I have been led to believe I was, and that + boats leave Damascus for Alexandria weekly, and not fortnightly, + as I told you in my hasty line of the other day; although, + therefore, you are no longer uneasy about my health, I will not + defer till the later boat thanking you for your welcome letter + which reached me two or three days ago. I am much shocked and + concerned to hear of the death of my poor friend Benson, for + which I was in no way prepared, the last accounts I had received + before leaving England being of a decidedly hopeful nature. A + kinder heart never beat than his, and I felt really attached to + him; he is a great loss to me. And now to tell you about myself. + Three tedious days on board a Russian boat which tossed and + rolled like a cork over a sea on which a P. and O. would have + been motionless, brought me to Beyrout, a cheery, picturesque, + sunny port at the foot of Lebanon; gay and glad I was to land, + and Andrea's cool, clean inn overlooking the sea was a + delightful haven of rest, and my first meal at a steady table + (or a real chair) was ambrosial. Being in a hurry to get to the + end of my journey, I did not stay more than half a day, but + started by diligence for Damascus, a journey of some thirteen + hours, first over Lebanon itself (which is fine, but by no means + grand as I had hoped), then across the Valley of Coelesyria, and + lastly over Antilebanon, at the foot of which the town lies. At + the last relay I found waiting for me a horse and dragoman, for + which and whom I had telegraphed in order that I might get the + famous view of Damascus about which travellers have told wonders + from time immemorial, and which is only to be seen from a bridle + path over the hill above the suburb of Sala'aijeh; unfortunately + the days are getting short, and I did not reach the proper spot + till just after sunset; not too late, however, to enjoy the + marvellous prospect before me, and to feel that it is worthy of + all that has been said in its praise. It is impossible to + conceive anything more startling than the suddenness with which, + emerging from a narrow and absolutely barren cleft in the rock, + you see spread before your eyes and at your feet a dense mass of + exuberant trees spreading for miles on to the plain which looks + towards Palmyra, and, rising white in the midst of it, the + Damascus of the thousand and one nights. It is a great and a + rare thing for an old traveller not to be disappointed, and I am + grateful that it has been so with me this time. About the town + _itself_--as seen, I mean, _from within_--I have a mixed + feeling. In some respects it equals all my hopes, or at least in + one respect; in others it falls short of them. I have remarked + that to be prepared for disappointment never in the slightest + degree deadens the blow, and, accordingly, although I have both + read and been told to my heart's content that I should find the + streets unpicturesque and without character, relatively of + course (relatively say, to Cairo, not to Baker Street), I was, + nevertheless, depressed and in a way surprised to find them so. + Of course, there are, as in every Eastern town, numberless + delightful bits, and those ennobled as regularly as the day + comes by a right royal sun and canopy of blue, yet in the main, + Cairo and, in a very different way, Algiers, are far more + brilliant, and by-the-bye although you see here an extraordinary + variety of costumes from the remotest corners of the East (I + have met Indians in the streets), a group of Algerine Bedouins + in their stately white robes is worth a whole bazaar full of the + peasants and pilgrims that throng Damascus. Then in + architecture, Damascus falls far behind Cairo, both for + abundance and beauty of its specimens. Its background, too, + Antilebanon, is unsatisfactory, humpy and without power of + character or beauty of line, such as makes the Red Mountains on + the skirt of the Cairene desert so delightful. Here then are the + shortcomings; but I have my compensation in the houses, the old + houses of which some few are standing, though grey and + perishing, and which are still lovely to enchantment. I can't + hope to convey to you in writing any idea of this loveliness, + and it is not within the scope of sketching (though I am doing + one or two little corners), but I am having three or four + photographs made (for there are none!) from which you will be + able to gather something of their charm. They cannot, however, + give you the splendour of the light, and the fanciful delicacy + of the colour in the open courts, or the intense and fantastic + gorgeousness of the interior. Indeed I shall probably not + attempt the latter, and though you will see lemon and myrtle + trees rising tall and slim out of the marble floors and bending + over tanks of running water, you will miss the vivid sparkling + of the leaves, and you will not hear the unceasing song of the + bubbling fountains. I wish I could report that I am doing much + work. I am doing some, and think I see my way to one or two + pot-boilers (the fatal, inevitable pot-boilers!); but distances + here are great, and so is the heat, and there is not much that + is within the compass of _sketching_, though there is endless + paintable material. I am doing a bit in the great mosque, which + is very delightful to me, in colour, and, if I can render it, + may strike others in the same way. I am having the spot + photographed in case I try to make a picture of it. The second + p.-b. would probably be some unambitious corner of a court with + a figure or two, _et voilą_. It is late and I am sleepy, so + good-night and good-bye. I wish you gave me a brighter account + of Lina; give her too my best love. It was hardly worth while, + by-the-bye, to have my letters forwarded. I shall only get them, + if at all, just before leaving Damascus next week! I fear I + can't get back to England till end of third week in + November.--Your affectionate son, + + FRED. + +In the autumn of 1877 Leighton revisited Spain. A letter dated +September 21, 1877, Madrid, in which Leighton answers certain +questions asked by Mrs. Mark Pattison concerning art galleries and +dealers, ends with the following sentence:-- + + Thank you for what you tell me about Puvis de Chavannes' work. I + admire the designs for Ste. Genevičve hugely, and am altogether + an _aficionado_ of that odd, incomplete, but refined and poetic + painter; but for emptiness of modelling he seeks his peer in + vain. I am seeing Velasquez again for the third time; this is + the place in which to see him in all his splendour, and in all + his nakedness--but that would be a chapter, and not a hasty + note.--Very truly yours, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + +From Spain Leighton crossed to Tangiers, whence he wrote:-- + + TANGIERS, _October 4, 1877_. + + MY DEAR PAPA,--You are probably not a little surprised at the + superscription of this letter; so am I. It was a sudden and a + happy thought that brought me here. I reflected that, whilst I + had long wished to see Tangiers, I should not very probably come + to Spain again, and should therefore not have another chance of + visiting Morocco without a journey made on purpose. The run from + Gibraltar is only four hours, and I wonder the trip did not form + part of my original scheme. It will have one drawback for me, + that I shall get to Granada a few days later, and be by so much + the longer in getting news from England; but my journey will not + be prolonged on the whole, as I shall endeavour to cut off at + the end what I put on now. I the more owe myself what enjoyment + I can get here, that as I told you--did I not?--in my last, my + journey has been hitherto rather a dismal failure. I told you + how vile the weather was in Madrid, so that all technical study + of the pictures was out of the question. Well this is, since + then, the first perfectly fine afternoon we have had. Observe, I + only say afternoon, for it poured in the morning, and the + phenomenon of a wholly bright day has still to come. I am also + still further in arrears of enjoyment from the fact that I got + rather out of order, God knows why, the day I went to Toledo, to + the utter spoiling of what should have been one of my most + delightful trips, and am only now pulling round again, having + called in Ęsculapius (at 2 dollars a consultation), whilst at + Gibraltar. An attack of this nature is simply fatal to any real + pleasure on one's journey, and, coming on the top of dark + weather and the contretemps just as the closing of the Alcazar + in Seville (one of the things I especially wanted to see) made + rather an absurd failure of the whole thing. At Seville I was + fool enough to go again to a bull-fight, and was so disgusted + that I got up and went away when the performance was only half + over. Meanwhile the aspect of the arena itself, with the + Cathedral and its marvellous tower rising just above into the + sky, is a very striking sight, and one I should regret to have + missed. The processional entry, too, of the whole of the + performers--picadors, capeodors, espadas, &c. &c.--is very + picturesque and stately. It is when the goring and torturing + begins that the sight is revolting; and the enormous popularity + of this form of sport with a nation, not, that I am aware of, + exceptionally cruel, only shows how easily our worst instincts + stifle our better nature, such as it is. + + This is a prodigiously picturesque place, and I enjoy more than + I can say watching the Arabs swarming up the streets and + markets, stately and grand in their picturesqueness beyond any + population that I know, and particularly instructive and + valuable to an artist from the sculpturesque _definiteness_ of + their forms. The Jewish women here are said (by Ford) to be + prodigiously handsome. I have seen no Rebeccas amongst them yet. + I have not yet opened my box, and shall at best do little or + nothing; I have no time. Next week I shall be in Granada, from + where I hope to have to acknowledge a letter dated in Kensington + Park Gardens. Meanwhile I am, with best love to Lina and + yourself,--Yours affectionately, + + FRED. + + + GRANADA, _October 19, 1877_. + + MY DEAR PAPA,--To-morrow is my last day in Granada. On Sunday I + turn my face Londonward, and my holiday will be pretty nearly at + an end, as I have, from want of time, given up my original + intention of seeing Valencia, Alicante, Tarragona, &c. &c. + Travelling in Spain is so infinitely slower than I had + remembered it, and so ideally inconvenient in regard to hours of + starting and arriving, that my programme has altogether + undergone considerable modifications. I reached this place a + good week later than I expected, and I did not get your letter + till some days later yet, owing, I suppose, to the difficulty + experienced by the postal authorities in the art of reading. + This will account to you for the time that will have elapsed + between your receipt of my two epistles. I am truly sorry to + hear that poor Lina is below par; tell her so, with my love. As + you do not speak of yourself, I presume that you are in good + form, and am glad to hear it. There is one passage in your + letter which suggests to me a strong protest. I think it + preposterous that the ambulant spinsters, or otherwise, with + whom you foregather on your journeys, should expect _you_ to + furnish them with photos of your "celebrated son." I like + enthusiasm; but _genuine_ enthusiasm does not halt at a + shilling, which is the sum for which my effigy is obtainable in + the public market; _verb. sap._ I will not describe to you + Toledo, Cordova, Seville, Granada, &c. (under which heads see + Murray's guide-book). I have done so before (probably), and they + have altered less than I, with the exception, perhaps, of + Granada, or rather the Alhambra, which, alas! is changed indeed, + thanks to the restoring mania, and is now all but brand new. I + ought, perhaps, to remark that the changes in _me_ are not + precisely in that direction. Taking a bird's-eye view of my + holiday, I don't think I should call it altogether a success, + though I have had many very delightful moments, and have seen + many very beautiful things; but, in the first place, I have + failed to fulfil one of the special objects of my trip, that, + namely, of making a few sketches of sky effects, particularly + seaside skies, which I sorely want for my picture of the girls + and the skein of worsted. I have not done so, because I have not + _once_ seen anything even resembling the skies I mean, and which + are generally forthcoming at this season. The weather has indeed + of late been fine, often if not always, and here even, at + times, superb; but it is the before the rains, and not, as it + should be, the clear, keen, autumn weather, after the air has + been well swept and purged by the equinoctial broom and pail, + which I had a right to demand of a Mediterranean October. This + is a great disappointment. I did not want to _work_, and God + knows I have not (five little sketches in all!); but just this + document I did peremptorily require. In the second place, I have + been rather seedy (am all right now), not very, but enough to + poison my pleasure; and just so much that, after two or three + little amateur attempts (local apothecary, fellow-travellers, + &c. &c.), I thought it right (at Gibraltar) to see a doctor, not + _because_ I was ill, but _lest_ I should get worse and develop + more serious symptoms, as internal disturbance occasionally does + in hot countries. In a few days (and two large bottles of + physic) I was much better, and am now, I repeat, quite "myself" + again. + + But I perceive that this uninteresting twaddle has filled my + paper, and barely left me space to tell that I have been to + Africa, and shall be home on the 28th (evening). Yes, to Africa; + Tangiers in four hours' steam from Gibraltar, and a most + picturesque spot, of which more when we meet. On my way home I + shall spend part of a day in Madrid, in the hopes of seeing the + pictures this time. On my road through France I shall make a + short break at Poitiers. _Ą bientōt._--Affectionate son, + + FRED. + +During the nine years that Leighton was a Royal Academician he worked +most energetically in many directions towards establishing the +principles which he considered sound and essential to the growth of +the best Art instincts in England. He was one of the Professional +Examiners in Art from 1866 to 1875 at the Victoria and Albert Museum. +In 1884 he became one of the Art Referees for the Museum, and was +consulted by Sir Henry Cole to a considerable extent. He aided, as far +as lay in his power, all Art Societies to expand and to grow on the +lines of Catholicity. He was a member of the Committee of the Society +of Dilettanti, for the purpose of obtaining information as to the +probable success of renewed search for monuments of Greek Art. The +following extract from a report proves what an active part he took in +the business of the society:-- + + "In the autumn of the same year two hundred cases of + inscriptions and sculptures from Priene were transported from + Priene to Smyrna, and thence conveyed to England in H.M.S. + _Antelope_. In March 1870 the society presented these marbles to + the trustees of the British Museum. In May 1870 the committee, + then consisting of Earl Somers, Lord Houghton, Mr. Watkiss + Lloyd, Mr. Penrose, Mr. Cartwright, Mr. Leighton, and Mr. + Newton, held several meetings. The committee at their meetings + went carefully over all the drawings and details obtained by the + society of the Temple of Bacchus at Teos, Apollo Smintheus, and + Minerva Polias at Priene; they were of opinion that they would + form an interesting and valuable publication, and should be + proceeded with as soon as possible, and executed in a style + worthy of the former productions of the society. Mr. Leighton + offered to redraw the sculpture on some of the friezes, and Lord + Somers to prepare the landscape illustrations." + +In 1871 the President of the Artist Benevolent Fund, Mr. J.K. Kempton +Hope, wrote to Leighton: "I am peculiarly proud that the first act +which I have to perform in my new character is to say how honoured and +grateful we all should be if you would kindly consent to accept the +position of Vice-President." + +The following letter to his father announces that Leighton had been +elected President of the International Jury of Painting, Paris +Exhibition, 1878:-- + + HŌTEL WESTMINSTER, 1878, + _Friday_. + + DEAR PAPA,--I have been waiting to write till I should have + something to say beyond the fact that the weather is odious, and + shows no signs of relenting. On Saturday afternoon we had our + meeting of the Royal Commissioners, which had for its object the + hearing of an address from the Prince of Wales. On Monday + morning the _whole_ International Jury (some six hundred or + seven hundred members) met at the Ministčre de Commerce, and was + little more than formal. _To-day_ the group of sections which + are concerned with Art held its first meeting under the + presidency of Signor Tullio Massarani, an Italian, with + Meissonier as Vice-President, the chief object of the meeting + being to inform the various sections of the groups whom the + Minister had appointed as their respective presidents. My + section, composed of forty members, is _Paintings and Drawings_; + there are twenty Frenchmen--nearly all the first artists of the + country, in fact--and you will be surprised and very much + gratified to learn that I was named president of this section--a + very high honour, of course, and one of which I am extremely + sensible, but which we must not misinterpret; it is, of course, + only by an act of international courtesy that the French placed + a foreigner at the head of their section, and amongst the other + foreign artists there were few names of much weight or standing; + still, it is a courtesy which will, I am sure, give you + pleasure. Our section being thus constituted, we then appointed + our own _vice_-president, reporter, and secretary; they were + unanimously elected; the first was my old friend, Robert Fleury; + the second was Emile de Savelege, the Belgian writer whom you + know of; and the third an old and kind friend of mine, Maurice + Cottier, a man much mixed up in the official artistic world and + possessing a magnificent picture gallery. To-morrow we begin our + labours at the Exhibition, and in the afternoon I shall go to + the _séance_ of the _Institut_, which always takes place on + Saturdays. This is my budget. + +Perhaps the most important work inside the Academy which Leighton +effected during this time was that of establishing the winter +exhibitions of Old Masters at Burlington House. No one exemplified +practically better than did Leighton the value of the motto, "What is +worth having is worth sharing." He had been fed from early youth from +the fountain-heads of Art, and one of his first objects after being +elected a member of the Royal Academy was to endeavour to secure the +same inspiring stimulus for students which he had himself imbibed from +the work of the greatest men. He told me also that his chief object in +making conscientious studies in colour when he travelled, was to +endeavour to convey to students who were not able to go abroad some +idea of the varieties in the aspects of nature found in different +countries. Leighton was much appreciated in London society, but the +_intimes_ of the old Roman days remained still the nucleus of his +friendships; also every year he tried to find himself in his beloved +Italy, and he generally succeeded. From his old friend Lady William +Russell, mother of Odo Russell (afterwards Lord Ampthill and +Leighton's ally in Rome), and Arthur Russell--the notable lady whose +charm attracted to her _salon_ all that was most interesting among the +magnates of Europe--two notes record her affection for Leighton and +the death of Henry Greville in 1872, the severest blow which Leighton +had sustained since the death of his mother. + + I was in hopes of seeing you, to thank you _vivā voce_ for the + _ambrosia_ you sent me from Italy. I did _not_ write during your + pictorial tour, not exactly knowing _where_ you might be. It + was, _and is_, for I have some still, _excellent_; Paolo + Veronese did not eat any better, nor Titian, nor any of your + _Brethren in Apollo_. + + _Guido_ you _are_--the English Guido--but _not_ "da Polenta"; I + will _not_ accept that "terre ą terre" denomination. I now thank + you most gratefully--it was one of the seven works of mercy, for + I really could not eat and was _starving_. The Indian cornflour + was a _renovation_. If ever you can make up your mind to pay a + visit to una povera vealisa--zoppa--sorda--brutta and seccante, + and forget "_Aurora_," I shall be charmed. But I know that your + time is better employed; so a million of thanks, and as many + regrets not to be able to see your _marvels_ of which I + hear.--Believe me, most sincerely your obliged Serva and Amica, + + E.A.R. + 2 AUDLEY SQUARE MAYFAIR, W. + _Sunday, 26th November 1871_. + + + DEAR GUIDO (but _not_ of Polenta),--I have been quite + _mortified_ at your neglect of me, and invoked the muses in + vain! and call'd on the ghosts of Titian and Raffael, but they + did not heed my sighs! I am always glad to see you, and wish I + could _see your works_! All my cotemporaries and comrades are + dying off, and I _cannot_ last long--so come to my "Evenings at + Home" when you dine in my "Quartier" and are going to your club. + + Alas! for dear Henry Greville! I knew him from his most early + youth. _Both_ his parents were my _early_ friends from _my_ + youth, and his elder brother my cotemporary. + + Come! Benvenuto Cellini--venite! + + _Monday, February 1873._ + +Leighton's passion for music led him to encourage all that was best in +instrumental as well as in vocal performance. The Monday Popular +Concerts were started by Messrs. Chappell in 1859, the first being +given on the 3rd January. From their commencement Leighton was a +subscriber, and very rarely missed being present. + +It was in the 'seventies that Leighton instituted those yearly feasts +of music, which were among the real treats of the year.[54] His dear +friend Joachim was to the end the _pičce de résistance_ of these +gatherings. Never did the Great Master seem so inspired as when he +played in that studio. Leighton wrote to his sister, Mrs. Matthews, +April 1871:-- + + DEAREST GUSSY,--You heard, no doubt, that I gave a party the + other day, and that it went off well. To me perhaps the most + striking thing of the evening was Joachim's playing of Bach's + "Chacone" up in my gallery. I was at the other end of the room, + and the effect from the distance of the dark figure in the + uncertain light up there, and barely relieved from the gold + background and dark recess, struck me as one of the most poetic + and fascinating things that I remember. At the opposite end of + the room in the apse was a blazing crimson rhododendron tree, + which looked glorious where it reached up into the golden + semi-dome. Madame Viardot sang the "Divinités du Styx," from the + "Alcestis," quite magnificently, and then, later in the evening, + a composition of her own in which I delight--a Spanish-Arab + ditty, with a sort of intermittent mandoline scraping + accompaniment. It is the complaint of some forsaken woman, and + wanders and quavers in a doleful sort of way that calls up to me + in a startling manner visions and memories of Cadiz and Cordova, + and sunny distant lands that smell of jasmine. A little Miss + Brandes, a pupil of Madame Schumann, played too. She is full of + talent and promise, and has had an immense success. Mme. Joachim + sang "Mignon" (Beethoven) excellently. + + [Illustration: Sketch executed on the spot by Mr. Theodore Blake + Wirgman of their Majesties the King and Queen attending a + Popular Concert in St. James's Hall, Lord Leighton being one of + the Royal party. About 1893.] + +Mrs. Watts Hughes writes the following notes relating to those years +of the 'seventies:-- + + I remember the incident you refer to at Eton College. The + _Orfeo_ performance was given by the Eton boys, who had formed a + society among themselves with the view of making acquaintance + with the music of the great masters. I took the part of _Orfeo_, + and a niece of Darwin's, Miss Wedgwood, who is now Lady Farrer, + sang Euridice's part. I believe Lord Leighton sang in some of + the quartettes and choruses. I often met Lord Leighton at Mrs. + Sartoris' musical gatherings at her house in Park Place, St. + James', when he would sing very heartily the tenor parts of the + old madrigals, in which also Mrs. Douglas Freshfield, Miss + Ritchie, and others took part with Mrs. Sartoris, who on some + occasions would sing one of her great operatic _Arias_ which + brought her so much fame in her former years. + +In 1877 Leighton began to build the famous Arab Hall.[55] + +The following letters from Sir Richard Burton refer to the collecting +and sending of one instalment of the precious tiles:-- + + DAMASCUS, _March 22, 1871_. + + DEAR MR. LEIGHTON,--I have just returned from a pilgrimage to + Jerusalem, or yours of April 14th, 1871, would not have remained + so long unanswered. And now to business. I am quite as willing + to have a house pulled down for you now as when at Vichy,[56] + but the difficulty is to find a house with tiles. The + _bric-ą-brac_ sellers have quite learned their value, and demand + extravagant sums for poor articles. Of course you want good old + specimens, and these are waxing very rare. My friends, Drake and + Palmer, were lucky enough, when at Jerusalem, to nobble a score + or so from the so-called Mosque of Omar. Large stores are + there found, but unhappily under charge of the Wakf, and I fancy + that long payments would be required. However, I shall send your + letter to my colleague, Moore, who will do what he can for you. + The fact is, it is a work of patience. My wife and I will keep a + sharp look-out for you, and buy up as many as we can find which + seem to answer your description. If native inscriptions--white + or blue, for instance--are to be had, I shall secure them, but + not if imperfect. Some clearing away of rubbish is expected at + Damascus; the Englishman who superintends is a friend of mine, + and I shall not neglect to get from him as much as possible. + + We met Holman Hunt at Jerusalem; he was looking a little worn, + like a veritable denizen of the Holy City. I hope that you have + quite recovered health. Swinburne, the papers say, has been + sick; his "Songs before Sunrise" show even more genius than + "Poems and Ballads." What has become of Mrs. Sartoris? I saw her + son's appointment in the papers. Poor Vichy must be quite + ruined--veritably it was a Cockney hole. Syria is a poor Chili; + the Libanus is a mole-hill compared with the Andes--do you + remember? I am planning a realistic book which has no Holy Land + on the brain, and the public will curse her like our army in + Flanders. Pilgrims see everything through a peculiar medium, and + tourists shake hands (like madmen) when they sight the Plain of + Esdraelon or Sharon, as the case may be. + + _N.B._--Both plains are like the poorer parts of our midland + counties. My wife joins in kind remembrances.--Ever yours + sincerely, + + RICHARD F. BURTON. + + [Illustration: PORTRAIT OF SIR RICHARD BURTON, K.C.M.G. 1876] + + + TRIESTE, _July 13, 1876_. + + MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--One word to say that the tiles are packed, + and will be sent by the first London steamer--opportunities are + rare here. Some are perfect, many are broken; but they will make + a bit of mosaic after a little trimming, and illustrate the + difference between Syriac and Sindi. They are taken from the + tomb (Moslem) of Sakhar, on the Indus. I can give you analysis + of glaze if you want it; but I fancy you don't care for + analyses. The yellow colour is by far the rarest and least + durable apparently. The blues are the favourites and the best. + + Here we are living in a typhoon of lies. I am losing patience, + and shall probably bolt to Belgrade in search of truth. Austria + is behaving in her usual currish manner, allowing her policy to + be managed by a minority of light-headed, Paddy-whack Magyars + and pudding-headed, beer-brained Austro-Germans. How all Europe + funks the Slavs, and how well the latter are beginning to know + it. + + Very grand of _la grande Bretagne_ to propose occupying Egypt + without any army to speak of. Sorry that you don't understand + the force of the expression, the "world generally," but will try + some time or other to make it clear. United best regards and + wishes. Why don't you take a holiday to Turkey?--Ever yours, + + R.F. BURTON. + + _P.S._--I hear that W. Wright has subsided into an Irish + conventicle, and that Green doesn't like prospect of returning + to Dan! + +The construction of this thing of beauty, the Arab Hall, is a visible +and permanent proof of the side in Leighton's artistic endowments +which are so rarely found in northern, or indeed any modern nations, +and the want of which are gradually leading our world into being very +ugly--namely, the sense of the appropriate, of balance, of proportion, +and of harmony in the construction and decoration of buildings. As an +adherent of the pre-Raphaelites, William Morris had been battling with +this tasteless condition of things for some years--strenuously working +to counteract the unmeaning adaptations of foreign designs of all +times and of all countries into English work, and the general +muddledom into which the decoration in the surroundings of domestic +life had fallen, by starting afresh on the lines of simple good +designs of English pre-Puritan days. Leighton's taste had been +inspired, in the first instance, by the crafts as well as by the art +of Italy. Subsequently, the East had fascinated him. He admired +greatly the frank, courageous beauty in the colouring of the +decorations of her buildings; but, having an acute sense of the +appropriate, he felt that they would not harmonise successfully with +the necessary surroundings of English domestic life. He was +therefore inspired to erect a special shrine for his collection of +enamels. It has been truly said that the Arab Hall is as notable a +creation in Art as any of Leighton's pictures or statues. The beauty +of its effect is greatly enhanced by the arrangement of light and +shade which leads on to the wonderfully beautiful casket of treasures. +Monsieur Choisy, the distinguished French architect, wrote as follows +in the _Times_ of April 27, 1896, when advocating the preservation of +this house for the public: "Nowhere have I found in an architectural +monument a happier gradation of effects, nor a more complete knowledge +of the play of light. The entrance to the house is by a plain hall +that leads to a '_patio_' lit from the sky, where enamels shine +brilliantly in the full light; from this 'patio' one passes into a +twilight corridor, where enamel and gold detach themselves from an +architectural ground of richness somewhat severe; it is a transition +which prepares the eye for a jewel of Oriental Art, where the most +brilliant productions of the Persian potter are set in architectural +frame inspired by Arab Art, but treated freely; the harmony is so +perfect that one asks oneself if the architecture has been conceived +for the enamels, or the enamels for the hall. This gradation, perhaps +unique in contemporary architecture, was Leighton's idea; and the +illustrious painter found in his old friend Mr. G. Aitchison, who +built his house, a worthy interpreter of his fine conception. This +hall, where colour is triumphant, was dear to Leighton, and even forms +the background to some of his pictures. Towards the end of his life he +still meant to embellish it by substituting marble for that small part +that was only painted. The generous employment of his fortune alone +prevented him from realising his intention. + +"England has at all times given the example of honouring great men; +she will, I am sure, find the means of preserving for Art a monument +of which she has such reason to be proud."[57] + + [Illustration: VIEW OF ARAB HALL. 1906] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[42] In the Leighton House Collection is a splendid study for the +wrestling figure of Heracles, also for the recumbent Alcestis, and the +drapery for the phantom figure of Death. The figure of Heracles, fine +as it is in the picture, lacks somewhat of the ardent quality in the +action of the sketch. Owing to the public-spirited generosity of its +owner, the late Right Hon. Sir Bernhard Samuelson, this picture has +travelled all over the world for exhibition. It was also lent to +Leighton House for more than a year in 1901. + +[43] In the Leighton House Collection is a head in oils (presented by +the late Alfred Waterhouse, R.A.) which Leighton painted actually by +moonlight in Rome, as a study for one of the figures in "Summer Moon." +See List of Illustrations. + +[44] See study for picture in Leighton House Collection. + +[45] Leighton had a cast made of this, and his copy is still in the +collection in his house. Another copy he gave to Watts, who admired it +beyond measure. Watts recounted to me that so preciously did he value +it, that, not daring to expose it to the danger of housemaids' dusting, +he carefully wrapped it up in handkerchiefs and put it in a drawer. One +day, alas! forgetting it was there, in a hurry, he pulled the bundle of +handkerchiefs out; it fell to the floor and was smashed. + +[46] _The Athenęum_ described the work when it appeared. "There is the +grandeur of Greek tragedy in Mr. Leighton's 'Clytemnestra watching for +the signal of her husband's return from Troy.' The time is deep in the +fateful night, while the city sleeps; moonlight floods the walls, the +roofs, the gates, and the towers with a ghastly glare, which seems +presageful, and casts shadows as dark as they are mysterious and +terrible. The dense blue of the sky is dim, sad, and ominous. But the +most ominous and impressive element of the picture is a grim +figure--the tall woman on the palace roof before us, who looks Titanic +in her stateliness, and huge beyond humanity in the voluminous white +drapery that wraps her limbs and bosom. Her hands are clenched and her +arms thrust down straight and rigidly, each finger locked as in a +struggle to strangle its fellow; the muscles swell on the bulky limbs. +Drawn erect and with set features, which are so pale that the moonlight +could not make them paler, the queen stares fixedly and yet eagerly +into the distance, as if she had the will to look over the very edge of +the world for the light to come." + +[47] The Hon. Mrs. Grenfell. + +[48] Purchased by the trustees of the Chantrey Bequest and placed in +the Tate Gallery. + +[49] Leighton gave this group to Watts, who expressed to me an +unbounded admiration for it. "Nothing more beautiful has ever been +done! Pheidias never did anything better. I believe it was better even +than Pheidias!" were the words Watts used when deploring the fact that +he had lent it to a sculptor to be cast--something had gone wrong in +the process of casting, and it had been destroyed. When giving me the +modelled sketch for the "Python," Watts said, "I am giving you the most +beautiful thing I have in my place." + +[50] The group of singing girls modelled as a study for "The +Daphnephoria." + +[51] See complete list in Appendix. + +[52] The "Arts of War" lunette was commenced in 1870 and finished in +1880. The "Arts of Peace," begun in 1881, was completed in 1886. An +account of these two frescoes appeared in the _Magazine of Art_ written +by Mr. J. Ward, the master of the Macclesfield School of Art, who +assisted Leighton in the work. + +[53] In a letter from Mr. J.G. Hodgson, A.R.A., praises are bestowed on +this picture and the "Moorish Garden" at the expense of "Clytemnestra" +and the "Antique Juggling Girl." The letter is a good example of the +criticisms which Leighton's serious work often received--that work in +which, nevertheless, he was most true to himself. The ordinary English +eye neither longed for nor appreciated Leighton's native Hellenic +strain. + + 5 HILL ROAD, + _Friday, April 4, 1874_. + + MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--I was immensely delighted with your two + pictures of the Jew's house and the Alhambra ("Moorish Garden: A + Dream of Granada"). I was at the opera last night, but thought + much less of Crispin and his Comara than of them; they are quite + charming, and excite me with the desire of emulation, at that + safe distance which is inherent in the nature of things. For + your "Clytemnestra" and the other ("Antique Juggling Girl"), I, + being a Philister, care nothing at all. From those to turn to + these, seems like leaving a garden fragrant with roses and + citron blossoms, where I hear the murmur of cooling streams, + Abanah and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, to enter a museum filled + with dusty plaster casts. + + After all, the woes of the house of Atreus are now of very + little importance to mankind, or interest either. The most of + the latter they possess, is that they serve as themes for some + good Greek play, which had better have been burnt, as they have + hampered the genius of modern Europe and taught us nothing. Had + only Homer and the lyrics survived, we should have done better. + At all events, if a man must illustrate, why does he not + illustrate Shakespeare, a bigger man head and shoulders than any + of the Greek tragedists? But it appears to me you are made for a + much better and more intellectual purpose than illustrating + anybody. You have the eye to see and power to represent what you + see. You have special gifts and faculties highly trained. The + aspect of nature, as it appears to such a mind, would be of the + highest intellectual value to us, and would lead to progress. I + don't think modern art differs from that of any other day. It + has always been the effort to represent what is seen every day, + bringing to bear upon the representation the greatest possible + amount of culture, _i.e._ of reflection and selection. The women + and that dear little girl in the courtyard of your Jew's house + will outlive all the "Clytemnestras," &c.; they live with blood + in their veins, the others are but galvanised corpses. There I + have had it out; you must not complain, because you have had to + apologise for slashing into me, and now it is my turn. In the + prologue to Goethe's "Faust," if you remember, the poet, a + stubborn fellow, has his notions of the high aim of his art. He + will do nothing but what is extremely sublime, &c. The clown + quite agrees that such things may possibly do for the future, + but who, says he, is to amuse the present? I am that sort of + clown, I suppose. Don't be riled, and believe me,--Very much + your admiring friend, + + J.G. HODGSON. + +[54] Mr. William Spottiswoode wrote of one of these:-- + + "DEAR LEIGHTON,--Best of thanks from Mrs. Spottiswoode and + myself for another of the happiest day-dreams of the year, viz. + your afternoons at home." + +[55] Mr. Aitchison, R.A., wrote: "During his visits to Rhodes, to +Cairo, and Damascus, he made a large collection of lovely Saracenic +tiles, and had besides bought two inscriptions, one of the most +delicate colour and beautiful design, and the other sixteen feet long +and strikingly magnificent, besides getting some panels, stained glass, +and lattice-work from Damascus afterwards; these were fitted into an +Arab Hall, something like La Zira at Palermo, in 1877." + +The Arab Hall was begun November 1877, virtually completed by the end +of 1879, but some small matters not till 1881. Materials--Bastard +statuary, _i.e._ the marble columns in the angle recesses. These caps +are of alabaster, designed by George Aitchison, R.A., and modelled by +Sir E. Boehm. The large columns are of Caserta marble, caps of stone, +birds modelled by Caldecott; column niches lined with Devonshire spar; +dado, Irish black; string, Irish green, and bases of small columns. +Those of the large columns are of Genoa green and Belgian blue; the +marble lining behind big columns is of Pyrennean green, and the panel +overhead; the lintel of Irish red. The marble work was done by White & +Son, Vauxhall Bridge Road. Mosaic floor, designed by George Aitchison, +R.A.; executed by Messrs. Burke & Co., who replaced fountain of white +marble with the single slab of Belgian black. Chandelier, designed by +G.A. Aitchison, R.A., executed by Forrest & Son, now extinct. The +lattices to the lower part of the gallery designed by George Aitchison, +R.A. + +Sir Caspar P. Clarke wrote: "I was commissioned in 1876, by the +authorities at South Kensington, to proceed to the East to buy artistic +objects for the Museum. Before I started Leighton asked me, if I went +to Damascus, to go to certain houses and try to effect the purchase of +certain tiles. I had no difficulty in finding my market, for Leighton, +with his customary precision, had accurately indicated every point +about the dwellings concerned, and their treasures. I returned with a +precious load, and in it some large family tiles, the two finest of +which are built into the sides of the alcove of the Arab Hall. Leighton +made no difficulty about the price, and insisted upon paying double +what I had given. He never spoke of picking things up cheap, and +scouted the idea of 'bargains in Art objects.'" + +[56] Leighton, Sir Richard Burton, Algernon Swinburne, and Adelaide +Sartoris passed some weeks together at Vichy in September 1869. +Swinburne wrote in 1875: "We all owe so much to Leighton for the +selection and intention of his subjects--always noble, always +beautiful--and these are always worthy of a great and grave +art."--"Essays and Studies," A.C. Swinburne. + +[57] Letters from Lord and Lady Strangford to Leighton exist on matters +concerning the East, on which both were great authorities. + +"Will you accept," Lady Strangford wrote, "as a token of my admiration +of your house, a piece of ancient Persian needlework? It is really old, +and it is said that they no longer do anything of the kind in Persia, +and that these pieces are valuable. I do not know if this is true or +not, but _if_ you _like_ the thing, please use it among the many +treasures you have already accumulated. It is to my eyes a nice bit of +harmonious colouring. Let it say to you how much, how very much, I +enjoyed your sketches.--Yours very truly, + + E.A. STRANGFORD. + +"_P.S._--I bought the work from a Persian at Antioch." + +To Professor Church Mr. Aitchison wrote after Leighton's death: "I +cannot urge the preservation of his home and surroundings, as I built +the house, for there are always too many to attribute low motives to +everybody, and it would be called personal advertisement; though when +one's work is done it becomes almost impersonal, and if it did not, the +fact remains the same, that here he (Leighton) lived and drew part of +his culture and inspiration from his surroundings. As a mere matter of +reverence, how many would come from all parts of the civilised world to +see his abode!" + + [Illustration: PROFESSOR GIOVANNI COSTA + Painted at Lerici, October 1878] + + + + +CHAPTER V + +LEIGHTON AS PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY + +1878-1896 + + +Leighton was at Lerici in the autumn of 1878, visiting his dear old +friend Giovanni Costa ("an artist in a hundred--a man in ten +thousand," were Leighton's words describing him), when he received a +telegram stating that Sir Francis Grant was dead. "The President is +dead! Long live the President!" exclaimed Costa. Leighton remained in +Italy, sketching landscapes and painting heads--one, the portrait of +Costa--till his holiday was over, the end of October. On the 18th of +November he was elected President of the Royal Academy. Thirty-five +Academicians voted for Leighton, five for Mr. Horsley. + +Leighton wrote to his younger sister:-- + + 1878. + + DEAREST GUSSY,--You perhaps have heard from Lina that I had an + overwhelming majority, and that the outer world beyond artistic + has warmly received my election, which is of course infinitely + gratifying, but fills me with a dread of disappointing + everybody. Monday I go to Windsor to be knighted. Yes, I got a + first-class gold medal for my statue[58]--at least, it was + awarded, and I shall get it some time. I also don't mind telling + you in _strict confidence_--because it is not yet a _fait + accompli_--that I am, I believe, to have the "ruban" of an + Officier de la Légion d'Honneur. I am so glad, dear, your wrists + are better--may they keep so. Love to old Joseph (Joseph + Joachim) when you see him. + +Most treasured of all congratulations were doubtless these lines from +his beloved master, Steinle:-- + + _Translation._] + FRANKFURT AM MAIN, + _December 1, 1878_. + + DEAR AND HONOURED FRIEND,--To-day I have read in the paper that + the choice of President of the Royal Academy has fallen upon + you, and since I am convinced that this distinguished position + is both appropriate to your services to art, and also certainly + well merited, you must permit an old friend, who remains bound + to you in love only, to offer you his dearest and warmest good + wishes upon this honour. I pray God, that your position may + provide you with great power in your country for good so as to + enable you to encourage the noblest things in art. I am + convinced that you, dear friend, will make a right and fruitful + use of it. I often set my pupils to make enlarged drawings of + single groups from your medieval Equipment for the Defence of + the Town,[59] and rejoice in the admirable studies which you + made for that cartoon. I, dear friend, am in my old age still + active and industrious, and would gladly go on learning. Should + God grant life, I shall next year complete my work on the + Strassburg master, which will demand all my love and strength. + Here we have now built a new gallery, on the other side of the + river Main, and a new studio. The collections are good, and more + suitably accommodated than heretofore, and there is no want of + space for future additions. Perhaps one of your journeys will + bring you again to the old Main town, and so to the arms of your + old friend. My dear President, I repeat my good wishes, and + remain with all my heart, your truly devoted, + + EDW. STEINLE. + +From his birthplace Leighton received the following announcement:-- + + BOROUGH OF SCARBOROUGH. + + At a meeting of the Council of the Borough of Scarborough, in + the County of York, held in the Town Hall in the said Borough, + on Monday the ninth day of December, 1878,-- + + Present,-- + THE MAYOR (W.C. LAND, Esq.) in the chair,-- + + It was moved by the Mayor, seconded by Alderman Woodall, and + resolved unanimously: "That this Council learns with peculiar + satisfaction and pleasure of the election of a native of + Scarborough, in the person of SIR FREDERIC LEIGHTON, to the + Presidency of the Royal Academy, and respectfully offers to Sir + Frederic its warm congratulations, and records its conviction + that his great talents as an artist, his attainments as a + scholar, and his many striking qualifications, eminently fit him + to adorn the high position to which he has been called." + + W.C. LAND, Mayor. + +Robert Browning wrote:-- + + 19 WARWICK CRESCENT, W., + _November 14, 1878_. + + DEAR LEIGHTON,--I wish you joy with all my heart, and + congratulate us all on your election. There ought to have been + no sort of doubt as to the result, but the best of us are + misconceived sometimes, though in your case never was a right + more incontestable. All I hope is that your new duties will in + no way interfere with the practice of your Art. I only venture + to write, now, as one who, so many a year ago, saw your + beginning with "Cimabue," and from that time to this remained + confident what your career would be. But you know all this, and + it requires no answer, being rather a spurt of satisfaction at + my own original discernment than any assurance which I can fancy + you need from,--Yours very truly, + + ROBERT BROWNING. + + Pen's letter to me, two days since, contained his earnest wishes + for what has just happened, and he will be delighted + accordingly. + +From Matthew Arnold:-- + + ATHENĘUM CLUB, PALL MALL, S.W., + _November 15_. + + MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--One line (which you need not answer) to say + how delighted I am to see what an excellent choice the Royal + Academy has made. + + I only hope poor O'Conor may not take advantage of the occasion + to plant an ode and a letter.--Ever sincerely yours, + + MATTHEW ARNOLD. + +From Hubert Herkomer:-- + + _November 27, 1878._ + + MY DEAR SIR FREDERIC LEIGHTON,--I am just recovering from an + attack of brain fever, and although I am not allowed yet to + write, I can no longer wait without dictating a letter to + express my own individual pleasure at your being the new + President. + + Three years ago you wrote me a letter after seeing my "Chelsea + Pensioners." Perhaps you little dreamt of the tears of joy that + that letter caused in a young painter, who will always feel that + he owes you a debt of gratitude; and now he glories in your + being the chief of that body which attracts to it all the + principal art of the country. All England feels that you, from + your new position, will give new life to it. Perhaps you will + allow me, when I am sufficiently recovered, to come and see you. + + In the meantime believe me to be, with most heartfelt + congratulations,--Sincerely yours, + + A.H., _pro_ HUBERT HERKOMER. + SIR FREDERIC LEIGHTON, P.R.A. + +A friend writes:-- + + _November 15._ + + DEAR MR. LEIGHTON,--I have tried to keep silence, telling myself + that it cannot matter what I think or feel on the subject (and + that it may seem to you a very unnecessary proceeding!); but I + _cannot_ resist the temptation to tell you how warmly I rejoice, + and how earnestly I congratulate _myself_ and all other + hungerers after wholesome beauty of colour and form, and high + ideals of greatness and purity, on your acceptance of a position + that one may hope will, nay must, influence the Art of this time + for good in every sense. One takes a great breath of relief as + one thinks of it! + + Were I to describe to you the effect your works produce on me, + and the feeling of real reverence I have for them, I should + appear to exaggerate, and should certainly bore you, so I will + say no more! and I am not given to that sort of thing. + + My beloved Lady Waterford was much disappointed that you could + not come and meet her; I need not say, so were we: it was a + great enjoyment to have her, she is like no one else; and I yet + hope you may come and meet here some day. Pray do not answer + this; of course you are overwhelmed with business, and it would + hurt me to have it considered and acknowledged as a + complimentary civility! whereas it is nothing but an involuntary + overflowing to relieve my mind. + +From Lord Coleridge:-- + + 1 SUSSEX SQUARE, W., + _November 24, 1878_. + + MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--Let me add one voice more, small but true, to + the great chorus of applause with which your election has been + greeted. It might seem left-handed praise to say that your + election was the only possible one; but it is very true praise + to say it was the only possible one if the highest interests of + English Art, and of the Academy itself, were the sole object of + the electors. + + It would have pleased and touched you to hear old Boxall speak + of it. I dined with him alone on Friday, and he was just and + generous, as he always is, in his appreciation of you, and + looked forward to your reign as likely to be one of high aims + and noble motives. It is a small thing to say, but I venture to + agree with him.--Ever sincerely yours, + + COLERIDGE. + +These are a few among many hundred congratulatory letters Leighton +received on his election. One from Mrs. Fanny Kemble he answered in +the following March, when already he was beset by requests to use his +influence to get friends' friends' work hung on the walls of the +Academy:-- + + _March 20, 1879._ + + DEAR MRS. KEMBLE,--Many thanks for your very amiable words of + congratulations on the honour done me by the Royal Academy. The + kind sympathy shown towards me by my friends had added very + greatly indeed to the pleasure my election gave me. The belief + entertained by Miss ---- that the admission of works to an + exhibition is a simple matter of personal favour, is shared by + all foreigners--and I fear by many English people--and places me + at this time of year in much and often painful embarrassment. So + robust is this belief, that those who, having applied to me, + fail to find their works on our walls ascribe their absence to + personal unfriendliness or discourtesy on my part, or, to say + the least, to lukewarmness. As a matter of fact each work of art + is admitted or rejected by a separate vote of the Council, and + that in complete ignorance (except where authorship _saute aux + yeux_) of the artist's name. This applies equally to English + painters and foreign artists who reside here. In regard, + however, to foreigners sending _from abroad_, whilst the vote is + taken in the same way, admission is much more difficult. We have + so many Anglo-foreign painters who live amongst us that, our + Exhibition not being international, we can only admit a very + limited number of really prize works. These works are therefore + brought before us separately, and a small number of them + selected, according to the space we have to deal with; I myself + as a rule dissuade my foreign friends from sending except in + cases where their merit is really very great; this may be Miss + ---- case; you will best know. I am quite sure, my dear Mrs. + Kemble, that you do not doubt the pleasure it would give me to + serve you in the person of your friend, and will not + misinterpret these lengthy explanations. + + And now I have a favour to ask of you. On Wednesday the 26th, at + 3 o'clock in the afternoon, Joe will, I hope, play at my studio, + and with him Miss Janotha and Piatti; Henschel will, I hope, + sing. Will you give me the great pleasure of seeing you amongst + my friends on that occasion?--Believe me always, yours very + truly, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + +On December 10, 1879, Leighton delivered his first address to the +students of the Royal Academy--one of the finest of the many fine +achievements of Leighton's life. "Purely practical and technical +matters" he put aside to look into a wider and deeper question, that +of the position of Art in its relation to the world at large in the +present and in the past time, in order to gather something of its +prospects in the future. If the question why Leighton held +indisputably the great position he did were asked me by one who for a +first time had heard his name, I should be inclined to answer, +"Because he contained within him the combined powers to execute +completely the art which he created, and to think out and feel such +profound, sympathetic, and wise truths as those to be found in this +address."[60] + +Among the large number of appreciative letters Leighton received were +the following. + +Millais wrote:-- + + 2 PALACE GATE, KENSINGTON, + _December 11, 1879_. + + DEAR LEIGHTON,--I was suffering all yesterday with tooth-ache, + otherwise I would have attended the distribution last night. The + ceremony is always most interesting to me, awakening as it does + many anxious and happy recollections. My object in writing to + you is to say I have read your address, which I think so + beautiful, true, and _useful_ that I cannot but obey an impulse + of congratulating you upon it. For some time past I have been + putting down notes on Art which some day may be put into form, + and I find we are thinking precisely in the same way. I have + used identical words in what I have written to those you + delivered yesterday. + + The exponents of Art surround it in such a cloud of mystery + that it is a real gain when a practical authority is able to say + something definite and clear the way.--Yours sincerely, + + J.E. MILLAIS. + +His poet-friend wrote:-- + + WOODBERRIE, LOUGHTON, ESSEX, + _December 11, 1883_. + + MY DEAR SIR FREDERIC,--Have any of the multitude of men who love + you ever called you Chrysostom? It seems so natural after + reading yesterday's address. Will it be published by itself and + obtainable in some handier form than the broadsheet of the + _Times_? I want it as part of the education of my daughter, who + now, at sixteen, is beginning to take a new interest in + whatsoever things are lovely and of good report, and I want it + for myself, for in its lovely suggestiveness and exquisite + English I could often find refreshment when I wanted (and + needed) to "travel in the realms of gold," and forget my own + invalided personality under the magic of such guidance. + + My wife desires me to say a word of gracious remembrance to you, + and I am ever, faithfully yours, + + ROBIN ALLEN. + +Mr. Briton Rivičre: + + FLAXLEY, 82 FINCHLEY ROAD, N.W., + _December 11, 1879_. + + DEAR SIR FREDERIC,--After hearing your admirable address last + night, I came home in despair, for what little basis of thought + is contained in my lectures (more especially in the second one) + is built chiefly upon two or three of the lines of argument that + you have already expressed so beautifully: Sincerity in the + student--The effect of his own time upon him--That time in its + relation to the time of the Old Masters, and the temper of mind + in which the Old Masters should be studied; on these points my + lectures are but a feeble echo of what I heard last night. + + My first thought was to change my whole line of battle, and + re-write them, but the extreme limitation of my powers of work + would make this too great a sacrifice. To throw them up + altogether, which I should much like, is impossible, for I am + pledged to the Academy to do my best. + + Clearly, I must go on, but I shall do so more easily now that I + have explained my position, so that if any one who hears me + should tell you that my lectures were only a parody of what you + had already said so well, you will believe that it has been the + misfortune and not the fault of yours very truly, + + BRITON RIVIČRE. + + Don't trouble to answer this. + +Matthew Arnold:-- + + ATHENĘUM CLUB, PALL MALL, + _April 19, 1880_. + + MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--You have been _better_ than your word, for I + see you have made me the actual possessor of your "address." + From the glance I have already taken at it, I see that I shall + both like it and you with it; but of this I might have been sure + beforehand. A thousand thanks, and believe me, always sincerely + yours, + + MATTHEW ARNOLD. + +The scheme Leighton formed, when first considering the duty among all +others he undertook,[61] of addressing the students at the biennial +meetings, was begun and continued in the nine addresses he gave, but +unfortunately it could not be completed, a fact he sorely regretted +when discussing the question with me three months before his death. On +December 10, 1879, "The position of Art in the World" was the subject. +In 1881, "Relation of Art to Time, Place, and Racial Conditions; +Underlying Mystery of its Growth and Decay." In 1885, "Summary of +Foregoing Lecture." In 1887, "Art in Medięval and Modern Italy." In +1889, "Relation of Artistic Production to Surrounding Conditions +considered in reference to Spain." In 1891, "The Art of France: its +uninterrupted development; its wide field; eminent achievement in +Architecture; the Gothic style." In 1893, "The Art of Germany: its +high qualities; deficient Ęsthetic Inspiration." The tenth was to have +consisted, Leighton told me, in a summing up of the nine former +addresses, in order to prove how they had affected the past and +present condition of Art in England. To any thoughtful artist these +utterances, delivered by so great and accomplished an authority, +cannot fail to prove profoundly interesting and invaluable as +references, on account of the sound knowledge and the absolutely +reliable quality of the facts given; but it may be doubted whether the +more informative matter, contained in the six later lectures, suited +Leighton's style of oratory so happily as did the more abstract +quality of the three first. There appeared to be too many names +crowded into the comparatively short time which Leighton allotted to +himself for the delivery of these discourses, for the normal taking-in +power of an audience; the very finished rhetoric, moreover, in which +the enormous amount of information contained in each was disclosed, +did not seem quite appropriate to their condensed form. In +conversation I have heard Leighton far more convincing, on the same +subjects as those he treated in the last six discourses. The same +intense sense of the duty he felt to do the thing as completely as it +was possible, which he evinced in painting, cropped up again in his +oratory, no less than the intense modesty--which would not recognise +how great he could be if he relaxed all effort, and was simply +himself. + +Mr. Briton Rivičre, in the notes he furnishes for this book, writes:-- + + "Those perhaps sometimes too perfectly built-up sentences, of + which his admirable addresses and speeches were formed, were the + outcome of this same quality of mind. One of his most intimate + friends, when we were talking about the mental strain occasioned + by these, once said to me: 'Leighton would never get over a + slight lapse of grammar,' and I can believe it. The accidental + was hateful to him when considered in reference to his own work + of any kind, though probably no one knew better than he did its + value in a work of art; but, as Watts deplored, he never would + use it or admit it into his own pictures. This quality and its + strain upon him was illustrated by an accident which occurred at + his last R.A. Banquet speech, the last he ever made, and which + gained immensely from the fact that in one place he forgot for a + moment the next sentence, and came to a pause (as he told me + afterwards), in fear that he had broken down altogether; but his + suspense, painful as it must have been to him, looked perfectly + natural and spontaneous, and gave to his speech that touch of + something which his better remembered periods did not express so + well. This system of speaking entirely from memory added much to + the constant strain of his Academy work. He had what he called a + 'topical memory,' viz. he remembered the place of each word in + his written speech and used to read it off in the air with + never-failing accuracy, but did so always with the belief that a + forgotten sentence would shipwreck the whole. If he would have + been content now and then to lapse from this high pitch of the + accuracy he aimed at in all his work, few could have reached a + safer or higher standard spontaneously, as he proved in the + Royal Academy, General Assembly, and Council meetings, when he + never failed to speak admirably on the spur of the moment; and + his summing up of a debate there on any subject was invariably + marked by the same elegance and cleverness as his prepared + speeches, but with more vitality and flexibility, which, + however, never led him into anything that was not almost + fastidiously exact and precise. I have always felt that no one + who had heard only his elaborately prepared speeches knew his + real power as a speaker." + +There rang out perhaps, at times, just a note reminding one of the +German pedant in these discourses--a note singularly discordant when +sounding together with an ornate diction; but this was only heard when +Leighton was not deeply moved by his subject; when, on the other hand, +the not over-tutored, bigger instinctive self had full sway, as, in +the subjects he chose for the first three discourses, the glowing +style harmonised most rightly as the appropriate language for the +earnest and lofty feeling in the thought. If, as suggested above, it +is only facts and information of an historical character which words +have to convey, much eloquence and an ornate style seems +inappropriate. Each mood is obviously best expressed when the style is +adjusted to it by an intuitive instinct. Leighton, though possessing +abnormally flexible and subtle ęsthetic instincts when he allowed +himself to be his natural self, seemed at times to force himself into +a theoretic rigidity when he was at his lessons. And all his official +duties he viewed as lessons, which, after he left his easel, it was +his first duty in life to learn to perform as correctly as he could. +But whatever criticisms may be made on the style of the later +discourses, students desiring to possess something more than a merely +provincial knowledge of the special power of the magnates in whose +work culminates the great Art of the world, should surely not neglect +to possess themselves of the wisdom to be acquired from these +discourses. + +Throughout their pages are to be found most suggestive passages, +inspiring new thoughts and, to any but experts, new facts on vitally +interesting art matters. For instance, take the description of +Velasquez:-- + + "For a long period Italian painting did not cease to enjoy the + favour of the Court; it ceased, however, towards the beginning + of the seventeenth century to exercise that paralysing influence + which had marked its first advent, and the ground was cleared + for a new impulse from within. At this conjuncture a man of + commanding genius and fearless initiative was given to Spain in + the person of Diego Velasquez. It may perhaps have surprised you + that with such a name before my mind I should have spoken of + Zurbaran, a man so vastly his inferior in the painter's gift, as + perhaps the most representative of Spanish artists. I have done + so because beyond any other artist he sums up in himself, as I + have pointed out to you, all the complex elements of the Spanish + genius. In Velasquez, Spanish as he is to the finger-tips, this + comprehensiveness is not found. Of Velasquez all was Spanish, + but Zurbaran was all Spain. + + "Viewed simply as a painter, the great Sevillian was, as I have + just said, vastly the superior of the Estremeńo. He was in more + intimate touch with Nature, and none, perhaps, have equalled the + swift magic of his brush. On the other hand, depth of feeling, + poetry, imagination were refused to him. The painter of the + 'Lanzas,' the 'Hilanderas,' the 'Meninas'--works in their kind + unapproached in Art by any other man--painted also, be it + remembered, the 'Coronation of the Virgin' and the 'Mars' of the + Madrid Gallery--types of prosaic treatment. In one work, indeed, + Religion seems for a moment to have winged his pencil; but + striking and pathetic as is his famous 'Crucifixion,' it does + not equal in poignancy and imaginative grasp the presentment of + the same subject by Zurbaran in Seville. But if we miss in + Velasquez the higher gifts of the imagination, we find him also + free from all those blemishes of extravagance which we have so + often noted in this land of powerful impulses unrestrained by + tact. Whatever gifts may have been refused to Velasquez, in his + grave simplicity he is unsurpassed. If fancy seldom lifts him + above the level of intimate daily things, neither does she + obstruct for him with purple wings the white light of sober + truth. In days in which the young Herrera could find favour; in + a country in which Churriguera was possible, and euphuism was + applauded, he never overstepped the modesty of Nature, nor + forgot in Art the value of reticent control. I have not here to + follow his career, nor the evolution of his unique and dazzling + genius. Still less need I, before young artists of the present + day, dwell on the wizardry and the luscious fascination of the + brush of this most modern of the old masters. I will only, in + conclusion, touch briefly on one or two points that are of + interest, and one that is, perhaps, of warning. + + "First, I would notice the purity and decorum of his art; a + decorum not, I think, due to the characteristically Spanish laws + under which the Inquisition visited with heavy penalties every + semblance even of impurity in a work of art, but to a spirit + dwelling in the people itself, of which those laws were but the + somewhat exaggerated expression. It may be worth while also to + note that yet another virtue of the Spaniards is, in one of his + works, reflected in an unexpected manner, namely, their + sobriety. It is a curious thing that in a certain class of + Spanish literature a peculiar relish is shown for the portraying + of moral squalor and the grovelling criminality of social + outcasts. In Spanish Art, on the other hand, the picturesqueness + alone of low life seems to have sought expression. You know what + gentle Murillo made of his melon-eating beggar boys. Again, you + saw not long ago upon these walls, in the 'Water-Carrier of + Seville,' how at the outset of his career Velasquez turned his + thoughts to subjects drawn from humble life, and you know how to + the end he dwelt with peculiar gusto on the fantastic + physiognomy of the privileged buffoons, dwarfs, and _hombres de + placer_ who haunted the Palace in his day. You know further that + one of the most powerful works painted by him before reality of + atmospheric effect had become his chief preoccupation, and when + he sought exclusively after truth of character, a picture known + as 'Los Borrachos,' represents a group of drunkards doing homage + to Bacchus. It is a work of the most naked realism. Bacchus + (Dionysos!), showing his repulsive vulgarity (what a blank to + Velasquez was the poetic side of classic myths), is surrounded + by a circle of kneeling rascals, rude and ragged enough, and + supposed, no doubt, to be carousing; but here is the strange + peculiarity of this work--in spite of all the accessories of a + revel, and the flash of grinning teeth, we are unable to + persuade ourselves that any one of the disreputable crew could + ever be _drunk_. Imagine the subject treated by a Fleming. + + "And now, though I am loth to touch one leaf of the laurels of + so dazzling and so great an artist, I cannot pass in silence a + circumstance which must be weighed in estimating Velasquez as a + man, and which is not without bearing on his art. The virtues of + his race, as we have seen, purified his work and gave it + dignity; a Spanish foible, though it could not dim his genius, + cramped, no doubt, and curtailed its production--namely, a + tendency to subordinate everything to the pursuit of royal + favour. I said a Spanish foible; for a superstitious rendering + up of will and conscience to the sovereign, such as is, I + believe, without example, had long been a growing characteristic + of the Spaniard. On a memorable occasion Gonzalo de Cordoba + himself, one of the noblest figures recorded in Spanish + history--a man of a mind so fearless that he was bold to rebuke + Pope Borgia himself face to face in the Vatican for the scandals + of his life--did not scruple to break, in deference to what he + considered this higher duty of obedience to his king, his solemn + pledge and oath to the unfortunate young Duke of Calabria. So + all but divine did majesty appear to the Spaniards, that + divinity and majesty became almost as one in their eyes, and + they spoke, in all solemnity, as 'Su Majestad,' not only of the + Divine persons of the Trinity, but also of the sacrificial + wafer. The prevalence of this feeling must plead to some extent + in mitigation of the tenacity with which Velasquez + canvassed--with success, alas!--to obtain at Court a post of an + onerous and wholly prosaic character--the office of 'Aposentador + Mayor,' a sort of purveyor and quartermaster, who, when his + Majesty moved from one place to another, had to convey, to + house, to feed, not the sovereign only, but all his suite. A + post demanding all his attention, says Polomino, who goes on to + deplore that this exalted office (which he has just told us any + one could fill) should have deprived the world of so many + samples of the painter's genius. We shall agree with our + sententious friend, not, perhaps, in the satisfaction he derived + from the honour conferred, as he imagines, on his calling, but + in his sorrow over the loss we have sustained! And in the sight + of canvases in which the execution of a sketch is carried out on + the full scale of life we shall at once bow before the product + of a splendid genius, and regret the signs of haste, the + evidence of too scanty leisure, by which its expression has been + marred. Truly it has been said, 'Art requires the whole + man.'"[62] + +Again, the seventh discourse is replete with inspiring suggestions +about French architecture,[63] and in the last discourse the +description of Albert Dürer is one which, in a few lines, gives a +complete and vividly interesting setting to the great name. + + "Albert Dürer may be regarded as _par excellence_ the typical + German artist--far more so than his great contemporary Holbein. + He was a man of a strong and upright nature, bent on pure and + high ideals; a man ever seeking, if I may use his own + characteristic expression, to make known through his work the + mysterious treasure that was laid up in his heart; he was a + thinker, a theorist, and, as you know, a writer; like many of + the great artists of the Renaissance, he was steeped also in the + love of science. His work was in his own image; it was, like + nearly all German art, primarily ethic in its complexion; like + all German art it bore traces of foreign influence--drawn, in + his case, first from Flanders and later from Italy. In his work, + as in all German art, the national character asserted itself + above every trammel of external influence. Superbly + inexhaustible as a designer, as a draughtsman he was powerful, + thorough, and minute to a marvel, but never without a certain + almost caligraphic mannerism of hand, wanting in spontaneous + simplicity--never broadly serene. In his colour he was rich and + vivid, not always unerring as to his harmonies, not alluring in + his execution--withal a giant." + +When the last addresses were given Leighton was getting very tired. +The wheels were running down--vitality was waning. The great mental +machine had begun to work more mechanically. We trace this in the +manner in which he tackled his last discourse. While writing it at +Perugia he wrote to his elder sister:-- + + PERUGIA, _Thursday, October 12, 1893_. + + You have misconstrued my knee; I have no _pain_ in it, at most + occasionally a dull ache in the muscles and a slight soreness in + the joint; but it is an incapacitating and depressing nuisance, + and it won't move on. (I am writing near a window opening on to + a clear, star-bright sky; far below, in the _paese_, I hear the + tinkle of a wandering, nocturnal mandoline--how I like it!) You + do me the honour to appreciate my having, during my recent + precipitate odyssey, visited thirty towns in thirty days, noting + things of which I had already accurate knowledge _d'avance_; but + I can "go one better" than that: _ten_ of the towns were + _absolutely new_ to me, and of the whole subject on which I am + preaching, I knew as good as nothing when you last saw me. I + suspect that, in spite of a lack of memory which _baffles + belief_, I have a certain "uptaking" knack. My preachment will + bore you, but you will (if you read it) detect an _ensemble_; + but, for goodness' sake, _zitti!_ They'll think, when they hear + the P.R.A., that, Lor' bless him! he'd known it all his life. + Nevertheless, enough for the day, &c. Best love to + Gussy.--Affect. bro., + + FRED. + +I remember--when my husband and I were sitting with him one afternoon +after his return home that autumn--his saying, "I feel distinctly I +have dropped one step down off of the ladder," and it was truly about +that time that his doctor, Doctor Roberts, discerned the beginning of +the disease which proved fatal. Already in 1888 he wrote:-- + + "The reasons which have now for a good many years impelled me to + decline any 'public utterances' outside Burlington House have + increased in weight and force as life and strength wanes, and as + demands on me grow in every direction. I am sometimes asked to + speak in public, not only in London, but all over the country, + and in all cases the demand is grounded on strong claims in so + far as I am an 'official' artist. Assent once is assent + always--assent in half the cases would mean the _gravest_ injury + to my _work_, and I am a workman first and an official + afterwards. Things have their humorous side, for those who press + me most are sometimes those who on other occasions most + earnestly assure me that I '_do too much_.' How tired I am of + hearing it." + +The speeches at the yearly banquets of the Royal Academy were +extraordinary _tours de force_. Wherever Leighton took the lead--and +he was seldom anywhere when he did not take the lead,[64]--he raised +the tone of the proceedings, and convinced the outside world, no less +than those taking a part in them, that the matter in hand was +important and essentially worth doing. Personally I have always felt +that the finished form of Leighton's diction tended rather to hide +than to explain the real nature of the power which had this +vitalising, elevating influence. This influence emanated, I believe, +from the greatness of his "magnificent intellect" (to use Watts' +words) being united with extraordinary will-force invariably employed +in the service of the principles in which he had a profound faith. It +was his persistent loyalty to these principles--backed by this +abnormal will-force, giving it extra weight--which lifted Leighton's +work in all directions on to so distinguished a level--and not--in the +case of his speeches--his rounded periods, or his power over words, or +his gift of facility in grasping a subject, though the Banquet +speeches are also remarkable on account of the versatility he +displayed in grasping many subjects from the point of view of the +expert. Whether it was the Army, the Navy, Politics, Music--whatever, +in fact, was the affair of the moment, he proposed the toast from what +might be called the inside of the question, not merely treating his +text as a matter of form.[65] + +On asking Gladstone to the Banquet of 1880, Leighton received the +following characteristic answer:-- + + MY DEAR PRESIDENT,--I have received your letter with mixed + feelings. You do me great honour, and I must obey you. But I + long for the return of the good old times, lying within the long + range of my memory, when the dinners of the Academy did not + suffer the contamination of political toasts, and kept us all + for three precious hours in purer air. Can you tell me when the + practice was changed? I am not, I think, under the dominion of a + pleasant delusion.--Yours most faithfully, + + W.E. GLADSTONE. + +In 1883 Leighton found it impossible to continue his duties as +Lieutenant-Colonel of the 20th Middlesex (Artists) Volunteers, which +post he had held since 1876, and he therefore resigned. He was then +made Hon. Colonel and holder of the Volunteer Decoration.[66] + +A few years later he made the following speech at a dinner given by +his Corps, in response to a toast proposed to himself:-- + + We live in times so hustling and breathless, times in which so + much happens in so short a space, that a few years seem to + divide men and habits like a deep gulf, and I feel that in the + eyes of many of you the toast that your C.O. has invited you in + such friendly terms to drink is one possessing an almost + antiquarian flavour interest; the more grateful therefore am I + for the cordial response with which, not, I hope, solely in a + spirit of discipline, but from a more human point of view, you + have given to the call of Colonel Edis. + + The sight of the old uniform recalls to me, in a vivid manner, a + period when not only my years, but my circumferencial inches, + were fewer, during which it was my pride, first in one grade, + then successively in others, from the ranks to the command, to + take my share in the doings of and the life of what I hope I may + call, without egotism, one of the finest corps in the Volunteer + service. I have now for some years laid by the coat, to be + furbished up only for these annual gatherings, not without + misgivings as to my power of getting into it; but I have not + laid by, nor shall I lay by while I have life, my deep interest + and my high respect for that great defensive force of which it + is the sign, and which, having sprung into existence in a + moment of emergency and national excitement, has shown through + over more than a quarter of a century that it requires no + excitement to sustain it, and is fed by no transitory fires. + + But whilst I watch this great sign of national vitality with + unchanging interest, there is of course an inmost corner of my + heart in which that national movement appears to me clad in grey + and silver, and the old corps still sits in the warmest place; + praise of its performance is always to me the most grateful + praise; strictures on its shortcomings, if like other human + things it has any, will always find me sensitive, and the + account which your excellent Colonel furnishes on these + occasions of your year's growth, comes home to me more than + other like utterances. Gentlemen, I have named your energetic + and efficient commanding officer; there is this year a special + reason why his name should be on my lips; he is about shortly to + acquire by length of service the full colonelcy of which his + long devotion to the cause makes him so worthy a recipient; and + I should wish before sitting down to offer him an old comrade's + hearty congratulation, and the expression of my confident hope + that his advanced rank will only confirm him in his loyal and + faithful efforts to promote the honour of the corps to which he, + more fortunate than I, is still privileged to belong as an + active member. + +In 1894, on the occasion of fźting his friend Joseph Joachim and +presenting the gift to the great master of a Stradivarius violin and +bow from his friends, in recognition of the fiftieth anniversary of +his first performance in London, Leighton made the following speech:-- + + 1894. + + LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,--It was necessary that the motives and + feelings which have drawn us together to-night should find brief + expression on somebody's lips; and, in obedience to a command + which has been laid on me by this Committee, I have to ask you + to accept me, for a few moments, as your mouthpiece. Of the + varied duties which life lays on us, there are some which we + perform in simple discharge of conscience and with little joy; + some, if few, into the discharge of which we can pour all our + hearts; and such a duty is this which I have risen to perform. + + I have said that I shall only ask your attention for a few + moments, and you will feel with me the fitness of brevity; for + besides that, in every case, taste imposes restraint in praise + of those who are present before us, long drawn and redundant + eulogy would clash strangely with that rare simplicity which is + one of the qualities by which Joachim, the Man, compels the + esteem of all whose fortune it is to know him. But there would + be in it, I think, also a further deeper-lying incongruity, for + we know that Joachim, the Artist, has risen to the heights he + occupies, perhaps alone, by fixing his constant gaze on high + ideals, and lifting and sustaining his mind in a region above + the shifting fickle atmosphere of praise or blame. Well, it is + now fifty years since he took his first step along the upward + path, which he has trodden in wholeness of heart and singleness + of purpose from earliest boyhood to mellow middle age. During + these fifty years he has not only ripened to the full his + splendid gifts as an interpreter, ever interpreting the noblest + works in the noblest manner, leading his hearers to their better + comprehension; not only marked his place in the front ranks of + living composers by works instinct with fire and imagination; + but shown us also, as a man, how much high gifts are enhanced by + modesty, and how good a thing to see is the life of an Artist + who has never paltered with the dignity of his Art. + + Deep appreciation of these titles to respect and admiration has, + as you know, led in Germany, the country of his adoption and his + home, to an enthusiastic celebration of this, the fiftieth year + of his artistic career; and we, his English friends, living in a + country which we hope, nay, believe, is, after his own, not the + least dear to him, have felt strongly impelled to express to him + also in some form our gratitude, our sympathy, and our esteem. + It has seemed to your Committee that these sentiments could not + take a more fitting outward shape than that of the instrument + over which he is lord: such an instrument, signed with the + famous name of Stradivarius, and, as I am told, not unworthy of + his fame, flanked with a bow the work of Tourte, and once the + property of Kiesenwetter--such a fiddle and such a bow I now + offer to him in your name. Its sensitive and well-seasoned + shell will acknowledge and respond to the hand of the master, + and the souls of many great musicians will, we hope, often speak + through it to spellbound hearers. But we nourish another + hope--the hope that, through the great waves of melody that + shall roll forth from it under his compelling bow, a still small + voice may now and again be interfused which, reaching his heart + through his ears, shall speak to it of the many friends who, in + spirit or in the body, are gathered round him affectionately + to-night. + +In 1888 Leighton delivered the superb Address at the Art Congress held +at Liverpool on December 3 (see Appendix). No Life of this great man +would be complete were his utterances on this occasion not given in +full, for therein is found his creed on Art, and the records of those +principles on which it was founded, expounded with clear force, fine +analysis, and, above all, with supreme courage. The subject, moreover, +as touching England's condition respecting Art, is one directly +affecting English readers. + +A matter of interest to the general Art world came under discussion at +the Council meetings of the Academy in the winter of 1879 and 1880, +namely, whether women were to be admitted as members of their body. A +correspondence took place between Leighton and the late Mr. Henry +Wells, R.A., on the subject. Leighton's personal inclination was +certainly for admitting women into the body of the elect, as I know +from conversations he had with me on the subject. He invariably sought +to extend all art privileges to those who were, as artists, worthy to +receive them. He told me, however, that the majority of votes against +the inroad of women would be given as having regard to a question of +convenience rather than to one of principle, namely, the difficulty +the Academicians foresaw in admitting only one or two lady artist +Academicians to the yearly Banquets, and the greater difficulty of +extending invitations to lady guests.[67] + +The following letters from Leighton to Mr. Wells give an insight into +the kind of work which his office of President entailed, and of the +characteristically thorough manner in which Leighton fulfilled them. + + _Thursday Evening, 1879 or 1880._ + + DEAR WELLS,--I have noticed during my last two sittings at your + studio, that, whenever the deeply interesting subject of our + Academy appeared on the tapis, it stood in the way of your work, + and I have therefore purposely abstained, as you no doubt + remarked, from going beyond the merest surface in the + discussion of any of the points on which we have touched. I felt + that the sittings I gave you being so few and so scantily + measured out, the least I could do was not, wittingly, to make + you lose your time. That is to say, I did not _tell_ you to-day + orally what I now _write_, namely, my impression on your + proposed question concerning the Chantrey purchases. The + characteristic straightforwardness and loyalty with which you + wished me to be informed on the point beforehand will not permit + me to be silent in regard to your view. I have looked with the + greatest care into the extract from the will which we all have, + and have given the matter that thought which is due to your + earnest conscientiousness, and I have satisfied myself that the + General Assembly is wholly without a _locus standi_ in claiming + to control the expenditure of the Chantrey trust moneys in any + way whatever; those moneys never pass into its hands or come + under its cognisance; they are paid into the hands of the + president and treasurer, against their receipt, and are dealt + with solely by the president and council for the time being. An + attempt, therefore, on the part of the General Assembly to + assume control in this matter is in my view _out of order_, and + it would therefore be out of order to ask or answer a question + based, as yours is, on that assumption. I think you will find + this view in harmony with the opinion of the body; if it is + largely challenged, I shall postpone the answer till I have + taken a legal opinion, as the point is very important. Here are + my cards on the table.--In haste, yours sincerely, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + + + _Private._] + _Monday._ + + DEAR WELLS,--The usual stress of business has prevented me till + now from thanking you for your note and valuable information; I + shall, with great interest, turn to the passages you allude to + as soon as I get a good opportunity, and what I read will have + the greatest weight with me when I vote again on a purchase. It + would not, however, touch my point in regard to the _General + Assembly_, which can only interfere with a past purchase if it + can be shown to be illegal; this can, of course, only be + established by legal authority, and I am, myself, sorry that + your first resolution does not run thus: That the President be + requested to consult high legal authority as to whether such and + such purchases are barred by the will of Sir F. Ch. If your + misgivings on that head are shared by a majority the thing would + pass immediately and undiscussed, almost. + + As concerns your motion on the pension resolution, I own to much + misgiving; _I should not dream of alluding to this had you not + yourself taken me aside about it the other day._ I am so far at + one with you in principle that I feel, I can't say how deeply, + that it is our paramount duty to interpret in the largest and + most elevated sense our duty to the art of the country that we + may be worthy in the eyes of the enlightened portion of the + community of our high place, and that it is equally incumbent on + us to keep our personal interests vigilantly in sub-ordination. + I think that one of the present resolutions militates against + this last view, and I need not conceal from you that it has not + my sympathy. I am, however, very strongly of opinion that the + form of your opposition to it will not be supported, and that in + your desire for a logical comprehensiveness, you will fail of + your end, which by simple direct opposition to the particular + measure on the principle you have already enunciated and + explained, you might _very probably_, I believe, achieve. I need + not, I think, assure you, my dear Wells, that nothing is further + from my thoughts than any _interference_ with a member's + freedom; indeed, on that head my views are known to you; but I + can't refrain from saying thus much to give you an opportunity + of quietly thinking matters over (_don't answer this_) before + Wednesday. After all, you want primarily to get rid of paragraph + 6, not to ensure a dialectical triumph. If the alternative is + between your Committee and the resolution as it stands, I feel + absolutely convinced that you will be left in a very cold + minority; but if you point out that paragraph 6 takes our + bounties off the ground of necessity, our only tenable ground, + in fact commutes a _bounty_ into an unconditional _claim_ (of a + formidable pecuniary nature, too), you will march in, I can't + help thinking, with flying colours. + + Don't, I repeat, be at the trouble to answer this expression of + the opinion of,--Yours sincerely, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + + + _Monday, February 1, (?) 1881._ + + DEAR WELLS,--Since receiving your letter I have been so + absolutely engrossed with business and work that I have not had + time till now to answer it. I am sincerely glad you have asked + for a little modification in the terms of the Lucy petition; + meanwhile I have written to Gladstone, and my letter has been + acknowledged with a promise to note its contents. + + In regard to your Chantrey resolution, I feel that, after the + manner of very busy men, I have written in haste and not made + myself quite clear. I should like, first, to remove one + apprehension which you seem to have entertained; however + strongly I may be convinced of the correctness of my own view on + the matter under discussion, I cannot too emphatically say that + as long as the points at issue were still _sub judice_ I should + not countenance a purchase which should assume my view to be the + right one; but no such postponement as would lead to this + dilemma is to be feared; what I propose is this: as soon as ever + we have closed the discussion on the schools, and whilst they + are being printed in their amended form for final consideration, + therefore, on Friday next, if we get through on Wednesday, or + failing that on the 22nd or 23rd of February, the resolutions of + Council will be put on the table in their rotation; as, however, + the next step in the Chantrey affair is to merely _hear_ my + answer to your memorandum, and as I understand that discussion + on it will not be expected till members shall have had it to + consider at their leisure, I will read it and lay it on the + table _before_ I take up the resolutions of Council which stand + on the paper before it, so that when it comes up for final + discussion, presumably in the first days of March, it can be + discussed and voted on with full mastery of the subject. It is + on the agenda paper of THAT _meeting_ that your affirmative + motion will stand; it does not come into force till then, since + it is contingent on the effect produced on your mind by my + answer of Friday (or of the next meeting after). + + With respect to Redgrave's motion, it may lead to a technical + "censure" of the Council; but there are censures and censures, + and nobody will suppose, certainly I never dreamt, that you + meant to imply moral obliquity to us in regard to what we have + done. I have not a word to object to what you advance about the + right of complaint, but it does not exactly cover the case: if + you caught us, say, taking our friends to the Exhibition (or + ourselves) on Sunday, a matter on which no two opinions are + admissible, then "a complaint" would be in its place; but in the + matter of payment to Treasurer, two opinions may and do exist, + and they can only be measured against one another by a vote, and + a vote can only be taken on a motion. + + Lastly, as to the new codification committee, I think with you, + _in strictest confidence_, that ---- was not a good choice; but + he was chosen in the usual manner by a majority of votes: that + your labours were not remunerated in the usual manner is an + oversight, which, of course, must and shall be set right. There + seems altogether, and your letter corroborates that impression, + to have been much vagueness about the doings of the Committee + _as a Committee_, though, as usual, much zealous work on your + part. I do not gather that attendances were entered in a book, + which is the machinery by which payment is generally regulated, + and the Committee having lapsed without reporting to the Council + on its labours (being a _sub-committee_ of the Council of 1878, + it lapsed by a natural death with that Council), the whole thing + had fallen out of notice. I hope that the old sub-committee will + put in their claims, which will very certainly be satisfied. The + codification has frequently been in my mind, for I consider it + of very great importance, but as it is my impression that I am + considered to drive the work of the Academy full hard as + it is, I have hesitated to impose more labours on my colleagues, + even though I am always ready to share them.--Sincerely yours, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + + [Illustration: "ELIJAH IN THE WILDERNESS." 1879] + + [Illustration: SKETCH FOR "ELIJAH IN THE WILDERNESS." 1879 + Leighton House Collection] + + [Illustration: "NERUCCIA." 1879 + By permission of Mrs. Lees] + + [Illustration: "THE BATH OF PSYCHE." 1890 + National Gallery of British Art (Tate Gallery)] + + + _Tuesday Morning_, + 2 HOLLAND PARK ROAD, KENSINGTON, W., + _March 18, 1884_. + + DEAR WELLS,--Thank you for your letter received yesterday, which + only lack of time prevented me from answering at once. I am + happy to say that Richmond cheerfully acceded to my wish in + regard to clauses 6 and 7. I do not think with Calderon, who has + written to me, that the words of a man so high-minded as + Richmond will indispose members in this matter, and, though I + feel the importance of raising no prejudice against the proposal + as keenly as ever, still wish him to initiate it. It is, I agree + with you, a pity that the question of the retiring pensions must + come off first; but that is, I fear, quite unavoidable, and it + connects itself with the very first resolution. I assure you, my + dear Wells, that I _see_ the bearing of all you say on this head + as plainly as possible, and have done so all along; but it does + not prevail with me, because it does not cover the whole ground, + and because I do not anticipate the dangers for which you think + it might be used as a precedent. + + In view of my own personal painful position in this matter, I + shall _ask_ the Assembly _not_ to ratify the clause which + affects _me_.--In great haste, yours sincerely, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + +Leighton's official life, as understood and carried out by him, +entailed infinitely more strain and occupation than can be described +in these pages, but, notwithstanding, unless the call away from his +easel was imperative, he kept certain hours in the day sacred to his +art. These were from 9 A.M. till noon, and from 1 P.M. till 4. It was +only in the off hours that he got through his other labours, which he +performed, nevertheless, with most assiduous conscientiousness. + +Among his duties outside the Academy were those at the British Museum. +Mr. H.A. Grueber, Keeper of the Coins and Medals, writes: "Sir +Frederic Leighton was elected a Trustee of the British Museum on May +14, 1881. He was an active member of the Standing Committee, who +practically manage the affairs of the Museum, and he took great +interest in the place. He was also a member of the Sub-committees on +Buildings, on Antiquities, Prints and Drawings, also of those on Coins +and Medals." + +In the first R.A. Exhibition after his election, three pictures of the +eight Leighton sent have, I think, a special interest--"Elijah in the +Wilderness" (the picture into which he said he put more of himself +than into any other he had painted up to that time); the portrait of +his very dear friend Professor Costa, painted in the previous autumn +at Lerici, and the head "Neruccia." Leighton with Costa studied the +methods used in painting by the Venetians and Correggio, and Costa +wrote the following with reference to them:-- + + The result of these studies and of the experience of years was + that Leighton and I definitely adopted the following method. + Take a canvas or panel with the whitest possible preparation and + non-absorbent--the drawing of the subject to be done with + precision and indelible. On this seek to model in monochrome so + strongly that it will bear the local colours painted with + exaggeration, and then the grey, which is to be the ground of + all the future half-tones; on this paint the lights, for which + use only white, red, and black, avoiding yellow, and, stabbing + (botteggiando) with the brush while the colour is wet, make the + half-tints tell out from the grey beneath, which should be + thoroughly dry. When all is dry, finish the picture with + scumbles (spegazzi), adding yellow to complete the colour. + + Leighton formed his method of painting from these general + maxims, and he painted my portrait at Lerici on these principles + as an experiment, and then in 1878 we adopted the system + definitely. For this portrait he had four sittings--one for the + drawing and the monochrome chiaroscuro, one for the local + colours; then, having covered all with grey, he painted the + lights with red, white, and black, making use of the thoroughly + dried grey beneath for his half-tints. With scumbles + he completed the colour and the modelling. + + [Illustration: "THE LIGHT OF THE HAREM." 1880 + By kind permission of the Directors of the Leicester Gallery] + + [Illustration: "AND THE SEA GAVE UP THE DEAD WHICH WERE IN IT" + Sketch for Complete Design, 1892] + + [Illustration: STUDY FOR FIGURE IN FRIEZE, "MUSIC." 1886 + Leighton House Collection] + + [Illustration: STUDY FOR "ANDROMEDA." 1890 + Leighton House Collection] + + [Illustration: FROM SKETCH IN CLAY FOR PERSEUS, IN THE PICTURE + "PERSEUS AND ANDROMEDA." 1891] + + [Illustration: STUDY FOR FIGURE IN PANEL IN ROYAL + EXCHANGE--"PHOENICIANS BARTERING WITH BRITONS" + Leighton House Collection] + + [Illustration: "CYMON AND IPHIGENIA." 1884 + The Corporation of Leeds] + + [Illustration: STUDY IN COLOUR FOR "CYMON AND IPHIGENIA." 1884 + By permission of Mrs. Stewart Hodgson] + + [Illustration: STUDY FOR SLEEPING GROUP FOR "CYMON AND + IPHIGENIA" + Given by Lord Leighton to G.F. Watts, O.M., and given by the + latter to the Collection in Leighton House, 1883] + +As the exquisite fragments in pencil of cyclamen, bramble and vine +branch,[68] explain most intimately Leighton's genius as a +draughtsman, so this head of Neruccia appears to me, together with one +other work, to explain most explicitly his genius as a painter--a +modeller with the brush. In 1890 Leighton painted "The Bath of +Psyche."[69] The modelling in the torso of this figure, and in the +head of Neruccia, reach the zenith as exemplifying Leighton's +individuality as a painter. They might truly earn for him the +title--Praxiteles of the brush. + +It would be tedious for writer and reader alike to describe too +minutely the special characteristics of even the most notable pictures +painted during the seventeen years when Leighton occupied the position +of President of the Royal Academy. Words are but poor interpreters of +painting such as his. Eighty canvases, two statues, and two +designs--the reverse of the Jubilee Medallion, "And the sea gave up +its dead which were in it"--were exhibited at the Royal Academy; +eighteen slighter works at the Suffolk Street, and twenty-three at the +Grosvenor Galleries. On referring to the list in the Appendix it will +be realised how great was the amount of labour involved in the +achievement of many of these works, considering their size, the +complication of their designs, and also the completeness of their +finish. It must also be remembered that Leighton made many hundreds of +studies for his pictures. More especially numerous were these for the +designs "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it," "The Dance, +Decorative Frieze"; "Cymon and Iphigenia"; "Music, a Frieze"; "Design +for the reverse of the Jubilee Medallion," "Captive Andromache," +"Perseus and Andromeda," "Return of Persephone," "The Garden of the +Hesperides," "Rizpah," "Summer Slumbers," "The Spirit of the Summit," +"Flaming June," "Phoenicians Bartering with Britons," and "Clytie." +When all these achievements are taken into account it will be realised +that Leighton, to the end, however important his duties outside his +studios, was true to his vocation, and proved himself the "workman +first and the official after." + +As a work combining poetic feeling, power of design, and great beauty +in the arrangement of line, while at the same time expressing most +explicitly Leighton's creed of creeds--namely, the ennobling and +elevating influence of beauty in the lives of men and women--"Cymon +and Iphigenia" is perhaps the picture he himself would have chosen as +the most representative among these later works. He chose it as the +one he wished sent to the Berlin Exhibition in 1885. When beginning it +he described to me the moment of the day he wished to catch for the +scene--"the most mysteriously beautiful in the whole twenty-four +hours, when the _merest lip_ of the moon has risen from behind the sea +horizon, and the air is haunted still with the flush of the after-glow +from the sun already hidden in the west."[70] + +The study for the group of sleeping figures reproduced here is almost +identical in design with the sketch in plaster from the clay, so +lamentably destroyed when Watts lent it to be cast in bronze +after Leighton's death. Leighton also gave the drawing of this group +to his fellow artist, so enthusiastically did Watts admire it. He, in +his turn, gave it to the Leighton House Collection in the year 1897, +together with the fine painting which Leighton exchanged for his own +portrait, painted about 1863, and which greeted friends as they +mounted the staircase in Leighton House during all the years he lived +in Holland Park Road (see frontispiece to Vol. I.). The study for +"Cymon and Iphigenia" is particularly valuable now as an example of +Leighton's rapid sketches where every touch reflects a mine of +knowledge, because it was put under glass before any of the crispness +of the touch was blurred by rubbing.[71] + + [Illustration: "THE SLUGGARD" + From the Bronze Statuette--a direct reproduction from Lord + Leighton's small sketch, 1886. Leighton House Collection] + + [Illustration: "NEEDLESS ALARMS" + From Bronze Statuette, 1886. Leighton House Collection] + + [Illustration: "THE LAST WATCH OF HERO." 1887] + + [Illustration: STUDY IN COLOUR FOR "TRAGIC POETESS." 1890 + By permission of Mrs. Stewart Hodgson] + +In a letter dated 1886 Watts wrote: "Leighton will carry off all the +honours this year with his ceiling[72] and his two statues." + +"An Athlete Awakening from Sleep" (given to the Tate Gallery by Sir +Henry Tate) is generally known as "The Sluggard," a name bestowed on +it by Leighton himself. The victor's garland lies at the feet of the +athlete, a garland which does not preserve the owner from a sad +weariness. Mr. Brock, R.A., in whose studio "An Athlete" was +modelled, executed the fine bust of Leighton which was deposited in +the Academy as Mr. Brock's diploma work.[73] + +Sir John Millais admired greatly the other work alluded to in Watts' +letter, "Needless Alarms." Leighton gave him this statuette, and +Millais, desiring to show his gratitude in a tangible form, painted +the picture "Shelling Peas" for Leighton. + +In at least fourteen of the eighty pictures shown at the Academy +during the last seventeen years of Leighton's life, there can be +traced an earnest sentiment beyond the "sincerity of emotion" for +beauty which all evince. This feeling is, however, always guarded by a +marked reticence from sentimentalism. "Elijah in the Wilderness," +"Elisha Raising the Son of the Shunammite," "The Jealousy of Simoetha, +the Sorceress," "The Last Watch of Hero," "Captive Andromache," +"Return of Persephone," "Rizpah," "Tragic Poetess," "Sibyl," +"Farewell," "The Spirit of the Summit," "Fatidica," "Lachrymę," and +the last passionate figure of "Clytie." The most popular pictures +Leighton painted during these years appear to be "Sister's Kiss," "The +Light of the Harem" (developed into a picture from the design of a +group in the fresco, "The Industrial Arts of Peace"), "Idyll," +"Whispers," "Wedded" (now in Australia), "Memories," "Letty," +"Invocation," "Solitude," "The Bath of Psyche," "Bacchante," "Corinna +of Tanagra," "The Bracelet," "Summer Slumber," "Atalanta," "Flaming +June," and "The Fair Persian" (unfinished). Two sketches in the +Leighton House Collection record effects which greatly fascinated +Leighton in Scotland--"A Pool, Findhorn River," deep tortoiseshell +brown; and "Rocks in the Findhorn," pink and grey enriched by lichen, +and it was in Scotland that the Lynn of Dee inspired the +subject of "Solitude." Leighton described to me the deep impression +this Lynn of Dee had made on him. "It is the veriest note of solitude! +a wonderful spot, full of poetic inspiration." In order to transmit a +vivid record of this sentiment to his canvas, he took a second journey +to the place.[74] + + [Illustration: "ATALANTA." 1893 + By permission of the Berlin Photographic Co., the owners of the + Copyright] + + [Illustration: "FLAMING JUNE." 1895 + By permission of Mrs. Watney] + + [Illustration: STUDY FOR "FLAMING JUNE." 1895] + + [Illustration: "FATIDICA." 1894 + By permission of Messrs. T. Agnew & Son, the owners of the + Copyright] + + [Illustration: STUDIES FOR "FATIDICA." 1894 + Leighton House Collection] + +Leighton wrote the following letter to his father when first visiting +Forres, in which he described the "craze" he had for these "dark brown +Scotch rivers":-- + + ROYAL STATION HOTEL, + FORRES, N.B. + + I drove over to Dunkeld (twelve and a half miles) to lunch at + the Millais'; I think the drive one of the most enchanting + things I know, and I was favoured, moreover, by a few of those + divine glimpses of blue and silver sky of which Scotland has the + monopoly (a monopoly which she uses, perhaps, just a trifle too + modestly). This is Forres, as the paper shows you; if Macbeth's + witches really did live in this neighbourhood, it is just as + well they had their hands pretty full, for they would have found + the place uncommonly dull otherwise, especially on the + "Sawbath." On the other hand, the drive to and the walk along + the banks of the Findhorn--the excursion for which one comes + here--is quite delightful, and indeed surpassed my expectations. + I must tell you that I have nothing short of a craze for your + dark brown Scotch (and Irish) rivers, as dark as treacle, and as + clear as a cairngorm. This particular stream contrives to rush + part of the way through fantastic rocks of pink granite--you may + imagine the effect. Here again from the heights over the river I + _ought_ to have seen the sea and the coast of Sutherlandshire; + but the weather was sulky and I had to draw on my imagination + for the view. + + In the forenoon I went over by train to Elgin, to see the ruined + cathedral, which is fine, but, like all Scotch architecture that + I have seen, crude and barbaric. As I stood on the platform + before starting, I heard a gruff, good-humoured voice hailing me + from a train on the other side; it was the voice which goes so + well with the rubicund face of the Duke of Cambridge. I was + going by the same train, so he made me get into his compartment; + he was going to Balmoral or Aberfeldie. He was very comic about + B---- and his article in the _Nineteenth Century_--"A fellow who + fouls his own nest is always a d----d bad lot--a d----d bad + lot," with which sentiment I close a d----d long letter.--From + your affectionate son, + + FRED. + +"Atalanta" may be noted, perhaps, as the strongest work achieved by +Leighton. Here _is_ "enormous power," though shown on a comparatively +small canvas. For noble beauty of the Pheidian type in the grand and +simple pose and modelling of the throat and shoulder, it would be +difficult to find its peer in Modern Art, and yet it was only the +worthy record of the beauty of an English girl. "Flaming June" (a +design first made to decorate as a bas-relief the marble bath on which +the figure in "Summer Slumber" reposes), is equally perfect in the +fine fulness of the modelling, but it lacks the direct simplicity +which gives such a distinguished strength to the "Atalanta." In the +sketch for "Flaming June" reproduced in these pages the pose is better +explained than in the completed picture, the foreshortened line of the +back and shoulder being confused somewhat by the drapery in the +painting. + +At the age of twenty-five, in the wing-like petals of a cyclamen, +Leighton had succeeded in securing with the pencil the quality towards +which he aimed from the beginning to the end of his studies--and these +only ended with his life--namely, absolute completeness as far as +human eye and hand can reach completeness in rendering the perfection +of nature's forms. Notably in "Neruccia" and in "Psyche" he reached +that aim with the brush, but in "Atalanta," and in such studies as +those for "Flaming June," "Fatidica," and--imbued with a yet further +interest of dramatic feeling--for "Clytie," his aim was reached with +more freedom and power of touch. The quality of beauty in these works +was no invention of his--only, as has been noted before, a discernment +and echo in the artist's apprehension of nobler truths in nature than +are discovered by the many. They are nobler, because possessing the +germ of life and movement. In all nature's forms, beauty and style +result from the spring and moving on--the development of growth, +whether it requires ęons to develop the form as in mountains, years as +in trees, or only days as in flowers. In the human limbs there is the +further power of varied movement, and in the countenance of varied +expressions. The greatest art stamps a suggestion of this power of +growth and movement into the form and line expressing the facts it +records; and, making it harmonise graciously with perfect structure in +nature, the great artist evolves a thing of beauty. In our northern +climes, and in our modern civilisation, beauty of form and line excite +little genuine emotion. That is reserved for colour, tone, texture, +and, in these very latter days, for the cleverness of the executant. +The greatest opposer Leighton's teaching has had is laziness. +Students will not take the trouble to go through irksome labour to +secure knowledge, therefore they only aim at those qualities which are +made comparatively easy by an emotional preference; and such emotional +preference is rarely excited by form. There are exceptions, such as +Watts, whose greatest artistic emotion was excited when he seized the +beauty and style in Pheidias. He felt also the same enthusiastic +excitement over Leighton's studies, stamped with a like Pheidian +quality of style. Because the modern eye is so often blind to these +qualities, therefore Leighton's work has been disposed of by many as +merely academical and the result solely of taking inordinate pains! +Surely those desirous of any true culture might learn one lesson at +all events of Leighton: the value of Catholicity through learning "to +master what they reject as fully as what they adopt ... the better +motives of men" with whom they are not in sympathy. Catholicity is the +outcome of the best natures, the best understandings, the best +educations. It overrides those subtle egoisms and commercial interests +which so often guide while distorting a true judgment in art matters, +keeping the preferences of the public wriggling about without any +definite instinct or principal on a never truly-convincing dead level. +The mainspring of catholicity in art is a fervent reverence for +nature. All works in which such fervent reverence is found, in +whatever direction it is displayed, are worthy to be admitted into the +fold, whether it be form, colour, or tone in nature's aspect--whether +it be the stirring whirls of northern tempests, the rural peace of +English glades, or the fineness of rarefied atmosphere in the south, +as in Greek isles and sea. Whichever mood of nature appeals to a true +artist and inspires in him the sacred fire, and consequently the +expression in his touch, should find a place in the heart of the true +lover of art. Because the ęsthetic pores of a music-lover are open to +the rapturous tumult of the wildly whirling Schumann symphony in A +minor, is he, therefore, incapable of being entranced by the rare +refinement of Palestrina's cameo-like phrases? Because he feels a +rapturous excitement as the curtain falls at the end of the first act +of "Lohengrin," can he not also feel a soul-satisfaction in the +elevated serenity of Bach's "Christmas Oratorio"? Does it not rather +denote a want of elasticity in the ęsthetic perceptions, a want of +flexibility in the sensibilities flavouring somewhat of the +Philistine, to be touched by a limited range of emotions? Because +Leighton is not Whistler, or Watts is not Sargent, why must the one be +admired at the expense of the other? With Leighton's rare intellectual +acumen he knew well that these limitations in viewing various outlooks +on art arose chiefly from a want of wide culture and experience. In +the great galleries of Europe, among the treasures in the churches of +Italy, his own vision had been enlarged, and he had felt how +nourishing to his own best instincts such enlargement had proved. +Hence his earnest endeavours when first entering the Academy to +establish the Winter Exhibitions of Old Masters, and later, when +President, to give as many facilities as possible for students to +travel abroad. Probably, it never will be fully realised how greatly +Leighton's initiations in starting new ventures for young students and +artists have helped the real progress of English art. His great +modesty and rare tact prevented this initiation from being fully +appreciated even at the time. When such an one as Leighton is working +on great lines, the last thing he thinks of is, Who is really +achieving the work? The aim has to be accomplished; it matters little +who is used as the tool to achieve the work. The real satisfaction to +such a nature is the fact that the work _has_ been achieved. + +Perhaps of all the ways in which Leighton helped to forward the +condition of art in England, the most valuable was his industry in +searching out unknown work, discovering what merit existed in it, +hunting up the artist, and, by becoming personally acquainted with +him, encouraging in every manner his onward progress. What he effected +in Mason's case with such a rich harvest to the world as the result, +he did in many other cases when the artist was a perfect stranger to +him. Mr. Alfred East, the President of the Royal Society of British +Artists, writes: "Lord Leighton was a man of broad sympathies in his +appreciation of Art, an earnest worker with a lofty purpose and a high +ideal. He liked to see these qualities in others, and spoke of the +dignity and privilege of being an artist, and lived up to it in his +own house. To those who knew him well he was singularly modest about +his work, soliciting criticism with a frankness which was as +unaffected as it was sincere. He never posed, but was a fellow-worker +and a comrade. Such were the characteristics of the artist at home. I +owe more to his encouragement than to any other influence of my life. +Our acquaintanceship grew into friendship; he helped me to speak to +him as I could speak to no other, of my own aims and ideals. This is +the great artist as I knew him." + +Singularly chary of accepting favours or putting himself under any +obligation where he did not feel certain he could requite it by any +feeling or action of his own, the response Leighton's nature made when +any person, thing, or place gave him delight was that of a +spontaneous, unstinting gratitude. Never did any one enjoy more fully +the best of blessings--a grateful heart. Moreover, once the tender +spot of pity touched, a self-ignoring energy of helpfulness and desire +to benefit arose, which was at once the most beautiful and the least +fully understood trait in his character. It is difficult for many to +understand a _passion_ for unselfishness. "We bear with +resignation the sorrows of others," is one of the good sayings of +Walter Bagehot. No rule without an exception--Leighton did not bear +with resignation the sorrows of his friends, nor of those he pitied as +overweighted and in any need of help which he could give. No better +proof exists of the fineness, the distinction of a nature, or the +reverse, than the effect which misfortune or suffering produces on it. +Pity with Leighton was ever allied with profound respect. He gave help +as one indulging himself in a privilege rather than as one conferring +a benefit. A beautiful story, for which I happen to be the best +authority, is interwoven with the last years of his life. + + [Illustration: "MEMORIES." 1883 + By permission of Messrs. P. & D. Colnaghi, the owners of the + Copyright] + + [Illustration: "THE JEALOUSY OF SIMOETHA, THE SORCERESS." 1887] + + [Illustration: "LETTY." 1884 + By permission of Mrs. Henry Joachim] + +One day, somewhere in the winter of 1879, on opening a gate which +leads from our garden to the Holland Park Studios, I saw standing at +one of the studio doors a figure which I described to Leighton as a +"vision of beauty"--a young girl with a lovely white face, dressed in +deepest black, evidently a model. Needless to say, Leighton, ever +eager to procure good models, obtained her name from the artist to +whom she was sitting when I first saw her, and engaged her as a model +for the head. Shortly after she began to sit to Leighton, he wrote to +me saying the young girl was in sad circumstances, and he would be +very glad if I could help her by making some studies from her. I +agreed, and he arranged with her to give me sittings. She told me that +she had recently lost her mother, her father had deserted his family +of five girls and two boys, and she with her elder brother were left +to support them. She was endeavouring to act the part of mother to her +younger sisters and brother. As Leighton and I grew to know her better +we found her very intelligent and conscientious in acting this part, +and she enlisted our sympathies entirely. She confided to me, while +sitting one day, that she longed greatly to find something to do more +interesting and remunerative than spending her days as a model. She +thought she could act. I consulted Leighton. His first exclamation +was, "_Impossible!_ with _that_ voice! How _could_ she go on the +stage?" I thought the voice, which had a singularly unpleasant Cockney +twang in it, might be trained, as I had observed how very eager she +was to learn to speak in a more educated manner, quite realising her +own shortcomings. Leighton came round to my opinion; and, once having +made up his mind that she was bent on educating herself for the stage, +showed himself as ever the most unselfish and untiring befriender. +Meanwhile four of these beautiful children became useful to him as +models. From the second daughter, who afterwards married an artist, +Leighton painted "Memories," reproduced here; from the third, Hetty, +he painted "Simoetha the Sorceress" and "Farewell"; but it was the +youngest, Lina, quite a small child, who delighted him most, and who +had a rare, refined charm which must have captivated any child-lover. +She took the place of little Connie Gilchrist of the "Cleobouline," +the "Music Lesson," and other of the earlier paintings, in the later +pictures. She sat for "Sister's Kiss," "The Light of the Harem," +"Letty," the sleeping group in "Cymon and Iphigenia," "Kittens," in +the friezes "The Dance" and "Music," and "A little girl with golden +hair and pale blue eyes"-- + + "Yellow and pale as ripened corn + Which Autumn's kiss frees--grain from sheath + Such was her hair, while her eyes beneath, + Showed Spring's faint violets freshly born." + + ROBERT BROWNING. + +--also the child in "Captive Andromache." Of the sister-mother of this +little family, beautiful as she was, Leighton declared he never could +paint a successful likeness, notwithstanding his attempts in +"Viola,"[75] "Bianca," "Serenely wandering in a trance of sober +thought," and "Miss Dene." Her very beautiful throat, however, was +reproduced worthily in many of his subject-pictures, and the true +dramatic instinct she undoubtedly possessed enabled her to be of help +in such pictures as "Antigone," "Return of Persephone," and the last +picture, the passionate "Clytie." But however useful she proved as a +model, Leighton never for a moment thought of his own interests before +the serious welfare of the young girl's life. He realised that if she +was to make a successful actress, it involved serious and concentrated +study. One morning I received the following note:-- + + DEAR MRS. BARRINGTON,--Miss Pullen will be very happy to sit to + you on Monday, and will talk over the rest when you meet. You + are very kind about it all, as is, indeed, your wont. + + _P.S._--You see my harassed old head does sometimes remember + what I promise. + + [Illustration: STUDIES FROM DOROTHY DENE FOR "CLYTIE." 1895 + Leighton House Collection] + +And later:-- + + 2 HOLLAND PARK ROAD, + KENSINGTON, W. + + DEAR MRS. BARRINGTON,--I want you to help me in a little + conspiracy against (?) our young tragic friend. Mrs. Glyn + frequently urges that she ought, at all events for a time, to + give her _whole_ mind and being to the study of her art. I need + not say I share that opinion, and I have at last, after infinite + trouble and persistence (my _nose_, you know)[76] induced her to + leave off sitting for a _month_, in the hope, if you will all + help, of making it a _quarter_. This would, I am confident, be + of the greatest value to her, giving her time also to read a + little and concentrate her thoughts. I am quite prepared to give + up painting from her for three months; but she is in mortal + dread lest her other friends should think her unkind and + ungrateful for their sympathy. I have told her I believe no such + thing, and that I feel sure that Schmaltz and you (who work most + from her) will, as willingly as I, postpone your studies in + order to aid her in so important a matter. She is going to call + on you to-day; if you agree with me, _be very firm_--have a + _nose_! _Refuse_ to paint from her for three months. + +We succeeded in making the little girl work exclusively at her acting, +and Leighton, Watts, and I frequently visited the school where she was +being trained under Mrs. Glyn, to hear her and her fellow-students +perform the pieces they had studied. Eventually she appeared in London +and in the provinces, and quickly communicated all her successes and +failures to Leighton and to me. Constant notes passed between us as we +each received news from our young _protégée_, or when we thought some +fresh step might be taken for her advantage. For instance, one of +these notes runs as follows:-- + + DEAR MRS. BARRINGTON,--It has occurred to me that I perhaps + seemed this morning what I certainly did not mean to seem, + churlish in regard to that letter from Irving.[77] _If Miss + Pullen is now ripe for him to hear her_--this is the most + important point (for to go to him _too soon_ would be the most + unwise thing possible in view of her getting a good + engagement)--and if, having declined a letter on a previous + occasion, she has any unnecessary scruple about now asking for + one, it will be quite enough for you to tell me from her that + she wishes for one, and I will at once write it. _Kemp will + always be able to tell you where to get at me._ I can write as + easily from Vienna or Constantinople as from here. + +From Exeter Dorothy Dene wrote to Leighton after recounting an +unwonted success:-- + + "Don't be frightened that I shall let all this praise turn my + head. I know how much better it could be done, and after every + scene a great weight falls on my heart that I have done no + better. But I like you to warn me; it is good for me, so don't + leave off, please. I am sorry that your friend, Lord + Mount-Edgcumbe, will not see me, and that you had the bother of + writing for nothing. Please do not fash yourself about finding + out any one else. I must leave off now, as it is time to go to + the theatre, and you will not get this any sooner if it were + posted to-night than to-morrow. + + _Sunday, 24th._ + + "To continue, our lodgings are very comfortable, and nearly + opposite the theatre; the food is good, and very fairly cooked, + but I am very pleased with the tuck parcel; we had one of the + birds when we arrived, the other things we have hardly touched. + I thought it better to save them for places where the food may + be bad. Please send me Mr. B. Tree's letter. I thought as you + think about its advice. Thank you so much for _your_ kind advice + and gentle reminders, I shall try so hard to remember all you + have said to me at different times; and if I do become anything + in the future, I shall owe all the best part of it to you." + +An engagement for two matinées was made for her début in London. + +"Dear Mrs. Barrington, 'Dorothy' acts at the _Globe_ on Monday and +Tuesday afternoons," wrote Leighton; "I mean to go on Monday." I took +a party of eight to see her, including the late Lord Lytton, who took +much interest in the stage. After the performance Leighton wrote to +me, "Poor Dorothy was paralysed with terror yesterday--but I hope +intelligent people will have seen _through_ that." Again, later, "she +is adding, as she deserves, to the number of her friends, several of +whom treat her with really maternal kindness." I can indeed very truly +endorse Leighton's good opinion. Dorothy and three of her sisters were +worthy of all the interest shown in them. They were entirely +self-respecting, conscientious children, most affectionately devoted +to one another, and striving their utmost to improve in every sense, +and make themselves worthy of the help they received. Naturally they +adored their chief benefactor, Leighton. Unfortunately, Dorothy, +notwithstanding dramatic gifts, great perseverance and intelligence, +lacked charm on the stage. Her very beautiful face and throat were not +seen to advantage, as they were hardly in proportion with her figure, +which was short and too stiffly set to move gracefully on the stage. +Leighton in fun always called her "the little tee-to-tum," or when she +wore a large hat, "the mushroom." As he felt vitality waning and +mental effort a greater strain, the little family of Pullens had to +Leighton somewhat the same resting charm that Italy had in early days, +when he turned from the German austerity in study to the relaxation of +the _dolce far niente_ of Italian national life. "I go to see them," +he used to say, "when I want to let my back hair down and get off the +stilts." When Leighton was dying, his sister, Mrs. Sutherland Orr, +took Dorothy into his room. He was too ill to speak, but only smiled +to her in answer to her saying, "If I have or ever will do anything +worth doing, I owe it all to you--everything I owe to you." It is +almost unnecessary, as it is distasteful, to mention that this +beautiful paternal attitude Leighton displayed towards these orphans +was made the subject of ugly gossip--for are there not always the +_misérables_ of the world who seek the ugly rather than the beautiful? +misinterpreting the beautiful so that it should come within the range +of their scandalous arrows, more especially when the darts attack a +man in the high position Leighton held. Some of these offshoots of +envy and jealousy came within earshot of Leighton's sisters, who +thought it well to warn him in a letter that such malice was in the +air. He wrote a lengthy answer, ending with the following sentence: +"But let me turn away from the whole thing, it has pained me more than +enough. I implore you not to reopen it. On the only thing that +matters, you are _absolutely assured, if you believe in my honour_. If +you hear these rumours again, meet them with a flat, ungarnished +denial. Let that suffice--it does for me." To a lady friend he wrote +still more explicitly, in order, as he said, that there should exist +in his own handwriting an implicit and unmitigated denial of the +malicious falsehood. Leighton never knew under whose auspices this +scandal was conducted. As is the case invariably, it was impossible to +put the finger exactly on the culprit--for these fulsome things have +to be propagated under the rose, in order that they should get a firm +root before an authoritative denial can be given. However, after +Leighton's death, the lie was stated more boldly--even directly to his +two sisters. It is necessary, therefore, to include in the account of +his life the full and truthful version of the kind and fatherly +protection Leighton gave to this family. + +The interests of the Kyrle Society were another cause which I had in +common with Leighton. He spoke at the first public meeting that was +held in the Kensington Town Hall on January 27, 1881, and I possess an +interesting correspondence with him on the subject, which space will +not allow me to quote. The important matter contained in it appears in +the following correspondence between Mr. T.C. Horsfall, the chief +mover in establishing the Art Museum and Galleries in Manchester, and +Leighton, together with a discussion on other vital points connected +with Art:-- + + _April 7, about 1880._ + + DEAR SIR,--I am probably too late to be of any use, but have + nevertheless much pleasure in assuring you once again of the + sympathy with which I view your endeavours to bring the refining + influences of Art in all its forms, and, so to speak, in + co-operation on the masses in the vast industrial centre from + which you write. I believe that in seeking to elicit and to + cultivate their sense of what is beautiful you are opening up to + them a deep source of enjoyment, and by opposing good to bad + influences, rendering them great and lasting service.--Yours + very faithfully, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + + * * * * * + + _February 17, 1881._ + + I have carefully read over the programme of your enterprise, and + there is much in it with which I can warmly sympathise. I desire + nothing more deeply than to see the love and knowledge of Art + penetrate into the masses of the people in this country--there + is no end which I would more willingly serve; but there is in + your programme a paragraph which I cannot too emphatically + repudiate--that, namely, which excludes from Art, as far as the + public is concerned, that which is the root of the finest Art as + Art, the human form, the noblest of visible things. That you + should sternly and stringently exclude all work which reveals + an offensive aim or prurient mind is what I should be the + first to claim, but that you should lay down as a corner-stone + of your scheme an enactment which would exclude by implication + more than half the loftiest work we owe to Art--_nearly all + Michael Angelo_, much of Raphael's best, Sebastiano del Piomba's + "Raising of Lazarus," Titian's "Bacchus and Ariadne," + Botticelli's "Birth of Venus"--this is indeed a measure from + which I must most distinctly dissociate myself, and which makes + it impossible for me to connect my name with an enterprise which + would else command my sympathy. + + [Illustration: STUDY IN COLOUR FOR "GREEK GIRLS PLAYING AT + BALL." 1889 + By permission of Mrs. Stewart Hodgson] + + _From the "Manchester Courier," August 30, 1890._ + + SIR FREDERIC LEIGHTON ON THE MANAGEMENT OF ART GALLERIES. + + To the Editor of the _Manchester Courier_. + + SIR,--On the 4th and 6th inst. I published two long letters on + the management of art galleries, of some part of which this is a + summary:--No one can intelligently and fully enjoy any picture + or statue unless he has some measure of three kinds of + knowledge. (1) He must know something about the subject + represented, or he cannot enjoy the expression by the work of + the artist's feeling and thought; (2) he must know something of + the processes of the art in which the artist has worked, or he + cannot know what effects the artist sought or might have sought; + (3) he must know something of the history of the art, or he + cannot understand what elements in the work are due to the + artist himself and what to his time and place; or enjoy at all + some of the finest works ever produced. For the giving of the + second and third of these three kinds of knowledge there ought + to be subsidiary collections in our Manchester galleries, kept + distinct from the principal collection, and for the giving of + the first kind there ought to be several distinct subsidiary + collections, of which some should be for the purpose of giving + knowledge of flowers, birds, trees, and the other beautiful + objects which are "elements of landscape." As a very large + proportion of the people of all large towns are ignorant of all + that is interesting in nature, and of all that is noblest and + most interesting in history and in contemporary life, and as + pictures can very effectively give some knowledge both of nature + and of the deeds of men while fulfilling their special function, + which is to give certain kinds of ęsthetic pleasure, the + principal collections in our galleries ought to be used for the + purpose of giving knowledge of nature and of noble human nature. + A gallery of good pictures of the kind would, by reason of the + interest of the subjects represented, attract so much attention + that the public would to a far larger extent than now feel the + influence of the artistic qualities of pictures. In order to + obtain pictures of suitable subjects, the directors of art + galleries, instead of only buying pictures in exhibitions and + studios as they now do, should, as a rule, revert to the custom + which prevailed in the ages when art influenced life deeply, and + should ask artists to paint pictures of prescribed subjects. I + believe that they would get thus better pictures and at lower + prices. Many artists certainly would be at their best when they + knew they were working to enlighten a great community, and would + gladly accept a moderate price for a picture ordered for a + public gallery. + + I sent a copy of my letters to Sir Frederic Leighton, and asked + him if he would let me have his opinion respecting the principal + suggestions contained in them. With the great kindness which + distinguishes him, Sir Frederic Leighton has written me the + following letter, which contains advice so valuable that I am + sure every person in Manchester who cares for art will be glad + to have an opportunity of reading it:-- + + "DEAR MR. HORSFALL,--I must apologise for my very long + delay in answering your letter--a delay due in great part + to lack of time, but in part also to the fact that your + questions could not be answered hastily, or without due + consideration. I may say at the outset that I very warmly + appreciate the depth of your interest in the subject of + art, and the constancy of your efforts to spread its + influence in Manchester; and I am glad to be able to add + that on not a few points, I find myself in harmony with + your views. + + "It is evidently not possible for me to touch, within the + compass of a letter, upon more than one or two of the + matters with which you deal in your two long communications + to the Manchester press; and, indeed, the question on which + you mainly dilate, and in regard to which I am not wholly at + one with you, would require to be dealt with at far greater + length than is possible to me here. I must content myself + with saying what little seems to me sufficient to indicate + the grounds of my dissent from you. But first I should like + to say a word in passing on the vexed subject of _copies_. + + "There can be no doubt that it would be an immense advantage + to those who cannot travel--that is to say, to the enormous + majority of men--to bring before their eyes, through + reproductions--if these reproductions were absolutely + faithful--the masterpieces to which distance deprives them + of access. This is, in the case of sculpture and + architectural detail, in a large measure achieved by the + means of plaster casts, though it is needless to point out + that the capacity of the material robs the reproduction of + much of the life and light of the original. With pictures + the case is different. The subtle and infinite charm which + resides in the _handiwork_ of a master, and in the absence + of which half the personality of his work is lost, can + hardly ever be rendered by a copyist. For this reason the + overwhelming majority of even reasonable copies is to my + mind worse than useless. Such copies can kindle no + enthusiasm, and they virtually misinform the student. It has + always seemed to me that the best way to acquaint young + people with pictures which they are not able to see is to + put before them photographs of the originals, which, besides + giving design, form, and light and shade, with absolute + fidelity, render, in a wonderful way, the executive + physiognomy of the work; and by the side of these + photographs free, but faithful, coloured sketches of the + pictures should hang, giving the scheme, harmony, and tone + of the colour, but not, like finished copies, professing an + identity with the original, which is never achieved. + + "Turning now to what you say on the subject of the + acquisition of works for a public gallery, I should at once + dissuade you from any idea of giving definite commissions--I + mean commission to paint specially selected subjects. I have + always felt very strongly that artistic work, to be of real + value, must be the outcome of entirely spontaneous impulse + in an artist. I believe that in the immense majority of + cases work done under any other conditions lacks vitality + and sincerity, and will not show the worker at his best. A + subject which does not impose itself unbidden on the artist + will never elicit his full powers. I have myself on that + ground for many years past invariably declined to paint + under any kind of restriction. + + "Neither does your idea of--practically--refusing + encouragement to any work which does not commemorate a noble + deed, and, if possible, the noble deed of a well-known + personage, commend itself to me. It seems to me, on the + contrary, to be a harmful one, inasmuch as it misdirects the + mind of a people, already little open to pure artistic + emotion, as to the special function of Art. This can, of + course, only be the doing of something which it _alone_ can + achieve. Now, direct ethical teaching is specially the + province of the written and the spoken word. A page or two + from the pen of a great and nobly-inspired moralist--a + Newman, say, or a Liddon, or a Martineau--can fire us more + potently and definitely for good than a whole gallery of + paintings. This does not, of course, mean that a moral + lesson may not indirectly be conveyed by a work of art, and + thereby enhance its purely moral value. _But it cannot be + the highest function of any form of expression to convey + that which can be more forcibly, more clearly, and more + certainly brought home through another channel._ You may no + more make this direct _explicit_ ethical teaching a test of + worth in a painted work than you may do so in the case of + instrumental music; indeed by doing so you will turn the + attention of those before whom you place it from the true + character of its excellence--you will, so to speak, + mis-focus their emotional sensibility. It is only by + concentrating his attention on essentially artistic + attributes that you can hope to intensify in the spectator + that perception of what is beautiful in the highest, widest, + and fullest sense of the word, through which he may enrich + his life by the multiplication of precious moments akin to + those which the noblest and most entrancing music may bestow + on him through different forms of ęsthetic emotion. It is in + the power to lift us out of ourselves into regions of such + pure and penetrating enjoyment that the privilege and + greatness of art reside. If, in a fine painting, a further + wholly human source of emotion is present, and if that + emotion is more vividly kindled in the spectator by the fact + that he is attuned to receive it by the excitement of + ęsthetic perception through the beauty of the work of art as + such, that work will gain no doubt in interest and in width + of appeal. But it will not therefore be of a loftier order + than a great work in architecture or music--than the + Parthenon, for instance, or a symphony of Beethoven, neither + of which preaches a direct moral lesson. + + "But I am being led away into undue length without the + possibility, after all, of doing more than roughly indicate + the grounds of my dissent from a rather vital article of + your creed--a dissent which will, I am afraid, jar on you in + proportion to the great sincerity with which you hold your + faith. I may say, by the way, that I dwelt at rather greater + length on this very subject in my first presidential address + to the Royal Academy, delivered on 16th December 1879.--And, + herewith, I remain, dear Mr. Horsfall, yours very truly, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + "2 HOLLAND PARK ROAD, KENSINGTON, + "_August 18, 1890_." + + Examples of the kind of copies which Sir F. Leighton recommends + can be seen in the Art Museum in No. 1 Room. We have there a + photograph of the "Adoration of the Magi" of Paul Veronese, with + a series of studies by Mr. F. Shields of the composition, the + light and shade, and the arrangement of colour in the picture. + These copies suffice to prove that such a collection as Sir F. + Leighton recommends would be of the greatest value and interest. + May I say with regard to two points in the letter, that my + proposal to use some parts of the collections in our galleries + for the purpose of revealing the beauty of nature and the + greatness of human nature, does not involve any belief that the + giving of ethical teaching ought to be one of the functions of + pictures, and that the proposal is made partly for the purpose + of increasing the width of appeal of works of art. While trying + to make that appeal reach a large part of the community, we may + usefully teach, by means of other parts of the collections, that + the excellence of paintings has no relation to ethical + teaching. + + With regard to the influence on the artist of the choice by + others of his subjects, I think that Sir F. Leighton is misled + by his own great gifts. A man of remarkably wide culture, and of + great poetical power, he has been enabled, by the great range + and strength of his imagination, to choose subjects giving ample + scope for the exercise of the qualities peculiar to the painter, + and yet appealing strongly to the powers of thought and feeling + of all fairly educated people. To such a man, and to such a man + only, spontaneous impulse can now be a sufficient guide in the + choice of his subject; and to such a man, and only to such a + man, the choice of his subject by other persons of intelligence + would be a harmful restriction. In every picture gallery it is + but too obvious that the majority of even able painters, though + unrestricted by the will of any committee, are impeded by more + hampering restrictions than any intelligent committee would + impose, and are unable to find subjects interesting both to + themselves and to others. For many able painters the intelligent + choice by others of subjects for their work would remove, and + not impose, restrictions. It must be remembered that the + subjects of the works of Pheidias, of Cimabue, of Giotto, and + indeed those of most of the works which have been much cared + for, were chosen for, and not by, the artists.--Yours, &c., + + T.C. HORSFALL. + +The following letter is Mr. Horsfall's answer to the one published in +the _Manchester Courier_, August 30, 1890:-- + + SWANSCOE PARK, NEAR MACCLESFIELD, + _August 20, 1890_. + + DEAR SIR FREDERIC LEIGHTON,--It is most kind of you to answer my + letter so fully. I shall show my gratitude by doing my best to + make your counsel as useful as possible to Manchester. + + The system which you suggest for giving some idea of + masterpieces which are too distant to be visited seems to me to + be admirable, and I cannot but believe that it will be adopted + in one of our Manchester Galleries. + + With regard to the advisableness of choosing for public + galleries chiefly pictures of noble subjects respecting which + most people have, when they see the pictures, or can be expected + to gain, some knowledge, though I feel the great weight of your + argument, I am still of the same opinion. I may say this without + presumption, because the great question which we are discussing: + "How can Art be made most useful to England?" involves the two + other questions: "What are the best conditions under which + artists can work?" and "How can the best work of artists be made + to influence the rest of the community?" In considering the + second of these questions an artist is, I think, impeded by his + special gifts, while I, not an artist, aided by the _qualités de + mes défauts_, and by the results of several years of experiment + in the use of pictures, believe myself to have gained much + trustworthy knowledge! Speaking from the standpoint which I have + thus reached, I should say that whilst the artist is most + conscious of the analogy which exists between painting and + instrumental music, there is really a much closer analogy + between painting and poetry, or between painting and song, and + that it is this closer analogy which should guide the action of + the directors of public galleries. Painting deals, while + instrumental music does not, with subjects respecting which we + think and feel, and it must accept the results for good and evil + of this; its products cannot be, as instrumental music is, + without definite relation to our feeling and thought, and a + simply neutral relation being impossible, the relation must be + ennobling or debasing in some degree. I think that my analysis + of the conditions which must be fulfilled if the relations is to + be an ennobling one was sound. + + In asking that painters shall choose subjects pure and lovely + "and of good report," I am not asking that painting shall leave + its special function--shall cease to do that which it can do + better than any other art; but only that it shall recognise that + its function differs from that of instrumental music, and is the + creation in us of a symphony of feeling or emotional thought and + enjoyment of form and colour, and human skill, and love of + beauty.--With very many thanks, I am, dear Sir Frederic + Leighton, yours sincerely, + + T.C. HORSFALL. + + + 2 HOLLAND PARK ROAD, KENSINGTON, W., + _August 22, 1890_. + + DEAR MR. HORSFALL,--I have to thank you for your kind and + interesting letter of the 20th. + + Knowing of old the views you entertain, and the radical + divergence which exists between them and my own, I had fully + anticipated the spirit of your answer; in fact, it almost seemed + to me when I wrote at some length the other day that I ought to + explain that it was out of deference to your wish and in high + appreciation of the long and earnest thought which you have + given to a grave subject that I did so, rather than in the hope + that my views would carry conviction or commend themselves to + you. + + The divergence between us is, as I said, at the root of things, + and is one on which I do not think experience either qualifies + or disqualifies us to judge. The question is not what effect + pictures may have had on certain people, but what the _proper_ + function of Art is. The question is theoretic rather than + practical. _If_ the primary function of Art is definitely + didactic, _if_ its first duty is to inculcate a specific moral + truth, then, indeed, there is, as you very rightly say, no + neutral ground. Either the teaching is wholesome or it is + mischievous. + + Meanwhile, our brief correspondence only throws into stronger + light the impossibility to which I believe I alluded in my first + letter, of dealing with such a subject within the compass of a + letter, and in broad and sweeping outlines. So, for instance, + when I used instrumental music as a parallel, I did not for a + moment mean to describe its province as being identical with + that of painting. Neither, on the other hand, would you, I + presume, in instancing song on your side wish to be taken too + literally; for you would have, according to your theory, to + excommunicate, let us say, for instance, Schubert, the king of + song-writers, who has played on more varied chords of feeling + and imagination than any other musician of his kind, and of whom + I am not aware that he ever inculcated (I feel pretty certain + that he never meant to inculcate) a definite moral lesson. + + But I am beginning again. Let me at once draw rein, and + abandoning a barren, however interesting controversy, remain, + dear Mr. Horsfall, yours sincerely, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + + + 2 HOLLAND PARK ROAD, KENSINGTON, W., + _August 28, 1890_. + + DEAR MR. HORSFALL,--Before starting for my holiday, of which I + stand in much need, I write one line to acknowledge and thank + you for your amiable and interesting letter, which shows me, I + am very glad to see, that we are much less divided in opinion + than I should have gathered from what you had previously + written, and indeed printed. + + Judgments given as absolute in your letters to the Manchester + press are shown by the commentary which your last letter + furnishes to be in a manner conditional, and without that + commentary your words were rather misleading. I was not + unnaturally a little startled--I, who do not think a "subject" + in the ordinary sense of the word imperative at all--to find you + condemn the purchase of Yeames's "Arthur and Hubert" (which, for + the element of human emotion, certainly satisfies the + Aristotelian demand in reference to tragedy), because the + emotion does not turn on an heroic act; and I may say, in + passing, that I am unable to see how a scene in which deep pity + for the helpless is aroused, can be justly described as a + "horror which it is foolish to try to realise." + + Meanwhile, I fully feel the practical difficulty which your last + letter describes. It is a difficulty of the most perplexing + kind. For it must be evident that whilst with a people of strong + moral fibre and an almost entire absence of ęsthetic + sensibility--at all events, on the side of form--you may + indirectly insinuate some perception of the beautiful--of that + essence which lifts us out of ourselves--under the cover and + pretext of a _moral_ emotion--we cannot ignore the danger of + producing the exactly opposite effect of confirming the + dully-strung spectator in the belief that the stirring of that + moral emotion is in fact the _raison d'źtre_ of the work. One + is, of course, glad, as the world goes, that the doors of + righteousness should be opened, even by the wrong key; but one + would still more desire that the door which yields only to that + key should not itself remain closed. + + Pray do not take the trouble to acknowledge these parting words: + but believe me, very truly yours, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + +With regard to Leighton's acute artistic sense of fitness when it was +a matter of chosing a site for buildings or monuments, so that such +placing should give them their full value of effect, I remember, after +a site had been decided on for Cleopatra's Needle in London, Leighton +vehemently denouncing the idea of placing it where it now stands. The +conversation we had respecting it was recalled by finding the +following letter:-- + + DEAR SIR,--It is a source of regret to me that I am unable to be + present as a listener at the discussion to-morrow. Meanwhile the + question of the base, though a very important one, is in my mind + very secondary to that of the site, and the (in my poor opinion) + radical wrongness of the present selection much mars my interest + in the whole affair. A monument which, intended to be + conspicuous, is not the _focus_ of the avenues that lead to it, + I think against the most primary perceptions of effect. Two + magnificent avenues give access to Cleopatra's Needle, the + finest river and the finest embankment in Europe; _both of these + run past it_ as if they had forgotten it. I may add that what + would only have been feeble is rendered worse than feeble by the + (of course accidental) semblance of matching with the short + tower over the way. + + Pray excuse the great haste in which I write and the consequent + abruptness of my expressions, and believe me, yours very truly, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + +Mr. J. Goodall, in his Reminiscences, says: "Many years before it was +removed from Egypt I used to see it lying on the seashore near +Alexandria. I agree with Lord Leighton's opinion that it was not +erected on a suitable site. It is a pity it was not put up in front of +the British Museum." + +Leighton, needless to say, took infinite interest in Sir Henry Tate's +splendid scheme for memorialising the success of a commercial life, by +presenting to his nation a gallery in which the best British works of +art might find a home, and, moreover, by the gift to the public of +the nucleus of such a collection. It was truly amazing to see the +amount of time and trouble which Leighton devoted to this scheme, +considering how full to overflowing his life already appeared to be. +But, whether it was a question of a splendid enterprise, or a +struggling artist of whom the world had never heard, or even an +earnest amateur, once his sense aroused that he could be of help, +Leighton manufactured time somehow to give that help.[78] But the +high-minded, public-spirited view Sir Henry Tate took of the +responsibilities of wealth specially enlisted Leighton's sympathies, +and he evinced an intense interest in helping to work out the great +idea. + +Another matter which concerned him very seriously was the fact that a +work by the greatest sculptor England can claim--Alfred +Stevens--purporting to memorialise our great warrior, the Duke of +Wellington, was allowed to remain unfinished and shunted away in a +side chapel of St. Paul's Cathedral, instead of being completed and +placed in the position for which it was designed. The following +letters to Mr. Henry Wells show that in 1888 Leighton had induced +others to view the matter in the same light:-- + + 2 HOLLAND PARK ROAD, + _August 12, 1888_. + + DEAR WELLS,--The list for the Memorial Committee is practically + complete, and though it is not in every particular the list + which you or I might have drawn up, it is a good one, and as I + told you I think in a previous note, I have not liked to + interfere too much, as Agnew has so zealously taken the work on + himself. I meant to send you the list, but have cleverly come + away from home (I am writing at the Senior United Service Club) + without it. I have of course asked Agnew to add his own name; + for the Academy I have proposed to him the four Trustees--not as + Trustees, but because they offer a ready-made group in a body + where none is afore or after--Sir J. Gilbert, Linton, and Coutts + Lindsay will complete the artistic section for the present. The + next step, as I have suggested to Agnew, is to get at the Dean + of St. Paul's--this I have offered to do. A chairman will have + to be appointed; I should suggest, or rather have suggested, the + D. of Cleveland--if he joins; I believe his answer has not yet + come in. And there must be a banker: then a letter from the + Committee should appear in the _Times_ inviting adhesions and + subscriptions, to be published from time to time: is all this in + harmony with your own view? Are you not afraid that the moment + when "everybody" (for _our_ purposes it _is_ everybody) is + leaving town or has left it--I go myself in a few days--is a + very bad one? Many people lose sight of their _Times_, or would + not write from the country or foreign parts. How would it strike + you to wait a month or two, having now laid the foundation? It + is a nice point. There are pros, but there are also cons. With + all good wishes, yours sincerely, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + + You have seen no doubt in your _Times_ that we mean to exhibit + our lamented friend's work in a worthy manner. + + _P.P.S._--By-the-bye, _S. Kensington_ ought to be represented. I + will ask Agnew to write to T. Armstrong. + + [Illustration: "BACCHANTE." 1892 + By permission of Messrs. Henry Graves & Co., the owners of the + Copyright] + + [Illustration: STUDY IN OILS FOR "BACCHANTE." 1892 + By permission of Mrs. Stewart Hodgson] + + + 2 HOLLAND PARK ROAD, KENSINGTON, W., + _November 2, 1892_. + + DEAR WELLS,--Best thanks for your cheque and kind note. You will + be glad to hear that the removal is going on capitally. I did + not wait for the full money-promise; I had _determined_ to do + the thing, and I set it going on my personal guarantee when we + were £300 short of the full sum. _Now_ we have the money, young + Lehmann munificently sending a cheque _for that amount_. + +The great monument having been moved to its right position, the next +question was to raise funds for the completion of the work. This was +perplexing Leighton during the last weeks of his life. Having written +a letter to the _Times_ in 1895, and the donations having come in but +scantily, he was puzzled to know what further steps to take. + +Leighton himself, so distinguished a sculptor, took a special interest +in all efforts to promote the knowledge and love of plastic art. When, +therefore, his old friend Mr. Walter Copland Perry called a meeting at +Grosvenor House--at which the late Duke of Westminster presided--to +lay before it his scheme for the formation of a gallery of casts from +all the best Greek and Roman statues, Leighton was one of the most +zealous and active promoters of the scheme.[79] + +Leighton was commissioned by the Government to execute the medallion +for Queen Victoria's Jubilee in 1887. M. Edouard Lantéri, now +Professor of Modelling at the South Kensington schools, assisted him +in carrying out the design, and became an ardent admirer of the +President. M. Lantéri described to me how certain difficulties +occurred in the casting. Leighton said they must work on till these +were set right--and they _did_ work eighteen hours on end. + +All to whom the work of Watts, Burne-Jones, and Rossetti has appealed, +owe Leighton a debt of gratitude. Before the Grosvenor Gallery +Exhibition of his work took place in 1882, Watts, in talking to me of +the unpopularity of the pictures he felt most inspired to paint, would +often give as a proof of this that, with one exception, no one had +ever cared to engrave his pictures; and truly, without Mr. Fred +Hollyer's photographs the general public would have known little of +the special value of this work, nor of the art of Rossetti and +Burne-Jones. Mr. Hollyer's photographs are not merely copies--they +have as art an atmosphere of charm in themselves; they render what may +be called the _soul_ of a picture. He writes:-- + + "About 1875 I received a letter from Baroness ----, requesting + me to call upon her in order to arrange to photograph the + collection of works of art in her country house. She had + employed other photographers, but the results had not been + satisfactory. I carried the matter through, and not only + received a considerable amount in remuneration, but was given + great encouragement to persevere with my work at a time when I + had nearly decided on going to America. The Baroness never + mentioned who it was that had recommended me, and though I had + been constantly working for him during many years, it was not + till six months after his death that I discovered it was Lord + Leighton who had been my good friend. I should be glad to bear + testimony to his great heart and loving kindness, and do regret + not having been able to thank him myself." + +Leighton was made a Baronet in 1886. The following letter from +Gladstone, written in 1885, refers to Leighton having submitted to him +the names of Millais and Watts as artists worthy to receive the +honour, at the same time begging him earnestly not to include his +own:-- + + _Private._] + 10 DOWNING STREET, WHITEHALL, + _June 17, 1885_. + + MY DEAR SIR F. LEIGHTON,--Your letter has given me much + pleasure. I can assure you that I in return highly appreciate + the generous spirit you have shown, and I value the advice you + kindly tendered in this matter of Art Honours. I am reporting + rather fully to Her Majesty on our conversation of Monday, and + on the personal abnegation on your own part, which commands my + cordial respect.--I remain always, very faithfully yours, + + W.E. GLADSTONE. + +On Watts declining the honour, Leighton was at first much vexed; but +Watts, having explained to him the reason which made it inadvisable +for him to accept a baronetcy, Leighton fully, as he told my husband +and myself, saw the necessity of his declining. + +Since the first years when Leighton settled in London he had been +favoured by the personal friendship of many members of the Royal +family, who very greatly esteemed him. He not only attended the State +banquets and entertainments to which he was summoned, but was +frequently the guest at receptions of a private and a more intimate +character at Marlborough House and elsewhere. + +In these pages there is only space to note a few, among the very many +directions in which he served the Art interests of his country. In +foreign lands, and in the Colonies no less than in England, he +extended the knowledge and appreciation of the best English Art by his +unwearying exertions; and yet it must always be remembered he ever +remained "a workman first, an official after." + +Professor Church, appointed in 1879 to the Professorship of Chemistry +in the Royal Academy of Arts in London, has preserved letters and +notes from Leighton on the subject of pigments.[80] It is almost +incredible that his mind could have penetrated with such accuracy into +all the details of his craft as fresh questions arose as to the value +of new vehicles and colours, considering his endless labours connected +with the wider interests of Art, and the absorbing nature of his own +work. But there exist over sixty letters, and more than twenty cards, +dating from 1880 to November 1895, two months before his death, in +which he proves his insistency to master thoroughly every detail of +his craft. He wrote: "It is, I feel, rather a duty in me to ascertain +about these various new vehicles." + +The following extracts may prove of interest and value to +painters.[81] + + _8th._ + + DEAR PROF. CHURCH,--I write to acknowledge your letter of the + 6th, the information in which (Jaune de Naples) is to me of + very great importance indeed. I believe Hills to be really + anxious to help us in the matter of medium. I should be + peculiarly glad if we could send forth a thoroughly trustworthy, + hard-drying, supple, and not yellowing vehicle. Let us consider + it. I find myself using a mixture, roughly, of equal parts of + amber varnish (Roberson's) and oil of spike; and, say, a sixth + of the whole of poppy oil (Roberson's): that is, 3/7 amber, 3/7 + spike, 1/7 poppy; but I vary according to the work; and again I + don't know what Roberson's amber varnish is, it does not seem + _very_ drying. Of course one would want a good middle drying + power, to which, _mixing the ingredients_, one might add any one + at will. I think that "Siccatif de Haarlem" has about that + middle quality, if I remember it rightly. It is, I think, copal, + poppy oil, and turps.; but it seemed to me to yellow a little, + why, I don't know; poppy should not darken. Chromophile is + delightful up to a certain point, and then the work sinks + extraordinarily blind and tallowy; and as you want something in + the way of varnish at the end, it seems desirable to carry that + or _some_ varnish in a moderate degree right through. Chromoph. + becomes a little _milky_ in a bottle with spir. of turp., and + turns bright green when left in a dipper. + + Your proposal to _report_ to us annually is very valuable, and + could be worked to the _general_ advantage. + + * * * * * + + I am delighted to find that you are in co-operation with my + friend Mr. Hills, who has a warm and genuine desire to serve Art + and his friends the artists. I find his poppy oil _clarified + with charcoal_ very delightful stuff. Am I wrong in thinking the + action of the charcoal on it has been to render it more + _drying_? I think that a vehicle made with that oil, amber + varnish, and oil of spike will be a very satisfactory vehicle + indeed; particularly if you can, between you, _bleach_ the oil + yet more. Chromophile is quite colourless. The mastic varnish + _that won't bloom_ will be a great triumph. _Pace_ our + detractors, it shall, I hope, be seen in time that the R.A. is + not unmindful of the needs of artists even in the matter of + material appliances. + + * * * * * + + I observe that you speak in your valuable manual of Aureolin as + a _very slow-drying_ colour when ground with oil; finding, in + use, that _Roberson's_ Aureolin dries, on the contrary, + extremely quick--it is always absolutely dry the next day, and I + use no vehicle but Bell's Medium, _i.e._ linseed and oil of + spike and turps.--I wrote to ask him what he grinds the colour + in. He answers "_pure linseed oil without the addition of any + drier._" This puzzles me. Where is the solution? Are there + different kinds of Aureolin? When you have a leisure moment send + me a post-card. + + * * * * * + + Among the madders in your handbook _scarlet_ madder does not + appear; I hope it is not a treacherous colour; I use it freely, + but only mixture with other _dark_ colours, to give them + richness. I also use cadmium _red_; is that wrong? A line on a + post-card will greatly oblige. + + _P.S._--Of course I only use cadmium red when I want a _very_ + deep orange in drapery or sky--nothing could replace it. + + * * * * * + + _Feb. 2, 1885._ + + Here is a little problem: I thought all _burnt_ colours were + _ipso facto_ sound. Roberson tells me that burnt white + (Chremnitz do.), a lovely colour _like ivory_, plays most + amazing tricks, darkens and lightens again in rapid succession. + WHY? When you are in Long Acre make him show you his samples. + + * * * * * + + Thanks for your letter. I don't use any particular colours other + than those you mentioned in your lectures, although I thought of + trying deep yellow madder again; I used to like it very much. I + suppose you have the list--it is a very long one--of Edouard's + colours. Smith is his agent here (14 Charles Street, Middlesex + Hospital). I use one or two colours (Tadema I think _all_) from + Mommen's in Brussels; his burnt sienna is _superb_. Asphaltum + would reward study; it was _universally_ used by the Venetians, + and seems never to have cracked with them. I am very glad that + you are steadily pursuing your collection of specimens and + experiments, which I hope will by degrees become an exhaustive + one, and of infinite value to the profession. _Grounds_, too, + will deserve much attention. + + * * * * * + + Kindly tell me whether there is any harm in putting a _thin_ + coat of mastic, softened perhaps with a drop or two of oil, over + works _finished quite recently_ but _begun_ a year or more ago? + If I understand rightly, cracking is caused by atmospheric + action through the _back_ of the canvas, by _distension_ of + underlying partially soft paint and, consequent disruption of + the upper, harder layer of varnish. If the first painting is a + year old, is it not tough enough to resist the atmosphere, and + is it not _anyhow_ pretty safe when the canvas is _backed_? + + I suppose "Mutrie yellow" is quite safe alone and mixed with + other pigments? + + * * * * * + + Thanks for your note. Yes, I do like the white oil, but I add + copal to it if I want it to be very drying, or mix copal on the + palette with a slow-drying colour, say a lake. This, I suppose, + is all right; if so, don't trouble to acknowledge this. The oil + of orange is delightful on account of its smell, but dries less + quickly than turpentine (rectfd. spirit). Is it not _always_ + better to have _some_ resin in a picture _throughout_ since it + has to be varnished at the end? + + * * * * * + + _April 21, 1888._ + + I am so much enamoured with the method, so far as vehicle is + concerned, which I have used during the last year, that I should + like to feel quite certain that it is _absolutely safe_. I use a + "single-primed" canvas, and underpaint with "Bell's medium" and + rect. spir. turps., which, under your advice, I have in _small_ + bottles, so that using it freely a bottle lasts a very short + time, and the stuff is therefore always fresh. The mixture I + _use up to the end_ (except when I now and then use the pigment + _alone_), and letting the turps. rather _preponderate_ as I + advance. I have found to my amazement that this mixture dries + even in winter weather excellently, and that I can use with it + even scarlet madder and aureolin, which, at least the former, + hitherto I never attempted to use except stiffened with amber + or copal; and I further find that this mixture, though of course + it "sinks" to some extent (and especially with the blues), in + the main bears up very fairly, incomparably better than I should + have expected, and in fact quite enough. Before beginning to + paint I rub over the part each time with Bell's medium and + saliva nearly equal parts, or say five oil to four saliva beaten + up with the knife on the palette to a white mucilage. This, if + left alone, makes a good varnish, and is delightful to paint + into. So far, so good; at least I suppose so. (Do you see any + elements of danger? cracking? darkening?) But at the end + something must go over it all, if only to lock it up (I + suppose), certainly to get uniform gloss and strength. I propose + in the Academy to put Roberson's medium over the whole of my + large one and to retouch with the same. A portrait on to which I + _don't_ intend to work I should cover with mastic and _a little + poppy oil_; there is no harm in this, I suppose, and the small + quantity of mastic is not likely to yellow, is it? I know this + mixture _won't come off_, but why should it? + + * * * * * + + _May 30, 1889._ + + Messrs. Reeves send me a colour in which I delight, but which I + have hitherto always avoided as being unsafe, to wit, indigo. I + suppose one ought not to use it, ought one? although my old + friend, and in some ways my master, Robert Fleury, employed it + extensively in _underpainting_ blue draperies. + + * * * * * + + _December 23, 1889._ + + I have got a recipe--a very simple one--from a friend of mine in + Italy, who paints a good deal in distemper, and who in technical + matters is quite the most leery person I ever came across. In + this recipe he mentions what he calls "Gum Damar," which he, in + his characteristic ignorance of spelling (for Italians are not + very strong in orthography), writes with an apostrophe, D'Amar. + Now I presume he means "Gum Dammar" (I believe there is such a + thing, is there not?), but I should like to feel sure. Perhaps + you will kindly enlighten me on a post-card. + + The distemper itself is the simplest thing in the world. It is + only a proportion of water and yolk of egg (he deprecates the + use of vinegar), to which he adds a certain number of drops (I + have not the recipe by me) of this gum. Of course it would be + important not to use the wrong gum. Hence the trouble I am + giving you. + + * * * * * + + _January 27, 1890._ + + I have just received from Perugia the enclosed sample of Gum + Dammar, which you were kind enough to say that you would report + upon to me. A few drops of this (by-the-bye, I do not know how + it is to be dissolved) and the yolk of an egg stirred in water, + form the distemper used by my friend Mariani. + + I don't know whether I told you that he is rather an interesting + fellow. He is one of those extremely dexterous Italian + workmen-artists who know and can work in every material, and + whose forgeries of sixteenth century bric-ą-brac, cassoni, + reliefs in pastiglia, &c. &c., have, I am afraid, not + infrequently been purchased as original by very crafty persons. + + Several friends of mine who use distemper, and he amongst the + number, tell me that by putting a preparatory coating of + distemper over thoroughly dry oil, you can with perfect safety + interpose a layer of _painting_ in distemper between two + paintings in oil--an extremely valuable thing for us _for + recovering quality_. + + * * * * * + + _January 31, 1890._ + + Many thanks for your valuable letter. I have had the information + entered in a little book, where I keep the outpourings of your + wisdom on matters chemical. + + Thanks also for the card, in which you give me a somewhat long + name for my Gomme Dammar. I suppose in an appeal to a chemist + the _first_ portion would suffice. + + * * * * * + + _February 14, 1890._ + + Many thanks for your valuable note. I may say in passing that + the specimen of "Ruby Madder" sent by Mr. Laurie appears to me + to be inferior in brilliancy to both the Rose Madder and the + Madder Carmine furnished by Messrs. Roberson; and I have no + reason to doubt that the latter colours are perfectly + trustworthy. + + It will give me great pleasure to receive the dedication of your + book, which I look forward to seeing with pleasure, and using + with profit. + + * * * * * + + _May 19, 1890._ + + Many thanks for your note, which seems to open up an interesting + point. I gather from what you say that the mode of _manufacture_ + of a colour may affect its drying properties over a range + extending from drying very slowly to drying very rapidly; and I + shall be much interested in hearing what your experiments lead + to under this head. + + * * * * * + + _January 30, 1891._ + + Many thanks for your letter. I see that I had better wait for a + final opinion until the few months have expired which you still + require as tests of permanence. Meanwhile, I am a little unhappy + to see in the case of colour after colour the expression + "semi-permanent." I do not quite know what that means. Let me + know _at your leisure_ whether it means permanent under certain + conditions, and, if so, what; or merely in a general way that + the pigment stands, but only pretty well. The Rosso Saturno I + quite understand is to be set aside. + + Another perplexity is in regard to the Burnt Madder. If the + madders are in themselves sound colours, as I have always + understood them to be, how do they lose their permanence by + burning? I should like to use the Gialetto, and I rather gather + from what you say that I may do so. I hear with interest what + you tell me of your new varnish. As for myself, I have got to + dislike the use of any resins in my work to such an extent that + I have completely set them aside. Of course when a picture is + finished it requires some gum, not only to protect it, but to + bring up the colour to its full value. Will you let me know--but + this will do at your leisure, for the time has not come + yet--whether a picture being painted as I paint mine, + exclusively with Bell's medium and turpentine from first to + last, and, I may add, worked on up to the last moment of sending + in, _i.e._ a fortnight later, may on the walls of the Academy be + safely varnished with this new material of yours, either alone + or diluted with a little poppy oil? I look forward with interest + to Heyl's Madder Green. + + * * * * * + + _December 5, 1891._ + + I shall certainly try the Heyl's Madder Green, which I hear of + through you for the first time. Laurie's daffodil cadmium is + very pretty. I have got some; but my new delight now is yellow + cobalt, which you have found to be absolutely safe, and which is + absolutely delightful as a colour. + + * * * * * + + My tempera is come from Italy, and I am told that it is made of + the tails (feelers?) of the cuttle-fish (sepia). Would you like + to look at it again from curiosity? I understand that with the + reservation that it darkens, I may use it with impunity in, + under, and with the oil--that is enough for _my_ purpose. + + * * * * * + + _October 16, 1894._ + + Will you kindly advise me on the tempera, of which I send a + tube? It is used by my friend, Prof. Costa, who gave it me; he + likes it vastly. It coalesces _with oil_; he uses it also by + itself _between_ two paintings in oil. I have often longed for + something to keep down the _greasiness_ and _slipperiness_ of + oil paint when correcting or going over a surface often, oil and + water _do_ coalesce sufficiently. The most luminous thing I ever + painted (and it has stood like a rock) was painted (or certainly + _thickly under_painted) with a vehicle made of _starch and oil_. + What _this_ medium is, I don't know. Please advise. + + * * * * * + + _March 7, 1894._ + + Forgive secretary again. + + I am much obliged by your note, and read with great satisfaction + what you say about Newman's golden ochre. I shall now, until I + hear from you further, adopt the motto "Ex uno disce omnes," and + assume that the _yellow_ ochre is equally sound and serviceable; + although the colour is so much finer than any yellow ochre of my + acquaintance that I cannot quite close my mind to a lurking + suspicion that it is stimulated or refreshed by some foreign + ingredient. + + * * * * * + + _March 13, 1894._ + + Many thanks. You send me good tidings. The yellow ochre is by + far the finest I have ever seen. + + * * * * * + + I enclose, because we think (Watts and I) that it will interest + you, a specimen of purple _lake_ (_not madder_), such as Watts + has used _all his life_, which has been baking in the sun for + _two_ years; it is slightly browner, but more beautiful than + ever, and has, you see, retained its full _body_; this is + remarkable. + + * * * * * + + _June 22, 1894._ + + Very many thanks for your interesting and exhaustive + investigations on the French lakes. I observe that in several + cases you mention lakes having _cracked_. I presume, however, + there is no reason to suppose they would do this when embodied + with other colours, and that _if_ otherwise safe they might + therefore be used. The purple lake used by our friend Watts is + furnished to him, I have always understood, by Messrs. Newton of + Rathbone Place. I am glad to hear so good an account of the pale + boiled linseed oil from May & Baker, Ltd., of Battersea. I do + not, however, gather from what you say that there can be any + reason for substituting it for Bell's medium, to which I am much + attached, and which, as you know, is, with the admixture of + one-third rectified essence of turpentine, the only vehicle I + use. This note, of course, requires no acknowledgment--anything + you may have to say on these various points will abundantly keep + until I get a further account of your investigations on the + purple lake. + + * * * * * + + Many thanks for your valuable caution. Amongst the lakes you + tried, did you include the garance _nuance brun_ and do. _brun + foncé_? Both are superb colours, and it would be nice to think + one might use them. It is very comfortable to feel that one has + a _conscience_ one can tune at Shelsley. + + * * * * * + + _April 19, 1894._ + + I am about now to take up a large decorative painting for the + Exchange, a work which cannot be done on the spot on account, + _inter alia_, of the darkness of the place, and will, therefore, + be carried out here at the studio on _canvas_, and then + "marouflé" on the wall. Macbeth (A.R.A.), who is also doing one, + is using _Parris's_ "Marble medium," in which, a thousand years + ago, I painted two figures for mosaic at South Kensington; great + brilliancy is obtainable, but I rather fear a certain tendency + to look waxy and almost shiny. I myself incline to use Gambier + _Parry's_ material, which I have used on the _wall_ at South + Kensington and greatly like. But now the question arises, ought + the canvas to be _prepared_? and on this I shall be grateful for + your opinion, as the matter is very important. G. Parry told me + that canvas either _could_ or _should_ be prepared for his + medium, I don't remember which. Roberson's man tells me that + Madox Brown and Fredk. Shields (I think) both had canvases + prepared for a similar purpose. I shall postpone ordering mine + till I have your instructions; till when, and always, I am, in + much haste. + + * * * * * + + _April 23, 1894._ + + Many thanks for your letter. I shall, of course, obey your + instructions punctually, and substitute paraffin wax for the + ordinary Brecknell and Turner beeswax, as prescribed by Parry + himself. I will see Roberson immediately, for I should not think + it right, as he ground the colours and prepared the medium + throughout for my two large frescoes at South Kensington, to + abandon him in favour of Laurie, or anybody else. + + You suggest that I should make a little experiment on a small + canvas. Do you think that would be necessary? I presume that the + material will work exactly as it did before, and that the + surface will be--bar the granulation--very much the same as on a + wall. I ask this question, because I ought to get to work + immediately, and I gather from a reference to your work that it + will take several weeks before the process of preparation is + complete. + + I wish I could throw light for you on the verb "maroufler," and + should like to know what subterranean connection there is, or + can be, between it and the word "maroufle" which is, as you say, + being interpreted, a "rascal." + + At all events, when the moment comes for the operation, I must + endeavour to obtain information from France, where the process + is in very frequent use. + + * * * * * + + _February 27, 1895._ + + A contretemps has occurred of which I think I ought to inform + you, as it relates to the very interesting subject of grounds + and pigments. + + Robersons, when they came to roll up my fresco to transport it + to the Exchange, found that either the ground or the + pigment--probably both, as they are of the same substance--was + extremely brittle and cracked right across, cracking at a rather + abrupt tangent from the circumference of the circle; so that + they immediately struck work, and declined to go any further. + + As far as the painting itself is concerned, I do not believe + that any serious damage is done, because on re-straining it + flat, the cracks are barely perceptible, and probably would not + be at all perceptible in _situ_. + + Meanwhile, if any question arises as to the ground, it has + occurred to me, and it is on this point I wish to consult you, + that the cause may be the substitution of paraffin wax for the + ordinary wax hitherto used in Gambier Parry's material, which, + though perhaps not absolutely so durable as paraffin, is + sufficiently so, and very malleable. One does not see what else + could have cracked in that abrupt and sharp manner--certainly + not the copal, which has oil in it and is further made supple by + the oil of spike. If it turned out that the paraffin was the + peccant element, I should be, _entre nous_, rather glad, because + it diminished the facility of the work. + + * * * * * + +With reference to the cracking of this work Professor Church writes:-- + + This unrolling was begun in very cold weather; if the + temperature had been a little higher, nothing of this kind would + have taken place. The picture now shows no sign of defect or + injury, and is in perfect condition. By substituting _ceresin_, + a paraffin obtained from ozokerite or earthwax, for crystalline + paraffin, the chance of cracking is obviated. The ceresin, which + should have a melting-point of 150° or 160° Fahrenheit, + constitutes a safe substitute for the beeswax commonly employed + in Gambier Parry's Spirit Fresco Medium. + + + FOGGIA, _October 15, 1895_. + + You will be surprised to get a letter from me with an Italian + superscription; I am writing thus early before my return to save + time. When I was in Venice the other day, Van Haanen spoke to + me, _with approval_, of a certain vehicle, of which I had + already heard before vaguely, the invention of the French + painter, Vibert. You probably know of it, as the subject of + media has occupied you. There are, it appears, three forms of + this medium: the vehicle for painting, the medium for painting + _into_ in retouching, and the final _varnish_. As far as I + understood Van Haanen in a hurried conversation--he was a little + vague--the painting medium contains no gum, only, he seemed to + think, petroleum and oil; I assume that in the final "vernis" + there _is_ gum of some kind. + + I am perfectly satisfied with Bell's medium and fresh turpentine + for the very little use I make of vehicle in painting; but there + is always the difficulty of the _final_ varnish in the Academy. + I don't like risking mastic or copal _so soon_ on work which + contains _nothing_ but oil (and if I ever do use a little, I put + poppy oil with it), and the result is that I generally varnish + with Roberson's medium, which is safe, but I fear a little + inclined to _yellow_ in time. + + Now what I want you kindly to tell me, my dear Church, is the + exact composition of the _three_ Vibert media, and your opinion + about the safety of using _all three_ in the prescribed order; + and this I should like to know on my return at the _beginning_ + of November (hence my haste in writing), and also whether I can + safely use these vehicles on work _begun in my usual medium_. + + It is just possible you may not have heard of the Vibert + vehicles; if so, I would ask you to be so kind as to obtain (of + course at _my_ expense) a bottle of each of the mixtures and to + test them carefully. + + A line to say this has reached you would find me at the Hōtel + Royal Mazzeri, Via 20 Settembre, _Rome_. + + With kind regards and anticipated thanks. + + * * * * * + + HŌTEL ROYAL MAZZERI, ROME, + _October 22, 1895_. + + Many thanks for your prompt and amiable answer. I shall be + interested to hear on my return the upshot of your analysis; but + I _hate vernis_ in painting, as Bocchini tells us the Venetians + did, _comme la peste_. + + I am very glad you are getting on so satisfactorily with your + work on the frescoes. + + In haste (for I have many letters before me). + + _P.S._--No; I am sorry to say I am no better of my special + ailment though my _general_ condition is good. + + * * * * * + + 2 HOLLAND PARK ROAD, KENSINGTON, W., + _November 8, 1895_. + + Excuse the hand of my secretary. + + Many thanks for your note about Vibert's varnishes, which I + shall accordingly dismiss from my mind--the varnishes, I mean, + not your note. + +One chapter in which is revealed Leighton's serious inner life closed +during the years he was President. The last letter which has been +preserved from his beloved master, Steinle, is dated 22nd November +1883, Frankfurt:-- + + DEAR FRIEND,--Yesterday evening I received your letter from + Florence, and answer at once, partly to tell you how delighted I + am at the result of the consultation with Quarfe, as also at + your comfort and well-being, and partly because this part of + your letter has greatly roused my curiosity for a second, which + shall also tell me something about Vienna, Verona, and Florence. + At the same time, however, I want to make use of a pause in my + work to tell you that the first three coloured contours are + completed. To the painting I dedicated all my small skill, and + would have died in order to secure that the drawing and + composition should produce a life-like effect; I believe also + that these pictures will look like frescoes in their + surroundings. + +Some time after this Leighton wrote to Mrs. Pattison the following +letter, which proves that to the end he retained his great affection +for Eduard von Steinle. This friend and master died in 1886, but +whether Leighton made this inquiry before or after that date I do not +know, as his letter is not dated:-- + + DEAR MRS. PATTISON,--I saw a paragraph not long ago in the + _Academy_ which concerned me deeply; it did not _say_, but it + implied that my dear old friend and master, Ed. Steinle + (professor at Frankfurt a/M) is dead. Did you by chance write + the note? and do you know when or how he died, if he be indeed + dead? His wife has not written to me. I am anxious to have some + certainty in the matter. + +(Influenced) "--for good far beyond all others by Steinle, a +noble-minded, single-hearted artist, _s'il en fut_ ... Steinle's is +the indelible seal." In making any estimate of Leighton's character +these words should ever be remembered. They prove how deeply rooted +were those feelings on which his principles were grafted. These words +were no mere outlet for youthful enthusiasm and affection, but were +noted with reference to an account of his life about to be written for +publication; therefore we may consider them to be a deliberate +statement made for a purpose, when he had reached the zenith of his +fame and was already President of the Academy. The design by Steinle +here produced, called _Der Winter_, in which the artist has drawn his +own portrait when old, throws a light on the mind and nature of +Leighton's master, whose influence on him for good was greater "far +beyond all others." + +Written on the drawing are these lines, penned by Steinle:-- + + Giunto č gia 'l corso della vita mia, + Che tempestoso mar per fragil barca + Al comun porto ov 'a render si varca + Giunto ragion d'ogni opera trista e pia. + Indi l'affettuosa fantasia + Che l'arte si fece idola e monarca + Conosco ben quant 'era d'error carca + Ch' errore č ciņ che l'uom quaggił desia. + + . . . . . . + + I pensier miei gią de' miei danni lieti + Che fian se s'a due morti m'avvicino + L'una m' č certa, l'altra mi minaccia? + + . . . . . . + + Ne pinger ne scolpir fin pił che queti + L'anima volta a quell' amor divino + Ch'aperse a prender noi in croce le braccia. + + [Illustration: "DER WINTER" + Drawing by Eduard von Steinle] + +No other member of Leighton's family was ever known to have been an +artist, and neither his parents nor his sisters pretended to any +knowledge of painting; but respecting literature he had an interest in +common with both his sisters, also a very strong sympathy existed +between Mrs. Matthews and Leighton in their love for music. In answer +to a letter from Mrs. Orr relating to Mr. Augustine Birrell's +well-known book, Leighton wrote, "I have read 'Obiter Dicta,' and am +much charmed with its delicate humour and ease of its style. I thought +'Truth Seekers' charmingly written." With reference, however, to the +Browning chapter he continues:-- + + Browning's obscurity hides a shorthand of which he keeps the key + in _his_ pocket. A matter of form, _not_ of matter, as "O.D." + hath it. Browning is not abstruse; he is a _deep_ thinker, who + _therefore_ (_vide_ "O.D.") requires obscure language; he is a + most ingenious dialectician and a subtle analyst; but he is not + a great poet on _that_ account--he is a great poet because of + his magnificent central heat, and the surface of interests over + which he sheds it. All this is rather late in the day to remark, + and one would not be exasperated by his friends if one had not a + sort of feeling that they _have_ done something to mar him. You + say he would not be obscure if he _knew_ it?--_distinguons_. His + obscurity is not intentional--of course--it is inherent in a + style which is strongly personal, and therefore sincere--but is + it in no degree _wilful_?--does he _not_ accept, virtually, some + such (absolutely false) view of his obscurity as "O.D.'s"? A + pity it certainly is; Browning is the last man who in his heart + _wishes_ to touch only the few--nobody knows better than he does + that that is not the characteristic of the greatest poets, and + that not for that is a poet's soul kindled to a white heat. + Meanwhile, here _is_ the fact that men of average culture and + average brains (I claim both, for an example), and _desirous_ of + _understanding_, as well as full of admiration for his powers, + often get at his meaning only by considerable effort, and + sometimes not at all, and that not because the thought is + obscure, but because it is wilfully written in cypher. + +The following letter to a friend of his sister's contains a criticism +of Leighton's on Goethe's _Sprüche_ under the head of "Kunst":-- + + _Private._] + 2 HOLLAND PARK ROAD, KENSINGTON, W., + 17/8/91. + + DEAR MR. BAILEY SAUNDERS,--Complying with your wish, expressed + through my sister, Mrs. Orr, I have gone carefully through the + _Sprüche_ under the head "Kunst," and have marked certain + passages. I have, however, deferred writing till the last moment + (I am starting presently for the Continent), partly because I + have been overwhelmingly busy, and partly because I am a good + deal "exercised" on the whole matter. To speak with entire + frankness, I cannot feel sympathy with the idea of the + publication, and feel that the connection of my name with it + would imply an adhesion which does not exist. On re-reading more + than once the maxims and sayings in question, which I had not + seen for many years, I find myself confirmed in my earlier + impression of them, that their value is in no way commensurate + to the authority of Goethe's great name. Some of them are, in my + opinion, wholly misleading and some obscure; some commonplace, + some irrelevant to the subject. Again, my markings do not by any + means always mean assent; and, on the other hand, the + discrimination between the value of a marked paragraph is often + a nice one, and is not represented by the difference between + selection and omission, which, _on the face of it_, seems assent + and dissent. In sum, I ask myself what the outcome is--what _is_ + the selection? it does not give to the world an important or + instructive intellectual possession; it _seems_ to express the + selection of the best by a particular individual (who does not + spontaneously desire to make such selections), and in _reality_ + does _not_ represent anything that he assents to throughout. + + But why a selection at all? I cannot refrain from asking myself. + The interest of these particular _Sprüche_ lies in the fact that + _they are utterances of Goethe's_ (and he gave them with a + context)--but then what is the meaning of a selection? + + You see I speak very bluntly in the matter, but also sincerely; + and I have at all events shown my good will.--In much haste, + yours faithfully, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + + I am, as I said, just off, but if you wished especially to + communicate with me, a line sent _here_ would reach me after + some delay. + +Though Leighton persisted in affirming that he hardly ever read, the +number of letters, and answers to letters from scholars, referring to +poems and general literature, which exist in the correspondence he +preserved, prove that if he did not read he nevertheless somehow got a +knowledge of the inside of books. To a question having reference to +the Nine Muses (he was then painting his frieze "Music") which he +asked Swinburne, he received the answer:-- + + THE PINES, PUTNEY HILL, S.W., + _August 21, 1885_. + + DEAR LEIGHTON,--I doubt very much whether Shelley himself could + have answered your question to your satisfaction. His + scholarship was that of a clever but idle boy in the upper forms + of a public school. His translation from Plato, as Mr. Jowett + tells me, and his translation from Euripides, as I know by + personal experiment, having carefully collated it with the + original text, absolutely swarm with blunders, sometimes, + certainly, resulting in sheer nonsense. I fancy he may have been + thinking of Aphrodite Urania, and perhaps confounding (as indeed + it seems to me that a Greek poet might possibly and pardonably + have done) the goddess of divine love with the Muse who was + _not_ the Muse of astronomy when she first made her appearance + in the Theogony of Hesiod, but simply the "heavenly one" in a + general way, as I gather from a reference to the lexicon. I + should have thought Calliope or Euterpe a fitter head mourner + for Keats: but probably Shelley wished to introduce the most + distinguished in the rank of the Muses in that capacity, on such + an occasion. And if Urania was in a certain sense the chief of + the Nine, she would naturally be most musical of mourners.--Ever + yours sincerely, + + A.C. SWINBURNE. + +As years went on, Leighton became more and more enamoured of the +beauty to be found in our own islands, and longed, as can be traced in +his letters, that his sisters should share with him his intense love +of nature. + +To his elder sister, who was in Yorkshire, he wrote in 1887:-- + + "A broad shoulder of moor, lifted against a great field of sky, + is one of the grandest and most pathetic things in nature (see + Leopardi). The beauty of moorland is that it has a particular + poetry and impressiveness for _every_ condition of atmosphere + and weather." + +Again:-- + + "I am very glad you like Ilkley so much--moors have an immense + fascination for me, but all English scenery of whatever kind has + charm for me. It has two immense virtues: first, being entirely + of its own _kind_, it never suggests a, to itself, disparaging + comparison with the scenery of any other country, and secondly, + it is steeped, every fold and nook of it, in English poetry, and + is haunted with the murmur of the prettiest of peace-suggesting + words: _home_. I wonder whether you both feel as I do the + endearing quality in our old green-brown country." + +It became his habit, in these later years, to visit Scotland in +September before flying off to his second home. More and more did he +realise the marvellous beauty of the scenery there. He told me, +shortly before he died, that the most beautiful vision he had ever +beheld on earth was the one he saw when approaching Skye by sea from +the south, when the sun was setting and illuminating the range of the +Cuillin Hills with magic light and colour. He wrote to his father +from:-- + + THE HIGHLAND RAILWAY COMPANY'S STATION HOTEL, + INVERNESS. + + Accurately the _charmingness_ of Scotland, it is the + starting-point for everything. But I observe that at the rate of + writing I should fill a volume before I had given you the + hastiest account of my journey, so I will e'en cut it short and + simply say that, taking it altogether, my too brief stay in the + Highlands has been a source of very great enjoyment to me, if + not of any particular benefit to my health, for which indeed it + has been too short. I have had more than the usual proportion of + fine weather, and am corroborated in my old opinion that for + beauty of colouring nothing north of the Alps will compare with + this most lovely country, and that the wealth and variety of + effects of light and shade is altogether unrivalled. + Unfortunately, working here is very difficult, all the effects + are so bafflingly fugitive; nevertheless, I have made three + little sketches which, though hasty, will be of value if only + to revive my recollections of the effects they very feebly + render; they were all done in one day; and no one day since I + did them has been such as to make sketching possible--except + this the last and one of the most enchanting, which I have spent + delightfully but fruitlessly on the top of a coach. + +From Gressoney, St. Jean, September 1, 1891, he wrote to Mrs. +Matthews:-- + + Many thanks for your letter received last night; as it crossed + one from me to the Dad, which I hope he could read (it was writ + large), I should not write again at once (having, of course, + nothing to say--except that it is, _pour changer_, a splendid + afternoon, and I ought to be out of doors) but that I want you + at once to tell the poor old Dad how concerned and sorry I am to + hear that he has been so ailing, and ailing so long, and how I + wonder at his superb power of recuperation. I don't ask in + _this_ letter how the Dad is, because I am sure he will send me + a line in answer to my note to him. But I have another reason + for writing at once; I want you, please, to thank Lina with best + love, for her nice long letter (_she does not want a letter + written from here_), and tell her, before it is too late, that I + hope she won't give up her Ballater without _a very full trial_, + because I know that it takes many people a considerable time to + get acclimatised to that bracing air. Tell her also that I was + myself going to suggest an _Ausflug_ to Braemar; if she goes to + the Invercauld Arms let her use my name, and she will be well + treated. I should _peculiarly_ like her to see the Lynn of + Dee--she will only have to scramble five or six yards off the + main road to look down into the stream from under some of the + grandest old Scotch firs in Scotland; and I verily believe that + the watching for a silent bit of those dark, dark, seemingly + bottomless, noiselessly swirling pools, _tiny_ as they are under + the hollow grey craig, will, somehow, whisper a big peace and a + strange wondering fascination into her being; the whole thing is + not bigger than an expensive toy, but it lays a never-failing + grip on _me_.[82]--Affectionate brother, + + FRED. + +To Mrs. Orr when in Scotland:-- + + _August 22, 1891._ + + If you can manage it go to a favourite haunt of mine, the Lynn + of Dee, quite a tiny tumble of green waters in fantastically + scooped grey rocks, no higher than a cottage, under astounding + old Scotch firs (by-the-bye the grandest tree in the world to my + thinking), where I have sat interminably long looking down into + the dark deep pools, from which now and then a salmon leaps. To + me no spot about there is so fascinating. + + + GRAND HOTEL, BRUFANI, PERUGIA, + _October 3, 1891_. + + DEAR LINA,--Well, I am glad you got to the Lynn of Dee, though + sorry that you could not be there in solitude and see it without + sitting in a pool of water. I am glad, too, that you saw the + salmon leap; I did not mention that most exciting spectacle + because it is not by any means _always_ on view--you were in + luck; but what you must make for another time is the bit three + or four yards _below_ the fall where the vehemence of the winter + torrent has scooped and worn pools so deep that as your eye is + drawn down past half-hidden submerged rocky shapes you come at + last to absolute dark brown night, and whilst you are conscious + of a rapid, swirling current, no _sound_, no faintest gurgle + even, reaches your ear; the silent mystery of it all absolutely + invades and possesses you; that is what I faintly tried to put + into my "Solitude," of which a photogravure embellishes your + staircase. I am vexed that you had so much rain; however, you + had a few fine glimpses, and if a rainy day in Scotland is like + the Scotch Sawbath, a fine one throws you the gates of Heaven. + It is curious how much clearer the air is (_when clear_) than we + get it south of the Tweed. + + I am glad that the Dad has rallied so satisfactorily; tell him, + with my love, that I have heard from the gentleman in Copenhagen + for whom I carved the marble "Athlete." He is benighted enough + to say that in his opinion it is one of the most important + statues of modern times; and he wants my bust, if there is one, + for his collection of portraits. + + [Illustration: STUDY IN COLOUR FOR "SOLITUDE." 1890 + By permission of Mrs. Stewart Hodgson] + +Leighton also particularly desired that his sister should see +Malinmore, County Donegal, when visiting Ireland. He wrote from +Kensington, "I am bent on your seeing Malinmore." + +And again, from Scotland:-- + + INVERNESS, _September 13_. + + DEAR LINA,--I can't help feeling a good deal of responsibility + about the melancholy, treeless wilds to which I have sent you, + because I happen to like them vastly; and I particularly feel + that _everything_ will turn on your seeing, not indeed all or + nearly all _I_ saw--that is impossible--but as much as your + strength will allow; take your courage, therefore, in one hand, + your goloshes in another, and your umbrella in a third, and + _from_ the car--_abseits_--see the _whole coast-line close_ to + the rocks overlooking the sea; there is not an inch that won't + reward you. There is a bit not more than half a mile from + Malinmore (_to'ards_ Malinhead), that is, though _small_, quite + Dantesque in its grim blackness (a few wet feet _im Nothfall_ + won't hurt you). Of course, to do this well you must be in cars + _every_ day to take you in all directions to the point _from_ + which to make your _Abstecher_--sometimes towards Glencolumskill + and the Hog's Back beyond (magnificent), sometimes towards + Malinhead, where you must see every little bay, including the + Silver Strand. + + At first sight the breaking up of the weather is a bore, _mit + Seitenblick auf Ihnen_--but is not as bad as it seems; bad + (dirty) weather suits these parts, and the day will not dawn in + which I shall have forgotten certain dramatic sunsets and the + swooping of certain storm-clouds like the flight of huge fiery + birds of prey, more than once witnessed and deposed to on canvas + by me, over this treeless tract of moor. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[58] "Athlete Strangling a Python," exhibited in the International +Exhibition, Paris, 1878. + +[59] "The Arts of War." + +[60] "Addresses delivered to the Students of the Royal Academy by the +late Lord Leighton." Publishers: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co. +1897. + +[61] "Not everybody," wrote the late Mr. Underhill, who for some time, +as private secretary to Sir Frederic Leighton, had special +opportunities of knowing, "is aware of the tax upon a man's time and +energy that is involved in the acceptance of the office in question. +The post is a peculiar one, and requires a combination of talents not +frequently to be found, inasmuch as it demands an established standing +as a painter, together with great urbanity and considerable social +position. The inroads which the occupancy of the office makes upon an +artist's time are very considerable. There is, on the average, at least +one Council meeting for every three weeks throughout the whole year. +There are, from time to time, general assemblies for the election of +new members and for other purposes, over which the President is bound, +of course, to preside. For ten days or a fortnight in every April he +has to be in attendance with the Council daily at Burlington House, for +the purpose of selecting the pictures which are to be hung in the +Spring Exhibition. He has to preside over the banquet which yearly +precedes the opening of the Academy, and he has to act as host at the +annual conversazione. Finally, it is his duty every other year to +deliver a long, elaborate, and carefully prepared 'Discourse' upon +matters connected with art, to the students who are for that purpose +assembled. It is a post of much honour and small profit." "To +administer the affairs of the Academy, to fulfil a round of social +semi-public and public engagements, and to paint pictures which +invariably reach a high level of excellence, would, of course, be +impossible--even to Sir Frederic Leighton--were it not for the fact +that he makes the very most of the time at his disposal. 'That's the +secret,' remarked a distinguished member of the Academy to the present +writer some little time before the President's death; 'Sir Frederic +knows exactly how long it will take to do a certain thing, and he +apportions his time accordingly.'"--"Frederic, Lord Leighton, P.R.A.: +His Life and Works." By Ernest Rhys. + +[62] While writing this discourse Leighton wrote to his father:-- + + PERUGIA, _October 5, 1889_. + + DEAR DAD,--You will be surprised to hear that your letter (for + which best thanks) only came to my hands _yesterday_ on my + arrival here; it had apparently, after enjoying a junket through + Spain, returned to England before its final despatch here. The + envelope, which I enclose, will amuse you; Ulysses himself did + not visit more cities of men! I am glad my Spanish tour is at an + end; the insufferable heat, the long journeys, the frequent + _night_ travelling, have conspired to make it rather trying to + me physically. I have never been thoroughly well the whole time. + Here it is absolutely cold, and I shall probably soon begin + firing; it rains also, and I fear the weather is altogether + unpromising; but the air is magnificent, and I am very fond of + the place, and I shall enjoy my stay as much as the necessity of + writing my (adjective) Address will allow. + + My journey through Spain, though fatiguing, was extremely + interesting and very profitable to me for the matter in hand. My + stay in Madrid was made more enjoyable by the extreme amiability + of my very old friend our ambassador, who brought me into + contact with two or three interesting people, from whom I + gathered valuable information in regard to things Spanish; to + say nothing of getting compartments reserved for me in trains, + &c. &c. It is rather fortunate that our diplomatic + representatives abroad are mostly personal friends of mine. Post + is just going, so good-bye for the present.--Your affectionate + son, + + FRED. + +Leighton mastered the Spanish language completely in the course of the +few weeks he spent in Spain in 1866. A friend who was present gives an +amusing account of an incident which occurred when Leighton dined with +Mrs. Adelaide Sartoris after his return. He was sitting next Seńor +Garcia (only now just dead at the age of 102); the conversation was +being carried on in Spanish. Mrs. Sartoris, in astonishment and +admiration at the fluent manner in which Leighton was talking the +language of which he did not know a word a few weeks before, exclaimed, +"But, Seńor Garcia, _do_ say he makes some little mistakes!" "But he +_doesn't_," replied Garcia; "he hasn't made one!" + +[63] Mr. Norman Shaw wrote the following letter the day after he heard +this address in 1891:-- + + 6 ELLERDALE ROAD, HAMPSTEAD, N.W., + _December 11, 1891_. + + DEAR SIR FREDERIC,--I was so sorry I missed you last night. + After the election I went into the galleries to find my people, + and when I came out you had gone--and quite right too, for you + must have been very tired. + + I thank you very sincerely for your most admirable address. I + had heard that it was to be on the subject of French Art, but I + had not realised that it was to be entirely about Architecture! + and as an architect I naturally feel very deeply its great and + permanent value. It is altogether a new sensation to have a + Presidential address devoted to the Mother of the Arts! and I am + sure its influence will be wide, deep, and lasting. + + Amongst the many regrettable phases of modern art, there is none + that I feel more than the isolation that the three great + branches of art exist under in this country (for in France I am + sure it is quite different), and I cannot help feeling that your + address is a tremendous step in the right direction; but, alas! + I don't believe one in twenty of our colleagues understood what + you were so clearly explaining, and I fear not one in fifty + cared! But it is absurd to suppose that with the advancement of + knowledge this state of things can last, so it is intensely + satisfactory to have it on record that not merely have we had a + President that knew all that is to be known about the art, but + who also cared and loved it! + + I thought your remarks on the French apse quite delightful. I + have always felt this strongly, and though as an Englishman + (Scotchman!) I like our square east ends, still I am bound to + admit that there is a logical completeness about a chevet that + the square end cannot claim. But I shall only weary you if I go + on in this prosy way! so thanking you again most heartily for + your grand contribution, believe me to remain,--Yours very + sincerely, + + R. NORMAN SHAW. + SIR FREDERIC LEIGHTON, BART. + +[64] From a boy, without any effort or thought on his part, he +exercised an unquestioned domination over others. Speaking of the days +when he, as a boy of seventeen, first made friends with Leighton in +Rome, Sir E. Poynter said, "He knew he was clever, but he hadn't a +particle of conceit. I never saw him cast down, he was always jolly and +noble; none ever thought of refusing him obedience." Again, Sir E. +Poynter refers to these early days in his Dedication to Leighton of +"Ten Lectures on Art": "I came to-day from the 'Varnishing Day' at the +Royal Academy Exhibition with a pleasant conviction that there is, on +all sides, a more decided tendency towards a higher standard in Art, +both as regards treatment of subject and execution, than I have before +noticed; and I have no hesitation in attributing this sudden +improvement, in the main, to the stimulus given us all by the election +of our new President, and to the influence of the energy, thoroughness, +and nobility of aim which he displays in everything he undertakes. I +was probably the first, when we were both young, and in Rome together, +to whom he had the opportunity of showing the disinterested kindness +which he has invariably extended to beginners; and to him, as the +friend and master who first directed my ambition, and whose precepts I +never fail to recall when at work (as many another will recall them), I +venture to dedicate this book with affection and respect." Signor +Giovanni Costa wrote: "I remember once in Siena there was an unemployed +half-hour in our programme. Leighton happening to go to the window of +the hotel, exclaimed, 'The Cupola of the Duomo is on fire!' and as he +said it he rushed downstairs to go there. I, being lame, could not keep +pace with him, but followed, and on arriving in the Piazza attempted to +enter the Duomo past a line of soldiers who were keeping the ground; +but they would not allow me to. Seeing them carrying wooden hoardings +into the cathedral, I shouted. 'You are taking fuel to the fire! Let me +in--I am an artist and a custodian of artistic treasures.' The word +'custodian' moved them, and they let me pass. When I got inside the +Duomo I found Leighton commanding in the midst. He was saying, 'You are +bringing fuel to the fire.' There was a major of infantry with his +company, who cried out, 'Open the windows!' Leighton exclaimed, 'My +dear sir, you are fanning the flames; you must shut the windows.' He +had placed himself at the head of everybody, and the windows were shut. +From the cupola into the church fell melting flakes of fire ('cadean di +fuoco dilatate falde'--_Dante_) from the burning and liquefied lead, +which would certainly have ignited the boards with which they had +intended to cover the _graffitte_ by Beccafumi on the marble pavement. +Our half-hour was over. Leighton looked at his watch and said, 'In any +case the cupola is burnt; let us be off to the Opera del Duomo; Duccio +Buoninsegna is waiting for us!'" + +[65] Sir George Grove wrote after the banquet in 1882: "Dear +Leighton,--Let me say a word of most hearty congratulations on the +brilliant way in which you got through your _Herculean_ task on +Saturday. You are really a prodigy! Your last speech reads just as +fresh and gay and unembarrassed as the first, and every one of the nine +is as neat, as pointed, as perfectly _ą propos_ as if there were +nothing else to be said! Thank you especially for the reference to the +music business." + +[66] The following is one of many letters of regret expressed when +Leighton resigned:-- + + 19 QUEEN STREET, MAYFAIR, W., + _June 24_. + + DEAR SIR FREDERIC,--I trust you will allow me to express to you + the sincere regret I feel at your being compelled to give up + your command of the "Artists." To myself volunteering has always + been so inseparably connected with your command, that I cannot + at present realise the extent of the blank which your + resignation will create. I shall ever remember with pride that + it was under your auspices that I rose through the ranks and + obtained my commission.--Believe me, dear Sir Frederic, very + truly yours, + + W. PASTEUR. + SIR FREDERIC LEIGHTON, P.R.A. + +[67] The following correspondence took place between Leighton and Mr. +Henry Wells, R.A. + + To Sir FREDERIC LEIGHTON, P.R.A. + _January 27, (?) 1880._ + + I will avail myself of this opportunity to remark upon the + statement you made in your summing up, viz. that if women were + made members under the existing law they would not have the + right to sit on Council. + + If you can establish this, if you can show us that any one + elected a "member" under our law can be debarred on the score of + sex from taking a seat on the Council, then I will instantly + allow that our laws do provide for the election of women, and + that the very ground of our argument is proved to be a + quicksand. When you endorsed the statement that came so + naturally from Millais, Calderon, and Leslie, I felt the matter + was serious, for I saw at once that you could not do justice to + our argument in the summing up because its very foundation was + misapprehended by you. Although the question is now disposed of, + I beg of you to look closely into the matter and assure yourself + of it. I only wish I had known beforehand where your doubts were + centered, for I would have done my best to remove them. I know + you will find, beyond all doubt and controversy, that any one + made a "member" by election can make good a claim to a seat on + the Council, just as Mr. Tresham made good his claim; and it is + because our laws provide for only one kind of members--a + Council-sitting kind--that we felt the necessity of providing + for the election of a non-Council-sitting kind. + + In making this distinction we follow the example of George the + Third and the founders of the Academy (who presumably knew + something of the understanding upon which the two ladies became + connected with the Society), for their decision, when they + _administered_ the law in the Tresham case, excluded women from + a privilege which could not be denied to a "member" elected + under the law. Of course their and our interpretation is open to + dispute; but this much is beyond dispute, that if the law is + interpreted as providing for women being "members," then it also + places them (against the intention, as we see, of the founders) + upon the Council; and as the great majority of the present + Academicians have made up their minds that women shall not sit + on Council, legislation would be necessary on either reading of + the law. + + The schedule of privileges to be given on the one hypothesis, + would on the other give place to a subtraction of privileges, + and either schedule would be determined according to the varying + shades of opinions of the members. + + There would remain only this difference in the result; one + schedule would be based upon a law that is open to varying + interpretations, whereas according to our method the schedule + was based upon a positive resolution providing for the election + of women, thus removing the question from all future discussion + and doubt. + + H.T.W. + + + From Sir FREDERIC LEIGHTON, P.R.A. + _January 30, 1880._ + + "In regard to the women question, I perfectly _saw_ your + contention and the logical cohesion of your view, and I was + familiar with the Tresham episode, only I dissent from your + view; I maintain that there were from the first + non-Council-sitting members--for 'members' the women certainly + were. 'It is the King's pleasure that the following forty + persons be the original _members_ of the Society,' and they did + not serve on Council, as the roster shows, _though all members_ + were supposed to have sat; of course the laws were for the + original as well as the elected members, and if the privilege + could be refused to an original member whose name stands on the + paper that says that all members shall serve in Council, it can + and must on the same grounds be refused to elected female + members after the custom is consecrated by Royal sanction." + + + _January 31, 1880._ + + "DEAR WELLS,--I should much like to hear what you wish to say + about the office of Treasurer--there are several points + connected directly or indirectly with the office which it will + be well to consider before I ask the Queen to appoint, and I + have called a Council for _Thursday_ (the funeral is not till + Tuesday), at which these matters may be considered. It would + seem advisable and convenient that the Treasurer's work be done + at the Academy, and not away from it. I think also that the + wording of the clause appointing a Surveyor might be made + clearer; it ought not to be _possible_ for any one to + misunderstand or misinterpret its bearing. Unfortunately I have + an appointment to-morrow afternoon at 4.30, and my work in the + day is so urgent, having to be handed over on a fixed day, that + I cannot leave it--would _Tuesday_ at _five_ do? say at the + Athenęum, or here a little later? we should still be forty-eight + hours in advance of the Council. In regard to the women + question, I perfectly _saw_ your contention and the logical + cohesion of your view, and I was familiar with the Tresham + episode, only I dissent from your view; I maintain that there + were from the first 'non-Council-sitting' members--for 'members' + the women certainly were: 'It is Her Majesty's pleasure that the + following forty persons be the original _members_ of the + Society,' and they did not serve on Council as the roster shows, + though _all members_ were supposed to have sat. Of course the + laws were for the 'original' as well as for the 'elected' + members, and if the privilege could be refused to an original + member whose name stands on the paper, that says that all + members shall serve on Council, it can and must on the same + grounds be refused to 'elected' female members after the custom + is consecrated by Royal sanction.--In haste, yours very truly, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + + "I have said nothing in this letter about poor Barry, but you + may imagine whether the tragic event has moved and haunts me." + + + To Sir FREDERIC LEIGHTON, P.R.A. + _February 1, 1880._ + + I am very glad indeed to have the statement of your views which + you have given me on the women question. Everything is now + clear, side matters are disposed of, and only a single point + remains on which we have to join issue. On my part I hold that + our laws are in a definite and unequivocal form. That their + foundation is in the "Instrument" and that every addition to, or + modification, or annulment of the provisions in that document + has been made in the manner prescribed, viz. by "resolutions" + passed by the General Assembly and afterwards sanctioned by the + Sovereign. These acts of legislation are all drawn up in a + special way (as to size and pattern), to receive the sign manual + of the Sovereign; and the tablets arranged in the order of their + dates constitute our Statute-Book. I hold that no law can be + changed or privilege taken away except by a subsequent act of + legislation done in the prescribed manner. + + On your part you hold that laws can be changed and privileges + taken away by a "custom consecrated by Royal sanction." Thus the + issue raised is very clear and distinct indeed. + + I will point out that the question as to women sitting on + Council was only on one occasion, and then only incidentally, + before the Academy. Until the Tresham case arose the ballot had + been used in forming the Council, and consequently no question + of rights could appear while that process remained unchallenged. + But whether we are discussing a single act of adjudication, or + such a succession of acts as may be called a "custom," is really + immaterial, because the sole question before us is this--can any + act or acts other than those of legislation override and + supplant the enactments of our law? + + If it could be established that our laws must give way to the + class of acts you point to, it would then be the first duty of + the Academy to have our records minutely searched to ascertain + what other laws have been supplanted by administrative actions + sanctioned by the Sovereign; and the historical method so much + discountenanced at our last Assembly would in truth rise into + paramount importance. Many cases would most probably be found. + We have one in suspense before us at this moment--the case of + the engravers. + + The laws of the Academy distinctly provide (but not more + distinctly than that without discrimination "members" shall sit + on Council) that a vacancy in the case of R.A. engravers shall + not be filled up until the assent of the General Assembly has + been taken by vote. Since the making of that law only two + vacancies have occurred. They were both filled up without a + preliminary permission, and the Sovereign sanctioned the + election. On your contention, therefore, the custom consecrated + by these sanctions must override the law itself, and nothing at + this time stands between Barlow and the Queen's signature to his + Diploma. + + The Constitutional question you have raised is certainly one of + the highest importance, and I shall watch its development with + great interest. It is a matter of little moment what the view of + an ordinary member like myself may be, but not so with the + President, and I offer no apology for endeavouring to throw + light upon the subject. + + H.T.W. + +[68] See Chapter III. + +[69] Now in the Tate Gallery, purchased under the terms of the Chantrey +Bequest. + +[70] The owners of Leighton's pictures must feel satisfaction, not only +in the fact that in all cases the beauty of the forms and arrangements +of line grow on the eye more and more the longer they are studied, but +also that the work itself improves by keeping. I noticed this to be the +case very decidedly in "Cymon and Iphigenia." I had seen it when +completed, the day before it left the studio in 1884; and when it +returned there in 1901 (the owner, Sir Cuthbert Quilter, having kindly +lent it for exhibition), and was placed in precisely the same light, I +was surprised to see how much it had improved in tone during those +seventeen years; it had gained so very greatly in those qualities which +suggest the feeling Leighton wished it to inspire. + +[71] Leighton kept these precious studies he made for his pictures in a +drawer where I was often invited, rather apologetically, to turn them +over as if they were absolutely of no importance. I protested against +the cursory treatment they received at the hand of their creator; and +on seeing one superlatively beautiful study of drapery pinned on his +easel one day, I implored him to have it glazed and framed before it +ran any danger of being rubbed. He did so, and always alluded to it +after as "that sketch you lost for me," because, being framed, he lent +it to some one--he did not remember to whom--and it never came back. +Periodically I asked if it had returned; "No--some one, I suppose, has +taken a fancy to it," Leighton would reply. The pace at which he had to +live in order to fulfil the work he had set himself, enforced great +carelessness about his own interests in such matters. Unfortunately, +after Leighton's death, the sketches were exposed to much defacement, a +natural consequence of their being moved before being secured under +glass. + +[72] Ceiling for a music room, painted for Mr. Marquand, New York. + +[73] Mr. Brock gave a replica of this bust to the Leighton House +Collection in 1897. It is from some points of view the most +characteristic portrait of Leighton in existence. + +[74] Miss Emily Hickey, the poetess, was inspired by Leighton's picture +to write the following lines:-- + + SOLITUDE + + O'er the grey rocks, like monarchs robed and crowned, + High tower the firs in swart magnificence, + Where, winter after winter, vehemence + Of the wild torrent's rush, unstayed, unbound, + Hath scooped and worn the rocks till so profound + The deep pool's depth that all the gazer's sense + Fills with the absolute, dark-brown night intense. + The rapid current swirls, but never a sound. + + By the high grandeur of the silence wooed + Into its bond of comradeship, the maid + Sits with the quiet on her bosom laid; + Not on the great unknowable to brood; + Only to wait a while till, unafraid, + She see the spirit of the solitude. + + E.H. HICKEY. + _Oct. 26, '91._ + +[75] As portraits, the two heads Watts painted from "Dorothy Dene" were +superior to those Leighton painted. + +[76] This referred to a joke we had had with reference to a photograph +Mrs. Cameron had taken of my brother-in-law, Mr. W.R. Greg. Mrs. +Cameron had insisted that all character, will-force, and superiority in +general, evinced themselves through the size of the nose and the height +of the bridge. The result was, in trying to accentuate this feature in +my brother-in-law's photograph, she had made it almost _all_ nose! + +[77] Among Leighton's correspondence is the following interesting +letter from Irving, who was an ardent admirer of Leighton's, and was +among the first to join the committee formed to preserve his house for +the public. + + 15A GRAFTON STREET, BOND STREET, W., + _January 1, 1889_. + + DEAR SIR FREDERIC,--I am glad that you are coming to "Macbeth," + and I wish you had been with us on Saturday. + + The seats you wish for I enclose, though I should ever look upon + it as a great privilege to welcome you myself. + + Ellen Terry's performance is remarkable, and perfectly + delightful after the soulless and insipid imitations of Sarah + Siddons to which we have been accustomed. + + You will find the cobwebs of half a century brushed away. + + There is an amusing article in to-day's _Standard_, which + overshoots the mark, and clearly shows how offensive it is to + some minds to be earnest and conscientious in one's work. But I + need not point this out to you.--Remaining, my dear Sir + Frederic, yours sincerely, + + H. IRVING. + +[78] Needless to say that time was invariably forthcoming to welcome +and entertain the friends he loved. The following letter from Costa +gives a picture of his delight in so doing:-- + + "LONDON, _Dec. 10, 1888_, + "2 HOLLAND PARK ROAD. + + "DEAREST TONINA,--A thousand thanks for the twelve letters which + I have found awaiting me here. + + "I have just arrived from the station, where I found the + President, who was shedding light all round him, all radiant + with his white beard. Note that the train arrived at a quarter + past five, and there was an hour's drive from the station to his + house, and then he had to dine, and at half-past seven he was + due at the Academy for a distribution of prizes to the students, + where I, too, was to have accompanied him. However, in London + there was one of those fogs which put a stop to all traffic, and + it took us an hour and three-quarters to reach home. + + "The cabman had to get down and lead the horse; with one hand he + guided the animal, which was slipping on the ice, and with the + other he held a lantern. What darkness,--the gloom of hell + itself! Boys holding torches and shouting, showed us the way; + foot passengers called out, 'Hi there! look where you're going + to!' but, in spite of everything, the cabman with his lantern + banged into a railing. + + "At last we arrived at our destination, having discussed all the + way along the speech which Leighton made at Liverpool. The + dinner was ready, and eaten hurriedly, with the obligatory + champagne. I had eaten nothing since the morning. Whilst dining, + I got off accompanying him to the Academy, pleading my rheumatic + pains, and I ate like a famished and attentive dog. But the + President, spite of the hurry he was in, never once ceased from + tracing the iron line along which I am to run as long as I am + with him, and so he has set me down for a trip on Saturday. + + "Good-night; I am going to bed, as I am deadly sleepy. Did you + receive a letter of mine from Castle Howard? + + "Thank for me the kind writers of the twelve little letters; in + the midst of these fogs they have been twelve stars to me. A + kiss to dear Tonachino. Frederic was much amused by Georgia's + letter, and embraces you all. + + "Love to all, from Ninaccio, who has the greatest possible + desire to repass the Channel."--(See "Giovanni Costa: His Life, + Work, and Times," by Olivia Rossetti Agresti.) + +[79] It may interest his friends to know that the valuable collection +of casts which Mr. Copland Perry spent four years in forming, after +visits to all the collections of ancient sculptures in Europe, has been +ceded to the British Museum, and will be transferred from the South +Kensington Museum, where it has long been hidden away in a dark +corridor, to suitable courts in the new buildings of the British +Museum. + +[80] Professor Church's Lectures were given to the outer world beyond +the Academy in the form of a book, published in 1891, and dedicated by +permission to Leighton. + +[81] The questions raised in these letters have been very fully +answered in the third edition of Professor Church's "Chemistry of +Paints and Painting" (see Index), published in 1901. + +[82] This spot inspired the picture "Solitude." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +LIFE WANING--DEATH + +1887-1896 + + +Already in 1887 his friends noticed that Leighton showed at times that +he was overtaxing his strength. On retiring from the Academy as an +active member, Mr. George Richmond wrote:-- + + 20 YORK STREET, PORTMAN SQUARE, W., + _January 13, 1887_. + + MY DEAR SIR FREDERIC,--I have just received your most kind and + generous note, and thank you and the Council for so promptly + complying with my request to retire from the R. Academy as an + active member. + + To do it was much worse than making a will; but, having done it, + I am greatly relieved. + + Had it been earlier it would have been wiser; but as delay has + not forfeited the esteem of my dear President and others, I am + thankful and content. + + But one word of parting advice I crave to offer, which my + admiration of your rule and guidance in your high office + constrains me to make. + + Many of us have remarked that you draw upon your strength too + severely; my parting words then are, and please accept, follow, + and forgive them:-- + + Spare yourself when you can, that you may long be spared to give + yourself, when you ought. + + And now farewell, from your loyal and affectionate old friend, + + GEO. RICHMOND. + +From San Martino, 20th September 1889, Leighton wrote to his +father:-- + + SAN MARTINO, _September 20 (1889)_. + + DEAR DAD,--I received your letter two or three days ago, but + have deferred answering till I could say something one way or + another about my health, for of course I have nothing else to + tell of in these high latitudes. Well, I am in fairly good trim, + and as well as I am likely to be till I leave, for San Martino + will be shorn of my presence on Friday next as ever is (my + address for the first fortnight in October will be Hotel + Brufani, _Perugia_). On the other hand, if you were to ask me + whether I am "as fit as a fiddle" or a "flea," or "as a strong + man requiring to run a race," or "a giant refreshed," or "a + bridegroom coming forth from his chamber," or whatever simile + you like, I am obliged to own that I am not. I am aware that the + air is superb, and when I get on to an exposed slope and open my + mouth like a carp I am further aware at (and for) the time--so + to speak, "for this once only"--of very gratifying symptoms; + then they are fugitive, and my _average_ condition is perhaps a + little less satisfactory than on Hampstead Heath. On the other + hand, of course, such air _must_ in some occult way be + benefiting my tissues, and I shall no doubt, as the stock phrase + is, "feel _so_ much better _afterwards_." Meanwhile, I undergo + much humiliation; whilst _ladies_ make with comfort and ease + delightful ascents to neighbouring peaks, I humbly pant up an + anthill or two, resting at every third yard--puffy, helpless, + effete. And lest I should console myself with inexpensive + commonplace about my years, &c. &c., I have before me two + acquaintances, _not_ climbers by trade, one 65 and the other + (most charming of men, Sir James Paget) 73, who put in their + twelve, sixteen, or even at a pinch eighteen or twenty miles to + my one, and back again without turning a hair or having a + vestige of fatigue! Ugh!! + + I am most truly sorry that your strength did not enable you to + see Manchester; but it is _wonderful_ that you do what you do on + the doorstep of 89!--Your affectionate son, + + FRED. + +From Tours, October 30, he wrote to Mrs. Matthews:-- + + TOURS, _October 30, 1890_. + + I hope, when I get back next week, that I shall find the old dad + fairly well. More can't be expected; and especially I hope to + find Lina drawing within sight of the end of her anxious + toil.[83] I am delighted to hear that she means to leave town + again for a bit--a _good_ bit, I hope. Tell her with my love + that she is to make herself _very_ comfortable, and _not to look + at the money_, but _send for a cheque whenever convenient_. She + _must_, in justice to herself, do her work under the most + favourable circumstances she can command. + + I have, of course, no particular news; I have been visiting + _till now_. (I am going to-morrow to Blois and Chambord.) + Nothing but old familiar scenes with the old familiar enjoyment, + in the more serious sense of the word, but not of course with + the old buoyancy of spirit--_that_ must necessarily fade with + every year now, and I must be content with an occasional little + flicker of the waning candle. I have, however, been better in + health during the second than during the first half of my + holiday. In Rome I was the whole time with old Nino,[84] whom I + further took on a _Giro_ to Siena and Florence. I also gave him + a commission: very few things could give him so much pleasure + (_inside_--he is not demonstrative!), and _nothing_ is now so + needful to him. His lameness is not as bad as I had feared; but + he had a bad attack of his enemy, rheumatism, at Florence, and + had to bolt back to his people. Of course, too, his anxiety + about Georgina, my god-daughter, who has only just pulled + through a terrible illness, has put a heavy strain on him in + every way. + + Weather has broken up; of late _bitter_ cold, to-day cold _plus_ + rain, worthy of London. + +On January 24, 1892, Doctor Leighton died at the age of ninety-two, at +11 Kensington Park Gardens, where for many years, every Sunday when in +London, Leighton invariably went to see his father and his two sisters +at five o'clock, remaining to the last minute before dinner. This +regular habit he continued after Doctor Leighton's death; Mrs. +Sutherland Orr living on in the same house and Mrs. Matthews in the +close vicinity. In the autumn of 1893 Leighton was advised to go to +the Hotel Riffel Alp, Zermatt. "What a stupendous view this is from my +window," he wrote. "Weather in the main superb; it is finest for this +scenery when it is not fine. Knee still rather troublesome--nuisance! +Am seeing a doctor." In the October of the same year he wrote to Mrs. +Matthews:-- + + VERONA (Italy again!), + _October 2, 1893_. + + DEAR GUSSY,--I hope you are not very savage with me for not + writing sooner. I've had a tremendous "Hetztour" through + Germany--_thirty_ towns in thirty days; a Yankee might be proud + of it; and over an area contained between _Lübeck_ (N.), if you + please, and Berne (S.), Vienna (E.), and Colmar (W.), and I have + made notes everywhere, _and_ I have a game knee, with the result + (not so much of the game knee as of the hurried travelling) that + I have had little time for writing anything beyond notes of + immediate necessity. But you _will_ be savage at hearing that I + never received your Munich letter (alluded to in Lina's last), + either at the hotel or "Postlagernd"--can you remember at what + _date_ you wrote it? I would _try_ to recover it--I hate losing + letters, don't you? Thank Lina for her letter, and say that I am + concerned at the very poor and shabby account given of her. She + was going to send for the doctor; I hope he was able to help her + (though I don't know on what plea one expects that of a doctor). + By this time you may have recovered from your cure. What a + rickety lot we are! At Perugia, where I shall be on Wednesday, I + am going under physic for my knee, which, though hardly more + than an inconvenience, is a very depressing prospect. I have + written to Roberts, who has sent me prescriptions which I shall + have made up (to-morrow) by his namesake in Florence. My journey + has been, I am bound to say, in a high degree interesting and + sometimes delightful. (I wonder whether you were ever at + Hildesheim--its amazing picturesqueness, Renaissance houses, + carved and painted, are enough to make your hair curl for the + rest of your natural life.) But I have not bought a single + German novel, after all the trouble you took twice over, except + _Soll und Haben_, which I have just begun; how amazingly + _altmodisch_ and stodgy it is, but evidently very clever. I have + grown very indolent about reading in trains. Wednesday I reach + Perugia--Thursday I shall take a holiday--Friday I shall--but + enough! In Berlin I saw dear old Joe (Dr. Joachim)--(the only + person I did see, except Malet, the Ambassador, a very old + friend of mine--very snug and _good_ little bachelor dinner + there--"just as you are"). He (Joe) seemed very fit after "les + eaux" somewhere, and sent you kind messages. He was pleased at + my calling, and came next day to see me off at the station. + +In August 1894 he took his sister, Mrs. Matthews, to Bayreuth. On his +rapidly returning to London he completed the panel he presented to the +Royal Exchange. He worked hard at this for three weeks. He then went +to Scotland, and finished his holiday, as usual, in Italy. On his +return, after attending the first Monday Popular concert at St. James' +Hall, when walking to the Athenęum he was seized by his first attack +of angina pectoris. Dr. Roberts, to whom Leighton was attached, and in +whose judgment and skill he had had great confidence for years, +writes, "I attended Lord Leighton for over twenty years. I was +constantly seeing and watching him. He never was a robust man; but all +his organs kept in health till two years before his death, when I +discovered the commencement of the trouble that ultimately proved +fatal. I never told him of this condition, as I felt its progress +would be slow.... He once told me he considered my fees to him were +too small, and asked me to increase them." Some years previous to this +first attack Leighton would say, "I always see Dr. Roberts every +Sunday for him to tell me I am not ill." In November 1894 Sir Lauder +Brunton was called in for consultation, and he and Dr. Roberts +prescribed a course of Swedish massage; and to this Leighton devoted +the later hours of his afternoons for several months that winter. Work +continued as vigorously as ever. The pictures--"Lachrymę," "'Twixt +Hope and Fear," "Flaming June," "Listener," "Clytie," "Candida," "The +Vestal," "A Bacchante," "The Fair Persian," were the fruit of the last +year's labours, besides the sketches which he painted on his last +journeys to Algiers, Ireland, and Italy. + + [Illustration: "SUMMER SLUMBER." 1894 + By permission of Mr. Phillipson] + + [Illustration: SKETCH FOR "SUMMER SLUMBER." 1894 + Presented by H.M. the King to the Leighton House Collection] + +Very characteristic was the manner in which Leighton faced his +condition. Absolutely natural as he invariably was, without +nervousness, and considerate to the last degree in not making his +state a burden on others, he never, even at this juncture, +concentrated his thoughts on himself. Once when a friend implored him +to draw in and not expend his strength unnecessarily, he answered, +with almost impatience, "But that would not be life to me! I must go +on, thinking about it as little as possible." There was something of +the boy about Leighton up to the very end, and in those last months +much of the pathos of the boy who is known to be doomed, but who plays +his game with just as much eager verve up to the end. + +Mr. Briton Rivičre, the comrade whose nature was so worthily tuned to +Leighton, writes:-- + + One of the last times that I met him actively employed was at a + committee meeting of the Athenęum. He had some pain and + difficulty in climbing the stairs to the committee-room, and + evident pain in speaking; but because he felt that the candidate + he proposed ought to be elected, and that no one else would + propose him with more earnest conviction than he could (and he + was the best proposer of a candidate I have ever heard), he came + there at all risks to himself and _would_ have done so against + all opposition and all disadvantages, simply because he thought + it his particular duty to do so. This is only a type of the + manner in which he treated all his official work during those + last years of physical suffering which he fought so bravely. + Watching him, it was then I recognised that he was on the same + plane as the seaman who never strikes his flag, and at the last + goes down practically unvanquished. + +Every day that grey pallor increased, and that sunken, indescribable +look of waning life in the face. Nevertheless Leighton lived much as +before, never making illness an excuse for avoiding any duty. As +matters grew more serious his doctors enforced a rest--a voyage--an +absence from the May Academy Banquet. At this juncture Leighton +tendered his resignation as President of the Academy. It was not +accepted. + +To Mr. Briton Rivičre he wrote:-- + + DEAR RIVIČRE,--Many thanks for your most kind words. I have been + deeply touched by the generous, and, I must almost say, + affectionate attitude of my brother members in this painful + conjuncture. How much I value _your_ friendship, you, I am sure, + know.--Sincerely yours always, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + +He decided on leaving England for two months, and fixed on Algiers as +a dry climate likely to suit his health. It had lived in his memory +also ever since the first visit in 1857, as a country singularly +fascinating to him. Before leaving he fulfilled his duties as +President in choosing the pictures for that year's Exhibition. These +duties he had often described as the most wearing of the whole year. +His intense sense of duty, and desire to judge in every case the +interests of the individual artist together with those of art, fairly +and adequately, inflicted a strain and entailed an indescribable +fatigue, he said, even when he was well. During those days in 1895 he +suffered acutely. + +From Hotel Continental, Tangiers, 18th April 1895, Leighton wrote:-- + + DEAR WELLS,--Although letters do not leave these wilds daily and + take an unconscionable time, as I now find, on the way, I trust + this will reach you in time for the first varnishing day, on + which I believe you hold the general meeting; it carries with + it warm and grateful--and _envious_ greetings to you all. These + you will, I know, deliver to my brother members at lunch, for + then only is the _whole_ body gathered together. They, knowing + me, will understand my humiliation at not being under arms and + at my post at this season. I wish I could ask you to tell them + that I see much sign of betterment in my condition: the slowness + of my cure--if cure it be--is, of course, depressing; but I + shall comfort myself on Thursday with the thought that perhaps, + at some time between one and two, you are wishing well to one + who claims to be a faithful friend to you all. I look forward + keenly to what will, I feel sure, be the admirable performance + of our dear old Millais. Unfortunately, I have not the remotest + notion of where I shall be when the news might reach me--in + Africa or in Europe--but reach me it will in time. You perhaps + think of me as basking in the sun between blue skies and blue + seas. How different are the facts! Blustering winds, + occasionally rain, chilly atmosphere, everything murky and + without colour! A change _should_ not be far off, for this sort + of thing has prevailed for a month and more. I did not bargain + for it. + + I hope, my dear Wells--and indeed I do not doubt--that you are + getting on well and comfortably with your vice-regency, and am + always yours sincerely, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + + + TANGIERS, _April 25, 1895_. + + DEAR LINA,--The day before yesterday I received your nice long + letter--you had not yet got mine from Gib.--and yesterday one + came from poor Gussy, and I am going, as you will both believe + when this reaches you, to kill two birds with one epistolary + stone. First, let me say that I am grieved--I dare hardly say, + _surprised_, for it is, alas! a wicked way you both have--to + hear that neither of you has derived any benefit, to speak of, + by your outing, and you indeed, poor dear, appear to be a little + worse. The fact is that at our ages, _con rispetto_, when one + happens to have pretty homes, one _does_ miss them under the + discomforts and shortcomings of lodgings or inns. As for me, + though I am fairly comfortable here, I have whiffs of a certain + "House Beautiful" in Kensington which are very tantalising. How + am I? Well, I think I may at last claim a _little_ improvement, + of course I give myself every chance, and am superlatively, + disgracefully lazy, _and put myself to no tests_; but I notice + this, that though I have my regulation three attacks (when not + more) a day, they are milder, I think, and I _know_ that I can + get rid of them almost immediately by certain respiratory + exercises my Swede taught me. This I assume is again _no more + capsules_, we shall see. + + Yes, I do perfectly remember the old home in St. Katherine's at + Bath, and should hugely like to see it. I hope when the old + inhabitant goes off, it will fall into reverent hands. + + No, I have not yet tackled Nordau. I am looking forward to him + much, but have so far, except some Pater (Greek studies), mostly + fribbled; two or three Spanish novels; a few short tales by + Hardy, clever, but his figures are talking dolls, taught out of + a book; _L'Innocente_, dull, but not so _coarse_ as I had + understood. "Tales of Mean Streets"--now there, if you like, is + powerful stuff. For pithy terseness and absolute sobriety of + means, for subtle and humorous observation and scathing + directness, they are unrivalled; but oh! what a picture! what a + state of things, and who shall ever let the light into the + tenebrous and foul depths? But how funny too, and grim; the old + woman who pockets the ten shillings given for port, in order + that she may have mutes at the funeral! Have also read + "Keynotes." Clever, one or two even powerful, but other than I + expected. Who is the woman? half Norse? half Irish? The writing + is bad; intentionally, apparently; a cross between an + interviewer and Ibsen for scrappy abruptness. _Her_ keynote is + belief in the _immeasurable_ (but not explained) superiority of + women, whom no man can _understand_; well, certainly, _I_ don't + know _wo sie hinaus will_. + + I have had more kind notes, this is a kind world _tout de mźme_. + When stodgy, elderly Englishmen talk to me of the number of + people who _love_ me, I feel quite a lump in my throat. Of + another kind, but pretty, is the enclosed from W. Watson, the + poet, whom I admire, you know; nice also the telegram. I wrote a + _menschlich_ letter when her husband died (_I_ have known them + nearly forty years), and again a pretty letter t'other day about + the wedding. + + But I _must_ finish this scribble. I shall be gone when you get + this, write _Algiers_ (poste restante), I shall get it _some_ + time or other, but am still vague. + + Love to poor Gussy.--Afft. bro., + + FRED. + +Leighton enclosed the following from William Watson, and the telegram +from the Comtesse de Paris:-- + + 66 CHERITON ROAD, FOLKESTONE, + _April 18, 1895_. + + DEAR SIR FREDERIC LEIGHTON,--May I venture to say, somewhat + superfluously, what a delight it was to be made free of your + Palace of Art on a recent Sunday, and how highly I valued the + privilege. Mr. Wilfrid Meynell had already made me happy by + reporting the generous things you had said about my verses. I + wish the great pleasure thus given me were not alloyed by the + news of your temporarily impaired health. But in common with the + rest of the world I hope those sunnier regions to which you + perhaps feel more spiritually akin than to our own may quickly + renew your full energies. + + Pray forgive anything which may be intrusive or otherwise + unwarrantable in this letter, and believe me, dear Sir + Frederick, with very grateful sense of your kindness, and pride + in your good opinion, yours sincerely, + + WILLIAM WATSON. + SIR FREDERIC LEIGHTON, Bart., P.R.A. + + + _Telegram._] + _April 16, 1895._ + TO SIR FREDERIC LEIGHTON, + 2 HOLLAND PARK ROAD, + KENSINGTON, LONDON. + + Profondement touchée de votre si bonne lettre et aimables voeux + pour ma fille, je vous en remercie de tout mon coeur, y voyant + une nouvelle preuve de votre amitié. Je regrette vivement pas + avoir le plaisir de vous revoir avant longtemps, mais suis sure + penserez ą moi. + + COMTESSE PARIS. + BUCKINGHAM. + +On arriving at Alger, Leighton wrote:-- + + HOTEL D'EUROPE, ALGER, + _May 9, 1895_. + + DEAR WELLS,--I got your first kind letter three days ago at + Tlencen, and this morning, on passing through this place, your + very interesting account of the Banquet. I know you will not + resent a _very_ brief acknowledgment; I have _one_ day here + only, and a large pile of letters, with a good many of which I + must deal, however laconically, at once. I need not assure you + that your most kind words, like so many manifestations of + friendship that I have received, touch me to the quick and will + not be forgotten. That my dear old friend Millais could carry + away his audience by his earnest and intense personality, I was + quite certain. I rejoice in my heart at his success, apart from + what I feel about his affectionate and warm expressions. It is + worth while to break down, to be treated with such infinite + kindness as I have met with everywhere amongst my colleagues and + friends. I know you will like to hear that I am at last very + decidedly better; in another month--for I don't mean to come + home sooner--I really expect to be externally quite patched + up--of course, the warning and the constant threat will remain + by me, but I shall try to be careful, and hope yet for long to + be the devoted servant of my brother members in the Academy. + Meanwhile, believe me, always sincerely yours, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + + _P.S._--I trust you have not suffered in your throat, which is a + frequent anxiety to you from the necessity of much speaking. _I_ + know how trying that is. + + + HOTEL D'EUROPE, ALGER, + _May 21, 1895_. + + DEAR LINA,--In an hour or two I leave for Europe, and in three + weeks I shall be home again in comfortable Kensington. + + I am grieved that you should have been worried--as well you + might--by that idiotic report that I should not return to + society or my profession (I wonder who invented it!), but you + were fortunately soon relieved; I think I told you about the + trouble Reuter and Hardy took in the matter. By-the-bye, you + were right in supposing that the "long walk" was also a figment + of the correspondents. + + I am very glad to hear that you and Gussy are both at all events + a little better at last. My bulletin is chequered, but certain + things are satisfactory; in the first place, I see that fine + weather and sun and pure air and the rest of it have nothing + whatever to do with my condition; this, as I can't choose my + climate, is distinctly reassuring; also, the fact of my having + been much better shows that I may hope distinctly for much + improvement: in the other, a certain relapse which is now upon + me shows how needful caution is, only it is disappointing to + have had to go back to capsules. I have had in the main a most + enjoyable time; have been very fortunate in the weather, + inasmuch as the heat has not yet been intolerable, and I have + done some work which will be useful perhaps and certainly + delightful as a reminiscence and suggestion. A variety of + untoward things, one on the top of the other, no doubt quite + account for my, I hope not durable, relapse, and I have no doubt + when I write again I shall be able to report fresh improvement. + The odd thing is, the bad effects _last_ so curiously. I + understand hot railway journeys, bad food, &c. &c., telling on + me, but I have been now two whole days and a bit in Algiers in + _utter_ idleness, and a great deal on my back, and yet this + morning I got an attack _lying in bed_! but don't let this + disturb you--for several weeks I was much better and required + _no_ capsules at all. This short little note will reach you, I + suppose, on Friday morning; a line on that day or on Saturday or + Sunday, just to say that it has reached you would catch me at + the Hotel Continental, Rue Castiglione, _Paris_. Please tell me, + on the altogether improbable chance of my "looking in" on the + Channel Islands, what the _best_ hotels are--I _must_ be + comfortable. Best love to Gussy.--From your affectionate old + brother, + + FRED. + + _P.S._--I wrote to the P. of W.'s secretary, asking him to say + how much H.R.H.'s kind words had gratified me--I enclose the + answer, which is nice, I think. + +On Leighton's return to London he resumed his duties as President. He +tried to believe what Sir Lauder Brunton hoped, but found it somewhat +difficult to do so in the face of _facts_, he used to say. He, +however, assumed that he was mending. On 19th July 1895 he wrote:-- + + DEAR BRITON RIVIČRE,--Very many thanks for your kind and + thoughtful note. Do not think of postponing your motion; I have + already been the innocent cause of the postponement of two very + contentious motions in Council; I could not think of standing + further in the way--pray, therefore, proceed with it. I had a + nasty attack at that meeting but have felt no after effects, and + am no doubt slowly mending. In haste, yours ever sincerely, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + + [Illustration: "THE FAIR PERSIAN" + (Unfinished at the time of Lord Leighton's death.) 1896 + By permission of Sir Elliott Lees] + +From his account to his friends after his return, his health had +varied while abroad in an unaccountable manner, except in one instance +where, as my husband and I knew from personal experience, the +conditions were normally unhealthy. This evidently was the cause for +his having had specially violent attacks at Morlaix in Brittany, which +he visited on his journey home--and where, some years previously, our +whole party had become more or less ill, owing, it was thought, to the +unhealthiness of the place. His condition was much the same as when he +left England. He worked steadily in his studio, and received the +guests at the Annual Soirée of the Royal Academy. At the conclusion of +the function a friend asked him how it had really fared with him--for +apparently his vitality had appeared, as usual, inexhaustible. "I +think the attacks must be greatly a matter of nerves," he answered. "I +have stood here three hours and a quarter and have not had one,--while +I was dressing and fearing how I should get through it, I had +_three_." + +Leighton did not go to Scotland that autumn but to the wild west coast +of Ireland, again to that Malinmore that had so greatly fascinated +him, and whose wild beauty he had longed for his sister to enjoy, +"taking her courage in one hand, her goloshes in a second, and +umbrella in the third."[85] On his way there he wrote to Mrs. Orr:-- + + IMPERIAL HOTEL, + PEMBROKE STREET, CORK, + _Thursday, September 5, 1895_. + + DEAR LINA,--I was glad to glean from your letter of last + Thursday that, taking it all round, you are having a fairly good + time, and Gussy ditto. (I can't stand _wind_ either, it + aggravates my system.) I've never seen Mull--should like to--but + _not_ being a sociable bird (like you) should wish to have no + acquaintances. Is it Napier of _Magdala_? if so, I knew the old + lord of that ilk; indeed, to be accurate, I knew him even if it + was not so; or Lord Napier of _Ettrick_? if so ditto, ditto. It + is always the previous lot _I_ knew. By this time you will have + been to Lindisfarne[86] (lovely name!)--if you did not enjoy the + sands and the Abbey you need not call on me again. I suppose you + are at home now. In a week or two I shall no doubt know how I + am. Just off to Killarney, then Galway, then _Malinmore_, County + Donegal, where I shall be from (say) the 10th to (say) the 17th, + your affectionate old brother. + +In another letter he wrote to Mrs. Orr: "I am too glad that you have +made acquaintances--been a gregarious person. If I make an +acquaintance anywhere, I have simply lost the game." From Malinmore on +September 19th he wrote to me: "I'm sorry that you saw Scotland in a +mist; its beauty is _succulent colour_--you want rain first and then a +burst of sun--I am enjoying unsociable solitude keenly, like the bear +I am; health so so; I'm sowing patience, but so far reaping nothing in +particular. In a fortnight, off to Italy." On this visit to his +"second home" Leighton began with Venice, from whence he wrote to me +Oct. 9th: "The wind is howling and the rain pouring down in +torrents--not a correct attitude in Venice--I'm no better." Leighton +next went to Naples, where he wrote the following letter to Mrs. +Orr:-- + + HOTEL BRISTOL, NAPLES, + _October 18, 1895_. + + DEAR LINA,--I am sorry that you and Gussy don't see your way to + going to Bayreuth, since it is your health that seems to stand + in the way; other reasons are all my eye. I KNOW from Gussy's + own mouth that she would particularly like to hear the Siegfried + Tetralogy at Bayreuth (and this _may_ be the last time of giving + it _there_), I _know_ also that, given, of course, the Fürsten + Loge with its facilities, you would like to go, because you have + said so. Well it will remain open in case you change what you, + fondly and perhaps sincerely, regard as your minds. + + I am very glad you take such a very sensible view of my ailment, + because it makes it more easy to speak of it; I also live in the + hope and, almost, expectation, that it will fizzle out some day + of its own accord, and this enables me to bear up against the + entire absence _at present_ of any improvement. I have at last + finished my "Nordau," which I have read through from cover to + cover; it is a very vigorous and remarkable book and of riveting + interest to any one who likes polemics (from _outside_) as I do. + The author is at his best when he is dissecting a particular + victim--say Nietzsche--on the other hand one is not a little + repelled by his astoundingly unparliamentary insolence, his not + infrequent disingenuousness and _spitzfindelei_ and his curious + narrownesses and lacunę. The _Böcke die er schneidet_ when he + gets on the subject of graphic art are quite comic. The fact is + he is in some respects absolutely devoid of perception, like an + otherwise most intelligent and cultured man who should have no + ear for music. What, for instance, can we say of a man who + asserts, as a truism, that ęsthetic and _sexual_(!) feelings + (not sensual but "_geschlechtlich_") are not merely akin but + actually cover one another to a very large extent! I doubt + whether there is anything chaster than the sense of beauty in + abstract form; he has no inkling of this. When all is said and + done he is himself in some measure a _crypto_degenerate, if I + may so call him; degeneracy is a _Zwangsvorstellung_ with him, + he sees it everywhere; a curious instance is his seeing it in + the fondness of English writers for alliteration; of course he + knows, with his wide culture, better than I do that this + assonance of the beginning of words dates from the dawn of our + literature; _he might_, no doubt, say, "Yes! it is a + _Rückschlag_," but he would therein give another proof of his + ineptitude in ęsthetic matters. In _every_ Art, _iteration_, of + which alliteration is a form, has ever been a powerful source of + expression and charm. Meanwhile his last, remarkable, chapter + "Therapie" takes a good deal of the sting out of the book; he + owns that certain peculiarities--excess of sensibility and the + like--are present in _nearly all art_, that it is, in fact, only + a question of a degree and, he adds, in a passage which Gussy + has marked, "Who shall say _where_, exactly, madness begins?" + Amen! And that little (or large) spice of something which + _might_ be madness if there was much more of it, has given to us + poor mortals some of our keenest delights--"more grease to its + elbow," say I, in my vulgar way. But, I say! Nietzsche!! + eh?--I've also read J. Kowaleski, with great interest--but, + crikey! _what_ a creature to live with!! + + Tell Gussy, with my love, that I have got the usual two seats + (Queen's Hall) for the November _Wagner_. Tell her to keep the + day open.--Afftly. yrs. + + FRED. + +From Naples he travelled to Rome to find his dear friend Giovanni +Costa, with whom he spent the last weeks of his holiday. Of this visit +Costa wrote the following in his "Notes":-- + + "His last study from nature was painted in Rome in October 1895, + for the unfinished picture of 'Clytie,' exhibited in the Royal + Academy, 1896. It was a study of fruit, and he enjoyed working + on it for several hours, though he was then ill; and I believe + that the hours he passed in the courtyard of the Palazzo + Odeschalchi painting these fruits, which he had arranged on a + marble sarcophagus, afforded him, perhaps, the last artistic + pleasures he ever enjoyed. It is true that after this he went to + the Vatican, to Siena, and to Florence, where he saw for the + last time the masterpieces with which these towns abound. But, + standing before the great works of the masters of the past, he + could only sigh. + + "He worshipped children, and his pictures of children with fruit + and flowers are among the most delicious and spontaneous work + ever done by him in painting. And I can see him again, during + the last visit he paid to Rome in 1895, on his knees before my + little girl, to accede to her request that she should have a + lock of his hair as a remembrance." + +Nothing could give a better record of two sides of Leighton's nature, +often believed to be incompatible, than the contents of the letter +from Naples to his sister, with its remarks on Nordau, Nietzsche, and +the like, and this beautiful picture recalled by his old friend +Costa--Leighton on his knees before a little child. The intellect +which could crack the hardest of intellectual nuts was surmounted by +lowly reverence for all beauty, most ardently adored when that beauty +came to him in its most innocent childlike garb. + +Writing to me on his return on November the 6th Leighton says: "I +shall try to look in to-morrow at five. I want very much to hear +Fuller-Maitland's preachment" (Lectures on Purcell were being given at +our house previous to the Purcell Festival). "I am sorry to say I am +no better, rather worse." On being asked the next day, as he came into +our house, "How is it?" the answer Leighton gave was, "Oh, worse! +Sometimes fifteen attacks a day." On his birthday, the 3rd of +December, he wrote to his sister:-- + + 2 HOLLAND PARK ROAD, KENSINGTON, W., + _December 3, 1895_. + + DEAR LINA,--The grand leaves in a mossy pot, and the sweet + flowers, and the poems, and your letter, came all together. I + know you will let me answer you both on one piece of paper. I + know, dears, how true is your love, and though I am not a + demonstrative person, it is very precious to me. I know you will + both like to hear that after an _hour's_ innings between L. + Brunton, Dr. Tunnicliffe his partner, Roberts, and three most + ingenious scientific instruments, and after tapping and + auscultating of my wretched ear cap fore and aft, it was + pronounced that (in some mysterious way) I am _not_ worse, but + _better_; well, I am glad to hear it; meanwhile my medicine is + being strengthened, and will be again in the (pretty certain) + event of its requiring more strength. L.B. quite _hopes_ to rig + me out for the May banquet. Much love to both from affectionate + old brother. + +On the 14th he wrote to his friend Mr. Henry Wells:-- + + 2 HOLLAND PARK ROAD, KENSINGTON, W., + _December 14, 1895_. + + DEAR WELLS,--Many thanks for your kind letter, relying on which + I hasten to "nail" you for the _27th_; I shall be very much + disappointed if you say me "nay." I never give a _long_ notice, + in part so as to bring about a little shuffling of cards, and + relieving my guests of a certain monotony of routine which might + in the end irk them. I need not assure you that I am most warmly + sensible to the vigilant and truly friendly interest which you + manifest concerning my health; believe me, if I differ from you + in not believing in the efficacy or feasibility of a suspension + of activity for a year or two, it is in no unreasoning or + perverse spirit (and let me, by-the-bye, say in passing that I + have, for a few days past, certainly been a little better). + Putting aside for a moment the fact that I have for the next + year, and more, definite professional _obligations_ in the way + of commissioned work (which is, unfortunately, not incompatible + with having a certain number of unsold works!), to withdraw from + Academic duties would mean _leaving England_ for the period in + question; it would be morally impossible to remain here, + apparently in robust health, congratulated constantly, as I am, + on my healthy appearance, going about unrebuked by a _very_ + cautious doctor (Lauder Brunton), taking the pleasures of life + _apparently_ without any stint (as a matter of _fact_ I am very + quiet and regular, and under _continuous_ medical treatment), + and then shirking all its _duties_; but experience has shown + that I gain nothing by absence--by change of climate and the + rest; and, on the other hand, my temperament being what you + know, the withdrawal from my active life would infallibly prey + on me and have a marked effect on my health through my spirits; + this is also the opinion of Lauder Brunton. My care must be to + live quietly but not idly, and thus try to mend gradually, as I + doubtless shall, in the hands of my doctor _and my masseur_. + _If_, which God forbid, I am pronounced still unfit in May, I + will bow, with whatever bitterness, to the judgment, but till + then I must not forego hope. Meanwhile, you have all done me + infinite service in prohibiting the "Discourse" for this year--I + can't say how grateful I was for that! I shall also avoid, as + far as may be, all _controversy_ at our table; that is the worst + thing of all by far, for yours sincerely always, + + FRED LEIGHTON.[87] + +With the New Year honours and among those bestowed was a Peerage on +Leighton, who was created Lord Leighton, Baron of Stretton (see chap. +i. vol. i., Antecedents). Needless to say, congratulations poured in +from all sorts and conditions. One of these in writing was preserved +because enclosed in a note to his sister. + + _January 13, 1896._ + + MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--I have just come back from Italy, and hope + that it is not too late to tell you with how much satisfaction I + read of the mark of honour that has been accepted by you. I am + not a passionate admirer of the legislative feats of the House + of Lords, but so long as it stands, it is well that such a man + as you should sit there. I hope that the thing has given you + pleasure, and for my poor part I rejoice both as a friend and as + a humble admirer of art and genius that this honourable + recognition has fallen to you.--Yours sincerely, + + JOHN MORLEY. + + Not a word of reply, I pray. + +From his native place Leighton received the following:-- + + When it was announced on Wednesday that the Queen had been + pleased to confer the dignity of a Peerage of the United Kingdom + upon Sir Frederic Leighton, Bart., President of the Royal + Academy, who is a native of Scarborough, having been born here + sixty-five years ago, the Mayor (Alderman Cross, J.P.) sent the + following telegram:--"Sir Frederic Leighton, 2 Holland Park + Road, London, the Mayor, Corporation, and inhabitants of + Scarborough present their hearty congratulations on the honour + conferred upon you.--The Mayor, Scarborough." The next morning + the following reply was received:--"The Mayor of + Scarborough,--Sincere thanks for congratulations from my + birthplace. + + LEIGHTON." + +Leighton had been loath to acquaint his sisters with the real nature +of his complaint, as he was aware how much their anxiety for him would +be increased if they knew. However, he at last felt it was necessary +to tell them. Very characteristically, he chose the moment when they +were at the theatre, thinking it might produce a less painful shock +when mentioned casually, and when their attention might be distracted +more easily. It was difficult, however, under any circumstances to +temper the blow. Leighton wrote the next Sunday--"I do hope I shall +find you better this afternoon.... I ought not to have spoken to you +about my ailment." I received the following in Somerset, dated January +20, dictated, ... "As I am (not to put too fine a point on it) in bed +with a very bad cough at this moment, you will, I know, forgive my +using the hand of a secretary in writing to you. I see that you want a +contribution for Mrs. Watts Hughes' Home for Boys; I therefore enclose +a cheque." ... On the day following, Tuesday, his doctors decreed that +he should remain in his room, but on Wednesday, the day after, +Leighton insisted on getting into his studio, where he worked all the +morning from models. In the afternoon he drove in his open +carriage--certainly without the permission of his doctors!--to +Westminster, getting out and standing in the raw damp of a cold +January afternoon to watch the pulling down of some old houses which +had interested him. In the evening he wrote to me a letter, which +happened to be the last he penned. A Lecture was to be given for the +benefit of Mrs. Watts Hughes' Home for Boys; and in return for +Leighton's contribution I had sent him four five shilling tickets to +give away, offering to change them for half guinea tickets, but +suggesting it would be most rash of him to go himself. However, he +intended to go, and wrote that Wednesday evening:-- + + DEAR MRS. BARRINGTON,--... Since you are good enough to offer to + change the tickets for tenners, I will ask you to do so, and + thank you in advance. Yes, Mackail's book, which oddly enough I + _have_ read--for, alas! I never read now--is an exquisite bit of + work. + +When the Lecture was given on the evening of January 29, Leighton had +left us already four days! + +At five o'clock on Thursday morning, January 23, he woke, feeling +terrible pain and great distress in breathing, but would not ring for +his servant because he believed him to be delicate, and thought it +might hurt him to be disturbed so early. At seven he rang, and Dr. +Roberts, who was telegraphed for, at once saw that the situation was +of the gravest. Sir Lauder Brunton also was summoned. Leighton's +servant had promised his sisters that they should be sent for at once +if the symptoms at any time became more acute; but on his mentioning +this, Leighton said he must not send for Mrs. Orr and Mrs. Matthews, +as they were both more ill than he was. However, as the morning went +on and there were no signs of any change for the better, the sisters +were told of his condition, and at once came--not leaving him till the +end. + +On Thursday afternoon, when he was supposed to be sinking, and they +were with him alone, he expressed his wishes as to his property--the +sums of money he wished given to various friends--adding that he +should like ten thousand pounds to be given to the Royal Academy. +These were wishes expressed--not legacies, as he left his whole +property unconditionally to his sisters, and believed that they, as +next-of-kin, would, as a matter of course, be his heirs. + +Contrary to the doctor's expectations, Leighton rallied on the Friday, +and hopes were expressed that he might recover from the acute attack +from which he was suffering. On his hearing this, he exclaimed to his +sisters, "Would it not have been a pity if I had had to die just when +I was going to paint better!" + +On the Saturday morning the gravest symptoms returned, and every hope +vanished. It was then suggested to Leighton that it would be better +for him to make a will, and his lawyer was sent for; but it was some +time before he could arrive. Though the agony was great, Leighton +refused all alleviations till his will was written out. It was as +follows:-- + + This is the last will and testament of Frederic Leighton. + I will and bequeath to my sisters, Alexandra Orr and + Augusta Newnburg Matthews, the whole estate + unconditionally. + + FRED LEIGHTON. + +Mrs. Orr wrote: "When the official will had been drawn up and signed, +he said, 'Does this give my sisters absolute control over all I have?' +On the lawyer answering in the affirmative, Leighton asked, 'Then no +one can interfere with them?' 'No one,' answered the lawyer; 'they are +paramount.' He was afraid that the brief paragraph was not +sufficiently strong." + +After signing it, he said, "My love to the Academy"; but his last +words were spoken in German, and meant for his sisters' ears alone. +Then came the end. + + * * * * * + +"We went together," writes Lady Loch, "to see Fred Leighton the Sunday +before he died, and he said, 'Mind you come to "my concert." I have +just settled it all with Villiers Stanford, and it will be +beautiful.'" In about ten days after, with aching hearts at the loss +of so true, so warm, so great a friend, we attended his burial +service at St. Paul's Cathedral, seeing such proofs of real mourning +all along the Embankment and streets, for indeed every man, woman, and +child had lost a real, true friend. + + [Illustration: "THE SPIRIT OF THE SUMMIT." 1894] + + [Illustration: STUDY FOR "LACHRYMĘ." 1895] + +All who were present must ever remember the last "Music" in the March +before, when (contrasting so strongly in colour and sentiment) +"Lachrymę" and "Flaming June" stood on the easels, and for the first +time the silk room was open, hung with the work of Leighton's friends; +how, through all the beautiful strains from Joachim and the rest, a +tragic note rang out to tell, as it seemed, of the waning life of the +centre of it all. No one said it, but all felt that the last chapter +was ending of those many, many perfect pages in life known as +"Leighton's music." + +A voice sang with emotion Charles Kingsley's soul-stirring verse-- + + "When all the world is old, lad, + And all the trees are brown; + And all the sport is stale, lad, + And all the wheels run down, + Creep home, and take your place there, + The spent and maim'd among; + God grant you find one face there + You loved when all was young." + +Cruelly pathetic did it seem that one who had ever had the vitality of +a boy, who had ever been the inspirer and support of those weary +overwrought ones whose wheels had run down before their time, should +himself be stricken, creeping home "the spent and maimed among." + +The studios emptied, and he came down the stairs with the last of us. +Dainty figures of girls were dancing round the fountain in the empty +Arab Hall; and as he went to the outer door they flew to him, throwing +their arms round his neck. "They are all my god-children," he said, +as each, fleet-footed, fled out of the gate. A clasp, a wring of a +friend's hand; then, ashen pale, tired and haggard, he turned back +lonely into the House Beautiful--and that book was closed. + +Instead of strains of perfect song and music hailing their completion, +the six pictures of the next year looked down on the coffin, and over +a rich carpeting of beautiful flowers. In the centre, above the head, +the sun-loving "Clytie" stretched out her arms, bidding a passionate +farewell to her god. + +The coffin was borne away to the Academy on Saturday, February 1, +previous to the funeral on the Monday. + + [Illustration: "CLYTIE." 1896 + By permission of the Fine Art Society, the owners of the + Copyright] + +The following is a correct account of the public funeral, written on +the day it took place, and forwarded to Leighton's birthplace. + + At half-past ten this morning, by which time a dense crowd had + collected in the neighbourhood of the Royal Academy, the workmen + commenced to remove the numerous wreaths from the Central Hall, + where the body of Lord Leighton has rested since Saturday night, + and to load the huge floral car. Prominent among these wreaths + was one from the Princess Christian; but that from the Prince + and Princess of Wales was conveyed in a separate carriage by + representatives of the Prince and Princess, General Ellis and + Lord Colville of Culross. The wreath consisted of choice white + flowers rising from a bank of delicate green foliage, and + attached was a card written by the Princess of Wales, and + inscribed as follows:-- + + "Life's race well run, + Life's work well done, + Life's Crown well won, + Now comes rest." + + Then follow the words, "A mark of sincere and affectionate + regard, esteem, and admiration for a great artist and much + beloved friend, from Alexandra and Albert Edward." At the head + of the card were the words, "To Sir Frederic Leighton." There + was also a wreath from the Empress Frederick, bearing the words: + "From Victoria, Empress Frederick," in the Empress's own + writing. + + The Queen's wreath for the funeral of Lord Leighton was sent + from Buckingham Palace this morning to Colonel the Honourable W. + Carington, by whom it was conveyed to St. Paul's Cathedral. The + wreath is composed of laurel, entwined with which are + immortelles, and it is tied with broad satin ribbon. Attached to + the wreath is an autograph card from Her Majesty, with the + following inscription: "A mark of respect from Victoria, R.I." + + About five minutes to eleven the coffin was removed from the + Central Hall, and carried through the vestibule into the + quadrangle. A detachment of the Artists' Volunteers was drawn up + here, and saluted the coffin as soon as it emerged into the open + by presenting arms. The remains were placed in a glass hearse, + and the volunteers took up their position at the front and + sides. The pall-bearers, relatives, and others meanwhile formed + in procession, and punctually at eleven the cortčge left the + Academy, the crowd reverentially uncovering as the hearse passed + into the street. The whole length of the route, from Piccadilly + to St. Paul's, was lined with people; but the crowds were quiet + and orderly, and maintained a clear space for the funeral + cortčge without the assistance of the police. The volunteers + marched with arms reversed, and the remains of the deceased + artist were carried to their last resting-place with every + manifestation of mournful regret. Flags were at half-mast on + many public buildings, and as the solemn procession passed + slowly along, the remains were reverently saluted by the crowd. + Passing into Pall Mall by Charing Cross, the procession wended + its way through Northumberland Street, proceeding thence along + the Thames Embankment, New Bridge Street, and Ludgate Hill, St. + Paul's being reached shortly before noon. + + The service in the Cathedral, which occupied an hour, was at + once picturesque as a spectacle and impressive in its solemnity + as a religious function. + + More than an hour before the time appointed for the arrival of + the funeral cortčge, the space available to the public in St. + Paul's was occupied, and a few minutes after eleven o'clock, + visitors of distinction, who had been provided with special + invitations, began to fill up the reserved seats in the + transept. + + Among those present were representatives of the Royal Family, + the German Emperor, and the King of Belgium, members of both + Houses of Parliament, including the Speaker; delegates from + learned bodies and artistic associations, as well as from the + art committees of various provincial municipalities. + + The first lesson was read by the Dean, and the succeeding + passages were given by the Bishop of Stepney; but the greater + part of the service was undertaken by the Archbishop of York, + chaplain of the Royal Academy. The musical portions of the + service were exceptionally fine, and included, as a somewhat + unusual feature, a trombone quartette. + + Lord Salisbury had promised to be one of the pall-bearers, but + found himself unable to attend. The pall-bearers were + Major-General Ellis, representing the Prince and Princess of + Wales; the Duke of Abercorn, Sir Joseph Lister, Sir J. Millais, + Sir E. Thompson, Sir A. Mackenzie, and Professor Lecky. + + After the coffin was lowered into the crypt by a central opening + directly beneath the dome, the two sisters of the late Lord + Leighton came to the front, and took a last look at it. When the + coffin was lowered many beautiful flowers were placed upon it, + and again, after the opening was covered up, the space was more + than covered by further wreaths sent by various Academicians, + the Royal Academy, students, and personal friends, many of whom + lingered some time after the conclusion of the solemn ceremony. + + _Scarborough Evening News, February 3, 1896._ + + * * * * * + +Leighton's death touched, as did his life, all sorts and conditions of +men; for he had been the true friend alike of the greatest and of the +least. The soil in which true distinction is rooted is of a quality +too rich, too fertile to be affected by class prejudice. Leighton's +own life was made beautiful by the gratitude he felt for the joy +nature's loveliness inspired in his soul, and by the passion to make +known through his work the mysterious treasure, the never-failing +fountain of delight, ever springing up in his heart. Lovingly human, +he ardently desired not only to pass on his own joy in beauty to every +fellow-creature who crossed his path, but, where he saw in any +possible way help could be given, to give it. + +Of the eager, great-hearted Leighton, not a few can echo Romola's +tribute to Savonarola--the last words of the great book whose pages he +vivified with his art: "Perhaps I should never have learned to love +him if he had not helped me when I was in great need." + + A light has passed that never shall pass away, + A sun has set whose rays are unequalled of might; + The loyal grace, the courtesy bright as day, + The strong, sweet, radiant spirit of life and light, + That shone and smiled and lightened in all men's sight, + The kindly life whose tune was the tune of May, + For us now dark, for love and for fame is bright. + + ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE.[88] + + [Illustration: MONUMENT IN ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL, ERECTED AS A + MEMORIAL TO LORD LEIGHTON BY HIS FRIENDS AND ADMIRERS + Sculptured by Thomas Brock, R.A.] + + [Illustration: View of Inner Hall and Staircase of Leighton + House, with reproduction of Mr. Thomas Brock's R.A. Diploma + work, Bust of Lord Leighton, presented by Mr. Brock to the + Leighton House Collection in 1898. + By permission of Mr. J. Harris Stone.] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[83] "Life and Letters of Robert Browning." + +[84] Professor Giovanni Costa. + +[85] It was during this last visit to Malinmore Leighton made those +sketches of the sea thistle (see chapter iii. vol. i.), and also some +last sketches in oil. + +[86] Leighton had visited Mr. Pepys Cockerell and his family at +Lindisfarne (Holy Island) more than once when going or returning from +Scotland. + +[87] Mr. Percy Fitzgerald wrote the following:-- + +"Being in the same club with Lord Leighton, I could note many instances +of his good humour and sweetness of temper. I am happy to think, for it +was a high compliment from him, that he made my acquaintance, not I +his. He had always a pleasant word; as when, entering the writing-room +with his hasty tramp, he looked over at me, seated at the window pencil +in hand, and rushed over in his impetuous way: "Ah, one of _our_ trade, +I see!" He was particularly interested in a museum or institute at +Camberwell, and one day thanked me most warmly for having gone down to +lecture there, and that it was appreciated by the people, &c. This was +good-natured. + +"The day he received his title, an old gentleman of the club, who did +not know him, congratulated him as he passed by in high-sounding +Italian. He was delighted, and poured out a reply in the same tongue, +adding some pleasant remark. This little incident quite illustrates his +_bonhomie_. It is just what Dickens would do. I gave him a copy of Sir +Joshua's Discourses, a presentation one to Burke. It was fitting that +the modern President should have it. + +"How tragic were his last appearances at the Academy _soirée_! How +jaded, shrunk and haggard looked the once handsome painter! He must +have suffered cruelly, and at the end seemed worn out. There was +something of a likeness to the lamented Irving, the same sweetness of +manner, the same grace and romantic view of things. His dress was +characteristic, somewhat showy, yet not scrupulously neat like a dandy. +His clothes, like Irving's, seemed old friends, and lay about him in +roomy fashion. His somewhat unkempt beard left some traces on the +lapels of his favourite snuff-coloured coat with the flowing tails. The +blue or red silk, its ends flying free, was a note of colour. Three men +of mark, and on some points resembling each other, had each this fancy +for a somewhat theatrical attire. + +"I noticed that a nervous guest innocently presented to the porter a +ticket for some artistic _soirée_, which was declined, to the +embarrassment of the visitor. But Leighton promptly stepped forward, +and kindly came to his rescue. It was curious that those three eminent +artistic beings, Dickens, Leighton, and Irving, should have perished +from outwearing their nervous systems, Leighton and Irving from +heart-failure, Dickens from an overtaxed brain." + +[88] "A Reminiscence," Leighton, 1896. + + + + +APPENDIX + + + + +PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS + +_Delivered by_ SIR F. LEIGHTON, Bart., P.R.A., _at the Art Congress, +held at Liverpool, December 3rd, 1888_. + + +I cannot but feel that to some of my hearers, and to not a few of +those who do not hear me, but whom the words spoken in this place may +chance to reach through the Press, some brief explanation is, at the +outset, due as to my occupancy of this chair. To them it is known that +weighty reasons have for many years compelled me to decline all +requests--and those requests have been frequent, urgent, and most +gratifying to me in form and spirit--that I should publicly address +audiences, beyond the walls of Burlington House, on the subject which +is to occupy this Congress, the subject of Art. It is not without some +compunction that I have followed this course, but the exigencies, on +the one hand, of the duties of my office, and, on the other, a firm +purpose, which you will not, I hope, rebuke, to remain always and +before all things a working artist, have left to my too limited +strength and powers no alternative but that which I have adopted. +Nevertheless, I have felt justified in obeying the summons of the +founders of this Congress--and for this reason that, while the +far-reaching character of the effort here initiated, and my earnest +desire to contribute, in however small a measure, to whatever of good +may flow from it have seemed to make it incumbent on me to accept the +duty of saying a few words on this occasion, its comprehensive and +national character lifts it into a category wholly apart from and +outside the sphere of purely local interests such as those which I had +hitherto been invited to support. + +I trust I shall be pardoned this short obtrusion of private +considerations, and that you will see in it not a movement of egotism +but the discharge of a simple debt of courtesy; which said, let me +address myself to the task imposed upon me--the task of showing cause +and need for the existence of the association which inaugurates to-day +its public work, and of arousing, if it is in my power, your efficient +sympathy in that work, that it may not remain barren and without +fruit. But here I am at once conscious of a perplexity lurking in your +minds. "Why," I hear you ask, "should an organisation have been called +into life for the sole purpose of considering in public matters +relating to the development and spread of art in this country? What +hitherto unfulfilled ends do you seek to achieve? Do you aim at the +wider extension of artistic education in this country? But vast sums +from the public purse are annually devoted to its promotion; schools +of art multiply, one might almost say swarm, over the face of the +land. Or do you tax the great municipal bodies of England with +remissness on this score? But day by day efforts in this direction +among the great provincial centres of trade and industry become more +marked and effectual. No announcement more frequently meets our eyes +than that of the opening, with due ceremony and circumstance, and +seemingly with full recognition that the event is an important one, of +spacious public galleries for the annual exhibition, or for the +permanent housing, of works of contemporary art. Or does art find +private individuals lacking in that noble spirit which so often +prompts Englishmen to devote to the enjoyment and profit of their +fellow-citizens a large share of the wealth gained by them in the +pursuit of their avocations? But a great gallery of art which rises +hard by across the road would shame and silence any such assertion. +Or, again, can it be denied that what encouragement to artists is +afforded by the purchase of innumerable pictures, at all events, was +never more liberally meted out to them than within our generation, and +does not the crowding of exhibitions, of which the name is legion, +evince abundantly the responsive attitude of the country, as far at +least as one of the arts is concerned? Are not statues multiplying in +our streets? Is not architecture, as an art, finding at this time +increasing, if tardy, acceptance at the hands of private individuals? +Is not a wholesome sense dawning among us that even a private dwelling +should not offend, nay, should conciliate, the eye of the passer-by in +our public thoroughfares? and lastly, has not a more than marked +improvement taken place within our day in the character of all those +intimate domestic surroundings which are the daily diet of our eyes, +and should be daily their delight? Are these not facts patent to all, +and do they not seem to cut from under your feet the ground on which +you seek to stand?" Yes, all this and more may be said; and I should +be blind as an observer--I should be ungrateful as one speaking in the +name of artists--did I not recognise the force of these words which I +have put into the mouth of an imaginary querist. I acknowledge with +joy that there is in all these facts, and still more in their +significance, much on which we may justly congratulate ourselves, much +that points to a quickening consciousness, a stirring of slumbering +ęsthetic impulse, a receptive readiness, a growing malleability in the +general temper, which promise well; and it is precisely such a +condition of things which justifies our hope of good results from this +Congress, and in it we find our best encouragement. + +Well, what then is our charge in respect to the present relation of +the country to art? What are the shortcomings for which we are here to +seek a remedy? Our charge is that with the great majority of +Englishmen the appreciation of art, as art, is blunt, is superficial, +is desultory, is spasmodic; that our countrymen have no adequate +perception of the place of art as an element of national greatness; +that they do not count its achievements among the sources of their +national pride; that they do not appreciate its vital importance in +the present day to certain branches of national prosperity; that while +what is excellent receives from them honour and recognition, what is +ignoble and hideous is not detested by them, is, indeed, accepted and +borne with a dull, indifferent acquiescence; that the ęsthetic +consciousness is not with them a living force, impelling them towards +the beautiful, and rebelling against the unsightly. We charge that +while a desire to possess works of art, but especially pictures, is +very widespread, it is in a large number, perhaps in a majority of +cases, not the essential quality of art that has attracted the +purchaser to his acquisition; not the emanation of beauty in any one +of its innumerable forms, but something outside and wholly independent +of art. In a word, there is, we charge, among the many in our country, +little consciousness that every product of men's hands claiming to +rank as a work of art, be it lofty in its uses and monumental, or +lowly and dedicated to humble ends, be it a temple or a palace, the +sacred home of prayer or a Sovereign's boasted seat, be it a statue or +a picture, or any implement or utensil bearing the traces of an +artist's thought and the imprint of an artist's finger--there is, I +say, little adequate consciousness that each of these works is a work +of art only on condition that, is a work of art exactly in proportion +as, it contains within itself the precious spark from the Promethean +rod, the divine fire-germ of living beauty; and that the presence of +this divine germ ennobles and lifts into one and the same family every +creation which reveals it; for even as the life-sustaining fire which +streams out in splendour from the sun's molten heart is one with the +fire which lurks for our uses in the grey and homely flint, so the +vital flame of beauty is one and the same, though kindled now to +higher and now to humbler purpose, whether it be manifest in the +creations of a Phidias or of a Michael Angelo, of an Ictinus or of +some nameless builder of a sublime cathedral; in a jewel designed by +Holbein or a lamp from Pompeii, a sword-hilt from Toledo, a caprice in +ivory from Japan or the enamelled frontlet of an Egyptian queen. We +say, further, that the absence of this perception is fraught with +infinite mischief, direct and indirect, to the development of art +among us, tending, as it does, to divorce from it whole classes of +industrial production, and incalculably narrowing the field of the +influence of beauty in our lives. And with the absence of this true +ęsthetic instinct, we find not unnaturally the absence of any national +consciousness that the sense of what is beautiful, and the +manifestation of that sense through the language of art, adorn and +exalt a people in the face of the world and before the tribunal of +history; a national consciousness which should become a national +conscience--a sense, that is, of public duty and of a collective +responsibility in regard to this loveliest flower of civilisation. + +Well, it is in the belief that the consciousness of which I have +spoken is rather dormant with us than absent, waiting to be aroused +rather than wholly wanting, that the founders of this Association have +initiated the movement which has brought you together, and laid upon +me the ungracious task to which I am now addressing myself--a task I +have accepted in the hope that, at least, some good to others may come +out of the wreck and ruin of any character for courtesy which may +hitherto have been conceded to me. + +But let us now look closer into my indictment; and let us, first, for +a moment, and by way of getting at a standard, turn our thoughts to +one or two of those races among which art has reached its highest +level and round whose memory art has shed an inextinguishable +splendour. Let us first consider the Greek race in the day of its +greatest achievements and the most perfect balance of its transcendent +gifts. What is it that impresses us most in the contemplation of the +artistic activity of this race? It is, first, that the stirring +ęsthetic instinct, the impulse towards and absolute need of beauty, +was universal with it, and lay, a living force, at the root of its +emotional being; and, secondly, that the Greeks were conscious of this +impulse as of a just source of pride and a sign of their supremacy +among the nations. So saturated were they with it that whatever left +their hands bore its stamp. Whatever of Greek work has been preserved +to us, temple or statue, vessel or implement, is marked with the same +attributes of stately and rhythmic beauty; in all their creations, +from the highest to the lowest, one spirit lives, and whatever be the +rank of each of these creations in the hierarchy of works of art, in +one thing they are even-born and kin--in the spirit of loveliness. And +of the dignity of this artistic instinct, which they regarded as their +birthright, they were, as I have said, proudly conscious. Would you +have an instance of this high consciousness? Here is one. At the end +of the first year of the Peloponnesian war the Athenians having, +according to ancestral custom, decreed a public funeral to those who +had fallen in battle, Pericles, the son of Xanthippus, was chosen by +them to speak the praises of the dead. It is a famous speech, that in +which he obeyed their injunction, and it opens with a lofty eulogy of +the Republic for which the heroes whom they mourned had fallen. In +this magnificent song of praise he enumerates the virtues of the +Athenians; he shows them heroic, wise, just, tolerant, _lovers of +beauty_, philosophers--in all things foremost amongst men. Mark this! +At a celebration of the most moving solemnity--in a breathing space +between two acts of a gigantic international struggle for +hegemony--you have here a great statesman enumerating the titles of +his fellow-citizens to headship among the nations, and placing not at +the end of his panegyric and as an oratorical embellishment, but in +its very heart and centre, these words: "We love the beautiful." + +But we may gain, perhaps, a yet more vivid sense of the extent to +which the artistic impulse possessed and filled this people in the +fascinating epitome of Grecian handicraft which is presented to us in +Pompeii, or rather in the Museo Nazionale at Naples. Here you have the +work, not of Athenian Greeks, of the Periclean or of the Alexandrian +age, but the work of provincial Greeks inhabiting a watering-place of +no very great importance, in the first century of our era; a period as +far removed from the days of the Parthenon sculptures as we are from +the days of the Canterbury Tales. And what a display it is! How full +of interest! Here we are admitted into the most intimate privacy of a +multitude of Pompeian houses--the kitchens, the pantries, the cellars +of the contemporaries of the Plinies have here no secret for us; +indeed, for aught we know, more than one of those dinners of which +that delicate _bon vivant_, the nephew of the naturalist, was so +appreciative a judge may have been cooked in one of these very ranges, +one of these ladles may have skimmed his soup, his quails may have +been roasted on yonder spit. Nothing is wanting that goes to make the +complete armament of a kitchen--stoves, cauldrons, vessels of every +kind, lamps of every shape, forks, spoons, ladles of every dimension. +And in all this mass of manifold material perhaps the most marked +characteristic is not the high level of executive merit it reveals, +high as that level is, but the amazing wealth of _idea_, the +marvellous intellectual activity brought to bear on what we now call +objects of industrial art--whatever that may mean--in this outpost of +Greek civilisation. These accumulated appliances of the kitchen and +the pantry form a museum of art--a museum of art of inexhaustible +fascination; and not only does this vast collection of necessary +things contain nothing ugly, but it displays, as I have just said, an +amazing wealth of ideas; each bowl, each lamp, each spoon almost, is +an individual work of art, a separate and distinct conception, a +special birth of the joy of creation in a genuine artist. But, above +all, let us bear this fact in mind--_the absence there of any ugly +thing_; for the instinct of what is beautiful not only delights and +seeks to express itself in lovely work, but forbids and banishes +whatever is graceless and unsightly. + +As next to the Greeks, and as almost their equals in this craving for +the beautiful, the Italians will occur to you. And here it may be well +to note, in a parenthesis, that a vivid sense of abstract beauty in +line and form does not necessarily carry with it a keen perception of +shapliness in the human frame. This curious fact we see strikingly +illustrated in a race which possesses the artistic instinct in certain +of its developments in a greater degree than any other in our time--I +mean the Japanese. With them the sense of decorative distribution and +of subtle loveliness of form and colour is absolutely universal, and +expresses itself in every most ordinary appliance of daily life, +overflowing, indeed, into every toy or trifle that may amuse an idle +moment; and yet majesty and beauty in the human form are as absent +from their works as from their persons. Be this said without prejudice +to the fact that in the movement imparted by them to the figures in +their designs there is often much of daintiness and dignity, the +outcome of that keen perception of beauty of line in the abstract +which we have seen to be dominant in them. I need not follow further +this, I think, interesting train of thought, but the digression seemed +to me useful, not as illustrating the fact that beauty is not to be +regarded only in connection with the human form, which is a mere +truism, but as showing that the abstract sense of it, in certain +aspects, may possess and penetrate a race in which the perception of +comeliness in the human body is almost entirely absent; and I meet by +it also, in anticipation, certain objections that may suggest +themselves to you in connection with the Italians, as far, at least, +as the Tuscans are concerned; for in them, too, we find occasionally, +side by side with an unsurpassed sense of the expressiveness of line +and form, a defective perception of beauty in the human +frame--witness the ungainly angularities, for instance, of a +Verrocchio, a Gozzoli, a Signorelli. + +The thirst for the artistically delightful was the mark in Italy of no +particular class; it was common to all, high and low, to the Pontiff +on his throne, to the trader behind his counter, to the people in the +market-place. And here, again, observe that this desire was not alone +for the adornment of walls and public places with painting and +statuary--though every wall in every church or public building was, in +fact, enriched by the hand of painters and of sculptors--but it +embraced every humbler form of artistic expression, and was, indeed, +especially directed to one which has in our time touched, here and +there, a melancholy depth--the craft of the goldsmith. I said "humbler +form" of art for lack of a better word; for a craft cannot fitly be +called humble which has occupied and delighted men of the very highest +gifts. Did not the mind that conceived the "Perseus" of the Loggia dei +Lanzi pour out some of its richest fancies in a jewelled salt-cellar +for the table of a Pope? Did not the sublimest genius that ever shone +upon the world of art receive its first guidance in the workshop of a +jeweller--a jeweller who was himself a painter also of high renown? +For was it not that painter-goldsmith whose hands adorned with noble +frescoes the famous choir of Sta. Maria Novella? + +Now, to a cultured audience such as that which I am here addressing, +these facts are familiar and trite, so trite and so familiar that it +may, perhaps, be doubted whether their true significance has ever +stood quite clearly before your minds, and whether you have fully +grasped the solidarity of the arts--if I may use an outlandish +expression--which at one time prevailed. Let us in imagination +transfer the last quoted fact into contemporary life. Let us suppose +that the municipality of a great English city, proud of its annals and +of its culture, determined to decorate with paintings in some +comprehensive manner the walls of a great public building; and +suppose, further, that an artist, admittedly of the first rank, were +to answer to its call from the workshop--and I say advisedly from the +workshop, for it is there, and not on an armchair in the office, that +the head of the house would have been found in the old day--suppose, I +say, that such an artist came forth from some great firm of +jewellers, in Bond Street for instance, we should have, on the +artistic side, the exact parallel of the case of the Dominicans of +Sta. Maria Nuova and Domenico, the son of Thomas the garland-maker of +Florence. Meanwhile, striking as is this instance of the unity of art +in long past days, it is but just to add, and I rejoice to be able +here to do so, that signs are not wanting on the side of our own +artists of a strong tendency towards a return to closer bonds between +its various branches, in which direction, indeed, a movement has been +for some years increasingly marked and practical; and it is with a +glad outlook into the future, and with a sense of breathing a wider +air, that I place by the side of the cases which I have just +mentioned--cases which were, in their time, of natural and frequent +occurrence--one which is of yesterday. The chief magistrate of an +important provincial centre of English industry, the Mayor of Preston, +wears at this time a chain of office which is a beautiful work of art, +and this chain was not only designed but wrought throughout by the +sculptor who modelled the stately commemorative statue of the Queen +that adorns the County Square of Winchester, the artist who presides +over the section of sculpture in this Congress, my young friend and +colleague, Mr. Alfred Gilbert. + +I have pointed to the Italians and the Greeks as culminating instances +of people filled with a love of beauty and achieving the highest +excellence in its embodiment, and I have named the Japanese as +manifesting the ęsthetic temper in a high degree of sensitiveness, but +within certain limitations. It is not necessary to remind you that I +might extend this list, if with some qualification, and that the same +lesson--the lesson that the nations which love beauty seek it in the +humblest as well as the highest things--is taught us by others than +those I have mentioned. Whosoever, for instance, has wondered at the +work of Persian looms, or felt the fascination of the manuscripts +illuminated by the artists of Iran, or noted the unfailing grace of +subtle line revealed in their metal-work, will feel that for this race +also the merit of a work of art did not reside in its category, but in +the degree to which it manifested the spirit which alone could ennoble +it, the spirit of beauty. And if, further, this dominant instinct of +the beautiful is not in our own time found in any Western race in its +fullest force, and among one Eastern people, with, as we saw, +important limitations, there is yet one modern nation in our own +hemisphere in which the thirst for artistic excellence is widespread +to a degree unknown elsewhere in Europe; a people with whom the sense +of the dignity of artistic achievement, as an element of national +greatness, an element which it is the duty of its Government to foster +and to further, and to proclaim before the world, is keen and +constant; I mean, of course, your brilliant neighbours, the people of +France. Here, then, are standards to which we may appeal to see how +far, all allowance being made for many signs of improvement in things +concerning art, we yet fall short, as a nation, of the ideal which we +should have before us. + +Let me now revert to my indictment. I said that the sense of abstract +beauty with the mass of our countrymen--and once again I must be +understood not to ignore, but only to leave out of view for the +moment, the considerable and growing number of those in whom this +sense is astir and active--with the mass, I repeat, of our countrymen, +the perception of beauty is blunt, and the desire for it sluggish and +superficial; with them the beautiful is, indeed, sometimes a source of +vague, half-conscious satisfaction, especially when it appeals to them +conjointly with other incitements to emotion, but their perception of +it is passive, and does not pass into active desire; it accepts, it +does not demand; it is uncertain of itself, for it lacks definiteness +of intuition, and having no definite intuition, it is necessarily +uncritical. This weakness, among the many, of the critical faculty in +ęsthetic matters, and the curious bluntness of their perceptions, is +seen not in connection with the plastic arts only, but over the whole +artistic field, in the domains of music and the drama, as in that of +painting and sculpture. Who, for instance, where a body of English men +and women has been gathered together in a concert room, has not, at +one moment, heard a storm of applause go up to meet some matchless +executant of noble music, and then, five minutes later, watched in +wonder and dismay the same crepitation of eager hands proclaiming an +equal satisfaction with the efforts of some feeblest servant of +Apollo? Or have you not often, in your theatres, blushed to see the +lowest buffoonery received with exuberant delight by an audience--and +a cultivated audience--which had just before not seemed insensible to +some fine piece of histrionic art? And what could proclaim the lack of +true, spontaneous instinct in more startling fashion than the +notorious fact that the most thrilling touch of pathos in the +performance of an actor reputed to be comic will be infallibly +received with a titter by a British audience, which has paid to laugh +and come to the play focussed for the funny? + +Now this little glimpse into the attitude of the public in regard to +other arts than ours has its bearing upon our present subject. This +same feebleness of the critical sense which arises out of the +indefiniteness--to say the best of it--of the inner standard of +artistic excellence, is not unnaturally accompanied by and fosters an +apathy in regard to that excellence, and an attitude of callous +acquiescence in the unsightly, which are inexpressibly mischievous; +for you cannot too strongly print this on your minds, that what you +demand that will you get, and according to what you accept will be +that which is provided for you. Let an atmosphere be generated among +you in which the appetite for what is beautiful and noble is whetted +and becomes imperative, in which whatever is ugly and vulgar shall be +repugnant and hateful to the beholder, and assuredly what is beautiful +and noble will, in due time, be furnished to you, and in steadily +increasing excellence, satisfying your taste, and at the same time +further purifying it and heightening its sensitiveness. + +The enemy, then, is this indifference in the presence of the ugly; it +is only by the victory over this apathy that you can rise to better +things, it is only by the rooting out and extermination of what is +ugly that you can bring about conditions in which beauty shall be a +power among you. Now, this callous tolerance of the unsightly, +although it is, I am grateful to think, yielding by degrees to a +healthier feeling, is still strangely prevalent and widespread among +us, and its deadening influence is seen in the too frequent absence of +any articulate protest of public opinion against the disfigurement of +our towns. + +Let me give you an instance of this indifference. Our country is happy +in possessing a collection of paintings by the old masters of +exceptional interest and splendour, a collection which, thanks to the +taste and highly trained discernment of its present accomplished +head, Sir Frederick Burton, is, with what speed the short-sighted +policy of successive Governments permits, rising steadily to a +foremost place among the famous galleries in the world. Some years +ago, the building destined to receive it being found no longer +adequate, it became necessary to provide, by some means, ampler space +for the display of the national treasure. It was resolved that another +edifice should take the place of that designed by Wilkins, an edifice +which, be it said in passing, has been made the butt of curiously +unmerited ridicule in the world of connoisseurship, and which, apart +from certain very obvious blemishes, it has always seemed to me to be +much easier to deride than to better. A competition was opened, and +designs were demanded for a spacious building, equal to present and +future needs, and worthy of the magnificence of the collection it was +to house. It is hardly necessary to say that we have here no concern +whatever with the controversy which arose over these designs. My +concern is with its final outcome, which is this: the original +building has remained unaltered as to its exterior; but on the rear of +one of its flanks loom now into view, first, an appendage in an +entirely different style of architecture, and further on, an +excrescence of no style of architecture at all; the one an Italian +tower, the other a flat cone of glass, surmounted by a ventilator--a +structure of the warehouse type--the whole resulting in a jarring +jumble and an aspect of chaotic incongruity which would be ludicrous +if it were not distressing; and we enjoy, further, this instructive +phenomenon that a public opinion which sensitively shrank from the +blemishes of the original edifice has accepted its retention, with all +those blemishes unmodified, _plus_ an appendage which adds to the +whole the worst almost of all sins architectural--a lack of unity of +conception. Now, I have never to my knowledge heard one single word of +articulate public reprobation levelled at this now irremediable blot +on what we complacently call the finest site in the world; and yet I +cannot find it in me to believe that many have not, like myself, +groaned in spirit before a spectacle so deplorable--a spectacle which, +indeed, is only conceivable within these islands. I think that a good +deal is summed up in this episode, and I need not, for my present +purpose, seek another in the domain of architecture. + +In regard to sculpture, the public apathy and blindness are yet more +depressing and complete, and illustrate the deadness of the many to +the perception of the essential qualities of art. To the overwhelming +majority of Englishmen sculpture means simply the perpetuation of the +form of Mr. So-and-So in marble, bronze, or terra-cotta--this, and no +more. That marble, bronze, or terra-cotta may, under cunning hands, +become vehicles, for those who have eyes to see, of emotions, ęsthetic +and poetic, not less lofty than those which are stirred in us by the +verse of a Dante or a Milton, or by strains of noblest music, of this +the consciousness is for practical purposes non-existent. For +sculpture, for an art through which alone the name of Greece would +have been famous for all time, there is, outside portraiture, even +now, under conditions admittedly improved, little or no field in this +country. Portrait-statues galore bristle, indeed, within our streets; +but the notion of setting up in public places pieces of monumental +sculpture solely for adornment and dignity, or of monuments that shall +remind us of deeds in which our country or our town has earned fame +and deserved gratitude, and incite the young to emulation of those +deeds, or that shall be the allegorised expression of any great +idea--and yet our race has had great ideas, and clothed them in deeds +as great--hardly ever, it would seem, enters the heads of a people +whose aspirations are surely not less noble or less high than those of +other nations. Nay, even a monument commemorative of the great public +services of some individual man which shall be a monument _to_ him +rather than exclusively an image _of_ him, a monument of which his +effigy shall form a part, but of which the main feature shall be the +embodiment or illustration, in forms of art, of the virtues that have +earned for him the homage of his countrymen--even this is suggested in +vain. + +And if we are tolerant of treason against fitness in architecture, +what shall we say of our tolerance in regard to its sculptural +adornments? What shall we say of the complacent acceptance, above and +about windows and doorways in clubs, offices, barracks, and the like +buildings, of carven wonders such as no other civilised community +would accept in silence? Though I fear I must here, with all +deference, add that my brethren, the architects, who suffer their +work to be so defaced, are themselves not wholly blameless; and +indeed, it is a truth in the assertion of which the most enlightened +workmen in every branch of art will stand by me, that among ourselves +also the sense of the kinship of the arts is too often a mere theory, +received, no doubt, with respect as an abstract proposition, but not +perceptibly colouring our practical activity. + +In sculpture the inertness of demand and tolerance of inferior supply +is due mainly to the want, to which I have alluded, of a sense of and +a joy in the purely ęsthetic quality in artistic production, an +insensibility to the power inherent in form, by its own virtue, of +producing the emotion and exciting the imagination, a power on which +the dignity of this pure and severe art does or should mainly rest. + +In the appreciation of painting, which on various grounds appeals as +an art to a far wider public than either architecture or sculpture, +the same shortcomings are evident, though in a less degree, and with +less mischievous results; for the witchery of colour, at least, is +felt and appreciated, more or less consciously, by a very large number +of people. The inadequacy of the general standard of artistic insight +is here seen in the fact that to a great multitude of persons the +attractiveness of a painted canvas is in proportion to the amount of +literary element which it carries, not in proportion to the degree of +ęsthetic emotion stirred by it, or of appeal to the imagination +contained in it--persons, those, who regard a picture as a compound of +anecdote and mechanism, and with whom looking at it would seem to mean +only another form of reading. Time after time, in listening to the +description--the enthusiastic description--of a picture, we become +aware that the points emphasised by the speaker are such as did not +specially call for treatment in art at all, were often not fitted for +expression through form or colour, their natural vehicle being not +paint but ink, which is the proper and appointed conveyor of abstract +thoughts and concrete narrative. I have heard pictures extolled as +works of genius simply because they expressed, not because they nobly +clothed in forms of art, ideas not beyond the reach of the average +penny-a-liner. + +Now I know that in what I am here saying I skirt the burning ground +of controversy long and hotly waged--skirt it only, for that +controversy touches but the borders of my subject, and I shall of +course not pursue it here. I will, nevertheless, to avoid +misrepresentation in either sense, state, as briefly as I can, one or +two definite principles on which it appears to me safe to stand. It is +given to form and to colour to elicit in men powerful and exquisite +emotions, emotions covering a very wide range of sensibility, and to +which they alone have the key. The chords within us which vibrate to +these emotions are the instrument on which art plays, and a work of +art deserves that name, as I have said, in proportion as, and in the +extent to which, it sets those chords in motion. The power and +solemnity of a simple appeal of form as such is seen in a noble +building of imposing mass and stately outlines. When, however, form in +arts is connected with the human frame, and when combinations of human +forms are among the materials with which a beautiful design is built +up, then another element is added to the sum of our sensations--an +element due to the absorbing interest of man in all that belongs to +his kind; and the emotion primarily produced by the force of a purely +ęsthetic appeal is enhanced and heightened by elements of a more +intimate and universal order, one more nearly touching our affections, +but not, therefore, necessarily of a higher order. Thus the episode, +for instance, of Paolo and Francesca, clothed in the rare, grave +melody of Dante's verse, entrances us with its pathos; but our +emotion, intensely human as it is, is not therefore of a higher kind +than that which holds us as we listen to sounds sublimely woven by +some great musician; nor are the impressions received in watching from +the floor of some great Christian church the gathering of the gloom +within a dome's receding curves of less noble order than those aroused +by a supreme work of sculpture or a painting--by, say, the "Notte" of +Michael Angelo or the "Monna Lisa" of Lionardo; and yet in both of +these last the chord of human sympathy is strongly swept, though in +different ways--in the "Notte" by the poetic and pathetic +suggestiveness of certain forms and movements of the human body; in +the "Monna Lisa" by a more definitely personal charm and feminine +sorcery which haunts about her shadowy eyes, and the subtle curling of +her mysterious lips. + +I say, then, that in a work of art the elements of emotion based on +human sympathies are not of a loftier order than those arising out of +abstract sublimity or loveliness of form, but that the presence of +these elements in such a work, while not raising it as an artistic +creation, does impart to it an added power of appeal, and that, +therefore, a work in which these elements are combined will be with +the great majority of mankind a more potent engine of delight than one +which should rest exclusively on abstract qualities. And it follows, +therefore, that while a work of art earns its title to that name on +condition only, once again I say, of the purely ęsthetic element being +present in it, and will rank as such in exact proportion to the degree +in which this element prevails in it; and while, further, this +element, carrying with it, as it does, imaginative suggestiveness of +the highest order and of the widest scope, is all-sufficient in those +branches of art in which the human form plays no part, the element +which is inseparable in a work of art from the introduction of human +beings is one which it is not possible for us to ignore in our +appreciation of that work as a source and vehicle of emotion. + +Every attempt at succinct exposition of a complex question risks being +unsatisfactory and obscure, and I am painfully alive to the inadequacy +of what I have just said. I trust, however, that I have conveyed my +meaning, if roughly, yet sufficiently to shield me from misconception +in regard to the special emphasis I am laying on the importance of a +proper estimation of the essentially ęsthetic quality in a work of +art, an importance which I urge upon you, not so much here on account +of the effect its absence may have exercised on the development of +painting, as on account of the significant fact that its want--the +lack of a perception that certain qualities are the very essence of +art, and link into one great family every work of the hands of men in +which they are found--has led with us to a disastrous divorce between +what is considered as art proper and the arts which are called +industrial. I say advisedly "disastrous," for the lowering among us in +the present day of the status of forms of art, in the service of which +such men as Albert Dürer, for example, and Holbein (men, by-the-by, of +kindred blood with ourselves), Cellini and Lionardo, were glad to +labour and create--and that not as a concession, but in the joyful +exercise of their fullest powers--is one of its results, and carrying +with it, as is natural, a lowering of standard in these arts, has +generated the marvellous notion, not expressed in words, but too +largely acted on, that art in any serious sense is not to be looked +for at all in certain places--where, in truth, alas! neither is it +often found--and led to the holding aloof to a great extent, until +comparatively recent years, of much of the best talent from very +delightful forms of artistic creation; and this notion has led further +to the virtual banishment from certain provinces of designing of the +human figure, or where it is not banished, to its defacement, too +often, in the hands of the untrained or the inept. + +We are to a wonderful degree creatures of habit, our thoughts are +prone to run--or shall I say rather to stagnate?--within grooves; and +if we are a people of many and great endowments, a swift and free play +of thought is, as we have been forcibly told by a voice that we shall +hear no more, and can ill miss, not a distinguishing feature among us. +Is it not an amazing thing, for example, that human shapes, which in +clay or plaster would be ignominiously excluded from a second-rate +exhibition, are not only accepted, but displayed with a chuckle of +elated pride, when cast in the precious metals, flanked, say by a +palm-tree, borne aloft on a rock, and presented in the guise of a +piece of ornamental plate? But is this even rare? Is it not of +constant occurrence? Do you demur? Well, let me ask you a plain +question: Of all the nymphs and goddesses, the satyrs, and the +tritons, that disport themselves on the ceremonial goldsmithery of the +United Kingdom, how many if cast in vulgar plaster, and not in +glittering gold, would pass muster before the jury of an average +exhibition? And if few, I ask why is this so? In the name of +Cellini--nay, in the name of common sense, why? And is it on account +of the low ebb of figure modelling for decorative purposes that on our +carved furniture--what we mysteriously describe as "art +furniture"--the human form is hardly ever seen? Then why is the best +talent not enlisted in this work? Certain it is that the absence of +living forms imparts to much of the furniture now made in England, +unsurpassed as it is in regard to delicacy and finish of handiwork, +and frequently elegant in design, a certain look of slightness and +flimsy, faddy dilettantism which prevent it from taking that rank in +the province of applied art in which it might and should aspire. + +But I have, I fear, already unduly drawn upon your patience, and I +must bring to a close these too disjointed prefatory words, leaving it +to the accomplished gentlemen who head the various sections of this +Congress to amplify and enrich as they will out of the wide fund of +their knowledge and experience the bald outline I have sketched before +you. They, in their turn, taking up, no doubt, our common parable, +will emphasise and press on you the fact that by cultivating its +ęsthetic sense in a more comprehensive and harmoniously consistent +spirit than hitherto, and with a clearer vision of the nature of all +art and a more catholic receptiveness as to its charms, and by +stimulating in a right direction the abundant productive energy which +lies to its hand, this nation will not only be adding infinitely to +the adornment and dignity of its public and private life, not only +providing for itself an increasing and manifold source of delight and +renovating repose, mental and spiritual, in a day in which such +resting and regenerating elements are more and more called for by our +jaded nervous systems, and more and more needed for our intellectual +equilibrium, but will be dealing with a subject which is every day +becoming more and more important in relation to certain sides of the +waning material prosperity of the country. For, as they will no doubt +remind you, the industrial competition between this and other +countries--a competition, keen and eager, which means to certain +industries almost a race for life--runs, in many cases, no longer +exclusively or mainly on the lines of excellence of material and +solidity of workmanship, but greatly nowadays on the lines of artistic +charm and beauty of design. This, to you, vital fact is one which they +will, I am convinced, not suffer to fall into the background. + +One last word in anticipation of certain objections not unlikely to be +raised against an assumption which may seem to be implied in the +existence of our Association--the assumption that the evils and +shortcomings of which I have spoken with such unsparing frankness can +be removed or remedied by the gathering together of a number of +persons to listen to a series of addresses. The causes of these evils, +we may be told, and their antidote, are not on the surface of things, +but rest on conditions of a complex character, and are fundamental. +"Who," I hear some one say, "is this dreamer of dreams, who hopes to +cure by talking such deep-seated evils? Who is this shallow and +unphilosophical thinker who does not see that the same primary +conditions are operative in making the purchaser indifferent what he +gets and the supplier indifferent to what he produces, and who +attributes the circumstance that good work is not generally produced +in certain forms of industry to the lack of demand, rather than to the +deeper-lying fact that suppliers and demanders are of the same stock, +having the same congenital failings; and satisfied with the same +standards?" My answer to this imaginary, or I ought, perhaps, to say +this foreseen objector would be, first, this--that I am not the +visionary for whom he takes me, and that I do not believe in the +efficacy of words either directly to remedy the state of things I have +been deploring, or to create a love of art and a delicate +sensitiveness to its charms in those to whom the responsive chords +have been refused; neither is the eloquence, trumpet-toned and +triumphant, conceivable by me before which the walls of the Jericho of +the Philistine shall crumble in abrupt ruin to the ground; least of +all do I believe in sudden developments of the human intellect. But it +has nevertheless seemed to me, as it has seemed to the framers of this +Association, that words, if they be judicious and sincere, may rally +and strengthen and prompt to action instincts and impulses which only +await a signal to assert themselves--instincts, sometimes, perhaps, +not fully conscious of themselves--and that a favouring temperature +may be thus created within which, by the operation of natural laws, in +due time, but by no stroke of the wand, a new and better order may +arise. Neither, indeed, do I ignore the force of my critic's +contention that the causes of mischief lie deep, and are not to be +touched by surface-tinkering, if they are to be removed at all; +although I demur to his pessimistic estimate of them as a final bar to +our hopes. It is true that certain specific attributes are, or seem to +be, feeble in our race; it is true, too true--I have it on the +repeated assurance of apologetic vendors--that with us the ugliest +objects--often, oh! how ugly--have the largest market; nevertheless, +the amount of good artistic production in connection with industry--I +purposely speak of this first--has grown within the last score or so +of years, and through the initiative, mind, of a mere handful of +enthusiastic and highly gifted men in an extraordinary degree; and in +a proportionate degree has the number increased, also, of those who +accept and desire it; and this growth has been steady and organic, and +is of the best augury. Now, the increase in the number of those who +desire good work, and the concurrent development of their critical +sensitiveness in matters of taste, stimulate, in their turn, the +energies, and sustain the upward efforts, of the producers, and thus, +through action and reaction, a condition of things should be slowly +but surely evolved which shall more nearly approach that general level +of artistic culture and artistic production so anxiously looked for by +us all. It is in the hastening of this desired result that we invoke, +not your sympathy alone, but your patient, strenuous aid. And if I am +further asked how, in my view, this association can best contribute to +the furtherance of our common end, I would say, not merely by seeking +to fan and kindle a more general interest in the things of art, but +mainly by seeking to awaken a clearer perception of the true _essence_ +of a work of art, by insisting on the fundamental identity of all +manifestations of the artistic creative impulse through whatever +channels it may express itself, and by setting forth and establishing +this pregnant truth--that whatever degrees of dignity and rank may +exist in the scale of artistic productions, according to the order of +emotion to which they minister in us, they are in one kind; for the +various and many channels through which beauty is made manifest to us +in art are but the numerous several stops of one and the same divine +instrument. + +And if in what I have said I have laid especial stress on that branch +of art which is called industrial, it is not solely to develop this +cardinal doctrine, neither only because of the pressing, practical, +paramount national importance of this part of our subject, but also +because I, in truth, believe that it is in a great measure through +these very forms of art that the improvement, to which I look with a +steadfast faith, will be mainly operated. The almost unlimited area +which they cover in itself constitutes them an engine of immense +power, and I believe that through them, if at all, the sense of beauty +and the love for it will be stimulated in, and communicated to, +constantly increasing numbers. I believe that the day may come when +public opinion, thus slowly but definitely moulded, will make itself +loudly heard; when men will insist that what they do for the gracing +and adornment of their homes shall be done also for the public +buildings and thoroughfares of their cities; when they will remind +their municipal representatives and the controllers of their guilds of +what similar bodies of men did for the cities of Italy in the days of +their proud prosperity in trade, and will ask why the walls of our +public edifices are blank and silent, instead of being adorned and +made delightful with things beautiful to see, or eloquent of whatever +great deeds or good work enrich and honour the annals of the places of +our birth. And lastly, I believe that an art desired by the whole +people and fostered by the whole people's desire would reflect--for +such art must be sincere--some of the best qualities of our race; its +love of Nature, its imaginative force, its healthfulness, its strong +simplicity. + +And now, ladies and gentlemen, my task is ended. My duties to-night +were purely prefatory; my words are but the prologue of the +proceedings which begin to-morrow--a prologue which I undertook to +speak less from any faith in its possible efficacy than in the belief +that the first word spoken at such a time should be heard from the +lips of one to whom, from the nature of the office he is privileged to +fill, as well as from the whole bent of his mind, everything that +concerns art, from end to end of its enchanting field, must be, and +is, a source of deep, of constant, and engrossing interest. The +curtain is now raised, the stage is spread before you, and I step +aside to make room for others, leaving with you the expression of my +fervent wish that the hopes which have brought us together in this +place may not have been entertained in vain. + + + + +LORD LEIGHTON'S HOUSE + +AND WHAT IT CONTAINS[89] + + +PREFACE TO CATALOGUE + +Two miles and a quarter from Hyde Park Corner, removed but a few steps +from the main thoroughfare between London and Hammersmith, and running +parallel to it, is Holland Park Road, facing which stands Lord +Leighton's House. "I live in a mews," he used to say. This meant more +than a figure of speech merely, though the "mews" in question is very +different from a London street mews. Low, odd-shaped, irregular +buildings, formerly stables (a few are still used as such), were in +Lord Leighton's life converted into studios by artists who wished to +cluster around the President of the Royal Academy. These stand in old +gardens and are studded at intervals along the road, bordered by trees +branching across it, and taking away all idea of its being a London +street. Screened by a hedge of closely-cut lime-trees, the Leighton +House stands back but a few yards from the pavement. Through a porch +and a small outer hall the House is entered. Monsieur Choisy, the +distinguished French architect, in his letter to the _Times_ of April +the 27th, 1896, written with the view of trying to induce the English +nation to rise to the value of preserving this House as a national +treasure, writes as follows:-- + +"Allow me also to point out the original beauty of the house where so +many masterpieces are grouped. The French public have been enabled to +admire this house through the excellent article of my friend and +fellow-member of the R.I.B.A., Mr. Charles Lucas. + +"Nowhere have I found in an architectural monument a happier gradation +of effects nor a more complete knowledge of the play of light. + +"The entrance to the house is by a plain hall that leads to a 'patio,' +lit from the sky, where enamels shine brilliantly in the full light; +from this 'patio' one passes into a twilight corridor, where enamel +and gold detach themselves from an architectural ground of a richness +somewhat severe; it is a transition which prepares the eye for a jewel +of Oriental art, where the most brilliant productions of the Persian +potter are set in an architectural frame inspired by Arab art, but +treated freely; the harmony is so perfect that one asks oneself if the +architecture has been conceived for the enamels or the enamels for the +hall. This gradation, perhaps unique in contemporary architecture, was +Leighton's idea; and the illustrious painter found in his old friend +Mr. G. Aitchison, who built his house, a worthy interpreter of his +fine conception. This hall where colour is triumphant, was dear to +Leighton, and even forms the background to some of his pictures. +Towards the end of his life he still meant to embellish it by +substituting marble for that small part that was only painted. The +generous employment of his fortune alone prevented him from realising +his intention. + +"England has at all times given the example of honouring great men; +she will, I am sure, find the means of preserving for art a monument +of which she had such reason to be proud." + +As is now well known, Lord Leighton's executrixes, his two sisters, +have assigned the lease of the property, which has sixty-six years yet +to run, to three gentlemen who are members of the committee formed to +preserve it for the use and education of the public, in memory of Lord +Leighton, and the committee are now tenants at will of the +proprietors. Works by Lord Leighton have been collected and placed in +the studios and other rooms of the House. A large collection of his +drawings and sketches and a few finished paintings have been secured +through the generosity of his sisters, Mrs. Sutherland Orr, Mrs. +Matthews, and his personal friends, the list of these being headed by +the Prince of Wales. This collection of original works numbers 1114, +594 being now framed and hung on the walls. The collection also +contains 28 proof engravings from Lord Leighton's principal pictures, +presented by those who own the copyrights, _i.e._ Mrs. James Watney +(who has also given an original drawing), the Fine Arts Society, the +Berlin Photographic Company, Messrs. Agnew, Graves, Colnaghi, and +Tooth. There are also 112 photographic reproductions by Mr. F. Hollyer +and Messrs. Dixon, these, with a few exceptions, having been taken for +Lord Leighton in his studio. The greater number of these photographs +were given to the House by Mr. Wilfred Meynell, Mr. F. Hollyer, and +Messrs. Dixon; the remainder by Lord Davey, Sir Henry Acland, Mr. A. +Henderson, Mr. Philipson, Mr. A.G. Temple, and Mr. George Smith. The +reproductions of completed pictures have been hung on the walls +together with the sketches executed for them, in order that the +student may realise how Leighton developed the designs he made into +finished pictures. When funds permit, the 520 remaining drawings and +sketches will be framed, and it is the desire of the committee that, +though the Leighton House should always remain the chief centre of the +collections, groups of sketches should be lent to exhibitors in the +provinces and in the poorer parts of London. In the middle of the +centre hall is now placed a reproduction presented by Mr. Brock, R.A., +of the bust of Lord Leighton, executed by his sculptor friend--that +perfect likeness in bronze of the President placed among the Diploma +works in Burlington House. Surrounding this reproduction and lining +the walls and staircase are plaques of Oriental designs, pictures in +enamel, framed in by a background of Mr. William De Morgan's beautiful +blue tiles.[90] The same treatment is continued through the "twilight +corridor" leading to the great casket of treasures known as the Arab +Hall. In the summer of 1899 the Society of the Library Association was +received at the Leighton House, and at the meeting which preceded the +conversazione, Lord Crawford, President of the Association, ended the +speech he made on the merits and rare gifts of his friend, Lord +Leighton, by a reference to the unique value of this casket of +treasures. "We often," he said, "see Persian tiles in England. They +are chiefly made in England, but they are bought in Persia! A genuine +Persian tile is a very rare thing. When you meet it, cherish it!" In +this Arab Hall hundreds of these "rare" things are collected, each +individually of a quality of uncommon beauty and almost priceless, +owing to the fact that large spaces on the walls are filled with these +gorgeous tiles, fitted together as originally designed and intended by +the Persian artists who invented them. Travellers who went to the East +when there was still a chance of buying genuine Persian tiles know how +it came about that these could sometimes be procured. The owners of +the houses on the walls of which they were placed would become +impoverished and were easily induced to sell a single tile to a +traveller as a specimen. When the money paid for it was spent and more +was wanted, if a second traveller came by another single tile was +sold. The first purchaser might have been an Englishman, the second a +Frenchman, the third a German, and so on. In this way the several +tiles making one design got hopelessly dispersed. Lord Leighton, aided +by his friend, Sir C. Purdon Clarke, the Director of the Art Museum, +South Kensington, was extraordinarily lucky in obtaining large plaques +of tiles intact. "During his visits to Rhodes, to Cairo, and to +Damascus," writes Mr. George Aitchison, R.A., "he made a lovely +collection of Saracenic tiles, and had, besides, bought two +inscriptions, one of the most delicate colour and beautiful design, +and the other about sixteen feet long and strikingly magnificent; +besides getting some panels, stained glass, and lattice-work from +Damascus afterwards; these were fitted into an Arab Hall in 1877." The +enamelled tiles made the keynote of this beautiful creation, the Arab +Hall, which, to repeat Mr. Choisy's words, forms a harmony "so perfect +that one asks oneself if the architecture has been conceived for the +enamels or the enamels for the Hall." Round three sides (the fourth +being filled by the large inscription) runs a frieze in mosaics, the +designs of which are among the most beautiful of those invented by our +great English decorator, Walter Crane. Sir C. Purdon Clarke has +designated this creation of Lord Leighton's, in which he was so ably +assisted by his friend, Mr. George Aitchison, R.A., President of the +Royal Society of British Architects, and in which is to be traced that +generous delight which Leighton took in all that was good in the art +of his contemporaries, as "the most beautiful structure which has been +raised since the sixteenth century." It would, alone, make the +preservation of the House as an effective medium for education in the +beautiful a necessity to any truly art-loving people. + +To turn to the collection of Leighton's own paintings, the most +complete work secured is the "Clytemnestra from the battlements of +Argos watches for the beacon fires that are to announce the return of +Agamemnon" (No. 212). + +Mr. G.F. Watts, R.A., writes: "I am more pleased than I can say that +the picture is possible. It is very fine, a grand pictorial +realisation of Greek sculpture and Greek poetry, very noble in form +and expression, and singularly fine in the arrangement of drapery. +Certainly a better example of Leighton at his happiest could not, I +think, be found. It is also _especially_ Leighton." + +Mr. Watts has himself presented a finished painting by Leighton--a +half-length figure of a man, which is an exquisite piece of work and +given to Mr. Watts many years ago by the artist. When presenting it to +the House Mr. Watts wrote that it was one of his possessions which he +prized the most. Though the collection in Lord Leighton's House is +mainly formed of his drawings, the few finished paintings and the +several oil sketches of landscape belonging to it are sufficient to +show how exquisite was his native sense of colour. The colour in +"Clytemnestra" (No. 212) is both true to nature as a presentiment of +the moonlight effect and to the dramatic feeling of the subject. The +study (No. 110), for one of the heads in "Summer Moon" (No. 272), +presented by Mr. Alfred Waterhouse, R.A., and executed actually by the +light of the moon in Rome, is notably fine in texture and gives us the +origin of that curiously happy note of colour in "Clytemnestra"--the +bar of dull red cooled by moonlight. The model wore a scarlet ribbon, +or might be, a row of coral beads round her neck while sitting to +Leighton for the study, and this evidently gave him what he wanted, +and suggested, when he was painting the "Clytemnestra" two years +later, the contrast to the greys and blues in the red bar in this +picture. Mr. A.G. Temple in his valuable work, "The Art of Painting in +the Queen's Reign," alludes to this effect: "A picture _low in key_, +but curiously strengthened by the massive bar of dark red that runs +from the bottom to the top of the picture." Very fine colour and +texture is seen in the sketch for a design of "St. George and the +Dragon" made for some arched space (No. 115), and also in the small +oil sketch for "Golden Hours" (No. 5-A), the study for the background +of the picture "David" (No. 111), "A pool, Findhorn River" (No. 120), +"Rocks in the Findhorn" (No. 123a), "Kynance Cove" (No. 125), "A View +in Spain" (No. 122), "Simętha, the Sorceress" (No. 124), "Bay of +Naples by Moonlight" (No. 112), are rapid though eminently careful +sketches which prove, perhaps even more convincingly than +highly-finished works, that in the very grain of his native art +instinct was Leighton's delight in beauty of colour. In the sketch +(No. 109), "The Entrance of a House," is one of many examples among +his paintings which show what a master he was in the art of painting +white; really true white, such as we see in marble and whitewashed +walls in Greece, Sicily, and Italy. Surely no artist has ever painted +more truly or poetically the quality of Southern light as it falls on +white walls and columns. "Lieder ohne Worte" is one of several +examples of a successful treatment of white marble as a background +painted as Leighton could paint it. + +It is indeed to be hoped that Leighton's friends who possess any of +those oil paintings of landscape, sea, and architecture which lined +the walls of the great studio during his life may help in aiding to +make his gifts as a colourist more adequately represented in this +permanent collection. The above-named works are, one and all, good +specimens for the purpose. Whatever key of colour was struck, each of +these studies from nature is a faithful and beautiful record of a +scene in some lovely part of the world; whether the scene was fair and +bathed in southern sunlight, or glowing in rich depths of shadow as in +the paintings of the golden-lined interior of St. Mark's, Venice, +further enriched by the scintillating texture of mosaic surface. + +Leighton's early education, however, especially when he was in +Germany, tended more to the development of his gifts as a draughtsman +than to his gifts as a colourist; still it is evident that as soon as +he began working independently of any master, his love of colour at +once asserted itself. At the age of twenty-five his first picture, +"The Cimabue Procession" (No. 42), was exhibited at the Royal Academy +and purchased by the Queen. Mr. Ruskin criticised it at the time as +the work of a _colourist_. "This is a very important and very +beautiful picture," he writes. "It has both sincerity and grace, and +is painted on the purest principles of Venetian art.... The great +secret of the Venetians was their simplicity. They were great +colourists." (See Catalogue for full quotation.) A lengthy description +of Leighton's complete pictures would not find an appropriate place in +this preface. Those who had the good fortune to see the wonderful +collection of his works in 1897 will hardly need to be reminded of the +rich and glowing feast of colour enjoyed before such pictures as +"Helios and Rhodos," painted 1869 (studies in Collections No. 218), +nor the depth and beauty in "Weaving the Wreath"(No. 144), "Antique +Juggling Girl" (No. 359), "Moorish Garden: a Dream of Granada" (No. +280), not to mention the splendour and harmony in many of the larger +and more intricate compositions. No less beautiful, it will be +remembered, was the colouring of pictures in which the scheme was +light and fair rather than rich and glowing. In "Winding the Skein" +(No. 198), for instance, there is a feeling of morning freshness in +its lovely sea and mountain background and white-marble terrace +foreground. Though cool and pale the picture is full of colour. Again, +in the slightly-turning figure of Psyche, now in the Tate Gallery (No. +59), the exquisite, pearly fairness of flesh tint must ever make this +picture a standard of colour as well as of modelling. In its own line +it is an achievement in painting that has surely never been surpassed. +Almost equally beautiful is the passage in "Venus Disrobing for the +Bath" (No. 151), where the line of the figure comes against the sea +background. Leighton's native genius might perhaps be most truly +described as one allied closely to, and echoing, that of the Greeks in +Art, though trained, during a few important years of study, in +Germany. The work of his great contemporaries, Rossetti, Millais, and +Burne-Jones, might be described as revealing Italian, English, and +Celtic sentiment, influenced by the fervour of pre-Raphaelite feeling. +Leighton's genius as a colourist will probably be ever more and more +appreciated as a partial allegiance to those three great colourists +subsides as a fashion merely. + +It is quite clear, from the evidence of the earliest studies, that the +extraordinary facility evinced in Lord Leighton's drawings was the +outcome of natural gifts. No one can study his art without realising +very conclusively that he spared neither time nor trouble in order to +make it as perfect as it was in his power to make it; but equally +evident is it to those who examine his work with artistic and +intelligent insight that the great power that he possessed for taking +pains was inspired by a joyous, sensitive delight in beauty. The +untiring industry which alone could have produced the unparalleled +amount of work which he has left was clearly never weighted by any +feeling that the toil of study was irksome. On the contrary there is, +in every stroke, evidence that a fine delicate sense of beauty, a +fervent, spontaneous "sincerity of emotion" (to use Leighton's own +expression) was ever present, instigating and propelling the +conscientious persistency of his efforts. Whether it be a flower, a +face, a figure, a landscape, or but a piece of drapery--there is in +every sketch in this collection that convincing stamp on the work +which proves that the doing of it interested and delighted the artist; +the test, in other words, that the work has in it the true fibre of +the most genuine art. It is well to draw attention to this fact, +because his abnormal industry has apparently been considered by some +to be a sign of his having been deficient in rare and native art +instincts. Some there are who hold that the most notable +characteristic in Leighton's nature was an extraordinary power of +will. That he exercised such a power is undoubtedly true. In no other +manner could he have achieved the main purposes of his life, but +surely those who knew him best, and who were in the position best to +appreciate his art, would say rather that such an exercise of will was +used in the service of a still more powerful ingredient, in the truly +leading passion of his life, the moving motive of all his labours, +_i.e._ a reverent worship of beauty. Much has been said and +written,--even, strange to say, with respect to the great exhibition +of his works exhibited at Burlington House in the winter of +1897,--which implies that the scholarly element outweighed the +qualities resulting from natural gifts. Happily, the unprejudiced mind +of the widest public was not deluded into sparing its praise by +unappreciative or unintelligent criticism. Those who had not the +opportunity at the Burlington House Exhibition of judging for +themselves of the very great qualities Lord Leighton's art possesses, +have but to study the collection of drawings in his house in order to +realise that his gifts as an artist were as rare and native as was the +intellect and splendour of nature which made his personality one of +the most striking of his era. + +A strong dramatic power is shown in many of Leighton's early designs, +and the best examples of these have been secured for this national +collection. Of the "Plague in Florence" (project for a picture), a +notable example, there is a photograph by Mr. Fred Hollyer (No. 175), +taken for Lord Leighton, the original sketch being in South Kensington +Museum. The evidence of this power recurs at intervals in the later +work in such pictures as "Heracles struggling with Death for the Body +of Alcestis" (No. 54), "Electra at the Tomb of Agamemnon" (No. 7), (in +this picture the colour carries out the imaginative and truly-felt +dramatic instinct with singular power and beauty), "Orpheus and +Eurydice" (No. 236), "St. Jerome," "The Last Watch of Hero" (No. 28), +"Rizpah" (No. 193), and in the last work exhibited in the Royal +Academy after Lord Leighton's death, "Clytie" (No. 27), the sun-loving +soul bidding farewell to this world. But in many of the later works, +as the artist grew older, as the drama of real life became more +absorbing and intricate, as the struggle to sustain the interests of +the art of his country fell more and more directly on him +individually, he seemed to turn with a sense of relief to the more +serene, passive sentiment of such pictures as "Idyll," "Winding the +Skein" (No. 198), "Summer Slumber" (No. 94), "The Bath of Psyche," as +a contrast to the pressure and restless fever of his active life. The +tenderness of feeling, such as is invariably united with the highest +manly qualities, finds expression throughout every stage of Leighton's +art development, most notably in the drawing and painting of children. +(Children had the greatest fascination for him.) In "Elisha and the +Shunammite's Son" (No. 207), the tenderness is as touching as it is +unobtrusive. "Sister's Kiss" (No. 275), and "Return of Persephone" +(No. 53), are both examples in which wholesome, loving, human feeling +is depicted with exquisite tenderness. In "Captive Andromache" (No. +21), such feeling in the group of the caressing parents and child is +used as a contrast to enforce the loneliness of the captive widow. In +"Ariadne abandoned by Theseus: Artemis releases her by Death" (many +studies for which are in the collection still unframed), the whole +picture breathes a feeling of tenderness which is in a high sense +pathetic. In the sketches for "Michael Angelo nursing his Dying +Servant" (No. 192), even more than in the completed picture, is seen +evidence of the manly tender-heartedness which was a notable +characteristic in Leighton's nature. + +The hundreds of sketches and drawings now hung on the walls of the +Leighton House form a diary of the artist's working life. + +Here are records of the earliest student days in Florence in 1842. +When twelve years old he studied at the Academy there under Bezzuoli +and Servolini. Professor Costa writes of these two masters: "They were +celebrated Florentines, excellent good men, but they could give but +little light to this star, which was to become one of the first +magnitude. Leighton, from his innate kindness, loved and esteemed his +old masters much, though not agreeing in the judgment of his +fellow-students, that they should be considered on the same level as +the ancient Florentines. 'And who have you,' said Leighton one day to +a certain Bettino (who is still living), 'who resembles your ancient +masters?' And Bettino answered, 'We have still to-day our great +Michael Angelos, and Raffaels, in Bezzuoli, in Servolini, in Ciseri.' +But this boy of twelve years old could not believe this, and one fine +day got into the diligence and left the Academy of Florence to return +to England. Although the diligence went at a great pace, his +fellow-students followed it on foot, running behind it, crying, 'Come +back, Inglesino! come back, Inglesino! come back!' so much was he +loved and respected. He did come back, in fact, many times to Italy, +which he considered as his second fatherland." + +There are also many records of the studies in Germany when Leighton +was working under Steinle, of all his masters the one for whom he felt +the greatest enthusiasm. The drawing in the collection which shows +most clearly the influence of Steinle's teaching, was made on the +journey from Frankfort to Rome in 1852. The subject is a monk leading +a man away from his enemy and teaching him a lesson in forgiveness. It +is signed, "_Ulm, F.L., /52_" (No. 251). + +There is the sketch for the picture which Leighton and one of his +fellow-students, Signor Gamba, on that same journey, took it into +their heads to paint on the walls of an old ruined castle near +Darmstadt. "The schloss," writes Mrs. Andrew Lang, "where this piece +was painted is still in ruins, but the Grand Duke has lately erected a +wooden roof over the painting to preserve it from destruction." While +still at Frankfort, Leighton had begun the design for the "Cimabue's +Procession" (No. 42). In the collection we find the drawing of the +first design. For extraordinary precision of outline and graceful +arrangement of moving figures, this is one of the most remarkable on +the walls. We have also the study of the head in pencil for the figure +of Dante in the right-hand corner of the picture (No. 42-B), (given by +Canon Rawnsley), and a large study in water-colour and pencil of the +woman seated at the window (given by Mr. J.A. Fuller Maitland) (No. +42-C). Hanging near these is a very finely pencilled head of that boy +whom Leighton called "The prettiest and the wickedest boy in Rome." On +it is written "_Vincenzo--Roma, 1854, F.L._" Another, on which is +written "_Venezia, 1856, F.L._," is, for strength of character and +beauty combined, one of the most powerful in the collection (purchased +by a donation given by Lord Rosebery). These are a few out of fifty +drawings of heads in the House, executed for the main part, between +the years 1852 and 1856. There are many records in landscape and +street scenes of Leighton's journeying to Capri, Athens, Rhodes, +Damascus, and Algeria. Of the drawings made during his stay in Algeria +(presented to the House by Mr. Walter Derham) (Nos. 284 and 285), Mr. +Pepys Cockerell wrote in his interesting article which appeared in the +_Nineteenth Century_, "The finest of all, except the famous 'Lemon +Tree,' which is in silver point, and was done in 1859, are the +products of a visit to Algeria in 1857. I do not believe that more +perfect drawings, better defined or more entirely realised, than these +studies of Moors, of camels, &c., were ever executed by the hand of +man.... They are not particularly summary, nor do they look as if they +had been done in a moment, or without trouble. The drawings in +question are as complete as if they came from the hand of Lionardo or +Holbein." + +Among the most perfect drawings Lord Leighton has left, are also the +studies from flowers and foliage. Professor Aitchison writes: "One day +I found him (Leighton) drawing the flower of the pumpkin, and he said +flowers were quite as hard to draw as human heads, if you drew them +conscientiously, but doing that rested with yourself, for there could +be no critics. He said of drawing that the great thing was to +thoroughly understand the structure, and that then, by patience and +labour, you could express the outline and the modelling. In 1859, +while at Capri, he drew the celebrated 'Lemon Tree,' working from +daylight to dusk for a week or two, and giving large details in the +margin of the snails on the tree." Mr. Ruskin writes: "Two perfect +early drawings are of 'A Lemon Tree,' and another of the same date, of +'A Byzantine Well,' which determine for you without appeal the +question respecting necessity of delineation as the first skill of a +painter. Of all our present masters, Sir Frederic Leighton delights +most in softly-blended colours, and his ideal of beauty is more nearly +that of Correggio than any since Correggio's time. But you see by what +precision of terminal outline he at first restrained and exalted his +gift of beautiful _vaghezza_." + +Of this drawing of "A Lemon Tree," now in the Oxford Museum, lent by +Mr. Ruskin, Sir Henry Acland has given a singularly fine photograph, +very nearly the size of the original. Lord Leighton gave Mr. Ruskin +for his life this wonderful drawing of "A Lemon Tree" to hang in his +Oxford Museum, that it might serve to impede, if possible, the +increasing wrong-headedness in study--the careless conceit, the +irreverent dash, the incompetent confidence of many modern students. + +How Leighton's theories as to the manner in which flowers should be +drawn were carried out, is exemplified by two wonderful studies of the +said pumpkin flower (Nos. 97 and 104), and fifty other studies from +flowers and plants in this collection. This artist in his early +twenties, brilliant in society, full of intellectual and every other +kind of vitality, could nevertheless sit for hours perfecting the +study of a flower or a plant. One who knew him well in 1854 and 1855, +wrote in the _Times_ of 28th January 1896, three days after Leighton's +death: "I remember hearing a relative of his, a clergyman, deplore in +1854, the persistency with which Leighton was throwing away his +chances in life to become a mere artist." Five years previously, +Leighton had embodied in a design, now in his house, the longing, the +home sickness, the _Sehnsucht_ he felt for his own true much-loved +vocation. It is in the drawing of Giotto as a boy lying among his +sheep upon a bank (No. 227). Below the sketch, in Leighton's +handwriting, are the words "_Giotto, Sehnsucht_." The same writer +continues: "I enjoyed constant intercourse with him during the whole +of 1854 and to the middle of 1855. The summer of the former year we +passed at the Baths of Lucca, dining together every day for three +months. Finding the solitary splendour of the hotel at 'Villa' +irksome, he suggested that we should mess together in my lodgings, +which happened to be close to a little restaurant. In after years, +meeting in London houses, we always referred with pleasure to the +modest, but always wholesome and cleanly feasts that Lucrezia, +landlady, chef, and waitress, supplied us with at an almost nominal +cost. To me, at least, that period was one of great value and +interest, for it gave me the opportunity of studying the character of +one whose personality was attractive in no small degree. He was the +most brilliant man I ever met.... He longed for and desired success: +but only in so far as he deserved it. When he was sharply checked in +his upward career, he accepted the rebuke with humility, for he was a +modest man.[91] I had not met him for years when, coming into contact +with him, I told him how keen the interest had been with which I had +watched his progress. 'I am not satisfied,' he answered; 'I alone know +how far I have fallen short of my ideal.'" In his House are two +records of this visit to the Bagni di Lucca. One has been presented by +Mr. J. MacWhirter, R.A. (No. 249). It is a highly finished drawing of +a wreath of leaves exquisitely executed. On the same sheet is a +drawing of a vine in fruit, and in Leighton's own writing +"_Pomegranate Lucca Bagni Villa_." + + * * * * * + +No work in the collection evinces the precision and exact truthfulness +of Leighton's drawing better than the outline copies from pictures and +frescoes by V. Carpaccio, Giorgione, Simone Memmi and Signorelli made +in 1852-53. In the copy from the fresco in the Capella Spagnuola, +Sta. Maria Novella, Florence (No. 292), we have the portraits of +Cimabue, Giotto, Taddeo Gaddi and Simone Memmi whose work it is.[92] +The accuracy of the copy and the difficulty of making a copy at all, +can hardly fully be realised, save by one who has attempted also to +repeat the fading outlines of these dim frescoes in the only +half-lighted chapel. Slight and ineffective as Leighton's drawing may +appear at a first glance, it is, on further acquaintance, found to be +an exquisite piece of work. The absolute truth and precision with +which in pencil lines, on a small scale, he has unravelled the +outlines of the dim forms, and has depicted the quaint seriousness of +these old-world Italian countenances, makes this copy an extraordinary +feat of eye and hand. From this drawing he designed the dress of +Cimabue for the figure in his large picture, and also for the Cimabue +in the South Kensington Mosaic. Written by Leighton above the pencil +drawing are the words: "_Simone Memmi Capella Spagnoli (St. Maria +Novella, Florence), Taddeo Gaddi white and gold cap, Giotto gold and +sea green, Cimabue gold flowers on white ground, Sim. Memmi with grey +beard, head dress, yellow hood with black lining, Florence, 1853, +F.L._" + +A study in brown (water-colour) (No. 91) signed "_Florence, 1854, +F.L._," was used by Leighton forty years after it was made in his +background for "Lachrymę" (No. 147), an engraving of which was given +to the collection by Messrs. A. Tooth. The same study was also used +for a charming design, highly finished in pencil and Chinese white, +apparently executed for a book illustration, which is now in the +House. One of the most beautiful of the foliage studies tells of a +happy day "_Near Bellosguardo, Sept./56._" (No. 171). It is a perfect +and highly-finished study of a vine. What joy Leighton must have had +while looking at this exquisite thing in the September sunshine on +that delicious Bellosguardo height! A butterfly and a bee were +minutely pencilled on the paper as they flew round the vine-leaves as +he drew them. "_Cyclamen Tivoli, Oct./56._" is written on another of +these tiny treasures. "_Aloes Pampl. Doria,_" "_Pyrte Roma_," "_Thistle +Rhodes_," "_Lindos/67 Asphodel_," "_Thistle Banks of Tiber, stalk +light warm brown, leaf dark cld. brown, flow. dsk. warm brown, +Roma/56_," are notes on some of these pages of studies, which can only +be said to compare with the work of a Leonardo or an Albert Dürer. +There is absolutely no mannerism traceable; there is Nature's own +quality of style. There is nothing slovenly in Nature, there is as +surely nothing slovenly in Lord Leighton's art. The gift which in +these modern days is perhaps most rare is a sense of style. Leighton's +feeling for style was as much a part of his individual and native +taste as was his delight in any other quality of beauty in Nature. +Indeed what we call style in art is but the reflection of the same +quality in Nature herself, the love which adds to the more oblivious +facts of Nature a further quality of truth, a completer insight into +her. Leighton possessed a sculptor's feeling for form. It was his +subtle grasp of truth in structure which gives a special value to his +outline drawings. The keen sensitiveness to the right character of the +form, to which his pencil outline was the limit, influenced the +quality of his touch as he portrayed that limit. He felt things "in +the round" as solid projections in various planes, advancing or +receding from the eye. As in the best sculpture, to every aspect of +the solid form you get a fine, subtle, absolutely clear outline; so in +Leighton's drawing of a contour, never is there any vague or undecided +passage. This insures to his work the quality of distinction. These +studies have, one and all, that quality. They are _distinguished_, as +are fragments of the best Greek sculpture. Every born artist falls in +love specially with one class of sentiment in Nature. Whether his +special gifts guide his passion, or his passion his gifts, who can +say? Probably each urges the other. The special note of beauty in +Nature which excited Leighton's deepest enthusiasm was the quality +which is most like that in a shell. In the pumpkin flowers in the +study given by Mr. Hamo Thornycroft of "_Kalmia Califolia_," and in +many others, is recalled notably the fine, pure, carved distinctness +of the forms in a shell--the shell that contains the form and colour +that at once delights the sense both of the painter and the sculptor. +In the oil sketches by Leighton, those poems of Southern sunlight and +colour, records of voyages in the Ęgean seas, and off the coasts and +islands of Greece and Asia Minor, we again recall the special beauty +in the quality and colour of a shell, the rainbow tints in +mother-of-pearl, the faint translucence trembling in a sheen of light. + +In gauging the exceptional quality of the gifts which all these studies +evince it will be well to remember that Leighton, at the time they were +made, was under no influence but that of his own high standard, and led +by no lights save those of his own exquisitely delicate perceptions. +For the last twenty or thirty years detail in Nature--vegetation and +Nature which is called "still life"--has been truthfully popularised by +photography, so that now all students have it in their power to study +from such detail treated on a flat surface. Beauty of natural structure +and grace of line rendered with right perspective on a sheet of paper +can be enjoyed and made use of by every artist. Many do avail +themselves of photographs to carry out and complete the details of +their pictures. But when Leighton made these wonderful drawings no such +standards of elaborate finish of detail had been diffused. Nor had he +joined, nor in any way come under the influence of the Pre-Raphaelite +Brotherhood, nor received any inspiration from the teaching of Mr. +Ruskin. Though we may truly liken these studies from "still life" to +those by Leonardo as regards the truthful perfection of copies from +Nature, there is no evidence in Leighton's drawings that the work, even +of the great, much-revered-by-him Italian masters had influenced him +when drawing from Nature. On the contrary, there is the strong stamp of +his own peculiar genius on all of them, the stamp that proves rather +that he saw and loved Nature as a Greek would have seen and loved her. +Essentially Greek-like was the attitude in which Leighton approached +Nature, _i.e._ with an emotion ever ardent in its intensity; but as +ever restrained by the rare gift--the sense of _style_ and of the right +balance and proportion necessary in treating worthily the beauties of +Nature in the language of art. Indeed, it may truly be affirmed that +Leighton was made more like a Greek than like an Englishman as regarded +his artistic powers, English though he was to the backbone in feeling +and sentiment. The effect produced by that collected exhibition of his +works in 1897 was, beyond all other effects, that of _achievement_; and +achievement which was the result of a perfect mastery and grasp of aims +meant to be achieved from the first to the last touch on the canvas. +Leighton was far too great an artist ever to be satisfied with the +results of his labour. Those who knew him best can testify to his +terrible depressions and disappointments. Still, there was no +"_muddling through_," to use Lord Rosebery's expression, such as so +many English artists confess to in reaching the final result. +Greek-like, Leighton saw everything in a definite, clearly outlined +view, and, from the beginning to the end, his work was one direct +forwarding of his purpose. + +In 1860, Leighton migrated to his studio in Orme Square, Bayswater. +The collection possesses several drawings made about that time, +notably the studies for "Lieder ohne Worte" (No. 36). His young +friend, now the well-known portrait-painter, Mr. Hanson Walker, sat +for the head in the picture: "A Crowded Scene in Florence" (No. 198), +a design full of interest and movement, was the gift to the House of +this friend of Leighton's, who, at his instigation, took up art as a +profession. In 1866 Leighton moved from Orme Square to the House he +had built in Holland Park Road, and there we can now follow his yearly +labours by studying the sketches and drawings made for all the +well-known famous pictures of the last thirty years, till we come to +the last--to that passionate appealing figure of Clytie (No. 27), +drawn after the fatal warning had been given. The motive is the same +as that of the first design--the early design of the "Giotto" (No. +227), (made very nearly fifty years before), _i.e._ "Sehnsucht"--not +the dreamy half-conscious Sehnsucht of the awakening artist-nature as +is seen in the boy Giotto--but the passionate longing to remain in the +rich existence that rare gifts and noble affections had secured for +that artist-nature. After the studies for "Clytie" there but remain +those made for pictures never to be painted, till we reach at last the +drawings made on the 22nd of January 1896 (No. 268), the last day on +which Leighton worked. Three days after, on the following Saturday, he +died. + +The object of the Committee is to make this House and its treasures a +centre for Art in the Parish of Kensington, where Lord Leighton lived +for thirty years. During seventeen of these years he was the President +of the Royal Academy, and, by common consent, the greatest President +that institution has ever had. The South Kensington Museum is not in +the parish, and, though this is one of the richest in London, +Kensington proper has no centre of Art, and is sufficiently far +removed from the centre of the metropolis to make it important that it +should possess such a centre. Since October 1898, the Committee has +arranged for Concerts, Lectures, and Readings to take place in the +Studios, and the public is now enlightened as to the exceptional +acoustic qualities the Studios possess, a fact for long recognised by +Leighton's personal friends at the yearly concerts he gave to them +when his pictures were ready for the Royal Academy. It is proposed to +add to the contents of the House an Art Library, and for this many +valuable volumes are waiting to be presented for the book-shelves to +contain them. The present proprietors are prepared to hand over the +house and all it contains to any public body who will engage to +maintain it and to meet the views of the Committee as to the use of +the House. As a memorial to Lord Leighton, the most suitable use will +be, they feel, to devote it to the furtherance of the interests of Art +of the best in all lines and among all classes; in fact to continue in +his own home the culture of that "sweetness and light" which emanated +so notably from his own nature. To conclude with words written by his +old and very intimate friend, Professor Costa, with whom he spent his +last holiday in the autumn before he died: "Leighton solved certain +problems which appeared insoluble. For instance, he combined a life at +high pressure with the most exquisite politeness--truth with poetry, +an iron will with the tenderness of a mother's heart, high aims with a +practical life and with the worship of beauty, the ardour of which was +only equalled by its purity." + + E.I.B. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[89] The greater portion of this preface appeared as an article in the +_Magazine of Art_, October 1899. It is with the kind permission of the +proprietors that it is reprinted. + +[90] Mr. De Morgan is at present engaged in making two jars in pottery, +which he intends to present to the House, to fill the niches in the +Arab Hall. + +[91] "Leighton has been cut up unmercifully by the critics, but bears +on, Robert says, not without courage. That you should say his picture +looked well, was comfort in the general gloom."--_Letter from Mrs. +Browning to Mrs. Jameson, May 6th, 1856, Paris._ + +[92] Nineteen years later, I happened to copy the same group in +water-colour; but it was only after Leighton's death that I saw this +extraordinarily beautiful drawing. + + + + +LIST OF DIGNITIES AND HONOURS CONFERRED ON FREDERIC LEIGHTON + + +Knighted, 1878; created a Baronet, 1886; created Baron Leighton of +Stretton, 1896; elected Associate of the Royal Academy, 1864; Royal +Academician, 1869; President of the Royal Academy, 1878; Hon. Member, +Royal Scottish Academy, and Royal Hibernian Academy, Associate of the +Institute of France, President of the International Jury of Painting, +Paris Exhibition, 1878; Hon. Member, Berlin Academy, 1886; also Member +of the Royal Academy of Vienna, 1888; Belgium, 1886; of the Academy of +St. Luke, Rome, and the Academies of Florence (1882), Turin, Genoa, +Perugia, and Antwerp (1885); Hon. D.C.L., Oxford, 1879; Hon. LL.D., +Cambridge, 1879; Hon. LL.D., Edinburgh, 1884; Hon. D. Lit., Dublin, +1892; Hon. D.C.L., Durham, 1894; Hon. Fellow of Trinity College, +London, 1876; Lieut.-Colonel of the 20th Middlesex (Artist's) Rifle +Volunteers, 1876 to 1883 (resigned); then Hon. Colonel and Holder of +the Volunteer Decoration; Commander of the Legion of Honour, 1889; +Commander of the Order of Leopold; Knight of the Prussian Order "pour +le Mérite," and of the Coburg Order Dem Verdienste. + + + + +LIST OF PRINCIPAL WORKS + +_With Date and Place of Exhibition.[93] Corrected and amplified from +"Frederic, Lord Leighton, His Life and Work," by Ernest Rhys._ + + + 1850 (_circa_). *Cimabue finding Giotto in the fields of + Florence. (49-1/2 × 37 inches.) Steinle Institute + (Frankfort). + + 1850. The Duel between Romeo and Tybalt. (37 × 50 inches.) + + 1851 (_circa_). The Death of Brunelleschi. Steinle Institute. + + 1851. [Early Portrait of Leighton by Himself.] + + 1852. *A Persian Pedlar. + + 1852. [Buffalmacco, the Painter. A humorous subject, from Vasari, + was undertaken about this date.] See Sketch in water-colour, + Leighton House Collection. + + 1853. Portrait of Miss Laing (Lady Nias). + + 1855. Cimabue's celebrated Madonna is carried in procession + through the streets of Florence. In front of the Madonna, + and crowned with laurels, walks Cimabue himself, with his + pupil Giotto; behind it, Arnolfo di Lappo, Taddeo Gaddi, + Andrea Tafi, Niccola Pisano, Buffalmacco, and Simone Memmi; + in the corner, Dante. (87-1/2 × 205 inches.) R.A.[94] + Purchased by H.M. Queen Victoria, Buckingham Palace. See + Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1855. The Reconciliation of the Montagues and Capulets over the + dead bodies of Romeo and Juliet. Paris International + Exhibition.[95] + + 1856. The Triumph of Music. (80 × 110 inches.) R.A. Painted in + Paris. + + "Orpheus, by the power of his art, redeems his wife from + Hades." + + 1856. Pan. [A subject from Keats' _Hymn to Pan_, in the first book + of "Endymion."] Painted in Paris. A figure of Pan under a + fig-tree, with this inscription:-- + + "O thou, to whom + Broad-leaved fig-trees even now foredoom + Their ripen'd fruitage." + + 1856. Venus. [A pendant to the Pan.] The figure of a nude nymph + about to bathe, with a little Cupid loosening her sandal. + Exhibited at the Manchester Exhibition and sent to America + after. Painted in Paris. + + 1857. *Salome, the daughter of Herodias. (44-1/2 × 25 inches.) See + Sketch, Leighton House Collection. + + 1858. *The Mermaid (the fisherman and the syren). (From a ballad + by Goethe.) (26-1/2 × 18-1/2 inches.) R.A. + + "Half drew she him, + Half sunk he in, + And never more was seen." + + 1858. "Count Paris, accompanied by Friar Lawrence and a band of + musicians, comes to the house of the Capulets to claim his + bride: he finds Juliet stretched apparently lifeless on the + bed."--_Romeo and Juliet_, Act iv. sc. 5. (26-1/2 × 18-1/2 + inches.) R.A. + + 1858. Reminiscence of Algiers: A Negro Dance. (Water-colour.) + Suffolk Street Gallery. + + 1859. Sunny Hours. R.A. + + 1859. *Roman Lady (La Nanna). R.A. + + 1859. *Nanna (Pavonia). R.A. + + 1859. Samson and Delilah. S.S. See Sketches, Leighton House + Collection. + + 1860. Capri--Sunrise. R.A. + + 1861. *Portrait of Mrs. Sutherland Orr [Mrs. S.O., a Portrait]. + (28 × 18 inches.) R.A. + + 1861. *Portrait of John Hanson Walker, Esq. (23 × 17 inches.) + Owner, H.M. The King. R.A. + + 1861. Paolo e Francesca. See Sketch, Leighton House Collection. + + "Ma solo un punto fu quel che ci vinse + Quando legemmo il disiato riso + Esser baciato da cotanto amante, + Questi, che mai da me non fia diviso, + La bocca mi baciņ tutto tremante: + Galeotto fu 'l libro e chi lo scrisse: + Quel giorno pił non vi legemmo avante." + + 1861. A Dream. + + "...Not yet--not yet-- + Still there is trial for thee, still the lot + To bear (the Father wills it) strife and care; + With this sweet consciousness in balance set + Against the world, to soothe thy suffering there + The Lord rejects thee not. + Such tender words awoke me hopeful, shriven + To life on earth again from dream of heaven." + + 1861. Lieder ohne Worte. R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House + Collection. + + 1861. J.A. A Study. R.A. + + 1861. Capri--Paganos. R.A. + + 1862. Odalisque. R.A. + + 1862. *The Star of Bethlehem. (60 × 23-1/2 inches.) One of the + Magi, from the terrace of his house, stands looking at the + star in the East; the lower part of the picture indicates a + road, which he may be supposed just to have left. R.A. See + Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1862. Sisters. R.A. + + 1862. *Michael Angelo Nursing his Dying Servant. (43 × 36 inches.) + R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1862. Duett. R.A. + + 1862. Sea Echoes. R.A. + + 1862. Rustic Music. R.A. + + 1863. Jezebel and Ahab, having caused Naboth to be put to death, + go down to take possession of his vineyard; they are met at + the entrance by Elijah the Tishbite. R.A. See Sketches, + Leighton House Collection. + + "Hast thou killed, and also taken possession?" + + 1863. *Eucharis. (A Girl with a Basket of Fruit.) (32-1/2 × 22 + inches.) R.A. + + 1863. A Girl Feeding Peacocks. R.A. See Sketch, Leighton House + Collection. + + 1863. An Italian Crossbowman. (51 × 24-1/2 inches.) R.A. + + 1864. Dante at Verona. R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House + Collection. + + 1864. *Orpheus and Eurydice. (49 × 42 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, + Leighton House Collection. + + "But give them--the mouth, the eyes,--the brow-- + Let them once more absorb me! One look now + Will lap me round for ever, not to pass + Out of its light, though darkness lie beyond! + Hold me but safe again within the bond + Of one immortal look! All woe that was, + Forgotten, and all terror that may be, + Defied--no past is mine, no future! look at me!" + + --ROBERT BROWNING: _A Fragment._ + + 1864. *Golden Hours. (36 × 48 inches.) R.A. See Sketches in oil + and chalk, Leighton House Collection. + + 1864. *Portrait of the late Miss Lavinia I'Anson. (Circular, + 12-1/2 inches.) + + 1865. *David. (37 × 47 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House + Collection. + + "Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly + away, and be at rest."--_Psalm_ lv. + + 1865. Mother and Child. R.A. + + 1865. Widow's Prayer. R.A. + + 1865. Helen of Troy. R.A. + + "Thus as she spoke, in Helen's breast arose + Fond recollections of her former lord, + Her home, and parents; o'er her head she threw + A snowy veil; and shedding tender tears + She issued forth not unaccompanied; + For with her went fair Ęthra, Pittheus' child, + And stag-eyed Clymene, her maidens twain. + They quickly at the Scęan gate arrived." + + 1865. In St. Mark's. R.A. + + 1866. Painter's Honeymoon. R.A. See Sketch, Leighton House + Collection. + + 1866. Portrait of Mrs. James Guthrie. R.A. + + 1866. Syracusan Bride leading wild beasts in procession to the + Temple of Diana. (Suggested by a passage in the second Idyll + of Theocritus.) R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House + Collection. + + "And for her, then, many other wild beasts were going + in procession round about, and among them a lioness." + + 1866. A Noble Lady of Venice. (Not exhibited till 1897.) + + 1866. The Wise and Foolish Virgins. (Fresco in Lyndhurst Church, + finished 1864.) See Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1867. *Pastoral. (51-1/2 × 26 inches.) R.A. See Sketch, Leighton + House Collection. + + 1867. *Greek Girl Dancing. (Spanish Dancing Girl; Cadiz in the old + times.) (34 × 45 inches.) R.A. + + 1867. Knuckle-Bone Player. R.A. + + 1867. *Roman Mother. (24 × 19 inches.) R.A. + + 1867. *Venus disrobing for the Bath. (79 × 35-1/2 inches.) R.A. + + 1867. *Portrait of Mrs. John Hanson Walker. (18 × 16 inches.) + + 1868. Jonathan's Token to David. R.A. + + "And it came to pass in the morning, that Jonathan went + out into the field at the time appointed by David, and + a little lad with him." + + 1868. *Portrait of Mrs. Frederick P. Cockerell. (23-1/2 × 19-1/2 + inches.) R.A. + + 1868. *Portrait of John Martineau, Esq. (23-1/2 × 19-1/2 inches.) + R.A. + + 1868. *Ariadne abandoned by Theseus; Ariadne watches for his + return; Artemis releases her by death. (45 × 62 inches.) + R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1868. *Acme and Septimius. (Circular, 37-1/2 inches.) R.A. + + "Then bending gently back her head + With that sweet mouth, so rosy red, + Upon his eyes she dropped a kiss, + Intoxicating him with bliss." + + --CATULLUS (Theodore Martin's translation). + + 1868. *Actęa, the Nymph of the Shore. (22 × 40 inches.) R.A. See + Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1869. *S. Jerome. (Diploma work, deposited in the Academy on his + election as an Academician.) (72 × 55 inches.) R.A. + + 1869. *Dędalus and Icarus. (53-1/2 × 40-1/2 inches.) R.A. See + Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1869. *Electra at the Tomb of Agamemnon. (59-1/2 × 29 inches.) + R.A. + + 1869. *Helios and Rhodos. (65-1/2 × 42 inches) R.A. See Sketches, + Leighton House Collection. + + 1870. A Nile Woman. (21-1/2 × 11-1/2 inches.) R.A. + + 1870. Study. S.S. + + 1871. *Hercules Wrestling with Death for the Body of Alcestis. (54 + × 104-1/2 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House + Collection. + + 1871. Greek Girls picking up Pebbles by the shore of the Sea. R.A. + See Sketch, Leighton House Collection. + + 1871. *Cleoboulos instructing his daughter Cleobouline. (24 × + 37-1/2 inches.) R.A. + + 1871. View of Assiout (?). (A sketch.) S.S. + + 1871. Sunrise at Lougsor. (A sketch.) S.S. + + 1871. View of the Red Mountains near Cairo. (A sketch) S.S. + + 1872. *After Vespers. (43 × 27-1/2 inches.) R.A. See Sketch, + Leighton House Collection. + + 1872. *Summer Moon. (Guildhall, 1890.) (39-1/2 × 50-1/2 inches.) + R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1872. Portrait of the Right Hon. Edward Ryan, Secretary of the + Dilettante Society, for which the picture was painted. + (S.P.P., 1893.) R.A. + + 1872. A Condottiere. R.A. See Sketch, Leighton House Collection. + + 1872. *The Industrial Arts of War, at the International Exhibition + at South Kensington. (Monochrome, 76 × 177 inches.) Carried + out in fresco on the wall of the Victoria and Albert Museum. + R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1872. The Captive. S.S. + + 1872. An Arab Café, Algiers. S.S. + + 1873. *Weaving the Wreath. (Guildhall, 1895.) R.A. + + 1873. Moretta. (Guildhall, 1894.) (20-1/2 × 14-1/2 inches.) R.A. + + 1873. The Industrial Arts of Peace. (Monochrome, 76 × 177 inches.) + Carried out in fresco on the wall of the Victoria and Albert + Museum. R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1873. A Roman. S.S. + + 1873. Vittoria. S.S. + + 1874. *Moorish Garden: A Dream of Granada. (Guildhall 1895.) (41 × + 40 inches.) R.A. + + 1874. Old Damascus: Jews' Quarter. R.A. + + 1874. *Antique Juggling Girl. (Guildhall, 1892.) (41-1/2 × 24 + inches.) R.A. See Sketch, Leighton House Collection. + + 1874. Clytemnestra from the battlements of Argos watches for the + Beacon Fires which are to announce the return of Agamemnon. + R.A. Leighton House Collection. See also Sketches, Leighton + House Collection. + + 1874. Annarella, Ana Capri. D.G. + + 1874. Rubinella, Capri. D.G. + + 1874. Lemon Tree, Capri. D.G. + + 1874. West Court of Palazzo, Venice. D.G. + + 1875. *Portion of the Interior of the Grand Mosque of Damascus. + (62 × 47 inches.) R.A. + + 1875. *Portrait of Mrs. H.E. Gordon. (35-1/2 × 37 inches.) R.A. + + 1875. *Little Fatima. (15-1/2 × 9-1/4 inches.) R.A. + + 1875. Venetian Girl. R.A. + + 1875. *Egyptian Slinger. (Eastern slinger scaring birds in harvest + time: Moonrise.) (Guildhall, 1890.) R.A. See Sketches, + Leighton House Collection. + + 1875. Florentine Youth. S.S. + + 1875. Ruined Mosque in Damascus. S.S. + + 1876. *Portrait of Sir Richard Francis Burton, K.C.M.G. (Portrait + of Captain Richard Burton, H.M. Consul at Trieste.) (23-1/2 + × 19-1/2 inches.) (Paris, 1878; Melbourne, 1888; S.P.P., + 1892.) R.A. National Portrait Gallery. + + 1876. *The Daphnephoria. (89 × 204 inches.) A triumphal procession + held every ninth year at Thebes, in honour of Apollo and to + commemorate a victory of the Thebans over the Aeolians of + Arne. (See Proclus, "Chrestomath," p. 11.) R.A. See + Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1876. Teresina. R.A. + + 1876. Paolo. R.A. + + 1877. *Music Lesson. (36-1/2 × 37-1/8 inches.) (Paris, 1878.) R.A. + + 1877. *Portrait of Miss Mabel Mills (The Hon. Mrs. Grenfell). (23 + × 19 inches.) R.A. + + 1877. *An Athlete Strangling a Python.[96] Bronze. (Paris, 1878.) + R.A. See Sketch in plaster, Leighton House Collection, + presented by G.F. Watts, O.M. + + 1877. *Portrait of H.E. Gordon. (23-1/2 × 19 inches.) G.G. + + 1877. An Italian Girl. G.G. + + 1877. *Study. (A little girl with fair hair, in a pink robe.) (24 + × 28 inches.) R.A. + + 1877. A Study. G.G. + + 1878. *Nausicaa. (57-1/2 × 26-1/2 inches.) (Guildhall, 1896.) R.A. + See Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1878. Serafina. R.A. + + 1878. *Winding the Skein. (39-1/2 × 63-1/2 inches.) R.A. See + Sketch, Leighton House Collection. + + 1878. A Study. R.A. + + 1878. *Portrait of Miss Ruth Stewart Hodgson. (50-1/2 × 35-1/2 + inches.) G.G. + + 1878. Study of a Girl's Head. G.G. + + 1878. Sierra: Elviza in the distance, Granada. S.S. + + 1878. The Sierra Alhama, Granada. S.S. + + 1879. Biondina. R.A. + + 1879. Catarina. R.A. + + 1879. *Elijah in the Wilderness. (91 × 81-1/2 inches.) R.A. + (Paris, 1878.) Corporation of Liverpool. See Sketches, + Leighton House Collection. + + 1879. Portrait of Signor G. Costa. R.A. + + 1879. Amarilla. R.A. + + 1879. A Study. R.A. + + 1879. Portrait of the Countess Brownlow. R.A. + + 1879. *Neruccia. (19 × 16 inches.) R.A. + + 1879. A Study. S.S. + + 1879. The Carrara Hills. S.S. + + 1879. A Street in Lerici. S.S. + + 1879. Via Bianca, Capri. G.G. + + 1879. Archway in Algiers. G.G. + + 1879. Ruins of a Mosque, Damascus. G.G. + + 1879. Study of a Donkey. G.G. + + 1879. On the Terrace, Capri. G.G. + + 1879. Sketch near Damascus. G.G. + + 1879. View in Granada. G.G. + + 1879. Study of a Donkey, Egypt. G.G. + + 1879. Study of a Head. G.G. + + 1879. Nicandra. G.G. + + 1880. *Sister's Kiss. (48 × 21-1/2 inches.) R.A. See Sketch, + Leighton House Collection. + + 1880. *Iostephane. (37 × 19 inches.) R.A. + + 1880. The Light of the Harem. (60 × 33 inches.) R.A. + + 1880. Psamathe. (36 × 24 inches.) R.A. + + 1880. *The Nymph of the Dargle (Crenaia). (29-1/2 × 10 inches.) + R.A. + + 1880. Rubinella. G.G. + + 1880. The Pozzo Corner, Venice. Winter Exhibition. G.G. + + 1880. Jack and his Cider Can. Winter Exhibition. G.G. + + 1880. The Painter's Honeymoon. Winter Exhibition. G.G. + + 1880. Winding of the Skein (with sketch). Winter Exhibition. G.G. + + 1880. Head of Urbino. Winter Exhibition. G.G. + + 1880. Steps of the Bargello, Florence. Winter Exhibition. G.G. + + 1880. A Contrast. Winter Exhibition. G.G. + + 1880. Garden at Capri. Winter Exhibition. G.G. + + 1880. Twenty-nine Studies of Heads, Flowers, and Draperies. Winter + Exhibition. G.G. + + 1881. Elisha raising the son of the Shunammite. (32 × 54 inches.) + (Guildhall, 1895.) R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House + Collection. + + 1881. Portrait of the Painter.[97] R.A. + + 1881. *Idyll. (41-1/2 × 84 inches.) R.A. See Sketches in oil and + chalk, Leighton House Collection. + + 1881. *Portrait of Mrs. Stephen Ralli. (48 × 33 inches.) R.A. + + 1881. *Whispers. (48 × 30 inches.) R.A. See Sketch, Leighton House + Collection. + + 1881. Viola. R.A. + + 1881. *Bianca. (18 × 12-1/2 inches.) R.A. + + 1881. Portrait of Mrs. Algernon Sartoris. G.G. + + 1882. *Day-Dreams. (47-1/2 × 35-1/2 inches.) R.A. + + 1882. Wedded. R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1882. Phryne at Eleusis. (86 × 48 inches.) (Melbourne, 1888.) R.A. + See Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1882. Antigone. R.A. + + 1882. "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it"--Rev. xx. + 13. (Design for a portion of a decoration in St. Paul's.) + R.A. The Tate Gallery. See Sketches, Leighton House + Collection. + + 1882. Melittion. R.A. + + 1882. *Portrait of Mrs. Mocatta. (23-1/2 × 19-1/2 inches.) + + 1882. Zeyra. G.G. + + 1883. The Dance: decorative frieze for a drawing-room in a private + house. R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1883. *Vestal. (24-1/2 × 17 inches.) R.A. + + 1883. *Kittens. (48 × 31-1/2 inches.) R.A. + + 1883. Memories. R.A. + + 1883. Portrait of Miss Nina Joachim. (16 × 13 inches.) + + 1884. *Letty. (18 × 15-1/2 inches.) R.A. + + 1884. *Cymon and Iphigenia. (64 × 129 inches.) (Berlin, 1885.) + R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1884. A Nap. R.A. + + 1884. Sun Gleams. R.A. + + 1885. ..."Serenely wandering in a trance of sober thought." ... + (46 × 27 inches.) R.A. + + 1885. Portrait of the Lady Sybil Primrose. R.A. + + 1885. *Portrait of Mrs. A. Hichens. (26-1/2 × 20-1/2 inches.) R.A. + + 1885. Music: a frieze. R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House + Collection. + + 1885. Phoebe. (Manchester, 1887.) R.A. + + 1885. A Study. G.G. + + 1885. Tombs of Muslim Saints. S.S. + + 1885. Mountains near Ronda Puerta de los Vientos. S.S. + + 1886. Painted decoration for the ceiling of a music-room.[98] (7 × + 20 feet.) R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1886. Gulnihal. R.A. + + 1886. *The Sluggard. Statue, bronze. R.A. Presented to the Tate + Gallery by Sir Henry Tate. See Statuette, Leighton House + Collection. + + 1886. *Needless Alarms. Statuette. R.A. See Bronze, Leighton House + Collection. + + 1887. *The Jealousy of Simoetha, the Sorceress. (35 × 55-1/2 + inches.) R.A. See Sketch, Leighton House Collection. + + 1887. *The Last Watch of Hero. (62-1/2 × 35-1/2 inches, with + predella 12-1/2 × 29-1/2 inches.) R.A. Corporation of + Manchester. See Sketch, Leighton House Collection. + + "With aching heart she scanned the sea-face dim. + . . . . . . . . . + Lo! at the turret's foot his body lay, + Rolled on the stones, and washed with breaking spray." + + --_Hero and Leander: Musęus_ (translated by Edwin Arnold). + + 1887. [Picture of a little girl with golden hair, and pale blue + eyes.] + + "Yellow and pale as ripened corn + Which Autumn's kiss frees--grain from sheath-- + Such was her hair, while her eyes beneath, + Showed Spring's faint violets freshly born." + + --ROBERT BROWNING. + + 1887. *Design for the reverse of the Jubilee Medallion. (Executed + for Her Majesty Queen Victoria's Government.) R.A. See + Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + Empire, enthroned in the centre, rests her right hand on the + sword of Justice, and holds in her left the symbol of + victorious rule. At her feet, on one side, Commerce proffers + wealth; on the other, a winged figure holds emblems of + Electricity and Steam-power. Flanking the throne to the right + of the spectator are Agriculture and Industry; on the opposite + side, Science, Literature, and the Arts. Above, interlocking + wreaths, held by winged genii representing respectively the + years 1837 and 1887, inclose the initials V.R.I. + + 1888. *Captive Andromache. (77 × 160 inches.) R.A. Corporation of + Manchester. See Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + ..."Some standing by, + Marking thy tears fall, shall say, 'This is she, + The wife of that same Hector that fought best + Of all the Trojans, when all fought for Troy.'" + + --_Iliad_, vi. (E.B. Browning's translation). + + 1888. *Portrait of Amy, Lady Coleridge. (42 × 39-1/2 inches.) + (S.P.P., 1891.) R.A. + + 1888. *Portraits of the Misses Stewart Hodgson. (47 × 39-1/2 + inches.) + + 1888. Four Studies. R.W.S. + + 1888. Five Studies. S.S. + + 1889. *Sibyl. (59 × 34 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House + Collection. + + 1889. *Invocation. (54 × 33-1/2 inches.) R.A. + + 1889. Elegy. R.A. + + 1889. Greek Girls playing at Ball. (45 × 78 inches.) R.A. See + Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1889. *Portrait of Mrs. Francis A. Lucas. (23-1/2 × 19-1/2 + inches.) R.A. + + 1890. Solitude. R.A. + + 1890. *The Bath of Psyche.[99] (75 × 24-1/2 inches.) R.A. See + Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1890. *Tragic Poetess. (63 × 34 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, + Leighton House Collection. + + 1890. *The Arab Hall. (33 × 16 inches.) (Guildhall, 1890.) R.A. + + 1891. *Perseus and Andromeda. (91-1/2 × 50 inches.) R.A. See + Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1891. *Portrait of A.B. Freeman-Mitford, Esq., C.B. (46-1/4 × + 38-1/2 inches.) R.A. + + 1891. *Return of Persephone. (79 × 59-1/2 inches.) R.A. + Corporation of Leeds. See Sketches, Leighton House + Collection. + + 1891. Athlete Struggling with a Python. Group, marble. R.A. + + 1892. *"And the sea gave up the dead which were in it." (Circular, + 93 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1892. At the Fountain. (49 × 37 inches.) R.A. + + 1891. *The Garden of the Hesperides. (Circular, 66 inches.) + (Chicago, 1893; Guildhall, 1895.) R.A. See Sketches, + Leighton House Collection. + + 1892. Bacchante. R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1892. *Clytie. (32-1/2 × 53-1/2 inches.) R.A. + + 1892. Phryne at the Bath. (24 × 12 inches.) S.S. See Sketches, + Leighton House Collection. + + 1892. Malin Head, Donegal. S.S. + + 1892. St. Mark's, Venice. S.S. + + 1892. Interior of St. Mark's, Venice. S.S. + + 1892. The Doorway, North Aisle, Venice. S.S. + + 1892. Rizpah (the small study in oils). (7 × 7 inches.) S.S. + + 1893. *Farewell! (63 × 26-1/2 inches.) R.A. + + 1893. *Hit! (29 × 22 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House + Collection. + + 1893. Atalanta. (26-1/2 × 19 inches.) R.A. + + 1893. Rizpah. (36 × 52 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House + Collection. + + 1893. Corinna of Tanagra. (47-1/2 × 21 inches.) R.A. + + 1894. *The Spirit of the Summit. (77-1/2 × 39-1/2 inches.) R.A. + See Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1894. *The Bracelet. (59-1/2 × 23 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, + Leighton House Collection. + + 1894. *Fatidica. (59-1/2 × 43 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, Leighton + House Collection. + + 1894. *Summer Slumber. (45-1/2 × 62 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, + Leighton House Collection, one presented by H.M. The King. + + 1894. At the Window. R.A. + + 1894. Wide, Wondering Eyes. (20 × 15-1/2 inches.) Manchester. + + 1894. The Roman Campagna, Monte Soracte in the distance. S.S. + + 1894. The Acropolis of Lindos. S.S. + + 1894. Fiume Morto, Gombo, Pisa. S.S. + + 1894. Gibraltar from San Rocque. S.S. + + 1895. Lachrymę. (60 × 24 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, Leighton + House Collection. + + 1895. The Maid with the Yellow Hair. R.A. + + 1895. *'Twixt Hope and Fear. (43-1/2 × 38-1/2 inches.) R.A. + + 1895. *Flaming June. (46 × 46 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, Leighton + House Collection. + + 1895. Listener. R.A. + + 1895. A Study. R.A. + + 1895. Phoenicians bartering with Britons. Presented to the Royal + Exchange by Lord Leighton. See Sketches, Leighton House + Collection. + + 1895. Boy with Pomegranate. Grafton Gallery. + + 1895. Miss Dene. + + 1895. Aqua Certosa, Rome. S.S. + + 1895. Chain of Hills seen from Ronda. S.S. + + 1895. Rocks, Malin Head, Donegal. S.S. + + 1895. Tlemcen, Algeria. S.S. + + 1896. *Clytie. (61-1/2 × 53-1/2 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, + Leighton House Collection. + + 1896. Candida. (21 × 41-1/2 inches.) Antwerp, 1896. + + 1896. *The Vestal. (27 × 20-1/2 inches.) Unfinished. + + 1896. *A Bacchante. (26-1/2 × 21 inches.) + + 1896. *The Fair Persian. (25-1/2 × 19-1/2 inches.) Unfinished. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[93] The asterisk denotes works exhibited at the Winter Exhibition of +the Royal Academy of Arts, 1897. + +[94] R.A., Royal Academy; G.G., Grosvenor Gallery; R.W.S., Royal +Society of Painters in Water-Colours; S.S., Royal Society of British +Artists, Suffolk Street; D.G., Dudley Gallery; S.P.P., Society of +Portrait Painters. + +[95] Exhibited in the Roman section by some blunder of the Committee, +the picture having been painted in Rome. + +[96] Purchased for £2000 by the President and Council of the Royal +Academy, under the terms of the Chantrey Bequest. + +[97] Painted by invitation for the collection of Portraits of Artists +painted by themselves, in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. + +[98] Painted for the house of Mr. Marquand, New York. + +[99] Purchased for 1000 guineas by the President and Council of the +Royal Academy, under the terms of the Chantrey Bequest. + + + + +INDEX + + + Abercorn, Lady, i. 256; ii. 338 + + Aberdeen, Lord, i. 256 + + Abydos, ii. 180 + + Academy, _see_ Royal Academy + + Acland, Sir Henry, ii. 364, 373 + + Acton, Lord, quoted, ii. 33-34 + + Ęsthetics, i. 103-104 + + Afreet, ii. 168 + + Agnew, ii. 286 + + Aļdé, Hamilton, i. 195; ii. 60, 105, 110, 111; + letter from, ii. 126 _note_ [40]; + quoted, i. 154 _note_ [28] + + Aitchison, George, i. 164; ii. 7, 116, 117, 221, 363; + letter from, to Prof. Church, ii. 222 _note_ [57]; + quoted, ii. 118-119, 217 _note_ [55], 365, 372 + + Albert, Prince Consort, i. 1, 261, 262; ii. 202; + death of, ii. 85 + + Alexandra, Queen (Princess of Wales), lines by, on Leighton, i. 33; + ii. 336 + + Algiers (1857), i. 18, 293-294, 297-304; + (1895), ii. 318; + Drawings of Moorish subjects, ii. 372 + + Allen, Robin, letters from, ii. 59 _note_ [18], 102, 230; + poem by, 102 + + America-- + Hospitality in, i. 277 + Slave crisis (1862), ii. 77-78, 82-85 + + Ampčre, Mr., i. 146 + + Arab Hall, ii. 7-8, 217-222 _and notes_ [55-57], 365 + + Arabic, ii. 154 + + Architecture-- + Athenian, ii. 128, 130-131, 145, 166 + Ecclesiastical, i. 74 + Egyptian, ii. 164-165, 185-186 + Leighton's presidential address on, ii. 239 _and note_ [63] + Scottish, ii. 262 + Westminster, in, i. 87 + + Armstrong, T., ii. 287 + + Arnold, Matthew, letters from, ii. 226, 231 + + Art-- + Academic, i. 209; ii. 5 + "Barbarians'" view as to, i. 41 + Breadth-of-treatment school, i. 70-71 + Catholicity in, ii. 264-265 + Classification in, ii. 16 + Detail, scrupulous care in, i. 202 + Florentine, ii. 117-118 + Form, importance of, i. 293; ii. 11, 263 + Foundation-laying in, i. 155-156 + Function of, i. 25-26; ii. 23, 278, 282, 283 + Greek, i. 228 + Impressionist, ii. 33 + Industry, need for, i. 206-208 + Influence of, Leighton's views as to, ii. 33-35 + Inspiration, moments of, ii. 4 + Inward source of, i. 92, 188, 212 _note_ [45]; ii. 15 + Italian, Leighton's love for, ii. 5 + Nature-study in, i. 174-175, 191, 199, 213; ii. 17-18 + Practical nature of, i. 238 + Protestant inconsistency as to, i. 74 + Roman Catholic influence on, i. 66, 73 + Roman influence on, i. 147, 188, 191 + Spontaneity of, in the young, i. 217-218 + Suggestion _v._ definition, ii. 26-28 + White, painting of, ii. 367 + + _Art of Painting in the Queen's Reign, The_, cited, ii. 366 + + Artist Benevolent Fund, ii. 213 + + Artist Volunteer Corps, Leighton's membership of, i. 11-14; + ii. 107, 111; + resignation of commission (1883), ii. 243-245; + at Leighton's funeral, ii. 337 + + Ashburton, Lord, portrait of, ii. 123 _and note_ [37] + + Assouan, ii. 148-150, 152 + + Athens, ii. 128, 130-131, 229 _note_ [60] + + Austin, Mrs., ii. 86 + + Avignon, i. 298 + + + Ballater, ii. 309 + + Barrington, Mrs. Russell, letters to, ii. 328, 332, 333 + + Bayreuth, ii. 316, 326 + + Beards, i. 170 + + Beauty-- + Leighton's passion for, i. 59; ii. 2, 30, 328, 369 + Puritanical attitude towards, i. 60 + + Becker, i. 56, 89 + + Beechey, Sir William, i. 269 + + Benedetto Bonfiglio, ii. 19 + + Beni Hassan, ii. 185-187 + + Benson, Ralph A., ii. 206-207; + letter from, 58 _note_ [18] + + Bentinck, Count, i. 49, 52 + + Bentinck, Gen., i. 63 + + Bentinck, Penelope, i. 255, 262 + + Bergheim, i. 49-53 + + Berlin, i. 158-160 + + Bettino, i. 39 + + Bezzuoli, i. 38, 39 + + Bideford, ii. 66-67 + + Bileith, Mr., ii. 129 + + Birrell, Augustine, ii. 304-305 + + Boehm, Sir Edgar, letter from, ii. 200 + + Boughton, George H., letters from, ii. 199 + + Boxall, ii. 119, 227 + + Brackley, Lord, i. 264, 284 + + Brandes, Miss, ii. 217 + + British Institution, ii. 39, 44 + + British Museum, Leighton a trustee of, ii. 256 + + Brock, Mr., ii. 241, 259-260 _and note_ [73] + + Brown, Madox, ii. 299 + + Browning, Mrs., ii. 51-52, 64, 374 _note_ [91]; + letter from, 93 + + Browning, Robert, estimate of Leighton by, ii. 29 _note_ [6]; + conversational powers of, i. 146 _and note_ [27], 149; + lines by, on the Heracles picture, ii. 190; + Leighton's estimate of, ii. 304-305; + letter to, ii. 51; + letters from, ii. 65, 225; + quoted, i. 164; + otherwise mentioned, i. 28, 149, 243, 280, 285; ii. 121 + + Bruce, Col. and Mrs., ii. 39 + + Bruckmann, Herr, ii. 113 + + Brunton, Sir Lauder, ii. 316, 323, 329-330 + + Buckner, i. 171 + + Bull-fights, ii. 210 + + Bulteel, Lady E., ii. 66 + + Burne-Jones, Sir E., ii. 3, 8, 199, 288, 368; + inaccuracies of, i. 219 _note_-220 [47]; + estimate of, ii. 25 + + Burton, Sir Richard, portrait of, ii. 195-196; + letters from, 218-219 + + + Calderon, ii. 196-197, 255 + + Cambridge, H.R.H. Duke of, ii. 262 + + Cameron, Mrs., cited, ii. 269 _note_ [76] + + Campagna, Roman, i. 22 _and notes_ [8 and 9], 162, 164 + + Capri, ii. 18, 41 + + Carlisle, Earl of, ii. 6 + + Cartwright, W.C., politics of, i. 307-308; + letters from, ii. 126 _note_ [40], 152, 286; + otherwise mentioned, i. 124, 243, 255-257, 278; ii. 38, 46, 52 + + Casts, gallery of, ii. 287-288 _and note_ [79] + + Chamberlayne, Kate, i. 126 + + Change of scene, importance of, i. 92-95 + + Chantrey Bequest, terms of, ii. 249-253 + + _Chemistry of Paints and Painting_ (Church), cited, ii. 290 _notes_ [80] + + Choisy, M., quoted, ii. 221, 362-363 + + Chorley, Henry J., ii. 43 _and note_ [13]; + letter from, 127 _note_ [40] + + Church, Prof., cited, ii. 290 _notes_ [80 and 81]; + letters to, 290-302 + + Churche, ii. 70 + + Cimabue, i. 227 + + Clarke, Sir C.P., ii. 365; + quoted, 218 _note_ [55] + + Cleopatra, ii. 163, 172 + + Cleopatra's Needle, ii. 284 + + Cleveland, Duke of, ii. 286 + + Cliquiness, i. 192 + + Cockerell, F. Pepys, i. 285; ii. 58 _note_ [18], 87, 325 _note_ [86]; + quoted, i. 294; ii. 372 + + Cole, Sir Henry, ii. 212; + letter from, 202; + letter to, 204 + + Coleridge, Lord, letter from, ii. 227 + + Colfax, Mr., ii. 165 + + Colnaghi, i. 252, 254; ii. 364; + cited 246 + + Colonna, i. 229 _note_ [50] + + Colour, Leighton's feeling for, ii. 188, 189, 366, 367 + + Colours, &c., letters to Prof. Church regarding, ii. 290-302 + + Commissioned subjects, Leighton's views on, ii. 277-278 + + Conture, i. 154, 296 + + Copies, Leighton's views on, ii. 277 + + Cornelius, i. 56, 66, 141, 149, 151, 173; + Leighton's estimate of, 180, 190-191, 291, 295; + Steinle's estimate of, i. 280 + + _Cornhill Magazine_, Leighton's illustrations for, ii. 91, 92, + 95, 103 + + Corot, i. 241 + + Correggio, ii. 41, 256 + + Costa, Prof. Giovanni, Leighton's first meeting with, i. 162-164; + portrait of, ii. 256; + estimate of Leighton by, ii. 379; + letter from, on Leighton, ii. 285 _note_ [78]; + quoted-- + on Leighton in Florence, i. 39; ii. 371; + on Leighton in Siena, ii. 242 _note_ [64]; + on Leighton's methods, ii. 256; + on Leighton's last visit, ii. 327-328; + otherwise mentioned, ii. 7, 223, 297, 314 + + Cowley, Lady, i. 240, 309; ii. 88; + letter from, i. 48 + + Cowley, Lord, letters from, i. 53-54; + portrait of, ii. 88 + + Cowper, Lady, ii. 66 + + Cowper, Lord, portrait of, ii. 88 + + Crane, Walter, ii. 365; + estimate of Leighton by, 6-9 + + Craven, Augustus, ii. 41 + + Crawford, Lord, quoted, ii. 364 + + Criticism-- + Leighton's appraisement of, i. 179 + Ruskin on, ii. 122 + + Currie, Sir Donald, i. 4 + + + Dalou, i. 241; + letter from, ii. 198 + + Dalziel's Bible, Leighton's illustrations for, ii. 94-95 + + Damascus, ii. 206-209 + + Davey, Lord, ii. 364 + + De l'Aigle, Madame, ii. 191 + + De l'Aigle, Marquis, ii. 103 + + De Morgan, Wm., ii. 364 _and note_ [90] + + De Savelege, Emile, ii. 214 + + Delaroche, Paul, i. 249, 290 + + Denderah, ii. 172 + + Dene, Dorothy (Miss Pullen), ii. 267-274 + + Detail, perfection of, i. 202 + + Dickens, Charles, letters from, ii. 89; + Leighton compared with, 330-331 _note_ [87] + + Dilettanti, Society of, ii. 212-213 + + Disneh, ii. 141 + + Dixon, Messrs., ii. 364 + + Dolby, Miss, ii. 43-44 + + Domestic decoration, ii. 220 + + Doyle, Richard, letter from, ii. 124 _note_ [38] + + Drawings by Leighton-- + "Cervara," i. 163 _note_ [32] + Comparison of, with finished paintings, ii. 93 + "Drifting," ii. 103 + Estimate of, i. 197, 205; ii. 368, 376 + "Evening in a French Country House, An," ii. 103 + Florentine fresco, copy of, ii. 374-375 + "Lemon Tree," i. 201 _and note_ [42]-202; ii. 41 _and note_ [11] + "Monk Dividing Enemies, A," i. 65 _note_ [18]; ii. 371 + Moorish subjects, of, ii. 372 + "Plague in Florence in 1850," ii. 93 + "Samson Wrestling with the Lion," ii. 94 + "Vincenzo's Head," i. 151-152, 154-155 + "Well-Head, The," i. 110 _note_ [24] + + Du Maurier, i. 20 _note_ [7] + + Duccio, i. 227 + + Dudley, Lord, ii. 53 _note_ [14] + + Duff, Sir M. Grant, quoted, ii. 33 + + Dürer, Albert, i. 220; ii. 239-240 + + Dyer, Sir W. Thistelton, estimate of Leighton by, i. 219-221 _note_ [47] + + + East, Alfred, estimate of Leighton by, ii. 266 + + Eastlake, Sir Ch., i. 48, 94, 265 + + Edfou, ii. 162 + + Edis, Col., ii. 244-245 + + Edward VII., King (Prince of Wales), "Cimabue's Madonna" lent by, + for exhibition, i. 185; + Leighton's studio visited by, ii. 37, 39, 40; + tribute to Leighton by, i. 7; ii. 37; + otherwise mentioned, i. 265; ii. 41 _and note_ [9], 56, 60, + 131, 213, 323, 363 + + Egypt, Leighton's visit to, ii. 131-187 + + Egyptian tombs, ii. 144-145 + + Elephantina, ii. 150 + + Elgin Cathedral, ii. 262 + + Eliot, George, _see_ Lewes + + Ellesmere, Earl of, i. 252, 257, 265 + + Ellesmere, Lady, i. 268 + + Ellis, Maj.-Gen., ii. 338 + + Elmore, ii. 118 + + Ely, Lady, ii. 178 + + Erskine, Mr., ii. 130 + + Esne, ii. 147-148 + + Etty, i. 216 + + + Farquhar, Miss, i. 152 + + Farrer, Lady (Miss Wedgwood), ii. 217 + + Fatma, ii. 167 + + Fenzi, M., i. 100, 285 + + Ferronay, Pauline la (Mrs. A. Craven), ii. 41 _note_ [10] + + Ffrench, i. 260, 262 + + Findhorn River, ii. 261-262 + + Finlay, Mr., ii. 130, 131 + + FitzGerald, Percy, quoted, ii. 330 _note_ [87] + + Flatz, i. 133 + + Fleury, Robert, i. 27, 154, 245, 248, 249, 290; ii. 214, 294; + letter from, ii. 37; + cited, ii. 46 + + Florence-- + Leighton's early studies in, i. 38-40; + his stay at (1853), 136; + (1856), 284 + List by Steinle of works to be studied in, i. 225-226 + + Florentine art, ii. 117-118 + + Flowers, Leighton's feeling for, i. 69, 75, 198; + studies, i. 200, 218-219; ii. 263, 325 _note_ [85], 372-373, 375-376 + + Form and matter, divergence between, ii. 184 + + Forres, ii. 261-262 + + Frankfort, Leighton at school at, i. 42 + + Frederick, Empress, ii. 337 + + French, i. 243 + + Fresco, Gambier Parry's medium for, ii. 105-106, 108-110, 301 + + Fresco _v._ oils, i. 296-297, 305; ii. 20 + + Freshfield, Mrs. Douglas, ii. 217 + + Frith, W.P., letter from, ii. 119 _note_ [35] + + Führich, i. 174 + + Fuller-Maitland, J.A., ii. 328, 372 + + + Gamba, Count, i. 75, 85, 87, 90, 96, 98, 116-118, 120, 122, 123, + 125, 132, 149, 151, 152, 164, 174, 188, 189, 191, 237; ii. 371 + + Gambart, ii. 114, 123 + + Garcia, Seńor, ii. 239 _note_ [62] + + Gebel Silsily, ii. 161 + + Genius, i. 206 + + German ęsthetics, i. 103-104 + + Germany, Leighton's journey through (1852), i. 63-68 + + Gérōme, ii. 147, 155 + + Gibson, i. 181, 261; ii. 39, 56; + Leighton's estimate of, i. 114 + + Gilbert, Alfred, quoted, i. 7 + + Gilbert, Sir J., ii. 286 + + Gilchrist, Connie, ii. 268 + + Giotto, i. 128, 226 _note_ [49], 228; ii. 374 + + Gladstone, W.E., ii. 57; + letters from, 243, 289 + + Glyn, Mrs., ii. 269, 270 + + Goethe's _Sprüche_, Leighton's criticism of, ii. 305-306 + + Gondolas, i. 78 + + Goodall, J., i. 48; + quoted, ii. 284 + + Gooderson, T., i. 171 + + Gordon, Lady Duff, ii. 132, 177, 181 + + Gortschakoff, Prince, i. 56 + + Gozze, Count, i. 169 + + Graefe, i. 157 + + Granada, ii. 210 + + Grant, Gen., ii. 165 + + Greek language, ii. 130-131 + + Greene, i. 258, 259 + + Greg, W.R., ii. 269 _note_ [76] + + Grenfell, Hon. Mrs. (Miss Mabel Mills), portrait of, ii. 197 + + Greville, Charles, ii. 108 + + Greville, Henry, Leighton's friendship with, i. 28, 164, 251 _and + note_ [56], 282; + extracts from diaries of, i. 242-244, 246, 278; + death of, i. 268-269; + letters from, i. 252-268; + otherwise mentioned, i. 241, 247; ii. 43, 44, 46, 86, 92, 216 + + Grey, Countess, i. 270 + + Grove, Sir George, letter from, ii. 243 _note_ [65] + + Grueber, H.A., quoted, ii. 255-256 + + Guaita, Mr., i. 281 + + Guthrie, Mrs. James, portrait of, ii. 10 _note_ [1], 114 + + + Habit, deadening effect of, i. 93, 95 + + Hague, The, i. 54-55 + + Hale, Mr., ii. 163, 165 + + Hallé, i. 234 + + Handel Festival (1859), ii. 43-44 + + Hardy, Thomas, ii. 320 + + Harrison, Mr., i. 260, 267, 282; ii. 46 + + Hassan Effendi, ii. 143 + + Haydon, i. 143-144 + + Hébert, i. 236, 237 + + Heidelberg, i. 63-64 + + Heilbronn, i. 64 + + Henderson, A., ii. 364 + + Hendschel, i. 150 + + Herkomer, Hubert, letter from, ii. 226 + + Hickey, Miss Emily, sonnet by, ii. 261 _note_ [74] + + Hildesheim, ii. 315 + + Hills, Mr., ii. 291 + + Hoare, Lady, ii. 38, 40, 48 + + Hodgson, J.G., i. 275; + letter from, ii. 205 _note_ [74] + + Holland, Leighton's visit to (1852), i. 54-55 + + Holland, Lord and Lady, i. 309; ii. 41, 67, 92 + + Hollyer, Fred, ii. 364, 370; + quoted, 288-289 + + Hommel, i. 150 + + Hooker, Sir Joseph, cited, i. 220 + + Hope, J.K. Kempton, letter from, ii. 213 + + Horsfall, T.C., correspondence with, ii. 274, 276-283 + + Horsley, Mr., ii. 223 + + Hosmer, Miss Harriet, i. 146, 181, 195; ii. 72, 76 + + Hosseyn, ii. 137-138, 140-142, 144, 146, 148, 153, 157, 158, 160, + 165, 167, 170, 172, 174, 176-180, 187 + + Hughes, Mrs. Watts, ii. 332; + letter from, 217 + + Human form, Leighton's treatment of, ii. 29 + + Hunt, Holman, i. 187 _note_ [34], 220, 278; ii. 118, 148, 219 + + Hunter, Colin, i. 4 + + + I'Anson, Mr. (great-uncle), i. 45-46 + + Impressionists, ii. 33 + + Ingres, i. 245 + + Innsbruck statues, i. 69-70, 88-89 + + Irish scenery, ii. 311 + + Irving, Sir H., ii. 270 _note_ [77]; + Leighton compared with, 330-331 _note_ [87] + + Italian art, ii. 5, 19, 117 + + Italy (_for districts, towns, &c., see their names_)-- + Leighton's affection for, i. 19-24, 56, 62, 67-68, 72, 135, 137, + 158, 302-303; ii. 51 + Music of, i. 167 + Street cries in, i. 72-73 + + + Jameson, Mrs., i. 280 + + Janauschek, i. 55 + + Janotha, Miss, ii. 228 + + Joachim, Dr. Joseph, ii. 216, 223, 228, 316; + Leighton's speech at jubilee presentation to, ii. 245-247 + + + Kalergi, Madame, i. 242 + + Karnak, ii. 165-167 + + Kaye, Miss, i. 264 + + Kemble, Adelaide, _see_ Sartoris + + Kemble, Mrs. (Fanny), on "Pan" and "Venus," ii. 45; + reading of, i. 184; + estimate of Leighton by, i. 264; + letter to, i. 165; + letters from, i. 165 _note_ [33]; ii. 68-83, 126 _note_ [40]; + otherwise mentioned, i. 146, 147, 149, 178, 181, 245, 255, 300 + + Kew gardens, i. 219-221 _note_ [47] + + Kimberley, S.A., art exhibition at, i. 4 + + Kom Ombo, ii. 160, 161 + + Koorveh, ii. 145 + + Kuppelwieser, i. 174 + + Kyrle Society, ii. 274-275 + + + Laing, Isabel (Lady Nias), i. 108, 122 _note_ [25], 125; + portrait of, 122-123, 177 + + Land, W.C., ii. 225 + + Landseer, Sir Edwin, ii. 59, 61 + + Lang, Mrs. Andrew, quoted, ii. 372 + + Lansdowne, Lord, ii. 41, 43 + + Lantéri, Edouard, ii. 288 + + Lascelles, E., ii. 92 + + Lawrence, Sir Thos., i. 269 + + Lecky, Prof., ii. 338 + + Leech, John, ii. 68 + + Lehmann, ii. 287 + + Leighton, Dr. (father), career of, i. 36-37; + attitude towards art as a profession, 16-17; + severity towards his son, 37; + anatomy studies, 38; + move to Bath, 56; + illness, ii. 309-310; + death, 314; + letters to, i. 44, 110, 171, 177, 180, 212, 236, 237, 244, 248, + 269, 283, 307; ii. 58, 62, 86, 95, 114-116, 129, 131, 206, 209, + 211, 213, 238 _note_ [62], 261, 313; + letter from, i. 101; + letter regarding, i. 135-136; + otherwise mentioned, i. 76, 84 + + Leighton, Lady (grandmother), i. 47, 56, 86 + + Leighton, Mrs. (mother), delicate health of, i. 36-38; + tenderness of, 37; + death of, ii. 126; + letters to, i. 18, 42, 46, 49, 51, 59, 84, 92, 104, 122, 137, + 139, 142, 147, 166, 167, 176, 178, 212, 224, 234, 236, 240, + 245, 247, 281, 287, 289, 290, 297, 308; ii. 14 _note_ [2], 38, + 43-48, 55, 57, 60, 64-68, 88, 91, 107, 108, 110, 111, 119, 122, + 191; + letters from, i. 57, 98, 133, 139, 144, 177, 226 _note_ [49], 232; + letter from, to younger daughter, ii. 56 + + Leighton, Alexandra (sister), _see_ Orr + + Leighton, Augusta (sister), _see_ Matthews + + Leighton, Sir Baldwyn, letter from, i. 34 + + Leighton, Frederic, Lord-- + Ancestry of, i. 34-36 + Career, chronological sequence of-- + birth, i. 36; + early travels, 37, 38; + education, 37-39, 41-42; + under Steinle's influence, 40-42; + first picture, 44; + studies in Brussels, Paris and Frankfort, 44; + visit to London, 45-48; + portrait painting, 46, 48, 51-53; + back to Frankfort, 48; + at Bergheim, 49; + in Holland, 54-55; + Italy, 72-83; + Rome, 95-96, 106 _et seq._, 161; + at Bad Gleisweiler, 134; + at Frankfort and Florence, 136; + return to Rome, 139; + at Lucca, 154 _note_ [28]; + Frankfort, Venice, Florence and Rome, 154; + consultation with Graefe, 157; + success of "Cimabue's Madonna," 193; + in London, 222, 233; + in Paris, 235-237, 239 _et seq._; + to Frankfort and Italy, 281-285; + back to Rome, 289; + in Algiers, 18, 293-294, 297-304; + in Rome (1858), ii. 37; + in London, 43; + at 2 Orme Square, 47, 49; + volunteering activities, i. 11-14; ii. 55, 107, 111; + in Devonshire, 66; + visit to Mason, 89-90; + at Compičgne, 103-104; + the Lyndhurst fresco, 104-108, 110-112; + building of Leighton House, 114-117; + A.R.A., 118; + visit to Spain (1866), 128; + examiner at Victoria and Albert Museum (1866-1875), 212; + at Vichy (1869), 218 _note_ [56]; + up the Nile, 131-187; + R.A. (1869), 123, 188; + visit to Damascus (1873), 205-209; + to Spain (1877), 209; + P.R.A. (1878), 223; + trustee of British Museum (1881), 256; + resigns volunteer commission (1883), 243-245; + made a baronet (1886), 289; + waning health, 241, 313, 318, 323, 324, 328; + visit to Spain (1889), ii. 238 _note_ [62]; + foreign travel, 313-316; + Algiers, 318; + made a peer, 331; + fatal illness, 333-334; + death, 334 + Characteristics of-- + Actuality, sense of, i. 280; ii. 5, 26-27, 30 + Art, passionate attachment to, i. 2, 16, 17; ii. 338-339 + Beauty, love of, i. 59; ii. 2, 30, 328, 369 + _Bonhomie_, ii. 330 + Boyishness, ii. 317 + Children, love of, ii. 192, 328, 370 + Consistency, ii. 3, 21 + Courage, ii. 317 + Critical faculty, i. 217 + Criticism, attitude towards, i. 179 + Depression, liability to, i. 10 + Duty, sense of, i. 250; ii. 21 + Enthusiasm, i. 18, 41 + Fastidiousness, ii. 5 + Gratitude, ii. 266 + Greek-like combination of qualities, i. 24-25, 59; + ii. 368, 377-378 + Impartiality, i. 5 + Industry and strenuousness, ii. 4, 207-208, 223, 369 + Insight, rapidity of, i. 24 + Intellectual brilliancy, i. 4, 23, 24, 210; ii. 2, 242 + Kindness, i. 269; ii. 7, 90, 104, 242 _note_ [64] + Loyalty, i. 19; ii. 3, 8 + Mastery of others, ii. 242-243 _and note_ [64] + Modesty, i. 8, 206, 280; ii. 16, 233, 265, 266 + Music, love of, i. 108, 126 + Oratorical powers, i. 5, 6, 29; ii. 233-234 + Originality, ii. 5, 16 + Selective faculty, predominant, i. 219 _note_ [47]; ii. 2 + Sensitiveness, i. 31 + Simplicity, i. 9 + Sincerity, i. 8, 60, 92, 216 + Smell and hearing, keen senses of, i. 72 + Social charm, i. 8, 30 + Society, general, distaste for, i. 166, 168, 222-223 + Spontaneity, lack of, i. 246; ii. 1, 20, 233-234 + Sympathy, i. 4-6, 9 _and note_ [4], 216 + Thoroughness, ii. 20, 31, 208, 233 + Unselfishness, ii. 266 + Vitality, exuberance of, i. 59, 224 + Will power, ii. 369 + Diary ("Pebbles"), extracts from, i. 61-87, 198 + Diary of Egyptian visit, ii. 133-187 + Dignities and honours conferred on, ii. 380 + Drawings by, _see that title_ + Estimates of, by-- + Anonymous, i. 60; ii. 29-30, 374 + Browning, Robert, ii. 29 _note_ [6] + Costa, Prof. G., ii. 379 + Crane, W., ii. 6-9 + Dyer, Sir W.T., i. 219-221 _note_ [47] + East, A., ii. 266 + Greville, H., i. 243 + Kemble, Mrs., i. 264 + Powers, Hiram, i. 39 + Poynter, Sir E., ii. 242 _note_ [64] + Richmond, Sir W., i. 209; ii. 1-6 + Rivičre, Briton, i. 5, 129, 207, 250; ii. 21-22 + Ruskin, J., i. 212 + Thornycroft, H., i. 5-6, 13-14 + Watts, G.F., i. 4, 7, 210; ii. 22 + Frescoes by, ii. 104-108, 110-112, 203-204 + Funeral of, i. 31-33; ii. 335-338 + Health difficulties, i. 42, 59, 130, 169, 240, 241; ii. 22, 68; + eyesight trouble, i. 101, 111, 113, 123-124, 130, 131, 142, 157, + 247, 309; ii. 22; + waning health, 313, 318, 323, 324, 328; + fatal disease, ii. 241, 302, 316, 333-334 + Limitations in his art, i. 211-215 + Methods of, ii. 12-15, 256, 293 + Pictures by, _see that title_ + Portrait of, ii. 259; + bust by Brock, 260 _and note_ [73], 364 + Portraits by, _see that title_ + Presidential addresses by, ii. 229-233, 235-241 + Sketches by, ii. 257-259 _and note_ [71], 366-367, 371-372 + Speeches by, ii. 241-247 + Statuary by, ii. 198-200, 259-260 + + Leighton, Sir James (grandfather), i. 36 + + Leighton, Rev. Wm., i. 35 + + Leighton House-- + Aims of committee of, ii. 378-379 + Arab Hall, ii. 217-222, 365 + Contents of, ii. 363-378 + Preface to Catalogue of, ii. 362-379 + Preliminaries to building of, ii. 115-116 + Site of, ii. 114 _and note_ [32] + Style of, ii. 362-363 + + Leitch, i. 181 + + "Les Natchez," ii. 184 + + Leslie, Lady Constance, ii. 92; + quoted, i. 193 + + Leslie, Sir John, i. 164, 261, 262 + + Lewes, Mr., ii. 95, 100 + + Lewes, Marian E. (George Eliot), ii. 95; + letters from, 96-100 + + Lewis, Arthur, ii. 55, 92 + + Lindos, ii. 129, 148 + + Lindsay, Sir Coutts, ii. 286 + + Linton, ii. 286 + + Lister, Sir Joseph, ii. 338 + + Lister, Villers, i. 285 + + Listowel, Lord, ii. 92 + + Liszt, ii. 43 _note_ [13] + + Liverpool, Leighton's speech at Art Congress at (1888), ii. 247, + 341-361 + + Loch, Lady, quoted, i. 3-4; ii. 334 + + Lockhart, i. 176 + + Lougsor, ii. 143, 174, 175 + + Lucas, Charles, cited, ii. 362 + + Lugano, Lake of, i. 283 + + Lynn of Dee, ii. 261 _and note_ [74], 309 + + Lyon, Lord, ii. 76 + + Lyons, Bickerton, i. 146, 243 + + + Mackail, ii. 333 + + Mackenzie, Sir A., ii. 338 + + MacWhirter, J., ii. 374 + + Maeterlinck, ii. 25, 27 + + _Magazine of Art_, reprint from, ii. 362 _and note_ [89], 379 + + Mahometans, ii. 146, 169-170 + + Malet, Sir E., ii. 316 + + Malinmore (Co. Donegal), ii. 311, 324-325 _and note_ [85] + + Man, Isle of, art exhibition in, i. 3 + + Manchester Art Museum and Galleries, ii. 274-281 + + _Manchester Courier_, extract from, ii. 275-280 + + Maquay, Mrs., i. 134, 285 + + Mariani, ii. 294-295 + + Mario, i. 309; ii. 43 + + Marochetti, i. 176, 261 + + Marquand, Mr., i. 277; ii. 259 _note_ [72] + + Marriage, Leighton's views on, ii. 56 + + Massarani, Sig. Tullio, ii. 214 + + Mason, George, i. 32, 164, 286; ii. 66, 118; + Leighton's relations with, i. 193; ii. 89-90, 266 + + Matthews, Mrs. (Augusta N. Leighton), birth of, i. 36; + Leighton's advice to, on musical studies, 91-92, 97-98; + extracts from diary of, 233, 241; + in Leighton's last illness, ii. 333-334; + at the funeral, ii. 338; + letters to, i. 97, 182; + ii. 52, 64, 85, 90, 117, 216, 223, 309, 313, 315; + letter from Mrs. Leighton to, ii. 56; + otherwise mentioned, i. 76, 87, 99, 105, 145, 169, 181; + ii. 65, 95, 304, 316, 326, 363 + + May, Phil, ii. 32 + + Medinet Haboo, ii. 164 + + Meissonier, ii. 214 + + Melbourne, art exhibition in, i. 3-4 + + Meli, Signor, i. 37 + + Mendelssohn, Frau, i. 56 + + Meran, i. 71, 89, 282 + + Meynell, Wilfrid, ii. 321, 364 + + Middleburgh, i. 63 + + Millais, Sir J., Leighton's estimate of, ii. 67, 68; + flower painting by, i. 220; + "Needless Alarms" given to, ii. 260; + letter from, 230; + otherwise mentioned, i. 187 _note_ [34], 221, 234, 254; + ii. 60, 87, 118, 319, 322, 338, 368 + + Millet, Jean Franēois, i. 241 + + Mills, Sir Charles, i. 4 + + Mills, Miss Mabel (Hon. Mrs. Grenfell), portrait of, ii. 197 + + Minyeh, ii. 135-136 + + Monbrison, George de, ii. 41 + + Monson, Lady, i. 244 + + Montfort, i. 243, 249; ii. 39; + cited, 46 + + Moor scenery, ii. 308-309, 311 + + Moorish interior, i. 301; + music, 303 + + Morants, ii. 66 + + Morlaix, ii. 324 + + Morley, Rt. Hon. John, letter from, ii. 331 + + Morny, i. 243 + + Morris, William, ii. 220 + + Mortlake, M.C., ii. 120 _note_ [35] + + Music-- + Italian, i. 167 + Leighton's feeling for, i. 100, 182; ii. 6; + his singing, i. 140-141, 169-170; + his yearly gatherings, ii. 216-217; + his speech at the Joachim celebration, ii. 245-247 + Monday popular concerts, ii. 216 + Moorish, i. 303 + + Mustafa Aga, ii. 143-144, 165, 172 + + + Napier, Lord, ii. 325 + + Naples, Leighton's visit to (1859), ii. 41 + + Nash, Mr. and Mrs., i. 224 + + Neville, Lady Dorothy, ii. 111, 114 + + Nettleship, ii. 114 + + Nias, Lady, _see_ Laing, Isabel + + Nicholson, ii. 55 + + Nordau, Leighton's estimate of, ii. 326-327 + + North, Miss, i. 220 + + Norton, Hon. Mrs., letter from, ii. 10 _note_ [1] + + Novello, Clara, ii. 43 + + Nubians, ii. 150 + + + Oakes, i. 96, 108 + + _Obiter Dicta_ (Birrell), ii. 304-305 + + O'Conor, ii. 226 + + Ogle, Miss, ii. 38 + + Old Masters-- + Leighton's attitude towards, i. 230 + Winter Exhibitions of, ii. 214 + + Oppenheim, i. 56 + + Orcagna, i. 225 + + Ordway, Mr., ii. 69, 71, 74, 75, 83 + + Orr, Col. Sutherland, i. 3 _note_ [2], 300, 309 + + Orr, Mrs. Sutherland (Alexandra Leighton), birth of, i. 36; + marriage of, 3 _note_ [2]; + in India, 300 _and note_ [70], 306, 309; + widowed, ii. 50; + portrait of, 54, 57, 61; + in Leighton's last illness, 333-334; + at the funeral, 338; + work on Browning by, 314 _and note_ [83]; + letters to, i. 18, 19, 22 _note_ [8], 302; + ii. 240, 304, 307, 310, 311, 319, 322, 325, 326; + otherwise mentioned, i. 42, 44, 46, 99, 126, 183; + ii. 45, 211, 273, 315, 363 + + "Orphée," ii. 52-53 _and note_ [14] + + Ouless, W.W., i. 4 + + Overbeck, i. 96, 116, 132-133, 189, 190, 192; + Leighton's estimate of, 113-114; + Steinle's, 121 + + + Paestum, ii. 50 + + Paget, Sir James, ii. 313 + + Palmer, ii. 55 + + Panshanger, ii. 92 + + Pantaleone, Dr., i. 169; ii. 52 + + Paris, Comtesse de, telegram from, ii. 321 + + Parry, Gambier, ii. 105, 299-301; + letter from, 108 + + Pasta, i. 267-268 + + Pasteur, W., letter from, ii. 244 _note_ [66] + + Pattison, Mrs. Mark, letters to, i. 16, 27, 302; ii. 118, 128, 209, + 303 + + "Pebbles," _see under_ Leighton--Diary + + Perry, Walter Copland, ii. 287-288 _and note_ [79] + + Persian tiles, ii. 364-365 + + Perugia, ii. 19 + + Perugini, Carlo, i. 236, 237, 241; ii. 55 + + Petre, i. 290 + + Pheidias, i. 224 + + Philipson, Mr., ii. 364 + + Phipps, Hon. Col., i. 265, 267, 282, 290 + + Phipps, Hon. Mrs., ii. 40 + + Photography, i. 202-206; + of masterpieces, ii. 277 + + Phylę, ii. 150-151, 154-155, 167 + + Piatti, ii. 228 + + Pictures by Leighton-- + "And the Sea gave up ...," ii. 193 + "Antique Juggling Girl, The," ii. 194-195, 205 _note_ [53] + "Ariadne abandoned by Theseus," ii. 370 + "Atalanta," ii. 262-263 + "Bath of Psyche, The," ii. 257 + "Byzantine Well," ii. 42 _and note_ [12] + "Captive Andromache," ii. 370 + "Cimabue finding Giotto in the Fields of Florence," i. 56 + "Cimabue's Madonna"-- + Description of, i. 173 + Estimate of, i. 185-186; + by Richmond, 186; + by Ruskin, 186 _note_ [34]; ii. 367; + by Rossetti, i. 187 _note_ [34] + Exhibition of, in Rome, i. 177, 180; + at Leighton House (1900), i. 185 + Holes in, i. 260 _and note_ [59], 282-283, 290 + Success of, i. 32, 193; ii. 367 + Work on, i. 128-130, 135-136, 141, 145, 148-151, 155, 175, 179, + 184-186 + "Cleoboulos Instructing his Daughter Cleobouline," ii. 192 + "Clytemnestra Watching from the Battlements of Argos," ii. 195 + _and note_ 46, 205 _note_ [53], 366 + "Clytie," ii. 96, 263, 327 + "Condottiere, A," ii. 193 + "Crossbowman, The," ii. 119 + "Cymon and Iphegenia," i. 25; ii. 258 _and note_ [70], 259 + "Dędalus and Icarus," ii. 188, 189 + "Dante at Verona," ii. 114, 123 _and note_ [38] + "Daphnephoria, The," ii. 195-197 + "Death of Brunelleschi, The," i. 55-56 + "Duel between Romeo and Tybalt, The," i. 56 + "Duet" (small "Johnnie"), ii. 85 _note_, 88, 123 + "Eastern King, The," ii. 86-88, 107 + "Egyptian Slinger," ii. 370 + "Electra at the Tomb of Agamemnon," ii. 188, 189, 370 + "Elijah in the Wilderness," ii. 188, 256 + "Eucharis," ii. 9, 108, 119 _and note_ [34] + "Fisherman and the Syren, The," ii. 36 _and note_ [8], 62 + "Flaming June," ii. 262-263 + "Francesca," ii. 57, 59 _note_ [18] + "Girl feeding Peacocks," ii. 119 _and note_ [33] + "Golden Hours," ii. 9, 114 + "Greek Girl Dancing," ii. 193 + "Greek Girls Picking up Pebbles," ii. 192 + "Helen of Troy," ii. 125 _and note_ [39] + "Helios and Rhodos," ii. 188 + "Heracles Wrestling with Death for the Body of Alcestis," + ii. 189-191, 370 + "Honeymoon, The," ii. 114, 123 + Improvement in, by keeping, ii. 258 _note_ [70] + "In a Moorish Garden," ii. 194, 205 _note_ [53] + "Industrial Arts of Peace, The," ii. 193-194, 202 + "Industrial Arts of War, The," ii. 193-194, 224 + Landscapes in Oil, i. 208 + "Lieder ohne Worte," ii. 17 _and note_ [3], 57, 58 _note_ [16], 60 + _note_ [19], 61-63, 65, 367 + List of, ii. 381-392 + "Michael Angelo Nursing his Dying Servant," ii. 86-88, 93, + 105-107, 370 + "Music Lesson," ii. 197 + "Nanna, La," ii. 39-41, 48 + "Nausicaa," ii. 200-201 + "Negro Festival, A," i. 302; ii. 44-47 + "Neruccia," ii. 256, 257 + "Nile Woman, A," ii. 189 + "Noble Lady of Venice, A," ii. 10 + "Plague in Florence," ii. 370 + "Psyche," ii. 368 + Number of, during Presidency, ii. 257 + "Odalisque," ii. 87, 88 + "Old Damascus," ii. 205 _and note_ [53] + "Orpheus," _see subheading_ "Triumph of Music" + "Othello and Desdemona," i. 44 + "Pan," i. 249, 258, 278; + in America, i. 300; ii. 45-46 + "Paolo and Francesca," ii. 63, 76-77 + "Persephone," i. 220 + "Perseus and Andromeda," ii. 198 + Perugini, Carlo, head of, i. 237 + Poetry in, i. 211; ii. 29 _and note_ [6] + "Reconciliation of the Montagues and Capulets"-- + America, in, i. 300; ii. 46 + Criticism of, i. 287 _note_ [68] + France, in, i. 235 + Sale of, i. 289 + mentioned, i. 141, 176 + "Romeo," _see subheading_ "Reconciliation" + "Romeo and Juliet," ii. 36 _and note_ [8] + "Rustic Music" (large "Johnnie"), ii. 85 _note_ [22], 86, 88 + "S. Jerome," ii. 188 + "Salome, the Daughter of Herodias," i. 308; ii. 119 _and note_ [35] + "Samson and Delilah," ii. 39, 47, 74 + "Sea Echoes," ii. 87 _and note_ [24], 88 + "Solitude," ii. 260-261 _and note_ [74] + "Spirit of the Summit, The," i. 10 + "Study," ii. 197 + "Summer Moon," ii. 192-193, 366 + "Sunrise--Capri," ii. 53 + "Syracusan Bride ..., A," ii. 10 _and note_ [1], 124 + Texture of, ii. 93 + "Triumph of Music, The"-- + Failure of, i. 246-249 + "Sketches of Orpheus," i. 278 + Subject of, i. 244-245 + mentioned, i. 236, 238, 257; ii. 46, 114 + "Venus," i. 249, 258-259, 278, 287 _note_ [68]; + in America, i. 300; ii. 45-46 + "Venus disrobing for the Bath," ii. 368 + Vision of Mrs. Sandbach, ii. 54 _and note_ [15], 56, 57, 58 _note_ + "Weaving the Wreath," ii. 194 + "Wedded," ii. 29 _note_ [6] + "Winding the Skein," ii. 201, 368 + + Pisano, Nicolo, i. 227 + + Pocock, ii. 87 + + Pollington, Lady, i. 115; + portrait of, 54 + + Portraits by Leighton-- + Ashburton, Lord, ii. 123 _and note_ [37] + Bentinck, Count, family of, i. 49, 52 + Burton, Sir R., ii. 195, 196 + Costa, Giovanni, ii. 256 + Cowley, Lady, and family, i. 48-49, 53 + Cowper, Lord, ii. 88 + Guthrie, Mrs. James, ii. 10 _note_ [1], 114 + I'Anson, Mr., i. 46 + Mills, Miss Mabel, ii. 197 + Pollington, Lady, i. 54 + Walker, Mrs. Hanson, i. 251 _note_ [57] + + Powers, Hiram, i. 114; + estimate of Leighton by, i. 39 + + Poynter, Sir E., i. 164; + estimate of Leighton by, ii. 242 _note_ [64] + + Prange, Mr., i. 4 + + Pre-Raphaelites-- + Burne-Jones distinguished from, ii. 25; + Leighton's estimate of, i. 289; + his relations with, ii. 52 + + Pullen, Miss (Dorothy Dene), ii. 267-274 + + Pullen, Lina, ii. 268 + + + Quilter, Sir Cuthbert, ii. 258 _note_ [70] + + + Rafaello, i. 162 _and note_ [31], 163 + + Ravaschieri, Duchessa, i. 167 + + Rawnsley, Canon, ii. 372 + + Redesdale, Lord, i. 121 + + Reeves, Sims, ii. 44 + + Reston, i. 268 + + Rhapsodist performance, i. 303-304 + + Rhoden, i. 133 + + Rhodes Island, ii. 129-130, 148 + + Rhys, Ernest, cited, ii. 232 _note_ [61] + + Ricardo, Puliza, ii. 46 + + Richmond, George, ii. 255; + letter from, 312 + + Richmond, Sir Wm. B., i. 186, 220; ii. 55; + estimate of Leighton by, i. 209; ii. 1-6 + + Ristori, i. 242-243 + + Ritchie, Miss, ii. 217 + + Ritchie, Mrs. Richard, quoted, i. 194 _note_ [36]; ii. 43 _note_ [13] + + Rivičre, Briton, estimate of Leighton by, i. 5, 129, 207, 250; + ii. 21-22; + quoted, i. 216; ii. 233-234, 317; + letter from, ii. 230; + letters to, ii. 318, 324 + + Roberts, Dr., ii. 241, 315, 316, 329 + + Roman Catholic faith, i. 66 + + Rome-- + Art, influence on, i. 147, 188, 191 + Café Greco, i. 162 _note_ [31] + Leighton's early studies in, i. 37 + Steinle's estimate of, i. 280-281 + + _Romola_, Leighton's illustrations for, ii. 95-102, 121 + + Rosebery, Lord, ii. 372 + + Ross, Mr., ii. 132 + + Ross, Mrs., ii. 8 + + Rossetti, D.G., i. 278; ii. 118, 288; + quoted, i. 187 _note_ [34]; ii. 60 _note_ [19], 191, 368 + + Rossetti, Wm., ii. 45-46, 58 + + Rossini, i. 166-167 + + Royal Academy-- + Attacks on, ii. 8 + Chantry Bequest, terms of, ii. 251-253 + Codification Committee, ii. 254-255 + Constitution of, ii. 248-251 _note_ [67] + Exhibitions of-- + Burlington House, at, ii. 201 + Colour, as test of, ii. 88 + Winter, of Old Masters, ii. 214 + Leighton an Associate of, ii. 118; + member, 123, 188; + President, ii. 223; + his speeches at banquets of, ii. 241-243 _and notes_ [64 and 65]; + his bequest to, ii. 333 + Pension question, ii. 252-253, 255 + Presidency of, ii. 231 _note_ [61] + Treasurership of, ii. 249 _note_ [67] + Tresham case, ii. 248-250 _note_ [67] + Women, question of admission of, to membership, ii. 247-248 + _and note_ [67] + + Ruskin, John, estimate by, of "Cimabue's Madonna," i. 186 _note_ [34]; + ii. 367; + of Leighton, i. 212; ii. 373; + on "A Lemon Tree," ii. 41; + on the Lyndhurst fresco, ii. 112; + letters from, ii. 42, 120-121; + otherwise mentioned, i. 201 _note_ [42], 220, 234, 245, 247, 257; + ii. 59, 377 + + Russell, Odo (Lord Ampthill), ii. 38, 40, 52 + + Russell, Lady William, letters from, ii. 215, 216 + + + S. Francis of Assisi, quoted, i. 22 _note_ [10] + + Salisbury, ii. 67 + + Salisbury, Lord, ii. 338 + + Samuelson, Right Hon. Sir Bernard, ii. 190 _note_ [42] + + Sandbach, Mrs., ii. 54 _and note_ [15], 56 + + Sartoris, Hon. Mrs. Alfred, letter from, ii. 88 _and note_ [25]; + quoted, 104 + + Sartoris, Edward, Leighton's friendship with, i. 124, 126; + illness of, i. 263, 266, 267; + otherwise mentioned, i. 28, 147, 240, 241, 245, 257, 310; + ii. 46, 52, 66, 68 + + Sartoris, Mrs. (Adelaide Kemble), Leighton's friendship with, + i. 27-28, 124, 126-128, 149, 166, 168, 176, 181, 183, 194, 250, + 289; + estimates of, i. 126-128; + portrait of, i. 172, 184, 232; + intimates of, i. 183; + personal appearance of, i. 183; + Mrs. Ritchie's account of, i. 194 _note_ [36]; + extract from early diary of, 195-196 _note_ [36]; + Leighton's family's appreciation of, i. 232-233; + "A Week in a French Country House" by, ii. 103; + illness of, ii. 191-192; + letter from, to Greville, i. 266; + to Mrs. Leighton, ii. 61; + otherwise mentioned, i. 146, 147, 182, 234, 240-245, 247, 251 + _note_ [56], 258, 260-265, 278; ii. 43 _and note_ [13], 52, 57, + 66, 68, 81, 217, 218, 239 _note_ [62] + + Saunders, Mr. Bailey, letter to, ii. 305 + + Scarborough Borough Council, messages from, ii. 225, 331 + + Schäffer, i. 116 + + Scheffer, Ary, i. 245 _and note_ [55], 249; ii. 46 + + Schlemmer, Dr., i. 56 + + Schlosser, Frau Rath, i. 64, 190 + + Schwind, i. 293 + + Scottish rivers and scenery, ii. 261-262, 308-309 + + Sculpture, Leighton's view on, i. 6, 69, 88-89; + his work in, ii. 198-200, 259-260 + + Selim, Sheykh, ii. 141-143, 179 + + Sermoneta, Duke, i. 169 + + Servolini, i. 38, 39 + + Seville, ii. 210 + + Shakespear, illustration of, ii. 113 + + Shaw, Norman, letter from, ii. 239 + + Sheik Boran Bukh, letter to, i. 306; + letter from, 307 + + Shelley, ii. 307 + + Shields, Frederick, ii. 299 + + Si Achmet, Syed, ii. 173, 174, 176, 177 + + Siddons, Mrs., i. 268 + + Siena, Leighton at the Duomo fire in, ii. 242 _note_ [64] + + Simon, John, ii. 42 + + Smith, George, ii. 364 + + Society, i. 166, 222-223 + + Sohag, ii. 140, 159 + + Somers, Lord, ii. 213 + + "Souls," the, ii. 25 + + South London Fine Art Gallery, ii. 8 + + Spain, Leighton's visit to (1866), ii. 128; + (1887), ii. 209; + (1889), 238 _note_ [62] + + Spanish language, Leighton's mastery of, ii. 238 _note_ [62] + + Speke, ii. 172 + + Spencer, Lord and Lady, ii. 92 + + Sphinx, ii. 146 + + Spielmann, M., letter to, ii. 12 + + Spottiswoode, Wm., letter from, ii. 216 _note_ [54] + + Stanton, Col., ii. 131-132 + + Statuary, _see_ Sculpture + + Steinle, Eduard von, influence of, on Leighton, i. 27, 92, 215, 250; + ii. 303; + Leighton's tribute to, i. 61; + list of Florentine paintings recommended by, for study, + i. 225-226; + with Leighton (1856), i. 281-282; + water-colour by, i. 291 _note_ [69]; + portrait of (_Der Winter_), ii. 303-304; + estimate of, i. 40-42; + death of, ii. 303; + letters to, i. 22 _note_ [9], 87, 118, 119, 130, 134, 150, + 154, 157, 172, 187, 190, 193, 215, 233, 237, 238, 279, 284, + 291-296, 304, 305; ii. 11, 49, 50, 53, 63, 64, 91, 105, 106, + 112, 188, 201; + letters from, i. 116, 120, 151, 189, 280; ii. 127, 224, 302; + otherwise mentioned, i. 24, 56, 64-65, 86, 113, 129, 136 + + Stephens, ii. 59, 87 + + Sterlings, ii. 133, 135, 182 + + Stevens, Alfred, Wellington monument by, ii. 286-287 + + Storey, W.W., ii. 7 + + Strafford, Alice, Countess of, i. 251 _note_ [56] + + Strangford, Lady, ii. 222 _note_ [57] + + Stratford de Redcliffe, Lady, ii. 40 + + Strauch, i. 238 + + Stretton, i. 34 + + Style, ii. 4, 376 + + Sunrise, i. 79 + + Sunset, i. 170 + + Swinburne, A.C., letter from, ii. 307; + tribute of, ii. 339; + quoted, ii. 218 _note_ [56] + + Symons, Arthur, quoted, ii. 23-24 + + Syoot, ii. 137-140 + + + Tadema, Alma, i. 220 + + Talfourd, ii. 55 + + Tangiers, ii. 209-210 + + Tate, Sir Henry, ii. 259 + + Tate Gallery, founding of, ii. 284-286 + + Taylor, Tom, i. 300; ii. 58 + + Temple, A.G., ii. 364; + quoted, 366 + + Tennyson, ii. 66 + + Terry, Ellen, ii. 271 _note_ [77] + + Thackeray, Miss, ii. 43, 92 + + Thackeray, W.M., i. 176 + + Thompson, Sir E., ii. 338 + + Thorley, Mrs. Anne, quoted, i. 36 + + Thornycroft, Hamo, ii. 376; + estimate of Leighton by, i. 5-6, 13-14 + + Titian, i. 225; ii. 11 + + Tintoretto, ii. 26 + + Tree, Beerbohm, ii. 271 + + Troyon, i. 245 + + Turkish children, ii. 168 + + Tunnicliffe, Dr., ii. 319 + + Tupper, Martin F., letters from, ii. 125 _note_ [39] + + Turner, ii. 121 + + Tyrolese scenery and peasantry, i. 66-69, 71, 198 + + + Ulm, i. 65 + + Underhill, Mr., quoted, ii. 231 _note_ [61] + + + Valletort, Lady Katharine, ii. 92 + + Valletort, Lord, ii. 92 + + Van Eycke, ii. 32 + + Van Haanen, cited, ii. 301 + + Vandyke, i. 54 + + Vaughan, Kate, ii. 25 + + Velasquez, ii. 235-238 + + Venetians, i. 82-83 + + Venice (1852), i. 77-82, 88; + (1856), 283, 285; + after Athens, ii. 131 + + Verdi, i. 268 + + Verona, i. 72, 73, 75 + + Viardot, Madame, ii. 52-53 _and note_ [14], 217 + + Vibert, ii. 301, 302 + + Vichy, ii. 218 _note_ [56] + + Victoria, Queen, "Cimabue's Madonna" bought by, i. 187 _note_ [34], + 193, 195, 222; + on Prince Consort's death, ii. 85, 86; + medallion for Jubilee of, ii. 288; + otherwise mentioned, i. 261, 263, 265, 276 + + Victoria and Albert Museum-- + Decoration of, ii. 202-204; + Leighton examiner at, ii. 212 + + Volunteering, Leighton's activities in, i. 11-14; ii. 86, 107, 111; + his retirement (1883), ii. 243-245 + + Vyner, Mr. Clare, ii. 92 + + + Walker, John Hanson ("Johnny"), Leighton's friendship with, i. 251 + _and note_ [57]; + paintings from, ii. 85 _and note_ [22]; + letters to, i. 269-277 + + Walker, Mrs. J.H., portrait of, i. 251 _note_ [57], 273 _and note_ [66] + + Wall-painting, i. 296-297, 305 + + Walpole, Mr. and Mrs. Henry, i. 115 + + Walton, Frank, i. 4 + + Wantage, Lady, ii. 18 _note_ [4] + + Ward, J., cited, ii. 201 _note_ [52] + + Waterhouse, A., ii. 366 + + Watney, Mrs. James, ii. 364 + + Watson, Wm., letters from, ii. 321 + + Watts, G.F., estimate of Leighton by, i. 4, 7, 210; ii. 22; + Leighton's estimate of, ii. 18; + views on the province of art, 23-24; + theory on rendering of truth, 31; + Leighton's friendship with, i. 224 _and note_ [48]; + compared with Leighton, 230-231; + portraits of "Dorothy Dene," ii. 269 _note_ [75]; + Hollyer's photographs from, 288; + baronetcy declined by, 289; + picture presented by, to Leighton House, 366; + letter from, i. 231; + quoted, 208; ii. 198 _note_ [49], 259, 366; + cited, ii. 192, 194 _note_ [45]; + otherwise mentioned, i. 144, 258, 260-262; + ii. 57, 119, 258-259, 264, 298 + + Wellington, Duke of, i. 168-169; + Stevens' monument of, ii. 286-287 + + Wells, Henry, letters from, ii. 248 _note_ [67], 250 _note_ [67]; + letters to, 249-255 _and note_ [67], 286, 287, 318, 322, 329 + + Westbury, ii. 74 + + Westminster, architecture in, i. 87 + + Whistler, i. 241; ii. 32 + + Wilkinson, Gardiner, cited, ii. 160 + + Willig, i. 291 + + Wilson, Herbert, i. 237, 240 + + Wonista, Mrs., ii. 181 + + Woolfe, Henry, ii. 114 + + Wöredle, i. 295 + + Wright, Dr. William, quoted, ii. 206 + + + Yeames' "Arthur and Hubert," ii. 283 + + + Zanetti, i. 39 + + Zermatt, ii. 315 + + +THE END + + + + + Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. + Edinburgh & London + + + + +ERRATA + + + Page 41, note 2, _for_ "soeür," _read_ "soeur." + Page 148, line 21, _for_ "Lindas," _read_ "Lindos." + Page 260, line 16, _for_ "Rispah," _read_ "Rizpah." + Page 316, line 1, _for_ "altmodish," _read_ "altmodisch." + Page 320, line 34, _for_ "men-schlich," _read_ "mensch-lich." + Page 301, line 10, _for_ "Gambia Parry," _read_ "Gambier Parry." + + * * * * * + + +------------------------------------------------------------+ + | Typographical errors corrected in text: | + | | + | Page 14: "This arrangement, if effected" replaced with | + | "This arrangement, is effected" | + | Page 46: "ą quarelle" replaced with "aquarelle" | + | Page 69: RIVERE HOUSE replaced with REVERE HOUSE | + | Page 69: Mr. Caleot replaced with Mr. Cabot | + | Page 129: Mr. Bileith replaced with Mr. Biliotti | + | Page 131: 1878 replaced with 1868. (Grant and Colfax, | + | mentioned later in the diary, were elected in | + | 1868, not 1878.) | + | Page 133: 1878 replaced with 1868. (see above) | + | Page 145: Koorveh replaced with Koorneh | + | Page 183: fastastic replaced with fantastic | + | Page 192: "Cleaboulos Instructing his Daughter Cleabouline"| + | replaced with | + | "Cleoboulos Instructing his Daughter Cleobouline"| + | Page 194: Cleabouline replaced with Cleobouline | + | Page 197: Cleabouline replaced with Cleobouline | + | Page 201: Cleabouline replaced with Cleobouline | + | Page 207: delighful replaced with delightful | + | Page 209: aficimado replaced with aficionado | + | Page 233: spontanteous replaced with spontaneous | + | Page 236: sociel replaced with social | + | Page 241: Gussey replaced with Gussy | + | Page 294: 'Are there differents kinds' replaced with | + | 'Are there different kinds' | + | Page 320: mensch-lich replaced with menschlich (the errata | + | includes the hyphen because it spans two lines) | + | Page 345: heirarchy replaced with hierarchy | + | Page 347: "a vivid scene of abstract beauty" replaced with | + | "a vivid sense of abstract beauty" | + | Page 382: Keat's replaced with Keats' | + | Page 384: OEthra replaced with Ęthra | + | Page 385: Longsor replaced with Lougsor | + | Page 386: 1886. *The Daphnephoria. replaced with | + | 1876. *The Daphnephoria. | + | Page 386: Oeolians replaced with Aeolians | + | Page 387: 1889. Catarina. replaced with 1879. Catarina. | + | Page 389: Hichins replaced with Hichens | + | Page 391: Mont replaced with Moute | + | Page 396: 'Garcia, Senor' replaced with 'Garcia, Seńor' | + | Page 402: Phylae replaced with Phylę | + | | + | Note that the date "Friday, 28th" on page 147 is out of | + | order. By checking the dates it clearly should be the 23rd,| + | which is confirmed with the date Wednesday, 28th on page | + | 153. This has been corrected to "Friday, 23rd" in the text.| + | "Friday Evening" on page 152 has been corrected to | + | "Tuesday Evening" by the same logic. | + | | + | Words that are not errors: | + | | + | Page 9: distrest. | + | Page 27: subtile. | + | Page 31: scumble. | + | Page 32: subtilty. | + | Page 47: the phrase 'tol-lol!' is 19th century slang for | + | pretty good. | + | Page 198: trés. | + | Page 236: euphuism. | + | Page 320: fribbled. | + | Page 347: shapliness. | + | | + +------------------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life, Letters and Work of Frederic +Leighton, by Mrs. Russell Barrington + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE, LETTERS OF FREDERICK LEIGHTON *** + +***** This file should be named 35935-8.txt or 35935-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/9/3/35935/ + +Produced by Jeannie Howse, Jonathan Ingram and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i46 {display: block; margin-left: 46em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.pn { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; right: 2%; + font-size: 75%; + text-align: right; + text-indent: 0em; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + color: gray; background-color: inherit; + font-variant: normal;} /* page numbers in poems */ + + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life, Letters and Work of Frederic +Leighton, by Mrs. Russell Barrington + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Life, Letters and Work of Frederic Leighton + Volume II + +Author: Mrs. Russell Barrington + +Release Date: May 20, 2011 [EBook #35935] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE, LETTERS OF FREDERICK LEIGHTON *** + + + + +Produced by Jeannie Howse, Jonathan Ingram and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<div class="tr"> +<p class="cen" style="font-weight: bold;">Transcriber's Note:</p> +<br /> +<p class="noin">Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document has been preserved.</p> +<p class="noin">The Errata at the end of the book have been incorporated into this e-book.</p> +<p class="noin">Index entries referring to footnotes have been renamed to match footnote numbers in this document.</p> +<p class="noin">Links to the Appendices and Index are included for the reader's benefit.</p> +<p class="noin" style="text-align: left;">Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. +For a complete list, please see the <span style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="#TN">end of this document</a>.</span></p> +<p class="noin">Click on the images to see a larger version.</p> +</div> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<div class="img"> +<img border="0" src="images/deco.jpg" width="30%" alt="Publisher's Mark" /> +</div> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h2>The Life, Letters and Work of<br /> +Frederic Baron Leighton</h2> +<h4>Of Stretton</h4> +<br /> +<h4>VOL. II</h4> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<div class="block3"> +<p>"<i>I am a workman first, and an official after.</i>"—<span class="sc">Fred. Leighton, 1888.</span></p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"<i>Es bildet ein Talent sich in der Stille,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Doch ein Character in dem Strom der Welt.</i>"<br /></span> +<span class="i12 sc">—Goethe.<br /></span> +</div></div> +</div> <!-- end of block3 --> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + + +<h1>The Life, Letters and<br /> +Work of<br /> +Frederic Leighton</h1> + +<br /> +<br /> + +<h4>BY</h4> +<h3>MRS. RUSSELL BARRINGTON</h3> +<h5>AUTHOR OF "REMINISCENCES OF G.F. WATTS," ETC. ETC.</h5> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h4>IN TWO VOLUMES</h4> + +<h3>VOL. II</h3> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h4>LONDON<br /> +GEORGE ALLEN, RUSKIN HOUSE<br /> +1906</h4> + +<h5>[All rights reserved]</h5> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h4>Printed by <span class="sc">Ballantyne, Hanson & Co.</span><br /> +At the Ballantyne Press</h4> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<div class="img"><a name="frontis" id="frontis"></a> +<a href="images/dedication.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/dedication.jpg" width="55%" alt="Lord Leighton, from the F.G. Watts portrait" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">LORD LEIGHTON<br /> +From the portrait by G.F. Watts<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="toc" id="toc"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_v" id="PageV2_v">[v]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CONTENTS</h3> +<br /> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="Table of Contents"> + <tr> + <td width="80%"> </td> + <td class="tdrsc" width="20%"><span style="font-size: 90%;">PAGE</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION</a></td> + <td class="tdr">1</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">CHAPTER I</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">FIRST STUDIO IN LONDON, 1859-1863</a></td> + <td class="tdr">36</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">CHAPTER II</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">ILLUSTRATIONS FOR <i>CORNHILL MAGAZINE</i>—FRESCO FOR LYNDHURST + CHURCH—ASSOCIATE OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY—MRS. LEIGHTON'S + DEATH, 1863-1865</a></td> + <td class="tdr">91</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">CHAPTER III</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">JOURNEYS TO THE EAST—CONSTANTINOPLE—SMYRNA—ATHENS—DIARY + "UP THE NILE TO PHYLÆ," 1866-1869</a></td> + <td class="tdr">128</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">CHAPTER IV</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">ROYAL ACADEMICIAN—MUSIC—ARAB HALL, 1869-1878</a></td> + <td class="tdr">188</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">CHAPTER V</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">LEIGHTON AS PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY, 1878-1896</a></td> + <td class="tdr">223</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">CHAPTER VI</td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">LIFE WANING—DEATH, 1887-1896</a></td> + <td class="tdr">312</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc"><a href="#APPENDIX">APPENDIX</a></td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#PRESIDENTIAL_ADDRESS">PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS</a></td> + <td class="tdr">341</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#LORD_LEIGHTONS_HOUSE">LORD LEIGHTON'S HOUSE</a></td> + <td class="tdr">362</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#LIST_OF_DIGNITIES">LIST OF DIGNITIES AND HONOURS CONFERRED ON FREDERIC LEIGHTON</a></td> + <td class="tdr">380</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#LIST_OF_PRINCIPAL_WORKS">LIST OF PRINCIPAL WORKS</a></td> + <td class="tdr">381</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#INDEX">INDEX</a></td> + <td class="tdr">393</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#ERRATA">ERRATA</a></td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_vi" id="PageV2_vi">[vi]</a></span><br /> +<a name="toi" id="toi"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_vii" id="PageV2_vii">[vii]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h3> + +<h4>VOLUME II</h4> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" width="80%" summary="List of Illustrations"> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt" width="5%">1.</td> + <td class="tdl" width="75%"><a href="#frontis"><span class="sc">Portrait of Lord Leighton</span></a> (<i>Photogravure</i>)<br /> + <p class="tablehang">By <span class="sc">G.F. Watts.</span></p></td> + <td class="tdr" width="20%">To face Dedication</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">2.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep001"><span class="sc">Head of Young Girl</span></a> (<i>Colour</i>)<br /> + <p class="tablehang">A wedding gift to <span class="sc">H.R.H. The Prince of Wales</span>, who + graciously gave permission for the painting to be + reproduced in this book.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">To face page 1</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">3.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep009">"<span class="sc">Eucharis</span>," 1863</a> (<i>Colour</i>)<br /> + <p class="tablehang">By kind permission of Mrs. <span class="sc">Stephenson Clarke</span>.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">9</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">4.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep010">"<span class="sc">A Noble Lady of Venice</span>," 1866</a> (<i>Photogravure</i>)<br /> + <p class="tablehang">By kind permission of Lord <span class="sc">Armstrong</span>.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">10</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">5.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep018">"<span class="sc">Greek Girls Picking up Shells by the Seashore</span>," 1871</a> (<i>Photogravure</i>)<br /> + <p class="tablehang">By kind permission of the Rt. Hon. <span class="sc">Joseph Chamberlain</span>.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">18</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">6.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep057"><span class="sc">Portrait of Mrs. Sutherland Orr</span>, 1861</a></td> + <td class="tdr">57</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">7.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep093"><span class="sc">Pencil Sketch for "Michael Angelo Nursing his Dying + Servant</span>," 1862</a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">Leighton House Collection.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">93</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">8.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep094"><span class="sc">Original Sketch for "Samson Wrestling with the Lion"</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">Designed as an illustration for Dalziel's Bible. Leighton + House Collection.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">94</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">9.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep102"><span class="sc">Original Drawing for the Great God Pan, Illustrating Mrs. + Browning's Poem, "Musical Instrument"</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">In "<i>Cornhill Magazine</i>," July 1861. Leighton House Collection.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">102</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">10.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep103"><span class="sc">"An Evening in a French Country House," Illustrating Mrs. + Adelaide Sartoris' Story, "A Week in a French Country + House," Published in the</span></a> <i>Cornhill Magazine</i>, 1867<br /> + <p class="tablehang">By kind permission of Messrs. <span class="sc">Smith, Elder, & Co.</span></p></td> + <td class="tdr">103</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">11.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep104"><span class="sc">"Drifting." Second Illustration for same</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">104<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_viii" id="PageV2_viii">[viii]</a></span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">12.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep107"><span class="sc">Lord Leighton</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">Photograph taken at Lyndhurst, 1863.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">107</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">13.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep111"><span class="sc">Fresco for Lyndhurst Church—"The Wise and Foolish + Virgins," 1864</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">111</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">14.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep125a"><span class="sc">"Greek Girl Dancing," 1867</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">By kind permission of Mr. <span class="sc">Phillipson</span>.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">125</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">15.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep125b"><span class="sc">Sketch for a "Pastoral," 1866</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">Leighton House Collection.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">125</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">16.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep131"><span class="sc">Sketch in Oils—"Egypt"</span></a> (<i>Colour</i>)</td> + <td class="tdr">131</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">17.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep188"><span class="sc">"S. Jerome." Diploma Work, 1869</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">Gallery in Burlington House.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">188</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">18.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep189"><span class="sc">"Electra at the Tomb of Agamemnon"</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">189</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">19.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep190"><span class="sc">"Heracles Wrestling With Death for the Body of Alcestis," + 1871</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">By kind permission of the <span class="sc">Fine Art Society</span>.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">190</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">20.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep193a"><span class="sc">"Summer Moon," 1872</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">By kind permission of Messrs. <span class="sc">P. & D. Colnaghi</span>.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">193</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">21.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep193b"><span class="sc">"A Condottiere," 1872</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">The Walker Fine Art Gallery, Birmingham.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">193</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">22.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep193c"><span class="sc">Study for Figure in Frieze, "Music," 1886</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">Leighton House Collection.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">193</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">23.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep193d"><span class="sc">Study of Man's Figure for the "Arts of War," 1872</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">Leighton House Collection.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">193</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">24.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep193e"><span class="sc">Study of Man's Figure for the "Arts of War"</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">Leighton House Collection.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">193</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">25.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep193f"><span class="sc">Study of Man's Figure for the "Arts of War," 1872</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">Leighton House Collection.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">193</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">26.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep194a"><span class="sc">"Antique Juggling Girl," 1874</span></a> (<i>Photogravure</i>)<br /> + <p class="tablehang">By kind permission of Mr. <span class="sc">Hodges</span>.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">194</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">27.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep194b"><span class="sc">"Clytemnestra from the Battlement of Argos Watches for the + Beacon Fires which are to announce the Return of Agamemnon," + 1874</span></a> (<i>Photogravure</i>)<br /> + <p class="tablehang">Leighton House Collection.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">194<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_ix" id="PageV2_ix">[ix]</a></span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">28.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep194c"><span class="sc">Study for "Clytemnestra"</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">Leighton House Collection.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">194</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">29.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep194d"><span class="sc">Study for "Summer Moon"</span></a> (<i>Colour</i>)<br /> + <p class="tablehang">Executed by moonlight in Rome. Given by the late <span class="sc">A. + Waterhouse, R.A.</span>, to the Leighton House Collection.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">194</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">30.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep197a"><span class="sc">"The Daphnephoria," 1876</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">By kind permission of the <span class="sc">Fine Art Society</span>.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">197</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">31.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep197b"><span class="sc">"At a Reading-desk," 1877</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">By kind permission of Messrs. <span class="sc">L.H. Lefevre & Son</span>.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">197</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">32.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep199"><span class="sc">Original Study for "An Athlete Struggling with a Python," + 1876</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">Given by the late <span class="sc">G.F. Watts</span> to the Leighton House + Collection.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">199</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">33.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep201"><span class="sc">"Nausicaa," 1878</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">201</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">34.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep202"><span class="sc">Study for Group in the "Arts of Peace," 1873</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">Leighton House Collection.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">202</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">35.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep203a"><span class="sc">Study for the Figure of Cimabue, carried out in Mosaic in + the South Court of the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1868</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">Leighton House Collection.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">203</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">36.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep203b"><span class="sc">Study for the Figure of Niccola Pisano, carried out in + Mosaic in the South Court of the Victoria and Albert + Museum, 1868</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">Leighton House Collection.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">203</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">37.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep216"><span class="sc">Sketch of the Prince and Princess of Wales, attended by Lord + Leighton, when present at a Monday Popular Concert in St. + James's Hall</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">Drawn at the time by Mr. Theodore Blake Wirgman.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">216</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">38.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep218"><span class="sc">Portrait of Sir Richard Francis Burton, K.C.M.G., 1876</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">218</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">39.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep221"><span class="sc">View of Arab Hall, 1906</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">Leighton House Collection.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">221<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_x" id="PageV2_x">[x]</a></span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">40.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep222"><span class="sc">Portrait of Professor Giovanni Costa</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">Executed at Lerici in 1878.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">222</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">41.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep255a"><span class="sc">"Elijah in the Wilderness," 1879</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">255</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">42.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep255b"><span class="sc">Study for the Figure of "Elijah"</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">Leighton House Collection.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">255</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">43.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep255c"><span class="sc">"Neruccia," 1879</span></a> (<i>Photogravure</i>)<br /> + <p class="tablehang">By kind permission of Mrs. <span class="sc">C.E. Lees.</span></p></td> + <td class="tdr">255</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">44.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep255d"><span class="sc">"The Bath of Psyche," 1890</span></a> (<i>Photogravure</i>)<br /> + <p class="tablehang">The Tate Gallery.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">255</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">45.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep256a"><span class="sc">"The Light of the Harem," 1880</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">By kind permission of the <span class="sc">Leicester Gallery.</span></p></td> + <td class="tdr">256</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">46.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep256b"><span class="sc">Drawing of Complete Design for "And the Sea Gave up the + Dead that were in it," 1892</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">256</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">47.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep256c"><span class="sc">Study for "Music." A Frieze, 1886</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">Leighton House Collection.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">256</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">48.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep256d"><span class="sc">Study for "Andromeda," 1890</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">Leighton House Collection.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">256</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">49.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep256e"><span class="sc">Study from Clay Model for "Perseus," 1891</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">Leighton House Collection.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">256</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">50.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep256f"><span class="sc">Study for "Phoenicians Bartering With Britons"</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">Leighton House Collection.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">256</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">51.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep256g"><span class="sc">"Cymon and Iphigenia," 1884</span></a> (<i>Photogravure</i>)<br /> + <p class="tablehang">The Corporation of Leeds.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">256</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">52.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep256h"><span class="sc">Sketch in Oils for "Cymon and Iphigenia"</span></a> (<i>Colour</i>)<br /> + <p class="tablehang">By kind permission of Mrs. <span class="sc">Stewart Hodgson.</span></p></td> + <td class="tdr">256</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">53.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep256i"><span class="sc">Study for Sleeping Group in "Cymon and Iphigenia"</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">Presented to the Leighton House Collection by <span class="sc">G.F. Watts.</span></p></td> + <td class="tdr">256</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">54.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep258a"><span class="sc">From Bronze From Small Model in Clay by Lord Leighton of + "A Sluggard," 1886</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">Leighton House Collection.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">258<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_xi" id="PageV2_xi">[xi]</a></span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">55.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep258b"><span class="sc">"Needless Alarms," From Bronze Statuette, 1886</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">Leighton House Collection.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">258</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">56.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep259a"><span class="sc">"The Last Watch of Hero," 1887</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">Corporation of Manchester.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">259</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">57.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep259b"><span class="sc">Sketch in Oils for "Tragic Poetess," 1890</span></a> (<i>Colour</i>)<br /> + <p class="tablehang">By kind permission of Mrs. <span class="sc">Stewart Hodgson</span>.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">259</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">58.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep261a"><span class="sc">"Atalanta," 1893</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">By kind permission of the <span class="sc">Berlin Photographic Co.</span></p></td> + <td class="tdr">261</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">59.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep261b"><span class="sc">"Flaming June," 1895</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">By kind permission of Mrs. <span class="sc">Watney</span>.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">261</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">60.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep261c"><span class="sc">Study for "Flaming June"</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">Leighton House Collection.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">261</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">61.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep261d"><span class="sc">"Fatidica," 1894</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">By kind permission of Messrs. <span class="sc">T. Agnew & Sons</span>.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">261</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">62.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep261e"><span class="sc">Studies for "Fatidica"</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">Leighton House Collection.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">261</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">63.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep266a"><span class="sc">"Memories," 1883</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">By kind permission of Messrs. <span class="sc">P. & D. Colnaghi.</span></p></td> + <td class="tdr">266</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">64.</td> + <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep266b">"The Jealousy of Simœtha the Sorceress," 1887</a></td> + <td class="tdr">266</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">65.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep266c"><span class="sc">"Letty," 1884</span></a> (<i>Colour</i>)<br /> + <p class="tablehang">By kind permission of Mrs. <span class="sc">Henry Joachim</span>.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">266</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">66.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep268"><span class="sc">Studies From Dorothy Dene for "Clytie," 1895</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">Leighton House Collection.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">268</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">67.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep274"><span class="sc">Sketch in Oils for "Greek Girls Playing at Ball," 1889</span></a> + (<i>In Colour</i>)<br /> + <p class="tablehang">By kind permission of Mrs. <span class="sc">Stewart Hodgson</span>.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">274</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">68.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep287a"><span class="sc">"Bacchante," 1892</span></a> (<i>Photogravure</i>)<br /> + <p class="tablehang">By kind permission of Messrs. <span class="sc">Henry Graves & Co.</span></p></td> + <td class="tdr">287</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">69.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep287b"><span class="sc">Sketch in Oils for "Bacchante"</span></a> (<i>Colour</i>)<br /> + <p class="tablehang">By kind permission of Mrs. <span class="sc">Stewart Hodgson</span>.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">287<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_xii" id="PageV2_xii">[xii]</a></span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">70.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep304">"<i>Der Winter</i>"</a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">Drawing by <span class="sc">Eduard von Steinle</span>.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">304</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">71.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep310"><span class="sc">Sketch in Oils for "Solitude"</span></a> (<i>Colour</i>)<br /> + <p class="tablehang">By kind permission of Mrs. <span class="sc">Stewart Hodgson</span>.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">310</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">72.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep316a"><span class="sc">"Summer Slumber," 1894</span></a> (<i>Photogravure</i>)<br /> + <p class="tablehang">By kind permission of Mr. <span class="sc">Phillipson</span>.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">316</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">73.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep316b"><span class="sc">Sketch for "Summer Slumber"</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">Presented to the Leighton House Collection by <span class="sc">H.M. The King</span>.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">316</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">74.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep324">"<span class="sc">The Fair Persian," 1896</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">By kind permission of Sir <span class="sc">Elliott Lees</span>.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">324</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">75.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep334"><span class="sc">"The Spirit of the Summit," 1894</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">334</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">76.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep335"><span class="sc">Study for "Lachrymæ," 1895</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">Leighton House Collection.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">335</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">77.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep336"><span class="sc">"Clytie," 1896</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">By kind permission of the <span class="sc">Fine Art Society</span>.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">336</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">78.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep340a"><span class="sc">Memorial Monument in St. Paul's Cathedral to Frederic Baron + Leighton of Stretton</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">340</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrt">79.</td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#imagep340b"><span class="sc">View of Hall and Staircase of Leighton House, given by Lord + Leighton's Sisters to the Public as a Memorial to their + Brother</span></a><br /> + <p class="tablehang">By kind permission of Mr. <span class="sc">J. Harris Stone</span>.</p></td> + <td class="tdr">340</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep001" id="imagep001"></a> +<a href="images/imagep001.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep001.jpg" width="52%" alt="HEAD OF YOUNG GIRL" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">HEAD OF YOUNG GIRL<br /> +Wedding present from Lord Leighton to H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, who has graciously +allowed the painting to be reproduced in this book<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_1" id="PageV2_1">[1]</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h2>THE LIFE OF LORD LEIGHTON</h2> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h3>INTRODUCTION<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> +<br /> + +<p><span class="sc">Sir William Richmond, R.A.</span>, and Mr. Walter Crane have kindly +contributed the following notes:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>It was in 1860 that I first knew Leighton. We met over affairs +connected with the Artist Rifle Corps at Burlington House, and +afterwards at the studios of various artists, where discussions +took place regarding the formation and means of conduct of the +Corps. On several occasions I walked home with Leighton to his +house in Orme Square.</p> + +<p>I don't think I have ever known a man who grew more steadily +than Leighton did. The effort of his artistic life was to remove +the effects of a certain mannerism and over-education in his +early artistic life. His knowledge was wonderful, his powers of +design without immediate consultation with Nature were +phenomenal; he feared the facility in himself and went always to +Nature, that out of her manifold gifts he should be inspired +directly by them. And this constant study had its drawbacks as +well as its merits, because in one sense it stood in the way of +the development of an abstract power of invention. If ever an +artist made the most of his conscious abilities, Leighton did. +His character was so curiously simple on the one hand, and so +complicated on the other, that a balance between a very +emotional and extremely accurate temperament had to be found, +and it was found. How far a certain charm of spontaneity was +obscured a little, perhaps by erudition and a sort of +Aristotelian preciseness, it is not for me to say. There is in +all things a balance which, when once obtained, reduces the +weight in <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_2" id="PageV2_2">[2]</a></span>both scales. But we must take a life as it has been +made by circumstances, by early training and after influences; +and probably most men who are in earnest,—and Leighton was +pre-eminently in earnest,—find their proper issue finally. That +the best of Leighton's work will live, I am convinced; that it +will hold its own when a great deal of other work praised, +admired, even worshipped during the life of his contemporaries +shall be dead, I feel quite assured; and one may very justly be +asked—Why? The simple answer is that it was thorough, definite, +sincere, accomplished. Leighton never put out his hand towards +the limbo of vulgarity or fashion. Like Virgil, like +Mendelssohn, Leighton was a stylist, and his life's work showed +a perfection of attainment upon the lines which he drew out for +his progress almost to my thinking unrivalled in the work of any +of his contemporaries. Here and there he struck a deep note of +poetry, here and there he was like a Greek for his simplicity, +here and there his work shows the luxury of the Venetians, the +restraint of the Florentines, but never perhaps the majesty of +M. Angelo or the strong charm of Raphael. His art was eclectic; +still it was Leighton, and could have been done only as the +result of great natural gifts, assiduous study, force of +character, and, withal, independence of vision. His love of +beauty was his own personal love, not learnt, hardly perhaps +inherited, but spontaneous and lasting. This devotion to beauty +may have sometimes led his emotions away from character, which +sometimes is very nearly ugly as well as very nearly allied to +the highest beauty, which Bacon says has always something of +strangeness in it. The pursuit of beauty, <i>per se</i>, may be +purchased at the expense of character.</p> + +<p>But Leighton was always pulling himself up; and when he found +himself too facile, too ornate, he resolutely set his mind to +correct any tendency in that direction by fidelity to Nature, +sometimes even to her ugly movements. Excess was not in his +nature, which was curiously logical; his mind was swift, +far-seeing; in debate he was admirable, always seeing the weak +point of an argument at once, and "partie pris" was his +abomination. A man so gifted in the essence and laws of form, so +learned in the construction of the human frame, so deeply +sensitive to line and movement as well as to structure, surely +would have given to the world great works of sculpture. Indeed +he did, but not enough! One regrets that—still <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_3" id="PageV2_3">[3]</a></span>one must accept +the fact that form is but little cared for in this country, and +Leighton sinned by reason of his love of form; by many he was +called not a painter because he did not smear, did not trust to +accidents, did not leave works half done—because he was sincere +to his conviction that a work of art must be, to last, complete +"ad unguem." The present craze for incompleteness, for sketches +instead of pictures, for unripe instead of ripe fruit, must die +as all false notions die; the best, the rightest will live; and +when the present ephemeral fashion has worked itself out, the +nobility of Leighton's works, his best, are certain to take +their place in the estimation of those that know as surely as +that they are good.</p> + +<p>How many out of the multitude really, if we could test them, +care one jot for the Elgin Marbles, for the Demeter of Knidos, +for the vault of the Sistine Chapel?—very few. Really great +things never can be accepted by the commonplace. How should they +be? for to understand the highest in music, in architecture, +sculpture, or painting, the observer or listener must have a +spark in his constitution which is a portion of the flame that +burned white heat in the soul of the conceiver. How can such an +attitude of intimate sympathy belong to the many? It never has, +and probably never will. Great men are rare, and those who are +mentally or organically made to comprehend them are rare also. +The great can afford to wait because they are immortal. In all +one's dealings with Leighton what did one find? a noble nature, +restrained, charitable, in earnest; and if in many discussions +as to the desirability of certain events, certain compromises, +certain acts of conformity, one did not agree with Leighton, one +knew "au fond" that the attitude was quite logical, not hastily +arrived at, and the position taken up was to be strenuously +held: and it was that power of consistency which made Leighton +so trustworthy. He was fearless when his principles were +touched, he was loyal to his associates in the Academy even if +he did not see eye to eye with them, and he was loyal to his art +and to his friends. If Leighton had chosen politics for his +career he would probably have been Prime Minister, just as +Burne-Jones might have been Archbishop of Canterbury had he +continued his early and very remarkable theological studies. All +really great men have endless possibilities. It is more or less +chance which decides the direction of ability, which, once +discovered, forcibly, dominantly present, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_4" id="PageV2_4">[4]</a></span>must find +opportunities for its highest development and achievement in the +tenure of the goal. It was ability and natural gifts that made +Leighton great, industry that nourished his greatness, and +stability to principle which made it lasting in his lifetime, +and must for all time stamp his work. The thing that really +engages one's interest about a great man is not so much his +"technique" as his general disposition and character, which +forms for itself a suitable "technique" by which his +achievements have been manifested. Should any one by-and-by +describe the "technique" of Joachim, the supreme violinist, he +would probably interest a few, but in reality he would say +nothing really valuable, excepting inasmuch as he touched upon +first principles. The "modus operandi" of an artist's life is +moulded by his personal aims, the means are those by which he +found his own way of stating them; and one doubts very much if, +after all, the points which differentiate one man's work from +another's are not those which have obliterated the conscious +efforts, preserving just the touches which genius gives beyond +and above all laws that may be learnt. Verse no doubt is much +dependent for its beauty on the system of the arrangement of +syllables, and the music they make when harmoniously handled +upon the final perfection which they reach, and so become +rule-making instead of being the result of rule-following. Hence +lies that unaccountable beauty which is the inexplicable result +of the ego—that taste, that selection, that special word which +creates an impression immediately, and which seems inimitable +even, and obviously the only one which could have been used; +that is style—the very essence of the ego which cannot be +copied, or indeed again brought into relation with the idea. And +isn't that the reason why the copy of a picture can never be +really like an original? even if the "technique" is identical, +it lacks that last touch, that last word which transcends +tradition, almost transcends thought, for it is just the thought +which has been summed up in a moment of inspiration, +uncalculated, spontaneous. Leighton was far too wise a man to +believe in the constant recurrence of inspirations: he knew that +the moment when the whole spirit is ready to act is involuntary; +he knew that to reach the supremacy of that moment, labour was +necessary; that in labour is the foundation of the building for +that moment of inspiration. One may question if the first vision +in Leighton was very <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_5" id="PageV2_5">[5]</a></span>strong—strong as Blake's, strong as many +artists whose powers of attainment were much less than +Leighton's, but whose vision was clearer at the outset. Rougher +minds than Leighton's have produced more epic effects, and a +ruder, less accomplished "technique" has borne with it more +original, more trenchant ideas. Leighton was not a mystic; he +dealt with thoughts which he embodied in forms that he saw, but +which he also made his own in their application; that was his +genius of originality. The rugged verse of Æschylus had no place +in his temperament, much as he admired it; the polished diction +of Virgil bore more similitude to Leighton's inspiration. +Sometimes one missed in his work just the touch of the rugged +which would have given more grace by comparison, by contrast. +His grace of diction, his oratory, his writing, was sometimes +over-refined, and missed its mark by over-elaboration. The very +speciality of Leighton was completeness. One has seen pictures +in his study only half finished, which had a charm of freshness +that vanished as each portion became worked into equal value. +But that fastidiousness was his characteristic, it was part of +him; and therefore we must not deplore it. His originality was +exemplified by his power of taking pains, his power of will to +do his very best according to his guiding spirit of +thoroughness. Temperaments are so different. Whistler could not +be Leighton. Because we admire the one, it is not necessary to +decry the other; that is weak criticism, or rather none at all. +The spirit which inspires the impressionist is not the spirit of +design, but a limited observation in a very restricted area. We +can have the Academic as well as the Impressionist: both are +useful as foils to each other, and it is just as narrow of the +Impressionists to want all men to see nature and art as they see +them, as it has been for the Academics to see "nothing" in the +newer if more limited system. I believe that Leighton's real +love was early Italian art; all that came to him after was the +result of growth. His enthusiasm for Mino da Fiesole, for the +earlier Raphaels, for Duccio of Siena, for Lorenzetti, was +evident and absorbing; other enthusiasms were more branches from +the stem than its roots. He loved line; he found it there: he +loved restraint of action, pure sensuous beauty; he found it in +early Italian Art. The reserve of emotions touched him in Greek +Art—its suavity, its almost geometrical precision, the +tunefulness and melody of its rhythmical <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_6" id="PageV2_6">[6]</a></span>concords. His love of +music was on the same lines: Wagner never appealed to him as +Mozart did; it was too strenuous, too busy in changes of key, +too incomplete in the finish and development of phrases. It was +not that he liked dulness—not a bit; he was emotional, often +gay, often depressed—excitable even; but to him Art was an +intellectual more than a purely emotional system, and he liked +it to be finished, consistent, perfect—and those qualities he +strove for, without a doubt he obtained in a high measure. It +will be long before we see again the like of Frederic Leighton, +a man complete in himself.</p> + +<p class="rightsc">W.B. Richmond.</p> + +<p><i>June 1906.</i></p> +</div> + +<br /> +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> +<br /> + +<div class="block"><p>I first met Leighton about 1869 or '70, I think. I went to one +of his receptions at the Studio in Holland Park Road, at the +time he was showing his pictures for the Academy. I think his +principal work of that year was "Alcestis," or "Heracles +Wrestling with Death." About the same time Browning's poem of +"Balaustion's Adventure" appeared, in which he alludes to +Leighton and this very picture in the lines beginning:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"I know a great Kaunian painter"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noin">(if I remember rightly).</p> + +<p>I availed myself of a friend's introduction, and presented +myself. One recalls the courteous and princely way in which he +received his guests on these occasions, and the crushes he had +at his studio—Holland Park Road blocked with carriages, and all +the great ones of the London world flocking to see the artist's +work.</p> + +<p>About this time, or shortly before, he had done me the honour to +purchase two landscape studies I had made in Wales from among a +number in a book, which was shown him by my early friend George +Howard (now Earl of Carlisle), and I remember his kind words in +sending me what he deemed "the very modest price" I had asked +for them.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_7" id="PageV2_7">[7]</a></span>His kindness to students and young artists was well known. He +would take trouble to go and see their work, and he was always +an admirable and helpful critic.</p> + +<p>I remember, on my first visit to Rome in the autumn of 1871 (on +our marriage tour), going into Piali's Library one evening to +look at the English papers. No one was there, but presently +Leighton came in. He did not remember me at first, but I +recalled myself to him. He was very kind, in his princely way, +and gave me introductions to W.W. Storey, the sculptor, and his +great friend, Giov. Costa, and he called at our rooms to see my +work, in which he showed much interest. In a letter I had, dated +March 1st, 1872, written from the Athenæum Club, he speaks of +some drawings I had sent to the Dudley Gallery, one he had seen +on my easel in Rome, and he says: "I have seen your drawings, +all three—one was an old friend; of the other two, the 'Grotto +of Egeria,' with its 'sacrum numes,' most attracted me through +its refined and sober harmony. <i>The quality of your light</i> is +always particularly agreeable to me, and not less than usual in +these drawings"; he goes on to say he is glad to hear I have +"made friends with my excellent Costa, who as an artist is one +in hundreds, and as a man one in thousands"; he adds, "Have you +sketched in the 'Valley of Poussin'? It strikes me that old +castle would take you by storm."</p> + +<p>I saw Leighton again in Rome in 1873, meeting him on the +Palatine, among the ruins of the Palace of the Cæsars. He was +with a lady who, I believe, was the author of the story +published in <i>The Cornhill</i>, "A Week in a French Country House," +for which Leighton made an illustration. (His black and white +work was always very fine, and I recall seeing some of his +drawings on the wood for Dalziel's Bible and "Romola.")</p> + +<p>Later, he came to see us when we settled in London, in Wood +Lane.</p> + +<p>I had further relations with him about the time he was building +the Arab Hall, when (through George Aitcheson, his architect) I +designed the mosaic frieze. On some sketches I made for this he +writes: "Cleave to the Sphinx and Eagle, they are +<i>delightful</i>—I don't like the duck-women." With regard to these +Arab Hall mosaics, he said that he hoped to have more, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_8" id="PageV2_8">[8]</a></span>and +eventually "to let us loose (Burne-Jones and myself) on the +dome."</p> + +<p>After this, I saw something of Leighton on the committee of the +South London Fine Art Gallery, Peckham, in its earlier days, +when he was chairman, and helped to pilot the institution from +the somewhat exacting proprietorship of its founder towards its +ultimate position as a public institution.</p> + +<p>From the aristocratic point of view, he certainly had a keen +sense of public duty, and probably laid the motto "Noblesse +oblige" to heart.</p> + +<p>I met him again at the Art Conference at Liverpool, when a +trainful of artists of all ranks went down together, and some +notable attacks were made on the Royal Academy. Leighton was +tremendously loyal to that institution, which I notice is always +stoutly defended by its members, whatever opinions they may have +expressed while outsiders.</p> + +<p>I suppose we differed profoundly on most questions, but he was +always most courteous, and, whatever our public opinions, we +always maintained friendly personal relations; and I may say I +always entertained the highest admiration for Leighton's +qualities, both as an artist and as a man.</p> + +<p>At the time when the election for the presidency of the Academy +was in view (after the death of Sir Francis Grant), it was said +that Leighton was the <i>only</i> man, and that if they did not elect +him the institution would go to pieces; but probably as +president he had less power of initiative than before.</p> + +<p>I remember, after one of our committees at his studio, he drove +me home to Holland Street in his victoria; and as he set me down +at my door, he pointed to a little copper lantern I had put up +over the steps, and said, "Is that Arts and Crafts?"</p> + +<p>His fondness for Italy was well known, and I think he went every +autumn. I recall meeting him at Florence in 1890, while staying +at the delightful villa of Mrs. Ross (Poggio Gherardo), when he +came to luncheon.</p> + +<p>In death he was as princely as in life; and on the day of his +burial at St. Paul's I was moved to write the following as a +tribute to his memory, which will always be vivid in the hearts +of those who had the privilege of his friendship:—</p> + +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_9" id="PageV2_9">[9]</a></span> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Beneath great London's dome to his last rest<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The princely painter have ye borne away,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Who still in death upholds his sumptuous sway;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who strove in life with learned skill to wrest<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Art's priceless secret hid in Beauty's breast<br /></span> +<span class="i1">With alchemy of colour and of clay,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">To recreate a fairer human day,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Touched by no shadow of our time distrest.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">What rank or privilege needs art supreme—<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Immortal child of buried states and powers—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Who can for us the golden age renew?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let worth and work bear witness when life's hours<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Are numbered: honour due, when, as we deem,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To his ideal was the artist true.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i15 sc">Walter Crane.<br /></span> +</div></div> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep009" id="imagep009"></a> +<a href="images/imagep009.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep009.jpg" width="52%" alt="EUCHARIS." /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"EUCHARIS." 1863<br /> +By permission of Mrs. Stephenson Clarke<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<br /> +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> +<br /> + +<p>Having settled in England in 1860, Leighton found that there, contrary +to his expectations, his sense of colour became developed; and with +this his individuality as a <i>painter</i> asserted itself. Between the +years 1863 and 1866 he painted pictures which proved that, as a +distinct artificer in painting, he had found himself, and was no +longer under the controlling influences of German or Italian Art, +though, unfortunately, hints of German methods in the actual +manipulation of his brush clung more or less to his painting to the +end. From boyhood Leighton's power of designing, his sense of beauty +in line and form and of dramatic feeling, his extraordinary facility +in drawing with the point, proved his genius as an artist; but it was +not till the early sixties that his pictures proved him to be +possessed of individual distinction as a painter, probably because the +method of handling the brush associated with the teaching which, in +other respects, commanded his reverence and admiration, were alien to +his finest artistic sense. No later works are to be found more notable +in luminous quality of painting than "Eucharis," 1863, and "Golden +Hours," 1864; none in strength and <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_10" id="PageV2_10">[10]</a></span>solidity of texture, or in beauty +of distinguished handling, than "A Noble Lady of Venice," about 1865; +none in richness of arrangement combined with the fair aerial +atmosphere appropriate to a Grecian scene, for which Leighton had so +native a sympathy, than "A Syracusan Bride Leading Wild Beasts in +Procession to the Altar of Diana," 1866.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_11" id="PageV2_11">[11]</a></span>Later works may claim a +greater public prominence among his achievements, but for actual +individuality and feeling for the beauty which appealed most strongly +to Leighton in colour as in form, none he painted after evinced any +fresh departure.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep010" id="imagep010"></a> +<a href="images/imagep010.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep010.jpg" width="55%" alt="A NOBLE LADY OF VENICE" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"A NOBLE LADY OF VENICE." 1866<br /> +By permission of Lord Armstrong<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>As early as 1852, at the age of twenty-one, Leighton wrote to Steinle +from Venice: "I must candidly confess that great as my admiration for +Titian (& Co.) was, yet the well-known art treasures here have seized +me and entranced me anew. You, dear master, are so familiar with all +these things that there is nothing I can write you about them; but on +one point I am fairly clear, namely, that the admirers and imitators +of Titian (particularly the latest) seek his charms quite in the wrong +place, and I am convinced that the impressiveness of his painting lies +far less in the ardour of his colouring than in the stupendous +accuracy and execution of the modelling." In another letter to Steinle +he refers to the necessity of mastering the capacities of the brush in +order to render form in a complete manner independently of the +function of the brush to render colour.</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"Those who place the brush behind the pencil, under the pretence +that <i>form</i> is before all things, make a very great mistake. +Form <i>is certainly all important</i>; one cannot study it enough; +<i>but</i> the greater part of <i>form</i> falls within the province of +the tabooed <i>brush</i>. The everlasting hobby of <i>contour</i> (which +belongs to the drawing material) is first the <i>place</i> where the +<i>form</i> comes in; what, however, reveals true knowledge of form, +is a powerful, organic, refined finish of modelling, full of +feeling and knowledge—and that is the affair of the brush +(<i>Pinsel</i>)."</p></div> + +<p>In January 1860 Leighton wrote to Steinle: "You will perhaps be +surprised, but, in spite of my fanatic preference for colour I +promised myself to be a draughtsman before I became a colourist," and +in fact Leighton was fighting, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_12" id="PageV2_12">[12]</a></span>throughout his whole career, against +allowing the sensuous qualities in his art to override those which the +teaching of Steinle had proved to his nature to be the most truly +elevating and ennobling. Up to the age of thirty he had been +overshadowed by the influence of others in the matter of actual +technique in painting. From the time he settled in London he freed +himself from the tutelage of all masters. As we have read in his +letters, his intention was to do so in 1856 when he painted "The +Triumph of Music;" but at that time he failed in finding his real self +in his painting of that picture, and fully realised that he must +<i>reculer pour mieux sauter</i>, returning in the autumn of that year to +Rome to be fed by the greatest art of the past, and to study again, +"face to face with Nature—to follow it, to watch it, and to copy, +closely, faithfully, ingenuously—as Ruskin suggests, choosing nothing +and rejecting nothing." The studies of a Pumpkin Flower (Meran), +Branch of Vine (Bellosquardo), Cyclamen (Tivoli), reproduced in +Chapter III., and others, were made during this autumn of 1856.</p> + +<p>In a letter written to Mr. M. Spielmann, a few years before his death, +Leighton describes the procedure he pursued in accomplishing a serious +work.</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"In my pictures,—which are above all decorations in the real +sense of the word,—the design is a pattern in which every line +has its place and its proper relation to other lines, so that +the disturbing of one of them, outside certain limits, would +throw the whole out of gear. Having thus determined my picture +in my mind's eye, in the majority of cases I make a sketch in +black and white chalk upon brown paper to fix it. In the first +sketch the care with which the folds have been broadly arranged +will be evident, and if it be compared with the finished +picture, the very slight degree in which the general scheme has +been departed from will convince the spectator of the almost +scientific precision of my line of action. But there is a good +reason for this determining of the draperies before the model is +called in; and it is <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_13" id="PageV2_13">[13]</a></span>this. The nude model, no matter how +practised he or she may be never moves or stands or sits, in +these degenerate days, with exactly the same freedom as when +draped; action or pose is always different—not so much from a +sense of mental constraint as from the unusual liberty +experienced by the limbs to which the muscular action invariably +responds when the body is released from the discipline and +confinement of clothing.</p> + +<p>"The picture having been thus determined, the model is called +in, and is posed as nearly as possible in the attitude desired. +As nearly as possible, I say; for, as no two faces are exactly +alike, so no two models ever entirely resemble one another in +body or muscular action, and cannot, therefore, pose in such a +manner as exactly to correspond with either another model or +another figure—no matter how correctly the latter may be drawn. +From the model make the careful outline on brown paper, a true +transcript from life, which may entail some slight corrections +of the original design in the direction of modifying the +attitude and general appearance of the figure. This would be +rendered necessary probably by the bulk and material of the +drapery. So far, of course, my attention is engaged exclusively +by 'form,' colour being always treated more or less ideally. The +figure is now placed in its surroundings, and established in +exact relation to the canvas. The result is the first true +sketch of the entire design, figure, and background, and is +built up of the two previous ones. It must be absolutely +accurate in the distribution of spaces, for it has subsequently +to be 'squared off' on to the canvas, which is ordered to the +exact scale of the sketch. At this moment, the design being +finally determined, the sketch in oil colours is made. It has +been deferred till now, because the placing of the colours is, +of course, of as much importance as the harmony. This done, the +canvas is for the first time produced, and thereon I enlarge the +design, re-draw the outline—and never departing a +hair's-breadth from the outlines and forms already obtained—and +then highly finishing the whole figure in warm monochrome from +the life. Every muscle, every joint, every crease is there, +although all this careful painting is shortly to be hidden with +the draperies; such, however, is the only method of insuring +absolute correctness of drawing. The fourth <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_14" id="PageV2_14">[14]</a></span>stage completed, I +return once more to my brown paper, re-copy the outline +accurately from the picture, on a larger scale than before, and +resume my studies of draperies in greater detail and with still +greater precision, dealing with them in sections, as parts of a +homogeneous whole. The draperies are now laid with infinite care +on to the living model, and are made to approximate as closely +as possible to the arrangement given in the first sketch, which, +as it was not haphazard, but most carefully worked out, must of +necessity be adhered to. They have often to be drawn piecemeal, +as a model cannot by any means always retain the attitude +sufficiently long for the design to be wholly carried out at one +cast.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> This arrangement, is effected with special reference to +painting—that is to say, giving not only form and light and +shade, but also the relation and 'values' of tones. The +draperies are drawn over, and made to conform exactly to the +forms copied from the nudes of the underpainted picture. This is +a cardinal point, because in carrying out the picture the folds +are found fitting mathematically on to the nude, or nudes, first +established on the canvas. The next step then is to transfer the +draperies to the canvas on which the design has been squared +off, and this is done with flowing colour in the same monochrome +as before over the nudes, to which they are intelligently +applied, and which nudes must never—mentally at least—be lost +sight of. The canvas has been prepared with a grey tone, lighter +or darker, according to the subject in hand, and the effect to +be produced. The background and accessories being now added, the +whole picture presents a more or less completed +aspect—resembling that, say, of a print of any warm tone. In +the case of draperies of very vigorous tone, a rich flat local +colour is probably rubbed over them, the modelling underneath +being, though thin, so sharp and definite as to assert itself +through this wash. Certain portions of the picture might +probably be prepared with a wash of flat <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_15" id="PageV2_15">[15]</a></span>tinting of a colour +the opposite of that which it is eventually to receive. A blue +sky, for instance, would possibly have a soft, ruddy tone spread +over the canvas—the sky, which is a very definite and important +part of my compositions, being as completely drawn in monochrome +as any other of the design; or, for rich blue mountains a strong +orange wash or tint might be used as a bed. The structure of the +picture being thus absolutely complete, and the effect +distinctly determined by a sketch which it is my aim to equal in +the big work, I have nothing to think of but colour, and with +that I now proceed deliberately, but rapidly."</p></div> + +<p>So far Leighton explained the conscious processes he went through in +creating his pictures; but does this explanation record truly the real +agencies which brought about the result we see in his finest +achievements? I should say no,—most emphatically no. Where we can +trace the sign of these processes, there the picture fails in the +power of convincing. No such process produced "Eucharis" nor the +"Syracusan Bride." The process may have been gone through in painting +the procession, but it is obliterated by touches instinct with a true +painter's inspiration. All <i>teachable</i> qualities Leighton could +<i>teach</i> on the lines of soundest principles. His extreme modesty left +others to find out that where his preaching left off the real work +began in his own pictures. No one knew better than Leighton that no +theoretic knowledge ever made an artist; no teachable processes ever +made a beautiful picture; no one knew better that head without heart +never produced any work that was truly cared for.</p> + +<p>"God forgive me if I am intolerant," he wrote to Steinle, "but +according to my view an artist must produce his art out of his own +heart; or he is none."</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The chord that wakes in kindred hearts a tone,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Must first be tuned and vibrate in your own"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noin">were the words with which he ended his first address to the students +of the Royal Academy.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_16" id="PageV2_16">[16]</a></span>In the world's estimate of things and people, classification plays at +times a pernicious part. Classification in art matters may be tolerated +as useful only in the education of the non-artistic. Invariably the +most convincing touches escape the possibility of being reduced to so +dull a process of reckoning. Art marked by individual spontaneity, +emanating from the ego of the artificer, refuses to be levelled down +into a class. Critics seem at times to be strongly tempted to fit an +artist's achievements into certain classes, because they have +previously made up their minds as to the class the work belongs to. +Hence the perversion often of even an intelligent critic's estimate: +certain squarenesses exist which will not fit into round holes, so, for +the sake of classification, the corners must be shaved off. Surely no +artist ever existed who evaded being comfortably fitted into either a +square or a round hole more completely than did Leighton. Every serious +work he undertook was an entirely separate performance from any +previous invention—a new venture throughout—and, once decided on, +carried through with absolute conformity to the original conception. +Therefore any classification, beyond his mere method of working, is +more sterile in producing a just estimate of Leighton's art than of +those workers who are in the habit of painting pictures in which the +same motive recurs. Essentially original in his conceptions as in his +aims, and vibrating with receptiveness, he sounded nevertheless every +impression he received by unchanging principles adhered to as implicit +guides. He had within him at once the steadiest rock as a foundation, +and the most fertile of serial growths on the surface. Abiding rock and +surface flora alike had had their earliest nurture, it must be +remembered, in foreign parts, under other skies than that of our veiled +English light—under other influences of nature and of art than that of +our English climate and schooling—and it is partly owing to this fact +that it is not realised by those who have never seen nature under the +aspects <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_17" id="PageV2_17">[17]</a></span>which most delighted him, that Leighton's conceptions were +directly and invariably inspired by nature. Those who are conversant +with Italy and other Southern countries will possess the key to much +that is misjudged by others in Leighton's work. Scenes which entranced +his sensibilities as a boy, and, lingering ever in his fancy, gave +subjects for his paintings when his art was mature, may appear to one +without special knowledge of the South as mere echoes of classic art. +When he was thirty-one Leighton exhibited the picture "Lieder ohne +Worte."<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> It is no record, probably, of any particular place, nor of +any particular fountain; but when strolling on a road in or near a +southern town or village in Italy, a view which might originally have +inspired the motive may be seen at any moment. Encased in a wall near +Albano is a fountain which certainly recalled to me the picture as, in +the bright light of a May morning, the song of nightingales in the +grand foliage of overhanging magnolia trees echoed the sound of the +water springing from the glistening lip, and flowing over the clean +curve of the marble basin into the trough below. There was the same +lion's head which served as spout, the same arrangement of ornament +encircling it; also a finely shaped pitcher placed below to catch the +water, and—more recalling than any detail—was the echo of the real +motive of the picture—the dream-like poetry of the sunlit scene, with +the musical accompaniment of trickling water. Had Leighton painted a +Discobolus, it would probably never have occurred to most English +critics that nature and living action had inspired the work. Above the +lake of Albano is a road—"the Upper Gallery"—where every day are to +be met men playing the game. Any one watching it may see repeated over +and over again the action in the well-known statue. Nature inspired the +creations of the great ancients, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_18" id="PageV2_18">[18]</a></span>it was also invariably first-hand +impressions from nature that inspired Leighton's creations, whatever +superstructure of learning he added in the course of their development. +Living in Italy when his feelings were most sensitive to impressions, +the origin of the suggestions he imbibed is to be found in her +atmosphere, colouring, and the scenes which surrounded him when his +imagination was most free and fertile. Later, when he lived in England, +his travels in Italy and Greece supplied him with the subjects for the +most beautiful sketches he made direct from nature. No one, I believe, +has ever painted the luminous quality of white, as it is seen under +heated sunlight in the South, with the same charm as Leighton. The +sketches he made of buildings in Capri<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> are quite marvellously true +in their rendering of such effects. He made equally beautiful studies +of mountains and sea, under the rarefied atmosphere of Greece. He +seemed always happiest, I think, when the key of his pictures and +sketches was light and sunlit; in such pictures, for instance, as +"Winding the Skein," "Greek Girls Picking up Shells by the Seashore," +"Bath of Psyche," "Invocation," and others remarkable for their +fairness and their light, pure tone.</p> + +<p>Leighton's sympathies were adverse to the more sensuous qualities in +painting. Often, in discussing the works by Watts, he would strongly +discourage those who were, he considered, unduly influenced by the +charm of the great painter's quality and texture, from endeavouring to +aim at it in their own work. Such a treatment, Leighton maintained, +might be legitimate as the natural expression of the intuitive genius +of one gifted individual, but was not the treatment to copy by the +student on account of any intrinsic merit. He had almost an aversion +to any process which obtained effects through roughness and inequality +of surface. His genuine youthful predilection, which <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_19" id="PageV2_19">[19]</a></span>he retained +consistently throughout his life, was for the early Italian art and +Italian method of painting <i>al fresco</i>. "To see the old Florentine +school again is a thing which always enchants me anew, for one can +never be sated with seeing the noble sweetness, the child-like +simplicity, allied with high manly feeling, which breathes in it. But +I speak to you of plain things which you know far better than +I."—(Letter to Steinle from Florence, 1857.)</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep018" id="imagep018"></a> +<a href="images/imagep018.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep018.jpg" width="85%" alt="GREEK GIRLS PICKING UP SHELLS BY THE SEASHORE" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">GREEK GIRLS PICKING UP SHELLS BY THE SEASHORE. 1871<br /> +By permission of The Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>After Leighton became President of the Royal Academy he made Perugia +his halting-place for some weeks during his autumn travels, while he +wrote his biennial discourses for the students. He invariably stayed +at the well-known Brufani Hotel,—Mrs. Brufani, with whom he made +great friends, always reserving the same two rooms for him, from the +windows of which he could watch the sun set behind the glorious piles +of Umbrian mountains to the west of Perugia. From these windows he +also made sketches in silver point of the distant ranges, each form +modelled with exquisite delicacy and perfection, though in faintest +tones. Other inmates of the Brufani supposed he lived in his two +rooms, as he was seldom seen elsewhere in the hotel; but Leighton had +found a restaurant which, like his old quarters in Rome—the <i>Café +Greco</i>—was the resort of the artists living in Perugia. There he +would lunch, and then repair to the Sala del Cambio. Sitting on the +raised seat near the window, he would, day after day, spend an hour or +more revelling in the beauty of the frescoes by Perugino. Then he +would mount to the Pinacoteca and take a deep draught of enjoyment +from the tempera paintings of Perugino's master, Benedetto Bonfiglio, +Leighton's favourite of favourites ("They are all my <i>Bonfigli!</i>" he +would exclaim), whose angels' aureoles rest on wreaths of roses, and +whose lovely work Perugia seems to have monopolised. The old paintings +of Martino, Gentile da Fabiano, Pietro da Foligno, and their +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_20" id="PageV2_20">[20]</a></span>followers Leighton also loved, likewise the later work of Bernardino +Pinturicchio and Lo Spagna, pupils with Raphael of Perugino. Among his +greatest favourites were the painted banners—the <i>Gonfalone</i>—which +are peculiar to the Umbrian cities. He loved the freshness of their +quality—the result of a first painting never retouched—the masterly +ease of the workmanship, full of tender, gracious beauty. These days +were Leighton's real holidays, where, in rapturous admiration of the +art he loved so profoundly, he put behind him for the time the weight +of official responsibility, and the no less exhausting social duties +of his life.</p> + +<p>Had Leighton been able to devote himself to the method of painting in +fresco, and to work in a warm, dry climate, which admits of painting +into the wet surface of plaster without danger of the wall retaining +the moisture, he would, undoubtedly, have felt a freer impulse to work +rapidly and more spontaneously than when his touch was controlled by +the complicated procedures in oil painting. In the process of painting +<i>al fresco</i>, colour, in a sense, models itself—its absorption into the +wet plaster softening the edges of one touch into another; hence, over +a first painting no half obliteration is necessary, and any elaborate +finish is avoided. Being obliged to complete before the plaster was +dry, Leighton could not have yielded to the temptation to over-refine +his surface; and his splendid power as a draughtsman, allied to his +sense of beauty, would have found a perfectly spontaneous, happy +utterance. As a boy he had imbibed one great principle, and from this +principle he never deviated. He wrote, "The thoroughness of all the +great masters is so pervading a quality that I look upon them all as +forming one aristocracy." In his sketches alone did Leighton relax from +the strain which absolute thoroughness involves; and then, in all the +fervour of æsthetic inspiration, colour would fly on canvas, chalk or +paper, with a charm of quality and <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_21" id="PageV2_21">[21]</a></span>exquisite grace of line and form +which, as Mr. Briton Rivière remarks, is the very best that can be +obtained from a great artist thoroughly trained, but which condition +Leighton would never admit into what he considered his serious work. He +writes to his father from Rome, January 1853: "I was deeply impressed +with the glorious works of art I saw in Venice and Florence, and was +particularly struck with the exquisitely <i>elaborate</i> finish of most of +the leading works by <i>whatever</i> master; the highest possible finish +combined with the greatest possible breadth and grandeur of disposition +in the principal masses. Art with the old masters was full of love, +refined,—sterling." Leighton formed his standard from these old +masters, and never for a moment allowed his standard to be replaced by +another. In certain types of Englishmen chivalric loyalty develops at +times into obstinacy. Leighton, with all his passion for Italy, his +artistic sensitiveness, his excitability, his finely wrought nervous +temperament, and his intense power of sympathy, had also in his blood +something of the old English Tory, which made him adhere and remain +loyal to the strongest impressions of his youth. Catholic and generous +as he always proved himself to be when it was a question of considering +the work of others, when he was considering his own he ever maintained +absolute consistency with the tenets of his early illuminations. +Speaking of his extraordinary sense of duty and the consequent tension +involved, Mr. Briton Rivière writes:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"No doubt the constant wear and tear occasioned by the perpetual +strain of mental and physical watchfulness did much to shorten +his life; I think it sometimes injured his own work as an +artist, because, though a great artist can never be evolved +except by years of patient work and strenuous effort to do his +very best always, yet, on the other hand, it is often the happy, +easy work and absolutely spontaneous effort of the moment by +such a hand which is his very best. Such happy, easy work +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_22" id="PageV2_22">[22]</a></span>probably Leighton would seldom allow himself to do, and never +would leave at the right moment, but would still strive to make +better and more complete. He must still elaborate it and try to +make it more perfect; and this it was that made his enthusiastic +admirer Watts sometimes say, 'How much finer Leighton's work +would be if he would admit the accidental into it.'"</p></div> + +<p>A fact, little suspected by the public, certainly affected the element +of strength in some of Leighton's works. Besides often suffering from +a positive want of health, his normal physical condition was far from +robust; and, as appears in his letters, he suffered much through +weakness and irritation in the eyes from the time he was a boy. He did +not wear his physical (or any other) distress on his sleeve, and +experienced many hindrances in his work never dreamt of, even by his +intimate acquaintances. These might not have been so serious had he +been willing to sacrifice all other duties in life to his own special +vocation; but though he realised that Art, the language of beauty, was +his main passion, his conscience would not allow him to make this +passion an excuse for avoiding help to his generation on other lines, +if he distinctly felt he could do so. In the happiest of surroundings, +with his life unburdened by public responsibilities, he painted +"Cimabue's Madonna"; and, for pure vigour in the manipulation, this +painting has a robust quality which is scarcely to be found in any +other of the larger works which followed, though these may possess +many other virtues, and evince a more definite individuality, than +does the early work.</p> + +<p>Leighton's art appeals to the artists (comparatively few in England) +possessed of cosmopolitan culture—also to many who love beauty, a +sense of refined distinction in feeling and in form and in the +arrangement of line. Beyond these it appeals also to the great public +outside the radius of specialists, a public which is impressed by a +sense of beauty <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_23" id="PageV2_23">[23]</a></span>and achievement without possessing the knowledge of +experts. It is not much cared for by the disciples of either of the +latest schools in England, and in France, which have governed fashion +in the matter of taste for the last twenty years. In the first place, +it appeals but little to those to whom the highest province of art +appears to consist in conveying didactic sentiments and poetic ideas +through a language of form and colour—to suggest thought to the brain +rather than beauty to the eye. Respecting this theory of the province +of art, Leighton expresses himself clearly in his second address to +the Royal Academy students in December 1881:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"Now the language of Art is not the appointed vehicle of ethic +truths; of these, as of all knowledge as distinct from emotion, +though not necessarily separated from it, the obvious and only +fitted vehicle is speech, written or spoken—words, the symbols +of ideas. The simplest spoken homily, if sincere in spirit and +lofty in tone, will have more direct didactic efficacy than all +the works of all the most pious painters and sculptors from +Giotto to Michael Angelo; more than the Passion music of Bach, +more than a Requiem by Cherubini, more than an Oratorio of +Handel.</p> + +<p>"It is not, then, it cannot be the foremost duty of Art to seek +to embody that which it cannot adequately present, and to enter +into a competition in which it is doomed to inevitable defeat."</p></div> + +<p>That so great a painter as Watts should have taken a contrary view, and +preached this contrary view as that which inspired his own <i>conscious</i> +aims, was quite sufficient to secure to it many adherents. He preached +his doctrine, moreover, with a most convincing argument, but one which +cannot logically be used in favour of it, namely, his own great genius +as a <i>painter</i>. Watts was essentially a <i>painter</i>—one who at his best +ranks with the best painters of all times.</p> + +<p>Mr. Arthur Symons, writing on "The Psychology of <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_24" id="PageV2_24">[24]</a></span>Watts,"<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> quotes a +popular preacher who affirmed that "Critics who approach his (Watts') +work from the side of technical excellence do not interest him at all. +His endeavour has been to make his pictures as good as works of art as +was possible to him, for fear that they should fail altogether in +their appeal; but, beyond that, their excellence as mere pictures is +nothing to him." "Now," writes Mr. Symons, "it is quite possible that +Watts may have really said or written something of the kind; he may +even, when he set himself down to think, have thought it. The +conscious mental processes of an artist have often little enough +relation with his work as art; by no means is every artist a critic as +well as an artist. But to take a great painter at his word, if he +assures you that the excellence of his pictures 'as mere pictures' is +nothing to him; to suppose seriously that at the root of his painting +was not the desire to paint; to believe for a moment that great +pictorial work has ever been done except by those who were painters +first, and everything else afterwards, is to confuse the elementary +notions of things, hopelessly and finally. And so, when we are told +that the technical excellence of Watts' pictures is of little +consequence, we can but answer that to the 'painter of earnest +truths,' as to all painters, nothing can be of more consequence; for +it is only through this technical excellence that 'Hope,' or 'The +Happy Warrior,' or 'Love and Life,' is to be preferred to the picture +leaflet which the district missionary distributes on his way through +the streets."</p> + +<p>All who knew Watts intimately and watched him working day by day can +testify that he spared no labour, time, or patience, in working over +and over on a picture in order to attain the finest quality in the +actual surface which his material—paint—could possibly produce.</p> + +<p>Neither the disciples of the original brotherhood of the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_25" id="PageV2_25">[25]</a></span>pre-Raphaelites nor those of Burne-Jones care, as a rule, for +Leighton's art. Though starting as one with the pre-Raphaelites, +Burne-Jones, possessing a remarkably fine intellect, a subtle fancy, a +rich inventiveness in the detail of design, an exquisite sense of +grace, and great genius as a colourist, developed so distinct an +individuality that his followers cannot be precisely identified with +those of the pre-Raphaelites. Leighton fully appreciated the genius of +Burne-Jones, and did all in his power to secure his adherence to the +Academy; but he had no sympathy for that feeling in art evinced by +Burne-Jones' followers, which is so essentially rooted in purely +personal moods that even distortion of the human frame is condoned, so +long as prominence is given to the suggestion of such moods.</p> + +<p>Imbued with a rare, peculiar refinement all its own, a kind of +æsthetic creed sprang up in the later days of the nineteenth century +apart from the arid soil of commonplace respectability and tasteless +materialism. Burne-Jones painted it, Kate Vaughan danced it, +Maeterlinck wrote it, the "Souls" (rather unsuccessfully) attempted to +live it, the humourists caricatured it, the Philistines denounced it +as morbid and unwholesome. Leighton was tolerant and amused, but could +not be very solemn over it. And, assuredly, already this creed has +been whisked away into the past by fashions diametrically opposed to +it in character. Its text may be found in Melisande's reiterated +refrain, "I am not happy"—though the unhappiness does not seem ever +to have been of the nature of the iron which entered into the soul, +but rather the shadow of sadness, adopted with the idea that such a +condition betokens a more rare and tender grace than the radiance of +joy can give. Every mood of the subjective has been lately in fashion +in æsthetic circles, and is still rampant in much of the up-to-date +(or down-to-date, as it may be) conditions of the present <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_26" id="PageV2_26">[26]</a></span>taste. This +is probably consequent on the leadership of those artists who +possessed not only genius and sense of beauty, but a peculiar charm of +texture in their work which seems a native adjunct to certain +temperaments. It is a purely personal manner, and crops up without +reference apparently to any special school of art. In Sodoma we find +it allied to a development of the splendid completeness of Italian +Art; again in the Celt, Watts, to a lofty imagination and to a +Pheidian sensibility for noble form; it appears in the work of the +Jew, Simeon Solomon; and is an element in Burne-Jones' lovely quality +of painting especially noticeable in his water-colour drawings—and, +on a smaller scale of workmanship, in the pictures by Pinwell. It is +more a matter of quality than of colour, and yet it is only colourists +who have possessed it—most obviously, however, where the key of +colour is restrained almost to monochrome. A hint of it can be found +in Tintoretto's paintings, where few positive tints are prominent, as +in some of the ceiling paintings in the Ducal Palace at Venice. There +is a something which this special handling suggests which possesses a +very subtle charm, the charm of dreamland,—less tangible, less real +than direct appeals from nature. A slight mystery seems to veil the +vision like a reflection swayed by the surface of the water. It is +less explicit than any real object, and only suggests completion +without quite achieving it; there is something left out from the +aspect of nature, something added from the ego of the artist. There +are those to whom such a treatment suggests a deeper truth than can +any wholly explicit expression, because they feel forcibly that +mystery is the soul of all earthly conditions—"we see through a glass +darkly." There are others—and Leighton was among these—who are so +strongly imbued with a sense of the wonderful and marvellous in actual +creation that they need no art, no veiled suggestion of the hidden, +in <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_27" id="PageV2_27">[27]</a></span>order to realise that our lives are wrapped in mystery from the +cradle to the grave. This quality in painting alluded to, fits in with +that taste in literature which prefers hints to assertions—that +insistency on the value of what is, after all, but a <i>fugitive</i> phase +in special temperaments—that setting most value on the principle of +suggestion rather than of definition, of which we hear so much. The +devotees of Maeterlinck delight in the shadow of a thought rather than +the thought <i>arrêté</i>; they feel that a further stage of refined +culture is reached in worshipping a style you have to get somehow +behind, rather than one in which thoughts are fully and frankly +expressed. Doubtless it requires a more subtile weapon to catch the +fleeting aroma, the hint of a thought trembling in the brain and +giving it permanent existence in Art, than to carve the expression of +a complete idea explicitly with cameo-like precision, be it in the +form of words or a visual impression—the wise sayings of a Solomon or +a Bacon, the sculpture of a Pheidias or the painting of a Leonardo da +Vinci. The actual visible facts in the aspects of nature, which were +of such entrancing interest to Leighton, become of less and less +interest to the wide public as the human intelligence is trained more +and more through books, less and less through the eye; our modern +conditions making the world we live in, more and more ugly and +uninspiring to the echoing tune of nature within us. Even if we recede +into the depths of the country, we find the signs all round us of the +sense of beauty being deadened, the revulsion against ugliness having +ceased—corrugated iron supplanting thatched roofing, and the +loveliest, most rural spots in England year after year newly deprived +of some special charm they have possessed for centuries. Those who +seek for beauty have been led to find it in the unreal—the things +which might be, but are not. We cannot help it, but we certainly +become more artificial as <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_28" id="PageV2_28">[28]</a></span>our civilisation becomes more complicated, +and everything we see around us grows uglier. It is because the +general public has so little genuine interest in Art or love of +beauty, however great may be its professions, that the tendency has +developed to care for the art which appeals rather to the mind and the +æsthetic sensibilities generally, than to the actual vision.</p> + +<p>This reign of the subjective has brought in its train the undue +monopolising of the world's most ardent interest in one passion. +French novels of great literary power secured to it the monopoly in +France, and magnates in æsthetic culture have grafted it on to our +English taste. This strongest and most beautiful feeling in human +nature has been so monotonously forced upon us in literature <i>à tort +et à travers</i>—the assumption that this is the only feeling worth +serious consideration has been dwelt on with such a tiresome +pertinacity—it has been so often caricatured, so often debased in +books and pictures, that even the real thing itself runs a danger of +palling. This human passion may be the greatest, but it is not the +only great feeling with which the lives of men and women are enriched; +and surely the absorbing prominence which has been given to it +latterly in literature is out of proportion with its real position in +healthy lives. Little sympathy seems left for other deep and stirring +emotions. In Leighton's art we find no monopoly of this kind either +recorded or suggested. He painted the passion of lovers in the "Paolo +and Francesca," but with no more sincere interest than he did other +feelings; than, for instance, his fervent and reverent worship of art +in "Cimabue's Madonna," or in the ecstasy of joy in the child flying +into the embrace of her mother in "The Return of Persephone," or in +the exquisite tender feeling of Elisha breathing renewed life into the +Shunammite's son, or in that sense of rest and peace after struggle in +the lovely figure of "Ariadne" when Death releases her from her pain; +or in the yearning for that peace <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_29" id="PageV2_29">[29]</a></span>in the "King David": "Oh that I had +wings like a dove! for then would I fly away and be at rest."</p> + +<p>As the climax of nature's loveliest creations Leighton treated the +human form with a courageous purity. In his undraped figures there is +the same total absence of the mark of the degenerate as there is in +everything he did and was; no remote hint of any <i>double-entendre</i> +veiled by æsthetic refinement, any more than there is in the Bible, +the <i>Iliad</i>, or in the sculpture of Pheidias.</p> + +<p>To quote lines that were written about Leighton very shortly before +his death:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"There is truly to be traced in the feeling of his art that +'seal on a man's work of what is most inward and peculiar in his +moods'; the sign of individual intimate preferences and of the +moving power which certain aspects of beauty have had upon the +artist's innermost susceptibilities, though these may be +somewhat veiled and distanced by being translated through the +reserved form of a classic garb. Perhaps it is this reserve +which invests Sir Frederic Leighton's art with the special aroma +of poetry which Robert Browning found in it to a greater extent +than in any other work of his time.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> Whether in his larger +compositions, in the complicated grouping of many figures, such +as the Cimabue picture being led in procession through the +streets of Florence, the 'Daphnephoria,' 'Heracles struggling +with Death,' the 'Andromache,' the 'Cymon and Iphigenia,' and +others; or those simpler compositions, such as the 'Summer +Moon,' 'Wedded,' 'The Mountain Summit,' 'The Music Lesson,' +'Sister's Kiss,' in all can be traced the sentiment of a poet +inspiring the touch; not overriding by any assertiveness of +sentiment the complete scheme of the picture, but lingering here +and there with a wistful loveliness which has to be sought for +within the barriers of the formal classic design. And it is this +reticence in the expression of individual sentiment, this +subduing it to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_30" id="PageV2_30">[30]</a></span>larger conditions of a more abstract style +of art which, though it will never make Sir Frederic Leighton's +work directly popular, gives to it a quality of distinction. In +such reticence is an element of greatness which probably will +only be duly appreciated when the more transient moods of +thought in the present generation have passed. His work lacks +altogether the sentimental, brooding-over-self quality, which, +when allied to genius, is contagious, and gives an interest of a +subtle, but perhaps not altogether wholesome kind to some of the +best work of this era."</p></div> + +<p>And again after his death:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"Beauty of every kind played on a very sensitive instrument, +when it made an appeal to his nature, giving him very positive +joy: no complication of subtle interest beyond the actual +influence being required before a responding echo was sounded, +because so pure and innocent was this joy he had in the charm of +beauty;—so also attendant on his personal influence, there was +no power of mesmerism, nor of the black arts. In every direction +it was healthy and bracing. Even a Nordau could have discovered +no remotest taint of the degenerate!"</p></div> + +<p>It is the emotions which art suggests outside itself which have been +viewed by one school as more interesting than art itself, and it is +the sensuous qualities in painting—colour and texture—which are the +visible agents, and convey more readily these suggestions of emotions +in our northern temperaments than do beautiful lines and forms. Our +northern temperaments also love symbolism and mysticism, therefore are +apt to favour the art that meets a veiled condition of things; and the +perfection of complete finish in nature's form is no longer held up as +a standard for the student to aim at. Leighton had no sympathy with +the artificial, neither had he any with the shadow put in the place of +the substance. The actual was ever sufficient for him, for in nature +herself he never failed to find sufficient inspiration. The mind of +the Creator in matter is what the ingenuous artist temperament +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_31" id="PageV2_31">[31]</a></span>searches for and is inspired to record; whereas it is, on the one +hand, phases of human moods, selections from human passions, good, +bad, and indifferent, which are made to saturate the feeling in much +of our modern art, or, on the other hand, aspects of nature's moods +given without the framework of her structure, and without the detail +of her perfection.</p> + +<p>It may be argued, however, that there are among the most beautiful +effects in nature those which are not fully distinct to the sight—the +shimmering iridescence on a shell, where one colour is seen sparkling +against another through a film, or the waving branches of a willow, +the liquid shifting of a flowing stream, or the endless effects of +cloud and mist in a northern sky. To express this in paint requires an +appropriate treatment in the manipulation of the pigment itself. +Watts' theory was that you have to unfinish the record of certain +facts in order to render the truth of the whole fact (see also +Steinle's criticism on Leighton's head of "Vincenzo," 1854). He would, +therefore, film his painting over with a scumble of white, and only +partially repaint the surface, in order to get at that whole truth +which includes the bloom of atmosphere and the veil of northern mists. +Leighton is thought at times to have erred on the side of +explicitness, and the texture of his surface is apt undoubtedly to +lack the vibrating quality which carries with it a beauty of its own. +This is partly accounted for by the fact that he had imbibed the +rudiments of his teaching in a school whose followers were not +sensitive to the finest qualities in oil painting, but also probably +from his extreme desire to give expression to his sense of the intense +finish in nature.</p> + +<p>Doctrinaires of the very latest fashion in art insist that nothing +comes legitimately within the province of the pictorial, except the +impression of nature transmitted to the physical organ detached from +memory, experience, and mind. By this faction the eye is treated +solely as a machine. Sound <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_32" id="PageV2_32">[32]</a></span>as may be the doctrine that art has +nothing to do with what the eye cannot see, or with those facts which +experience alone teaches us are there, it is also no less true that +the human eye sees, according to its intuitive power of transmitting +to the brain, the different component parts of the actual object of +its vision. It was no knowledge of anatomy which enabled Pheidias to +see every subtilty of form in the human figure with consummate +insight—any more than it was a knowledge of the laws of the flow and +ebb of the tides, which enabled Whistler to give an actual sense of +the swaying surface of the waves in "Valparaiso Bay"; again, it was no +knowledge of botany which enabled Leighton and Millais to reproduce +the structure of plants so perfectly, that they evoked unmitigated +admiration as botanical studies from so high an authority on botany as +Sir W.C. Thistleton Dyer. We may be told that what we really see is +only the relation of tone, of light and shadow; but the fact that the +architecture of the whole visible world, the meaning-full construction +of all things that nature builds, is being constantly realised by our +sight, makes the truth of this theory at least doubtful. That our eye +cannot discern these natural objects without light goes without +saying; further, that light and shadow shape the forms to be rendered +by the brush is also true: but the assertion that what we see is only +light and shade playing upon form, is shutting the door on another +equally obvious truth. The eye, gifted with a natural sense of form, +records ingenuously to the brain the sense of projecting and receding +planes, the foreshortening of masses, the straightness, slant, or +curve in a surface or in a line. A complete and exhaustive result may +be achieved in a painting through this sense of form, as in the work +of Van Eycke and of Leonardo da Vinci; or a shorthand record may be +made, as in that of Phil May's sketches. But we feel that in both the +sense of the whole <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_33" id="PageV2_33">[33]</a></span>form has been felt. However, volumes would not +exhaust the arguments for and against the so-called impressionist's +view of art; so-called—but surely a term unfortunate and misleading, +and in nowise explanatory. Every touch a true artist ever puts upon +canvas is a record of an impression—whether that impression comprises +the structure, light and shade, true colour and tone, all +combined,—or only certain surface qualities extracted from its +entirety and enforced so that the most obvious appearances start into +relief, giving doubtless a sense of vitality to a work, but remaining +nevertheless only a partial record of the object. Needless to say, +Leighton sought to record his impressions of nature in their entirety, +and this necessitated a balancing of their component attributes. The +startling element is never found in his art.</p> + +<p>He viewed the influence of art as one which should perfect the life of +every class; should purify in all directions the debasing elements of +materialism and self-interest; should put zest and gratitude into the +hearts of all men and women who can see and feel, by awakening a sense +of the perfection and beauty of nature, art forming an explanatory and +illuminating link between her and mankind—a translation of her +perfection transmitted with all reverence by the artificer;—a +perfecting beautiful pinnacle in the erection and development of a +noble human being.</p> + +<p>No words could better describe Leighton's high endeavour in training +his own mind and those whom he tried to influence, than the following, +written by Lord Acton and quoted by his friend, Sir M. Grant Duff.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> +"If I had the power," writes Sir M. Grant Duff, "I would place upon +his monument the words which he wrote as a preface to a list of +ninety-eight books he drew up, and about which he still hoped to read +a paper at Cambridge when he wrote to me on the subject last autumn. +'This list is submitted with a view to assisting an English <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_34" id="PageV2_34">[34]</a></span>youth, +whose education is finished, who knows common things, and is not +training for a profession, to perfect his mind and open windows in +every direction; to raise him to the level of his age, so that he may +know the forces that have made the world what it is, and still reign +over it; to guard against surprises and against the constant sources +of errors within; to supply him both with the strongest stimulants and +the surest guides; to give force and fulness, and clearness and +sincerity, independence and elevation, generosity and serenity to his +mind, that he may know the method and lay of the process by which +error is conquered and truth is won, discerning knowledge from +probability and prejudice from belief; that he may learn to master +what he rejects as fully as what he adopts; that he may understand the +origin as well as the strength and vitality of systems, and the better +motives of men who are wrong; to steel him against the charm of +literary beauty and talent, so that each book, thoroughly taken in, +shall be the beginning of a new life, and shall make a new man of +him.'" In a like spirit Leighton sought to arrive at viewing art; and +what Lord Acton sought to effect by the general culture of men's minds +and natures through reading, Leighton sought to effect in his special +vocation by inducing other artists to study all that was greatest in +Art from a wide and unprejudiced point of view—making it their own, +so to speak, by thoroughly realising and appreciating the qualities in +it which make it great. Each true masterpiece in Art, he urged, should +be thoroughly taken in, and should be the beginning of a new effort. +On the other hand, he sought to make the student "learn to master what +he rejects as fully as what he adopts, that he may understand the +origin as well as the strength and vitality of systems, and the better +motives of men who are wrong." His desire was to guide art into the +current of the world's best interests—the current in which good +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_35" id="PageV2_35">[35]</a></span>literature is so forcible an agent—on the highest, broadest, most +catholic lines. He endeavoured to do so by his example as a working +artist, by his Discourses, by his labours for the public in every +direction where the Art of his country was concerned, and more +directly by his influence on those with whom he personally came in +contact.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> This picture has, I believe, unfortunately left the +country. It was suggested by a passage in the second Idyll of +Theocritus: "And for her, then many other wild beasts were going in +procession round about, and among them a lioness." Sketches for +portions of the picture and the squared tracing for the complete +design can be seen in the Leighton House Collection. The full-length +portrait of Mrs. James Guthrie was exhibited the same year as this +second processional picture, which appeared on the walls of the +Academy eleven years after the "Cimabue's Madonna." The head of the +central figure, the Bride, Leighton painted from Mrs. Guthrie. The +following charming letter from Mrs. Norton, the most notable of +Sheridan's three beautiful daughters, refers to this picture:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">3 Chesterfield Street,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>April 9</i>.</span><br /></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Mr. Leighton</span>,—I was so amused by the little +grandson's observation on the picture that I cannot help writing +about him. I asked him "what he thought of it"? He said, "Oh! it +was <i>beautiful</i>! but you told me it would be beautiful—<i>Mr. +Leighton</i> was like a <i>man in a story</i>! you did not look so much +at him as Carlotta and I did, but I suppose you have seen him +before, and you did not seem to <i>pity the little panther</i>! There +was, in the picture, a little young <i>puppy</i> panther, and one of +the young brides was coaxing it so tenderly, and looking down at +its head; and she was one of the prettiest and kindest looking +of all the brides (it was the side of the picture furthest from +the screen); and I could not help thinking, 'Ah, my poor little +panther! you little know when the brides get into that temple, +and she gets married, how she'll forget all about you, and get +coaxing other things, her husband and her children'; and I felt +quite sorry for the panther." So spoke my grandson (just as I +felt sorry for the cripple beggar).</p> + +<p>Now, as I am quite sure no one else will take this view of what +is the principal interest in your glorious procession of youth +and hope, I thought it as well to let you know, that you might +give that little panther his due importance (a little leopard, I +think he is), and not suppose him a subordinate accessory! That +whole procession was tinged with mournfulness in Richard +Norton's eyes for that little leopard's sake. I shall see that +"Dream of Fair Women" again in the Exhibition, and admire it, as +I did to-day, in a crowd of other admirers, I know. I do not +mind the crowd. I see over them and under them, and through +them, when there is anything so worth being eager +about.—Believe me meanwhile, yours very truly,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Caroline Norton.</p></div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> In a letter from Leighton to his mother, the following +sentence occurs:—"Will you please explain to him" (his father) "that +I am not going to model the <i>drapery</i> of my figures, but the <i>figures +themselves</i> to lay the drapery on, as my models could not fly +sufficiently long for me to draw them in the act; it is of course a +very great delay, but the result will amply make up for the extra +trouble, I hope."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> The picture has left the country, but sketches of the +complete design are among those in the Leighton House Collection.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Lent by Lady Wantage to the Exhibition, in Leighton +House, of the smaller works and sketches in 1903.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> <i>Outlook</i>, July 15th, 1905.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> When standing with me before Leighton's picture "Wedded" +in the studio Robert Browning exclaimed, "I find a poetry in that +man's work I can find in no other."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> "The Late Lord Acton." <i>The Spectator</i>, July 5, 1902.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_36" id="PageV2_36">[36]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER I<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>FIRST STUDIO IN LONDON</h4> + +<h4>1859-1863</h4> +<br /> + +<p>In 1858 Leighton was represented on the Royal Academy walls by two +pictures, "The Fisherman and the Syren"—a subject from Goethe's +ballad,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Half drew she him,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Half sunk he in,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And never more was seen"—<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noin">and by a scene from "Romeo and Juliet," both small canvases painted in +Rome and in Paris.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_37" id="PageV2_37">[37]</a></span>Leighton at this time received an encouraging letter from Robert +Fleury, from whom he had learned much:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>Que parlez vous de reconnaissance, mon cher Monsieur Leighton? +de l'amitié je le veux bien, et je reçois, à ce titre seulement, +le dessin que vous m'avez envoyé. Ne me suis je pas fait plaisir +en vous reconnaissant du talent et en vous rendant la justice +qui vous est due? si vous m'avez donné l'occasion de vous faire +part de ma vieille espérance n'est ce pas une preuve de l'estime +que vous faites de mes conseils? Puisque vous m'offrez +généreusement votre amitié, je l'accepte de bien bon cœur, et +votre petit dessin me restera comme un gracieux souvenir de +vous.</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Robert Fleury.</p> +<p><span class="sc">Paris,</span> <i>le 18 Mars 1858</i>.</p> +</div> + +<p class="noin">In the autumn of 1858 Leighton was back in Rome, and it was at that +time the King, then Prince of Wales, first visited his studio. "I +myself had the advantage of knowing him (Leighton) for a great number +of years—ever since I was a boy—and I need hardly say how deeply I +deplore the fact that he can be no more in our midst," were the words +spoken by the King—thirty-nine years after this first meeting—at the +Royal <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_38" id="PageV2_38">[38]</a></span>Academy banquet, which took place after Leighton's death, 1st +May 1897.</p> + +<p>He worked in Rome till his pictures were finished for exhibition in +the spring, 1859.</p> + +<p>He wrote to his mother:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>It is my particular object and study to go to no parties, in the +which I have succeeded admirably. I go often to Cartwright's in +the evening, that don't count; now and then to Browning, now and +then to the play, see a good deal of Lady Hoare; and that +reminds me that Hoare sent you some game the other day, which, +however, was returned, as you were not forthcoming. By-the-bye, +when I say I have made no acquaintances of interest, that is not +true; Odo Russell, son and brother of my friends, Lady William +and Arthur Russell, and our diplomatic agent here, is a great +friend of mine, and particularly sympathetic. I see him often at +Cartwright's, who is his <i>alter ego</i>; also I know and like Miss +Ogle, who wrote that (I hear) exceedingly remarkable novel, "A +Lost Love." She is a country clergyman's daughter in a remote +corner of Yorkshire, and wrote this book when she had, I +believe, never lived out of a circle of "kettles." She is not +young, but agreeable and quaint.</p> + +<p>I am just finishing the largish studies of a very handsome model +here, and am about to send them off for exhibition. They seem +very popular with all who see them, and are, I think, my best +things.</p></div> + +<div class="block"><p class="right">1859.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dearest Mammy</span>,—I find to my annoyance that I have +mislaid your kind letter, so that I must answer as best I can +from memory.</p> + +<p>That the French and Austrians have been formally requested by +the Pope to withdraw their troops from the States of the Church +is, I have ascertained from good authority, true, though how on +earth you can have known in Florence so long ago a thing which +has only just happened, and which is still in great measure a +secret here, is what I can't make out; but, dear Mamma, I trust +this won't prevent your coming to Rome in April, as there <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_39" id="PageV2_39">[39]</a></span>is no +chance of the evacuation being carried into effect by that time. +There will be particularly (indeed exclusively) on the side of +Austria a great demur and <i>pourparler</i>, inasmuch as the +consequences of this step will probably be most serious to her; +so that for the next few months we need fear nothing. I trust +you will come; however, of course I dread the responsibility of +insisting too much. You will see how matters look in a few +weeks. I am just about to despatch to the Royal Academy some +studies from a very handsome model, "La Nanna." I have shown +them to a good many people, artists and "Philistines," and they +seem to be universally admired. Let us hope they will be well +hung in the Exhibition. Talking of exhibitions, you will be +rather amused to hear that my "Samson" has been <i>refused</i> at the +British Institution, which this year is particularly weak and +insignificant. It is gone in to the Suffolk Street now, unless +too late. Neither I nor anybody else has the least idea what is +the cause of this strongish measure. I have sent my "Negroes" to +Paris, and if it is not too late the "Juliet" and "Paris" will +go there also. I think they will be well hung, as they are +godfathered by Mr. Montfort, my kind and valuable friend. This +afternoon the Prince of Wales came to my studio, with Colonel +and Mrs. Bruce, Gibson, &c. &c. Gibson spoke in the very highest +terms of my pictures, so of course all the others were +delighted!</p></div> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><i>Tuesday Morning.</i></p> + +<p>I have not been able to answer your letter till now, and indeed +even now I am interrupting my work to do it; I will answer all +your questions categorically. First, about the brigands—I have +made inquiries, and have heard of nothing new since these two +cases about five weeks back, and am told that now the roads may +be considered safe; indeed, no time is generally so good for +travelling as just after an accident of that kind, as the +authorities are on the look out: if you go by <i>vetturino</i>, there +will in all probability be other <i>vetturini</i> on the road, and +you will start together and arrive together from and to the +different stations on the road. You quite misunderstood the +sense of my letter, dear Mamma, if you imagined that I knew +nothing of rumours of war, &c. &c.—so far from not knowing what +is going on, I live in a hot-bed of politics, what with +Cartwright and what with Odo Russell. <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_40" id="PageV2_40">[40]</a></span>I expressed my surprise +that you should speak with confidence of the withdrawal of the +French troops when the official news of the Pope's <i>formal +request</i> to that effect could not yet have reached Florence, for +the reason that it had not taken place; with the Florentine +politicians the wish must have been father to the thought. What +really will happen is impossible to say; they won't withdraw +till the Austrians do—that is pretty certain; the French, I +think, like to mislead people about it. A French general told a +friend of mine that in <i>six weeks</i> they would all be gone, but +<i>Antonelli</i>, who ought to be the best authority, told Odo +Russell they would not go for six <i>months</i>, though the +occupation has already ceased (as the <i>Moniteur</i> expresses it) +"en principe." You see, dear Mamma, that it is entirely +impossible for me to give you any <i>definite</i> information at a +moment when nobody seems to know what is coming next. I should +be very much disappointed if you could not come; if you settle +to come, let me know in time to look for rooms at an Hôtel, and +tell me what you expect to give. My work would not allow me to +go to Florence. My pictures for the R.A. this year are three +portraits in different sizes and attitudes from the same model, +all <i>dressed</i>—one a small half-length, the other a kit-cat, the +third a small head the size of my hand—this I have sold to Lady +Hoare for forty guineas. It has been much coveted—Lady +Stratford de Redcliffe wanted a repetition (I never do +repetitions), and Mrs. Phipps seemed quite distressed it was +sold. The Prince and his party told O. Russell they liked my +studio better than any they had seen in Rome. My "Pan" and +"Venus" are stowed away in London.</p></div> + +<p>Besides the three portraits of a model mentioned in his letter, +exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1859, Leighton sent "Samson and +Delilah" to Suffolk Street. For studies of this picture, see Leighton +House Collection.</p> + +<p>Later, from Naples, he wrote:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><i>Wednesday Morning, 1859.</i></p> + +<p>I scribble two lines in haste before starting to Capri to +announce my safe arrival here in the middle of the day on +Monday. I found here several letters from England; but, as I +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_41" id="PageV2_41">[41]</a></span>had presumed, that report about the sale of all my pictures was +a <i>canard</i>. Lord Lansdowne wishes very much for a repetition of +my small profile of Nanna, but as I refused to make one for Lady +Stratford, I of course can't for him. George de Monbrison has +very kindly consented to give up his Nanna to the Prince,<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> but +is evidently sadly disappointed—so much so, that I have written +to offer to do what I could not under any other circumstances, +<i>i.e.</i> copy it for him.</p> + +<p>This place is in great beauty. I have been received with the +greatest hospitality by the Hollands, with whom I have dined and +supped both days.</p> + +<p>Yesterday I breakfasted with Augustus Craven,<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> who +photographed me. He is a great adept at this art, and devotes +much time to it. He has a most lovely house here, looking out on +to the sea.</p> + +<p>I have nothing to add for the present, and I will write again +from Capri.</p></div> + +<p>This visit to Capri produced the famous drawing of the Lemon Tree.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> +Mr. Ruskin wrote: "Two perfect early drawings are of 'A Lemon Tree' +and of a 'Byzantine Well'" (see <a href="#toi">List of Illustrations</a>), "which +determine for you without appeal the question respecting necessity of +delineation as the first skill of a painter. Of all our present +masters, Sir Frederic Leighton delights most in softly-blended +colours, and his ideal of beauty is more nearly that of Correggio than +any since Correggio's time. But you see by what precision of terminal +outline he at first restrained and exalted his gift of beautiful +<i>vaghezza</i>." In letters to Leighton, Ruskin refers to these +drawings:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_42" id="PageV2_42">[42]</a></span>1860.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Leighton</span>,—Unless I write again I shall hope to +breakfast with you on Friday, and see and know evermore how a +lemon differs from an orange leaf. In cases of doubtful temper, +might the former more gracefully and appropriately be used for +bridal chaplet?—Most truly yours,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">J. Ruskin.</p> +</div> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><i>15th December 1882.</i></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Leighton</span>,—Of course I want the lemon-tree! but +surely you didn't offer it me before? May I come on Tuesday +afternoon for both? and I hope to bring "Golden Water," but I +hear there's some confusion between the Academy and the +Burlington Club. "Golden Water" is perhaps too small a drawing +for the Academy—but you'll see.</p> + +<p>I wish the lecture on sculpture you gave that jury the other day +had been to a larger audience, and I one of them.—Ever +affectionately yours,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">J. Ruskin.</p> +</div> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><i>17th November.</i></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Leighton</span>,—I brought up the "Byzantine Well,"<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> +but was forced to trust my friend, John Simon, to bring it +across the Park to you, and then forbid him till I wrote you +this note, asking you to spare a moment to show him the +"Damascus Glass and Arab Fountain." He is, as you know, a man of +great eminence, with a weakness for <i>painting</i>, which greatly +hinders him in his science.—Ever your loving,</p> + +<p class="right">J.R.</p> + +<p>I can't get lectures printed yet.</p></div> + +<p>With reference to differences of opinion which had arisen between them +on certain art questions, Ruskin wrote in 1879: "I expected so much +help from you after those orange (lemon) trees of yours!" Later (1883) +he wrote: "The Pre-Raphaelite schism, and most of all, Turner's death, +broke my relations with the Royal Academy. I hope they may in future +be kinder; its President (Leighton) has just sent me two lovely +drawings (the 'Lemon Tree' and the 'Byzantine Well') for the Oxford +Schools, and, I <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_43" id="PageV2_43">[43]</a></span>think, feels with me as to all the main principles of +Art education."</p> + +<p>After his visit to Capri Leighton returned to London. He stayed with +Mr. Henry Greville, and while there wrote to his mother the following +letters:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc datepad2">19 Queen Street,</span><br /> +<i>Wednesday Morning, 1859</i>.</p> + +<p>I have so far altered my plans that I stay on until Saturday +morning instead of going to-morrow with Mrs. Sartoris as I had +intended. I have still a call or two to make, and, besides, am +going to dine to-morrow with Mario and spend the evening of +Friday at Lord Lansdowne's, whose invitation I got though I had +not called on him. I suppose that a card was sent me because my +name was on the old list. I have since met him (at Henry's +party), and he made himself very amiable, renewing the +invitation by word of mouth. I have just been spending two or +three days at Old Windsor with Miss Thackeray, who has been +kindness itself as usual; the weather was divine, and we took +exquisite drives. Chorley<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> also has been a kind friend to me; +he took me twice to the Handel Festival, seating me, conveying +me, breakfasting me, and, but that I was engaged, would have +dined me. The Festival was, as you have no doubt read in the +papers, most successful, the choruses, considering the enormous +difficulty of training such masses of people (2000!) were +excellent; the quantity of sound produced was, of course, +enormous, still there was no <i>din</i>, nothing stunning, only an +exceedingly dense and close-textured quality of sound. The solo +singers varied in excellence. Clara Novello shone by the quality +of her voice, which carries any distance, and by the correctness +of her singing, but to me she is entirely without charm, and +left me as cold after the great song of the Nativity in the +"Messiah" as if she had not sung at all. Miss Dolby sang well +throughout; she was <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_44" id="PageV2_44">[44]</a></span>remarkable for the excessive decorum and +simplicity of her singing. She finishes a phrase with great +breadth; her voice, to some people disagreeable, is to me very +<i>simpatica</i>, and she gave me altogether the greatest pleasure. +Sims Reeves, whom but a few days back I heard sing so badly at +Liverpool, astounded me here by the remarkable care and study he +brought to bear on his solos. He sang in the "Messiah," +beginning with "Behold and see if there be any sorrow," &c. He +sang exquisitely; and in the "Israel" he sang "The enemy said" +(a very ungrateful song) as well as possible. He was +vociferously encored, and well deserved it. —— was simply +abominable, without a redeeming point. ——, though less +aggressively bad, was too insignificant to say much about at +all. Of course, altogether, the solos, especially the more +vigorous ones, were too weak for the choruses; that could not be +otherwise short of having four pair of Lablache lungs. Costa led +to perfection; it was a sight to see him.</p></div> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><i>Friday</i>, <span class="sc">Paris</span>.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dearest Mamma</span>,—I write you a few lines just to +announce my safe return to Paris. You have no doubt by this time +got the box back again. Henry was, as always, very kind to me, +and I spent three days very simply at his house. I had intended, +when I left this, to stay only two days in London, but those +days being Saturday and Sunday, I remembered that all the +Galleries were shut, and therefore, being most anxious to see +the new Veronese, I stayed over Monday. I was delighted with the +pictures in the National Gallery and also at Marlborough House, +but the annual exhibition at the British Institution is +<i>deplorable</i>. I have decided, on the advice of Buckner, +Colnaghi, and others, to send my "Niggers" ("A Negro +Dance"—water-colour—from sketch made in Algiers) to the +Suffolk Street Exhibition (where I shall be well hung through +Buckner's intervention) <i>if</i> I get done in time: it will be a +hard race, as the Exhibition opens a month sooner than the R.A.</p> + +<p>I reached home Tuesday evening at 10½ o'clock, after a good +passage; I was, however, suffering from a shocking indigestion, +and, to crown all, was kept awake till four in the morning by a +ball immediately under my bed. Next morning I had to paint away +at Gallatti (my model) willy nilly (particularly nilly), +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_45" id="PageV2_45">[45]</a></span>feeling seedy and frightfully cross. However, my "Gehazi" is now +as near as possible finished, and to-morrow I go in for the +"Niggers." I hope, dear Mamma, you will let me hear at once what +Lina or Suth. write; I am most anxious to hear more.</p> + +<p>Good-bye, dear Mamma. Best love to all from your most +affectionate</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred.</p> +</div> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><i>Friday, 26th.</i></p> + +<p>I am happy to say I have just done my "Niggers," and though too +late for the ordinary mode of conveyance on account of an +accident in the papers, I am saved by the exceeding kindness of +a secretary of the Sardinian Embassy, a great friend of mine; it +will be taken over on Monday night by a messenger under the +seals of the Embassy, and will just arrive in time. On Sunday I +hope to show it to Monfort, Fleury, and Scheffer. I will let you +know their verdict.</p> + +<p>From America I have good and bad news. The bad is that my "Pan" +and "Venus" are <i>not being exhibited at all</i> on account of their +nudity, and are stowed away in a cupboard where F. Kemble with +the most friendly and untiring perseverance contrived to +discover them. This is a great nuisance. I have sent for them +back at once; they know best whether or no it is advisable to +exhibit such pictures in America, but they certainly should have +let me know. I have written to Rossetti about it to-day, +expressing my regret and desires, and have added "my pictures +have been exposed to the wear and tear of several long journeys +<i>not only</i> entirely for no purpose, but, being shut out from the +light, they are even suffering an injury; meanwhile I am +neglecting the opportunity of showing and disposing of them in +England, a possibility which I might willingly forego for the +sake of supporting an enterprise in which I am interested, but +not to adorn a hidden closet in the United States." Fanny Kemble +was charmed with the pictures, went often and pluckily to the +forbidden cupboard, and said she only wished she could afford to +buy them.</p></div> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><i>Friday.</i></p> + +<p>Since I last wrote I have had a note from Rossetti, the +Secretary of the American Exhibition, giving me a piece of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_46" id="PageV2_46">[46]</a></span>information about my "Romeo" which can't fail to gratify you. He +said that, had my picture not been bought by Mr. Harrison, a +public subscription would have been opened to procure it for the +Academy of Arts at Philadelphia. Rossetti answers me (as indeed +I did not doubt) that he had not the remotest notion of the fate +of "Pan" and "Venus." He has written on my request to beg they +may be sent back at once to Europe. By Henry Greville's urgent +advice I have given notice that I shall send the "Orpheus," as +they have applied for more pictures; things were selling so +satisfactorily that there was scarcely anything left to exhibit +in Boston. I am glad to be able to reassure you about the +"Niggers." Sartoris <i>did</i> like them exceedingly even before they +were anything like as good as they are now. Cartwright, who is +not <i>géné</i> to dislike, is enchanted with them, and says if they +are not sold at once people are fools, for he has not for some +time seen anything he likes so much. Puliza Ricardo and other +"publics" like it extremely. Robert Fleury considered it highly +original, and said that if he only saw one little head in it he +would say, "c'est d'un coloriste." R. Fleury, you know, blames +very roundly what he does not like. Montfort, my most candid +adviser, was delighted, and said of a particular bit "je vous +assure c'est tout à fait comme Decamps." This is unconditional +praise. Again I consulted him about its chances of success in +the gallery of water-colours. He said, "<i>Comme aquarelle</i> je +vous promets qu'il n'y en a pas beaucoup qui font comme +cela;"—about water colour being <i>infra. dig.</i>, showing myself +competent in <i>two</i> materials can only raise me. Poor Scheffer +was unwell and could not come. You see, dear Mammy, you need not +be so uneasy. I fully appreciate your and Papa's anxiety about +my pictures; but it has too great a hold on you when it makes +you think that I am entirely reckless and foolish, and that +rather than give in I should tell a lie and say it was too late +to withdraw a picture when it might still be done. Many thanks +for the extract about Sutherland which, however, I had already +seen, Henry Grev. having sent it me a week ago. My "Niggers" +arrived in time by great luck. Buckner godfathers them.</p> + +<p>In haste with very best love, your affectionate boy,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred.</p> +</div> + +<div class="block"><p class="rightsc">19 Queen Street, 1859.<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_47" id="PageV2_47">[47]</a></span></p> + +<p>I have got, through the kindness of Elmore (R.A.), a sort of +studio at the other end of the world; I believe I told you this +in my last note; I suppose my things will come over in a week or +less. I am in great doubt about being able to paint in that +studio, and about its having been any use to come over to London +without the possibility of a really good <i>locale</i>: however, here +I am. I shall brush up my acquaintances and see a good deal of +my friends. Don't reckon on my <i>selling</i> anything—<i>I</i> don't at +all. My picture is hung so that it is virtually <i>impossible</i> to +see it. I went to look at my "Niggers" in Suffolk Street, and am +confirmed in the idea (that also of my friends) that it is my +best work. I have as yet nothing worth writing about, so +good-bye, dearest Mamma, best love to all.</p></div> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">2 Orme Square</span>, <i>Sunday, 1859</i>.</p> + +<p>Having got on Monday last into my studio and been very busy ever +since, this is absolutely the first moment I have found to sit +down and write to you.</p> + +<p>You will wish to know some particulars about my studio. Of +course after Paris and Rome it is a sad falling off—narrow and +dark, though I believe, for London, very fair; when I <i>live</i> +here I must have a much larger light or I shall go +blind—however, I must not look a gift horse in the mouth. I +have had to furnish—this costs me about nine or ten shillings a +week; I keep a servant (a stupid, pompous, verbose, dirty, +willing, honest scrub) to run my errands and clean my brushes, +&c. &c., at half-a-crown a day; models are five shillings a +sitting here—ruination!—men with good heads there are +none—women, tol-lol!—a lay figure, twenty-five shillings a +month; in short, historical painting here is not for nothing; I +am working at my "Samson" picture; God knows how I shall finish +it in so short a time! Dearest Mammy, I shall have but a very +short peep at you this year, I am very sorry to say—I lost a +full month waiting for this wretched studio. I don't see my way +through my work before the middle or even end of the second week +in August, and I cannot well give up going to Scotland though +only for a very few days, as I have accepted so long ago. I am +to go there <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_48" id="PageV2_48">[48]</a></span>on the 20th; after that I must rush back post-haste +to Stourhead to finish Lady Hoare; all this will make me very +late for Italy, as I am anxious to revisit the north of that +country and study the Correggios a little at Parma before going +south. I shall be obliged to scamper across the country. I +<i>must</i> be in Rome or the neighbourhood in October; I am going to +finish my Cervara landscape on the spot.</p> + +<p>I am in very fair health, London decidedly agrees with me, and I +don't suffer as much as I expected from the obligato spleen of +blue devildom. I need not say this is a source of immense +congratulation to me.</p></div> + +<p>When the picture "Nanna" returned from the Royal Academy, where it was +exhibited in 1859, Leighton sent it to Bath, writing to his mother to +announce its arrival.</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="rightsc">London, 1859.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dearest Mammy</span>,—I scribble a word in haste to announce +to you that I have sent "Nanna" off to Bath for you to see, she +wants varnish very badly as you see, but is not dry enough for +that yet. You must mind and put her in the right light, the +window must be on the left of the spectator—the more to the +<i>left</i> of the picture you stand yourself the less you will see +the want of varnish. If you stand to the <i>right</i> of the painting +you won't see it at all. Please send "Nanna" back when you have +shown to whom you wish, as she is overdue at Paris.</p></div> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><i>Saturday Morning, 1859.</i></p> + +<p>I returned yesterday from the Highlands, and have at last time +to write you a little word. My stay in the North has been most +satisfactory, I have enjoyed myself thoroughly, and have felt +particularly well in the keen bracing air of the mountains. My +time has been spent exclusively in walks, rides, and drives, for +the weather was great part of the time too uncertain to allow of +sitting out to paint (even had there been time), whereas no +amount of showers prevented our going out, and indeed to those +showers I owe seeing some of the most superb effects of colour, +light and shade, that I ever beheld. We used sometimes to have +three or four duckings <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_49" id="PageV2_49">[49]</a></span>in one ride, drying again in the sun, or +not as the case might be, and never catching even the phantom of +a cold, so healthy and invigorating is the breath of those +healthy hills. I said I painted nothing and bring home an empty +portfolio (all but a flower I drew one <i>very</i> wet morning), but +I have studied a great deal with my eyes and memory, and come +back a better landscape painter than I went. On my road home, at +Dunkeld, where I lingered a day (exquisite spot), I jotted down +in oils two reminiscences of effects observed at Kinrara with +which I am rather well pleased—one is a stormy Scandinavian bit +of cloud and hill, the other a hot sunny expanse of golden corn +and purple heather, which looks for all the world like a bit of +Italy. Mind, they are the merest little sketches, but accurate +in the <i>impression of the effect</i>.</p> + +<p>I go on Monday morning to Stourhead, where I stay till Saturday, +and start Monday week for the Continent. Please send me a line +to Stourhead. How are you, darling? and Lina and Gus? and Papa? +Have you had any more drives?—Your loving boy,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred.</p> +</div> + +<p>On returning to England Leighton took up his abode in his first studio +in England. Hitherto he had paid visits to London,—Rome, and +subsequently Paris, being his real home, for an artist's true home is +in his studio. In the autumn of 1859 he settled in 2 Orme Square, and +from that time to his death London became his headquarters.</p> + +<p>After having settled into his studio in Orme Square in the winter of +1859, he wrote to Steinle and to Robert Browning the following +letters:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p><i>Translation.</i>]</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="sc">2 Orme Square, Bayswater, London,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>December 5, 1859.</i></span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">My dear Friend and Master</span>,—What a long time it is +since I heard from you! my last letter, despatched from Rome, +has had no answer.</p> + +<p>I enclose a photograph of a memorial tablet which I executed <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_50" id="PageV2_50">[50]</a></span>in +Rome last winter for my poor widowed sister. The monument is of +white marble with black mosaic decoration; the four dark circles +are bronze nails, which secure the marble tablet to the wall.</p> + +<p>When I had finished work in Rome, I went south and spent five +weeks in Capri. You would hardly believe, dear Friend, how this +wonderful island delighted me. I made vigorous use of my visit +and executed a fairly large number of conscientious studies. I +also took the opportunity to visit Paestum for the first time. I +may say that the <i>Temple of Neptune</i> gave me the most exalted +architectonic impression that I have ever received; I shall +never forget that morning. The two neighbouring temples, +however, are not worth looking at, except from a painter's point +of view.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the season being advanced, I was obliged, with real +regret, to give up my plan of going to Frankfurt, and to hurry +back to England. Here I am now permanently established. I +confess that I did not pitch my tent here without some anxiety; +I had not spent <i>a single winter</i> in England since my earliest +childhood, and I had good reason to fear that to me, with my +love of sunshine, it would prove a little harsh. I also feared +the climate for my bodily health. However, "native air" appears +to be not altogether an empty phrase, but I find myself, +notwithstanding the fog, well and in good spirits. Man must +indeed carry the sun in his heart—if he is to have it. Of work +in particular, I have nothing much to say. Later, in the course +of the winter, I will report more at length.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, dear Master, write to me very soon. Tell me whether +you still think of your pupil, and especially tell me about your +certainly numerous works.—Your grateful pupil,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Leighton.</p> +</div> + +<div class="block"><p><i>Translation.</i>]</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="sc">2 Orme Square, Bayswater</span>,<br /> +<span class="sc">London</span>, <i>January 12, 1860</i>.</p> + +<p>I spoke little in my last letter of my present work, partly +perhaps because of the feeling I have already described, but +partly also because I intend to send you a photograph directly +the picture is finished, which will not be till spring. It is a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_51" id="PageV2_51">[51]</a></span>commission, and the subject is religious. There is only a single +figure, and I would describe it to you now, but that I fear you +would imagine the picture much more beautiful than I can paint +it, and you would consequently suffer a disappointment later on +in my work which would be painful to me. For the rest, I am +striving as hard as I can to make it fine and simple. You will +perhaps be surprised, but, in spite of my fanatic preference for +colour, I promised myself to be a draughtsman before I became a +colourist.</p> + +<p>And now adieu, my dear Friend. Directly I can show you anything +in "black and white" you shall hear from me again, and I shall +expect from you, as my old master, the most unsparing criticism; +that is the greatest proof of love you can give me.</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred Leighton.</p> +</div> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">2 Orme Square, Bayswater</span>,<br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>January 29, '60</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Browning</span>,—It is not till the other day that I at +last received from Cartwright your Rome address, or I should +have written to you some time ago; before it was too late to +wish you a merry Xmas and health, happiness, and all prosperity +for yourself and Mrs. Browning in the present year. I don't know +that I have anything worth telling you to write about, for all +the little incidents which have their importance for the space +of a day, all appear too trivial to write about after a lapse of +a week or two. Still I write to assure you I keep up my most +affectionate remembrance of you, and to beg that you won't +entirely forget me. I received your kind letter at the beginning +of the winter, and was truly concerned to hear that Mrs. +Browning had been so alarmingly unwell; I trust that the air of +Rome, which once before was so beneficial to her, will have +strengthened and recruited her again this time. Dear old Rome! +how I wish I could fly over and spend a week or so with you all +in my old haunts. I suppose I shall never be entirely weaned of +that yearning affection I entertain for Italy, and particularly +for Rome and the "Comarea." You must have it all to yourselves +this year. What a delight it must be to see neither Brown, +Jones, nor Robinson.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_52" id="PageV2_52">[52]</a></span>I suppose Cartwright, Pantaleone, and Odo Russell are the staple +of your convivial circle; and, by-the-bye, how much more freely +Mrs. Browning must breathe this winter without certain daily +visitations which I remember last year. I wonder whether you +will write to me and tell me what you are doing, socially and +artistically; everything about you will interest me.</p> + +<p>As for myself, you would not believe it, in spite of my old +habits of continental life and sunshine, I take very kindly to +England; <i>it agrees</i> with me capitally, really better than Rome. +I am fattening <i>vue d'œil</i>. The light is certainly not +irreproachable, still I can work, and don't find that my ideas +get particularly rusty. On the contrary, for colour, certainly +my sense seems to be sharpened in this atmosphere.</p> + +<p>I am soldiering too. I drill three times a week, and make as bad +a soldier as anybody else. The Sartoris, you know, are no longer +in London—a great loss to all their friends—but I go pretty +often to see them in the country, and have spent many a happy +day there in the course of the winter. By-the-bye, do you hear +or know anything of those two drawings I did of you and Mrs. +Browning? If so, will you give the one of you to Hookes that he +may send with some other things he has? And now, dear Browning, +"<i>vi leverò l'incomodo</i>," and will bring this very tedious +epistle to a close. Remember me most kindly to Mrs. Browning, to +Cartwright and his wife, to Odo Russell, B——, Pantaleone with +better half, Storeys, and last, but not least, dear little +Hatty! Love to Cerinni; tell me about him. Good-bye.—Believe +me, very affectionately yours,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred Leighton.</p> + +<p>I am hand-and-glove with all my enemies the pre-Raphaelites. +Woolner sends his affectionate remembrances.</p></div> + +<p>Leighton writes to his sister in Italy:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">2 Orme Square, Bayswater,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>March 12</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">My dear Gussykins</span>,—You may have heard from Mamma that +I went to Paris to hear Madame Viardot in "Orphée." What +wonderful singing! what style! what breadth! what pathos! You +would have been enchanted, I am sure. Do you know the music? <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_53" id="PageV2_53">[53]</a></span>It +is wonderfully fine and pathetic, the first chorus particularly +is quite harrowing for the accent of grief about it. Madame +Viardot's <i>acting</i>, too, is superb—so perfectly simple and +grand, it is really antique. And when you consider all she has +to overcome—a bad, harsh voice, an ugly face, an ungainly +person; and yet she contrives to look almost handsome. She +enters heart and soul into her work; she said it was the only +thing she ever did that (after fifty performances) had not given +her a moment's <i>ennui</i>. I am afraid there is no chance of her +singing it in England this year, if at all; I don't believe the +Covent Garden audience would sit through it.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p> + +<p>I also saw Gounod's new opera, "Philémon et Baucis," and was +disappointed. Nothing but the care and distinction of the +workmanship redeems it from being a bore; the subject is ill +adapted for the stage, and is dragged through three acts with +portentous efforts. Striking melodies there are few, charming +accompaniments many; all the pretty music (or nearly) is in the +orchestra—<i>c'est la sauce qui fait avaler le poisson.</i> The +introductions to the first and second acts, but particularly the +latter (a little <i>motif</i> on the oboë), are charming; there is +also a capital chorus. All this, however, is an impression after +one hearing; I might alter my mind on hearing it oftener, but I +think not.</p></div> + +<p>In the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1860 Leighton sent one picture +only, "Sunrise—Capri."</p> + +<div class="block"><p><i>Translation.</i>]</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="sc">2 Orme Square</span>, <i>September 15, 1860</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">My very dear Friend</span>,—I was almost afraid that you +would think that I had entirely forgotten you, but this would be +a very undeserved interpretation of my long silence. No, my dear +Master, you still live in my constant memory, in my most +grateful recollection.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_54" id="PageV2_54">[54]</a></span>When I last wrote, I promised to send you a photograph of my +large picture. This work has taken up my time far beyond my +expectations, and I always put off writing in order not to send +you an empty letter. At last it is thus far, and I enclose both +the large photograph and some little ones, in the hope that you, +dear Master, will be interested also in the unimportant works of +your old pupil.</p> + +<p>Have I already told you the subject of my religious picture? I +think not. At the turning-point of a very critical illness, the +lady who commissioned my picture dreamt that she, as a +disembodied spirit, soared up heavenwards in the night.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> +Suddenly she was aware of a point of light in the far vault of +heaven. This light grew, developed, and soon she saw coming +forth from the night the shining form of the Saviour. Full of +confidence she approached the holy apparition. Jesus, however, +raised His hands and, gently repulsing her, enjoined her to +return to earth, and during her life to make herself worthier to +enter the company of the blessed. She awoke, recovered, and +ordered the picture.</p> + +<p>You will be able to imagine, my dear Friend, how little +contented I am with my work; however, I am accustomed to show +you my weaknesses, and I therefore send you also this +unsatisfactory work. As regards the photograph, it is in certain +respects successful, although it makes the whole picture <i>four +times too dark</i>.</p> + +<p>I send also a portrait of my sister; a head of an English +soldier, who lost an arm at Balaclava, and recently died of +consumption; and finally a photograph after a drawing on wood, +which I drew for a book, but which has been <i>incredibly</i> +disfigured by the engraver. Fortunately I had the drawing +(although bad) photographed before I sent it to be engraved.</p> + +<p>But enough of me and my affairs.</p> + +<p>And you, dear Master, what are you working at? Are your +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_55" id="PageV2_55">[55]</a></span>cartoons all finished? Shall you soon begin your frescoes? What +other beautiful things have you composed?</p> + +<p>Do not punish my long silence, but send me a couple of lines to +tell me what interests me so deeply. So soon as I have finished +anything new (and I have many pictures in prospect) I will send +you another specimen of my handiwork.</p> + +<p>Meantime I beg you will remember me most cordially to your wife +and daughters, and to my other friends in Frankfurt. And +yourself do not altogether forget, your loving pupil,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred Leighton.</p> +</div> + +<p>It was in 1860 Leighton joined the Artist Rifle Corps. It was also +then he first made the acquaintance of Sir William B. Richmond (now +Chairman of the Leighton House Committee).</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><i>December 12, 1860.</i></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dearest Mammy</span>,—I have deferred until now answering +your kind letter that I might be able to announce to you a +little circumstance which took place yesterday, and which, +though not of any real importance, may give you and Papa +pleasure. I was yesterday raised to the rank of Captain; I +command the 3rd Company—Lewis was at the same time made Captain +of the 2nd—his election of course came before mine; he has done +three times more for the Corps than I have or could have +done—he lives very near and goes <i>every day</i>—as a man of +business, and a very clever one, he has entirely organised the +bookkeeping department, and in fact has been altogether the +vital principle of the Corps. I was chosen next for having shown +some zeal in this service and some little capability for +teaching. The vacant lieutenancies go to Nicholson (the +musician) and Talfourd. One of the ensigncies has been given to +Perugini, contingent on its being lawful for him to hold such +commission; another to old Palmer. So much for our volunteering. +I wish we had a commander. The next question in your letter I +thought I had answered in my last—however, though Ruskin stayed +about three hours and was altogether very pleasant, he did not +say anything that I could quote about my paintings. He was +<i>immensely</i> struck by my <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_56" id="PageV2_56">[56]</a></span>drawing of a lemon-tree, and was +generally complimentary, or rather, <i>respectful</i>, that is more +his <i>genre</i>. I don't think, however, that he cared for +Sandbach's picture—which leads me to the third point in your +letter. Neither of the S.'s have seen their picture; last time +they were in London, having made no definite appointment, I +missed them. He wrote to say that when he came up to town again, +he would fix a day to call on me. Gibson, the old traitor, never +turned up at all. By-the-bye, I see you ask whether I shoot +much—no, not often; I am an ordinary, average shot—my unsteady +hand prevents my shooting well. My general health is pretty +fair. Many thanks, dearest Mammy, for your kind wishes and +congratulations on that melancholy occasion, my birthday—it is +a day I always hate—fancy my being <i>thirty</i>!!! About marrying, +dear Mamma, you must not forget it requires two to play at that +game. I would not insult a girl I did not love by asking her to +tie her existence to mine, and I have not yet found one that I +felt the slightest wish to marry; it is no doubt ludicrous to +place this ideal so high, but it is not my fault—theoretically +I should like to be married very well.</p></div> + +<p>In another letter to his mother Leighton writes on the subject of +marriage: "If I don't marry, the reason has been that I have never +seen a girl to whom I felt the least desire to be united for life. I +should certainly never marry for the sake of doing so." The same +subject is again alluded to in a letter written in 1863, from +Leighton's mother to her younger daughter who was in Italy. The letter +begins by referring to a servant who was dismissed by Leighton.</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"He has such an effect on him by his profound stupidity and +intense conceit he can't keep him, for if he did, the irritation +would render him wicked if he indulged it, and ill if he +repressed the same—at least that's Fred's feeling just now. He +means to take an Italian servant if he can find one.</p> + +<p>"Fred has received an invitation to Sandringham (the Prince of +Wales). If he has not found a suitable servant we are to lend +him ours—Ellen's husband, a very superior person. I must not +forget to tell you that we saw ——'s new baby, a very <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_57" id="PageV2_57">[57]</a></span>dear +little thing. Freddy was enchanted with it. He noticed him more +than ——, who is a delightful little chap, and after caressing +it several times with exceeding tenderness, he suddenly grew red +in the face, and said, 'I must nurse him,' which he did for a +long time, to the wonder and admiration of Miss —— and the +nurse. For my part, it gave me actual pain to see that proof of +his strong love for children, believing that he will never have +any of his own. He declares he has never seen a girl he could +marry. Of course this shows he is unreasonably fastidious; +more's the pity!"</p></div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep057" id="imagep057"></a> +<a href="images/imagep057.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep057.jpg" width="55%" alt="Mrs. Sutherland Orr" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">PORTRAIT OF MRS. SUTHERLAND ORR. 1861<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">2 Orme Square</span>, <i>April 10, 1861</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dearest Mammy</span>,—I have deferred writing until now that +I might be able to tell you the result of my little "private +view," now over. I am happy to say I have a great success. The +"Vision" pleased many people much, but was altogether, as I +expected, the least popular; the subject, though very +interesting, was less attractive to the many, and besides I have +progressed in painting since the date of that picture. My little +girl at the fountain, christened for me by one of my visitors, +"Lieder ohne Worte," has perhaps had the greatest number of +votes.<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> The "Francesca,"<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> on the other hand, has had, I +think, the advantage in the <i>quality</i> of its admirers. Watts, +for instance, and Mrs. Sartoris think it by far my best daub.</p> + +<p>By-the-bye, you will be particularly pleased to hear that Lina's +portrait has had an immense success, and indeed, on second +thoughts, perhaps it was more admired than anything else. The +"Capri" and the "Aslett" were also much liked. Mind, dear Mamma, +this letter is "strictly confidential," because although, of +course, you want to know what people say of my pictures, anybody +else seeing this letter would (or might) suppose I was devoured +with vanity.</p> + +<p>I have just made an unexpected acquaintance in the Gladstones, +who sent me, I don't know why, a card for two parties. It was +very polite of them, and of course I went. This is a very +egotistical letter, dear Mamma, but I know that is what you +want.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_58" id="PageV2_58">[58]</a></span>I am very sufficiently well, not strong, but never ill. I +marched to Wimbledon with the Volunteers last Monday, and got +wet several times but did not catch cold.<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p></div> + +<div class="block"><p class="rightsc">London. 1861.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Papa</span>,—If the <i>Public</i> receives my pictures as +favourably as the <i>Private</i> has done, I shall have no cause to +complain; as far, at least, as the maintenance and increase of +my reputation is concerned. I should, however, have liked the +"market" to be a little more "brisk."</p> + +<p>Tom Taylor and Rossetti (Wm.), the only critics that came <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_59" id="PageV2_59">[59]</a></span>(as +far as I know) besides Stephens, were, as far as I can judge, +both of them much pleased with what they saw. I know at least +that both spoke well of my pictures behind my back.</p> + +<p>As for Ruskin, he was in one of his queer moods when he came to +breakfast with me—he spent his time looking at my portfolio and +praised my drawings most lavishly—<i>he did not even look at the +pictures</i>. However, nothing could be more cordial than he is to +me.</p> + +<p>I bolted out into the passage after you when you left the other +day to tell you that one of the gentlemen you saw come in was +Sir Edwin Landseer, but you had disappeared.</p></div> + + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Paris.</span> <i>Monday</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_60" id="PageV2_60">[60]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dearest Mother</span>,—I must wind up with bad news, which I +hope you will bear well: my pictures are badly hung, ill +lighted, and almost entirely ignored by the press.<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> Of course +this is <i>au fond</i>, a bitter disappointment to a man of my +temperament, especially after all the praise my work got before +the Exhibition. However, I shall wear a brave face, and who +knows but that some good may arise to me out of this? My little +energies will be sharpened up and my tenacity roused. I trust in +some future day, as long as hope lives. God bless you, Mammy; +best love to dear Gussy. From your affectionate son,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><i>May 1, 1861.</i></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dearest Mammy</span>,—Life being a pump handle, first up then +down, you won't be too much surprised to hear that after the +real success my pictures had on "private view" they are with one +exception (the landscape) badly hung, "The Vision" over a door, +the others above the line, which will make it impossible to see +the finish or delicacy of execution which is an important +feature in them. I have not seen them myself, but am told this +by those who have. Don't take on, dear Mammy, nor let Papa worry +himself about it. Things come right in the end, and I know that +many people will be much annoyed at this treatment of me. +<i>Millais</i>, like a good fellow that he is, spoke up for me like a +man, though he himself feels so differently on art from what I +do. My good friend Aïdé is furious. After all perhaps, though +badly hung, the pictures may still be seen well enough to be +judged, that is all I really want, then perhaps some of the +papers will speak up for me. I am glad I let so many people see +them at the studio, those at least know what the pictures are +like. Of one thing be sure: if my works have real value, public +opinion will in the <i>long run</i> force the Academy to hang me—but +enough of this subject.</p> + +<p>The Prince of Wales saw a photo-portrait of me in Valletort's +book the other day and begged him to ask me for one. <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_61" id="PageV2_61">[61]</a></span>I have had +some new ones done, and mean at the same time to send H.R.H. a +photograph of each of my larger pictures, "The Vision," the +"Francesca," and "The Listener," which, by-the-bye, I have +christened on the suggestion of a lady friend of mine (a sister +of Cockerell's) "Lieder ohne Worte."</p> + +<p>Landseer said nothing that was worth repeating, though he gave +me one or two useful practical hints. He is eminently a +practical man, and I suspect in his heart sneers at style. He +was, however, I believe, pleased with my things.</p></div> + + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">9 Park Place, St. James's</span>,<br /> +<span class="datepad2"><i>Sunday, May 5, 1861</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Mrs. Leighton</span>,—I know that the news of the bad +hanging of your son's pictures has reached you (unpleasant +tidings generally travel fast) and I hasten to tell you, what I +hope may a little mitigate the annoyance you must have felt +about it, that they are spoken of in terms of great eulogium by +both the <i>Times</i> and <i>Athenæum</i>. I was afraid that their +unfortunate placing might have prevented the possibility of any +justice being done them by the public critics, but after all the +<i>Times</i> and <i>Athenæum</i> are the most influential and leading of +all our public journals. Mrs. Orr's portrait is consistently +praised by all the papers, even by those which review the others +less favourably. Fortunately, the pictures were well seen in the +studio by numbers of people of all classes before they went to +the Academy, and excited very general admiration in those who +felt no particular interest either in art or in your son; while +his friends, and those who <i>know</i>, were delighted not only with +the works themselves, but at the visible indications in them of +increased power in all ways. They have been thought by all whose +opinion is of value a great advance upon what he has hitherto +done. All this will, I hope, be pleasant to you; what will be so +most of all will be to know that he took the exceeding trial and +vexation of the abominable hanging of his pictures with the most +perfect temper, and an admirable desire to be just about those +who were doing him this ill turn. You will care for this, as I +do, more than for any worldly success his talent could have +brought him. I think he is looking well, although he complains a +little of feeling tired. I daresay it is nothing but the +weariness that must make itself a little <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_62" id="PageV2_62">[62]</a></span>felt after a great and +all-engrossing exertion. His volunteering occupation is quite +invaluable to him, giving him the exercise he never would +otherwise get. I think he seems to like his life in London, +where he has many friends, so many that if you were here you +would no longer feel as jealous about me as you once owned to +feeling—do you remember? I do not apologise for writing all +this to you, for although excess of zeal may be a sin in the +eyes of others, and even indeed of those whom one would die to +serve, a mother will hardly count it as such when her child is +in question. With best remembrances to Mr. Leighton and your +daughters, I am, ever faithfully yours,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Adelaide Sartoris.</p> +</div> + +<p>To his father Leighton wrote:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right">1861.</p> + +<p>As to the article in <i>Macmillan</i>, I don't in the least deny its +value as far as it goes and <i>quo ad</i> the public; it is in that +sense very gratifying to be spoken of in such flattering terms +in a periodical of some standing, but I can't individually feel +much elated at the praise of a critic who in other parts of his +article shows he is not <i>au fond</i> a judge; as for what he says +in <i>interpretation</i> (I am not now alluding to the <i>praise</i>), it +is so verbatim what I said myself to those who visited my +studio, that I suspect he must have been of that number. I +remember, it is true, telling you <i>before</i> I began to paint +"Lieder ohne Worte" that I intended to make it <i>realistic</i>, but +from the first moment I began I felt the mistake, and made it +professedly and pointedly the reverse. I don't think, however, +that we understand the word realistic alike; the Fisherman and +Syren which you quote was as little naturalistic as anything +could be, and, while you urge me to take up some subject +possessing that quality, I would point out that the Michael +Angelo and the Peacock Girl both fulfil that condition—to <i>my</i> +mind <i>to a fault</i>. I have sent in (or am about to) a formula +which I received to fill up, stating what I would contribute to +the Great Exhibition of 1862 (International). I have offered the +Cimabue, four "Nannas," the "Lieder ohne Worte," "Francesca," +and the "Syren." I have obtained permission for all.</p></div> + + +<div class="block"><p><i>Translation.</i>]<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_63" id="PageV2_63">[63]</a></span></p> + +<p class="right"><span class="sc">2 Orme Square, Bayswater</span>,<br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>30th April 1861</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">My dear Friend and Master</span>,—When I last wrote you I +promised in the spring to send you photographs of my pictures +for the exhibition. I have just received some prints and hasten +to enclose them.</p> + +<p>One of them (the girl by the fountain) gives, as is so often the +case, an entirely false impression of the picture, in that the +drapery of the principal figure should be much darker, and that +of the retreating figure much lighter. I have called this +picture "Lieder ohne Worte." It represents a girl, who is +resting by a fountain, and listening to the ripple of the water +and the song of a bird. This subject is, of course, quite +incomplete without colour, as I have endeavoured, both by colour +and by flowing delicate forms, to translate to the eye of the +spectator something of the pleasure which the child receives +through her ears. This idea lies at the base of the whole thing, +and is conveyed to the best of my ability in every detail, so +that in the dead photograph one loses exactly half, also the +dulling of the eyes, which are dark blue in the picture, gives a +look of weakness in the photograph that is not quite pleasant.</p> + +<p>The second subject is, as you will know well, the old, ever-new +motive of Paolo and Francesca. I endeavoured to put in as much +glow and passion as possible without causing the least offence; +this picture also would, perhaps, have pleased you in colour. +How I should like to show it to you, my dear master! However, +you will no doubt send me your candid opinion of the photographs +in a few lines, and not spare criticism.</p> + +<p>I am exceedingly curious to know how <i>your</i> work is getting on. +What are you working at just now? When is the fresco to be +begun? What easel pictures have you undertaken? I want to know +all that. I also hope with all my heart, my dear master, that +your health keeps good, that your wife and children are all +well. Please remember me most kindly to your family and all in +Frankfurt who remember me. And yourself, my dear friend, keep in +remembrance.—Your grateful pupil,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred Leighton.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="block"><p><i>Translation.</i>]<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_64" id="PageV2_64">[64]</a></span></p> + +<p class="right"><span class="sc">2 Orme Square, Bayswater, London,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>June 30, 1861</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">My dear Friend</span>,—Forgive my not having thanked you +sooner for your kind note. The same thing has happened to me as +to you: work has left me but little leisure for writing. Now, +however, my hearty thanks for the open sincerity with which you +have spoken of my latest work, I am only sorry that you have not +gone into it even more closely. I shall endeavour in my present +works to diminish the excessive mannerism of the lines, which +will be all the easier for me as I am now painting principally +from nature; in my last picture the subject permitted that but +little. In any case I hope, dear master, that you will always +speak to me with the same candour; it is the best proof to me +that I still possess your friendship.</p> + +<p>I am extremely eager to see how far your works have got on. +Amongst them, however, my dear friend, keep in remembrance your +grateful pupil,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred Leighton.</p> + +<p><i>P.S.</i>—I notice with regret that already I do not write a +German letter with my former fluency.</p></div> + +<p>In a letter to his sister, Mrs. Matthews, January 24, 1860, Leighton +wrote: "I am horrified to hear the account you give of Mrs. Browning. +I knew she was a confirmed invalid, but had no idea that one of her +lungs was already gone! What will poor Browning do if she dies? He +adores her, you know."</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">London</span>, <i>July 1861</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dearest Mammy</span>,—Thanks for your kind letter, which I +have been unable to answer till now. I had heard of poor +Browning's bereavement; we were all very much shocked at it, +knowing, as we do, how entirely irreparable his loss is. I wrote +a few lines to him that he might know how sincerely I grieved +with him; I don't at all know what were the circumstances of her +death, we have no particulars.</p></div> + +<p>Leighton undertook to design the monument over Mrs. Browning's grave +in the English Cemetery at Florence. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_65" id="PageV2_65">[65]</a></span>work appealed to him in +every sense, and remains as a permanent memorial of those friendships +which made the years spent in Italy so full, so rich, so entrancing. +With reference to the monument Browning writes:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc datepad">Chez M. Laraison,</span><br /> +<span class="sc">Ste. Marie, Près Pornic, Loire Inférieure</span>,<br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>August 30, 1863</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">My dear Leighton</span>,—Don't fret; you will do everything +like yourself in the end, I know; wait till the end of October, +as you propose. I cannot return before the beginning of it, +though I would do so were it necessary, but it is not, for I +have only this morning received the notification of which I told +you, that "the marble is in the sculptor's studio." We shall +therefore be in full time.</p> + +<p>The portrait you saw was the autotype which I lent to Mr. +Richmond, and concerning which I wrote to him before leaving +London, directing that it should be sent to you. He engaged to +let you have it whenever you desired. I therefore enclose (oh, +fresh attack on your envelopes and postage stamps!) a note which +I presume he will attend to, and which you will of course burn +should he have sent the portraits meanwhile. I have also two +others nearly like that portrait, taken the same day with it, +which I was unable to find, but which shall be found on my +return.</p> + +<p>Dear Leighton, I can only repeat, with entire truth, that you +will satisfy me wholly. I don't think, however, you can make me +more than I am now—Yours gratefully and lovingly,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Robert Browning.</p> +</div> + +<p>Continuation of letter to his mother:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>I am glad to hear Papa reported favourably of my work, and that +you like the photographs of my pictures now in the Exhibition. I +am very glad also that Gussy liked the <i>receding figure</i> in the +"Lieder ohne Worte," as it was a favourite also with me, the +<i>tallness</i> of said figure was inseparable from the sentiment of +it in my mind. I have a photograph of that picture still +remaining; I will give it to Gus when she comes through, I can +get myself another some future day. I am getting on tol-lol with +my pictures, but am rather anxious just now about <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_66" id="PageV2_66">[66]</a></span>the extreme +difficulty of getting a peacock. I want to <i>buy</i> one to have the +skin prepared, and if I don't get one soon they will all lose +their tails; and there I shall be—in a fix! A friend of mine +has written to Norfolk, and hopes to get me one. The season, +even in the extremely moderate form in which I take it, is a +fatiguing affair. I get up late and never feel fresh and +vigorous. I have serious thoughts of entirely giving it up next +year. I will go now and then to stay at people's houses, but not +to their parties—<i>le jeu ne vaut pas la chandelle</i>. <i>A propos</i> +of country houses, I am going to spend a few days with Lady +Cowper at Wrest Park towards the end of this month; there are to +be theatricals and great hilarity. And now about Bath, I hope, +dearest Mammy, you won't be hurt if I propose to come at the end +of the <i>first</i> week in September instead of the <i>last</i> week in +August. The fact is I have a great "giro" I want to make, and if +I could take Bath in the regular progress it would be both a +great convenience and a saving of expense. I mean to stay three +weeks in Bath and have thoughts of painting a <i>pot-boiler</i> of +little Walker if he is still handsome. I wish Papa would look +after him, and let me know what he is doing and how he is +looking. These are my plans: I want, whilst the summer is still +hot and green, to visit South Hampshire, New Forest, Isle of +Wight, South Devon, North Devon, and so work my way round to +Bath, whence to Stourhead for a few days; then to Mason in +Staffordshire, and then back to London. My pictures will be done +long before the Exhibition next opening, so I can manage all +this. I shall visit the following people: Sartoris, Aïdés, +perhaps Morants, I hope <i>Tennyson</i>, Lady E. Bulteel, and look in +at Mount Edgcombe—the rest of the journey will be purely +artistic.</p></div> + + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Clovelly</span>, <i>Sunday</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dearest Mammy,</span>—I could not find time to answer your +note (for which best thanks) before I left Ventnor. I am now in +one of the most picturesque spots on the north coast of +Devon—the <i>rendezvous</i> of painters and tourists, the <i>pays de +cocagne</i> of Hook and one of the chief lions of my trip.</p> + +<p>The places I have visited so far are Salisbury, Exeter, and +Bideford; with the latter I was much disappointed, and think it +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_67" id="PageV2_67">[67]</a></span>far below its reputation; not so Salisbury, which is a most +interesting town, full of quaintness and character beyond my +expectations; it has, however, a look of decay and depopulation +about it which makes me feel awfully low-spirited. The +Cathedral, perhaps, <i>altogether</i> rather disappointed me—though +of course much about it is very beautiful; then, too, its +general (internal) aspect is entirely marred by a brutal coat of +whitewash laid on in the last century, covering up the marble +columns and killing out all life and colour. Unfortunately, it +would cost very many thousands to restore the church and its +ancient glories.</p> + +<p>To-morrow I start for Ilfracombe—the next day for Lynton.</p></div> + +<p>Again, later:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>Many thanks for your letter just received and for all the kind +wishes therein contained, which I most warmly return for you +all—a double portion to dear Taily in honour of her birthday.</p> + +<p>I will come on the 8th if I possibly can, and bring some little +sketches to show you.</p> + +<p>I shall exhibit this year <span class="sc">IF</span> I get done in time, but I +can't hurry—it is entirely immaterial whether I exhibit or +not—I would rather, of course.</p> + +<p>We have begun drilling, but it will be many weeks before we get +to rifle-shooting—this is the sort of thing we are doing now. +Our uniform is plainness itself, all grey, and the cheapest in +London.</p> + +<p>I weather the cold so-so—I have a gas-stove beside my +fireplace, but am still tolerably cold when it comes very sharp.</p> + +<p>My dinner with Millais was put off till Monday next—I think +Millais <i>charming</i> and <i>so</i> handsome.</p> + +<p>I am exceedingly sorry, dear Mamma, you have reckoned on me for +cotillon figures—with the exception of the one I led at Bath +once, <i>I have not seen one for years</i>, and have not the faintest +notion what is done—I will, however, <i>back</i> anybody else with +great zeal.</p> + +<p>I was indeed truly sorry to hear of Lord Holland's death—I had +expected it for some time; nothing could exceed their kindness +to me, and the House is an irreparable loss to me.</p> + +<p>I hope to have a very merry Christmas Day. I am running <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_68" id="PageV2_68">[68]</a></span>down to +Westbury (the Sartoris); there is to be a tree; I come up again +of course Monday morning.</p> + +<p>I am never <i>ill</i>. I take my human frailty out in never being +very well—never equal to much fatigue.</p></div> + + +<div class="block"><p class="rightsc">London 1861.</p> + +<p>My dinner at Millais' yesterday was very pleasant. I like him +extremely, and his wife appears an agreeable person. I met there +John Leech, the man who does all those admirable caricatures in +<i>Punch</i>—he is a very pleasant and gentleman-like person.</p> + +<p>I don't feel sure whether I told you that I am about shortly to +send my "Paris and Juliet" with the "Samson" to America on spec. +Mrs. Kemble will do all she can to godmother them; I got a very +kind letter from her from Boston the other day—she has asked me +to send her a little sketch of Westbury with the pictures—of +course I shall.</p></div> + +<p>The following letters from Mrs. Fanny Kemble reveal the interest which +this friend took in Leighton and his pictures, also the genius of the +writer in penning delightful epistles:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc datepad">Revere House, Boston,</span><br /> +<i>Friday, December 9, 1861</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Mr. Leighton</span>,—It was very kind and amiable of you +to write to me of Westbury and my sister; you cannot imagine the +forlornness one feels when, to the loss of the sight of those +one loves, is added that bitter silence which leaves one almost +ignorant, as death does, of all the conditions in which our +friends remain. God knows, written words are a poor substitute +for the sound of a voice and the look of living eyes; still, +when they are all that can reach us of those towards whom our +hearts yearn, it is miserable not to be able to obtain them. The +friends with whom I constantly correspond see and know little or +nothing of her, and so no one of them can in any degree supply +me with the news that I most desire from across the sea—how it +is faring with my sister; so I am very grateful to you for your +intelligence, which was just what I would give anything for +(though not in itself, perhaps, very satisfactory) out here, +where I think you have none of you an idea how <i>banished</i> I +feel. Now, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_69" id="PageV2_69">[69]</a></span>my dear Mr. Leighton, to your business, about which +I began my inquiries almost immediately after my return to this +country, but only received the last of these communications last +night, and you perceive the other was incomplete without it. You +must command me entirely in any and every thing that I can do to +forward your aims, and I will promise to be <i>severe</i> in my +obedience to any instructions you may like to give me. New York +is undoubtedly a better market for pictures, and therefore a +better place to exhibit them than this, but I do not know +anybody whom I trust there. Mr. Ordway, however, seems inclined +to take charge of your pictures if they are exhibited there.</p> + +<p>Good-bye. Do not fail to employ me in this matter to the fullest +extent that I can be of the least use to you; it will be a great +pleasure to me to help you in any way that I possibly +can.—Yours very truly,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fanny Kemble.</p> + +<p>I wish you would send me out some sketch of Westbury with your +pictures, if they come. I wish for one very much. I wish you +could see the world here just now—a sky as pure and brilliant +as it is possible to conceive, and every bough, branch, blade of +grass and withered leaf coated with clear crystal and <i>blazing</i> +with prismatic colours. There are, every now and then, +<i>sentiments</i> in this sky that I have seen in none other. There +are certain points of view in which Boston, rising beyond broad +sheets of water that repeat them still more tenderly, seems to +me worthy of a great painter. But do not come out and try unless +you are quite sure of going back, or you will break your heart.</p></div> + + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Revere House, Boston,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad2"><i>Friday, February 7</i>.</span></p> + +<p>I feel terrified, when you speak of my determining what is to be +done with your pictures when they arrive in Boston, for +assuredly I am utterly incompetent to any such decision, and can +only refer myself to the judgment of my friend Mr. Cabot, who +will certainly advise for the best in the matter, but who, +nevertheless, is not infallible. I should think it rather late +in the season for exhibiting them here, but again would not take +upon myself to say. I do not know what the percentage on sale +here is, but presume it is not higher than in London. But here +people <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_70" id="PageV2_70">[70]</a></span>exhibit their pictures at a shilling a head, <i>i.e.</i> put +them in a room hung round with black calico, light up a flare of +gas above them, and take a quarter of a dollar from every sinner +who sees them. Two of Churche's pictures (he is a great American +artist, though you may never have heard of him) have been, or +rather are, at this moment so exhibiting—his "Falls of +Niagara," and a very beautiful landscape called the "Heart of +the Andes." Both these pictures were exhibited in London, I know +not with what success; they have both considerable merit, but +the latter I admire extremely. Page had a "Venus" here the other +day, exhibited by gas-light in a black room; but indeed, dear +Mr. Leighton, it sometimes seems to me as if you never could +imagine or would consent to the gross charlatanry which is +practised—how necessarily I do not know—here about all such +matters. Certainly your gold medal should be trumpeted—and your +profession of art and your confession of faith, and anything +most private and particular that you would not wish known, had +better be published in several versions in all the newspapers of +the United States. Your pictures must be placarded over all the +walls in all the sizes of type conceivable, and all the colours +of the rainbow. If you will write me your personal history, and +rampant puffs of your own performances, I will copy them and +send them to those sources of public instruction, the +enlightened public press. Moreover, I will go and sit before +them daily and utter exclamations of admiration on every note in +my voice, and if anything else remains to be done I will do it; +but you must not make me in any way responsible for the result, +because it is not in the least likely that you will write +yourself up to the mark of puffing as practised here. Basta—I +will take the very best advice and do the very best I can about +the pictures, and rejoice in my heart to see them myself, that I +can assuredly promise you. By-the-bye, I gave your address only +a few days ago, to be sent to a person now in Europe negotiating +with French and English artists for pictures to exhibit. I +wonder if he will find you and enlighten your mind about art in +America. Thank you for the account of Westbury and its Christmas +festivities, and thank you, thank you for the sketch of the home +you are so very kind as to promise me; it will be a blessed +treasure to see, for you cannot conceive the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_71" id="PageV2_71">[71]</a></span>dreary +heart-sickness that utterly overcomes me here sometimes. To-day +I was singing the quartette in "Faust" that we used to sing, and +was obliged to stop for crying. I wished extremely to have a +photograph of the house, and, if I could only have afforded it, +should have asked you to sell me every sketch you took about the +place. The skies here are beautiful, wonderful in their +transparent purity. They seem to me of a different <i>texture</i> +from any other I ever saw, more diaphanous, and there is a +colour in them when they are quite free from clouds that +surpasses in delicacy all other skies I have seen. It is like +the complexion of the young girls here, a miracle of evanescent +brilliant softness. My winter is wearing along pretty tolerably. +My Christmas was passed entirely alone, but I am quite used to +that. I am beginning to be much occupied about the plans and +drawings for a house, which I am thinking of building on some +land I own in Massachusetts. It is a great undertaking, and +really at fifty years old seems hardly worth while, and yet, +till I am ready for my coffin, I must have some place in which +to rest my head. Perhaps some fine day—who knows?—you will +come to see me there. That would be a very pretty plot, and I +think I need not say how welcome you would be, dear Mr. +Leighton, to yours very truly,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fanny Kemble.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Lenox</span>, <i>Tuesday</i>.</p> + +<p>A thousand thanks, my dear Mr. Leighton, for the minute account +of Westbury—as I cannot know anything about my sister, it is +something to know how her house is settled and decorated, and +how the place where she lives looks. The red velvet drawing-room +sounds gorgeous, and it must be very becoming to the pictures. +Of your pictures that have "wandered west" you may be sure I +should have written you, if I had had the good news to give you +that either of them was sold, but I am sorry to say this is not +the case. The New York Exhibition is now closed, and the +pictures have been sent back to Boston, where they are at +present hanging in the Athenæum under the care of Mr. Ordway, +who wishes, but does not much hope, to be able to sell them. It +seems that one or two people asked the price of the pictures in +New York, but considered it, when they received the +information, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_72" id="PageV2_72">[72]</a></span>"rather a tall price." I am a little consoled at +the ill success of this venture of yours, by Henry Greville's +writing me that your hands are full of orders, for which you are +to be well paid. Your small acquaintance, Fanny, who left me +this morning after a visit of a month, propounded to me the +expediency of desiring the purchaser of the reconciliation of +old Capulet and Montague to buy as its pendant the "Paris and +Juliet"; and though she has no personal acquaintance with the +lover of art in question, she said, when she got to Philadelphia +she should set about intriguing to that effect; and she had my +full permission to try and to succeed. I wish I could tell you +anything pleasant in return for your description of the rooms at +Westbury, but I have nothing very cheerful to impart. I have +been quite unwell, and am still very far from flourishing; my +spirits are much depressed, and the life I lead, of incessant +worry and discomfort with servants and all one's domestic +arrangements, is something quite too tedious to relate—and that +indeed it would be impossible to <i>realise</i>, as the Yankees say, +unless you witnessed it. I saw Hetty Hosmer three days after her +arrival in Boston. Her father is a hopeless invalid, and she +will certainly not leave him while he lives; but I suspect that +he is likely to die before this year ends, and then she will +return to live in Italy. The State of Missouri has voted two +thousand pounds for a statue of Colonel Benton, one of its +"great men," to be erected by her, which, of course, is a whole +plume of feathers in her cap.</p> + +<p>Good-bye, dear Mr. Leighton; believe me always yours most truly,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fanny Kemble.</p> + +<p>You must not fail to write to me any directions that you wish +observed about your pictures, while they remain here. I am only +too glad to try to serve you.</p></div> + + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Lenox, Berkshire, Massachusetts,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>Monday, March 12</i>.</span></p> + +<p>Pictures of very high pretensions are exhibited, like the scenes +in a theatre, by gas-light, and advertised in coloured <i>posters</i> +all over the streets like theatrical exhibitions. However, it is +no use vexing your soul with what neither of us can help. I +cannot and will not accept the responsibility of disposing of +your pictures; but I will <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_73" id="PageV2_73">[73]</a></span>get the best advice I can about them +and follow it, and spare no personal pains to have them +advantageously dealt with; only, I hope it will not be very long +before they arrive, because my own stay in Boston is now drawing +to a close, and after the end of the present month I shall be at +Lenox, a remote village in a lonely hill district one hundred +miles from Boston, or rather I should say seven hours distant +from the nearest railroad station, which is six miles away again +from Lenox. When once I come here—for I write at this moment +from this snowy wilderness—it will be to remain for the next +nine or ten months, so you see I must make all arrangements +about your pictures before taking my leave of civilised +communities. I came up to this place from Boston yesterday to +look at a house that I think of hiring for a year, and shall +return to the city next week. I have left your pictures (should +they arrive during my absence) to the charge of a friend of mine +who is one of the directors of the Athenæum, and will see that +they are properly received. Thank you a thousand times for the +promised likeness of Westbury, which will be a treasure to me. +What a contrast is my recollection of that charming place, to +the abomination of desolation of the dreary savage winter +landscape of low black hills, bristling with wintry woods and +wide, bare, snow-covered valleys, that stretch before me here at +this moment. I am well, but much worn out with my last course of +public readings, which I had just ended in Boston. My daughters +are well, and write to me tolerably frequently; the eldest seems +happy and contented in her marriage; your small acquaintance, +Fanny, writes to me from Savannah of sitting with the doors and +windows wide open, and wiping the perspiration from her face in +the meantime; and here everything is buried in snow. I shall +wait till I return to Boston to finish this, as I shall hope to +send you then news of the arrival of your pictures.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><i>Wednesday, March 14.</i></p> + +<p>Your pictures are arrived, my dear Mr. Leighton; they reached +Boston last week while I was absent at Lenox. I only returned +yesterday evening, and found a letter from Mr. Cabot announcing +that they were at the Athenæum; thither I went this morning, and +spent a most delightful half-hour in looking at them. I like +the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_74" id="PageV2_74">[74]</a></span>"Samson" very much indeed; I think it is beautiful, and am +charmed with the treatment of the subject, though you have +chosen a different moment for illustration from the one I had +imagined. This evening I have been having a long conversation +with Mr. Ordway about the future destinations of the pictures. I +am little sanguine, I regret to say, about their being bought +here, for the only rich picture purchaser that I know here has a +predilection for French works of art, small <i>tableaux de genre</i>, +and Troyon's landscapes. However, it must be tried. Mr. Ordway +says he will exhibit your pictures in the Athenæum, which +(should they be sold while there) will save you your commission, +because, being an artist himself, he will not charge you any. If +after due experiment they do not seem likely to sell here, we +will send them to New York, and then to Philadelphia; in short, +the best that can be done for them shall, as far as my agency is +concerned, you may be sure.</p></div> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Boston</span>, <i>Thursday, March 15</i>.</p> + +<p>I have this moment received your letter of the 25th February, +for which I thank you very much. It does not require any further +answer with regard to your pictures, of the safe arrival of +which I wrote you word last night. I did not tell you, +by-the-bye, that they are both slightly <i>streaked</i> across from +side to side with what Mr. Ordway thinks must have been small +infiltrations of sea-water; he says the pictures are not injured +by them, nor do they indeed appear to be so in the least, and +that he can wipe off the stains with no damage whatever to them. +Thank you for all you tell me of my sister; it is not much, +indeed, nor very cheerful, but it is more than reaches me +through any other channel, and far better than the miserable +conjectures of absolute ignorance. Dear Mr. Leighton, thank you +a thousand times for the <i>portrait</i> of Westbury—it is exactly +what I wished for—but, oh, why could there not be the lovely +upland beyond, and the sheep slowly rolling up and down the +slopes, and the tinkle of the bell, and you and she and they and +all of us. Oh dear, if you could conceive what it is to me to be +<i>here</i>, you would know a thousand times better than I can tell +you how precious such a memento of <i>there</i> is to me. Thank you, +too, for the good inspiration of telling me about the change of +place of the pictures at Westbury; it is wonderful how much one +small <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_75" id="PageV2_75">[75]</a></span>particular has power to bring the whole of what surrounds +it, back to the mind, and what vividness it gives to the picture +that, in spite of the distinctness with which it was stamped +upon the memory, becomes so soon, and yet so unconsciously, +obliterated in the minor parts that give it charm and vitality. +I spent a long hour to-day again looking at your pictures and +wishing most heartily that I could afford to buy them both. +Good-bye, dear Mr. Leighton; I shall leave this open till +to-morrow, in case I should hear anything more about them before +I go. I enclose the receipts for what I have paid. I suppose it +is all right, but it seems a most monstrous price for mere +conveyance, and indeed reminds us that our humorous forefathers +called <i>stealing conveying</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Lenox, Berkshire, Massachusetts,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>Friday, April 27</i>.</span></p> + +<p>Your pictures are at present in the New York Exhibition. Mr. +Ordway tells me that it is extremely rare for pictures to sell +without the intervention of dealers. In this country they cry +down and undervalue all pictures that are not expressly +committed to them, and the ignorance of the rich shopkeepers who +purchase works of Art, is so excessive that they do not feel +safe in making any acquisition without the advice and permission +of some charlatan of a dealer, to whom these wiseacres come +saying (verbatim, so Mr. Ordway informed me), "I want some +pictures; can't you recommend any to me?" and then, of course, +the picture-dealer recommends what brings him the highest +percentage; and the man who buys pictures exactly like +looking-glasses, window-curtains, or any other <i>furniture</i> for a +new house, departs satisfied that he possesses a work of Art. +The things that are bought and sold here in the shape of +pictures, and the things that are said about them, <i>vous +feraient pouffer de rire</i>, if you did not live in this country. +If you did, they would be like many other proofs of the +semi-civilisation of the people, that would be rather doleful +than otherwise to you. Thank you for all you tell about my +sister and her children. I feel very much both for my sister and +Anne in their separation. I have just parted with my maid Marie, +who has lived with me fifteen years, and who leaves me now +because her health is so much broken down that her physician +tells <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_76" id="PageV2_76">[76]</a></span>her, she must go to some other climate or she will die. +So she is gone, and here I remain absolutely alone, looking, not +for the "wrath to come," but what may be supposed no bad +instalment of it—the advent of four new servants with whom I am +to begin housekeeping in my small cottage next week. Just before +leaving Boston I saw Hetty Hosmer. She has come home to her poor +old paralytic father, who, I suppose, is not likely to live very +long. Whenever the event of his death happens, Hetty will gather +up her substance, and depart hence for the rest of her natural +or artistic life. She is very little changed in appearance, and +only a little in manner. She seemed very glad to see me, and so +was I to see her, for she represented to my memory a whole world +of things and places and people that I am fond of. I have not +seen Lord Lyon, and do not expect to do so, as I understand he +does not mean to stir from Washington all the summer, and +thither I shall assuredly not go, though I would go a good way +to see him. I'm told he lives in dread of being married by some +fair American, and it is not always a thing that a man can +escape; but he is too good for that, and I trust will not +succumb to these intrepid little flirts. Good-bye, dear Mr. +Leighton; I have a settled nostalgia, which is the saddest thing +in the world. Your sketch of Westbury is always before me, and +your letters are the most kindly return you could possibly make, +for any service that you could require of me. I wish with all my +heart I might have the great pleasure of writing you, now that +one of your pictures was sold.</p> + +<p>Addio.</p></div> + + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Lenox</span>, <i>Friday, June 7</i>.</p> + +<p>Thank you, dear Frederic Leighton, for your letter and the +photographs, by means of which, and your description, I have a +sort of vision (not quite what the Yankees call a "realising +sense") of your pictures. The girl at the fountain is +charming,<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> the other beautiful and terrible, as it should +be.<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> I can well imagine the beautiful effect the sentiment of +the picture must receive from that regretful return, as it were, +of the daylight that has set upon the poor people for ever. In +the English newspapers that are sent to me I looked eagerly +among the notices <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_77" id="PageV2_77">[77]</a></span>of the Exhibition for your name, and read the +meagre little bit allotted to each picture. I was especially +delighted with the critic who thinks your "Paolo and Francesca" +too <i>earthly</i> in the intensity of their passions. The gentleman +apparently forgets that it was not in Heaven that Dante met +these poor things. With regard to your other pictures, dear Mr. +Leighton, I think you are right to withdraw them from America. I +wish with all my heart that I could have presented myself with +one of those pictures; however, that is one of the vainest of +all human desires. My income is already docked of two hundred +pounds this year by the disastrous state of public affairs; but, +of course, if one is in the midst of a falling house, one can +hardly hope to avoid bruises and broken bones. The attitude of +England is highly unsatisfactory to the North, who now choose to +consider the whole action of the Government a crusade against +slavery—which it is not, and was not, and will not be except in +the New England state where the Abolitionist party has always +been strongest, and where the character of the people is more of +the nature to make fighters for abstract principles. The +Southerners hate the Yankees, and <i>vice versâ</i>, for this very +reason; and if the crisis comes really to anything like +fighting, the New England, especially the Massachusetts men, +will probably fight very maliciously as against slaveholders, +and the slaveholders against them as Abolitionists, which <i>they</i> +now are, pretty much to a man. A huge volunteer force is levying +and being prepared for action; but in spite of the very +unanimous feeling of the North and North-West, and the warlike +attitude of the South, I shall not believe in anything deserving +the name of war till I see it. The South is without resources +that can avail for a six months' struggle. The North has a huge, +unarmed, undisciplined force of men at its command; but the +Southerners do not want to fight, and neither do the +Northerners; <i>but</i> if any combination of circumstances (and of +course matters cannot stand still, especially with the border +states all <i>au pied en l'air</i>) should occasion any collision +accompanied with considerable effusions of blood, I believe the +North would pour itself upon the Southern States and annihilate +the secessionist party. It is extremely difficult to foresee the +probable course of events, but I believe eventually the Southern +States will be obliged to return to their allegiance, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_78" id="PageV2_78">[78]</a></span>and +<i>then</i> I believe the North will, once for all, legislate for the +future limiting of the curse of slavery to those states where it +<i>now</i> exists, and where, of course, under such circumstances, it +would very soon cease to exist, as if it cannot extend itself it +must die. In one sense slavery is undoubtedly the cause of the +present disastrous crisis—and in the profoundest sense, for the +character of the Southerners is the immediate result of these +infernal "institutions"; and but for Southern slavery Southern +"Chivalry," that arrogant, insolent, ignorant, ferocious and +lawless race of men, would never have existed.</p> + +<p>Oh, how thankful I shall be to be at home once more! Farewell, +dear Mr. Leighton; pray, if there is anything special to be done +about your pictures, write to me and let me have the pleasure of +doing something for you. Oh, I am so enraged that I could not +get them sold; and yet though you may not think it, I should +have thought it a pity for them to have to live the rest of +their lives here. Thank you again for the photographs; I look at +them constantly. All <i>such things</i> are like being lifted into +another atmosphere from that which surrounds and stifles one +here. Believe me always your obliged and sincere friend,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fanny Kemble.</p> + +<p>Emil Devrient's was the best Hamlet I ever saw. It would not +have been if my father's had not been too smooth and harmonious. +I hope I shall see Fechter's.</p></div> + + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Lenox</span>, <i>Thursday, October 11</i>.</p> + +<p>How good an inspiration it was that made you send that beautiful +photograph to me! It came to me really like a special +providence, on the day when I had parted from my children for an +indefinite time, and with more than usual sadness and anxiety; +for my eldest child's health has failed completely since her +confinement, and she came to me for a visit of ten days only, +looking like the doomed, wan image of some woman whose enemies +were wasting her by witchcraft. My small comfortless home was +intolerably lonely to me, and towards sunset I went out to find +some fortitude under the open sky. I wandered into a copse of +beech trees that clothe the steep sides of a miniature ravine +with a brook at the bottom, and here gathered a handful of the +beautiful <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_79" id="PageV2_79">[79]</a></span>blue fringed gentian (do you know that exquisite +flower that grows wild in the woods here?). The little glen with +its clusters of mysterious blue blossoms was all but dark, but, +emerging from it, I stood where I saw a wide valley flooded with +the evening light, and hills beyond rising in waves of amber and +smoke colour and dark purple; it was so beautiful that it cannot +be imagined. The autumn has turned all the trees into gold and +jewels, like the enchanted growth of fairy-land, and the whole +world, as I saw it from the entrance of that shadowy dell, +looked as if it was made of precious metals and precious stones. +I was very sad, and stood thinking of our Saviour and the widow +of Nain, and how pitiful He was to sorrowful human creatures, +and with some sparks of comfort in my heart I returned home, +where I found your letter waiting for me. I have told you all +this of my previous state of mind and feeling, because—without +knowing that—you could not conceive how like an express message +of consolation your work appeared to me. May it be blessed to +many hearts for admonition and for consolation as it was to +mine, dear Mr. Leighton. It is no wonder that it seemed to me +beautiful, and I do not think I shall ever sufficiently +disconnect it with this first impression, to be able to judge of +its merit as a work of art; it was, as I said before, a special +Providence to me. I long to have it framed and hung where I can +see it constantly. I have within the last few days moved into a +house which I have hired for the next two years. It is all but +in the village of Lenox, and yet so situated that it commands +from the windows of every room a most beautiful prospect. The +whole landscape is a harmonious confusion of small valleys and +hills, rolling and falling within and around and beyond each +other, like folds of rich and majestic drapery. Oh, what lights +and shadows roam and rest over these hill-sides and in the +hollows between them! The country is very thickly wooded, and +the woods are literally of every colour in the rainbow, all +mixed together under a sky, the peculiar characteristic of which +is not so much softness or brightness, as a transparent purity +that seems as if there was <i>no</i> atmosphere betwixt oneself and +the various objects one sees. I expect this would make it +difficult to paint these beautiful aspects of nature here; but, +oh, how I <i>do</i> wish <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_80" id="PageV2_80">[80]</a></span>you could see it, for, in the matter of +American autumnal colouring, seeing alone is believing. The +house itself is very tolerably comfortable, but hideous to +behold both within and without; and I have begun my residence in +it under rather depressing circumstances, <i>i.e.</i> without <i>being +able</i> to obtain the necessary servants for the decent comfort of +my daily existence. Ever since the beginning of May I have been +endeavouring, in vain, to procure and keep together a decent +household. Not for one <i>single week</i> have I had my proper +complement of people in the house, and I have done every species +of house-work myself, from cleaning the cellar and kitchen to +washing the tea-cups; it is a state of things as incredible as +the colour of the autumn woods, and as peculiar, thank God, to +America. I am now making my last experiment by trying coloured +servants. Their manners and deportment are generally much better +than those of either the Irish or American, and they seem +capable of personal attachment to their employers, which neither +of the other races are. The incessant worry, discomfort, and +positive fatigue that I have undergone during the whole summer +has completely shaken my nerves, so that I have been in a sort +of hysterical condition of constant weeping for some time past. +I trust, however, it will not be so wretched now, for I am at +any rate close to the village inn, and if I am left without +servants, can go there and get some food; it is a state of +existence <i>qu'on ne s'imagine pas</i>. You will not wonder, after +all this, to hear that I declined a ticket to the Prince's ball +at New York, to which the whole population of the United States +are struggling to get admittance; but at the best of times "I am +not gamesome," and feel as if I had swept my own rooms quite too +recently to be fit company for my Queen's son. Thank you, dear +Mr. Leighton, for all you tell me about my sister and the +children; she never writes, you know, and so I am thirsty all +the time for some tidings of her. It is very sad to be so far +away and hear so seldom from those one loves. Good-bye, God +bless you; and thank you once more for the "Vision." I am sorry +I cannot tell you of the sale of either of your pictures; they +are in the Boston Athenæum, very safe, and highly ornamental to +it, but not, I regret to say, sold. If you wish me to do +anything more about them, you must write me <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_81" id="PageV2_81">[81]</a></span>your directions, +which I will fulfil with every attention and accuracy of which I +am capable.</p></div> + + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Lenox</span>, <i>Sunday, November 11</i>.</p> + +<p>I trust before long you will receive your children safe and +sound. I wish the two hundred pounds I have lost this year had +been invested in one of those pictures instead of in St. Louis. +Thank you for your account of Adelaide and her children; it is +not much, but it is all that much better than nothing. The state +of the country is very sad, and any probable termination of the +war quite out of calculable distance. England, no doubt, will +maintain her absolute neutrality in spite of secession, cotton, +and anti-slavery sympathies; it is her only part. Good-bye, dear +Mr. Leighton.</p> + +<p>I beg you will not scruple to write me now if there is anything +more that I can do, either in the matter of the pictures or any +other by which I can be of use to you here.</p></div> + + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc datepad2">New York,</span><br /> +<i>Sunday, March 10</i>.</p> + +<p>I am sure you have not forgotten the charming farmhouse at West +Mion, to which you and your sketch-book were the means of +introducing us, —— farm: well, his brother is one of the +richest shopkeepers in New York—and, upon the strength of my +visit to the paternal acres in Hampshire, his wife, a funny +little specimen of vivacious vulgarity, called upon me, and I, +of course, upon her. I was shown into a drawing-room at least +thirty feet long, with two massive white marble chimney-pieces, +green silk brocade curtains and furniture to match, magnificent +carpets, mirrors, gildings, hideous <i>works</i> in marble on +scagliola pillars—in short, the most marvellous palace of +shopkeepers' <i>beaux ideaux</i> that you can conceive; through this +to a beautifully fitted-up library; through this to a picture +gallery, noble <i>seigneur</i>, <i>pensez y bien</i>! Oh, my dear Frederic +Leighton, it was enough to make one fall down and foam at the +mouth, to see such a hideous collection of daubs and to think of +the money hanging on those walls; and then I thought of your +pictures, and why the wretched man couldn't have procured them +for some of his foolish money; and then I begged your <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_82" id="PageV2_82">[82]</a></span>pardon +internally for the desecration of imagining your pictures in +such company; and then I gazed amusedly about me, and at length +gave tongue: "Mr. ——," said I, "this is a vastly different +residence from the old homestead in Hampshire." The worthy man +could not see in my heart which way the balance of preference +inclined, and answered with benignant self-satisfaction: "Ah, +well, you see, ma'am, they've been going on there for the last I +don't know how many hundred years, just about in the same social +position; they haven't a notion of the rapidity of our progress +here." I hate to advise you to have your pictures back, for +there really does seem to me to be a <i>greedy desire for +pictures</i> (I cannot qualify in any other way the taste which +covets and buys such things) here; but I suppose pictures, at +any rate, must be what these people want, and will not buy dear +and good ones, when cheap and nasty do as well. I think, while I +am here in New York, I shall take the liberty of making some +further inquiry as to whether the great print and picture seller +here does not think they could be seen to selling advantage in +his shop; in short, it throws me into a melancholy rage to think +what pictures are bought while yours are not. The state of this +country is curious—strange and deplorable beyond precedent in +history, it seems to me; and it is absolutely <i>impossible</i> to +foresee to what issue things are tending. The opinions one hears +are all coloured by the particular bias of the speaker, and the +confusion is so great in the general excitement of sectional +partisanship that even one of the members—and a very +influential one—of the peace convention sent to Washington for +the purpose of proposing terms of conciliation—which should +not, however, compromise the Northern principles—said that +nothing had been done, that all was "sound and fury, and +signifying nothing"—or if anything at present, the confirmed +secession of the Southern, the disruption from the North of the +Northern slave States, and, not impossibly, civil war. Of +course, the more time elapses in palavering before the first +fatal blow is struck, the less probability there is of its being +struck at all; but, on the other hand, the longer the present +state of things continues, the more accustomed people become to +the idea of the dismemberment of the Union, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_83" id="PageV2_83">[83]</a></span>therefore, +though the clangour of an appeal to arms diminishes, so I think +does the prospect of anything like "making up" the family +quarrel—indeed, if it were patched, and soldered to the very +best, I do not believe that it will ever "hold water again"; but +it is impossible to foresee from day to day what may be the turn +of events.</p> + +<p>If I live till a year from this summer I will be in England in +July, and if I live till the November after that I will be in +Rome, and you and Edward and Adelaide have my full permission to +come too.</p> + +<p>Good-bye, dear Mr. Leighton. Your letters are a great comfort as +well as pleasure to me; I am extremely obliged to you for them.</p> + +<p>I showed my daughter the photograph of your "Vision," and she +was enchanted with it. She has not a cultivated or educated +taste in matters of art—this country affords no means for such +a thing—but she is a person of very fine natural perceptions +and great imagination and sensibility, and she was so charmed +with it that I hope you will not think it foolish or impertinent +in me to tell you of it.</p> + +<p>The last political news I have is that the border or Northern +slave States will probably not join the cotton states, in which +case the latter will, of hard necessity, very soon be compelled +to abandon their absurd and infinitely perilous position; but +one does not see the end of it all, for if they <i>do</i> come back +into the Union, it will be under a burning sense of humiliation +which will hardly facilitate their future intercourse with the +North, for humiliation and humility are difficult things, and +the cotton Lucifer under coercion will not be a pleasant devil +to deal with.</p></div> + + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Lenox</span>, <i>Saturday, September 7</i>.</p> + +<p>You owe me nothing, and you will owe me nothing, dear Mr. +Leighton, for expediting your pictures to England. When I wrote +to Mr. Ordway about them desiring him to send them back to you, +and to let me know the amount of any expenses he incurred in +doing so, his reply was that the mere cost of packing and +putting them on board ship would not be worth charging you with, +and that the possession of your pictures in his gallery was well +worth <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_84" id="PageV2_84">[84]</a></span>the small outlay of merely despatching them to you. I +hope they will reach you safely. I am sorry, <i>sorry</i> they have +not remained here; but latterly, as you will easily believe, +people's minds have been little inclined to the peaceful arts or +any influences of beauty and grace; moreover, the pockets of the +wealthiest amateurs are affected, as those of their poorer +neighbours are, by the public disasters. My own loss this year +is two hundred pounds of my income. What it may be next year, or +how far my capital itself is safe, is more than anybody can +tell. We are to be taxed moreover beyond all precedent in this +country hitherto, and as it is already nearly the dearest place +in the world to live in, what with onerous imports and the +failure of interest from one's investments it will be simply +ruinous. Thank you for all you tell me of my sister and her +children. I am beginning to <i>see them again</i>, as the time when I +may really hope to do so draws nearer. I am sorry for what you +and all my friends tell me about Harry's strong dramatic +propensities. Of course, if he is fit for nothing else, or +fitter for that than anything else, he had better become an +actor, and his being so in England need not prevent his being a +worthy fellow and respectable and respected member of society. I +am, however, much reconciled to what at first disappointed me +extremely—my not being able to bring him out to this country; +for if he should eventually take to the stage, here that is +simply in most instances equivalent to taking to the gutter. My +daughters are both with me just now, and Fanny desires me to +remember her very kindly to you. The incidents of the war which +reach the other side of the water no doubt strike you as amazing +enough; but anything more grotesque than the daily details in +the midst of which we live, you cannot conceive. A young +gentleman, a friend of ours who has just returned from his share +in the campaign in a three months' volunteer regiment (he has +entered the regular army, as a very large proportion of the +volunteers did as soon as their three months' amateur service +expired), described to us a volunteer corps which happened to be +encamped in the neighbourhood of his company. He said they were +one of the finest bodies of men he ever saw. Lumberers, that is, +wood-fellers from the forests of Maine and New Hampshire, +perfectly brave and reckless and daring—perfectly undisciplined +too, to the tune of replying to their <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_85" id="PageV2_85">[85]</a></span>officers when ordered to +turn out on guard, "No, I'll be damned if I do," with the most +cheerful good humour. Thereupon the discomfited "superior" +simply turns to some one else and says, "Oh, well—you're so and +so—go." Good-bye; I shall rejoice to see you again, and be once +more at home among people who know how to behave +themselves.—Believe me, always yours most sincerely,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fanny Kemble.</p> +</div> + +<p>After the Prince Consort's death in 1861 Leighton wrote the following +letter to his younger sister, who was in Italy:</p> + +<div class="block"><p>I have just returned from a fortnight in Bath, where I have at +last finished the Johnnies,<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> I believe, and hope you will +like them; they are at all events much improved. I am glad for +the poor lad that the <i>corvée</i> of settling is over; he was dying +to get back to his work. If zeal and enthusiasm can make an +artist, he ought to become one.</p> + +<p>I don't attempt to give you home news, as you are amply supplied +with that article by Mamma. Everybody here is in great sorrow +for the poor Queen. She bears up under her overwhelming grief +with admirable fortitude, and expresses her anxious desire to do +<i>her duty as he</i> would have wished it, but she speaks of all +earthly happiness as at an end. The tender sympathy manifested +by the whole nation is touching, but deserved.</p> + +<p>Whether there will be war or not, the beginning of the year will +show; it is, I think, more than probable; there is no +probability of the Americans giving up Mason and Slidell. If we +do fight, it will be agreeable to feel that we are supported by +the sympathy and approval of <i>all Europe</i>; that we are entirely +in the right is <i>universally</i> recognised, even by those who have +no love for us. Sooner or later, a war with America was, I fear, +unavoidable. There is a limit to what even we can overlook. All +this need not prevent your coming to England that I can see; it +won't stop the Exhibition, nor make any perceptible <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_86" id="PageV2_86">[86]</a></span>difference +in anybody's doings, except perhaps the picture buyers.—Your +very affect. brother,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><i>Sunday, 1862.</i></p> + +<p>Arrived here safe and sound on Thursday night, and began my work +on Friday. I am making studies<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> for the "Eastern King" which +I shall begin to paint shortly after New Year. I found the frame +for the large "Johnny" on my return. It improves the picture +very much, and looks very handsome. I also found a letter from +Henry Greville waiting for me. He says the Queen bears up +admirably, because, she says, <i>he</i> would have wished it, but +that she always talks of her earthly career as at an end. The +equerries, &c., will remain attached to the court.</p></div> + +<p>In 1862 Leighton sent eight pictures to the Royal Academy, and six +were accepted. Before the sending in he writes to his father:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right">1862.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Papa</span>,—I am afraid I don't take exercise <i>very</i> +regularly, still, I walk a <i>little</i> nearly every day.</p> + +<p>With regard to the volunteering, the zeal for the matter is +necessarily not what it was when every third man really expected +to be called to defend the country. Nevertheless, the movement +is not dead, but has found a level on which I fancy it will +remain; the <i>shooting</i> will keep it together a good deal. We +(the artists) shall join the great business at Brighton on +Easter Monday.</p> + +<p>Had I thought you would have taken my remark about the M. Angelo +and the Johnnies so much to heart, I should have thought twice +before I made it. Against what I said you must set the paragraph +in the <i>Athenæum</i> two or three weeks back—my doubt is not +whether they will be admired—I think they will be <i>that</i>—my +only question is whether they will be <i>cared</i> for. Mrs. Austin +admires and likes the M.A. beyond anything, and if she could +afford it would, I believe, buy it at once.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_87" id="PageV2_87">[87]</a></span>You will perhaps be surprised to hear that the pictures from +which I expect most are the three which you have not seen—the +"Eastern King" and the two others I mentioned in my last. One of +them is Pocock's smaller order, a girl with a <i>swan</i> (not with +<i>peacocks</i> as the <i>Athen.</i> says)—the other is a kitcat of a +girl listening to a shell. Both these are very luminous, and are +in that respect the best things I have done.</p></div> + +<p>And later:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="rightsc">London, 1862.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Papa</span>,—I think I may confirm the report made to +you of the success of my pictures, particularly the "Odalisque" +and "Echoes" (by-the-bye, I have just received a letter from +somebody who wants to know if they are sold). What the papers +say, you have seen. You will be glad to hear that I have +received congratulations on all sides, which gives me the idea +of being tolerably secure; at all events, I got no such last +year, nor indeed at all since the "Cimabue." That two of my +pictures should not have been accepted does not indeed surprise +me, and least of all would it do so if they were rejected on the +score of <i>number</i>, but I have reason to suspect that they were +<i>not</i> liked; in fact I <i>know</i> it. I have put my name down as a +candidate for associateship.</p> + +<p>I don't think I have anything of interest to communicate; nobody +has as yet asked the price of the "Eastern King" or the "Michael +Angelo." There is no mistake now about what people in this +country like to buying point; whether I shall conform to their +taste is another question.</p> + +<p>Pocock liked the "Michael Ang." much, but did not seem to wish +to have it. The same remark applies to the Johnnies.</p> + +<p>Millais has been, and liked the yellow woman<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> extremely. I +think he liked them all <i>of their kind</i>, but the yellow woman +was his favourite by far. Stephens has also seen my pictures. He +seemed altogether much pleased, but most especially with the +design for the "Eastern King," which is also Fred Cockerell's +favourite.</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_88" id="PageV2_88">[88]</a></span>To his mother he wrote:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right">1862.</p> + +<p>I have deferred answering your letter till now, that I might be +able to inform you definitely of my fate as regards the Royal +Academy. I have just been there; I must tell you at once the +least pleasant part of my news—they have rejected the large +"Johnny" and "Lord Cowper." On the other hand, the other +pictures are well hung; two (the "Odalisque" and the yellow +woman), <i>very</i> well, being on <i>the line</i> in the <i>East Room</i>. The +"Michael Angelo," the "E. King," and the shell girl are just +above the line and well seen—the small "Johnny" just below the +line. I think the pictures all look well, though not so luminous +as in the studio. I am confirmed in my opinion that the Academy +Exhibition is a false test of colour; what looks sufficiently +<i>silvery there</i> is <i>chalky</i> out of it. The "Odalisque" looks +best from general aspects. Lady Cowper wrote me a very nice note +about the rejection of her son's portrait, and said she was +delighted to get it so soon. I am sorry about the large +"Johnny," because my chance of selling it is much diminished.</p></div> + +<p>That Leighton received great encouragement from personal friends there +can be no doubt. The following is one of very many letters he received +which expressed warm appreciation.</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="rightsc">64 Rutland Gate.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">My dear Mr. Leighton</span>,—I do not know how to express my +thanks to you. I have this moment come home and found your +beautiful drawing, and can hardly hold my pen, I am in such a +state of delight at possessing such a reminiscence of my +favourite picture. You really <i>do</i> not know what pleasure you +have given me, and I think it <i>too kind</i> of you to have parted +with this to give to me. One thing you may be quite sure of, +that the "Eastern King" will receive the greatest homage to the +end of days from his devoted admirer and your sincere friend,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Mary Sartoris.<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p> +<p><i>Past Midnight, Tuesday.</i></p> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_89" id="PageV2_89">[89]</a></span>Among Leighton's friends was Charles Dickens. The following notes, +written in 1863, have turned up in a packet of miscellaneous +correspondence:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="datepad2 sc">Office of "All the Year Round,"</span><br /> +<span class="sc">No. 26 Wellington Street, Strand, London, W.C.</span>,<br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>Thursday, April 9, 1863</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">My dear Leighton</span>,—I owe you many thanks for your kind +reminder. It would have given me real pleasure to have profited +by it had such profit been possible, but a hasty summons to +attend upon a sick friend at a distance so threw me out on +Friday and Saturday in obliging me to prepare for a rush across +the Channel, that I saw no pictures and had no holiday. I was +blown back here only last night, and believe that I shall +deliver your message to Mrs. Collins to-day; that is to say, I +am going home this afternoon and expect to find her there.</p> + +<p>When the summer weather comes on, I shall try to persuade you to +come and see us on the top of Falstaff's Hill. A hop country is +not to be despised by an artist's eyes.—Faithfully yours +always,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Charles Dickens.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="block"><p class="right"> + +<span class="sc datepad">Gad's Hill Place,</span><br /> +<span class="sc">Higham by Rochester, Kent,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad2"><i>Saturday, July 18, 1863</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">My dear Leighton</span>,—Shall I confess it? I never went out +to breakfast in my life, except once to Rogers'. But what I +might have done under this temptation is a question forestalled +by my having engaged to go down to Bulwer Lytton's in +Hertfordshire on Monday, to stay a few days.—Cordially yours,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Charles Dickens.</p> +</div> + +<p>It was in 1863 that Leighton paid the notable visit to his friend of +the Roman days, George Mason, to whom the world's Art owes so much. +Assuredly, without Leighton's encouragement and help, those lovely +idylls which stand with the most precious treasures of the English +school of painting would never have been created. Mason had returned +to <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_90" id="PageV2_90">[90]</a></span>England in 1856; he married and settled in his own manor-house, +Wetley Abbey. Children were born and expenses increased, and little or +nothing was there with which to meet them. After Rome England seemed a +hopeless place to work in, and Mason's surroundings were quite dumb to +his artistic sense. Leighton, when he heard of his depression and +poverty, sought him out in his rural retreat, beamed mental sunshine +on his spirits, made him walk with him, pointing out the pictorial +beauties of Mason's own native country, and ended by taking him a tour +through the Black Country. Mason's poetic sense was again awakened; an +artistic purpose was again inspired; and, feeling the despair of +hopeless poverty removed (Leighton was ever ready with substantial +aid), he painted the pictures for which the world has so much reason +to be grateful. When in 1872—nine years after this visit—George +Mason died, Leighton arranged for a sale of his pictures and property, +from the proceeds of which his wife and children obtained an income of +£600 a year. Leighton wrote to Mrs. Matthews at the time of Mason's +death: "Poor Mason's death has been a great shock to me, though indeed +I should have been prepared for it at any time. His loss is quite +irreparable for English Art, for he stood entirely alone in his +especial charm, and he was one of the most lovable of men besides."</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> The critics, judging from the following extracts, were +amiably inclined towards him that year:—"Among the pictures familiar +to London loungers of 1858, is Mr. F. Leighton's scene from 'Romeo and +Juliet,' a work lost and, it may be submitted, undervalued, owing to +the disadvantageous place given it in Trafalgar Square. The depth and +richness of its colour, the picturesque manner in which the story is +told, the contrast in some of the heads, that, for instance, of Friar +Lawrence, hopeful in the consciousness of knowledge of Juliet's +secret, with that of the entrancing maiden of Verona, or again with +that of the weeping nurse, whose grief is a trifle too <i>accentué</i>. The +truthful conception and careful labour of this picture have now a +chance of being appreciated, and but that Pre-Raphaelitism is resolute +not to give in, might fairly have entitled it to the prize bestowed +elsewhere."—<i>Athenæum</i>, 1858.</p> + +<p class="noin">"We will take the second-named gentleman first, and come at once to +his 'Fisherman and Syren.' The picture is not of any commanding size, +nor does it relate any very exciting legend. The story is of the +mystic Undine tinge, and with a shadowy semblance in it to that +strange legend, current among the peasants of Southern Russia, of the +'White Lady' with the long hair, who, with loving and languishing +gestures, decoys the unwary into her fantastic skiff, then, pressing +her baleful lips to theirs, folds them to her fell embrace, and drags +them shrieking beneath the engulfing waves. The 'Fisherman and Syren' +of Mr. Leighton has something of this unreal, legendary fatality +pervading it throughout. There is irresistible seductiveness on the +one side, pusillanimous fondness on the other. That it is all over +with the fisherman, and that the syren will have her wicked will of +him to his destruction, is palpable. But it is not alone for the +admirable manner in which the story is told that we commend this +picture; the drawing is eruditely correct, most graceful, and most +symmetrical. The syren is a model of form in its most charming +undulations. The fisherman is a type of manly elegance. That Mr. +Leighton understands, to its remotest substructure, the vital +principle of the line of beauty, is pleasurably manifest. But there is +evidence here even more pleasing that the painter, in the gift of a +glowing imagination, and a refined ideality, in his mastery of the +nobler parts of pictorial manipulation, is worthy to be reckoned among +the glorious brotherhood of disciples of the Italian masters—of the +grand old men whose pictures, faded and time-worn as they are, in the +National Gallery hard by, laugh to scorn the futile fripperies that +depend for half their sheen on gilt frames and copal varnish. This +young artist is one of Langis' and Nasasi's men. He has plainly drunk +long and eagerly at the painter's Castaly. The fount of beauty and of +grace that assuaged the thirst of those who painted the 'Monna Lisa' +and the 'Belle Jardinière'; who modelled the 'Horned Moses' and the +'Slave'; who designed Peter's great Basilica, and the Ghiberti Gates +at Florence."—<i>Daily Telegraph</i>, 3rd May 1858.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> The Prince of Wales, who lent the picture to the +exhibition of Leighton's works at Burlington House, 1897.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Mr. Augustus Craven's wife, <i>née</i> Pauline la Ferronnay, +was the authoress of the famous book, <i>Le Récit d'une sœur</i>, in +which several of the most charming scenes took place at Naples.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Mr. George Aitchison wrote: "In 1859, while at Capri, he +drew the celebrated Lemon Tree, working from daylight to dusk for a +week or two, and giving large details in the margin of the snails on +the tree."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> The drawing had been lent to Ruskin at the time he was +lecturing at Oxford.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Leighton knew Mr. Chorley through Mrs. Sartoris. He +accompanied the great <i>cantatrice</i> when she made a tour abroad. "Mrs. +Kemble's children and their nurse are with them, and Mary Anne +Thackeray, a life-long friend, and Mr. Chorley, and the great Liszt, +who subsequently joined them in Germany."—Preface by Mrs. R. Ritchie +to "A Week in a French Country House," by Mrs. Adelaide Sartoris.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Leighton was perfectly right. "Orphée" was produced at +Covent Garden, and the great artist, Madame Viardot, sang in it +superbly. The opera was given after one or two acts of a well-known +work, and I can vouch for the fact, having been one of the audience, +that the house was very nearly empty at the close of "Orphée," Lord +Dudley and a very few true lovers of music only remaining in the +stalls to the end.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> The lady was Mrs. Sandbach, a <i>Hollandaise</i>, who was +Maid of Honour to the Queen of Holland. In after years, on an occasion +when she and I paid a visit together to Leighton's studio in Holland +Park Road, she recounted the incident above related by Leighton, which +happened in the palace at the Hague when she was in waiting. She also +added that from her description Leighton painted what she had seen in +her dream to perfection; but that he subsequently added two <i>amorini</i>, +which in her opinion did much to mar the otherwise true feeling of the +picture.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> See sketches in the Leighton House Collection. The +picture itself is, I believe, in America.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> A visitor to Leighton's "private view" wrote him the +following suggestions:—</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="sc">13 Chester Terrace, N.W.,</span> <i>Easter Monday</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Mr. Leighton</span>,—Pardon intrusion. I thought much of your +beautiful pictures after my yesterday's visit, and I anticipated a +struggle with the difficulty you mentioned of worthily naming them.</p> + +<p>Don't think me impertinent for volunteering the result. It seemed +impossible without verbal description to explain the sacred subject to +the profane imagination, while a prose translation of its sentiment +must be heavy and subversive of romance.</p> + +<p>I think, were I fortunate enough to own the picture, I would call it +"Not Yet," and I would put some little lines in the catalogue, which, +for aught any one knows, might have come from some volume of rhyme, +and which should explain that it is a story of a dream, and that the +rejection is not final: something in this spirit, only better:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8">"Not yet—not yet—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Still there is trial for thee, still the lot<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To bear (the Father wills it) strife and care,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With this sweet consciousness in balance set<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Against the world, to soothe thy suffering there.<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Thy Lord rejects thee not."<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Such tender words awoke me, hopeful, shriven,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To life on earth again from dream of heaven.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>For the beauty at the fountain I once thought the best title might be +some couplet like the following:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"So tranced and still half-dreamed she, and half-heard<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The splash of fountain and the song of bird."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noin">But my wife, from my description of the picture, suggested a name +better suited to the "suggestiveness" of the work:—</p> + +<p>"Lieder ohne Worte": don't you think it rather pretty?</p> + +<p>In the multitude of counsellors some one says there's wisdom, and this +liberty we take with you may beget some thought that had not struck +you.</p> + +<p>I have Mr. Cockerell's commands to express to you the gratification +his visit afforded him and his sense of your kindness and +attentions.—I am, faithfully yours,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Ralph A. Benson.</p> + +<p>Another friend wrote of "Lieder ohne Worte," adding a poem suggested +by the "Francesca":—</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="sc">Trinity House, E.C.,</span> <i>8th April 1861</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">My dear Leighton</span>,—If you did not paint better than I write +you would not be the man of abounding promise that you are.</p> + +<p>What I meant to say was that Law and Restraint are healthy life and +the infraction of them ghostly death and dissolution, and that meaning +is in your picture, whether you know it or not. Your "dæmon" may have +put it there, but then you can trust <i>your</i> dæmon.</p> + +<p>Still, best love to the little girl at the fountain, who knows that +though Speech may be silver, Silence is Golden.—Ever yours, with many +thanks,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="sc">Robin Allen.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Fred. Leighton</span>, Esq.</p> + +<p class="cen sc">Leighton's "Francesca di Rimini."</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"That day they read no more." Virtue grows faint,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One hand lies powerless, the wife's sweet face<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is half-convulsed by loss of self-restraint.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Outstretched to resist, remaining to embrace,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The extended arm will clasp her guilty lover,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And all the bright, pure world beyond for her be over.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Their very forms grow blurred and change their colour<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Into dim snaky wreaths of purple pallor,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fading away with Honour's fading Law<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Into the pale sad ghosts that Dante saw;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which we too see, crowned with departing glory,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When Leighton's genius deepens Dante's Story.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i20">R.A.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><i>6th April 1861.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> D.G. Rossetti, in a letter to William Allingham, May 10, +1861, writes: "Leighton might, as you say, have made a burst had not +his pictures been ill-placed mostly—indeed one of them (the only very +good one, <i>Lieder ohne Worte</i>) is the only instance of very striking +unfairness in the place."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> "<i>Lieder ohne Worte.</i>"</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> "Paolo and Francesca."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> These two pictures were painted from John Hanson Walker. +Leighton sent both to the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1862 with the +titles "Duet" and "Rustic Music." The first only was accepted.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> See water-colour and chalk drawings: Leighton House +Collection.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> "Sea Echoes."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> The Hon. Mrs. Alfred Sartoris, sister-in-law of +Leighton's friend, Mr. Edward Sartoris.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_91" id="PageV2_91">[91]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER II<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>ILLUSTRATIONS FOR <i>CORNHILL MAGAZINE</i>—FRESCO FOR LYNDHURST<br /> +CHURCH—ASSOCIATE OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY—MRS. LEIGHTON'S DEATH</h4> + +<h4>1863-1865</h4> +<br /> + +<p>In 1860 Leighton drew his first illustration for the <i>Cornhill +Magazine</i>:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p><i>Translation.</i>]</p> + +<p class="right"><i>Friday, 30th November 1860.</i></p> + +<p><span class="sc">My dear Friend and Master</span>,—Best thanks for your dear +letter of the 7th, thanks also especially, because in your kind +praise you do not spare criticism also; you could give me no +better proof that you still esteem and love your old pupil. I +feel the justice of your remarks about the drapery of the +Saviour very much, and can only say in my excuse that I have +treated this kind of subject very little, for I am only really a +profane fellow; but should I at some future time again treat +such a theme, I should endeavour to avoid similar faults. I send +you this time, for fun, a proof impression of a woodcut after a +drawing I made for one of our good monthly periodicals (<i>The +Cornhill Magazine</i>). It seems to me to be not bad for wood. It +illustrates a poem, and represents Ariadne kneeling on an +eminence, looking out for Theseus. This as a preliminary; I hope +to send you something in April.</p></div> + + +<div class="block"><p><span class="sc">Dearest Mammy</span>,—My wretched picture is causing more +delays! I am very sorry to say I shan't be able to get to Bath +before Wednesday evening. I am due at Stourhead the 27th; this I +cannot defer any more, as I must be on duty with the Rifle Corps +at the beginning of September, and can't do all I <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_92" id="PageV2_92">[92]</a></span>have to do in +less than a week—this will, however, still leave me three +weeks, all but two days, at Bath.</p> + +<p>I enjoyed myself at Panshanger very much—did I write to tell +you who our party was? In case I did not, it was as follows: +Henry Greville, Lord and Lady Katherine Valletort, Lord and Lady +Spencer, Mrs. Leslie, Lord Listowel, Mr. Clare Vyner, and Mr. E. +Lascelles—all young people; so that it was very pleasant.</p> + +<p>There are, as you know, most beautiful pictures at Panshanger—a +magnificent Vandyke, a splendid Rembrandt, Correggio, Andrea del +Sarto, and two beautiful Raphaels.</p> + +<p>G. Smith sent me a kind note and a cheque to fill up for drawing +in the <i>Cornhill</i> ("Ariadne"). I put ten guineas, telling him +that I could not, as a general rule, interrupt my work for that +sum, but that I would not take more because the cut had turned +out so extremely bad.</p> + +<p>I am going to expend the money, adding a few pounds, on a cup, +to be shot for in the spring by our Rifle Corps. Arthur Lewis +has already given one, and another of our men has promised a +second prize to go with my cup. My picture will be <i>finished</i> by +the time I go to Bath. My eye is too accustomed to it to know +whether it is successful; I shall know better when I return from +the country.</p> + +<p>I have no news, so good-bye, dear Mammy. Best love to all.—From +your very affectionate boy,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred.</p> + +<p>I go to Windsor (to Miss Thackeray) for two days next week; that +also is an old invitation; I have no time for it, but must go. I +keep my parties going tolerably, but shall give that up with a +few exceptions when I settle here; it makes work impossible from +unavoidably late hours, and produces a general deterioration of +mind and body, mostly the former; the Hollands I shall always +keep up—they are most kind; I dine there frequently and meet +interesting and remarkable people.</p></div> + +<p>Very remarkable drawings in pencil on other lines followed the +celebrated "Lemon Tree"—surpassing in dramatic truth <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_93" id="PageV2_93">[93]</a></span>of expression +any Leighton had executed since the early design he drew of the +"Plague in Florence in 1850."<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep093" id="imagep093"></a> +<a href="images/imagep093.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep093.jpg" width="55%" alt="Michael Angelo Nursing His Dying Servant" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">SKETCH FOR "MICHAEL ANGELO NURSING HIS DYING SERVANT." 1862<br /> +Leighton House Collection<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>The group of drawings for "Michael Angelo Nursing his Dying Servant" +are among those preserved in the Leighton House collection, but were +not seen by the public before Leighton's death. Though slight, they +are among the most admirable he ever achieved in subtle tenderness of +feeling and expressive truth of drawing. The feeble twitching clutch +of the hands of the old man—announcing the speedy approach of +Death—is a convincing proof of imaginative realism of a high order. +This group of sketches, however, exemplify the curious artistic +discrepancy which at times existed, especially before and about the +time when the Michael Angelo was painted, between Leighton's pictures +and the studies he made for them—a discrepancy which had no reference +to his feeling for colour, but simply arose from an absence of +sensitiveness for texture. In turning from the drawings to the +painting, we find the noble feeling and conception, the lines and +forms of the design much the same in all; but the heavy and yet +insufficient texture of the actual surface mars the full conveying, +even in the completed painting, of the feeling of the motive—so +imperative is a simultaneous union of the idea with a happy echo of it +in the touch of the human hand, if a work of art is fully to convey +its message. Leighton's genius for using the point is referred to in a +letter from Mrs. Browning, on the subject of a drawing he had made of +her husband:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p><i>Copy.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Mr. Leighton</span>,—The portrait is beautiful, and +would satisfy me entirely except for a want of strength about +the brow, which I must write of, because I can't trust Robert +himself with the message. I think the brow is feeble, less +massive than his, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_94" id="PageV2_94">[94]</a></span>with less fulness about the temples. In fact, +your temple is <i>hollow</i>, instead of full. Will you look at it by +the original? The eyes and mouth are exquisite. <i>Your pencil has +the expressiveness of another's brush.</i></p> + +<p>How much I thank you for having put so much of my husband on +paper is proved by the very insolence of my criticisms.—Most +truly yours,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Elizabeth Barrett Browning.</p> + +<p><i>April 1.</i></p></div> + +<p>In the same category as the Michael Angelo studies may be placed the +first sketch of "Samson Wrestling with the Lion," designed as an +illustration for Dalziel's Bible. This drawing is also in the Leighton +House Collection, also the original drawings for "The Spies' Escape" +and "Samson at the Mill." The following was written with regard to it: +"An animal model never 'sits.' The artist must catch the action he +wants from fleeting suggestions. His imagination alone can guide his +pencil when he depicts such action with realistic power. It is in a +pencil drawing of a lion that we find the work that evinces, more +distinctly perhaps than does any other of Leighton's utterances in +art, the highest kind of imagination in the drawing of form in action, +namely in the sketch of 'Samson Wrestling with the Lion' for the +illustrations in Dalziel's Bible. Where, indeed, for vigour of +invention, can we find a drawing to surpass these few pencil lines? +The sinews in the legs and claws of the animal are drawn up, clenching +the vacant air with a quivering grip; the tail straightened stiffly +through the strain of the wrestling; the whole animal convulsed with +the force of the struggle. This is treatment of form no model could +suggest, no knowledge evolve, no labour or industry produce. A true +imagination alone can inspire such vivid realism." The other subjects +Leighton illustrated were "Death of Abel," "Moses Viewing the Promised +Land," "Samson <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_95" id="PageV2_95">[95]</a></span>Carrying the Gates," "Abraham and the Angel," +"Eliezer and Rebecca at the Well," "The Slaying of the First-born."</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep094" id="imagep094"></a> +<a href="images/imagep094.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep094.jpg" width="55%" alt="Samson and the Lion" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">ORIGINAL DRAWING FOR "SAMSON AND THE LION" IN DALZIEL'S BIBLE<br /> +Leighton House Collection<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<br /> +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> +<br /> + +<p>In 1862 Leighton illustrated George Eliot's great novel "Romola." He +writes to his father:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><i>Tuesday.</i></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Papa</span>,—Though I am not able, I am sorry to say, to +report the sale of any more of my pictures, you will be glad to +hear of a commission just given me by G. Smith of the <i>Cornhill</i> +which is very acceptable to me. I am to illustrate (by-the-bye +this is "<i>strictly confidential</i>") a novel about to appear in +the <i>Cornhill</i> from the hand of <i>Adam Bede</i>. It is an Italian +story, the scene and period are Florence and the fifteenth +century, nothing could "<i>ganter</i>" me better. It is to continue +through <i>twelve</i> numbers, in each of which are to be <i>two</i> +illustrations.</p> + +<p>I am to have for each <i>number</i> £40; for the whole novel, +therefore, £480. I have conferred with the authoress to-day, and +am to get the first-proof sheets this week. The first number +will be published in July. Miss Evans (or Mrs. Lewes) has a very +striking countenance. Her face is large, her eyes deep set, her +nose aquiline, her mouth large, the under jaw projecting, rather +like Charles Quint; her voice and manner are grave, simple, and +gentle. There is a curious mixture in her look; she either is or +seems very short-sighted. Lewes is clever. Both were extremely +polite to me; her I shall like much.</p> + +<p>I have no other news; no one asks about my pictures, though +their success is decidedly great; hard times! Are you writing to +Gussy? if so will you tell her that I mean to give her some +lessons with Hallé when she comes to London? she shall have +<i>three</i> a week for a month. Tell Lina with my love not to be +jealous, it will be her turn next. How is she? and how is Mamma? +Give them my best love, and believe me, your affectionate boy,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred.</p> +</div> + +<p>That George Eliot should write a Florentine story at a time when +Leighton was available to illustrate it, was certainly a most +fortunate coincidence. Each scene which he represents <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_96" id="PageV2_96">[96]</a></span>is impregnated +with a feeling which records the strong hold Italy had on his artistic +resources. With a few exceptions, these illustrations for "Romola" are +the last examples of his art, when a dramatic or a humorous treatment +was a prominent feature of the designs. The last picture exhibited at +the Royal Academy in 1897—the passionate, despairing figure of +"Clytie"—was notably one of these exceptions. Unfortunately +Leighton's letters to George Eliot respecting the "Romola" drawings +cannot be found, and were probably destroyed before the author's +death. The following were preserved by Leighton:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">16 Blandford Square, N.W.</span>,<br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>Friday</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Mr. Leighton</span>,—Thanks for the sight of the +Vignettes. They are satisfactory.</p> + +<p>Your delicious drawing was with me all day yesterday and made +the opera more delightful to me in the evening. I never saw +anything comparable to the scene in Nello's shop as an +illustration. There could not be a better beginning.</p> + +<p>I should very much like to have a little conversation with you, +and will arrange to see you at any hour that will best suit you, +in the evening if you like, any time after the morning working +hours, which last till two o'clock. I know your time is very +precious to you just now, but I think we shall both benefit by a +little talk together after you have read the second +proof.—Yours very truly,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">M.E. Lewes.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">F. Leighton</span>, Esq.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">16 Blandford Square, N.W.</span>,<br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>Wednesday</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Mr. Leighton</span>,—I feel for you as well as myself in +this inevitable difficulty—nay, impossibility of producing +perfect correspondence between my intention and the +illustrations.</p> + +<p>I think your sketch is charming, considered in itself, and I +feel now with regret that if we had seen each other and talked a +little together after you had read the proof, the only important +discrepancy might have been prevented. It is too late for +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_97" id="PageV2_97">[97]</a></span>alterations now. If it had not been, I should have wished +Bardo's head to be raised with the chin thrust forward a +little—the usual attitude of the blind head, I think—and +turned a little towards Romola, "as if he were looking at her."</p> + +<p>Romola's attitude is perfect, and the composition is altogether +such as gives me a very cheering prospect for the future, when +we have more time for preparation. Her face and hair, though +deliciously beautiful, are not just the thing—how could they +be? Do not make yourself uneasy if alteration is impossible, but +I meant the hair to fall forward from behind the ears over the +neck, and the dress to be without ornament.</p> + +<p>I shall inevitably be detestable to you, but believe that I am</p> + +<p class="cen">(Unfinished)</p> +</div> + + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">16 Blandford Square, N.W.</span>,<br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>Thursday</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Mr. Leighton</span>,—Unmitigated delight! Nello is +better than my Nello. I see the love and care with which the +drawings are done.</p> + +<p>After I had sent away my yesterday's note, written in such haste +that I was afterwards uncomfortable lest I had misrepresented my +feelings, the very considerations you suggest had occurred to me +and I had talked them over with Mr. Lewes—namely, that the +exigencies of your art must forbid perfect correspondence +between the text and the illustration; and I came to the +conclusion that it was these exigencies which had determined you +as to the position of Bardo's head and the fall of Romola's +hair. You have given her attitude transcendently well, and the +attitude is more important than the mere head-dress. I am glad +you chose Nello's shop; it makes so good a variety with Bardo +and Romola. In a day or two you will have the second part, and I +think you will find there a scene for Tessa "under the Plane +Tree." But perhaps we shall see each other before you begin the +next drawings.—Ever yours truly,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">M.E. Lewes.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">16 Blandford Square, N.W.</span>,<br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>Monday</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Mr. Leighton</span>,—Your letter comforts me +particularly. I am so glad to think you find subjects to your +mind. I have <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_98" id="PageV2_98">[98]</a></span>no especial desire for the view from S. Miniato, +and indeed a plan we started in conversation with Mr. Smith this +morning, namely, to have moderately sized initial letters—the +opening one being an old Florentine in his <i>Lucco</i> and generally +the subjects being bits of landscape or Florentine +building—seems to do away with any reason for having the +landscape to begin with. The idea of having Tessa and the mules, +or Nello's sanctum, smiles upon me, so pray feel free to choose +the impression that urges itself most strongly. Your observation +about the "che, che" is just the aid I besought from you. With +that exception, I have confined myself, I believe, to such +interjections as I find in the writers of the fourteenth and +fifteenth centuries, and in them, curiously enough, this +exclamation now said to be so constant and "to mean everything" +(according to our authority) does not seem to occur.</p> + +<p>Thank you. Pray let me have as many criticisms of that kind as +you can. I am more gratified, I think, by your liking these +opening chapters than I have yet been by anything in these +nervous anxious weeks of decision about publication.—Very truly +yours,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">M.E. Lewes.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">F. Leighton</span>, Esq.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">16 Blandford Square, N.W.</span>,<br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>Tuesday Evening</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Mr. Leighton</span>,—I am enchanted! purely delighted! +which shall I begin with, to tell you that I delight in Baby's +toes or that exquisite poetry in the scene where Romola is +standing? Is it not a pleasant change to have that opening made +through the walls of the city, so as to see the sky and the +mountains? In the scene with Baldassarre and Tessa, also, the +distant view is charming. Tessa and her Babkin are +perfect—Baldassarre's is, as you say, an impossible face to +draw, but you have seized the framework of the face well, both +in this illustration and the previous one.</p> + +<p>I want to tell you that a man of some eminence in art was +speaking of your drawings to a third person the other day as +"remarkable" in a tone of genuine admiration. I don't know +whether you care about that, but it is good to know that there +is any genuine admiration in one's neighbours.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_99" id="PageV2_99">[99]</a></span>I am glad to have the drawings left. I shall go now and have a +long look at them. The February number will soon be out of my +hands, but you will have it when it pleases the pigs—or +printers.—Ever yours truly,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">M.E. Lewes.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Park Hotel, Little Hampton</span>,<br /> +<span class="sc">Sussex</span>, <i>September 10, '62</i>. </p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Mr. Leighton</span>,—Thanks for your letter, which I +have received this morning.</p> + +<p>My copy of Vasari has a profile of Piero di Cosimo, but it is of +no value, a man with a short beard and eyes nearly closed. The +old felt hat on his head has more character in it than the +features, but the hat you can't use.</p> + +<p>Of Niccolo Caparra it is not likely that any portrait exists, so +that you may feel easy in letting your imagination interpret my +suggestions in the First and the Fifth Parts of Romola. There is +probably a portrait of Piero di Cosimo in the portrait room of +Uffizi, but in the absence of any decent catalogue of that +collection it was a bewildering and headachy business to assure +oneself of the presence or absence of any particular personage.</p> + +<p>If you feel any doubt about the <i>new</i> Romola, I think it will be +better for you to keep to the original representation, the type +given in the first illustration, which some accomplished people +told me they thought very charming. It will be much better to +continue what is intrinsically pretty than to fail in an effort +after something indistinctly seen. If you prefer the action of +<i>taking out</i> the crucifix, instead of the merely contemplative +attitude, you can choose that with safety. In the scene with +Piero di Cosimo, I thought you might make the figures +subordinate to those other details which you render so +charmingly, and I chose it for that reason.</p> + +<p>But I am quite convinced that illustrations can only form a sort +of overture to the text. The artist who uses the pencil must +otherwise be tormented to misery by the deficiencies or +requirements of the one who uses the pen, and the writer, on the +other hand, must die of impossible expectations. <i>Apropos</i> of +all that, I want to assure you again of what I had said in that +letter, which your naughty servant sent down the wind, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_100" id="PageV2_100">[100]</a></span>that I +appreciate very highly the advantage of having your hand and +mind to work with me rather than those of any other artist of +whom I know. Please do not take that as an impertinent +expression of opinion, but rather as an honest expression of +feeling by which you must interpret any apparent criticism.</p> + +<p>The initial letter of the December part will be W. I forgot to +tell you how pleased I was with the initial letter of Part V.</p> + +<p>I am very much obliged to you for your critical doubts. I will +put out the questionable "Ecco!" in deference to your knowledge. +I have a tremulous sense of my liability to error in such +things.</p> + +<p>I don't wonder at your difficulty about the modification of +<i>com</i> into <i>ciom</i>. The writers of the fifteenth century, +speaking of the insurrection of the <i>Ciompi</i> which occurred in +the previous century, say that the word was a corruption of the +French <i>compère</i>, the same word of course as <i>compare</i>, +constantly on the lips of the numerous French who were present +in Florence during the dictatorship of the Duke of Athens. The +likelihood of the derivation lies in the analysis of transition +in the meaning of words <i>compère</i> and <i>compare</i>, like the +English "gossip," beginning with the meaning of godfather and +ending with, or rather proceeding to that of companion. Our +"gossip" has at least parted with its secondary meaning as well +as its primary one.</p> + +<p>The unlikelihood of the derivation lies in the modification of +the sounds, and I felt that unlikelihood as you have done. But +in the absence of a Max Müller to assure me of a law to the +contrary, I thought the statement of Tuscan writers a better +authority than inferences. I ought to have written "is stated by +the old historians."</p> + +<p>I am really comforted by the thought that you will mention +doubts to me when they occur to you. My misery is the certainty +that I must be often in error.</p> + +<p>Mr. Lewes shares my admiration of the two last +illustrations.—Ever yours truly,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Marian E. Lewes.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">F. Leighton</span>, Esq.</p> +</div> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">16 Blandford Square, N.W.</span>,<br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>Tuesday</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Mr. Leighton</span>,—Since I saw you I have confirmed by +renewed reference my conclusion that <i>gamurra</i> was the +equivalent <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_101" id="PageV2_101">[101]</a></span>of our <i>gown</i>, <i>i.e.</i> the constant outer garb of +femininity, varying in length and cut according to rank and age. +The poets and novelists give it alike to the peasant and the +"city woman," and speak of the <i>girdle</i> around it. Perhaps it +would have been better to call Tessa's gown a <i>gamurrina</i>, the +word sometimes used and indicating, I imagine, just that +abbreviation of petticoat that active work demands.</p> + +<p>If you are going to see Ghirlandajo's frescoes—the engravings +of them I mean—in the choir of Santa Maria Novella, I wish you +would especially notice if the women in his groups have not that +plain piece of opaque drapery over the head which haunts my +memory. We were only allowed to see those frescoes once, because +of repairs going on; but I am strongly impressed with a +belief—which, <i>au reste</i>, may be quite false—in the presence +of my "white hood" there. As to the garb of the luxurious +classes at that time, a point which may turn up in our progress, +I think the painters can hardly be believed to have represented +it fully, since we know, on strong evidence, that it ran into +extravagances, which are even in contrast with the general +impression conveyed not only by the large fresco compositions +but by the portraits. You must have had sufficient experience of +the <i>eclecticism</i> in costume which the artist's feeling forces +upon him in the presence of hideous or extreme fashion. We have +in Varchi a sufficiently fit and clear description of the +ordinary male costume of dignified Florentines in my time; but +for the corresponding feminine costume the best authority I have +seen is the very incomplete one of a certain Ginevra's +<i>trousseau</i> in the Ricordi of the Rinuccini family of rather an +earlier period, but marking even there the rage for embroidery +and pearls which grew instead of diminishing.</p> + +<p>I imagine that the woman's <i>berretta</i>, frequently of velvet +embroidered with pearls, and apparently almost as prevalent as +our bonnet, must have been that close-fitting cap, square at the +ears, of which we spoke yesterday. I trouble you with this +note—which pray do not think it necessary to answer—in order +to indicate to you the very slight satisfaction my anxiety on +this subject can meet with, and the obligation I shall be under +to you if you will ever give me a positive or negative hint or +correction.</p> + +<p>Approximative truth is the only truth attainable, but at least +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_102" id="PageV2_102">[102]</a></span>one must strive for that, and not wade off into arbitrary +falsehood.—Ever, dear Mr. Leighton, yours very truly,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Marian E. Lewes.</p> +</div> + +<p>Leighton preserved the records of a friendship with Mr. Robin +Allen,<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> established and for most part continued through a +correspondence which lasted for many years from the early 'sixties. +The letter sent with the following poem refers to Leighton's +illustration to Mrs. Browning's poem, "Musical Instrument," of which +the original drawing is reproduced. (See <a href="#toi">List of Illustrations</a>.)</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="rightsc">Trinity House, E.C.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">My dear Sir</span>,—If I send this to the author of a lovely +illustration to a lovely poem, it is not for its worth, but to +give me an excuse for saying that I go out of town for a month +next Wednesday, and hope that I may call on you on my return, +perhaps get leave to show you over Loughton Woods in the +autumn.—Believe me, my dear sir, yours truly,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Robin Allen.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">F. Leighton</span>, Esq.</p> +</div> + + +<p class="cen"><span class="sc">Sequitur To Mrs. Browning's "Musical Instrument" in the<br /> +"Cornhill Magazine" of July 1860.</span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A greater God than the great god Pan<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Planted the reed in the river,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And he is the only God who can<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Break through its heart without killing the reed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And make of its very life indeed<br /></span> +<span class="i2">An organ, to utter His psalm as the Giver.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">This greater God than the beast-god Pan,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">As He watches the reeds in Time's river,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Counts for best poet that perfect Man<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who holds lightly his song, at its loftiest strain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So he live a man's life!—and at all cost and pain<br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>Is</i> a reed among reeds in the river.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i20">R.A.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep102" id="imagep102"></a> +<a href="images/imagep102.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep102.jpg" width="40%" alt="The Great God Pan" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"THE GREAT GOD PAN"<br /> +Original Sketch for Illustration to Mrs. Browning's Poem in the +<i>Cornhill Magazine</i>, 1861<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep103" id="imagep103"></a> +<a href="images/imagep103.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep103.jpg" width="85%" alt="An Evening in a French Country House" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"AN EVENING IN A FRENCH COUNTRY HOUSE"<br /> +Illustration for Mrs. Adelaide Sartoris's story, "A Week in a French +Country House," published in the <i>Cornhill Magazine</i>, 1867<br /> +By permission of Messrs. Smith, Elder, & Co.<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_103" id="PageV2_103">[103]</a></span>In a letter to his mother Leighton expresses a warm admiration for +these lines by Mr. Robin Allen.</p> + +<p>In the autumn of 1863 the following letter to his mother mentions a +notable visit to Compiègne. The charming story Mrs. Edward Sartoris +wrote, which appeared some years later in the <i>Cornhill Magazine</i>, "A +Week in a French Country House," owes its local colour to this home at +Compiègne to which Leighton refers. It belonged to Mr. Edward +Sartoris' brother-in-law, the Marquis de l'Aigle. For this story +Leighton made two admirable illustrations—"An Evening in a French +Country House" and "Drifting." Leighton is supposed to have suggested +the character of Monsieur Kiowski, the Polish artist in the story; and +the figure in the boat holding the rudder in "Drifting" he certainly +meant to represent himself, while the figure singing is Adelaide +Sartoris—drawn, as shown by the head-dress, from the sketch Leighton +made in 1856. (See <a href="#toi">List of Illustrations</a>.)</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="noin"><i>Commencement of letter missing.</i>]</p> + +<p class="right">1862.</p> + +<p>I have a fit of the blues instead.</p> + +<p>I hope for the sake of my pictures that I shall soon get over +them (the blues, not the pictures). I believe if I could find +models I should recover at once; but I foresee that I shall have +no such luck.</p> + +<p>I had a delightful time at Compiègne—the place is charming, the +house comfortable in the extreme, and the life the perfection of +unconstraint (if that is English); I have told you already how +hospitable and kind my host and hostess were. I have, of course, +no news to give you yet, except, by-the-bye, that the bailiffs +were in the house the other day because Mr. and Mrs. Gedy had +not paid £3, 5s. 6d. taxes; they stayed two days in the house, +and if the money had not come, would have walked off with some +of <i>my</i> furniture. I wish I had a house; they are beginning a +house on Campden Hill, and would build it for an artist after +his own designs.</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_104" id="PageV2_104">[104]</a></span>Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Sartoris, the admirer of "Eastern King," were also +among the visitors during this week in a French country house, and +write the following anecdote:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"Those who knew Lord Leighton require no record of his kindness +and unselfishness. For those who had not that privilege the +following little anecdote may be interesting. In the late autumn +of 1863 we were all staying with my sister-in-law, the Marquise +de l'Aigle, at Francport, near Compiègne. Mrs. Sartoris was also +there and Mr. Leighton. There was to be a service on the Sunday +in a little neighbouring village church for some children who +had made their first communion, and it occurred to Mme. de +l'Aigle to have some special music on the occasion, and profit +by the glorious voice of Mrs. Sartoris, who kindly offered to +sing. Mr. Leighton also volunteered to take the tenor part in +various sacred pieces. We were all to help in the concerted +music, and the old curé was in the seventh heaven of delight at +the prospect of such a grand service. Our dismay can be imagined +when three days before the service Mr. Leighton announced that +he must leave us as business required his presence in London. +'Oh!' we all exclaimed, 'what shall we do? the tenor pieces must +be given up; the curé will die of grief,' &c. ... 'No, no,' said +Mr. L., in his cheery way, 'don't change anything; I shall be +back all right on Sunday morning in time to sing;' and so, sure +enough, he did return, having travelled two nights to London and +back. He never would tell us why he had gone; and it was not +till long afterwards that it transpired that he had made the +hurried double journey to help a struggling artist, whose work +he wished to bring forward and introduce to some influential +person. He attained his object, and thought nothing of the time +and trouble involved, only glad to have been a help to one who +needed assistance, and also to keep his promise by singing in +the little village church."</p></div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep104" id="imagep104"></a> +<a href="images/imagep104.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep104.jpg" width="85%" alt="Drifting" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"DRIFTING"<br /> +Illustration for Mrs. Adelaide Sartoris's story, "A Week in a French +Country House," published in the <i>Cornhill Magazine</i>, 1867<br /> +By permission of Messrs. Smith, Elder, & Co.<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>In 1863 Leighton began painting the fresco of "The Wise and Foolish +Virgins," which he presented to the Church at Lyndhurst. It was +painted on the plaster wall above the altar <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_105" id="PageV2_105">[105]</a></span>at the east end. While +at work on it, he stayed with his old friend Mr. Hamilton Aïdé, who +formed one of the happy company of <i>intimes</i> of the Roman and Lucca +days. Several visits to this charming home in the New Forest were made +before the work was finished.</p> + +<p>In the following letter to Steinle he mentions his first experiment in +Mr. Gambier Parry's medium for painting in fresco.</p> + +<div class="block"><p><i>Translation.</i>]</p> + +<p class="rightsc">2 Orme Square, Bayswater.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">My Very Dear Friend</span>,—When I last wrote I asked you +when the German exhibition of which you spoke was to take place, +and whether it was to be held in Cologne itself; but as I +received no answer I supposed that this exhibition either had +not come to anything (as I have seen nothing about it in the +newspapers), or that it did not seem sufficiently important to +you for me to go specially to Germany for it. Nevertheless, I +would have gone to Cologne, if it had been in any way feasible, +exclusively on account of you and your works, which I am very +anxious to see; unfortunately, however, I could not arrange it, +and must content myself with learning from a letter (if you will +write me one) how your work succeeds, and how far you have got +with it. Two walls are already finished, are they not?</p> + +<p>As for myself, I am fairly industrious. Amongst other things, I +am painting at present the composition which you have already +seen, of Michael Angelo and his old servant Urbino. I have +endeavoured to keep the action of the figures simpler and +smoother than in the first sketch; and, in fact, I think the +picture will please you better than the drawing. For the rest, I +am sick of painting small pictures, and would like to undertake +something large; but it is not very agreeable to paint pictures +which will probably remain always hanging round one's neck.</p> + +<p>I think I shall very soon test the public again in this +respect—but <i>what</i> I shall paint I do not know. A friend of +mine (Mr. Gambier Parry), a great art devotee and first-rate +amateur, has discovered a medium to replace fresco painting in +our damp climate. I have seen his experiments, and have <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_106" id="PageV2_106">[106]</a></span>myself +painted a head under his rules,<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> and to my complete +satisfaction. The result is scarcely to be distinguished from +fresco, and is quite as easy, indeed even easier to achieve. At +the same time this method has advantages which <i>buon</i> fresco +does not possess; it dries exactly as one lays it on (and is +then flat), it has no deposit (<i>Ansätze</i>), and one can go over +it as often as one likes. The wall (a granular lime wall) is +saturated with the same preparation as you paint with. This +preparation, which is <i>stone hard</i> against water, can always +dissolve <i>itself</i> with moisture, so that one can retouch it +perpetually, at the same time the <i>whole</i> of one's palette is +available. My friend is going to publish his system; I will +then, if you like, tell you exactly about it.</p> + +<p>And now, farewell, dear Master. Remember me most kindly to your +wife and children, and keep in remembrance your friend and +pupil,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred Leighton.</p> +</div> + +<p>He wrote to Steinle in 1862 that he was making studies for the +Lyndhurst fresco, and expected to finish it that summer; but it was +apparently only begun in August 1863.</p> + +<div class="block"><p><i>Translation.</i>]</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="sc">2 Orme Square, Bayswater,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>April 22, 1862</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">My very dear Friend,</span>—When I last wrote to you, I +promised and hoped that this time I should be able to send you +some photographs of my latest works, but unfortunately at the +last moment time ran short. My pictures are only just ready for +exhibition, and I must send them off unphotographed. In order +that you may not think I have been idle, I write these lines; +also because I am unwilling, my dear Master, to fade entirely +from your memory. I am exhibiting <i>eight</i> pictures this year, an +unusually large number. But the case is not so bad as it looks +at the first glance. Two only of these pictures are important in +size and subject. One of them you already know from a former +composition. It represents Michael Angelo with his dying servant +Urbino. In the principal idea I have not deviated much from the +first sketch, but have endeavoured to treat the whole with more +unity and the details with more <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_107" id="PageV2_107">[107]</a></span>simplicity than in the +drawing which you saw, and the faults of which you pointed out +to me. This picture is life-size, and extends down to the knees.</p> + +<p>The other is of a somewhat fanciful description. I have imagined +one of the three holy kings, when he sees the Star in the East +from the battlements of his palace. The picture is curious and +open to much fault-finding, but I think it will please you by a +certain poetry in the conception. The shape is long and narrow. +The king, half life-size, almost turns his back upon the +spectator, and is, in the midst of the dark night, only lit by +the mystic rays of the Star. In contrast to this pure light one +sees, quite at the bottom, through an arch, into the hot +lamp-light, which illuminates a gay orgy. I have allowed myself +a certain amount of pictorial licence, which may well surprise +the general spectator at first glance, but which to me heightens +the poetical impression of the whole.</p> + +<p>Five other pictures are smaller, and three of the subjects are +idyllic or fanciful (<i>e.g.</i> a shepherd playing on a flute, an +Oriental girl with a swan, &c. &c.), all carried out with great +love, and certainly my best works.</p> + +<p>At present I am busy making studies for a large wall painting +(the "Wise and Foolish Virgins"), which I am giving to a church. +I shall execute it this summer, and tell you more about it.</p> + +<p>Now, my dear Friend, I have given you a long and full report of +myself; I hope you also will tell me what you are doing. I am +very anxious to know how the Cologne frescoes get on. How I +should like to see them! <span class="sc">Perhaps</span> I may manage it this +autumn. In the meantime, however, write to me, and believe me to +be, your devoted pupil,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred Leighton.</p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep107" id="imagep107"></a> +<a href="images/imagep107.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep107.jpg" width="50%" alt="Lord Leighton" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">PORTRAIT FROM A PHOTOGRAPH OF LORD LEIGHTON TAKEN IN 1863<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><i>April 1863, Saturday.</i></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dearest Mamma</span>,—You have seen in the papers that the +Review at Brighton went off capitally. I enjoyed my day very +much, and though I was a <i>little</i> tired and <i>very</i> sleepy for +two days after, was altogether the better for it. It was a stiff +day's work too—nine or ten hours without sitting down, and with +the additional responsibility of having the command of the +Artists' Company. I was sure you would be pleased at the +reception of my <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_108" id="PageV2_108">[108]</a></span>"Fruit Girl"<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> by my brother artists—you +must understand, though, that this applies chiefly to the +younger men (and not to <i>all</i> of <i>them</i>), for there are several +of the older painters who strongly object to my style of +painting and are bent on suppressing it.</p> + +<p>Will you thank Papa for his hint about the <i>Athenæum</i>—I am +pretty sure he is mistaken about it, but I shall take measures +about it—indeed I <i>have</i>.</p> + +<p>I spoke to <i>Charles</i> Greville (Henry's brother) and told him I +thought I should be coming on before very long; he very kindly +overhauled the lists and said he thought I might be up by the +end of the summer, and, what was still more kind, seeing me +unseconded, he put his name down as seconder.</p></div> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="datepad sc">Forest Bank, Lyndhurst,</span><br /> +<i>Thursday, August 6, 1863</i>.</p> + +<p>If I was not more explicit about being with Aïdé, it was because +I made sure you knew it. You will be pleased to hear that when +after many <i>péripéties</i> I did begin my fresco I got on +capitally; I have now finished the task for this year, having +painted <i>three</i> life-size figures, with a good bit of +background, in <i>four</i> days. I worked hard for it, and am rather +tired—head and eyes; otherwise flourishing.</p> + +<p>I am delighted with my new fresco material (Parry's)—the effect +is excellent—nearly as fine as real fresco. Everybody seems +much pleased with what I have done, particularly the parson. I +like it myself; I enjoy working at it immensely; it is my real +element. I find it (for mere <i>manipulation bien entendu</i>) +absurdly easy.</p></div> + +<p>The following letter from Mr. Gambier Parry explains the "fresco +material" Leighton used.</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Highnam, Gloucester,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>August 3, 1863</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">My dear Leighton</span>,—In reply to your last note about the +use of the wall itself rather than of canvas, there can be no +doubt on the subject, if only the plaster is <i>good</i> and <i>well +put on</i>. You speak of two or three months to get it dry. I +assure you that that is <i>not near enough.</i> When the surface +feels dry to your hand you must not suppose that it is all dry +inside, and if the <i>wall</i> is new, I doubt <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_109" id="PageV2_109">[109]</a></span>a year being enough +to dry it. The water must evaporate somewhere—it is drawn <i>to +the</i> surface of <i>interiors</i> because they are the warmest.</p> + +<p>You ask whether the rough cast on the wall must be scraped off +before you wash the wall for painting. If by the <i>rough cast</i> +you mean rough plaster, which is a totally different thing to +rough cast, certainly use it as it is. The coarser the plaster +the better, because it is all the more porous, so long only that +it is of the best materials (viz. perfectly <i>washed</i> sand, and +good lime), and well put on a good wall. <i>Nothing in the world +could equal it for painting upon</i>, except a surface of <i>coarse +clean</i> Bath stone, with <i>all its pores open</i>. If you have such +plaster as I have just described, and both it and the wall +thoroughly dry, nothing could be better. The smooth surface, +with what granulated texture you please, can be got according to +the directions in my paper—viz. after two or three washes of +pure diluted medium, give another or two more of the same, with +dry whiting and a little white-lead, then go ahead <i>while it is +all fresh</i>, viz. <i>two or three days</i> after the process of +preparation has been completed.</p> + +<p>Take care in painting not to rub it up too much, for fear of +<i>drawing up the glossy resins to the surface</i> away from the wax. +Paint right <i>into</i> your prepared surface <i>solidly</i> and with +<i>decision</i> in the way of fresco painting, not as oil. Keep the +brush clean, and the volatile oil in the dipper clean, and then, +oh! how shall I envy you your power to use them all!<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p> + +<p>At the <i>Ely ceiling</i>, which is of hard wood <i>not</i> porous, but +prepared with three coats of oil white-lead, I am painting with</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="40%" summary="I am painting with..."> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="50%"> </td> + <td class="tdc1" width="50%">Liquid Measure.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Pale drying oil</td> + <td class="tdc1">2</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Japan gold size</td> + <td class="tdc1">2</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Turpentine</td> + <td class="tdc1">2</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Artist copal</td> + <td class="tdc1">1</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_110" id="PageV2_110">[110]</a></span>well shaken up every time it is used. The colours are all ground +up in it, and then painting is done as in water-colour, using +<i>pure spirits of turpentine</i> as a vehicle. Colours dry extremely +rapidly and with a dead surface. The stuff looks horribly black, +but the colours are not materially affected by it. Of course it +is not to be compared with my former medium, because there is +that bane of the palette oil in it, but I used it because of its +great facility (used transparent like <i>water-colour on a white +ground</i>), and because the surface was hard, so that wax might +(in great heat) shrink or play tricks on it, as it has done in +Murillo's pictures and many others.—Ever most sincerely yours,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">T. Gambier Parry.</p> + +<p>If I can do anything for you, command me; we go to Scotland on +the 14th.</p></div> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">London</span>, <i>April 26, 1863</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dearest Mamma</span>,—You were no doubt surprised to see a +sock arrive in Bath in solitary grandeur, unaccompanied by any +sort of note. The fact is, for some days past I have been +working at a rate which made me altogether unfit for +correspondence. I have just returned from Lyndhurst, where I +have been doing a bit more fresco—and very stiff work it +was—up and at work at seven, and at it best part of the day, +perched generally on an uncomfortably narrow ladder, and with my +head almost blown off by the agreeable but overpowering smell of +the vehicle with which I painted. The result is as far as it +goes tolerably satisfactory—everybody there is delighted, and +though that, of course, does not prove much, it is at all events +agreeable to me that they derive so much pleasure from my work. +The stained-glass window, too, which has been executed at my +desire from Jones' designs, gives great satisfaction—is a +lovely piece of colour, and (which was, to me, of paramount +importance) does not hurt my fresco, though, of course, in the +nature of things, it outshines tenfold in point of brilliancy; +hence the folly, to my mind, of ever putting glass and wall +painting in immediate juxtaposition. I shall go and paint +another slice in June, after which Aïdé leaves, so I may not be +able to finish my work till he returns in autumn. On my road to +Lyndhurst, I paid a <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_111" id="PageV2_111">[111]</a></span>visit to Lady Dorothy Neville (Lady +Pollington's sister) at Dangstein—a very beautiful place near +Petersfield.</p> + +<p>On Monday week the Royal Academy opens—I shall be curious to +see what pictures they have taken; my work at present will be a +woodcut for Dalziel—then that for the <i>Cornhill</i>—then a +drawing for Cundall's Bible—Mrs. Magniac's portrait—the +cartoon for the remainder of the Lyndhurst fresco—then perhaps +a new picture. I wish some one would buy the old ones!</p> + +<p>Have you read "Sylvia's Lovers"? Don't read "Salammbo"—it is +hideous.</p></div> + +<div class="block"><p><span class="sc">Dearest Mamma</span>,—My chair has arrived safe and sound; +once more, my very best thanks for it.</p> + +<p>Aïdé <i>is</i> one of the most <i>excellent</i> men that ever lived—I +like him extremely.</p> + +<p>By-the-bye, I am made one of the ensigns in our Rifle Corps, so +that when you come to town you have a chance of seeing me +strutting about with a sword.</p> + +<p>I write in haste. Good-bye, best love to all.—From your very +affectionate boy,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred.</p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep111" id="imagep111"></a> +<a href="images/imagep111.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep111.jpg" width="95%" alt="The Wise and Foolish Virgins" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">THE FRESCO PRESENTED BY LORD LEIGHTON TO LYNDHURST +CHURCH—"THE WISE AND FOOLISH VIRGINS." Completed 1864<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>In a letter to his father dated 1864 Leighton announced the completion +of the fresco, "The Wise and Foolish Virgins." The design of the whole +and the lines of the draperies in each figure are all admirable, and +the work is one which proves Leighton's powers of achieving rapidly, +and under great difficulties, a complete work and one in which his +great sense of beauty is very salient. There is also sufficient +dramatic feeling in the gestures and expressions of the faces. Perhaps +the most interesting (because the most spontaneous) attitude in the +figures of the wise virgins is that which is kneeling, profile-wise, +under the figure of the angel, who is indicating to her the presence +of her Saviour. She seems dazed with awe and rapture. Her arm is +caught up with a sudden unstudied angularity of movement which, though +not <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_112" id="PageV2_112">[112]</a></span>so beautiful intrinsically as are most of those in Leighton's +work, is very expressive, and produces a happy effect amid the more +obviously arranged lines in the rest of the design. Among the many +drawings preserved in the Leighton House Collection made for this +fresco there is a slight but very sensitive sketch for this figure, +also a finished pencil drawing for the head of Christ. The model who +sat for this head was the Italian whom Leighton painted in "Golden +Hours," and whom Watts used for the picture he (many years after its +execution) entitled "A Prodigal." The type of this model may be felt +by some to have been an unfortunate one to choose for the central +imposing figure in the design of the fresco. It is, perhaps, weak—too +good-looking in a commonplace style for such a subject.</p> + +<p>Ruskin, on seeing the photograph of this work, wrote to Leighton (a +postscript to a letter): "I was much struck—seriously—by the +photograph from your fresco; it is wonderfully fine in action."</p> + +<p>Leighton wrote to Steinle on receipt of his criticisms on the +Lyndhurst fresco:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p><i>Translation.</i>]</p> + +<p class="right"><i>3rd December.</i></p> + +<p><span class="sc">My dear Friend</span>,—Just now returned from a long journey +(to Constantinople and Athens), I find two very welcome letters +from you, by which I see with great pleasure that your old pupil +may still reckon upon your invaluable friendship and sympathy, +and I see it all the more certainly because you enclose a kind +but pertinent criticism of the photographs I sent you.<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> I +agree entirely, and can only pretend in my defence that it was +difficult, with the long space (all having to be filled) and the +altar standing in the middle of it, not to fall into rather a +panic. That, after all, is but a lame excuse, and I hope that +you will always rap me over the knuckles with the same friendly +sincerity.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_113" id="PageV2_113">[113]</a></span>My dear Friend, the idea of appearing as a collaborator beside +you, my master, would be in the very highest degree delightful +and flattering to me. It is therefore only after mature +deliberation, and in the firm confidence that you will at least +appreciate the sincerity of your Leighton, that I have to +decline with real regret Herr Bruckmann's flattering invitation. +<i>You</i>, more than any one else, will agree with me that an artist +can execute no first-rate work, indeed dare undertake no work, +that is not a genuine expression alike of his feelings and his +convictions. I must candidly confess I cannot agree about a +complete illustration of the Shakespearian plays, those +masterpieces already in existence as <i>exhaustively finished</i> +works of art; it seems to me that in literature only those +subjects lend themselves to pictorial representation which stand +in the written word more as <i>suggestion</i>. Subjects perhaps which +are provided in the Bible or in mythology and tradition in great +variety, or are not already generally in possession of the minds +of the spectators of living plays (<i>e.g.</i> the Greek Tragedies). +It is for the most part a struggle with the incomparable, +already existing <i>complete</i>—which is quite intimidating to my +capabilities. Do not take this ill, my dear Friend, and do not +consider it too great a presumption that I, your pupil, declare +so plainly against you where you think so differently. To go +back over one detail, I must also confess that <i>to me</i> a +<i>coloured cartoon</i> is not a natural mode of expression; a +<i>drawn</i>, or a <i>grey in grey</i> (grau in grau) painted +cartoon—well enough. A size five feet high is to me, for a +<i>suggestion</i> of colour, at least five times too large; just as +little could I give a suggestion of form in this size. Colour is +not necessary; but if one should use it in half life-size, it is +too noble and poetic, I think, for one to venture, so to speak, +to clarify it. Will you forgive me for all this, dear master? +However, I shall see with deep interest the progress of the +beautiful work which you will certainly execute.</p> + +<p>I have heard with some sorrow of the burning of the venerable +Dome, and am just writing to Otto Cornhill in respect to a +lottery which is to be arranged for the re-erection of the +tower.</p> + +<p>I have read what you tell me of your dear family with great +pleasure; please remember me most kindly to your wife <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_114" id="PageV2_114">[114]</a></span>and +children; also to my old comrades V. Müller, Wecker, and the +rest. I am very glad to hear that G. Wecker, the apostate, has +returned to art. He was, undoubtedly still is, a very gifted +man, but had to guard somewhat, had he not? against the +<i>ornamental</i>.</p> + +<p>But my letter is becoming too long.</p> + +<p>Farewell, my dear Master; take nothing amiss from your grateful, +devoted pupil,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred Leighton.</p> +</div> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><i>Friday 10, 1864.</i></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Papa</span>,—You will be disappointed, after waiting so +long, to receive no paper after all, and a skimpy note instead. +I am amused at the studied ill-nature of the <i>Spectator</i>; I +wonder who <i>V.</i> is. The author of an article on sensation +pictures in the <i>Realm</i>, in which I am flatteringly quoted, is +by Mrs. Norton. <i>En somme</i> I think my "<i>Golden Hours</i>" is the +most successful of my pictures (perhaps more than anything since +"Cimabue") and the "Orpheus" (deservedly) the least. I am about +to begin two new pictures. Mrs. Guthrie's portrait—a full +length—is postponed for her health till the winter.</p></div> + +<div class="block"><p class="right">1864.</p> + +<p>I should not leave the place I am in except to build; a mended +house would be most unsatisfactory and <i>temporary</i>. I feel sure +I shall nowhere get standing room for a house for less than £28, +still less room for a house and <i>large garden</i>. If I find the +terms exactly as I expect and my lawyer (Nettleship) satisfied +with the title I shall, I think, close the bargain, the more so +that another painter (I don't know who) is after it.<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> I am +staying for a day or two at Dangstein (Lady Dorothy Neville's). +I met here last night Mr. Henry Woolfe, who very kindly offered +me introductions to one or two charming Venetian families +(Mocenigo) which will be very pleasant for me, as I want to see +a Venetian interior. Gambart has paid the £1050 for "Dante." The +"Honeymoon" was bought by a Cornhill dealer yclept Moreby.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_115" id="PageV2_115">[115]</a></span>I will let you know how all goes off on Saturday at the Council, +meanwhile best love to Mamma.—From your affectionate son,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><i>August 23, 1864.</i></p> + +<p>I found your letter on returning from Lyndhurst this morning. I +may as well tell you at once that I have finished my fresco, +retouching a great deal of what was already painted, and I think +I may add, greatly improving it—so much for that.</p> + +<p>With regard to the draft, my assent was only general and +preliminary (besides being subject to the approval in the +details of my solicitor) and bound me to nothing. My surveyor +and solicitor have conferred together and with Lady H.'s agent, +and though the agreement is not yet signed, the matter is +virtually settled. I have several minor clauses altered which +had been inserted originally in the general draft to meet cases +different from my own. With regard to the title, I was surprised +and vexed to hear that it was stipulated that <i>no title should</i> +be called for. My lawyer told me that this was frequently the +case—that he would go to Doctors' Commons to see the Will to +ascertain the truth of the statement that the property was Lady +H.'s in fee simple (as it is). Even this he said did not +<i>legally</i> exhaust the matter, as there might be encumbrances not +alluded to in the Will. He said, however, that many other leases +had been granted on that property on precisely the same terms, +that the matter turned on the character of the landlord, and +that, <i>en somme</i>, I ran but little risk. <i>Since then</i> I have +seen him, and he tells me that he has fortunately been able to +ascertain through a very respectable firm of solicitors, who +<i>have</i> seen the titles, that <i>it is all right</i>; he has therefore +not thought it desirable to put me to the expense of +investigating the Will—so far so good. As to the possible +expense of the house, my dear Papa, you have taken, I assure +you, false alarm. I shall indeed devote more to the +architectural part of the building than <i>you</i> would care to do; +but in the first place architecture and much <i>ornament</i> are not +inseparable, and besides, whatever I do I shall undertake +<i>nothing without an estimate</i>.</p> + +<p>You need never fear that I shall take otherwise than it is +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_116" id="PageV2_116">[116]</a></span>meant the advice that your experience and interest in me suggest +to you. You will also, I am sure, allow for the difference of +feeling between yourself and an artist who lives by his eyes.</p> + +<p>A line will find me at Venice, <i>poste restante</i>, all September. +I am just off.</p> + +<p>Best love to Mammy.—From your affectionate son,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred.</p> + +<p>I knew neither <i>Poole</i> nor <i>Jones</i>. Grant said he thought it +probable I should be an R.A. before long.</p></div> + + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Venice</span>, <i>September 20, '64</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">My dear Papa</span>,—Many thanks for your letter, which +reached me safely a few days ago. I do indeed contemplate +building my house so as to be enlarged at a future day. I find, +however, that I shall probably be obliged to build at once +rather more than I absolutely require for practical building +reasons, but I need not therefore furnish more than I require. +About the well I am now entirely in the dark. It would never +have occurred to me to ask myself the question, Are there not +<i>pipes</i> or something? With regard to the Will, if the perusal of +it only cost a guinea, it might have been worth while to look at +it, though Palmer and Nettleship thought it superfluous; but +then P. and N. tell me it would cost £20! to have it gone over, +and as my expenses with Browne (Lady H.'s agent) are already +very great—he makes a preposterous charge, <i>which I can't +dispute</i>, for the agreement—I don't think I shall care to add +to them.</p> + +<p>My architect is Aitchison, an old friend.</p> + +<p>I wrote to the Academicians (Poole, Grant, and Jones) almost +immediately on hearing from them, and expressed a hope, vague +but polite, that we might meet on my return. <i>Poole</i> I should +like to know; he is a man of poetic mind. I need scarcely tell +you that the idea of my being elected President (!!!) for many +years to come is simply <i>ludicrous</i>, even if there is a chance +of my ever having the offer of that dignity.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_117" id="PageV2_117">[117]</a></span>I am quite aware that people do talk of it <i>laughingly</i>, but I +don't think it goes beyond "chaff" yet. No doubt many other +young artists are chaffed in the same way with imaginary +dignities. I am delighted that Mamma is better; I should have +said this before but that I have answered your letter +systematically. I trust the improvement will be lasting.</p> + +<p>I congratulate you on Colenso's visit, and shall be very anxious +to hear from you how it went off.</p> + +<p>As for myself, I am very snugly ensconced in a little mezzanino +on the Grand Canal, with a sort of passage which I use as a +studio and a bath-room, inasmuch as it opens straight on the +water, and enables me to take a very jolly swim every day. I am +not attempting a picture, but am making a sketch for one which I +shall probably paint on the spot next autumn, staying here a +couple of months or so. Meanwhile I have got several heads in +hand—<i>studies</i>, <i>not</i> for <i>sale</i>, for use—and a few sketches in +Saint Mark's, which I think promise well. <i>Et voilà.</i></p> + +<p>I stay here a fortnight longer, so that a letter written on +receipt of this would still catch me; after that <i>Rome</i> is the +safest address. I shall be there from the 20th to the 28th of +October.</p> + +<p>Best love to Mamma, and believe me, your affectionate son,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred.</p> +</div> + +<p>In the preceding letters mention is made of the final arrangements for +the building of Leighton's house in Holland Park Road. Mr. George +Aitchison, R.A., his old friend, undertook to be the architect. It was +begun in 1865, and first occupied by Leighton in 1866.</p> + +<p>Referring to opinions expressed regarding Florentine Art, past and +present, Leighton wrote to his younger sister: "——'s remark about +——, if I remember it, was utter bosh and pedantry. The Florentines +of the end of the fifteenth century were <i>emphatically</i> realists, +though their realism was animated by a higher genius and a deeper +humanity than the modern Italians exhibit, though <i>they</i>, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_118" id="PageV2_118">[118]</a></span>by-the-bye, +are mostly not <i>realists</i> but mannerists. The chief characteristic of +English Art is (I speak of course of the better men) originality and +humanity on the one hand, and on the other, absence of acquired +knowledge and guiding taste. Some day I will write you a lot more +about it."</p> + +<p>Fully launched into the English art world, deeply interested in every +phase of sincere work produced by contemporary brother artists, +Leighton nevertheless adhered in his own practice to the views and +principles which he held from the time he became Steinle's devoted +pupil. To a question which referred to his art development, asked by +Mrs. Mark Pattison when she was about to write an account of his life +in 1879, Leighton answered, "I can only speak of what is not a +<i>change</i> but virtually a growth, the passage from Gothicism to +Classicism (for want of better words) <i>i.e.</i> a growth from +multiplicity to simplicity. Artists' manners are not changed by +books!" "As regards English artists," he writes in the same letter, "I +can only of course speak with great reserve. Elmore treated me with +marked kindness, lending me a studio. Millais, Rossetti, Hunt were +most cordial and friendly, though I openly told them I was wholly +opposed to their views; but, indeed, few men have more cause to speak +well of their brethren."</p> + +<p>The artistic events of the years 1862, 1863, and 1864 culminated in +Leighton being elected an Associate of the Royal Academy. His old +friend, Mr. George Aitchison, wrote at the time of Leighton's death: +"In 1860 he took a studio at Orme Square, Bayswater. It was during +this time that his conversation was so brilliant and so free from +restraint. I remember a summer afternoon I spent with him, Mason, and +Murch on the terrace at the Crystal Palace, when he gave vent to the +freest criticism on books, artists, philosophy, science, and the +methods of teaching, and deplored <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_119" id="PageV2_119">[119]</a></span>the waste of time to students of +making large chalk studies, when everything that was wanted could be +shown on a sheet of smooth paper, seven inches high, with a hard +pencil. He was a great admirer of Boxall and his delicate painting, of +Mr. Watts' and Sir E. Burne-Jones' work, and persuaded the last two to +join the Royal Academy. In 1864 he was made an A.R.A., and after this +he became very cautious of expressing any but the most general +opinions on contemporary English art, as his remarks generally got +into the papers."</p> + +<p>"Eucharis," 1863; "Dante at Verona," and "Golden Hours," 1864, are +three works which might be placed in the first rank of Leighton's +achievements. In the following letters references are made to the +pictures:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><i>April 29, 1863.</i></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Mammy</span>,—I have just been to the R.A., having been +invited to the "Varnishing Day." <i>Four</i> pictures are +hung—"Elijah," <i>high</i>, of course, but in a centre place; it +looks well, but <i>much</i> darker than in the studio. "Peacock +Girl,"<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> very well hung, exactly where "The Vision" was a few +years ago; it looks well. "The Crossbowman" and "The Girl with +the Fruit"<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> are fairly hung, but look, to me, less well than +in the studio. The "Salome"<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> is the one not taken. Altogether +I am well treated.</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_120" id="PageV2_120">[120]</a></span>In the following letters from Ruskin his interest is expressed in the +pictures exhibited in the Academy of 1863, and for the "Romola" +illustrations:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p><span class="sc">My dear Leighton</span>,—I've only just had time to look in, +yesterday, at R. Ac., and your pictures are the only ones that +interest me in it; and the two pretty ones, peacocks and basket, +interest me much. Ahab I don't much like. You know you, like all +people good for anything in this age and country (as far as +Palmerston), are still a boy—and a boy can't paint Elijah. But +the pretty girls are very nice—very <i>nearly</i> beautiful. I can't +say more, can I? If once they <i>were</i> beautiful, they would be +immortal too. But if I don't pitch into you when I get hold of +you again for not drawing your Canephora's basket as well as her +head and hair! You got out of the scrape about the circle of it +by saying you wanted it hung out of sight (which <i>I</i> don't). But +the meshes are all wrong—<i>inelegantly</i> wrong—which is +unpardonable. I believe a Japanese would have done it better. +Thanks for nice book on Japan with my name Japanned. <i>It</i> is +very nice too. I wish the woodcuts were bigger. I should like it +so much better in a little octavo with big woodcuts on every +other page. But I never do anything but grumble.—Faithfully +yours,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">J. Ruskin.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="block"><p><span class="sc">My dear Leighton</span>,—The public voice respecting the +lecture you are calumniously charged with, is as wise as usual. +The lecture is an excellent and most interesting one, and I am +very sorry it is not yours.</p> + +<p>I am also very sorry the basket <i>is</i> yours, in spite of the very +pretty theory of accessories. It is proper that an accessory be +slightly—sometimes even, in a measure, badly—painted, but not +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_121" id="PageV2_121">[121]</a></span>that it should be out of perspective; and in the greatest men, +their enjoyment and power animated the very dust under the feet +of their figures—much more the baskets on their heads: above +all things, what comes near a head should be studied in every +line.</p> + +<p>There is nothing more notable to my mind in the minor tricks of +the great Venetians than the exquisite perspective of bandeaux, +braids, garlands, jewels, flowers, or anything else which aids +the <i>roundings</i> of their heads.</p> + +<p>It is my turn to claim Browning for you, though I know what your +morning time is to you. I must have you over here one of these +summer mornings, if it be but to look at some dashes in sepia by +Reynolds, and a couple of mackerel by Turner—which, being +principals instead of accessories, I hope you will permit to be +well done, though they're not as pretty as peacocks.</p> + +<p>I have been watching the "Romola" plates with interest. The one +of the mad old man with dagger seemed to me a marvellous study +(of its kind), and I feel the advancing power in all.</p> + +<p>Will you tell me any day you could come—any hour—and I'll try +for Browning.—Ever faithfully yours,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">J. Ruskin.</p> + +<p>I'm always wickeder in the morning than at night, because I'm +fresh; so I'll try, this morning, to relieve your mind about the +peacocks. To my sorrow, I know more of peacocks than girls, as +you know more of girls than peacocks—and I assure you solemnly +the fowls are quite as unsatisfactory to me as the girl can +possibly be to you; so unsatisfactory, that if I could have +painted them as well as you could, and <i>had</i> painted them as +ill, I should have painted them out.<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a></p></div> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><i>Monday.</i></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Leighton</span>,—I saw Browning last night; and he said +he couldn't come till Thursday week: but do you think it would +put you quite off your work if you came out here early on Friday +and I drove you into Kensington as soon as you liked? We have +enough to say and look at, surely, for two mornings—one by +ourselves?</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_122" id="PageV2_122">[122]</a></span>I want, seriously, for one thing to quit you of one impression +respecting me. You are quite right—"ten times right"—in saying +I never focus criticism. Was there ever criticism worth +adjustment? The light is so ugly, it deserves no lens, and I +never use one. But you never, on the other hand, have observed +sufficiently that in such rough focussing as I give it, I +measure faults not by their greatness, but their avoidableness. +A man's great faults are natural to him—inevitable; if <i>very</i> +great—undemonstrable, deep in the innermost of things. I never +or rarely speak of them. They must be forgiven, or the picture +left. But a common fault in perspective is not to be so passed +by. You may not tell your friend, but with deepest reserve, your +thoughts of the conduct of his life, but you tell him, if he has +an ugly coat, to change his tailor, without fear of his +answering that you don't focus your criticism. Now it so happens +that I am in deep puzzlement and thought about some conditions +of your work and its way, which, owing to my ignorance of many +things in figure painting, are not likely to come to any good or +speakable conclusion. But it would be partly presumptuous and +partly vain to talk of these; hence that silence you spoke of +when I saw you last. I wish I had kept it all my life, and +learned, in place, to do the little I could have done, and enjoy +the much I might have enjoyed.—Ever faithfully yours,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">J. Ruskin.</p> + +<p>Send me a line saying if you will give me the Friday morning, +and fix your own hour for breakfast to be ready; and never mind +if you are late, for I can't give you pretty things that spoil +for waiting, anyhow.</p></div> + +<p>Leighton writes to his mother:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>I had a kind note this morning from Ruskin, in which, after +criticising two or three things, he speaks very warmly of other +points in my work and of the development of what he calls +"enormous power and sense of beauty." I quote this for what it +is worth, because I know it will give you pleasure, but I have +NOT and <i>never shall have</i> "enormous power," though I <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_123" id="PageV2_123">[123]</a></span>have some +"sense of beauty." The "Orpheus" and "Golden Hours" are not in +the <i>great</i> room but in the next to it. I have not seen Gambart +lately, and do not, therefore, know whether he has got rid of +any more of my pictures (by-the-bye, I have sent the +"duet"—"Johnny"—to America to an Exhibition for the Sanitary +Commission, on the request of Mrs. Kemble's daughter). He will, +<i>I think</i>, engrave the "Honeymoon," but probably only photograph +the others; by-the-bye (again), Mammy, tell Gussy with my love +that I shall present her with a copy of each and shall not +"<i>think her greedy</i>," having no thoughts for her but +affectionate ones. With regard to the money paid me by Gambart, +I invested as soon as I got it £1000 in Eastern Counties Railway +<i>debentures</i>, at par, 4½ per cent., this on the advance of +Coutts' stock clerk. Lord Ashburton's portrait was scarcely +begun.<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> I have offered to try to finish <i>tant bien que mal</i> +from photographs, and to <i>give</i> it to Lady A. She is very +grateful. The child's picture also goes to the wall, as she +won't be able to sit for some time, and would then be <i>changed</i>. +Lady A. wanted to pay the price of the sketch as it stood; this +I of course refused. She has commissioned me to paint her a +fancy picture for £300.</p></div> + +<p>Leighton was for five years an Associate before being elected a full +member of the Royal Academy in 1869. During these years the number of +important pictures he exhibited each season notably increased. In at +least twelve of these works the many-sided Leighton is worthily +represented—"Dante at Verona,"<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> "Golden Hours," "David," +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_124" id="PageV2_124">[124]</a></span>"Syracusan Bride" (exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1866 and in the +Paris International Exhibition in 1868), <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_125" id="PageV2_125">[125]</a></span>"Helen of Troy,"<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> +"Greek Girl Dancing," "Venus Disrobing from the Bath," "Ariadne +Abandoned by Theseus, Ariadne Watches for his Return, Artemis Releases +Her by Death," "Actæa, the Nymph of the Shore," "Dædalus and Icarus," +"Electra at the Tomb of Agamemnon," "Helios and Rhodos." The extreme +variety from every point of view which exists in this group of twelve +pictures, chosen from the twenty-six paintings and the numerous +sketches executed in these five years, would be a proof in itself, if +one were needed, of Leighton's extraordinary versatility as regards +the <i>motives</i> of his pictures.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep125a" id="imagep125a"></a> +<a href="images/imagep125a.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep125a.jpg" width="85%" alt="Greek Girl Dancing" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"GREEK GIRL DANCING." 1867<br /> +By permission of Mr. Phillipson<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep125b" id="imagep125b"></a> +<a href="images/imagep125b.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep125b.jpg" width="37%" alt="A Pastoral" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">DRAWING FOR THE PAINTING "A PASTORAL." 1866<br /> +Leighton House Collection<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_126" id="PageV2_126">[126]</a></span>In the spring of 1865, after years of delicate health, Mrs. Leighton +at the last died suddenly, at her home in Bath. At the time Leighton +was staying at Sandringham where he received a telegram announcing her +death, and on the same day he joined his family at Bath. It has been +said that, as long as a man is blessed by possessing a mother, he +still retains the blessing of being—in the eyes of one person at +least—a child. To Leighton's tender-hearted nature this blessing was +a very real one, as is testified by his correspondence with his +mother.<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> The first chapter of Leighton's life seems, in a sense, +only to end with this great sorrow.</p> + +<div class="block"><p><i>Translation.</i>]<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_127" id="PageV2_127">[127]</a></span></p> + +<p class="right"><span class="sc">Frankfurt am Main</span>,<br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>April 30, 1865</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dearest Friend</span>,—As your last friendly lines of 14th +March did not bring your address, I grasp the opportunity +offered me by Mr. Tobie André to express to you my heartfelt +sympathy on the loss of your dear mother. I remember that you +often spoke to me of this mother with true filial affection, and +I have secretly blessed you for it; I know now also that you +will treasure her memory!—Always, your truly devoted,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Steinle.</p> +</div> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> See <a href="#LIST_OF_PRINCIPAL_WORKS">Appendix</a>, "Lord Leighton's Sketches."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> See <a href="#Footnote_18_18">page 59, vol. ii.</a>, poem, Leighton's "Francesca di +Rimini," by R.A.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> Head painted on the wall of the Vestry of Highnam +Church—since destroyed.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> "Eucharis."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> Sir Hubert Parry writes: "I remember Leighton made a +practical test of my father's medium by painting a fine dashing sketch +of a head on the wall of the Vestry at Highnam Church. I used to +admire it greatly. Unfortunately that Vestry was pulled down; and +though efforts were made to preserve the sketch by cutting a great +piece of plaster out of the wall, I understand that during the many +years when I was hardly ever at Highnam, the plaster crumbled and +collapsed." See letter to Steinle.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> Photographs of the Lyndhurst fresco.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> The ground on which Leighton built his house, 2 Holland +Park Road, now preserved for the public.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> "Girl feeding Peacocks" (see sketches in Leighton House +Collection). Leighton painted a small and exquisite water-colour on +ivory of the picture, which was sold at Christie's after his death.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> "Eucharis."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> See <a href="#toi">List of Illustrations</a>: reproduction from sketch in +Leighton House.</p> + +<p class="noin">Mr. Frith, R.A., wrote the following respecting the rejection of "Salome":—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">10 Pembridge Villas, Bayswater, W.</span>,<br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>April 29, 1863</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">My dear Leighton</span>,—We have been unable to hang one of +your best pictures—not because it was an excellent work, as the +profane world would say—but because we had already placed so +many of your pictures that the space due to Leighton was more +than exhausted. M.C. Mortlake called us over the coals +dreadfully on your behalf, but I, for one, resisted his +arguments, and I believe you have to blame me for your picture +being returned to you. I should have said nothing about the +matter, but for the fear that I might be thought so stupid as +not to see the merit of your work. Pray believe that my motive +was a good one, and that I have tried to do what is right to you +and to the rest.—Ever, dear Leighton, faithfully yours,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">W.P. Frith.</p></div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> Ruskin would not, I believe, have spoken thus of the +peacocks in the exquisite water-colour on ivory—presumably a sketch +in colour for the picture.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> Refers to Lord Ashburton's death.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> This picture illustrates the verses in the <i>Paradiso</i>:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8">"Thou shalt prove<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How salt the savour is of others' bread;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How hard the passage, to descend and climb<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By others' stairs. But that shall gall thee most<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Will be the worthless and vile company<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With whom thou must be thrown into the straits,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For all ungrateful, impious all and mad<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shall turn against thee."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noin">"Dante, in fulfilment of this prophecy, is seen descending the palace +stairs of the Can Grande, at Verona, during his exile. He is dressed +in sober grey and drab clothes, and contrasts strongly in his ascetic +and suffering aspect with the gay revellers about him. The people are +preparing for a festival, and splendidly and fantastically robed, some +bringing wreaths of flowers. Bowing with mock reverence, a jester +gibes at Dante. An indolent sentinel is seated at the porch, and looks +on unconcernedly, his spear lying across his breast. A young man, +probably acquainted with the writings of Dante, sympathises with him. +In the centre and just before the feet of Dante, is a beautiful child, +brilliantly dressed and crowned with flowers, and dragging along the +floor a garland of bay leaves and flowers, while looking earnestly and +innocently in the poet's face. Next come a pair of lovers, the lady +looking at Dante with attention, the man heedless. The last wears a +vest embroidered with eyes like those in a peacock's tail. A priest +and a noble descend the stairs behind, jeering at Dante."—<i>Athenæum</i>, +April 1864.</p> + +<p>The following expresses the admiration of a brother artist, Richard +Doyle, for the exiled "Dante":—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">54 Clifton Gardens, Maida Hill</span>,<br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>April 5, 1864</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">My dear Leighton</span>,—I feel so awkward whenever I attempt +to praise a man's works to his face, and I felt that you, +yesterday, were so likely to be bored with the repetition of +similar speeches from your large influx of visitors, that at the +moment of my going I could not bring myself to say what I wished +to say—how much I liked your pictures. To-day, however, when +"Dante" and "Orpheus," and the music and drawing parties are +before my mind as vividly as they were yesterday before my eyes +in your studio, I cannot resist sending you a few lines to say +what pleasure my visit gave me, although I was "without words."</p> + +<p>The "Dante" seemed to me a very impressive picture, and I think +one of the most important as well as most successful of your +works, historical in a higher sense than the mere representation +of an event—an illustration of the man and the time. I could +mention many of the figures that especially pleased me, but, for +beauty, can only single out that most delightful little child in +the foreground, toddling at the feet of Dante, laden with +flowers, the childhood and innocence of whose whole figure and +face, although we do not see the face, contrasts so beautifully +with the worn, ascetic, melancholy Poet. I think these two are a +poem in themselves.</p> + +<p>The lady in the "drawing lesson" struck me as a charming figure, +so graceful, and the painting of her dress as a perfect piece of +work. The lady leaning over the instrument in the "music" +("Golden Hours") subject is also a great favourite of mine.</p> + +<p>The "Orpheus," although there is a great deal to admire in it, I +don't think I liked so well as the others. Perhaps it is that +the classic subject does not come home to me, but I say this +doubtingly, feeling that it is a picture that would very likely +grow upon me.</p> + +<p>Anyhow, I end by offering you my most hearty +congratulations.—Most sincerely yours,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Richard Doyle.</p></div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> Referring to Leighton's painting of "Helen of Troy," +exhibited in 1865, Mr. Martin Tupper wrote:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Albury House, Nr. Guilford,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>May 23, 1865</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Sir</span>,—It is just possible that the following few +words of comment upon your wonderfully spiritualised "Helen of +Troy" may be acceptable to you from the undersigned.</p> + +<p>The "Helen" of Euripides is very little read amongst us, and yet +it is as strangely sensational as "The Woman in White": there +being two Helens in the play, the real substantial wife +remaining faithful to Menelaus in the island of Pharos, while +Juno gives to Paris—out of jealous rage at him for his +"judgment" in favour of Venus—"an image composed of ether" in +the likeness of Helen.</p> + +<p>This Ethereal Presence you have so exquisitely portrayed that it +is probable you know the play! only that I think you would then +have quoted from it in the R.A. catalogue, in explanation of +what confuses some of your ignorant reviewers as to this +embodied spirit.</p> + +<p>The counterfeit Helen was of "unsubstantial air," a figure +marvellously rendered in your picture, and which I can fully +appreciate: and you quote a very apposite passage from Lord +Derby's "Homer," as that which you illustrate; but if there are +reprints of the catalogue, I would suggest the addition of a +line from Euripides, as thus:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Juno to Paris gave me—yet not me,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But in my semblance formed a living image<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Composed of ether."<br /></span> +<span class="i12">Wodhall's <i>Eur. Hel.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>If haply you do not know the book, inquire at Longman's for the +fifth volume of the Greek Tragic Theatre (in English); or, +should you prefer it, of course it is extant in the Greek. If +not easily attainable in London, I shall be happy to lend you +the volume by post. Congratulating you on your difficult and +exquisite achievement—I am, dear sir, truly yours,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Martin F. Tupper.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">F. Leighton</span>, Esq.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a></p> + +<div class="block"><p class="rightsc"><span class="datepad">Warnford Cottage,</span><br /> +Bishop's Waltham.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">My dear Mr. Leighton</span>,—I was very sorry indeed when I +returned to Park Place on Sunday evening and found that you had +been so kind as to call upon me.</p> + +<p>I have not ventured to intrude upon you in your late affliction +with the expression of a sympathy which cannot have much value +for you, but had I seen you when you called I should hardly have +refrained from telling you how sincerely I feel for your +sorrow.—Pray believe me, yours always most truly,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fanny Kemble.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Warnford</span>, <i>Thursday, 2nd</i>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="block"><p class="rightsc"><span class="datepad">Forest Bank,</span><br /> +Lyndhurst.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">My dear Leighton</span>,—I cannot let the post go out without +offering you my sincere sympathy on your loss. I know how deeply +attached you were to your mother, and am very sure the +bereavement is a heavy grief to you. You are right in saying +that to me your sorrow comes especially home. My mother sends +you her affectionate love, and we both beg you to remember that, +whenever you have a few spare days and want quiet, you must +consider this home as a temporary home.—Believe me always, in +all affection, yours,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Hamilton Aïdé.</p> +</div> + +<div class="block"><p><span class="sc">My dear Leighton</span>,—I must write to you to express the +grief both myself and my wife felt on hearing of the loss which +has befallen you. I am well aware that no words can afford +consolation against such afflictions, but I should be sorry if +you had construed silence into want of sympathy. If you have +time I should be glad to hear from you, and to know how may be +your father, from whom I have received on every occasion so much +kindness. You have much distress to go through, for death has +recently touched you in many ways by striking your own family, +your friends, and imperilling others to a degree that must have +inspired every pain it can produce.</p> + +<p>Good-bye, my dear Leighton; remember me to your father, and +express to him my deep sympathy with him in his +misfortune.—Yours ever affectionately,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">W.C. Cartwright.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Palazzi Giorgi, Rome</span>,<br /> +<span style="padding-left: 2em;"><i>January 31</i>.</span></p> +</div> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="datepad sc">13 Eaton Place (West),</span><br /> +<i>Tuesday, January 17, 1865</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">My dear Leighton</span>,—I heard at the Marqs', on Sunday, of +your late bereavement; and, as perhaps the one of all your many +friends whose mind the most habitually dwells among thoughts of +loss and deprivation, I can assure you of thought of it with +sincere concern and sympathy, and just write a line to say so. +There is nothing to be said, I well know, which is of any +immediate good or alleviation, and time only strengthens +affectionate recollection: but after a time, among gentler +thoughts which will come, I hope you will, as you may justly, +find comfort in thinking that your mother's life was spared so +as to permit her to be cheered by the certainty of your success. +This is much—especially to a woman's heart.—Faithfully and +sincerely yours,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Henry J. Chorley.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_128" id="PageV2_128">[128]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER III<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>JOURNEYS TO THE EAST—CONSTANTINOPLE—SMYRNA—ATHENS—DIARY<br /> "UP THE +NILE TO PHYLÆ"</h4> + +<h4>1866-1869</h4> +<br /> + +<p>Leighton visited Spain in 1866. There exists apparently no letters or +written record of this journey, but he made many sketches remarkable +for strong and characteristic colouring.</p> + +<p>The letter written to Mrs. Mark Pattison in 1879, already quoted, +contains an amusing endeavour on Leighton's part to date the various +journeys he had made in answer to questions she had asked.</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"I am sorely perplexed to answer this; I can only approach an +answer by a sort of <i>memoria technica</i>. I made studies in +Algiers for 'Samson Agonistes'; that will give you roughly the +period. This visit made a deep impression on me; I have loved +'the East,' as it is called, ever since. By-the-bye, I drew here +my (almost) only large water-colour drawing, 'A Negro Festival' +[the picture Leighton alluded to as 'The Niggers'], which was +thought very well of by my friends. To Spain (into which I had +made a raid of a few days on a previous occasion when visiting +the South of France for architecture, to which I am much +devoted) I went the year of the cholera. I remember this because +I was going to Constantinople, but was dissuaded by a friend +there because of the ravages of that epidemic. The following +year I <i>did</i> go: Vienna, Danube, Varna, Constantinople, Broussa, +Smyrna, Rhodes, Athens (the greatest architectural emotion of my +life, by far), &c. This was the year <i>before</i> those poor young +Englishmen were murdered on Pentelicus, up which <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_129" id="PageV2_129">[129]</a></span>I had been +with <i>the same</i> guide. My visit to Egypt, and up the Nile on a +steamer, given me by the Khedive, was a year before the opening +of the Suez Canal; I rode over the Salt Lakes with Mons. de +Lesseps and a party of his friends. Damascus a year before I +exhibited the 'Jew's House,' I <i>think</i>. Spain, revisited, and +Morocco, the year before last. This is a roundabout way of +getting about dates, but, contrary to my expectation, I think I +have contrived to fix all the chief journeys approximately."</p></div> + +<p>In 1867 Leighton wrote to his father:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Lloyd Steamer "Adriatic,"</span><br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>November 28, 1867</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">My dear Papa</span>,—As I am likely to be busy during my very +short stay in Venice, where I hope to find a letter from you, I +take advantage of the leisure which I find in excess on board +this steamer to begin an epistle which, however, I shall not +close till I have seen yours, in case anything in the latter +should require an answer. Of course my getting to the end of +even this first page depends upon the state of my +feelings—physical, not moral, for I am a poor sailor at best. I +told you, I believe, in my last how much I had enjoyed and, as I +hope, profited by my stay in Rhodes and Lindos. I am uncertain +whether I added that I had received great kindness and attention +from our consul and his brothers, and also from one or two other +gentlemen with whom I became acquainted. Through the assistance +of Mr. Biliotti (our consul) I had an opportunity, which could +never present itself again, of buying a number of beautiful +specimens of old Persian <i>faience</i> (Lindos ware), chiefly +plates, which will make a delightful addition to my collection +of Eastern china and pottery. I know that you, personally, care +little for such things, and have small sympathy with purchases +of that nature; you will, therefore, be glad to hear that though +I spent a considerable sum, knowing that such a chance would +never again be given me, I could, <i>any day</i>, part with the whole +lot for at least double—probably treble—what I gave.</p> + +<p>The weather, which was very beautiful at the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_130" id="PageV2_130">[130]</a></span>beginning—indeed +during the greater part of my stay in the Island—was not +faithful to me to the end; it broke up a few days before my +departure, and, to my very great regret, prevented my painting +certain studies which I was very anxious to take home: on the +other hand, I had opportunities of studying effects of a +different nature, so that I can hardly call myself much the +loser as far as my work in Rhodes was concerned. In Athens, +however, the effect of the absolute instability of the weather +(an instability of which I have never seen the like anywhere) +was that I left that place almost empty-handed, although I +stayed there a week longer than I had originally intended. If, +however, I got through little or no work, I had infinite +enjoyment in the frequent and unvaried study and contemplation +of the ruins on the Acropolis. Familiar as I was, from casts and +photographs, with the sculptures and some part of the +architecture which I found there, my expectations were very +highly wrought, but it is impossible to anticipate, nor shall I +attempt to describe, the impression which these magnificent +works produce when seen together and under their own sky. +Indeed, it is quite strange how one seems to read with new eyes +things which one conceived oneself to have understood thoroughly +before. The scenery about Athens, depending a good deal on +effects of light, only rarely displayed its full beauty during +my stay; sufficiently often, however, for me to see that it is +of exquisite beauty, and that that part of it described by Byron +in certain favourite lines of yours does not receive full +justice at his hands. I had letters, as you probably knew, to +Mr. Erskine, our Minister, and to Mr. Finlay, the historian; +both of them received me with the greatest cordiality and +kindness, as did also two or three other persons with whom I +became acquainted, so that my stay was socially agreeable as +well as artistically delightful; but herewith ends my journey, +for heavy weather, rain, sleet, fog and the rest prevented my +seeing any of the scenery of the Gulf of Lepanto, which I might +as well not have visited, and although I passed Zante, +Cephalonia, and Corfu under rather more favourable skies, I did +not see them to advantage—<i>ce sera pour une autrefois</i>. Your +letter, which I have found on my arrival, and for which thanks, +does not call for any particular reply beyond that I have +painted <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_131" id="PageV2_131">[131]</a></span><i>no</i> figures, though I might have been tempted by +several fine heads I saw, but time only sufficed for my +landscape studies, which in this journey were my chief care. The +extract from the <i>Saturday Review</i>, which is highly flattering, +was shown me by Mr. Finlay in Athens.</p> + +<p>Of Venice I have nothing to say, except that my first impression +of the Gallery, coming as I did straight from the Parthenon, was +that everything but the very <i>finest</i> pictures was wanting in +dignity and beauty, and was <i>artificial</i>. I was much surprised +myself, as the Venetian school always exercises a great +fascination over me. You may infer from that what an impression +of beauty Athenian Art has left on me. I was incessantly +reminded, in looking both at the sculpture and architecture of +the Acropolis, of the admirable words which Thucydides puts into +the mouth of Pericles: those are the beginning and the end of +the Greek artistic nature.</p> + +<p>I shall be in London by the 10th, and right glad to get home +again—meanwhile, with best love to Taily.—I remain, your +affectionate son,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred.</p> + +<p class="sc">Venice, Hotel De L'Europe.</p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep131" id="imagep131"></a> +<a href="images/imagep131.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep131.jpg" width="63%" alt="Sketch with Donkey" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">SKETCH WITH DONKEY. EGYPT. 1868<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>Respecting the knowledge Leighton possessed of the Greek language, he +wrote in a letter to a friend, "In Greek I never got beyond Homer and +Anacreon. I have just retained this, that, having read a passage in a +translation (I generally read Homer in <i>German</i> or <i>Latin</i>), I am able +to feel, on referring to the original, its superiority to the foreign +rendering."</p> + +<p>In 1868 the great desire which Leighton for many years had felt to see +Egypt was gratified. In October of that year he wrote to his father +from Cairo:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="noin"><i>Beginning of letter missing.</i>]</p> + +<p>I find that the Prince (the Prince of Wales) asked him in the +said letter to introduce me as a personal friend of his to the +Viceroy, adding that he would be obliged by anything he (Col. +Stanton) could do for me. This was more than I had expected +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_132" id="PageV2_132">[132]</a></span>from what Col. Tait also had written me. Well, to make a long +story short, I communicated to Col. S. the ambitious desires +that Smart had stirred up in me, assuring him, however, that I +should never have dreamt of entertaining them of my own accord. +He took my case in hand at once, by asking for an audience, +which the Viceroy granted as soon as he should have returned to +Cairo; he was too busy to see me at Alexandria. Meanwhile Col. +Stanton hinted to the secretary of H.H. what my wish was, but +nothing was said to the Viceroy himself. Wednesday being fixed +for my reception, I went to his palace of Abbassia with Col. S., +and was there received in a pavilion in the open air, which +overlooked a tract of country covered with tents in which some +5000 men were quartered. Round His Highness' pavilion were the +tents of his chief ministers in attendance. It was rather a +picturesque sight. The Viceroy was alone, and, having received +us very courteously, and asked after the health of the P. and +Pcess. of Wales, made us sit down. He then clapped his hands, +and on a word from him long <i>tchibouques</i> were brought, of which +the amber mouthpieces were enriched with enormous diamonds and +emeralds. A little conversation on general matters then followed +between him and Col. S., after which he questioned me about my +projects; and after asking whether he could assist me, and Col. +S. throwing out a little hint about a steam tug to get me on +quicker, he said, "Would you not rather have a steamer to go in? +it is the same to me, and you will be more comfortable." Here +Col. Stanton, very judiciously and promptly, said he was sure +the P. of Wales would be much gratified by this mark of favour +to me; so that I have only to name the day, and the vessel will +be at my orders, and I shall do all I wish in <i>half the time</i>, +or less, it would otherwise have taken me. I bowed myself out +with my best thanks, and went home much pleased at my good +fortune and at everybody's kindness. I should not forget to say +also that Mr. Ross (Lady Duff Gordon's son-in-law, you know) was +full of <i>empressement</i> and kindness to me, and Lady D.G. lent me +a gun for the Nile. I start in ten days or thereabouts, and hope +before that to hear from you, for no letters will follow me and +I shall lose sight of everybody for nearly two months. <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_133" id="PageV2_133">[133]</a></span>I will +write again before I start; meanwhile, when you write which it +will be no use your doing till <i>November</i>, address, please New +Hotel, Cairo, Egypt.</p> + +<p>And believe me, meanwhile, with best love to Taily, your affte. +son,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred.</p> +</div> + +<p>Happily, while Leighton lost sight "of everybody for nearly two +months," he kept the following diary:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p><i>Wednesday, October 14, 1868.</i>—Went on board, dined and slept.</p> + +<p><i>Thursday, 15th.</i>—Started at about 7 <span class="sc">A.M.</span> There had +been a storm in the night, and the east was still heavy with +clouds; but the western sky was pure and soft.</p> + +<p>At about ten caught up the Sterlings, becalmed in their +dahabyeh; their crew was making a futile attempt to tow them +against the current. I let out a rope and tugged them as far as +Benisoëf, which, owing to the additional weight, I did not reach +till Friday morning (16th).</p> + +<p>The first day's journey up the Nile is enchanting, and I enjoyed +it thoroughly. The sky was bright, but tempered by a glimmering +haze which produced the loveliest effects; those of the early +morning were the most striking. The course of the river being +nearly due north, the western bank was glowing in varied sunny +lights; the other seemed made up of shadowy veils of gauze +fainting gradually towards the horizon. The boats that passed on +the left, dark in the blaze of light, looked, with their +outspread wings, like large moths of dusky brown; those on the +right shone against the violet sky like gilded ivory. The +keynote of this landscape is a soft, variant, fawn-coloured +brown, than which nothing could take more gratefully the warm +glow of sunlight or the cool purple mystery of shadow; the +latter perhaps especially, deep and powerful near the eye (the +local brown slightly overruling the violet), but fading as it +receded into tints exquisitely vague, and so faint that they +seem rather to belong to the sky than to the earth. At this time +of year the broad coffee-coloured sweep of the river is bordered +on either side by a fillet of green of the most extraordinary +vivacity, but redeemed from any hint of crudity by the golden +light which inundates it. <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_134" id="PageV2_134">[134]</a></span>The brightest green is that of the +Indian corn—the softest and most luminous that of an exquisite +grass, tall as pampas (perhaps it <i>is</i> a kind of pampas, I have +not seen it close yet), and like it crowned with a beautiful +plume-like blossom of the most delicate hue; seen against a dark +shady bank, and with the sun shining through it, it shimmers +with the sheen of gossamer.</p> + +<p>Frequent villages animate the river's edge; they are built of +unbaked bricks coated with mud, and have a most striking effect. +The simplicity and variety of the shapes of the houses, with +their slightly sloping sides and flat roofs, give them a certain +dignity in their picturesqueness which delights me; the colour, +too, is particularly agreeable, and is the most beautiful foil +to the bronze-brown of the naked, or nearly naked, fellaheen and +the indigo of the robes of their wives; to the sparkling white +of the doves that swarm in the gardens, and to the cinder-colour +of the buffaloes that wink and snooze along the bank. Every +village nestles in a dense grove of date-palms, and one cannot +conceive a lovelier harmony than that which is made by the +combination of the browns below with the sea-green of the +sweeping branches and the flame-like orange of the fruit. The +acacia (here a large, massive tree, with a vigorous dark green +foliage) is frequent in the villages.</p> + +<p>The shape of the hills and mountains is very peculiar and +striking. It gives the idea of a choppy sea of sand thrown up +into abrupt peaks and then uniformly truncated by a sweep of a +vast scythe, sweeping everything from horizon to horizon. Here +and there a little peak, too low to be embraced in the general +decapitation, raises its head amongst innumerable table-lands +and gives great value and relief to the general outline.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile an occasional train and not infrequent lines of +telegraph poles don't add to the poetry of the scene.</p> + +<p>Nor the flies to one's comfort! What a curse they are! they +<i>infest</i> one's face. I wonder what the epiderm of Egyptian +children is made of; you see babies with a dozen flies settled, +no, stuck, embedded in and round each of their eyes, and as many +in and about their noses and mouths; and they make no attempt to +remove them—seem absolutely unconscious of them.</p> + +<p>Scenery this afternoon less interesting—river wider—banks more +monotonous.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_135" id="PageV2_135">[135]</a></span>Opposite a place called Magaga, some fine mountains on the east +bank, scored with innumerable horizontal lines marking the +monotonous parallel strata of which they are composed; a +characteristic peculiarity in all the Egyptian hills I have seen +as yet. (The finest in outline are the Quarries opposite +Sakkara, on the right bank, and like those behind the Citadel at +Cairo.)</p> + +<p>Spent the night at a village called Kolosana, not having made +Minyeh owing to delay at Benisoëf, where we coaled, and took +leave of the Sterlings, with whom I breakfasted. The sunset +before reaching Kolosana was magnificent, like a sunset at sea; +almost as grand in its simplicity. Between the broad flaming sky +and the broad flaming river there was only a long narrow strip +of dark bronze-green bank, that seemed to burst into flame where +the almost white hot sun sank scowling behind it. The after-glow +was also very fine, though less grand than I should have +expected. The sky was of a deep violet, and the distant rolling +sand-tracks wore the most mysterious tints, faint, glimmering, +uncanny, vague fawn colours, pale dun browns, and ghostly pinks.</p> + +<p><i>Saturday, 17th.</i>—Started at dawn, and arrived at Minyeh about +eight o'clock.</p> + +<p>Stayed two hours and coaled.</p> + +<p>Obeying the custom of the country, I have presented the crew +with a sheep—great satisfaction.</p> + +<p>Took a stroll in the Bazaars, which are rather picturesque. +Minyeh is a largish place (chef lieu), and, like every second +village on the Nile, disfigured by the tall chimneys of sugar +factories.</p> + +<p>There is a striking line of hills opposite Minyeh, quaintly +jagged in outline and curiously regular in the marking of its +strata.</p> + +<p>Passed Beni Hassan, where I shall stop on my return.</p> + +<p>It is curious to see the incessant toiling of the natives at +irrigation. The poor people literally <i>make</i> their country every +year, and it is marvellous to see how a narrow fillet of water +will, as by enchantment, conjure up in a few weeks an oasis out +of an arid desert. The land of Egypt is born afresh out of the +Nile every returning year.</p> + +<p>I observe, with pleasure, in this part of the country those +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_136" id="PageV2_136">[136]</a></span>little white-domed tombs of Sheykhs which make such a pretty +feature in the landscape of Algeria.</p> + +<p>At Minyeh there is one, close to the riverside, in which rests +the "Sheykh of the Crocodiles" whose holy dust prevents those +man-eating ornaments of the Upper Nile from going any further +towards Cairo—below this tomb they never venture.</p> + +<p>Not having reached Manfalût by sunset, we have drawn up for the +night by the bank of the river, nowhere in particular. This +entire freedom in our movements (I should say <i>mine</i>, for the +steamer stops exactly where, when, and as often as I choose) is +very agreeable. Less pleasant is the storm of flies and insects +of every kind, that rush in literally by myriads as soon as +candles are lighted within reach of shore; my tablecloth is +darkened with thousands of little flies no larger, wings and +all, than a moderate flea; the nuisance is intolerable.</p> + +<p>A wonderful sunset again this evening. The western bank like +yesterday was low and brown and green, but, unlike yesterday, it +was alive with the sweet clamour of many birds. On the eastern +side the long wall of rock which seems to enclose the whole +length of the valley of the Nile came flush, or almost flush, to +the water's edge; and with what an intense glory it glowed! The +great hills seemed clad in burnished armour of gold fringed and +girt below with green and dark purple; but the smooth face of +the water was like copper, burnished and inlaid with sapphire.</p> + +<p>I sat in the long gloaming enjoying the soft, warm, supple air, +and watching the tints gradually change and die round the sweep +of the horizon, and across the immense mirror of the Nile as +broad as a lake. It was enchanting to watch the subtle +gradations by which the tawny orange trees that glowed like +embers in the west, passed through strange golden browns to +uncertain gloomy violet, and finally to the hot indigo of the +eastern sky where some lingering after-glow still flushed the +dusky hills; and still more enchanting to watch the same tones +on the unruffled expanse of the water, slightly tempered by its +colour and subdued to greater mystery. A solemn peace was over +everything. Occasionally a boat drifted slowly past with +outspread wings, in colour like an opal or lapis lazuli, and +then vanished. It was a thing to remember.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_137" id="PageV2_137">[137]</a></span>I hear an altercation between Ottilio (my Italian waiter) and a +stoker who has put down his grease can on one of the Pasha's +smartest plates. "O—(adjective)—Madonna! se si può vedere una +carogua simile! e se me la rompi pas? costa più di te—sa!"</p> + +<p>My young dragoman having fastened a hook to a bit of string, and +the bit of string to the stern of the steamer, has been waiting +some hours for a fish. After the first hour he reasoned with +himself, and said: "Brabs (perhaps?) he know!"—then, dolefully, +"He come touch the 'ook, and then he go run away!"—<i>cela c'est +vu</i>. To-morrow to Asyoot. 10½ P.M. Just been on deck again. +Dragoman still fishing! He says, "I tink he <i>won't</i>." I incline +to agree with him.</p> + +<p><i>Sunday, 18th.</i>—Started about six. Reached Syoot, or rather El +Hamza for Syoot, which is a mile inland, at eleven. Between +Manfalût and Syoot the Nile takes an immense sweep west, and +assumes altogether a tortuous course; the plain opens out, the +eastern mountains recede, and for the first time an important +chain closes in on the west. Game is already beginning to be +abundant. I saw a sandbank full of pelicans and geese just below +this place. I wish I could get at the names of the small birds I +see here, which are mostly new to me; an Arab invariably answers +your questions on this subject by the word "asfoor," <i>i.e.</i> a +bird—thankee! The peasants here all wear a loose dark brown +robe like that of a Franciscan monk; and as they squat fishing +on the brown bank of the river with their skull-caps and black +beards, I fancy I see the monks of the Thebaïd coming, as in old +days, to get their daily meat out of the Nile.</p> + +<p>Irrigation seems to go on more actively even than lower down; I +saw to-day no less than twenty-four shadoofs all in a row, and +in full play. The men that worked them, mostly naked, were of +every colour between a new halfpenny and an old shoe, and the +effect of them all toiling away and surrounded by groups of +squatting onlookers was very striking.</p> + +<p>Hosseyn, my servant, the angler, is having his head shaved on +deck; when he has done I shall visit the town.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile I have had a visit from the government doctor, a +rather intelligent man who made his studies in Pisa.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_138" id="PageV2_138">[138]</a></span>Pipes and coffee as usual.</p> + +<p>Here comes Hosseyn clean-shaven. He is a nice boy, eager and +willing—but wants varnish; he can never address me without +scratching his spine at its lowest extremity; Audrey herself +could not have done it in a manner more naïvely unconventional. +Though only twenty, he has had two wives; not liking the first, +who snubbed his relations, he gave her three months' wages and +dismissed her. To avoid further unpleasantness he then married +his cousin: "She good woman—very quiet—good tongue."</p> + +<p>The village at which we have landed is very picturesque. The mud +and brick architecture is here carried out with some care and is +entirely delightful. The walls are mostly crowned with an +openwork finish made by a simple arrangement of the bricks which +is most effective. Sometimes, as, for instance, in the cemetery, +they are surmounted by crenulations like those we see in the old +Assyrian monuments; the heads of the doorways are decorated with +a charming sort of diapered ornament, capable of great variety +and produced entirely by the arrangement in patterns of the +bricks; the patterns being painted black and the ground filled +in with white. The woodwork in the windows is also very pretty, +and altogether the general aspect of the houses most novel and +striking.</p> + +<p>Beyond the village I wandered into a delightful garden; a half +cultivated wilderness of palm and gum trees in which one came on +unexpected pergolas, and lovely garden trees all pouring out +their most intoxicating scents under the fiercest sun I ever +walked beneath. I saw oleanders, the flowers of which were as +thick as roses and smelt like a quintessence of nectarines; +there were also some beautiful olive trees with weeping +branches—a thing I had never seen before—and with berries as +large as plums. Overhead, amongst the yellow dates, sat doves +the colour of pale violets.</p> + +<p>Syoot itself is beautifully situated amongst groves and gardens; +except in that it is brown and not white, it reminded me much of +an Algerine town; it is very unlike Cairo. The rock-cut tombs in +the mountain above the town are so mutilated and disfigured that +little can be made of them; but they have that <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_139" id="PageV2_139">[139]</a></span>stamp of +vastness which is so characteristic of all the ancient monuments +of this country.</p> + +<p>The view from the height is very fine. The river has barely +begun to fall yet, so that everything is reflected in the great +sheets of water that cover the land. At evening I saw the sunset +through the tall palm trees, with the domes of Syoot dark +against its flaming light.</p> + +<p>For a fine showy assertion that looks very original and +striking, but is not calculated for pedantic verification, +commend me to a Frenchman. The other day, at Boulay, Mariette +Bey, the creator and the curator of the Museum of that ilk, and +a man of high standing as an Egyptologist, told me that the Nile +was turned into its actual course by a great chain of hills at +Syoot which, serving as a rampart, alone prevented it from +following its obvious tendency to flow into the Red Sea. "Il +allait <i>évidemment</i> se jeter dans la Mer Rouge;" in fact, but +for this hill, there would have been no Lower Egypt, that +country being literally the child of the Nile which alone +prevents the sands of the central deserts from ruling over the +whole breadth of the land. Here was a dramatic revelation of +coincidences! Here was a startling suggestion of contingencies!</p> + +<p>It fairly took your breath away! without that hill no Nile north +of Syoot! half Egypt would not have been! No Memphis! Memphis +with its wisdom! No Alexandria with its schools! No Cairo with +its four thousand mosques! No Pharaohs! No Moses! (The poor +devil of a sculptor who drowned himself in his own fountain +because he found he had made <i>his</i> Moses too short might have +died in his bed.) No Cleopatra! (turn in your grave, noble dust +of Antony!)—"forty centuries" would have had no Pyramids from +which to look down on the conquering arms of Buonaparte. Mr. +Albert Smith's popular entertainment would have been shorn of +half its glories! Let me breathe! To what fantastic proportions +did that hill grow as one thought of it!</p> + +<p>Alas! then, for prosaic fact; and oh! for unimaginative maps! On +consulting the latter I observed that, by the time it reached +Syoot, the Nile had been flowing for nearly two hundred miles in +a <i>north-westerly</i> direction, away from the Red Sea rather than +towards it; and on visiting the spot I saw, oh confusion! that +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_140" id="PageV2_140">[140]</a></span>the hills which bore the responsibility (according to Mariette) +of making the history of the world what it is, were on the +<i>western</i> bank of the river!—there, at least, or nowhere, for a +vast plain closes in on the east.</p> + +<p>This evening more visitors on board—lemonade and cigars—<i>pour +changer</i>; Consuls, &c. &c.—tedious.</p> + +<p><i>Monday, 19th.</i>—Left Syoot at six, and arrived at Sohag before +three. Suffered a good deal in the morning from spasms of some +sort, and was not in a frame of mind to appreciate the scenery. +Was, moreover, driven near the verge of exasperation by the +steersman (Reis Ali), who droned select passages from the Koran, +<i>sotto voce</i>, within two yards of my ears from 8 <span class="sc">A.M.</span> +till 2 <span class="sc">P.</span> ditto; the same four bars over and over, for +ever and for ever in one unceasing guttural strain. I trust the +pious exercise did more for his soul than for my temper. Hosseyn +informs me that he is about to buy a lamb, and "make him big +sheep." It appears that, during a serious illness three years +ago, he vowed a votive sheep to Sitteh Zehneb—the granddaughter +of the Prophet—on condition that he should recover. Since then +he has put her off (oh, humanity!) with candles and occasional +prayer; now, at last, he is going to fulfil his vow. Admire +thrift combined with piety, and observe the economy on the +<i>lamb</i>.</p> + +<p>Habit is a strange thing! Hosseyn, whose manners have been +corrupted by evil communication with Europeans, occasionally +attempts to use a <i>fork</i> in the bosom of his +family—particularly when salad is put before him. On these +occasions his elder brother invariably asks him with grim +sarcasm whether he has no fingers. Hosseyn desists at +once—"Brabs he beat me!—he big!"</p> + +<p>This evening I went out shooting amongst the palms and gum +trees. It was very delightful, though ferociously hot. The +village is charmingly situated; the ground prettily tumbled +about, and trees and houses group themselves in the most +picturesque manner. (I noticed some new mouldings over the +doorways that had a very artistic effect.) I can't shoot at all; +but the birds are so plentiful that something is sure to cross +your gun if you only fire. I got a hawk, some doves, a dozen +little birds nameless for me, and two little green birds of a +kind that I have not seen <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_141" id="PageV2_141">[141]</a></span>before; they are quite lovely; must +ascertain what they are called. The sun had set when I reached +the boat, and all the dark plumes of the palm trees stood clear +over the black outlines of the village; above, the new moon, a +keen, golden sickle.</p> + +<p>Hosseyn has given up fishing. "Oh, oh! nasty fish! he to laugh +me!"</p> + +<p>Was much amused this morning by the device and trade-mark on a +tin of jam. (Jam, if you please, of Messrs. Barnes & Co. of +Little Bush Lane <i>and</i> Tooley Street.) The device was "Non sine +labore"—and the trade-mark?—a beehive?—no!—the Pyramid of +Cheops! <i>Excusez.</i></p> + +<p>Some twenty miles above Syoot, or, say, fifteen, the eastern +chain of mountains makes a bend towards the river, and for some +distance ranges near it; the stream, in its usual tortuous +course, sometimes flowing for a few hundred yards towards them +and then for a few hundred yards in the opposite direction. I +wonder whether one of these bends served as a foundation, or +rather as a blind, for Mariette's astounding assertion that the +Nile "allait évidemment se jeter dans la Mer Rouge." Did he "to +laugh me," as the fish did by Hosseyn? Or did he merely mean to +say that, if the Valley of the Nile had not turned north-west +between Keneh and Manfaloot, it might have turned north-east? If +so, joke for joke, I prefer the great Pyramid on the jam-pot of +Mr. Barnes of Little Bush Lane and Tooley Street.</p> + +<p><i>Tuesday, 20th.</i>—Started at about half-past five, and reached +Disneh in the evening. There was a dead calm in the morning, and +I congratulated myself, not for the first time, on my steamer; +in a dahabieh I might have taken a week, and more, over the +stretch of river I have just covered in a day; and the scenery +just here, though fine, is monotonous. I am sorry for the +Sterlings, who will, I fear, be unusually long getting up. This +afternoon I saw Sheykh Selim, a sort of St. Simeon Stylites +without the column. This holy man's peculiar form of piety +consists in sitting stark naked on the bank of the river and +exacting presents in money and kind from all passers-by.</p> + +<p>Hosseyn had spoken to me at great length of his wisdom and +piety, and assured me that when the crocodiles, which are +numerous about here, presented themselves before the eyes of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_142" id="PageV2_142">[142]</a></span>the Sheykh, he merely waved his hand and said "Biz, biz!" +whereat they fled, rebuked. He informed me also that no boat +refusing him tribute could expect to get on—it would infallibly +be becalmed until his holiness was propitiated. To my surprise I +found that my captain, a sensible old gentleman in other +respects, believed this just as firmly, though he expressed his +faith more vaguely. When I asked him whether the Sheykh's power +extended also to steamers, which did not wait on the wind, he +said: "Well, Allah was great, and though, certainly, a <i>steamer</i> +might, no doubt—so well appointed a steamer +particularly—might, no doubt, get past—yet who should say? +Allah was great!" In fact he believed with the best; so, of +course, I said, by all means let the Sheykh be propitiated. +Accordingly when we hove in sight of the little mound where he +sits, and has sat for God knows how many years, we turned the +steamer (a vessel of seventy-five horse-power) and ran straight +in for the bank at considerable risk, it struck me, of not +getting off again. The whole crew then went ashore in great +excitement, headed by the captain, and surrounded the Saint, +kissing his hand and salaaming. As I did not wish to hurt the +old gentleman's feelings by not kissing his hand, I stayed on +board and looked on. Sheykh Selim is a very vigorous-looking old +fellow of the colour of a very dusky mahogany table; his hair +and beard are woolly and of a dirty white; his countenance, as +far as I could judge from a little distance, good-humoured and +sagacious. He squats on the ground with his knees up and his +arms folded across them. He inspects his presents, and asks for +more. After the levée was over, and when our crew were about to +come on board, he called after them and asked for roast meat, +and then again a second time for oil wherewith to anoint +himself. "There," said Hosseyn triumphantly, "he know +everything! he know we have roast meat—how he know that?"</p> + +<p>I was amused at the intellectual superiority of Ottilio, the +Italian waiter. "Quanto sono stupidi questi Arabi!" For my part +I don't see much more difficulty in swallowing Sheykh Selim than +a stigmatised nun or a winking picture—I told him so.</p> + +<p>We should have reached Keneh to-day, but the coals were bad, and +we had to stop at Dishulh, three hours this side of <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_143" id="PageV2_143">[143]</a></span>that place. +Where was thy favouring grace, O Sheykh? It appears that, like +the gods of ancient Greece, the Sheykhs of Egypt have their +little misunderstandings; I am told that on one occasion Selim, +having a few words with another holy man thirty-five miles up +the river, by name Sheykh Fadl, and waxing wroth, threw a stone +at him (what are thirty or forty miles to a saint?) and blinded +him of one eye; whereon Sheykh Fadl returned the amenity by +throwing "some fire" at Sheykh Selim, thereby sorely burning +him. "I have seen the scar," my coxswain informs me.</p> + +<p>Killed another fatted sheep for the crew.</p> + +<p><i>Wednesday, 21st.</i>—Arrived at Lougsor (El Uker) about three. It +was too hot for sightseeing, so I waited till evening and went +out shooting in a boat; at least I went out with the idea of +shooting—if possible a pelican or a crane—but the birds were +too shy—I could not get within fair shooting distance; wounded +a pelican, but could not get after him in the deep mud. Got +belated on the river, and the crew had to pull hard for an hour +and a half to reach the steamer; fortunately there was a moon. +Anything more good-humoured or more ineffective than the way in +which the sailors pulled and shoved, I never saw; they hopped in +and out of the boat in the shallows, up to their hips in the +water—pushed, tugged, rowed and sang <i>die era im piacus</i>; they +can do nothing without the accompaniment of some rhythmic, +droning refrain, which they can keep up for an indefinite time. +Anything will do; my fellows pulled on this occasion to the +following words—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Min Min<i>yeh</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0">fi Beniso<i>ef</i>,"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noin">which is as who should say—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"From Hen<i>lee</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0">to Cookham <i>Reach</i>,"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noin">giving the stroke and the emphasis on the last syllable.</p> + +<p>In the evening was visited by Mustafa Aga, H.B.M. Consular +Agent, one of his sons, the Turkish Governor (Hassan Effendi), +and the local doctor. Mustafa is a very courteous old gentleman, +with half a nose, and much respected by all who know <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_144" id="PageV2_144">[144]</a></span>him; I +observed that Saïd, his son, would not smoke in his father's +presence, in accordance with an Arab custom, which did not much +remind me of the manner in which "the gov'nor" is treated in +England.</p> + +<p>On Thursday morning, 22nd, I started to see the tombs of the +kings, leaving the eastern bank and Karnak for my return. It was +a lovely morning, and I crossed the Nile before the air had had +time to get thoroughly heated. On the other side I found horses, +kindly lent me by Mustafa (whose son accompanied me), and +donkeys for the rest of the party. There were a good many of us, +and we made a very absurd-looking procession—<i>en tête</i>, a +couple of fine brawny Arabs, one of whom has been the guide to +these ruins since Champollion; then Saïd and I on our +horses—mine a good-looking chestnut, caparisoned with scarlet +finery; behind us, on their respective donkeys, the captain in +full uniform holding a large umbrella over his head, Hosseyn in +his Arab dress, the French cook in his official white jacket and +cap, the Italian waiter with a large handkerchief over his head, +and the engineer; further behind, lesser menials and the hamper. +I forgot the Turkish Cawass in uniform and armed to the teeth. +Hovering round, brandishing water-bottles, was a swarm of Arab +boys and girls, in sizes, and of various qualities of chocolate; +they were dressed in the most fantastically tattered remnants of +dark brown shirts that I ever saw; there was one little monkey +of a dull ebony colour turned up with pale blue, whose form was +revealed rather than covered by a few incoherent brown shreds of +garment, and who was inexpressibly droll from the way in which +he cocked his little head demurely on one side with a +half-consciousness of insufficient drapery.</p> + +<p>The ride to the tombs, which takes about an hour, and the latter +half of which lies through an arid valley, is very striking from +the form and colour of the mountains. Nothing announces that one +is approaching the city of the dead, and it is not till you +stand before them that you become aware of the plain square +openings which lead down to these magnificent last +resting-places of the kings. It was a right royal idea this, of +the old rulers of Egypt, to plunge these shafts into the bowels +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_145" id="PageV2_145">[145]</a></span>of the rock, and give themselves a mountain for a tombstone over +the palace which was their grave. The design of these houses of +the dead is simple and apparently always much the same: a long +corridor, sometimes with lateral galleries, sometimes with +recesses or small chambers on each side, leads downwards by a +not very rapid incline to a great hall, in the centre of which +is the sarcophagus which contained the mummy of the king in its +magnificent case; these cases have of course been all removed. +All these lateral chambers were also originally filled with +mummies—those, I believe, of the relations of the sovereign. +The walls of these subterranean palaces and the ceilings are +adorned throughout with coloured hieroglyphs and flat sculptured +"graven images" representing mostly sacred and mystical scenes, +but often, also, illustrating the different trades and crafts +practised by the Egyptians. These paintings are of high interest +from an ethnographic point of view—Poynter would have a fit +over them. In the innermost places scores of bats dart about in +intense alarm. The effect of the scanty light from the candles +on these painted walls and on the dark bony forms of the Arabs +is extremely fine—what your literary tourist would call "worthy +of the pencil of Rembrandt."</p> + +<p>After lunching in a shady spot we took an anything but shady +ride to the temple-palace of Koorneh, and from thence to the +Memnonium. Both are very interesting, but the latter by far the +finest; there is about it a breadth and a vastness, together +with much elegance and variety, that are very impressive. +Nothing that I have seen is comparable to the monuments of +Egypt, for the expression of gigantic thoughts and limitless +command of material and labour; withal there is about them +something stolid and oppressive that is unsatisfactory; and as I +looked at these vast ruins, vivid memories of Athens and its +Acropolis invaded me, and the Parthenon in all its serene +splendour rose before my mind; mighty, too, in its measured +sobriety, stately in the noble rhythm of its forms; infinitely +precious in the added glory of its sculptures; lovable as a +living thing; and then more, perhaps, than ever before, I felt +what a divine breath informed that marvellous Attic people, and +what an ineffaceable debt of gratitude is due to them from us, +blind fumblers in their footsteps.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_146" id="PageV2_146">[146]</a></span>I was less struck than I had expected to be by the two colossal +statues, of one of which it was poetically fabled by the +ancients that a mysterious clang rose from it as the first rays +of the rising sun smote its forehead. The myth is more striking +than the statues, though their size and isolation give them +something impressive. I had expected them, too, I don't know +why, to be in a desert, and they are in a field. How infinitely +grander is the great Sphinx, with its strange, far-gazing, +haunting eyes, fixed, for ever, on the East, as if expecting the +dawn of a day that never comes; immovable, unchanging, without +shadow of sorrow, or light of gladness, whilst the gladness of +men has turned to sorrow and their thoughts to ashes before +them, through three times a thousand years! Century by century +the desert has been gathering and growing round it—the feet are +buried, the body, the breast are hidden. How soon will the +sealing sands give rest at last to those steadfast, expectant +eyes?</p> + +<p>In the evening Hosseyn had a great "fantasia" and fulfilled his +vow—and spent all his money. He killed his sheep and roasted +it, bought some rice and boiled it, some flour and had it made +into bread; then mixing the whole, he distributed it in six very +large trays; three were put before the crew, one he had placed +on the wayside for all comers (and they all came); the other two +were sent to the nearest mosque for the same purpose, and with +similar results; then, being unable to read himself, he paid +five men to recite from the Koran at night, in the mosque, and +invited thereto the captain, Mustafa Aga, and his son and +several others; he, the while, sitting outside and offering +coffee to whoever passed by. When it was all over he came to me +radiant: "El Hamdul illah," he said, throwing up his hands, +"this is good! I am happy, everybody to be satisfied! this is +rich day! El Hamdul illah! my money is all gone! why shall I +mind? I spend it for God! brabs something good happen for me, el +Hamdul illah!" His delight at the performance of his vow and his +absolute faith were the prettiest thing one could see. Talking +of faith, I am much struck by the dignified simplicity with +which Mahometans practise the observances of their religion; +praying at the appointed times without concealment, wherever +they happen to be, and as a matter of course.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_147" id="PageV2_147">[147]</a></span><i>Friday, 23rd.</i>—Started early and coaled, first at Erment and +then again at Esne, after which, being stopped by the night and +shallow water, we anchored off a bank nowhere in particular. +Heavens, what a hot day! this is indeed "the fire that quickens +Nilus' slime," but has a vastly different effect on me. +Sketching will be quite out of the question unless it gets +rapidly cooler.</p> + +<p>At Esne I was visited by the chief magistrate, and by the +governor of the province; the former a jolly old <i>bonhomme</i> who +offered me snuff, the other a very refined old gentleman with +most charming manners. Both were Turks; and as they spoke no +Christian tongue our conversation was carried on entirely +through a dragoman; I was, however, pleased to find that I +recognised several words that I learnt last year at +Constantinople; I was glad, too, to hear again that fine +vigorous language, the sound of which is extremely agreeable to +me. Eastern manners are certainly very pleasing, and the +frequent salutations, which consist in laying the hand first on +the breast and then on the forehead, making at the same time a +slight inclination, are graceful without servility. When an +Egyptian wishes to express great respect he first lowers his +hands to the level of his knees, exactly as in the days of +Herodotus.</p> + +<p>Talking of Herodotus, here is a first-rate subject for Gérôme +suggested by that author; it is ethnographical and ghastly. The +scene is laid in the establishment of an ancient Egyptian +embalmer and undertaker, fitted up with all the implements and +appliances of the trade; in the background, but not so far as to +exclude detail, groups of assistants should be shown busied over +a number of corpses and illustrating all the different stages of +preparation, embalsamation, swathing, &c. &c. In the centre a +bereaved family have brought their lamented relative, and are +selecting, from specimens submitted to them by the master +undertaker, a style of treatment suited to their taste and +means, and expressive of their particular shade of grief. A +large assortment of mummy-cases would form appropriate +accessories and give great scope for the display of knowledge +and the use of a fine brush. It seems to me that so pleasing a +mixture of corpses and archæology, impartially treated by that +polite and accomplished hand, could not fail to create +considerable sensation.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_148" id="PageV2_148">[148]</a></span>Took a stroll through Esne whilst the ship was coaling. The +darker tints of skin are beginning to preponderate more and +more; mummy colour is in the ascendant here, together with a +fine Brunswick black. The <i>men</i>, I observe, spin in this +country. The children are quite fascinating; they have nothing +on but a little tuft of hair on the top of their shaven heads; +those dazzling little teeth of theirs are wonderful to see, and +funny—like a handful of rice in a coal-scuttle. Fine sunset +again; the hills, ranged in an amphitheatre from east to west, +showed a most wonderful gradation from extreme dark on one side +to glowing light on the other. I make the profound reflection +that no two sunsets are alike; this remark, however, does not +extend to <i>descriptions</i> of sunsets—<i>verb. sap.</i></p> + +<p>When I saw Holman Hunt's "Isabel," his pot of basil puzzled me +sorely; I had seen a great deal of basil, and have an especial +love for it; but I had never seen it except with a very small +leaf. I was sure, however, knowing his great accuracy, that Hunt +had sufficient foundation for the large leaf he gave the plant +in his picture; the very fellow of it is now before me in a +nosegay of flowers, very kindly sent me by the old governor of +Esne. As I smell it I am assailed by pleasant memories of +Lindos—"Lindos the beautiful"—and Rhodes, and that marvellous +blue coast across the seas, that looks as if it could enclose +nothing behind its crested rocks but the Gardens of the +Hesperides; and I remember those gentle, courteous Greeks of the +island (so unlike their swaggering kinsfolk—if they are their +kinsfolk—of the mainland), and the little nosegay, a red +carnation and a fragrant sprig of basil, with which they always +dismiss a guest.</p> + +<p>As we lay anchored by the shore in the evening, the dahabiehs +came sweeping past in the moonlight; and the faint glimmering of +the shell-like sails, and the flutter of the water against the +swift, cutting keels, and the silence of the huddled groups, and +the dark watchful figure of the helmsman at the helm, were +strangely fantastic and beautiful.</p> + +<p><i>Saturday, 24th.</i>—Started at half-past five—passed Edfou +(which I leave for my return) at half-past seven. Shall we reach +Assouan to-day? Hosseyn's pious orgies have, I fear, turned his +head, for I observed yesterday that he has taken to fishing +again. <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_149" id="PageV2_149">[149]</a></span>"Brabs!—Insha Allah!" His interpretation of dreams is +worthy of the ancient oracle-mongers; on the night before his +sacrifice he dreamt that he had bought a slave, and then +released it: "Wull! the slave is my sheep—is it not my slave? +Wull, have I not buy it? Wull, I give it to the beebles—go!—I +release it!" Whether the sheep, personally, considered itself +released is problematic.</p> + +<p><i>Saturday Evening.</i>—Reached Assouan this afternoon at four, +and, after the usual visit from the governor, took a stroll. I +don't yet know whether I am disappointed in the place or not. At +all events it is quite unlike my expectations of it. I had +imagined, I suppose from descriptions, a narrower gorge and +higher rocks; in point of fact there is no gorge at all, but the +river is narrowed, or, rather, split by several islands and some +fine granite boulders cropping up here and there to fret the +river, and announcing the rapids; otherwise the country is open +enough, and original and striking in aspect; I shall know better +to-morrow what I think of it all. I saw during my evening +stroll, and for the first time in my life, a group of slaves, +mostly girls. If I had seen them subjected to any ill-treatment +I should have felt very indignant; but I am bound to own that, +seeing them squatting round a fire like any other children, +showing no mark of slavery, and occupied in cooking their food, +scratching themselves (as well, no doubt, they might!) and +looking otherwise very like monkeys, I found it difficult to +realise to myself the hardship of their position, however much +it may revolt one in the abstract. They were black, and uglier +than young negroes generally are; their hair was arranged in an +infinity of minute, highly-greased plaits all round their heads; +the elder ones were draped; the youngest wore a fringe <i>pour +tout potage</i>. This is a noisy night; there is a "moolid" going +on on the high bank to which we have made fast, and which +borders the public square. A double row of howling dervishes are +squatting and rocking and howling after their kind, almost over +my head. In the brief lulls during which they take breath for +further efforts, I hear from the other side of the river the +mournful, weary, incessant creak of the water-wheel (with its +blindfold cow or camel plodding round and round and round, +apparently for ever), which in this <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_150" id="PageV2_150">[150]</a></span>region almost entirely +supersedes the hand-worked bucket. The contrast is very curious.</p> + +<p>I have just returned the governor's visit. I found him sitting +on a sofa in the piazza opposite the Government House, with +half-a-dozen hand lanterns brought by the guests in front of +him, and on each side a long row of benches (forming an avenue +up to his seat) on which squatted and smoked numbers of +picturesque folk, who looked to great advantage by the +flickering glimmer of the lamps and under the soft warm light of +an African moon. I sat in the place of honour, smoked my +conventional <i>tchibouque</i>, drank my inevitable cup of coffee, +conveyed through my dragoman the usual traveller's remarks and +questions (cardboard questions, so to speak, of which I knew the +answers) to my host, who, like all the Turkish officials that I +have seen, has the manners of a perfect gentleman and much +natural dignity.</p> + +<p><i>Sunday, 25th.</i>—Started for Phylæ at half-past seven; arrived +there at nine o'clock. The road leads through a broad tract of +yellow sand (where, I believe, an arm of the Nile is supposed to +have flowed in remote antiquity) along which on either side crop +up, in wild, irregular fashion, bumps and hillocks and hills of +dark red granite, covered over with innumerable fragments of the +same stone, scattered in the most incredible confusion, and +having rather a ludicrous appearance of having been <i>left about</i> +and forgotten. You could get an excellent notion of the thing in +miniature, by hastily spilling a coal-scuttle on a gravel walk +and running away.</p> + +<p>Above Assouan we are fairly in Nubia, and of course none but the +darkest complexions are to be seen; but so large a number of +negroes make their way here from the Soudan (the Nubians are not +<i>black</i>, but of a beautiful dark cairngorm brown), that the +whole place has an air of negro-land which is disagreeable to +me. The young men, indeed, both black and brown, are sometimes +extremely fine fellows (bar the legs, which are never good), but +the girls, as far as one can see them, are tolerably +ill-favoured, and the old women, of an ugliness which passes all +belief. They are <i>far</i> worse than apes. The ladies in this part +of the country gladden the hearts of their admirers by anointing +their bodies with castor oil, so that the atmosphere <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_151" id="PageV2_151">[151]</a></span>of their +villages, however full of sweet suggestion to a native, is much +the reverse to a traveller with a nose not attuned to these +perfumes; the smell that greets you through an open door is a +mixture of the bouquet just named, and a penetrating flavour of +accumulated stuffed beasts, and naturally interferes much with +my enjoyment.</p> + +<p>At Mahatter we left our donkeys and took a boat to Phylæ, a +quarter of a mile, which takes half an hour owing to the +rapidity of the current just above the cataract. The scenery +about Phylæ has been spoken of as Paradise; I never saw anything +less like my notion of Paradise, and so far, therefore, I am +disappointed. Original and strange it is, in a high degree. It +is in fact exactly like the valley of which I spoke a little +further back, only that the hills are four times as high, and +water takes the place of the sand; the same breaking up of the +rocks into a myriad of fragments, putting all grandeur and +massiveness of form out of the question—and, with the exception +of a few palm trees and a sycamore or two, the same barrenness. +Looking up in the direction of Wâdy Halfâ, the mountains appear +to grow finer in outline, and a tract of very yellow sand +amongst their highest crests is striking and original—gold dust +in a cup of lapis lazuli. With the island itself and its +beautiful group of temples it is impossible not to be delighted. +Nothing could be more fantastic or more stately than the manner +in which it rises out of the bosom of the river like a vast +ship, surrounded as it is on all sides by a high wall sheer from +the water to the level on which the temples stand. One hall in +the main temple, and one only, shows still a sufficient amount +of colour to give a very good idea of what the effect must have +been originally; the green and blue capitals must have been very +lovely. It is needless to say that here, as elsewhere, +travellers have left by hundreds lasting memorials of their +brutality, in the shape of names and dates drawn, painted, +scratched, and cut on every wall and column, so that the eye +finds no rest from them. This strange and ineffably vulgar mania +is as old as the world, and the tombs of the kings at Thebes are +scrawled over with inscriptions left there by ancient Greek and +Roman visitors. I shall return to Phylæ shortly to make a sketch +or two—<i>Insha Allah.</i></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_152" id="PageV2_152">[152]</a></span>Here, at last, I have found that absolutely clear crystalline +atmosphere of which I had so often heard; I own it is not +pleasing to me; a sky of burnished steel over a land of burning +granite would no doubt be grand if the outlines of the granite +were fine—but they are not. Meanwhile, perspective is +abolished—everything is equally and obtrusively near, and I +sadly miss the soft mysterious veils and pleasant doubts of +distance that enchant one in other lands. I think it very likely +that in winter one has great compensation from the exhilarating +purity of the air; but just now the heat, which is simply +infernal, is too trying for me to do justice to these +advantages; no doubt the air is light and dry, but I feel +unfortunately so very heavy and wet, that I am not in a position +fully to appreciate it. Returning to Assouan in the evening, saw +a dahabieh that had just got through the jaws of the cataracts, +always rather a nervous matter; at least so they say; "to be +very dyinger" (dangerous?), according to Hosseyn; the men were +chanting a monotonous strain that had little of triumph in it, +but rather conveyed a feeling of an always impending calamity +escaped <i>this</i> time; it was melancholy and very striking, I +thought, in the silence of the gloaming; very likely pure fancy +on my part, for I doubt whether more than a couple of boats are +lost in a season, and the sailors of the Nile must be well +accustomed to the dangers of these rapids; but the impression on +me at the time was very strong.</p> + +<p><i>Monday, 26th.</i>—The dragoman of the ship having a swelling of +some sort on his arm, an Arab doctor was sent for, and forthwith +informed him that his arm was possessed of the devil!! Went to +see the island of Elephantina opposite Assouan, but saw nothing +to suggest its ancient magnificence. Gave a silver farthing to a +funny little child, which (the farthing) being perforated, his +mother immediately tied into one of his little oily locks—an +ingenious substitute for a pocket. I observed several little +boys simply attired in a piece of string tied round their +loins—there, Diogenes!</p> + +<p><i>Tuesday, 27th.</i>—Began sketching, but am out of form from the +heat. I am working chiefly because I am weary of idleness. I +don't much care for the two sketches I have begun; they will +therefore probably turn out badly. Going to try another +presently.</p> + +<p><i>Tuesday Evening.</i>—Have begun a sketch which interests me <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_153" id="PageV2_153">[153]</a></span>more +than the others; it is taken amongst the tombs and shrines on +the hills south of the town towards Phylæ. As my evening's work +was drawing to a close, I heard a shuffling of feet a little +behind me, and, turning round, saw, in the full fire of sunset, +what appeared to me at first to be a procession of golden apes +with dark blue robes, light blue lips, and nose-rings; on closer +inspection they turned out to be Nubian women going home to +their village. Hosseyn, <i>qui a le mot pour rire</i>, apparently, +engaged in conversation with them, and convulsed them with +laughter; the flashes of teeth were very funny to see. At last +he gave them a few halfpence, and desired them to sing; whereon +they set up a series of the most uncouth howls I ever heard; one +baboon in particular got up and, using a flat date basket as a +tambourine, accompanied her vocal performance with hops and +jumps that would have done honour to any inmate of the +monkey-house in the Zoological Gardens.</p> + +<p>The twilight, walking home, was lovely. The earth was in colour +like a lion's skin; the sky of a tremulous violet, fading in the +zenith to a mysterious sapphire tint. "Dolce color d'oriental +zaffiro."</p> + +<p>Slew another sheep—"Allah hou akbar!" (without which formula in +the killing a good Muslim must not touch the meat): this sheep +is no empty formality, for the unfortunate sailors would never +see meat without it; they live on bread and occasional beans. +This is the fourth night of the moolid, which is to last the +whole week! At this very moment the tambourines of the dervishes +are driving me nearly wild with their diabolic din.</p> + +<p><i>Wednesday, 28th.</i>—Got on indifferently with my sketches; only +one of them interests me much. The morning was almost cool and +really delightful, but the heat was as great as ever in the +daytime. I have always been unable to see the extraordinary +difference which is said to exist between the length of the +twilight in the north, and in southern countries; I could have +read large print to-night three-quarters of an hour after +sunset. Habit is everything, no doubt, as we are reminded by +Herodotus, <i>à propos</i> of a certain people who ate their dead +relatives instead of burning them; but I wonder whether I should +ever get accustomed to the aching, straining, creaking complaint +of the water-wheel far and <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_154" id="PageV2_154">[154]</a></span>near, morning, noon and night, +morning, noon and night; I can <i>just</i> fancy its becoming +attaching as the clacking of a mill.</p> + +<p>I have often wondered why, contrary to all analogy, the +Spaniards call oil <i>azedo</i>, which at first sight appears to be +the same word as the Italian <i>aceto</i>. I find that the word is +Arabic: <i>zeyd</i>. Mem.: Look up the etymology of the English word +<i>cough</i>, to which no European word that I remember has any +affinity, and which rather appears to be onomatopœic. The +Arabs say <i>kokh</i> (guttural ending); is this a mere coincidence, +and does the word date beyond the Crusades? I find a good many +words that have a curious likeness to English. My endeavours to +pick up a little Arabic are almost entirely frustrated by +Hosseyn's utter inability to pull a sentence to pieces for me. +In an Arabic sentence of two words (<i>e.g.</i> <i>azekan tareed</i>—if you +please) he could not tell me which word was the verb! literally; +I had to find out as best I could. I never saw anything to +approach his obtuseness in the matter, except perhaps that of +Georgi, my dragoman in Turkey. As I was sketching this evening a +Nubian passed me, very grandly draped and erect, and followed by +two green monkeys that were fastened by leading-strings to his +belt. They toddled very snugly after their stately master and +made a queer group.</p> + +<p><i>Sunday, November 1.</i>—I am in a state of appreciative enjoyment +of the comforts and civilised cleanliness of my steamer, having +just returned from three or four days' roughing in the ruins of +Phylæ. "Roughing" is a relative term, and my trials were of a +very mild description, for though I slept <i>à la belle étoile</i> +(or rather tried to sleep), at all events I had a bed to rest +in, and the air at night was delightful; moreover, the +commissariat was very satisfactorily managed, so that food and +drink were abundant; nevertheless, I must maintain that living +in an open ruin is not comfortable. I made two or three +sketches, and should probably have enjoyed myself, but that on +the second day I was entirely thrown off the rails by the heat +whilst sketching; I thought I should get a <i>coup de soleil</i>; I +was very indisposed in the evening, and utterly unable to work +the next morning, so that I took the place <i>en grippe</i>, and +could see nothing but the ugliness of the rocks and the wearing +monotony of the hieroglyphs. Picked up in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_155" id="PageV2_155">[155]</a></span>evening, and +liked the place better; made some original and striking +reflections about the desirability of health.</p> + +<p>Having heard much of the beauty of the full moon at Phylæ, timed +my visit to see it, and was entirely delighted. The light was so +brilliant that one could read with ease, but at the same time so +soft, so rich, and so mellow that one seemed not to see the +night, but to be dreaming of the day. The Arabs say of a fine +night, "it is a night like milk," but there is more of amber +than of milk in the nights of Phylæ. The rising of the moon last +night was the first thing of the sort I ever saw; the disc was +perfectly golden, not as in a mist, but set sharp and clear in +the sky, and exactly like the sun, except that you could look at +it without pain to the eyes. The effect of this effulgent light +on the shoulder of the hill was magical. The last hour of the +afternoon I spent in strolling about the villages, which are +picturesque. The cottages are four brown, roofless walls, built +of the usual unburnt brick, and coated with mud; but the +doorways are always highly decorated with painted geometrical +devices which, in the mass of plain, sober brown, have a very +cheerful and artistic effect. The people, too, amuse me; a +pleasant, gentle, grinning folk these Nubians seem; I like their +jargon—after the guttural Arabic it sounds so soft and round, +and the women have funny, cooing inflections of voice (pretty +voices, often) that are pleasing. Some of the girls are +good-looking; chiefly through the brightness of their eyes and +the milky whiteness of their teeth. The coiffure of the children +is too funny; it consists in tufts of hair of various shapes and +patterns left on an otherwise shaven head; often a crest all +down the middle and a tuft on each side, exactly like the +clown's wig in a pantomime; it is irresistibly droll.</p> + +<p>A grand sight is to see the villagers keeping the birds from +their crops; they all serve in their turn, men, women, and +children; they stand each on a rude sort of scaffold which rises +about two feet clear of the corn; they are armed with slings +from which they hurl lumps of clay at the birds, uttering loud +cries at the same time. Their movements are full of grandeur and +character. I wonder Gérôme has never treated a subject so well +suited to him. Why, too, has he never painted mine enemy the +sakkea, which is even more emphatically in his way, for, besides +the scope for fine <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_156" id="PageV2_156">[156]</a></span>and quaint forms both in the men and the +animals that work it, the accessories are abundant and +interesting, and there are ropes in great abundance.</p> + +<p><i>Is</i> the sakkea my friend or my enemy? Its chant is so incessant +that I should have to make up my mind if I stayed longer in the +country; it would either fascinate me or drive me mad. As I +listen in the silence of the evening, the rise and fall, the +shifting and swaying of the wind bring its complaint from across +the gurgling river in such a fitful way that it has the +strangest and most unexpected effects: sometimes I fancy I hear +deep, drowsy tones of a distant organ, sometimes the shrill +quavering of a bagpipe; sometimes it is like a snatch of a song, +sometimes like a whole chorus of voices singing a solemn strain +in the sad, empty night; sometimes, alas! too often, like a +snarling, creaking door-post.</p> + +<p>Phylæ being above the cataracts, my steamer stopped at Assouan, +and I went there by donkey as before; returning, I chartered a +dahabieh to see the said cataracts, of which for some days I had +heard so much; amongst other things, that a ship was wrecked +there three weeks ago (I saw it stuck on its rock to-day). The +cowardice of the people here, at least in this particular +matter, is very funny; too naïf to inspire disgust: my captain, +an old sailor, and the nicest old gentleman possible, told +Hosseyn that nothing would induce him to go down them; I thought +I observed a shade of respectful interest in his reception of me +on my return from an exploit which most English <i>women</i> would +consider good fun. I make no doubt that when the water is much +lower, and your dahabieh shoots a good six or eight feet drop, +and goes half into the water besides, considerable excitement +may be got out of it; but now that the drop is not or does not +look more than about a yard, and that the whole affair consists +in a few plunges and shipping a little water, the emotion is +very mild, and I own to considerable disappointment, though as +far as it went it was pleasant. Nevertheless I did not for a +moment regret coming if only on account of the amusement I got +out of the sailors and pilots; the latter were men of years; the +former, fine, jolly-looking lads as one could wish to see; but +their demeanour throughout was infinitely droll; they rested +their feet (according to custom here) on <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_157" id="PageV2_157">[157]</a></span>inclined planks, up +which they ran three steps with their arms well forward to fetch +the stroke, getting back into the sitting position as they +pulled through the water (and wonderfully fine the action looks +in a large crew all pulling well together); but the contortions +in which they indulged, the gnashing and grinding of teeth, the +throwing back of agonised heads, the frowns, the setting of +jaws, the straining of veins, the rolling of eyes, the groans, +and, absurdest of all, the coming down on one another's laps and +the cutting of crabs, were ineffably grotesque, and would have +convulsed me with laughter if I had not controlled myself +manfully. Meanwhile the pilots were howling at one another and +them with all the vehemence of a violent altercation, and for no +discernible reason. When they were not shrieking at one another, +the crew took up the usual Arab boatmen's chant (I know no +better word); one man gives out a short sentence, or name, or +form of prayer (not exceeding four syllables) in a quavering +treble, and the rest then repeat it in chorus in a graver +key—the effect is very original. As we got within sight of the +big cataract and the stranded ship, Hosseyn loudly exhorted the +crew to pray to the Prophet, and all the saints who have their +shrines on the heights of Assouan, to see them safely through +the danger; the invitation was loudly responded to, and +everybody who had not an oar to pull held up his hands and +prayed with great fervour—which was very pretty, and done with +the dignified simplicity which always accompanies an Arab's +devotions; but it was certainly disproportionate to the +emergency. When we had danced up and down (or rather down and +up) three or four times, I had the curiosity to look about for +the <i>sailor</i> and waiter I had brought with me from the steamer; +they were respectively green and yellow in their unfeigned +terror. Then there was a nominal <i>small</i> cataract (the first one +is called the <i>great</i> cataract), and indeed I believe there was +a <i>third</i> little commotion; then Hosseyn, throwing up his arms, +exclaimed, "El Hamdul illah!! finish!!" and it was, as he said, +"finish." I am utterly ignorant of the mysteries of navigation, +but one figure we executed between the cataracts and Assouan +struck me as novel: it consisted in turning entirely round in a +wide circle to take (as it were) a fresh start; this manœuvre +we performed with much gravity and success two successive times. +An elaborate salute <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_158" id="PageV2_158">[158]</a></span>from the guns of the dragoman and engineer, +responded to with appropriate solemnity by Hosseyn, announced my +return to my steamer—and, oh joy! my tub.</p> + +<p>In the evening governor of course.</p> + +<p><i>Monday, 2nd.</i>—Resumed work; painted for a couple of +hours—badly—in a high wind at an ugly study of a view I don't +like. I consider it a sort of discipline. The wind to-day is +tremendously high; the dahabiehs will come flying up now. I saw +my friend the captain just now sitting on the bank in the midst +of an interested circle having his fortune told. There is a +blessing for them that wait. Hosseyn has caught a fish! two +fishes, to-day! his glee is unlimited, he is radiant; when that +boy is at the near end of his fishing rope, he is so absorbed I +can't get him to attend to me or to answer a question. His +brilliant piscatorial success is an opportune set-off against a +chagrin the poor boy had this morning; he was taking a dip +somewhere under the paddle-box, and lost, in putting away his +clothes (<i>he</i> thinks by a black but improbable theft), a Koran +with which he travels and to which he attributes much luck; he +was greatly cut up, and after telling me how much he valued the +book, proceeded to inform me that it contained a little piece of +wood from Abyssinia with something written on it, "some, what +you call, scription," which, when worn round the neck, +infallibly cured the bite of the scorpion; seeing that this +announcement did not impress me as much as he had expected, he +asked me with some warmth how I supposed, pray, that the +snake-charmers prevented the snakes from biting them if it was +not by saying something out of the Bible.</p> + +<p>Another sheep to-day; there was some hitch about the manner of +the killing which caused a little excitement; his throat was not +turned to the sun (or the East?) whilst he was being +slaughtered; an important matter. I observe that Turkish +officials are not expected to be able to write; my captain can, +but I remarked that when his secretary, a poor, wizened little +thing, whose nose and trousers are far too short, but whose +mouth and ears offer ample compensation through their length, +brought him to-day the ship's accounts, he stamped his signature +at the foot of the page instead of writing it, although he +happened to have a pen in his hand; I was giving him his English +lesson. Talking of accounts, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_159" id="PageV2_159">[159]</a></span>the Arabs have a curious way of +singing or rather intoning their sums, rocking all the while +backwards and forwards like so many Dervishes. I have seen a +large house of business (at Sohag) where <i>all</i> the clerks were +doing it at once; it was like a madhouse. Oh, Lombard Street, +and oh, Mark Lane! what would you have felt at the sight?</p> + +<p><i>Tuesday, 3rd.</i>—My last day at Assouan. Finished my sketches, +took leave of the governor, and had a final stroll about the +streets of the town, which seemed to me unusually picturesque. I +remark that I invariably like a place best the day I leave it; +if I am sorry to go, my regret casts a halo over it; if I am +glad, my gladness makes everything brighter. How picturesque the +people are! their flowing, flying draperies are wonderfully +grand. I hope I may carry away with me some general impressions, +but the immense multitude and rapid succession of striking +things drive individual memories fatally out of the field. +Sketching figures is out of the question—the effects are all +too fugitive. This was also the last day of the moolid, and high +time too; I met in the morning, in a narrow street, a procession +of sailors carrying a boat, which they were about to deposit in +the tomb of the sheykh in whose honour the moolid is held, and +whose name they were loudly invoking. In front, drums and flags, +and cawasses firing guns; behind, in front, everywhere, a host +of most paintable ragamuffins enjoying the fun; above, over the +brown house-tops, dark blue figures of women huddled peering at +the procession; over them a blue sky with a minaret standing +against it, a palm tree; some doves—there was the picture, it +was charming. The children as usual called out, "Baksheesh +howaga;" the so-called begging of the people has been +ludicrously exaggerated; in the first place, only the children +ask for baksheesh (I mean, of course, without the pretext of a +service rendered), and in the next, they treat the whole thing +as an excellent joke, and evidently have seldom the slightest +expectation that they are to get anything. When you approach a +village, every child, from as far as it sees you, whether from a +window, or a doorway, or half-way up a palm tree, or the middle +of the road, holloas out lustily, "Baksheesh, baksheesh," +generally with much laughter, and frequently with a universal +scamper in every direction except towards you. What I call +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_160" id="PageV2_160">[160]</a></span>begging is that importunate whining that clings to you, and +harasses you wherever you turn in the south of Italy or Spain, +and with which this clamorous performance has nothing in common. +I have remarked, with regard to grown-up Arabs, that though they +wrangle vehemently with the dragoman on the subject of payment, +they invariably show the master a pleasant and satisfied face. I +speak, of course, only of my own experience. As strange a thing +as a satisfied man is a <i>barking</i> fish; the fish that Hosseyn +has caught of late—for Fortune is his handmaid now—all utter a +sound which I can only describe as a faint bark; perhaps +everybody knows that some fishes do this, but I did not, and my +surprise was extreme. They are nasty-looking objects, all fins +and teeth (a thick row of little bristle-like teeth). They are +fat and shiny and most insipid eating.</p> + +<p><i>Wednesday, 4th.</i>—Started at six down stream; my face is turned +towards bonny old England again, and I feel as if I had wings. +At Kom Ombo (the first halt to-day) there are some ruins on a +rock which crops up abruptly by the riverside in the midst of a +flat country. The morning was divine, and the view from the +temple, looking north, surpassingly lovely in colour. The form +was nothing much; a vast sandy plain (tigered here and there +with stripes of green), and in the distance a long low nest of +mountain peaks; but the colour!—the gradation from the +fawn-coloured glimmering sands in the foreground to the faint +horizon with its hem of amethyst and sapphire was as enchanting +a thing, in the sweet morning light, as I have ever seen. The +temple is fine though heavy, and less delicate in detail than +Phylæ. On the under surface of the architrave, between the +columns, are some most curious and interesting unfinished +decorations, on squares marked out in red, and showing (slight +sketch) such as for instance a figure tried two ways on the same +spot. The outlines are drawn out, in red also, with +extraordinary firmness and freedom. Speaking of the squares, +Gardiner Wilkinson—in his, I am told, most erudite, and, I am +certain, most dry and heavy, guide-book—says that they were +used (in the manner in which "squaring off" is practised in the +present day) for the purpose of transferring a design. In this, +however, he is obviously mistaken, because the squares are +adapted not to the pictures but <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_161" id="PageV2_161">[161]</a></span>to the space to be decorated; +the hieroglyphs and the figures being adapted to the squares, +not the squares to them: that these squares, once made the +<i>basis</i> of the decoration and fixing its proportions and +distribution, may then have been used also for enlarging a small +design, or even, instead of tracing, for transferring one of the +same size, is probable enough; but that was not their original +function. In corroboration of this view, compare the frets and +ornaments painted on the <i>back</i> of the architrave of the +Parthenon, which I have examined closely; they are painted in +squares marked out with a sharp instrument, and determining the +space to be decorated exactly as at Kom Ombo. The case is so +entirely parallel as to suggest the idea that the Greeks learnt +the practice in Egypt. The great temple of Edfou, where we +stopped next, far surpasses anything I have yet seen in Egypt; +not so much, perhaps, for any especial beauty of +detail—although the sculptures are extremely fine—as for its +general aspect, which is superb, and its wonderful state of +preservation; many parts of it look as if they had been finished +yesterday. The gigantic Propylæa, and the no less gigantic wall +which encloses the whole of this fortress-temple, are almost +entirely intact, and make it unlike any other ruin I know. The +great court, a giant cloister into which one first enters, +discloses the temple itself, blocked out in vast masses of light +and gulfs of shade, and tunnelled through by a corridor which +reaches to its extremest end; the absence of some portions of +the roof, by letting the light play fantastically into the inner +spaces, only adds to the mysterious grandeur of the effect. A +broad, open peribolus runs round the temple, dividing it from +the towering <i>mur d'enceinte</i> which encloses the whole building. +The western part of the temple is as full of staircases, secret +passages, and dark chambers as any Gothic castle. Every square +inch of the whole immense fabric is covered with sculptures and +hieroglyphs.</p> + +<p>I forgot to say that I stopped between Kom Ombo and Edfou at the +ancient quarries of Gebel Silsily, from which the material of +the sandstone temples was mostly quarried. They are extremely +striking, and have a grandeur of their own. It was curious to +compare them mentally with the marble quarries of Pentelicus +from which Ictinus carved the Parthenon and Pheidias the Fates.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_162" id="PageV2_162">[162]</a></span>In a tomb at El Kab are some most amusing and interesting +sculptures (with the colour almost intact on them) representing +the various occupations of Egyptian life, agricultural, &c. The +reaping of the corn and durrah is pretty—a vintage and +wine-treading pleased me vastly. Had they wine in this district?</p> + +<p>Coming upon a magnificent view, stopped the steamer for the +night; want to see it by sunrise. The absurd spurious importance +my steamer confers on me in the eyes of the natives is too +funny. At Edfou I found the whole place <i>en émoi</i>; horses +handsomely caparisoned, a most polite governor, sheykhs, and a +general profusion of salaams. It appears that the viceroy had +the authorities in the different places telegraphed to be civil +to me; and God knows they are. I was struck with the +magnificence of the population here, the men at least; they are +most stately fellows. I should like immensely to paint some of +them, but for that there is no time; I can only hope that +something will stick to me from this dazzling multitude of fine +things. We are now again in the region of doves, whose presence +in large numbers affects the architecture of the villages in a +most curious manner. Every house has, or rather, <i>is</i>, a +dovecot, the chief <i>corps de bâtiment</i> being a tower, or several +towers, of which the whole upper part is exclusively affected to +the doves. Their sides are inclined like the sides of the +propylæa of the temples, with which they harmonise amazingly +well; they are divided horizontally by bands of colour which +have an excellent effect, recalling strongly the marked parallel +strata of the mountains. (There is no more curious study than +the concord which constantly manifests itself between national +(and notably domestic) architecture, and the nature in the midst +of which it grows up.) The construction of these towers is both +peculiar and ingenious; they are built up entirely with earthen +jars, sometimes placed topsy-turvy, but most often on their +sides, and tier above tier like bottles in a cellar. The +exterior is then filled in with mud, and the interior presents +the appearance of a honeycomb, the cells being formed by the +hollow jars; in these jars the doves have their abode. It is +easy to see that by turning a few of the jars <i>outwards</i> a very +simple but pretty decoration may be obtained; a crest is added +at the top by placing jars upside down at certain intervals; the +bands of <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_163" id="PageV2_163">[163]</a></span>colour are generally divided by a string-course of +bricks something after this fashion, but with much variety; and +each of these string-courses is garnished with a perfect hedge +of branches and twigs projecting horizontally a yard or more, +and forming resting places for thousands of doves. Many houses +have two towers, and the wealthier people have towers of great +size subdivided again into small turrets; but in all cases the +height of these edifices is the same, or nearly so, so that the +villages received from them a very monumental look. The large +towers are divided after the manner shown in the sketch. The +natives also make to themselves curious pillar cupboards of mud +(about man high), which from a distance have the oddest +appearance; they look like raised pies on pedestals.</p> + +<p><i>Thursday, 5th.</i>—Made a little sketch from the paddle-box +before starting. Then to Esne to return the visit of my amiable +friend, the governor; him of the flowers. There is a temple +here; a heavy-looking portico of the Roman period, coarsely +executed, but with a grand, cavernous look, buried as it is in +the ground which rises all round it to half the height of the +columns, so that you have to descend a considerable flight of +steps to get at it. At Arnout, or at least within three miles of +it, are a few fragments of the Cæsarium. The portraits of +Cleopatra and Cæsarion (he is always seated on her lap), which +occur here several times, would be of the greatest interest if +they were not utterly conventional, and exactly like everybody +else in every temple of the date. Got to Lougsor at sunset, and +found no letters, no Sterlings, no Lady Duff Gordon. I trust the +letters may still turn up before I go, for, if not, I shall +probably lose them entirely, through my desire to get them a +little earlier. In the evening dined with Mustafa Aga, and met +there the American Consul-General, Mr. Hale, who had run up from +Alexandria to show the Nile to a friend of his; both are +agreeable men (Mr. Hale earned my warmest blessings by lending +me a pile of English newspapers); there was also the Consul from +Syoot with a friend of his. After dinner the dancing girls were +asked in, and, presently, a buffoon who stripped to his waist +and performed various antics; he was clever and a good mimic, +but became terribly tedious after a short time. His performance +was of the most Aristophanic coarseness. With the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_164" id="PageV2_164">[164]</a></span>girls, of +whom I had heard so much, I was decidedly disappointed; in the +first place they were mostly ugly, one or two only were +tolerably good-looking—<i>et encore!</i> Then they were clumsily +built, and their dress was quite ludicrous: it consisted in a +body fitting tight to the figure and four inches too long in the +waist, tight sleeves, a petticoat, in shape exactly like a +pen-wiper, and very full, loose trowsers (bags) down to the +feet; the whole of printed calico. In front of their waists hung +a sort of <i>breloque</i>, or chain, looped up at intervals in +festoons, the object of which was to jingle as they moved, and +to add to the effect of certain little brass <i>castagnette</i> +cymbals which they held on the middle finger and thumb of either +hand. A profusion of ornaments hung round their necks. Their +dancing is very inferior to that of the Andalusian dancers of +the same class, whose performance is full of a quaint grace and +even dignity—inferior, too, to the Algerine dancing, to which +that of the south of Spain more nearly approaches in character; +it is monotonous in the extreme—very ugly for the most part, +and remarkable only as a gymnastic feat; sleight of loins, so to +speak. These are, however, no doubt, unfavourable specimens; I +shall see the best of the kind in Keneh at the house of the +Consul, who has come all the way here from that place to invite +me thereto.</p> + +<p><i>Friday, 6th.</i>—Went to the palace and temples of Medinet Haboo, +with which I was delighted beyond my expectation. What pleased +me most, and was an entire surprise to me, was a bit of purely +secular architecture—the remains of a royal residence, with its +towers flanking the great entrance, its windows of various +shapes, balconies, semicircular crenelations, outer wall; in +fact, identically such a building as one sees occasionally in +Egyptian sculptures, and, curiously enough, as if it were a +portrait of it, on the walls of the very temple to which this +palace leads. The temple, too (the large one), interested me +extremely from the wonderful preservation of the coloured +decoration in parts of it; one really gathers an excellent idea +of the original effect, and a most brilliant and magnificent +(though barbarous) effect it must have been. The columns in the +great hall here are of what, for want of a better word, I shall +call the "ninepin" pattern; and I think on the whole I prefer it +to the bell-capped pattern; <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_165" id="PageV2_165">[165]</a></span>because, besides its character and +massive strength, there is no suggestion in it (as in the other) +of the Doric order, with which comparison is obviously +dangerous. As far as I can observe, there is no trace of colour +on any of the propylæa, but the pylon is always richly decorated +and highly coloured. This decorative importance given to the +door must have had a very striking effect, and reminds me of the +same peculiarity in the dwellings of Upper Egypt.</p> + +<p>Visited a private tomb near Medinet Haboo, which is full of the +most curious paintings, many of them in excellent preservation, +and representing every sort of domestic and professional +occupation. They are very superior in execution and character to +those of El Kab. In the evening had a dinner on board: Mr. Hale +and friend, Mustafa Aga and the Syoot Consuls (one of whom does +not speak a word of anything but Arabic). I had also invited +Mustafa's younger son, but find that he may not sit down with +his father. (He accompanied me this morning, and insisted on +lunching with the servants; on the other hand, my servant is +addressed as Hosseyn <i>Effendi</i>, if you please! and conversed +with as a gentleman. Service appears to be looked upon in an +entirely patriarchal light.) The entertainment went off +successfully, and Ottilio, the Italian waiter, covered himself +with glory by his excellent waiting. After dinner Mr. Hale +received a telegram to the effect that General Grant had been +elected President of the United States, with Mr. Colfax as Vice. +He was in great excitement and delight; we had a recrudescence +of champagne, and gave the new President three cheers in British +fashion. The news had come in <i>three days</i> from Washington to +Thebes! it is marvellous.</p> + +<p><i>Saturday, 7th.</i>—Went to Karnak. Wilkinson advises the +traveller to see this group of temples last; and wisely, for it +is indeed the crowning glory of all, and must satisfy, if it +does not surpass, the most sanguine expectations. The vast +unfinished propylæa of the large temple prepare one by their +colossal dimensions for the gigantic grandeur of the great +central hall, in which one is at a loss what most to admire—the +originality of the general design, combining, as it does in a +surprising degree, freedom and variety with the gravest +simplicity—the massive and reposeful breadth of the forms or +the exquisite subtlety of the colour. The latter <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_166" id="PageV2_166">[166]</a></span>has of course +gained very much from the blending hand of time, and is now of a +most delightful mellowness, but, judging from the better +preserved portions, it must have been at all times of singular +beauty. It seems strange at first that a decoration consisting +entirely of small blots of vivid colour on a white ground, like +butterflies on a wall, can have a <i>large</i> architectural effect; +but, in fact, the <i>repetition</i> over large surfaces of wall and +column restores, through its monotony, the balance of breadth. +The design of this hall is very curious: the great central nave, +flanked on each side by two aisles of the same height as itself, +but of less breadth (diminishing, roughly, in a proportion of +10, 7, 5), runs, as in a Gothic cathedral, perpendicular to the +main entrance; beyond the second aisle, however, on either side, +the lintels or architraves which connect the columns run at +<i>right angles</i> to the nave; the effect of this arrangement must +have been peculiar and striking. (Too little remains now, except +the columns, to enable one to form a distinct idea.) The central +nave, with the aisles immediately adjoining, rises in a +clerestory thirty or forty feet above the rest of the building, +and was lighted by massive square windows filled with slabs of +stone (sketch), perforated vertically, and of a severe and very +fine (sketch) effect. These windows fill the space between the +entablature of the lateral columns and of the roof of the +clerestory, and must be some twenty to twenty-five feet high. I +find it difficult to reconcile my eye to the far-fetched +"asymetria" in the arrangement of the columns, the lesser ones +standing in no definite relationship, on the plan, to the two +central rows, neither immediately behind them nor half-way +between them. How differently the Greeks managed these things! +The inner row of columns at the east and west ends of the +Parthenon differs also in size, height, and level from the outer +row, and also stands back; but it is only <i>one row</i> at each end; +so that variety and play of form are obtained without a repeated +jar on the eye; and an otherwise uniform rectangular plan is not +gratuitously distorted. In a very ancient temple beyond and +behind that of the great hall are some curious polygonal columns +that have a very Doric look about them, though they are very +rude and undeveloped.</p> + +<p>The walls of Karnak are of course defaced and disfigured by the +usual amount of inscriptions; one commemorative tablet, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_167" id="PageV2_167">[167]</a></span>however, like a similar one at Phylæ, inspires a different +feeling. Both are memorials of the French Campaign in Egypt; the +one at Phylæ, dated "an VIII. de la République Française," +alludes with simple dignity to the victorious march of the +French army to the first cataract, giving the names of the +generals who were fighting "sous les ordres de Bonaparte"; the +other, under the same date, is a simple scientific memorandum +giving the latitude and longitude of the chief towns on the +Nile. It is impossible to read the first of these inscriptions +without emotion: how remote from us, already, seems that stern, +invincible French Republic, tracing its proud name with an +undoubting finger here in the grave-dust of an empire that stood +more centuries than this young giant completed years! How +thickly, already, does the dust lie now on the grave of this +thing of yesterday!</p> + +<p>In writing about Phylæ, I forgot to notice the henna tree, which +grows in great quantities round the skirts of the temple, and +has a delicious scent. In this wilderness of granite and most +unsavoury haunt of bats, its perfume wafted unexpectedly on the +air is infinitely delightful.</p> + +<p><i>Sunday, 8th.</i>—Sketched.</p> + +<p><i>Monday, 9th.</i>—Ditto. In the evening went out to shoot, but +could not get near the pelicans and crows—they see you half a +mile off. Returning, against stream, Hosseyn, anxious to be +useful, took a <i>punting pole</i> and <i>rowed</i> away with an air of +conviction which was worthy of the fly on the coach-wheel in the +fable.</p> + +<p>The heat, though still considerable (greater than with us at +midsummer), has diminished within the last few days, and does +not inconvenience me as much as it did in sketching. Towards +evening, soft autumnal veils of mist rise from the smooth, swift +river, and shroud everything in their mysterious folds; to-night +the effect was especially striking; a pale golden sun hung in a +pale golden mist, tempered so that one could look at it +undazzled, and so shorn of its fires that the eastern bank, +instead of burning orange, showed only a faint violet flush over +its dark-brown ridges. On a dahabieh alongside me an Arab is +singing endless strophes of some poem of love and war, +accompanied by the thud and jingle of a tambourine; the melody, +a wandering, nasal strain, full of turns and runs and triplets, +appears to be entirely improvised, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_168" id="PageV2_168">[168]</a></span>and is full of character and +melancholy. At the end of each strophe I hear a prolonged, deep +groan of approval uttered in a chorus by the audience, rising in +pitch after a particularly happy effort of the rhapsodist, whose +song begins again and again in mournful gusts like the song of +the wind. It is dark; I only hear—don't see—the singer and his +listeners.</p> + +<p><i>Tuesday, 10th.</i>—Sketched. A frequent companion in my work is +my friend, little Fatma, a sweet, small child of about five, +with a bright face and two rows of the whitest teeth ever seen. +She squats down snugly by my side, sometimes looking at the +picture, sometimes at the painter, most often at the paint-box, +at which she twiddles silently; sometimes she pensively draws a +pattern with a little brown finger on my dusty boots. I remember +at Rhodes, last year, a knot of little girls used to watch me +sketching in the Street of the Knights; but the little Turks +were not so nice as Fatma, the little Arab; some used to giggle, +and some used to frown at the Djiaour; but one very chatty young +lady of about six with the manners and graces of sixteen would +exclaim in a little fluty voice, "Mash Allah! Mash Allah! +beautiful indeed! nobody here can write like you!" (Turk., if my +memory helps me: <i>Guzel! guzel! Bir khimse burda senci zhibi +yazamas!</i>) I had a visit on board the other day from Mustafa +Aga's youngest son, bonny and rosy as an apple. He wore a +flowing robe of linen, <i>à ramages</i>, buttoned summarily and once +for all at the neck, but entirely open from the neck downwards; +over this an enormous embroidered jacket with anticipatory +sleeves turned up at the wrists, and on, or rather about, his +feet, a pair of his papa's shoes; he was irresistibly funny and +pretty; an <i>amorino</i>, dressed up as the Dog Toby. He was very +chatty; not so his playfellow, "Genani," the son of Abdallah, +the servant of Mustafa, a putto by Raphael modelled in +chocolate; a wild, black-eyed, trembling, romping, dusty, +stark-naked little imp (I used to call him Afreet), and the +finest child I ever saw. The nearest approach to social +intercourse I could get out of him was a sudden plunge at a +proffered cake; after which he would dart off with affected +dismay, and frown at me through an ill-suppressed grin from +behind the nearest place of safety.</p> + +<p><i>Wednesday, 11th.</i>—Got on with my sketches. Have begun <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_169" id="PageV2_169">[169]</a></span>two or +three rough small studies of heads. Hate sketching heads +rapidly; it is unavoidably and odiously free and easy, and +nearly all that is worth escapes. But I have no time for more, +and, I suppose, the sketches will be useful. One man, with a +face like a camel, whom I drew in profile, was annoyed (though +in a general way complimentary) at seeing only one eye in the +picture. This struck me as quaint; for he was <i>blind</i> of the +other; he had not been defrauded of much. My delight, in the +evening, is to watch the processions of women and girls coming +down to the Nile to fetch water. The brown figures, clad in +brown, coming, in long rows, along the brown bank in all the +glow and glory of sunset, look very grand; very grand, too, +returning up the steep bank, along the violet sky, with their +long, flowing folds and the full pitchers now erect on their +heads (when empty they carry them horizontally). They are +neither handsome individually nor particularly well made, but +their movements are good, and the repetition of the same +"motive" many times in succession makes the whole scene +impressive and stately. There is no more fruitful source of +effect in Nature or Art than iteration.</p> + +<p>The suppleness of the limbs of the children here is +extraordinary. I have seen little girls squatting like +grasshoppers in the Nile drinking, <i>à même</i>, the water in which +they were standing little more than ankle deep.</p> + +<p>An hour after nightfall the dahabieh, my neighbour, slipped her +cables and began to drift down the river; but not till the +rhapsodist had chanted his ditty to the approving murmurs of his +little circle as on the preceding night. His singing has a great +charm for me; I shall miss it. It reminds me much of Andalusian +singing and moonlight nights in the Bay of Cadiz—there is about +it a strangeness and a wayward melancholy that attach and charm +me. It was a love song (I am told, for I could not hear the +words, and should have understood very few if I had).</p> + +<p>"Ya leyl! ya leyl! ya leyl!"—the eternal refrain of Arab songs. +"Oh night! oh night! oh night! you have left a fire in my heart, +oh my beloved! Oh my beloved, do not forget me!" &c. &c. &c.</p> + +<p>A day or two ago I heard a youth calling the faithful to noonday +prayer, from the gallery of a minaret, with one of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_170" id="PageV2_170">[170]</a></span>finest +voices I have ever heard; he was tearing his notes from the +inmost depths of his chest with that eagerness of yet +unconscious passion that I have often noticed in southern +children, and which to me is singularly pathetic; he retained +his last notes as long as his breath allowed it, and they +vibrated in distinct waves like a sonorous metal set in motion: +from a little distance the effect was <i>saisissant</i>. I could not +see him, and the air seemed to throb with sound as well as with +heat in the sultry noon.</p> + +<p>The departure of the dahabieh was celebrated with the usual Arab +waste of powder, and all the echoes of the valley of the tombs +across the river were aroused by the popping of many guns. All +the consuls fired officially, everybody else fired unofficially. +Hosseyn fired officiously—chuckling and nearly tumbling over; +and the dahabieh itself, having opened the ball, fired again at +intervals from a long distance as if it had forgotten +somebody—they are too funny.</p> + +<p><i>Thursday, 12th.</i>—More sketching. The weather, which is a +little too canicular at noon, is deliciously fresh and cool for +an hour after sunrise; the Arabs, however, look much aggrieved +at the severity of the cold; they sit huddled in muffled groups +with a pinched look that would become a British December day.</p> + +<p>I observe that half the men in middle life have no forefinger to +their right hand. They all of them mutilated themselves to avoid +conscription under Said Pasha, who, however, having found them +out, enlisted them all the same. A curious equality prevails +here: whilst sketching two of Mustafa Aga's servants this +morning, I learnt from his son that they were both his +relations. One of them appears to be a particularly nice fellow, +and is a perfect gentleman in his manners.</p> + +<p><i>Friday, 13th.</i>—My last day in Thebes. When I arrived here and +found neither friends nor letters, I thought, caring little for +the place apart from the ruins, that I should stay four or five +days; to-morrow when I leave I shall have been here <i>nine</i>, and +shall go with regret. Work has exercised its usual attaching +influence.</p> + +<p>I have drawn in pencil a few heads that will be of use and +interest to me. The subject of one of my studies (Mustafa's +gardener) on receiving from Hosseyn two shillings for one hour's +sitting, accused him, to his infinite disgust and anger, of +having <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_171" id="PageV2_171">[171]</a></span>suppressed the <i>remaining</i> eighteen shillings out of a +putative pound which he conceived to be destined for him. +<i>Excusez!</i></p> + +<p><i>Saturday, 14th.</i>—Got up early to finish a couple of sketches, +and started at half-past eleven amidst salutes and salaams. To +my great relief, the letters which I very rashly sent for from +Cairo three weeks ago have just turned up at the last +moment—fewer than I had expected, but a great delight: the +first and only news I have received since leaving home—such are +Egyptian posts!</p> + +<p>Weather divine: the Nile like an opal mirror, reflecting without +a break the faint, sleeping, sultry hills on the horizon: a +lovely, drowsy scene. Arrived shortly after three at the village +at which one lands for Keneh; a very cheery town about a mile +inland. It is generally separated from the landing place on the +river during the floods by a vast sheet of water; this year, +however, owing to the calamitous lowness of the Nile, a narrow, +shallow strip of water, only, intercepts the road, and a large +tract of country remains untilled and unfruitful from the want +of the quickening flood. Keneh is a very pretty sample of an +Egyptian town; it is animated and full of colour, has some +pretty minarets, some charming gardens, and more than the usual +allowance of ornamental doorways: the effect of the mosaic of +black and white bricks is most satisfactory, and has the charm +which always accompanies a considerable result produced by very +sober and simple means. Great relief is frequently obtained by a +band or frieze of carved wood, running across the decorated +surface at the springing of the arch; this band is generally +carved in circles enclosing patterns and picked out with green +and red. In the jambs of the door of one of the mosques, a very +beautiful effect was produced by alternate bands of brickwork +and minutely carved wood, <i>not</i> coloured (three courses of brick +to one band of wood).</p> + +<p>Visited a pottery, and for the first time in my life saw a +pattern-wheel and the artist at work—a most fascinating sight: +the bottles and jugs flow into the most graceful forms as if by +magic, and look incomparably prettier than when they are baked. +I could hardly get away. A little boy scratches a pattern on +them as they leave the wheel.</p> + +<p>The Consul's white donkey, on which I ride about here, is <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_172" id="PageV2_172">[172]</a></span>as +fleet as the wind and as oily in his movements as a two-oared +gondola.</p> + +<p><i>À propos</i> of consuls, Mustafa at Thebes showed me his +travellers' book—in it I saw an entry of the names of Speke and +Grant, with the numbers of their regiments, and the dates of +their departure from Zanzibar and their arrival at Khartoum and +Thebes. A simple conventional travellers' entry, as if they had +returned from an ordinary journey—nothing to hint at the great +achievement which brought them such honour and lasting fame.</p> + +<p><i>Sunday, 15th.</i>—Made a sketch, a little after sunrise, of the +chain of hills on the west bank of the Nile, then crossed the +river to see the ruins of Denderah. Horses were waiting on the +other side, and would have been most enjoyable if the weather +had been cool; but, under a fierce sun, absolutely incessant +prancing and waltzing ("he make 'fantasia,'" quoth Hosseyn) was +fatiguing after a bit. Was so much struck with the beauties of +the mountains, as seen from the left bank, that I resolved to +stay a couple of days to paint them. The temple is extremely +fine, and in parts unusually well preserved—<i>the sculpture</i>, +that is, for the colour is almost entirely lost. These +sculptures, being of a late period (Roman), are clumsy enough; +on the other hand the general scheme of decoration is more +artistic, more varied in distribution and rhythm than in most of +the temples. On the external wall I remarked here, as at Edfou +and at Medinet Haboo, massive and very handsome gargoyles—half +a lion, couchant, on a large bracket, the water flowing from a +spout between the paws—a more important feature in the +architectural aspect of the wall than in northern countries, and +calculated for five months' rain rather than for five minutes', +which is the average annual fall here, I believe. This temple +boasts a portrait of Cleopatra on a large scale, but, like those +of Armout and Karnak, it is absolutely conventional, and any +pretence of detecting an individuality is mere humbug. One +fancies at first one has discovered some peculiarity in the +features, but on a candid examination one must own that the same +peculiarities occur in other faces on the same wall, or that +they are owing to the mutilation to which two-thirds of the +figures in all Egyptian temples has <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_173" id="PageV2_173">[173]</a></span>been assiduously subjected. +In a lateral chamber of the temple, on the ceiling, is a most +striking mystical design, representing the firmament and the sun +fecundating the land of Egypt. It is fantastic and poetic in the +extreme; it would delight Rossetti. In the evening made another +sketch, and then rode to Keneh to dine with the Consul—a most +interesting glimpse into a real old-fashioned Muslim interior. +Si Syed Achmet (forty-five years British Agent in this town and +at Khossayr) is a very wealthy old gentleman with large property +in this part of the world. He is of the blood of the Prophet, a +good and pious Muslim, tolerant and full of kindliness. A son, +three nephews and a daughter form his immediate family circle, +living with him in the house to which I was bidden—a bald, +uninteresting place enough. It is entered from a narrow, +irregular triangular court, ornamented on one side with some +good brick and wood work, but ugly and plain on the others, and +disfigured by something between a ladder and a staircase which +leads to the clean but singularly naked room in which we were to +spend the evening. This room was whitewashed, but so roughly +bedaubed that the plain deal cupboards, the doors of which +formed the only embellishment (?) of the walls, were all +besmeared with ragged edges of white. Three windows, innocent of +glass, and protected by a close, plain trellis-work of ordinary +white wood, lighted the room, which boasted in the way of +furniture the usual ugly divans, three red muslin curtains, a +small deal table, two lanterns and two candles in candlesticks. +Shortly after my arrival and most kindly reception by the old +gentleman, who had come up from the country expressly <i>ad hoc</i>, +dinner was served. The son, as the eldest, sat at table; the +nephews waited on us; we squatted, I on a cushion, they on the +floor, round a very low table on which was a large, round, brass +tray, containing four plates, some wooden spoons, and a great +many small loaves of bread arranged round it in a circle; a soup +tureen, into which, after washing of hands, everybody plunged +his spoon, was the central feature. After the soup, came in +rapid succession several dishes containing savoury messes which +were really very good, though perhaps too rich, but which I was +entirely unable to enjoy in the sight of a number of hands, +shining with gravy, mopping in succession <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_174" id="PageV2_174">[174]</a></span>at the dishes with +crusts of bread, or fetching out a coveted morsel with fingers +too recently licked. It is a delicate and hospitable attention +to put a bit with your own hand on to your guest's plate—an +attention of which I was the frequent but unworthy recipient. +After the made dishes had been done justice to, half a +sheep—head and all—was put on the table and <i>clawed</i> asunder +by Hosseyn. The roast being disposed of, the sweets appeared, +and were eaten out of the common dish with spoons, like the +soup: I was not sorry when it was over, for I had gone through +all the sensations of a sea voyage. I observe that Arabs make a +point of eating with as much noise and smacking of lips as +possible; it is as if they were endeavouring to convey a sort of +oblique expression of thanks to Providence by manifesting their +relish of the blessings vouchsafed. When dinner was over, and a +by no means superfluous washing of hands had been gone through, +we had pipes and coffee. Hosseyn having gone to dine, I was now +thrown on my own extremely limited stock of Arabic for +conversation; and as I had about exhausted that during my ride +to Keneh with one of the nephews, I was hard put to it. However, +I just managed to get through a few broken sentences, to the +great satisfaction of Achmet, who informed me that he had been +for forty years the servant of the English, of whom he thought +very highly, chiefly because, as he expressed it, they have "one +word"—a satisfactory character to leave behind. In the evening +the governor (Mudir) came to see me with a tail of employés and, +if you please, a pocket-handkerchief, of which he was not a +little conscious, holding it in his hand rolled into a neat +tube, which he occasionally drew with dignity across the basis +of the official nose. The Consul for France and Prussia also +came and made his salaam. My borrowed and temporary plumes have +been of real use to somebody here, for the Mudir, hearing that +an Englishman (whom he erroneously supposed to be somebody) was +on board a viceroy's steamer, immediately gave the crew two +months' pay—an alacrity not sufficiently often displayed in +this country, if I am not much misinformed. The dancing-girls +who came to entertain us in the evening were no doubt better +than those of Lougsor, though, with one exception, at least as +ugly; but some of them were gorgeously attired <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_175" id="PageV2_175">[175]</a></span>(from the +dancing-dog point of view), and all were a mass of gold +necklaces and coins and glittering headgear, which produced at a +certain distance and in the doubtful light a prodigiously fine +effect of colour. The dancing was a little more varied than that +of the Lougsor women, chiefly, no doubt, because they got more +to drink; but, <i>en somme</i>, I am confirmed in my first impression +that it is an eminently ugly performance, though a very +remarkable gymnastic feat. Of course a graceful and good-looking +girl may do a good deal to redeem it by personal charm, and this +was in some degree the case with Zehneb, who is a noted dancer +and the <i>fine fleur</i> of the profession. She is pretty though +coarse in feature, and not without grace; but has a +semi-European smack about her dress and ways that spoils her in +my eyes—hers, by-the-bye, are splendid. Just as the "fantasia" +was at its height, a ragged, dust-soiled, old beggar came, +chattering and grinning, into the room, and at once installed +himself, uninvited but unhindered, on the divan, from which +comfortable post he proceeded to witness the performance and +apparently thoroughly to enjoy his evening. The contrast between +his beggar's garb and the scrupulously cleanly attire of his +neighbours was very curious. He is a fakeer, as I am told; +everybody feeds him, no doors are closed to him; he is not, I +believe, exactly an idiot, but is certainly in his second +childhood—"rimbambito," as the Italians say. On one side of him +squatted a sweet little brown girl, Achmet's daughter, of about +five or six, in a pink cotton shift and with anklets hanging +about her little naked feet. On the other side, a little further +off, was an umber-coloured dancing-girl, with bright bold eyes +painted round with black, covered with a mass of gold coins on +her head, in her hair, on her ears, and round her neck, and +wearing a blue silk dress all bespangled with gold. He looked +like a dust-heap between them. It was a queer picture, taken out +of the "Thousand and One Nights"; from which work also, I +presume, the numerous one-eyed people that I see everywhere in +Egypt, are copied. (I prefer this view to that of unimaginative +pedants who, attaching undue importance to facts, inform me that +this blindness is self-inflicted, to avoid conscription.) My +ride home was a fitting close to such an evening; a fantastic +procession we made, headed by a handful <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_176" id="PageV2_176">[176]</a></span>of torch and lantern +bearers, brandishing enormous staves; after which "Meine +Wenigkeit" on a sumptuously caparisoned steed, the consul's +nephew, the captain, Hosseyn, a cawass, all of them on horses, +others on donkeys, and odd men bustling about amongst us and +dispersing the few stragglers that were to be found at that late +hour in the streets. The fitful flare of the torches, dressing +in fugitive, fantastic lights the gateways and dim walls of the +slumbering town, had a very fine effect. More curious still was +our ride <i>through</i> a quarter of a mile of <i>dourah</i> that stood at +least ten or twelve feet high all round us; the train of light +and shower of sparks in the tall graceful corn was of a +surprising aspect. Except that nothing took fire, it was as if +Samson's foxes had been let loose in front of us.</p> + +<p><i>Monday, 16th.</i>—Sketched. In the evening, yielding, I own, with +some reluctance, to a pressing invitation, returned to Keneh to +dine with Si Achmet. Had, except the roast, exactly the same +dinner as on the previous day, which leads me to conjecture that +the <i>répertoire</i> of Arab cookery is limited. After dinner we +rode out to see the moolid, which is just beginning here. It is +<i>the</i> great moolid of Central Egypt, and to it, but only towards +the end, flock people from all parts of the country till the +concourse is enormous. It must be an interesting sight when in +full swing, but as yet there is little or nothing worth seeing +except the tomb of the sheykh in whose honour the moolid is held +(Sheykh Abd-er-Rahim, the "Genani") to which I was taken by my +host. The building was like most others of the same class in +Egypt: a square chamber with a dome, and windows through which +the coffin, placed conspicuously in the centre, can be seen by +the pious crowds outside. On entering, I was conducted, after +taking off my boots, to a post of honour, on the ground of +course, in the midst of a grave circle of worthies who were +squatting in the <i>ruelle</i> between one side of the coffin and the +wall. On my right was one of the civic functionaries, on my left +the priest attached to the tomb. The spectacle before me was +wonderful both in colour and form, though composed in great part +of the simplest elements. It was like the finest Delacroix in +aspect and tone, but with a gravity and stateliness of form very +foreign to that brilliant but epileptic genius. To the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_177" id="PageV2_177">[177]</a></span>left of +me, covered with a showy embroidered cloth, stood behind a +railing the sarcophagus of the saint, illuminated from above by +various lanterns hung from the ceiling (the central one, and the +handsomest, the gift of Lady Duff Gordon) and from the corners +by gigantic candles, standing in candlesticks of proportionate +dimensions; at the same corners stood great banners of sober but +rich tone, which added much to the general colour. On each side +of the carpet at the head of which I squatted, squatted, in far +more picturesque attire, some of the notables of Keneh, half +hidden in the shadow, their large turbans cast on the rich +carpet they sat on. At the further end stood and stared, with +the solemnity of a chorus in an opera, a motley, dazzling group +of lesser folk; magnificent, too, in the flow of their +draperies, the grace of the half untwisted turbans wreathed +round their necks or hanging from their shoulders, the +stateliness of their forms, and the fiery glow of colour in +which they burnt under the clustered lanterns. Unfortunately, I +could not gaze with attention as undivided as I could have +wished, because the gentleman on my right insisted on making +conversation, the very meagrest form of which exercise absorbed +for the time my powers of attention. Hosseyn, who is very pious, +bled me of an enormous baksheesh for the shrine of the saint.</p> + +<p><i>Tuesday, 17th.</i>—Completed my sketches in the morning. In the +evening, Si Achmet, his son, and three nephews, one of whom I +neither knew nor had invited (this is entirely Arabic—I might, +also, have taken any one with me to dine with them) came to dine +on board. It was a very droll ceremony—the Arabs had, with one +exception, probably never sat at a table on a chair before, but +they were so entirely simple as not to be (also, by-the-bye, +with one exception) at all ridiculous. Ottilio had, perhaps with +a little malice, arranged the napkins in a most artistic and +intricate fashion; these edifices so impressed my friends that +they did not sit down opposite to their plates but on one side +of them. I set them at once comparatively at their ease by +requesting them, through Hosseyn, to consider themselves at home +and eat with their fingers, forgiving me if I followed the +custom of my country; the proposal was received with great +satisfaction by the old gentleman and his son, who fell to in +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_178" id="PageV2_178">[178]</a></span>their own way, the father muttering his appreciation of the +dishes in low, sonorous ejaculations: "Allah!"—"Mash +Allah!"—"Ou Allah!"—"Ameer! Ameer!" &c. &c. &c. The son, a man +of about forty, with a broken nose and a very strong squint, and +whose movements carried a general impression of contemplative +dreaminess, always verging on surprise, ate with his usual +deliberation and spent his odd moments in contemplating a +shining bunch of fingers, which he periodically and slowly +licked with the utmost impartiality; he did not mix in the +conversation. Of the three cousins on my left, two made a very +fair attempt at using the knife and fork, though it must have +been a virgin effort; the third, who had been a great deal with +English people when he was consul at Khossayr, ate his dinner +and put down his wine like the best European; I suspect, in +fact, that he was brought as a show man. Achmet, in a climax of +gratification, exclaimed towards the end of dinner, "By Allah! +if the Ameer comes to my house another year, he shall be served +after the Frankish custom." Arabs appear to be much devoted to +<i>limonade gazeuse</i>—without being the forbidden fruit of wine +itself, it dwells in bottles, and has a sort of air of crime +about it which no doubt pleases them; my left-hand neighbour +took off at least two bottles during dinner.</p> + +<p>Hosseyn, whose father was a great friend of Si Achmet, proved +invaluable; he hopped about like a delighted child, filling the +glasses, cutting the meat of the two digitarians, and generally +making conversation—a great relief to me. In the evening one of +the nephews asked for some tea to take home, which I gave him; +another pocketed all the tobacco that was brought them to make +cigarettes. Arabs are hospitable and generous, and I like them +much, but they are indiscreet in the extreme. "Arabs," says +Hosseyn, "have no face; they never take shame." I have seen +instances of this which I won't put down; one only, for it is +very droll: my squinting friend with the pensive look asked Lady +Ely last year if she would just procure for him from the Queen a +title, or an order, as a mark of her regard. I am the bearer of +a letter to her from him now, which I have no doubt is a +reminder. Slew a sheep again.</p> + +<p><i>Wednesday, 18th.</i>—Left Keneh early, and with regret; the +place, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_179" id="PageV2_179">[179]</a></span>the people and the scenery have left many pleasing +pictures in my memory. I little expected at starting the +annoyance that awaited me! As we approached the spot where +Sheykh Selim receives his devout visitors, I sent word to the +captain that I did not wish to lose any time in landing, but +that the bag of money which had been collected for the saint was +to be delivered, and we were to go on. I had scarcely uttered +this almost sacrilegious order, when the steamer, which had been +judiciously steered within ten yards of a flat, shelving bank, +ran hard and fast into the mud, with the apparent intention of +sticking there permanently, the engine being utterly powerless +to get her out. Nobody on board doubted for an instant but that +Sheykh Selim had stopped us in his resentment; the captain +instantly dispatched sailors with money to propitiate him, and +after a few futile attempts on the part of five or six of the +crew (to loud cries of "Help us, O Prophet! help us, O Sheykh +Selim!") to heave out a vessel that was four or five feet in the +mud, jumped himself into a boat, and hurried, of course +accompanied by Hosseyn, and leaving his vessel to take care of +herself, to beseech the sheykh to get us off. Their conversation +was afterwards reported to me by one who was present. "What is +this, O Sheykh, that thou hast done to us? in what have we been +wanting towards thee? did I not give thee a shirt when we last +came by? and the tobacco, was it not good? was the roast meat +not sufficient? why are we thus punished?"—to whom the sheykh: +"Don't be a fool! why do you come to me about your boat? am I a +sailor? how do you expect me to get her off—or on? Allah got +her on the sand, not I, who am a man like yourselves." The +captain: "Allah is indeed great, but if he ran us aground it was +on thy instigation—thou knowest it, O Sheykh!" &c. &c. In this +strain the conversation lasted at least twenty minutes, during +which time and for the rest of the day I was literally sick with +disgust and anger at the lot of them. Everything that ought not +to be done under the circumstances, including losing the anchor +(which is still at the bottom of the river), was done before +evening; everything that should have been done was left undone.</p> + +<p>Next morning (Thursday, 19th) we obtained (by force, after <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_180" id="PageV2_180">[180]</a></span>the +fashion of this country) through the governor of the +neighbouring town a gang of two hundred Arabs, magnificent +fellows some of them, who, at last, by heaving and tugging, +contrived to get her off—not without the most unearthly +<i>charivari</i> I ever heard. In the morning I made a sketch; +reached Bellianeh in the evening, appeased, at last, and rather +amused at the abject condition of the captain, to whom I had +conveyed my mind (he had never seen me angry before), and who +swore that in future one hundred sheykhs should not take him out +of his course. My misadventure will benefit my successors in the +good ship <i>Sheberkheyt</i>—<i>à quelque chose malheur est bon.</i></p> + +<p><i>Friday, 20th.</i>—Started at seven on horseback to see Abydos, +and had a delightful morning. The weather was fresh and clear, +and the canter of six or seven miles across a fine open plain to +the foot of the mountains where the ruins lie was most +enjoyable. The temples, very strikingly situated on a slope +which sweeps down from a grand amphitheatre of bastion-like +rocks, have a great advantage over all those that I have yet +seen, viz. that their sculptures have almost entirely escaped +mutilation, and are in admirable preservation. This is the more +fortunate, that they are of a very fine period, and most +delicate in workmanship; the type of the faces has considerable +beauty and refinement. The colours, notably in the more recently +excavated temple of Osiris, are often extremely well preserved, +and I am confirmed in my conjecture, that they must have been +much less beautiful in their freshness than now that time has +toned and tuned them. In the larger temple are some very +beautiful wagon-head vaults <i>cut in the thickness of two layers +of stone</i>, the upper ones laid on end to get more thickness of +material. They are charmingly decorated with cartouches and +stars on a blue ground, and divided by a band of hieroglyphs +running like a ridge-rib along the head of the vault. The stars +on Egyptian ceilings are always pentagonal, and placed very near +together. At the temple I was joined by the obligato governor, a +puffy Turk with a tight, shiny face that had a look of having +been stung all over by a wasp; he was heavy and stupid, and I +left him in the hands of Hosseyn, galloping ahead myself with +the mounted cawass, a very picturesque Arnout on a very good +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_181" id="PageV2_181">[181]</a></span>horse. <i>N.B.</i>—Never come to the East again without an English +saddle; the back-board of a Turkish saddle is in the long run an +intolerable nuisance, as are also, though in a less degree, the +shovel-stirrups in which one's feet are imprisoned. In the +afternoon reached Sohag, a sail, or rather a steam, of three or +four hours, in time for a most pleasant evening's walk.</p> + +<p><i>Saturday, 21st.</i>—Got to Syoot in the afternoon, and was very +glad to catch Lady Duff Gordon on her way up the river. Was +received with great hospitality by the American and Spanish +consuls, wealthy Copts of this town who kindly put their +carriages at my disposal and, better still, their +donkeys—splendid Arabian donkeys, looking, in their trappings, +like cardinals' mules. Nothing is more pleasant than the swift +amble of a good donkey from the Hejaz. Dined in the evening with +Mr. Wonista, the consul for Spain, quite "à la Franca" with +knives and forks and the whole thing. A curious house, and the +rooms small but of enormous height, so that they looked as if +they had been set <i>on end</i> by mistake. The walls were bare +whitewash, but the furniture was of the most gorgeous brocade, +as were also the curtains; there was a European carpet all over +the floor and as many candles on the walls (in glass bells) as +in a <i>café chantant</i>. I met there a Scotch clergyman belonging +to the American Mission (Episcopalian) which is very active in +Egypt. After dinner the singer from Lady Duff Gordon's boat was +sent for, and in a short time arrived with some of the crew who +acted as chorus; it is this chorus, I find, that gives the +approving murmur after each strophe. He sang well, but his +performance of course lost three-fourths of its charm by not +being heard in its proper place and surroundings. I remember +once in the Sabine hills hearing unexpectedly at a distance, in +the silent dimness of night, the droning song of a <i>piffera</i>; +nothing could be more strangely pathetic than this voice rising +in the utter silence from out of the heart of the valley +below—yet those same sounds heard close in the broad daylight +would have seemed uncouth and strident. Arab singing has a +similar quality, and is equally dependent on time and place for +its full effect. Whilst the performance was at its height, and +the minstrel was tuning his note to the most ambitious +<i>fioriture</i>, I heard in <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_182" id="PageV2_182">[182]</a></span>the room overhead some European +part-singing of a melancholy order, and was informed that the +Scotch minister had been invited by a few proselytes to retire +upstairs "to worship and explain an obscure passage in the +Gospel." On the invitation of the master of the house, I went up +and joined the congregation, who thought it right to favour me +with another psalm. The clergyman then read in Arabic, and +expounded in the same language a chapter from the Bible, and I +must say did it (I speak of his manner only, for Koran and Bible +Arabic is so different from the current idiom, here at all +events, that I did not understand four words in the whole +sermon) in a very simple and impressive way. He had, too, an +admirable accent. He tells me that in spite of vehement +opposition from the Coptic prelates he finds a good deal of +sympathy amongst the people.</p> + +<p><i>Sunday, 22nd.</i>—Lovely day. Strolled about with a gun. This +place is full of "sparrows of paradise," a little bird of an +exquisite golden green. Since I was here last, the aspect of the +country has changed very much and for the better. Where I saw, a +few weeks back, nothing but pools and mud, is now a vast expanse +of clover and grass of an intense green, sunny and brilliant to +a wonderful degree. The plain looks like one immense jewel, and +contrasts deliciously with the tawny sand-rock which walls it in +on the west, behind the gleaming white domes of the cemetery. +Dined with the other consul in the evening. Same sort of house, +but much larger. No Scotch clergyman this time, but an +Anglo-Arab who teaches in the Coptic school, and, embracing +Coptic views, inveighs bitterly against the converts to +Protestantism. At sunset, to my agreeable surprise, the +Sterlings turned up, <i>musique en tête</i>, the singer in the bows +quavering a jubilant strain, and the vessel magnificent with +fresh paint.</p> + +<p><i>Monday, 23rd.</i>—Killed a sheep. Sketched. Had the consuls and +the Scotch missionary to dine with me. The latter brought me +some newspapers, which I read greedily.</p> + +<p><i>Tuesday, 24th.</i>—Sketched. At last an evening to myself!—these +festive gatherings are an ineffable bore, if the truth were +told.</p> + +<p><i>Wednesday, 25th.</i>—Completed my sketches with one <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_183" id="PageV2_183">[183]</a></span>exception—a +study of my beautiful grey (<i>hechtgrau</i>) donkey. Unless I make a +study at Sakkara, which is just possible, this will be the end +of my work on the Nile. In twenty-two skies which I have painted +there is not a vestige of a cloud, such has been the divinely +serene weather I have had all along. This evening, indeed, +faint, shining flakes of vapour were drawn across the sky, +breaking and tempering the last rays of the sun; but by a +curious piece of luck they did not appear till I was just giving +the last touches to my day's work. Saw a beautiful and original +effect at sunset. Just as the sun was about to sink behind the +hills, a dahabieh drifted past with its sails spread, and +reaching up into the region where the light was still golden, +whilst the face of the water was darkened, and the long, low +banks were already shadowy and grey, the burning sail was +reflected in the night of the river, and looked astonishingly +beautiful. It was like the mellow splendour of the rising moon.</p> + +<p>I delight in seeing the sailors climbing the tall, oblique yards +of the Nile boats. Sometimes five or six of them perch on one +yard at the same time, looking at a distance like great birds.</p> + +<p><i>Thursday, 26th.</i>—Finished my donkey and started; as I get +further north, the weather is much cooler—the mornings and +evenings are quite fresh, though not so cold but that I can +sketch in the shade an hour after sunrise in summer clothes. The +natives, however, seem to take a severe view of the temperature, +and leave nothing unmuffled but their mouths, with which they +occasionally blow their fingers in the most approved winter +fashion. Was more struck than before with Gebel Aboofada—the +infinite and strongly marked strata of which it is made up +writhe and heave in a very grand and fantastic manner. Some of +the Egyptian mountains are ruled like a copy book from head to +foot, and are very monotonous.</p> + +<p>At the foot of Aboofada, I saw, for an instant, my first and +last crocodile; a small one. They are very seldom seen from a +steamer below the cataracts, as the noise frightens away the few +there are. I had looked forward to getting a shot at one, and +was a good deal disappointed at finding none up the river. It is +curious how rapidly time lends its perspective to the past. +Every now and then a boat from the cataracts laden with dates +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_184" id="PageV2_184">[184]</a></span>comes floating down the river, and the melancholy chant of the +Nubian sailors, as they strain at the oars, already falls on my +ear as a sudden memory of an almost distant past—not a month +old.</p> + +<p>Arrived at Roda this evening. I have been reading, amongst other +things, a book everybody else read thirty years ago, "Les +Natchez," and am greatly disappointed with it. I am especially +struck with the extraordinary contrast between the masterful +sobriety and simplicity of the style, and the far-fetched +affectation of the ideas which are, more often than not, +distorted, tawdry and inflated, sometimes disgusting and not +seldom maudlin in the extreme. This singular discrepancy between +form and matter is especially French, and may frequently be +traced in the works of their painters and sculptors. No living +people has so sensitive a perception of form or so artistic an +epiderm, but an ineradicable self-consciousness develops in them +a theatrical attitude of mind which too often betrays itself in +their artistic and literary conceptions. It is the absolute +consent between conception and execution which constitutes one +of the chief sources of delight in the art of the Greeks, to +whom they are fond, too rashly, of comparing themselves.<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></p> + +<p>I notice in the Natchez a peculiar use of comparisons. That mode +of adding light and colour to an idea which consists in +suggesting analogies, has always been the delight of poets; but +Chateaubriand (whose analogies, by the way, are often singularly +far fetched and unfortunate) occasionally, in a morbid endeavour +to be original, seeks his effects in a suggestion of +dissimilarities; I remember an instance: he has been describing +with minute and gratuitously sickening detail a mangled heap of +dead and dying warriors after a ferocious encounter. "How +different," he exclaims, but in more flowery terms, "is a +haycock in a field with girls rolling down it!" Few will be +disposed to contradict him. His exorbitant personal vanity which +continues to peep through everywhere, and makes even his +unbounded praise of his country seem an oblique tribute to +himself, is droll and nauseating at the same time.</p> + +<p>Took a stroll in the evening, and met an English baby! pink <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_185" id="PageV2_185">[185]</a></span>and +delicate like a flower; with cape and cockade complete—a pretty +sight.</p> + +<p>Thick folds of rose and violet-coloured cloud hung along the +horizon at sunset, and looked autumnal. I have left eternal +summer behind me.</p> + +<p><i>Friday, 27th.</i>—Such a morning as the evening of yesterday +foreboded; rather chilly and misty, and as near an approach to +winter as Upper Egypt may be expected to afford. The sky was +veiled on all sides with soft grey clouds, wrinkled and fretted +like the grey sands when the sea has left them. It was a fitting +background to the desolate tombs of Beni Hassan, which I visited +an hour or two after sunrise. The range of hills on the face of +which these tombs are excavated is not unlike Gebel Aboofada in +its configuration, except that the strata with which it is +scored are more level and regular. This monotony is, however, +relieved by the sky-line, which is extremely fine. Along the +foot of these hills runs a level strip of barren land, broken +abruptly in its whole length by a steep bank which rises like a +ruined wall from the plain below, and which is, when the Nile is +exceptionally high, the bank of the river itself. Standing, as +it now does, nearly a mile inland, and crested with two deserted +villages, it has a grand but uncanny aspect. I had long been +eager to see the tombs, which show what is considered by many to +be the first rudiment of the Doric order. The similarity, more +striking even than I expected, is so great that, taken with our +knowledge of the early and frequent intercourse of the Greeks +with Egypt and of the assimilating power of their genius, it +certainly offers a strong <i>prima facie</i> presumption in favour of +this view. It may be objected that the echinus, the conical form +of the shaft and its entasis, all three inseparable features and +especial beauties of the Greek order, are wanting here, though +they are present in the earliest specimen of the style preserved +in Greece, the temple of Corinth. This argument would deserve +more consideration if it could be conceived that the order as +seen at Corinth was a spontaneous conception, and not a +development of some more elementary form which, whether native +or imported at a remote period, has not been handed down to us. +In point of fact, the chamfering of a simple stone pier into an +octagon and then <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_186" id="PageV2_186">[186]</a></span>further to a polygon of sixteen, or more, +sides (specimens of the two forms are seen side by side in two +of the tombs of Beni Hassan) is so elementary an effort of +architecture and one so obvious, that its independent and +spontaneous adoption by two different nations would be matter +for no surprise. On the other hand, it is to be remarked that +these tombs and the early temple at Karnak already mentioned are +the only instances of this style known in Africa—that not only +are they isolated in themselves, but they form a step to no +further developments—a link in no chain; that in character and +conception they have nothing in common with any of the great +monuments of Egypt, to which indeed they are antagonistic in +feeling; that they stand side by side with other monuments of +the <i>same</i> date (about 2000 <span class="sc">B.C.</span>?) of a developed and +absolutely different type—a type certainly indigenous and based +on the imitation of natural forms which is especially +characteristic of Egyptian architecture; and lastly, that the +tombs of Beni Hassan show certain dissonances, such as one might +expect to find in the case of an unintelligent and unperceptive +manipulation of a foreign style. In the face of these +considerations, I find it difficult to resist a suspicion that +the view generally received exactly reverses the truth of the +case, and that these tombs are not indeed the prototypes of the +Doric temple, but rather the results, themselves, of contact at +some remote period between the Egyptians and that branch of the +great Aryan family which, at long intervals, and in successive +waves, covered the shores of the Egean Sea, and one of the +latest offshoots of which poured down into Greece from the +heights of Thessaly under the name of Dorians. I believe the +earliest Egyptian <i>record</i> of the pressure of Greeks in this +country goes no further back than 1500 <span class="sc">B.C.</span>; but a +peaceful intercourse between the two races may have existed over +a long period, without necessarily finding a place in public +records.</p> + +<p>The (quasi) Doric tombs are divided into a nave and aisles by +two rows of piers, carrying an architrave and disposed at right +angles to the portico, agreeably carrying out the likeness of a +Greek temple. The circles which intersect the extremity of the +other group of tombs are <i>parallel</i> to the portico, and have a +deplorable effect, much heightened by the shape of the ceiling, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_187" id="PageV2_187">[187]</a></span>which is that of a very flat pediment. The architrave follows +the line of the roof, but at a still more open angle. It would +be difficult to conceive anything more hideous. Nearly all the +tombs are decorated with frescoes of a rude kind, but displaying +frequently an amount of freedom unusual in Egyptian art.</p> + +<p>Our guide was a splendid fellow, looking, in his flowing robes, +like a figure from the "School of Athens" on the "Disputa." The +longer I live, the more I am struck by the identity of Raphael's +frescoes with the noblest aspects of Nature.</p> + +<p>To Benisoëf in the evening. Passed some travellers; nothing +looks so gay and pretty as a dahabieh with its colours flying +and its sails spread.</p> + +<p><i>Saturday, 28th.</i>—Lovely morning once again. Reached Sakkara +early, but found that the road to the Pyramids was obstructed by +water, so moved on at once to Ghizeh, opposite to Old Cairo, +where I shall remain till to-morrow morning; meanwhile I have +sent on Hosseyn to secure a room at the inn, and to fetch the +means of leaving a pleasant memory of me on board the +<i>Sheberkheyt</i>.</p> + +<p>I have stripped the walls of my cabin of the paintings I had +hung round them, and they look desolate and like the coffin of +my now past journey. A most enjoyable journey it has been, full +of pleasant things to remember; full, too, I hope, of artistic +profit and teaching. I have been indeed fortunate, for, as I now +see more clearly than ever, in a dahabieh I could not have +achieved a third of the journey, and in a passenger steamer I +could not have done a stroke of work. Every study I take home I +owe entirely to the viceroy's munificent kindness.</p> + +<p><i>Sunday, 29th.</i>—Left for Boulay, my destination—gave a parting +sheep to the crew, distributed <i>largesse</i>, shook hands all +round, and drove off to the hotel.</p></div> + + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> See <a href="#PageV2_239">Chap. IV. p. 239.</a></p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_188" id="PageV2_188">[188]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER IV<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>ROYAL ACADEMICIAN—MUSIC—ARAB HALL</h4> + +<h4>1869-1878</h4> +<br /> + +<p>In 1869, the year after his journeyings in Egypt, Leighton was elected +a Royal Academician. The picture which he chose as his Diploma work to +be deposited in the Academy on his election was the "S. Jerome," one +of those few works which reflected the side of his nature about which +he was profoundly reserved. Another work of which the same might be +said is "Elijah in the Wilderness," painted in 1879. Leighton told a +friend he had put more of himself into that picture than into any +other he had ever invented. Three paintings which are among Leighton's +very best appeared on the walls of the Academy in 1869—"Dædalus and +Icarus," "Electra at the Tomb of Agamemnon," and "Helios and Rhodos." +In no work did Leighton indulge his passion for colour so successfully +as in the last-named picture. He wrote to his master, Steinle, in +1860: "You will perhaps be surprised, but, in spite of my fanatic +preference for colour, I promised myself to be a draughtsman before I +became a colourist." Again, in a letter to a friend in 1879 he wrote: +"Colour was supposed to be my <i>forte</i> (<i>par parenthèse</i>, though I am +not a colourist, albeit passionately fond of colour, I have always +been, and am, a great <i>cuisinier</i>; I have tried quite innumerable +methods and vehicles)." Some of Leighton's appreciators cannot help +feeling jealous of this obstinate determination to struggle with those +gifts for which nature had not given him the preference, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_189" id="PageV2_189">[189]</a></span>many +considering his artistic error to have been that of putting the screw +too tightly on his preconceived determinations. Had he <i>sometimes</i>, at +all events, allowed his "fanatic preference" to have free play, more +of his works might have glowed with the revelry in rich colour we find +on the canvas of "Helios and Rhodos."</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep188" id="imagep188"></a> +<a href="images/imagep188.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep188.jpg" width="57%" alt="St. Jerome" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">ST. JEROME. 1869. DIPLOMA WORK<br /> +Deposited in the Academy on Lord Leighton's election as an Academician<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep189" id="imagep189"></a> +<a href="images/imagep189.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep189.jpg" width="37%" alt="Electra at the Tomb of Agamemnon" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"ELECTRA AT THE TOMB OF AGAMEMNON"<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>No complete work evinces more conclusively the force of Leighton's +dramatic gift than "Electra"; and—further—masterly and beautiful as +are all Leighton's arrangements of drapery, those in this design +strike me as specially expressive. They are truly superb. The balance +of the masses, and the sweeping lines from the feet up to the shoulder +and over the chest, are grandly conceived—the arrangement of the +folds notably adding to the suggestion of tragic feeling in the +attitude of the figure.</p> + +<p>"Icarus," in the picture of the inventive father and the aspiring son, +is a beautiful figure of a youth. The conception, design, and +colouring of the picture are worthy of Leighton at his best.</p> + +<p>Though Egypt had made a deep impression on Leighton's æsthetic +emotions, as is obvious from his Diary, his visit there apparently did +not actually suggest any pictures except "A Nile Woman"—the only work +exhibited at the Academy in 1870—and "Egyptian Slinger Scaring Birds +in Harvest-time: Moonrise," exhibited in 1875. A subject suggested by +an event, which had occurred some years previously, appears to have +been engrossing his mind, before he found expression for it, in the +painting "Heracles Wrestling with Death for the Body of Alcestis," +exhibited 1871. Many persons admired this work more than any that had +previously appeared.<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> It evoked the lines from Browning:—</p> + +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_190" id="PageV2_190">[190]</a></span> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"I know, too, a great Kaunian painter, strong<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As Hercules, though rosy with a robe<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Grace that softens down the sinewy strength:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And he has made a picture of it all.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There lies Alcestis dead, beneath the sun<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She longed to look her last upon, beside<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The sea, which somehow tempts the life in us<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To come trip over its white waste of waves,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And try escape from earth, and fleet as free.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Behind the body I suppose there bends<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Old Pheres in his hoary impotence;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And women-wailers, in a corner crouch<br /></span> +<span class="i0">—Four, beautiful as you four,—yes, indeed!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Close, each to other, agonising all,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As fastened, in fear's rhythmic sympathy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To two contending opposite. There strains<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The might o' the hero 'gainst his more than match,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">—Death, dreadful not in thew and bone, but like<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The envenomed substance that exudes some dew,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whereby the merely honest flesh and blood<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Will fester up and run to ruin straight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ere they can close with, clasp and overcome,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The poisonous impalpability<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That simulates a form beneath the flow<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of those grey garments; I pronounce that piece<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Worthy to set up in our Poikilé!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noin">Leighton had taken the lines from Euripides as his text:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"There slept a silent palace in the sun,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With plains adjacent and Thessalian peace."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="block"><p>"....Yea, I will go and lie in wait for Death, the king of souls +departed, with the dusky robes, and methinks I shall find him +hard by the grave drinking the sacrificial wine. And if I can +seize him by this ambush, springing from my lair, and throw my +arms in circle round him, none shall snatch his panting body +from my grasp till he give back the woman to me."</p></div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep190" id="imagep190"></a> +<a href="images/imagep190.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep190.jpg" width="85%" alt="Heracles Struggling With Death" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"HERACLES STRUGGLING WITH DEATH FOR THE BODY OF ALCESTIS." 1871<br /> +By permission of the Fine Art Society, the owners of the Copyright<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_191" id="PageV2_191">[191]</a></span>This work made a landmark in Leighton's career. "Dante at Verona" had +combined a complicated design of many figures with a dramatic feeling; +"Cimabue's Madonna" and the "Syracusan Bride" had proved Leighton's +"great power of rich arrangement," to quote D.G. Rossetti's words +respecting "Cimabue's Madonna"; but in the "Heracles Wrestling with +Death" there was felt to be a more profound tragedy; indeed, the +objective treatment had in this instance ceded to one more subjective, +in so far that the subject had appealed to him through a personal +experience, though the feeling was, as in nearly all Leighton's +greatest works, veiled in a classic garb. In a letter to his mother, +dated November 13, 1864, he wrote:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><i>November 13, 1864.</i></p> + +<p>I returned so suddenly on account of a grave and terrible +anxiety, <i>now quite removed</i>, about my dear friend Mrs. +Sartoris.</p> + +<p>I must tell you that for some time past she has been looking +dreadfully ill, getting daily worse, haggard and thin. I, in +common with all her friends, had been growing very anxious, and +conjectured that some day or other a crisis must come in which +only the surgeon could avail her. I little thought how near at +hand the moment was! She on her part had borne up with an amount +of moral and physical courage which everybody says was quite +incredible. Her nearest relations have not known from her that +she was in so dangerous a state. A week ago I arrived at +Francport, the château of the Marquis de l'Aigle, where I +expected to find Mr. and Mrs. Sartoris and their children. I +found instead Mme. de l'Aigle in the deepest anxiety and +commotion, having received a letter saying that on that very day +poor Mrs. S. was undergoing an operation of which the event was +very doubtful! I need hardly say that I instantly hurried off to +England in the greatest alarm, and in fear and trembling lest +she should have succumbed. You may judge of my relief, next +morning, on hearing from the servant in Park Place that she was +doing well. I hurried off to the doctor, a friend of mine, and +heard that for six hours her life had been in jeopardy, but +that, thank God, she was doing amazingly well, that for a week +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_192" id="PageV2_192">[192]</a></span>there could be no <i>certainty</i> of her recovery, but that the +possible chances doubled every day. Since then, thank God, she +has progressed so <i>astoundingly</i> owing to her immense roots of +vitality and health, that one may be almost <i>certain</i> +(<i>unberufen</i>) of her complete recovery, in which event she will +enjoy life more than she has done for several years. Her family +and friends have escaped an entirely irreparable loss.</p></div> + +<p>The very beautiful picture, "Greek Girls Picking up Pebbles by the +Shore of the Sea," was also exhibited in the Academy in 1871, likewise +a smaller work, "Cleoboulos Instructing his Daughter Cleobouline." +This is one of several which proves Leighton's gift for catching the +grace and singular refinement of childhood. "Lord Leighton's drawings +and paintings of children show the protecting, caressing tenderness he +felt towards them. He loved little things, little children, +kittens—'caressing littleness, that littleness in which there is much +of the whole woeful heart of things'—everything lovely that had in it +the unconscious grace of helplessness seemed especially to touch him."</p> + +<p>In 1872 "Summer Moon" was exhibited—the picture Watts told me he +thought he preferred to all of Leighton's paintings. I believe the +cause of this preference arose from the fact that the quality and +texture in "Summer Moon" is looser and more vibrating, and gives a +greater sense of atmosphere than is suggested by Leighton's works as a +rule. Moonlight mystifies the tints of purple and blue, and creeps +over and into every fold of the beautiful drapery—glistening on the +white garment of the recumbent figure. In every line and touch in the +exquisite design of the figures and drapery lurks the poetry of +moonlight; the song of a nightingale perched on the branch of a +pomegranate tree enhancing the sense of deep restfulness in the +scene.<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a></p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep193a" id="imagep193a"></a> +<a href="images/imagep193a.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep193a.jpg" width="85%" alt="Summer Moon" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"SUMMER MOON." 1872<br /> +By permission of Messrs. P. & D. Colnaghi, the owners of the Copyright<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep193b" id="imagep193b"></a> +<a href="images/imagep193b.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep193b.jpg" width="47%" alt="A Condottiere" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"A CONDOTTIERE." 1872<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep193c" id="imagep193c"></a> +<a href="images/imagep193c.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep193c.jpg" width="85%" alt="Music Study" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">STUDY FOR FIGURE IN FRIEZE. "MUSIC." 1886<br /> +Leighton House Collection<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep193d" id="imagep193d"></a> +<a href="images/imagep193d.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep193d.jpg" width="57%" alt="The Arts of War" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">STUDY FOR FIGURE IN "THE ARTS OF WAR,"<br /> +Victoria and Albert Museum. 1872<br /> +Leighton House Collection<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep193e" id="imagep193e"></a> +<a href="images/imagep193e.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep193e.jpg" width="52%" alt="The Arts of War" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">STUDY FOR FIGURE IN "THE ARTS OF WAR,"<br /> +Victoria and Albert Museum. 1872<br /> +Leighton House Collection<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep193f" id="imagep193f"></a> +<a href="images/imagep193f.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep193f.jpg" width="42%" alt="The Arts of War" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">STUDY FOR FIGURE IN "THE ARTS OF WAR,"<br /> +Victoria and Albert Museum. 1872<br /> +Leighton House Collection<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_193" id="PageV2_193">[193]</a></span>It is thought by some that the design would have carried out the +feeling of absolute repose better had the lower curves of the round +aperture behind the figures been absent—these lines rather suggesting +horns springing up on either side of the group. The end of the foot of +the sitting figure being cut off by the bottom line of the picture has +also a somewhat uncomfortable effect. The same thing occurs in the +picture "Greek Girl Dancing," producing the feeling that the canvas +has run short. These criticisms, however, only refer to minor matters. +"Summer Moon" is an exquisitely beautiful picture, one which will ever +sustain the great reputation of its creator. "A Condottiere" and the +monochrome version of "The Industrial Arts of War" (76 × 177 in.), +exhibited at the South Kensington International Exhibition the same +year, strikingly contrast in character with "Summer Moon." If the one +is notable for gentle, womanly grace and a sense of relaxation induced +by slumber, "A Condottiere" is full of verve and virile power,<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> and +in the design for "The Industrial Arts of War" all is action and +movement. Leighton made many studies for all his principal pictures, +but the finest group of sketches are certainly those made for mural +decorations. Being executed under more difficult conditions than the +easel pictures, doubtless he felt more preparation for frescoes was +required. The studies in Leighton House for the "Arts of War," "Arts +of Peace," two friezes, "Music," "The Dance," "And the Sea gave up the +Dead that were in it," the painted decoration for the ceiling of a +music room, "Phœnicians Bartering with Britons," are the most +completely worked out and powerful studies in the collection. In the +following year, 1873, the companion lunette in monochrome, "The +Industrial Arts of Peace," was exhibited at the Royal Academy. This +design is more comfortably fitted into its <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_194" id="PageV2_194">[194]</a></span>space than that of the +"Arts of War," as the whole is lifted up from the bottom line of the +lunette, and no part of the figures is cut off (as in the case of the +men's feet and the drapery of the otherwise most beautiful group of +women on the left hand in the "Arts of War"). "Weaving the Wreath," a +small picture of lovely colour and subtle technique, appeared in 1873, +and in 1874 three of the most remarkable of Leighton's pictures of +single figures. "In a Moorish Garden: a Dream of Granada" the charming +child "Cleobouline" reappears in an Eastern turban and drapery, +holding a copper vessel and followed by two peacocks, walking across a +square canvas filled in by a background of the delightful garden at +Generalife at Granada. "The Antique Juggling Girl" is one of the best +examples in Leighton's work of his "ardent passion for colour," and +his perfect mastery in painting the beauty of an undraped figure. The +form of the torso recalls the exquisite fragment from the Naples +Museum.<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> The actual painting, however, exemplifies the truth of +Leighton's very notable words written to Steinle, "What reveals true +knowledge of form is a powerful, organic, refined finish of modelling +full of feeling and knowledge—and that is the affair of the brush." +The principal scheme of colour is effectively carried throughout the +picture—in the golden flesh tint against the ivory-white of the +parchment banner hung as a screen background, the crown of dark ivy +leaves and the golden balls telling out as notes of a deeper tone; the +crinkled folds of white drapery resting on the darker mass, the full +tawny browns and yellows of the leopard skins on which the figure +stands <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_195" id="PageV2_195">[195]</a></span>making a dark, luminous basis, the metal jar and the +dense foliage of deep verdant green enriched by the orange of the +fruit springing up and continuing the dark framework of the central +design. This picture is a very original work, and should, I think, be +placed very high in the rank of Leighton's achievements. "Clytemnestra +from the battlements of Argos watches for the beacon fires which are +to announce the return of Agamemnon" is, in every sense, a contrast to +the "Antique Juggling Girl." The figure is powerful and heavily +draped, the drapery being superb, and the limbs those which might +truly overpower even Agamemnon.<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep194a" id="imagep194a"></a> +<a href="images/imagep194a.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep194a.jpg" width="43%" alt="Antique Juggling Girl" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"ANTIQUE JUGGLING GIRL." 1874<br /> +By permission of Mr. George Hodges<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep194b" id="imagep194b"></a> +<a href="images/imagep194b.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep194b.jpg" width="46%" alt="Clytemnestra Watches" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"CLYTEMNESTRA WATCHES FROM THE BATTLEMENTS OF ARGOS FOR +THE BEACON <br />FIRES WHICH ARE TO ANNOUNCE THE RETURN OF AGAMEMNON." 1874<br /> +Leighton House Collection<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep194c" id="imagep194c"></a> +<a href="images/imagep194c.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep194c.jpg" width="32%" alt="Clytemnestra" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">STUDY FOR "CLYTEMNESTRA." 1874<br /> +Leighton House Collection<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep194d" id="imagep194d"></a> +<a href="images/imagep194d.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep194d.jpg" width="75%" alt="Summer Moon" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">STUDY FOR "SUMMER MOON"<br /> +From Oil Sketch painted by Moonlight in Rome<br /> +Given by the late A. Waterhouse, R.A., to the Leighton House Collection<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>The bar of red, which strikes a warm note among the cool lights and +shadows of moonlight, adding immensely to the value of these tones, +was suggested by the coral necklace, worn by the model from whom +Leighton painted the study by moonlight for "Summer Moon" in Rome. +"Egyptian Slinger" was Leighton's principal work exhibited in 1875, +"The Daphnephoria" already engrossing most of his time and thought. +This picture (89 × 204 inches), "a triumphal procession held every +ninth year at Thebes in honour of Apollo and to commemorate a victory +of the Thebans over the Aeolians of Arne" (see Proclus, "Chrestomath," +p. 11), and the very fine portrait of Sir <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_196" id="PageV2_196">[196]</a></span>Richard Burton were +exhibited in 1876. From some points of view "The Daphnephoria" is +Leighton's greatest achievement. The difficulties he surmounted +successfully in the work were of a character with which few English +artists could cope at all. The size of the canvas alone would +certainly have insisted on ten years' devotion to it from most modern +artist-workmen. The extreme breadth of the arrangement of the masses, +united with great beauty of line and form in the detail; the sense of +the moving of a procession swinging along to the rhythmic phrases of +chanted music; the brilliant light of Greece, striking on the fine +surface of the marble platform along which the procession is moving +and on the town below, which it has left behind, contrasting with the +deep shadowed cypress grove rising as background to the figures;—all +this is more than masterly: it is convincing. It is probably quite +unlike what took place at Thebes every ninth year;—but Art is not +Archæology. The written account of what took place fired Leighton's +imagination to create a scene in which he treated the Greek function +as the text; the wonderful light and the fineness of Greek atmosphere +as the tone; the processional majesty and grace of movement as the +action. The element of beauty which the record suggested to him was +the truth of the scene to Leighton, and he has recorded the essence of +it in an extraordinarily original work.</p> + +<p>It was after Leighton's death that the picture first "struck home" to +me. The last day of the exhibition of a wonderful man's life-work had +come to an end one Saturday afternoon in the spring of 1897. It had +been a record day at Burlington House; crowds had filled the galleries +from morning till the light had begun to wane. Only a very few +stragglers remained, but the keeper, Mr. Calderon, R.A., was there. +One of the porters in his red gown came up to him, and petitioned for +a half-hour more <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_197" id="PageV2_197">[197]</a></span>before the final closing of the doors on the +message which Leighton had left to the world. Both men, the keeper and +the porter, looked grave and sad. The great President had been beloved +by all. The porter's request was granted, and it was during that short +half-hour that I seemed for the first time fully to realise the great +qualities of "The Daphnephoria"; the room being empty, it could be +seen from the right distance, and the conception of the work and its +completion spoke out very plainly and convincingly.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep197a" id="imagep197a"></a> +<a href="images/imagep197a.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep197a.jpg" width="95%" alt="The Daphnephoria" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"THE DAPHNEPHORIA"—A TRIUMPHAL PROCESSION HELD AT +THEBES IN HONOUR OF APOLLO. 1876<br /> +By permission of the Fine Art Society, the owners of the Copyright<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep197b" id="imagep197b"></a> +<a href="images/imagep197b.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep197b.jpg" width="75%" alt="At A Reading-desk" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"AT A READING-DESK." 1877<br /> +By permission of Messrs. L.H. Lefevre & Son, the owners of the Copyright<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>Different as a picture could be was the exquisite "Music Lesson" of +1877. Again we have the lovely little Cleobouline, her delicate +fingers learning to make music on a mandoline. The grouping and grace +in the attitude of the teacher and the pupil, the ease and pleasant +arrangement of the draperies, the texture and fine distinction in the +feeling and technique of the work, can only be suggested by a +reproduction; whereas to appreciate in any way the delicate brightness +and charm of the colour is impossible without seeing the original. +This is the one of all Leighton's paintings which—perhaps more than +any other—conclusively contradicts the statement made, that "the +inspiration stage was practically passed when he took the crayon in +his hand." Another Cleobouline also appeared in the same Academy +Exhibition—as fascinating as the little lady learning music; "Study" +it was called—a child in a delightfully painted glistening pink silk +dressing-gown, sitting cross-kneed on an Eastern carpet before an +inlaid prayer-desk. Very characteristic of Leighton's bewitching +painting of children's feet are the little toes of the child peeping +out between the folds of pink drapery. The finest woman's portrait +Leighton ever painted appeared the same year as a "Music Lesson." This +was Miss Mabel Mills.<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> The breadth and delicacy in the modelling of +the cheek and throat rivals the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_198" id="PageV2_198">[198]</a></span>work of Greek sculpture. The most +serious work exhibited in 1877 was the bronze version of Leighton's +"Athlete Strangling a Python,"<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> the small sketch of which was made +in 1874. This statue showed to the world his power as a sculptor. +Every work he modelled evinced in an equal degree his consummate +ability as such, though the more flexible treatment—in the modelled +sketches for the "Python," the sleeping group in "Cymon and +Iphigenia,"<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> and the "Perseus and Andromeda"—may carry with it a +greater charm than is found in the completed statues. The following +letters from the French sculptor Dalou, the painter George Boughton, +and Sir Edgar Boehm are testimonies to the effect which the "Python" +in bronze, and the sketch, produced on artists at the time they were +executed:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">217a Glebe Place, Chelsea, S.W.</span>,<br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>2 Mai 1877</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Mon cher Leighton,</span>—Si mes humbles félicitations +peuvent vous toucher j'en serais trés heureux.</p> + +<p>J'espérais vous voir lundi dernier à l'Academy et vous +complimenter comme vous le meritez pour votre belle statue. À +quoi sert de gratter toute sa vie un morceau de terre, quand +près de soi on voit tout à coup surgir un chef d'œuvre d'une +main à qui la sculpture était jusque là restée étrangère?</p> + +<p>Si j'étais envieux ce serait une belle occasion pour moi, mais +loin de là j'ai été trés heureux d'admirer votre œuvre, et +trés flatté de l'honneur qu'on a fait à ma pauvre terre cuite, +en la plaçant en pendant avec votre bronze; c'est encore un bon +souvenir de plus <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_199" id="PageV2_199">[199]</a></span>qui me viens de l'Academy et de vous, mon +cher Leighton, car je sais toute la part que vous avez prise au +déplacement dont ma figure a été l'objet.</p> + +<p>Aussi croyez que je suis heureux de pouvoir me dire votre +sincère admirateur et trés reconnaissant ami,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">J. Dalou.</p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep199" id="imagep199"></a> +<a href="images/imagep199.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep199.jpg" width="53%" alt="An Athlete Strangling a Python" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"AN ATHLETE STRANGLING A PYTHON"<br /> +From small sketch, 1876<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc datepad">Grove Lodge,</span><br /> +<span class="sc">Palace Gardens Terrace, Kensington, W.,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>December 11, 1874</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Mr. Leighton,</span>—I fear that the note which I sent +with the bronze did not explain itself sufficiently. I <i>meant</i> +to ask you to <i>accept</i> it—"to have and to hold for yourself +your heirs and assigns for ever," to speak legally.</p> + +<p>I can in no way express the pleasure I felt when I saw your +small study for the man battling with the serpent. I hope the +report in the <i>Academy</i> that it is to be done life-size in +bronze is true. It will be worthy to go with the best of the +antiques. The other study for the singing maidens was +delightful<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> as the other was grand. To put it in the +picturesque parlance of the Far West, "I was knocked over and +sat on." It will be a slight relief to give my words a little +form and weight; as I am unfortunately not a Roman Emperor and +have not a golden crown of laurel about me, pray do me the +favour to accept the only thing I have worth sending.—Believe +me, yours very sincerely,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Geo. H. Boughton.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="datepad sc">Grove Lodge,</span><br /> +<span class="sc">Palace Gardens Terrace, Kensington,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>December 14, 1874</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Mr. Leighton,</span>—I don't know which to admire +most—the "sketch," as <i>you</i> call it (it seems "heroic" in size +even now), or your great kindness in sending it to me. Now that +I may enjoy it at my leisure—and I take my leisure very +often—it seems finer even than I thought it was. Not merely the +<i>spirit</i> of the antique, but the antique <i>itself</i>, and the +"antique" I mean is the everlasting, the best mortal may ever +hope to make.</p> + +<p>This is, as far as my capacity for judging is worth, <i>sincere</i>. +I know how perilous it is to say warmly what one feels, how it +is put <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_200" id="PageV2_200">[200]</a></span>down as "gush" and "bad form"; but when in this very +London fog of Art one sees a spark of pure light, there is some +excuse for shouting with joy.</p> + +<p>I should reproach myself with taking up overmuch of your time in +this matter, but I know that you are very good-natured; besides +you might have taken my poor little bronze tribute in as few +words as I sent it, and there it might have ended—though for +myself I am glad you did not, and shall be ever selfishly +thankful that you acted as kindly as you did.</p> + +<p>Pray don't bother to reply to this, I am too much your debtor +already.—Yours very sincerely,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Geo. H. Boughton.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="datepad2 sc">78 Cornwall Gardens,</span><br /> +<span class="sc">Queen's Gate,</span> <i>May 11, 1877</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Leighton,</span>—I follow my instinct and sincere desire +in congratulating you on your magnificent statue in the Academy, +which I have just seen. It is superb. I think it the best statue +of modern days. I was riveted with admiration and astonishment; +and whatever you may think of my judgment, pray take this as my +humble and heartfelt tribute to a work of genius, which to my +mind ranks nearer "zur Antiken" than anything I have seen, +during my career, produced in any school or country.</p> + +<p>Believe me, with sincere admiration, yours,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">J.E. Boehm.</p> +</div> + +<p>In 1890 Leighton made a replica of the statue in marble for the +Glyptothek in Copenhagen. It was exhibited in the Royal Academy +Exhibition in 1891.</p> + +<p>Many were the voices heard exclaiming that Leighton ought to give +himself entirely to sculpture. His masterly power in understanding +form, and giving expression to it in Art, was readily understood and +appreciated when he worked in the round, whereas it had been but +scantily appreciated in his painting; the fact being, that the public +is unaccustomed to find that power developed in modern pictures, +whereas in sculpture it is the principal and obvious aim in any +statue. However, whatever the public thought or expressed, Leighton +went on painting. In 1878 "Nausicaa" and <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_201" id="PageV2_201">[201]</a></span>"Winding the Skein" were +exhibited, both among Leighton's happiest works. A reticent grace in +the attitude of the figure, and a tender yearning sadness in the face, +makes this rendering of "Nausicaa" very attractive. "Winding the +Skein" is the best example of those fair pictures which Leighton +painted, and evidently delighted in painting, as records of +Southern—and more particularly—Greek light and atmosphere. For the +special charm in the tone and colouring to be understood, the picture +itself must be seen; but the design and delightful feeling in the +movement of the figures can be rendered in the reproduction. Again in +this work the fascinating little figure of Cleobouline appears and +also the teacher in the "Music Lesson." In all, Leighton painted +thirty-six important pictures, twenty-six slighter works,<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> and +executed his first statue, "Athlete Strangling a Python," in the ten +years between 1869 and 1879.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep201" id="imagep201"></a> +<a href="images/imagep201.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep201.jpg" width="32%" alt="Nausicaa" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"NAUSICAA." 1878<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>During these years the Royal Academy Exhibition took place in +Burlington House, it having previously been held in a suite of rooms +at the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square.</p> + +<p>Leighton sent photographs of the cartoons for the "Industrial Arts of +War" and of "Peace"<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> to Steinle, who wrote his criticisms on the +designs. The following is Leighton's answer:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p><i>Translation.</i>]</p> + +<p class="right"><i>February 3, 1874.</i></p> + +<p><span class="sc">My very dear Friend,</span>—Your very welcome lines arrived +auspiciously a few days ago. I need not say how delighted I am +that you are not displeased with the two compositions of your +old pupil, and that you recognise in them a not unworthy effort. +I am especially grateful to you that while giving your +approbation you <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_202" id="PageV2_202">[202]</a></span>have enclosed a criticism, and only regret that +you have blamed but one thing, where there are unfortunately so +many faults. I shall endeavour, if these cartoons ever come to +be carried out, as far as possible to repress the faults which +you remark in "Peace"; for, as I am by all means passionate for +the true <i>Hellenic</i> art, and am touched beyond everything by its +noble simplicity and its unaffected directness, so the <i>Roman</i> +or Napoleonic at its highest is antipathetic to me—I had almost +said disgusting. The two compositions are intended for a large +court (where there are objects from all parts of the world and +of all epochs); they will not, however, stand <i>near</i>, but +opposite to one another. The figures will be life-size, the +foremost ones almost colossal. The "Arts of Peace" I transported +to Greece, partly out of sympathy, and partly on account of the +special beauty of the Greek ceramic and jewel work; the conduct +of arms seemed to me to find its highest expression in mediæval +Italy, and I gladly seized this opportunity to tread the old +path again in which my feet now so seldom wander.</p> + +<p>If you really believe that my old friends in Frankfurt will be +interested in these works, I shall be extremely pleased if you +will put them in the Gallery; I wish only one thing, namely, +that it may be made quite clear to the spectator that they are +merely <i>cartoons</i>; their entire lack of effect would otherwise +be surprising.</p> + +<p>But the Pinta, of which you write, haunts my mind! If I had only +time to run over myself!—but it is impossible.</p> + +<p>Once more heartiest greetings, from your devoted pupil,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred Leighton.</p> +</div> + +<p>The Prince Consort, I believe, first conceived the idea of decorating +spaces on the walls of the Victoria and Albert Museum with frescoes, +as a memorial of the nation's gratitude on the close of the Crimean +War, and mentioned the subject to Leighton. It was not, however, till +1868 that Sir Henry Cole approached him officially on the subject in +the following letter:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><i>July 14, 1868.</i></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Sir,</span>—The Lords of the Committee of Council on +Education having had under their consideration the subject of +the permanent <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_203" id="PageV2_203">[203]</a></span>decoration of the lunettes at the ends of the +South Court of the South Kensington Museum, have directed me to +inquire if it would be agreeable to you to undertake to execute +a picture for one of these lunettes, for which lunette their +Lordships would be prepared to authorise a payment of £1000, it +being understood that all rights of copying the work belong to +the Department.</p> + +<p>When the court is completed, there will be four lunettes of a +similar size. At the present time, however, there are only two +spaces actually ready; and should you be willing to accept the +commission now offered to you, your picture would be placed in +one of these two finished lunettes. Mr. Watts, R.A., has been +asked to execute a similar commission for the second lunette; +and, in order that the works may have a certain symmetry in +respect of the scale of the figures, &c., it would be desirable +that you should place yourself into communication with him.—I +am, Sir, your obedient servant,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Henry Cole.</p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep202" id="imagep202"></a> +<a href="images/imagep202.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep202.jpg" width="55%" alt="The Arts of Peace" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">STUDY FOR GROUP IN "THE ARTS OF PEACE,"<br /> +Victoria and Albert Museum. 1873<br /> +Leighton House Collection<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep203a" id="imagep203a"></a> +<a href="images/imagep203a.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep203a.jpg" width="35%" alt="Cimabue" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">FIRST SKETCH FOR FIGURE OF CIMABUE<br /> +Carried out in Mosaic in the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1868<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep203b" id="imagep203b"></a> +<a href="images/imagep203b.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep203b.jpg" width="37%" alt="Original Sketch for the Figure Of Niccola Pisano" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">ORIGINAL SKETCH FOR THE FIGURE OF NICCOLA PISANO<br /> +Carried out in Mosaic in the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1868<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>Watts was not prepared to accept the commission to execute one of the +frescoes, being already immersed in work which absorbed his whole time +and attention. He did, however, accept the commission to make a +cartoon for the figure of Titian to be worked in mosaic in one of the +spaces which form a kind of frieze along the side of the Southern +Court. Leighton, besides agreeing finally to paint frescoes on the +lunettes at each end of the court, made cartoons in 1868 for two of +these side spaces, one of the figure of Cimabue, the other of Niccolo +Pisano. Sketches for these are in the Leighton House Collection. (See +<a href="#toi">List of Illustrations</a>.)</p> + +<p>A controversy took place between Leighton and Sir Henry Cole +respecting the question whether these figures were to be treated +pictorially or decoratively, whether the background was to be of plain +gold mosaic or whether there were to be objects depicted in +perspective behind the figures. The following part of a letter from +Leighton concluded the agreement.</p> + +<div class="block"><p>I submit that I have given reasons <i>why</i> the figures under<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_204" id="PageV2_204">[204]</a></span> +discussion should not be pictures, and that you, on the other +hand, have not put forward a single reason why, a single +principle on which they <i>should</i> be pictures. You have contented +yourself with adducing some precedents; as the question, +however, is entirely one of principles, precedent alone means +nothing, one way or another; if it were not so, I should have +opposed to you cases in which the, to my mind, sounder principle +is observed.</p> + +<p>Raphael's ceiling in the Vatican, for instance—an example you +will scarcely cavil at. There is not in the whole range of art a +single aberration that cannot be endorsed with some good name. +To glance once more at the principle: whether the gold behind +the figures be in effect the background of flat, or whether it +be, as you hold, "essentially something round"; whether or not +it be this, as I certainly assert, the wall throughout the +decoration, it is unanswerably a conventional <i>abstraction</i>, it +represents no concrete object, and as an <i>abstraction</i> is +incompatible with any perspective representations of solid +objects, which presuppose space and distance—everything that is +on the <i>same</i> plane as the figure is submitted to the same +conditions, hence any accessory on the pedestal is admissible; +everything <i>beyond</i> the pedestal is part of the background, +which may be abstract or concrete, as you please, but <i>cannot</i> +logically be <i>both</i>.</p> + +<p>I am the first to admit and admire the intimate connection which +existed formerly between architecture and painting: to say +"architecture and pictures," is to beg the whole question. In +condemning the loose practice of modern times, you cannot +propose upholding for admiration the mere fact that in old times +picture and wall were sometimes one, but no doubt allude with +just admiration to the harmony existing between them, in the +best examples, and to the wise adaptation of the one to the +other. You, I submit, are attacking and attempting to subvert +the very principles on which this harmony rests; my sole desire +is to assert and defend them, and I earnestly desire that, +actuated, as I am entirely convinced you are, more by the desire +to forward the truth than to triumph in argument, the views I +have put before you may eventually commend themselves <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_205" id="PageV2_205">[205]</a></span>to you, +and deter you from further encouraging a practice which may be +supported by precedent, but cannot be made tenable in theory.</p></div> + +<p>In the autumn of 1873 Leighton visited Damascus, where he made studies +for the picture exhibited in the 1874 Academy, "Old Damascus—Jews' +Quarter,"<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> and a fine <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_206" id="PageV2_206">[206]</a></span>sketch of the interior of the Grand Mosque +which he enlarged into a picture 62 × 49 inches, and exhibited in +1875. He also made a remarkable moonlight study preserved in the +Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"One afternoon, late in the autumn of 1872," wrote Dr. William +Wright, "I was on the roof of my house trying to cool after a +long ride in the sun, when there came a loud knock at my door; +the latch was lifted, and presently a resplendent kavass mounted +to my platform. He explained to me that a noble Englishman was +coming up to see me, and with that Frederic Leighton skipped +gaily up the steps. After a courteous greeting and apology, he +sat down and became silent, absolutely wrapped up in the +pageantry of the sky. When I excused myself for the lapse of the +time, he looked at me, and said quietly, 'No artist ever wasted +time in accurately observing natural phenomena,' and added, +'That sunset will mix with my paint, and will tint your ink as +long as either of us lives. It will never be over, it has dyed +our spirits in colours which can never be washed out.'"</p></div> + +<p>To his father he wrote:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Damascus,</span> <i>October 18, 1873</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Papa,</span>—I find that I am not as completely cut off +from the western world here as I have been led to believe I was, +and that boats leave Damascus for Alexandria weekly, and not +fortnightly, as I told you in my hasty line of the other day; +although, therefore, you are no longer uneasy about my health, I +will not defer till the later boat thanking you for your welcome +letter which reached me two or three days ago. I am much shocked +and concerned to hear of the death of my poor friend Benson, for +which I was in no way prepared, the last accounts I had received +before leaving England being of a decidedly hopeful nature. A +kinder heart <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_207" id="PageV2_207">[207]</a></span>never beat than his, and I felt really attached to +him; he is a great loss to me. And now to tell you about myself. +Three tedious days on board a Russian boat which tossed and +rolled like a cork over a sea on which a P. and O. would have +been motionless, brought me to Beyrout, a cheery, picturesque, +sunny port at the foot of Lebanon; gay and glad I was to land, +and Andrea's cool, clean inn overlooking the sea was a +delightful haven of rest, and my first meal at a steady table +(or a real chair) was ambrosial. Being in a hurry to get to the +end of my journey, I did not stay more than half a day, but +started by diligence for Damascus, a journey of some thirteen +hours, first over Lebanon itself (which is fine, but by no means +grand as I had hoped), then across the Valley of Coelesyria, and +lastly over Antilebanon, at the foot of which the town lies. At +the last relay I found waiting for me a horse and dragoman, for +which and whom I had telegraphed in order that I might get the +famous view of Damascus about which travellers have told wonders +from time immemorial, and which is only to be seen from a bridle +path over the hill above the suburb of Sala'aijeh; unfortunately +the days are getting short, and I did not reach the proper spot +till just after sunset; not too late, however, to enjoy the +marvellous prospect before me, and to feel that it is worthy of +all that has been said in its praise. It is impossible to +conceive anything more startling than the suddenness with which, +emerging from a narrow and absolutely barren cleft in the rock, +you see spread before your eyes and at your feet a dense mass of +exuberant trees spreading for miles on to the plain which looks +towards Palmyra, and, rising white in the midst of it, the +Damascus of the thousand and one nights. It is a great and a +rare thing for an old traveller not to be disappointed, and I am +grateful that it has been so with me this time. About the town +<i>itself</i>—as seen, I mean, <i>from within</i>—I have a mixed +feeling. In some respects it equals all my hopes, or at least in +one respect; in others it falls short of them. I have remarked +that to be prepared for disappointment never in the slightest +degree deadens the blow, and, accordingly, although I have both +read and been told to my heart's content that I should find the +streets unpicturesque and without character, relatively of +course (relatively say, to Cairo, not to Baker Street), I was, +nevertheless, depressed and in <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_208" id="PageV2_208">[208]</a></span>a way surprised to find them so. +Of course, there are, as in every Eastern town, numberless +delightful bits, and those ennobled as regularly as the day +comes by a right royal sun and canopy of blue, yet in the main, +Cairo and, in a very different way, Algiers, are far more +brilliant, and by-the-bye although you see here an extraordinary +variety of costumes from the remotest corners of the East (I +have met Indians in the streets), a group of Algerine Bedouins +in their stately white robes is worth a whole bazaar full of the +peasants and pilgrims that throng Damascus. Then in +architecture, Damascus falls far behind Cairo, both for +abundance and beauty of its specimens. Its background, too, +Antilebanon, is unsatisfactory, humpy and without power of +character or beauty of line, such as makes the Red Mountains on +the skirt of the Cairene desert so delightful. Here then are the +shortcomings; but I have my compensation in the houses, the old +houses of which some few are standing, though grey and +perishing, and which are still lovely to enchantment. I can't +hope to convey to you in writing any idea of this loveliness, +and it is not within the scope of sketching (though I am doing +one or two little corners), but I am having three or four +photographs made (for there are none!) from which you will be +able to gather something of their charm. They cannot, however, +give you the splendour of the light, and the fanciful delicacy +of the colour in the open courts, or the intense and fantastic +gorgeousness of the interior. Indeed I shall probably not +attempt the latter, and though you will see lemon and myrtle +trees rising tall and slim out of the marble floors and bending +over tanks of running water, you will miss the vivid sparkling +of the leaves, and you will not hear the unceasing song of the +bubbling fountains. I wish I could report that I am doing much +work. I am doing some, and think I see my way to one or two +pot-boilers (the fatal, inevitable pot-boilers!); but distances +here are great, and so is the heat, and there is not much that +is within the compass of <i>sketching</i>, though there is endless +paintable material. I am doing a bit in the great mosque, which +is very delightful to me, in colour, and, if I can render it, +may strike others in the same way. I am having the spot +photographed in case I try to make a picture of it. The second +p.-b. would probably be some unambitious corner of a court with +a figure or two, <i>et voilà</i>. It is late and I am sleepy, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_209" id="PageV2_209">[209]</a></span>so +good-night and good-bye. I wish you gave me a brighter account +of Lina; give her too my best love. It was hardly worth while, +by-the-bye, to have my letters forwarded. I shall only get them, +if at all, just before leaving Damascus next week! I fear I +can't get back to England till end of third week in +November.—Your affectionate son,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred.</p> +</div> + +<p>In the autumn of 1877 Leighton revisited Spain. A letter dated +September 21, 1877, Madrid, in which Leighton answers certain +questions asked by Mrs. Mark Pattison concerning art galleries and +dealers, ends with the following sentence:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>Thank you for what you tell me about Puvis de Chavannes' work. I +admire the designs for Ste. Geneviève hugely, and am altogether +an <i>aficionado</i> of that odd, incomplete, but refined and poetic +painter; but for emptiness of modelling he seeks his peer in +vain. I am seeing Velasquez again for the third time; this is +the place in which to see him in all his splendour, and in all +his nakedness—but that would be a chapter, and not a hasty +note.—Very truly yours,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred Leighton.</p> +</div> + +<p>From Spain Leighton crossed to Tangiers, whence he wrote:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Tangiers,</span> <i>October 4, 1877</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">My dear Papa,</span>—You are probably not a little surprised +at the superscription of this letter; so am I. It was a sudden +and a happy thought that brought me here. I reflected that, +whilst I had long wished to see Tangiers, I should not very +probably come to Spain again, and should therefore not have +another chance of visiting Morocco without a journey made on +purpose. The run from Gibraltar is only four hours, and I wonder +the trip did not form part of my original scheme. It will have +one drawback for me, that I shall get to Granada a few days +later, and be by so much the longer in getting news from +England; but my journey will not be prolonged on the whole, as I +shall endeavour to cut off at the end what I put on now. I the +more owe myself what enjoyment <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_210" id="PageV2_210">[210]</a></span>I can get here, that as I told +you—did I not?—in my last, my journey has been hitherto rather +a dismal failure. I told you how vile the weather was in Madrid, +so that all technical study of the pictures was out of the +question. Well this is, since then, the first perfectly fine +afternoon we have had. Observe, I only say afternoon, for it +poured in the morning, and the phenomenon of a wholly bright day +has still to come. I am also still further in arrears of +enjoyment from the fact that I got rather out of order, God +knows why, the day I went to Toledo, to the utter spoiling of +what should have been one of my most delightful trips, and am +only now pulling round again, having called in Æsculapius (at 2 +dollars a consultation), whilst at Gibraltar. An attack of this +nature is simply fatal to any real pleasure on one's journey, +and, coming on the top of dark weather and the contretemps just +as the closing of the Alcazar in Seville (one of the things I +especially wanted to see) made rather an absurd failure of the +whole thing. At Seville I was fool enough to go again to a +bull-fight, and was so disgusted that I got up and went away +when the performance was only half over. Meanwhile the aspect of +the arena itself, with the Cathedral and its marvellous tower +rising just above into the sky, is a very striking sight, and +one I should regret to have missed. The processional entry, too, +of the whole of the performers—picadors, capeodors, espadas, +&c. &c.—is very picturesque and stately. It is when the goring +and torturing begins that the sight is revolting; and the +enormous popularity of this form of sport with a nation, not, +that I am aware of, exceptionally cruel, only shows how easily +our worst instincts stifle our better nature, such as it is.</p> + +<p>This is a prodigiously picturesque place, and I enjoy more than +I can say watching the Arabs swarming up the streets and +markets, stately and grand in their picturesqueness beyond any +population that I know, and particularly instructive and +valuable to an artist from the sculpturesque <i>definiteness</i> of +their forms. The Jewish women here are said (by Ford) to be +prodigiously handsome. I have seen no Rebeccas amongst them yet. +I have not yet opened my box, and shall at best do little or +nothing; I have no time. Next week I shall be in Granada, from +where I hope to have to acknowledge a letter dated in Kensington +Park Gardens. Meanwhile I am, with best love to Lina and +yourself,—Yours affectionately,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred.</p> +</div> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_211" id="PageV2_211">[211]</a></span><span class="sc">Granada,</span> <i>October 19, 1877</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">My dear Papa,</span>—To-morrow is my last day in Granada. On +Sunday I turn my face Londonward, and my holiday will be pretty +nearly at an end, as I have, from want of time, given up my +original intention of seeing Valencia, Alicante, Tarragona, &c. +&c. Travelling in Spain is so infinitely slower than I had +remembered it, and so ideally inconvenient in regard to hours of +starting and arriving, that my programme has altogether +undergone considerable modifications. I reached this place a +good week later than I expected, and I did not get your letter +till some days later yet, owing, I suppose, to the difficulty +experienced by the postal authorities in the art of reading. +This will account to you for the time that will have elapsed +between your receipt of my two epistles. I am truly sorry to +hear that poor Lina is below par; tell her so, with my love. As +you do not speak of yourself, I presume that you are in good +form, and am glad to hear it. There is one passage in your +letter which suggests to me a strong protest. I think it +preposterous that the ambulant spinsters, or otherwise, with +whom you foregather on your journeys, should expect <i>you</i> to +furnish them with photos of your "celebrated son." I like +enthusiasm; but <i>genuine</i> enthusiasm does not halt at a +shilling, which is the sum for which my effigy is obtainable in +the public market; <i>verb. sap.</i> I will not describe to you +Toledo, Cordova, Seville, Granada, &c. (under which heads see +Murray's guide-book). I have done so before (probably), and they +have altered less than I, with the exception, perhaps, of +Granada, or rather the Alhambra, which, alas! is changed indeed, +thanks to the restoring mania, and is now all but brand new. I +ought, perhaps, to remark that the changes in <i>me</i> are not +precisely in that direction. Taking a bird's-eye view of my +holiday, I don't think I should call it altogether a success, +though I have had many very delightful moments, and have seen +many very beautiful things; but, in the first place, I have +failed to fulfil one of the special objects of my trip, that, +namely, of making a few sketches of sky effects, particularly +seaside skies, which I sorely want for my picture of the girls +and the skein of worsted. I have not done so, because I have not +<i>once</i> seen anything even resembling the skies I mean, and which +are generally forthcoming at this season. The weather has indeed +of late been fine, often if <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_212" id="PageV2_212">[212]</a></span>not always, and here even, at +times, superb; but it is the before the rains, and not, as it +should be, the clear, keen, autumn weather, after the air has +been well swept and purged by the equinoctial broom and pail, +which I had a right to demand of a Mediterranean October. This +is a great disappointment. I did not want to <i>work</i>, and God +knows I have not (five little sketches in all!); but just this +document I did peremptorily require. In the second place, I have +been rather seedy (am all right now), not very, but enough to +poison my pleasure; and just so much that, after two or three +little amateur attempts (local apothecary, fellow-travellers, +&c. &c.), I thought it right (at Gibraltar) to see a doctor, not +<i>because</i> I was ill, but <i>lest</i> I should get worse and develop +more serious symptoms, as internal disturbance occasionally does +in hot countries. In a few days (and two large bottles of +physic) I was much better, and am now, I repeat, quite "myself" +again.</p> + +<p>But I perceive that this uninteresting twaddle has filled my +paper, and barely left me space to tell that I have been to +Africa, and shall be home on the 28th (evening). Yes, to Africa; +Tangiers in four hours' steam from Gibraltar, and a most +picturesque spot, of which more when we meet. On my way home I +shall spend part of a day in Madrid, in the hopes of seeing the +pictures this time. On my road through France I shall make a +short break at Poitiers. <i>À bientôt.</i>—Affectionate son,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred.</p> +</div> + +<p>During the nine years that Leighton was a Royal Academician he worked +most energetically in many directions towards establishing the +principles which he considered sound and essential to the growth of +the best Art instincts in England. He was one of the Professional +Examiners in Art from 1866 to 1875 at the Victoria and Albert Museum. +In 1884 he became one of the Art Referees for the Museum, and was +consulted by Sir Henry Cole to a considerable extent. He aided, as far +as lay in his power, all Art Societies to expand and to grow on the +lines of Catholicity. He was a member of the Committee of the Society +of Dilettanti, for the purpose of obtaining information as to the +probable <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_213" id="PageV2_213">[213]</a></span>success of renewed search for monuments of Greek Art. The +following extract from a report proves what an active part he took in +the business of the society:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"In the autumn of the same year two hundred cases of +inscriptions and sculptures from Priene were transported from +Priene to Smyrna, and thence conveyed to England in H.M.S. +<i>Antelope</i>. In March 1870 the society presented these marbles to +the trustees of the British Museum. In May 1870 the committee, +then consisting of Earl Somers, Lord Houghton, Mr. Watkiss +Lloyd, Mr. Penrose, Mr. Cartwright, Mr. Leighton, and Mr. +Newton, held several meetings. The committee at their meetings +went carefully over all the drawings and details obtained by the +society of the Temple of Bacchus at Teos, Apollo Smintheus, and +Minerva Polias at Priene; they were of opinion that they would +form an interesting and valuable publication, and should be +proceeded with as soon as possible, and executed in a style +worthy of the former productions of the society. Mr. Leighton +offered to redraw the sculpture on some of the friezes, and Lord +Somers to prepare the landscape illustrations."</p></div> + +<p>In 1871 the President of the Artist Benevolent Fund, Mr. J.K. Kempton +Hope, wrote to Leighton: "I am peculiarly proud that the first act +which I have to perform in my new character is to say how honoured and +grateful we all should be if you would kindly consent to accept the +position of Vice-President."</p> + +<p>The following letter to his father announces that Leighton had been +elected President of the International Jury of Painting, Paris +Exhibition, 1878:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Hôtel Westminster, 1878,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>Friday</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Papa,</span>—I have been waiting to write till I should +have something to say beyond the fact that the weather is +odious, and shows no signs of relenting. On Saturday afternoon +we had our meeting of the Royal Commissioners, which had for its +object the hearing of an address from the Prince of Wales. On +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_214" id="PageV2_214">[214]</a></span>Monday morning the <i>whole</i> International Jury (some six +hundred or seven hundred members) met at the Ministère de +Commerce, and was little more than formal. <i>To-day</i> the group of +sections which are concerned with Art held its first meeting +under the presidency of Signor Tullio Massarani, an Italian, +with Meissonier as Vice-President, the chief object of the +meeting being to inform the various sections of the groups whom +the Minister had appointed as their respective presidents. My +section, composed of forty members, is <i>Paintings and Drawings</i>; +there are twenty Frenchmen—nearly all the first artists of the +country, in fact—and you will be surprised and very much +gratified to learn that I was named president of this section—a +very high honour, of course, and one of which I am extremely +sensible, but which we must not misinterpret; it is, of course, +only by an act of international courtesy that the French placed +a foreigner at the head of their section, and amongst the other +foreign artists there were few names of much weight or standing; +still, it is a courtesy which will, I am sure, give you +pleasure. Our section being thus constituted, we then appointed +our own <i>vice</i>-president, reporter, and secretary; they were +unanimously elected; the first was my old friend, Robert Fleury; +the second was Emile de Savelege, the Belgian writer whom you +know of; and the third an old and kind friend of mine, Maurice +Cottier, a man much mixed up in the official artistic world and +possessing a magnificent picture gallery. To-morrow we begin our +labours at the Exhibition, and in the afternoon I shall go to +the <i>séance</i> of the <i>Institut</i>, which always takes place on +Saturdays. This is my budget.</p></div> + +<p>Perhaps the most important work inside the Academy which Leighton +effected during this time was that of establishing the winter +exhibitions of Old Masters at Burlington House. No one exemplified +practically better than did Leighton the value of the motto, "What is +worth having is worth sharing." He had been fed from early youth from +the fountain-heads of Art, and one of his first objects after being +elected a member of the Royal Academy was to endeavour <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_215" id="PageV2_215">[215]</a></span>to secure the +same inspiring stimulus for students which he had himself imbibed from +the work of the greatest men. He told me also that his chief object in +making conscientious studies in colour when he travelled, was to +endeavour to convey to students who were not able to go abroad some +idea of the varieties in the aspects of nature found in different +countries. Leighton was much appreciated in London society, but the +<i>intimes</i> of the old Roman days remained still the nucleus of his +friendships; also every year he tried to find himself in his beloved +Italy, and he generally succeeded. From his old friend Lady William +Russell, mother of Odo Russell (afterwards Lord Ampthill and +Leighton's ally in Rome), and Arthur Russell—the notable lady whose +charm attracted to her <i>salon</i> all that was most interesting among the +magnates of Europe—two notes record her affection for Leighton and +the death of Henry Greville in 1872, the severest blow which Leighton +had sustained since the death of his mother.</p> + +<div class="block"><p>I was in hopes of seeing you, to thank you <i>vivâ voce</i> for the +<i>ambrosia</i> you sent me from Italy. I did <i>not</i> write during your +pictorial tour, not exactly knowing <i>where</i> you might be. It +was, <i>and is</i>, for I have some still, <i>excellent</i>; Paolo +Veronese did not eat any better, nor Titian, nor any of your +<i>Brethren in Apollo</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Guido</i> you <i>are</i>—the English Guido—but <i>not</i> "da Polenta"; I +will <i>not</i> accept that "terre à terre" denomination. I now thank +you most gratefully—it was one of the seven works of mercy, for +I really could not eat and was <i>starving</i>. The Indian cornflour +was a <i>renovation</i>. If ever you can make up your mind to pay a +visit to una povera vealisa—zoppa—sorda—brutta and seccante, +and forget "<i>Aurora</i>," I shall be charmed. But I know that your +time is better employed; so a million of thanks, and as many +regrets not to be able to see your <i>marvels</i> of which I +hear.—Believe me, most sincerely your obliged Serva and Amica,</p> + +<p class="right">E.A.R.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">2 Audley Square Mayfair, W.</span><br /> +<span style="padding-left: 2em;"><i>Sunday, 26th November 1871</i>.</span></p> +</div> + + +<div class="block"><p><span class="sc">Dear Guido</span> (but <i>not</i> of Polenta),—I have been quite<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_216" id="PageV2_216">[216]</a></span> +<i>mortified</i> at your neglect of me, and invoked the muses in +vain! and call'd on the ghosts of Titian and Raffael, but they +did not heed my sighs! I am always glad to see you, and wish I +could <i>see your works</i>! All my cotemporaries and comrades are +dying off, and I <i>cannot</i> last long—so come to my "Evenings at +Home" when you dine in my "Quartier" and are going to your club.</p> + +<p>Alas! for dear Henry Greville! I knew him from his most early +youth. <i>Both</i> his parents were my <i>early</i> friends from <i>my</i> +youth, and his elder brother my cotemporary.</p> + +<p>Come! Benvenuto Cellini—venite!</p> + +<p><i>Monday, February 1873.</i></p> +</div> + +<p>Leighton's passion for music led him to encourage all that was best in +instrumental as well as in vocal performance. The Monday Popular +Concerts were started by Messrs. Chappell in 1859, the first being +given on the 3rd January. From their commencement Leighton was a +subscriber, and very rarely missed being present.</p> + +<p>It was in the 'seventies that Leighton instituted those yearly feasts +of music, which were among the real treats of the year.<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> His dear +friend Joachim was to the end the <i>pièce de résistance</i> of these +gatherings. Never did the Great Master seem so inspired as when he +played in that studio. Leighton wrote to his sister, Mrs. Matthews, +April 1871:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p><span class="sc">Dearest Gussy,</span>—You heard, no doubt, that I gave a +party the other day, and that it went off well. To me perhaps +the most striking thing of the evening was Joachim's playing of +Bach's "Chacone" up in my gallery. I was at the other end of the +room, and the effect from the distance of the dark figure in the +uncertain light up there, and barely relieved from the gold +background and dark recess, struck me as one of the most poetic +and fascinating things that I remember. At the opposite end of +the room in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_217" id="PageV2_217">[217]</a></span>apse was a blazing crimson rhododendron tree, +which looked glorious where it reached up into the golden +semi-dome. Madame Viardot sang the "Divinités du Styx," from the +"Alcestis," quite magnificently, and then, later in the evening, +a composition of her own in which I delight—a Spanish-Arab +ditty, with a sort of intermittent mandoline scraping +accompaniment. It is the complaint of some forsaken woman, and +wanders and quavers in a doleful sort of way that calls up to me +in a startling manner visions and memories of Cadiz and Cordova, +and sunny distant lands that smell of jasmine. A little Miss +Brandes, a pupil of Madame Schumann, played too. She is full of +talent and promise, and has had an immense success. Mme. Joachim +sang "Mignon" (Beethoven) excellently.</p></div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep216" id="imagep216"></a> +<a href="images/imagep216.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep216.jpg" width="75%" alt="Sketch by Theodore Blake Wirgman" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">Sketch executed on the spot by Mr. Theodore Blake +Wirgman of their Majesties the King and Queen attending a Popular +Concert <br />in St. James's Hall, Lord Leighton being one of the Royal +party. About 1893.<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>Mrs. Watts Hughes writes the following notes relating to those years +of the 'seventies:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>I remember the incident you refer to at Eton College. The +<i>Orfeo</i> performance was given by the Eton boys, who had formed a +society among themselves with the view of making acquaintance +with the music of the great masters. I took the part of <i>Orfeo</i>, +and a niece of Darwin's, Miss Wedgwood, who is now Lady Farrer, +sang Euridice's part. I believe Lord Leighton sang in some of +the quartettes and choruses. I often met Lord Leighton at Mrs. +Sartoris' musical gatherings at her house in Park Place, St. +James', when he would sing very heartily the tenor parts of the +old madrigals, in which also Mrs. Douglas Freshfield, Miss +Ritchie, and others took part with Mrs. Sartoris, who on some +occasions would sing one of her great operatic <i>Arias</i> which +brought her so much fame in her former years.</p></div> + +<p>In 1877 Leighton began to build the famous Arab Hall.<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_218" id="PageV2_218">[218]</a></span>The following letters from Sir Richard Burton refer to the collecting +and sending of one instalment of the precious tiles:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Damascus,</span> <i>March 22, 1871</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Mr. Leighton,</span>—I have just returned from a +pilgrimage to Jerusalem, or yours of April 14th, 1871, would not +have remained so long unanswered. And now to business. I am +quite as willing to have a house pulled down for you now as when +at Vichy,<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> but the difficulty is to find a house with tiles. +The <i>bric-à-brac</i> sellers have quite learned their value, and +demand extravagant sums for poor articles. Of course you want +good old specimens, and these are waxing very rare. My friends, +Drake and Palmer, were lucky enough, when at Jerusalem, to +nobble a score or so from the so-called Mosque of Omar. Large +stores are <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_219" id="PageV2_219">[219]</a></span>there found, but unhappily under charge of the +Wakf, and I fancy that long payments would be required. However, +I shall send your letter to my colleague, Moore, who will do +what he can for you. The fact is, it is a work of patience. My +wife and I will keep a sharp look-out for you, and buy up as +many as we can find which seem to answer your description. If +native inscriptions—white or blue, for instance—are to be had, +I shall secure them, but not if imperfect. Some clearing away of +rubbish is expected at Damascus; the Englishman who superintends +is a friend of mine, and I shall not neglect to get from him as +much as possible.</p> + +<p>We met Holman Hunt at Jerusalem; he was looking a little worn, +like a veritable denizen of the Holy City. I hope that you have +quite recovered health. Swinburne, the papers say, has been +sick; his "Songs before Sunrise" show even more genius than +"Poems and Ballads." What has become of Mrs. Sartoris? I saw her +son's appointment in the papers. Poor Vichy must be quite +ruined—veritably it was a Cockney hole. Syria is a poor Chili; +the Libanus is a mole-hill compared with the Andes—do you +remember? I am planning a realistic book which has no Holy Land +on the brain, and the public will curse her like our army in +Flanders. Pilgrims see everything through a peculiar medium, and +tourists shake hands (like madmen) when they sight the Plain of +Esdraelon or Sharon, as the case may be.</p> + +<p><i>N.B.</i>—Both plains are like the poorer parts of our midland +counties. My wife joins in kind remembrances.—Ever yours +sincerely,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Richard F. Burton.</p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep218" id="imagep218"></a> +<a href="images/imagep218.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep218.jpg" width="63%" alt="Sir Richard Burton" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">PORTRAIT OF SIR RICHARD BURTON, K.C.M.G. 1876<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Trieste</span>, <i>July 13, 1876</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">My dear Leighton</span>,—One word to say that the tiles are +packed, and will be sent by the first London +steamer—opportunities are rare here. Some are perfect, many are +broken; but they will make a bit of mosaic after a little +trimming, and illustrate the difference between Syriac and +Sindi. They are taken from the tomb (Moslem) of Sakhar, on the +Indus. I can give you analysis of glaze if you want it; but I +fancy you don't care for analyses. The yellow colour is by far +the rarest and least durable apparently. The blues are the +favourites and the best.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_220" id="PageV2_220">[220]</a></span>Here we are living in a typhoon of lies. I am losing patience, +and shall probably bolt to Belgrade in search of truth. Austria +is behaving in her usual currish manner, allowing her policy to +be managed by a minority of light-headed, Paddy-whack Magyars +and pudding-headed, beer-brained Austro-Germans. How all Europe +funks the Slavs, and how well the latter are beginning to know +it.</p> + +<p>Very grand of <i>la grande Bretagne</i> to propose occupying Egypt +without any army to speak of. Sorry that you don't understand +the force of the expression, the "world generally," but will try +some time or other to make it clear. United best regards and +wishes. Why don't you take a holiday to Turkey?—Ever yours,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">R.F. Burton.</p> + +<p><i>P.S.</i>—I hear that W. Wright has subsided into an Irish +conventicle, and that Green doesn't like prospect of returning +to Dan!</p></div> + +<p>The construction of this thing of beauty, the Arab Hall, is a visible +and permanent proof of the side in Leighton's artistic endowments +which are so rarely found in northern, or indeed any modern nations, +and the want of which are gradually leading our world into being very +ugly—namely, the sense of the appropriate, of balance, of proportion, +and of harmony in the construction and decoration of buildings. As an +adherent of the pre-Raphaelites, William Morris had been battling with +this tasteless condition of things for some years—strenuously working +to counteract the unmeaning adaptations of foreign designs of all +times and of all countries into English work, and the general +muddledom into which the decoration in the surroundings of domestic +life had fallen, by starting afresh on the lines of simple good +designs of English pre-Puritan days. Leighton's taste had been +inspired, in the first instance, by the crafts as well as by the art +of Italy. Subsequently, the East had fascinated him. He admired +greatly the frank, courageous beauty in the colouring of the +decorations of her buildings; but, having an acute sense of the +appropriate, he felt that they would not harmonise successfully with +the necessary <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_221" id="PageV2_221">[221]</a></span>surroundings of English domestic life. He was +therefore inspired to erect a special shrine for his collection of +enamels. It has been truly said that the Arab Hall is as notable a +creation in Art as any of Leighton's pictures or statues. The beauty +of its effect is greatly enhanced by the arrangement of light and +shade which leads on to the wonderfully beautiful casket of treasures. +Monsieur Choisy, the distinguished French architect, wrote as follows +in the <i>Times</i> of April 27, 1896, when advocating the preservation of +this house for the public: "Nowhere have I found in an architectural +monument a happier gradation of effects, nor a more complete knowledge +of the play of light. The entrance to the house is by a plain hall +that leads to a '<i>patio</i>' lit from the sky, where enamels shine +brilliantly in the full light; from this 'patio' one passes into a +twilight corridor, where enamel and gold detach themselves from an +architectural ground of richness somewhat severe; it is a transition +which prepares the eye for a jewel of Oriental Art, where the most +brilliant productions of the Persian potter are set in architectural +frame inspired by Arab Art, but treated freely; the harmony is so +perfect that one asks oneself if the architecture has been conceived +for the enamels, or the enamels for the hall. This gradation, perhaps +unique in contemporary architecture, was Leighton's idea; and the +illustrious painter found in his old friend Mr. G. Aitchison, who +built his house, a worthy interpreter of his fine conception. This +hall, where colour is triumphant, was dear to Leighton, and even forms +the background to some of his pictures. Towards the end of his life he +still meant to embellish it by substituting marble for that small part +that was only painted. The generous employment of his fortune alone +prevented him from realising his intention.</p> + +<p>"England has at all times given the example of honouring great men; +she will, I am sure, find the means of preserving <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_222" id="PageV2_222">[222]</a></span>for Art a monument +of which she has such reason to be proud."<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a></p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep221" id="imagep221"></a> +<a href="images/imagep221.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep221.jpg" width="85%" alt="View Of Arab Hall. 1906" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">VIEW OF ARAB HALL. 1906<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> In the Leighton House Collection is a splendid study for +the wrestling figure of Heracles, also for the recumbent Alcestis, and +the drapery for the phantom figure of Death. The figure of Heracles, +fine as it is in the picture, lacks somewhat of the ardent quality in +the action of the sketch. Owing to the public-spirited generosity of +its owner, the late Right Hon. Sir Bernhard Samuelson, this picture +has travelled all over the world for exhibition. It was also lent to +Leighton House for more than a year in 1901.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> In the Leighton House Collection is a head in oils +(presented by the late Alfred Waterhouse, R.A.) which Leighton painted +actually by moonlight in Rome, as a study for one of the figures in +"Summer Moon." See <a href="#toi">List of Illustrations</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> See study for picture in Leighton House Collection.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> Leighton had a cast made of this, and his copy is still +in the collection in his house. Another copy he gave to Watts, who +admired it beyond measure. Watts recounted to me that so preciously +did he value it, that, not daring to expose it to the danger of +housemaids' dusting, he carefully wrapped it up in handkerchiefs and +put it in a drawer. One day, alas! forgetting it was there, in a +hurry, he pulled the bundle of handkerchiefs out; it fell to the floor +and was smashed.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> <i>The Athenæum</i> described the work when it appeared. +"There is the grandeur of Greek tragedy in Mr. Leighton's +'Clytemnestra watching for the signal of her husband's return from +Troy.' The time is deep in the fateful night, while the city sleeps; +moonlight floods the walls, the roofs, the gates, and the towers with +a ghastly glare, which seems presageful, and casts shadows as dark as +they are mysterious and terrible. The dense blue of the sky is dim, +sad, and ominous. But the most ominous and impressive element of the +picture is a grim figure—the tall woman on the palace roof before us, +who looks Titanic in her stateliness, and huge beyond humanity in the +voluminous white drapery that wraps her limbs and bosom. Her hands are +clenched and her arms thrust down straight and rigidly, each finger +locked as in a struggle to strangle its fellow; the muscles swell on +the bulky limbs. Drawn erect and with set features, which are so pale +that the moonlight could not make them paler, the queen stares fixedly +and yet eagerly into the distance, as if she had the will to look over +the very edge of the world for the light to come."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> The Hon. Mrs. Grenfell.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> Purchased by the trustees of the Chantrey Bequest and +placed in the Tate Gallery.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> Leighton gave this group to Watts, who expressed to me +an unbounded admiration for it. "Nothing more beautiful has ever been +done! Pheidias never did anything better. I believe it was better even +than Pheidias!" were the words Watts used when deploring the fact that +he had lent it to a sculptor to be cast—something had gone wrong in +the process of casting, and it had been destroyed. When giving me the +modelled sketch for the "Python," Watts said, "I am giving you the +most beautiful thing I have in my place."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> The group of singing girls modelled as a study for "The +Daphnephoria."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> See complete list in <a href="#LIST_OF_PRINCIPAL_WORKS">Appendix</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> The "Arts of War" lunette was commenced in 1870 and +finished in 1880. The "Arts of Peace," begun in 1881, was completed in +1886. An account of these two frescoes appeared in the <i>Magazine of +Art</i> written by Mr. J. Ward, the master of the Macclesfield School of +Art, who assisted Leighton in the work.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> In a letter from Mr. J.G. Hodgson, A.R.A., praises are +bestowed on this picture and the "Moorish Garden" at the expense of +"Clytemnestra" and the "Antique Juggling Girl." The letter is a good +example of the criticisms which Leighton's serious work often +received—that work in which, nevertheless, he was most true to +himself. The ordinary English eye neither longed for nor appreciated +Leighton's native Hellenic strain.</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="datepad2 sc">5 Hill Road,</span><br /> +<i>Friday, April 4, 1874</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">My dear Leighton,</span>—I was immensely delighted with your +two pictures of the Jew's house and the Alhambra ("Moorish +Garden: A Dream of Granada"). I was at the opera last night, but +thought much less of Crispin and his Comara than of them; they +are quite charming, and excite me with the desire of emulation, +at that safe distance which is inherent in the nature of things. +For your "Clytemnestra" and the other ("Antique Juggling Girl"), +I, being a Philister, care nothing at all. From those to turn to +these, seems like leaving a garden fragrant with roses and +citron blossoms, where I hear the murmur of cooling streams, +Abanah and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, to enter a museum filled +with dusty plaster casts.</p> + +<p>After all, the woes of the house of Atreus are now of very +little importance to mankind, or interest either. The most of +the latter they possess, is that they serve as themes for some +good Greek play, which had better have been burnt, as they have +hampered the genius of modern Europe and taught us nothing. Had +only Homer and the lyrics survived, we should have done better. +At all events, if a man must illustrate, why does he not +illustrate Shakespeare, a bigger man head and shoulders than any +of the Greek tragedists? But it appears to me you are made for a +much better and more intellectual purpose than illustrating +anybody. You have the eye to see and power to represent what you +see. You have special gifts and faculties highly trained. The +aspect of nature, as it appears to such a mind, would be of the +highest intellectual value to us, and would lead to progress. I +don't think modern art differs from that of any other day. It +has always been the effort to represent what is seen every day, +bringing to bear upon the representation the greatest possible +amount of culture, <i>i.e.</i> of reflection and selection. The women +and that dear little girl in the courtyard of your Jew's house +will outlive all the "Clytemnestras," &c.; they live with blood +in their veins, the others are but galvanised corpses. There I +have had it out; you must not complain, because you have had to +apologise for slashing into me, and now it is my turn. In the +prologue to Goethe's "Faust," if you remember, the poet, a +stubborn fellow, has his notions of the high aim of his art. He +will do nothing but what is extremely sublime, &c. The clown +quite agrees that such things may possibly do for the future, +but who, says he, is to amuse the present? I am that sort of +clown, I suppose. Don't be riled, and believe me,—Very much +your admiring friend,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">J.G. Hodgson.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> Mr. William Spottiswoode wrote of one of these:—</p> + +<p class="noin"><span class="sc">"Dear Leighton,</span>—Best of thanks from Mrs. Spottiswoode +and myself for another of the happiest day-dreams of the year, +viz. your afternoons at home."</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> Mr. Aitchison, R.A., wrote: "During his visits to +Rhodes, to Cairo, and Damascus, he made a large collection of lovely +Saracenic tiles, and had besides bought two inscriptions, one of the +most delicate colour and beautiful design, and the other sixteen feet +long and strikingly magnificent, besides getting some panels, stained +glass, and lattice-work from Damascus afterwards; these were fitted +into an Arab Hall, something like La Zira at Palermo, in 1877."</p> + +<p class="noin">The Arab Hall was begun November 1877, virtually completed by the end +of 1879, but some small matters not till 1881. Materials—Bastard +statuary, <i>i.e.</i> the marble columns in the angle recesses. These caps +are of alabaster, designed by George Aitchison, R.A., and modelled by +Sir E. Boehm. The large columns are of Caserta marble, caps of stone, +birds modelled by Caldecott; column niches lined with Devonshire spar; +dado, Irish black; string, Irish green, and bases of small columns. +Those of the large columns are of Genoa green and Belgian blue; the +marble lining behind big columns is of Pyrennean green, and the panel +overhead; the lintel of Irish red. The marble work was done by White & +Son, Vauxhall Bridge Road. Mosaic floor, designed by George Aitchison, +R.A.; executed by Messrs. Burke & Co., who replaced fountain of white +marble with the single slab of Belgian black. Chandelier, designed by +G.A. Aitchison, R.A., executed by Forrest & Son, now extinct. The +lattices to the lower part of the gallery designed by George +Aitchison, R.A.</p> + +<p class="noin">Sir Caspar P. Clarke wrote: "I was commissioned in 1876, by the +authorities at South Kensington, to proceed to the East to buy +artistic objects for the Museum. Before I started Leighton asked me, +if I went to Damascus, to go to certain houses and try to effect the +purchase of certain tiles. I had no difficulty in finding my market, +for Leighton, with his customary precision, had accurately indicated +every point about the dwellings concerned, and their treasures. I +returned with a precious load, and in it some large family tiles, the +two finest of which are built into the sides of the alcove of the Arab +Hall. Leighton made no difficulty about the price, and insisted upon +paying double what I had given. He never spoke of picking things up +cheap, and scouted the idea of 'bargains in Art objects.'"</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> Leighton, Sir Richard Burton, Algernon Swinburne, and +Adelaide Sartoris passed some weeks together at Vichy in September +1869. Swinburne wrote in 1875: "We all owe so much to Leighton for the +selection and intention of his subjects—always noble, always +beautiful—and these are always worthy of a great and grave +art."—"Essays and Studies," A.C. Swinburne.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> Letters from Lord and Lady Strangford to Leighton exist +on matters concerning the East, on which both were great authorities.</p> + +<p class="noin">"Will you accept," Lady Strangford wrote, "as a token of my admiration +of your house, a piece of ancient Persian needlework? It is really +old, and it is said that they no longer do anything of the kind in +Persia, and that these pieces are valuable. I do not know if this is +true or not, but <i>if</i> you <i>like</i> the thing, please use it among the +many treasures you have already accumulated. It is to my eyes a nice +bit of harmonious colouring. Let it say to you how much, how very +much, I enjoyed your sketches.—Yours very truly,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">E.A. Strangford.</p> + +<p class="noin">"<i>P.S.</i>—I bought the work from a Persian at Antioch."</p> + +<p class="noin">To Professor Church Mr. Aitchison wrote after Leighton's death: "I +cannot urge the preservation of his home and surroundings, as I built +the house, for there are always too many to attribute low motives to +everybody, and it would be called personal advertisement; though when +one's work is done it becomes almost impersonal, and if it did not, +the fact remains the same, that here he (Leighton) lived and drew part +of his culture and inspiration from his surroundings. As a mere matter +of reverence, how many would come from all parts of the civilised +world to see his abode!"</p></div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep222" id="imagep222"></a> +<a href="images/imagep222.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep222.jpg" width="58%" alt="Professor Giovanni Costa" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">PROFESSOR GIOVANNI COSTA<br /> +Painted at Lerici, October 1878<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_223" id="PageV2_223">[223]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER V<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>LEIGHTON AS PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY</h4> + +<h4>1878-1896</h4> +<br /> + +<p>Leighton was at Lerici in the autumn of 1878, visiting his dear old +friend Giovanni Costa ("an artist in a hundred—a man in ten +thousand," were Leighton's words describing him), when he received a +telegram stating that Sir Francis Grant was dead. "The President is +dead! Long live the President!" exclaimed Costa. Leighton remained in +Italy, sketching landscapes and painting heads—one, the portrait of +Costa—till his holiday was over, the end of October. On the 18th of +November he was elected President of the Royal Academy. Thirty-five +Academicians voted for Leighton, five for Mr. Horsley.</p> + +<p>Leighton wrote to his younger sister:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right">1878.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dearest Gussy,</span>—You perhaps have heard from Lina that I +had an overwhelming majority, and that the outer world beyond +artistic has warmly received my election, which is of course +infinitely gratifying, but fills me with a dread of +disappointing everybody. Monday I go to Windsor to be knighted. +Yes, I got a first-class gold medal for my statue<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a>—at least, +it was awarded, and I shall get it some time. I also don't mind +telling you in <i>strict confidence</i>—because it is not yet a +<i>fait accompli</i>—that I am, I believe, to have the "ruban" of an +Officier de la Légion d'Honneur. I am so glad, dear, your wrists +are better—may they keep so. Love to old Joseph (Joseph +Joachim) when you see him.</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_224" id="PageV2_224">[224]</a></span>Most treasured of all congratulations were doubtless these lines from +his beloved master, Steinle:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p><i>Translation.</i>]</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="sc">Frankfurt am Main,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad2"><i>December 1, 1878</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear and honoured Friend,</span>—To-day I have read in the +paper that the choice of President of the Royal Academy has +fallen upon you, and since I am convinced that this +distinguished position is both appropriate to your services to +art, and also certainly well merited, you must permit an old +friend, who remains bound to you in love only, to offer you his +dearest and warmest good wishes upon this honour. I pray God, +that your position may provide you with great power in your +country for good so as to enable you to encourage the noblest +things in art. I am convinced that you, dear friend, will make a +right and fruitful use of it. I often set my pupils to make +enlarged drawings of single groups from your medieval Equipment +for the Defence of the Town,<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> and rejoice in the admirable +studies which you made for that cartoon. I, dear friend, am in +my old age still active and industrious, and would gladly go on +learning. Should God grant life, I shall next year complete my +work on the Strassburg master, which will demand all my love and +strength. Here we have now built a new gallery, on the other +side of the river Main, and a new studio. The collections are +good, and more suitably accommodated than heretofore, and there +is no want of space for future additions. Perhaps one of your +journeys will bring you again to the old Main town, and so to +the arms of your old friend. My dear President, I repeat my good +wishes, and remain with all my heart, your truly devoted,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Edw. Steinle.</p> +</div> + +<p>From his birthplace Leighton received the following announcement:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="cen">BOROUGH OF SCARBOROUGH.</p> + +<p>At a meeting of the Council of the Borough of Scarborough, in +the County of York, held in the Town Hall in <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_225" id="PageV2_225">[225]</a></span>the said Borough, +on Monday the ninth day of December, 1878,—</p> + +<p class="cen">Present,—<br /> +<span class="sc">The Mayor (W.C. Land,</span> Esq.) in the chair,—</p> + +<p>It was moved by the Mayor, seconded by Alderman Woodall, and +resolved unanimously: "That this Council learns with peculiar +satisfaction and pleasure of the election of a native of +Scarborough, in the person of <span class="sc">Sir Frederic Leighton,</span> to +the Presidency of the Royal Academy, and respectfully offers to +Sir Frederic its warm congratulations, and records its +conviction that his great talents as an artist, his attainments +as a scholar, and his many striking qualifications, eminently +fit him to adorn the high position to which he has been called."</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="sc">W.C. Land</span>, Mayor.</p> +</div> + +<p>Robert Browning wrote:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">19 Warwick Crescent, W.,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad2"><i>November 14, 1878</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Leighton,</span>—I wish you joy with all my heart, and +congratulate us all on your election. There ought to have been +no sort of doubt as to the result, but the best of us are +misconceived sometimes, though in your case never was a right +more incontestable. All I hope is that your new duties will in +no way interfere with the practice of your Art. I only venture +to write, now, as one who, so many a year ago, saw your +beginning with "Cimabue," and from that time to this remained +confident what your career would be. But you know all this, and +it requires no answer, being rather a spurt of satisfaction at +my own original discernment than any assurance which I can fancy +you need from,—Yours very truly,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Robert Browning.</p> + +<p>Pen's letter to me, two days since, contained his earnest wishes +for what has just happened, and he will be delighted +accordingly.</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_226" id="PageV2_226">[226]</a></span>From Matthew Arnold:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Athenæum Club, Pall Mall, S.W.,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>November 15</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">My dear Leighton,</span>—One line (which you need not answer) +to say how delighted I am to see what an excellent choice the +Royal Academy has made.</p> + +<p>I only hope poor O'Conor may not take advantage of the occasion +to plant an ode and a letter.—Ever sincerely yours,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Matthew Arnold.</p> +</div> + +<p>From Hubert Herkomer:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><i>November 27, 1878.</i></p> + +<p><span class="sc">My dear Sir Frederic Leighton,</span>—I am just recovering +from an attack of brain fever, and although I am not allowed yet +to write, I can no longer wait without dictating a letter to +express my own individual pleasure at your being the new +President.</p> + +<p>Three years ago you wrote me a letter after seeing my "Chelsea +Pensioners." Perhaps you little dreamt of the tears of joy that +that letter caused in a young painter, who will always feel that +he owes you a debt of gratitude; and now he glories in your +being the chief of that body which attracts to it all the +principal art of the country. All England feels that you, from +your new position, will give new life to it. Perhaps you will +allow me, when I am sufficiently recovered, to come and see you.</p> + +<p>In the meantime believe me to be, with most heartfelt +congratulations,—Sincerely yours,</p> + +<p class="right">A.H., <i>pro</i> <span class="sc">Hubert Herkomer.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Sir Frederic Leighton,</span> P.R.A.</p> +</div> + +<p>A friend writes:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><i>November 15.</i></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Mr. Leighton,</span>—I have tried to keep silence, +telling myself that it cannot matter what I think or feel on the +subject (and that it may seem to you a very unnecessary +proceeding!); but I <i>cannot</i> resist the temptation to tell you +how warmly I rejoice, and how earnestly I congratulate <i>myself</i> +and all other <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_227" id="PageV2_227">[227]</a></span>hungerers after wholesome beauty of colour and +form, and high ideals of greatness and purity, on your +acceptance of a position that one may hope will, nay must, +influence the Art of this time for good in every sense. One +takes a great breath of relief as one thinks of it!</p> + +<p>Were I to describe to you the effect your works produce on me, +and the feeling of real reverence I have for them, I should +appear to exaggerate, and should certainly bore you, so I will +say no more! and I am not given to that sort of thing.</p> + +<p>My beloved Lady Waterford was much disappointed that you could +not come and meet her; I need not say, so were we: it was a +great enjoyment to have her, she is like no one else; and I yet +hope you may come and meet here some day. Pray do not answer +this; of course you are overwhelmed with business, and it would +hurt me to have it considered and acknowledged as a +complimentary civility! whereas it is nothing but an involuntary +overflowing to relieve my mind.</p></div> + +<p>From Lord Coleridge:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">1 Sussex Square, W.,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad2"><i>November 24, 1878</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">My dear Leighton</span>,—Let me add one voice more, small but +true, to the great chorus of applause with which your election +has been greeted. It might seem left-handed praise to say that +your election was the only possible one; but it is very true +praise to say it was the only possible one if the highest +interests of English Art, and of the Academy itself, were the +sole object of the electors.</p> + +<p>It would have pleased and touched you to hear old Boxall speak +of it. I dined with him alone on Friday, and he was just and +generous, as he always is, in his appreciation of you, and +looked forward to your reign as likely to be one of high aims +and noble motives. It is a small thing to say, but I venture to +agree with him.—Ever sincerely yours,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Coleridge.</p> +</div> + +<p>These are a few among many hundred congratulatory letters Leighton +received on his election. One from Mrs. <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_228" id="PageV2_228">[228]</a></span>Fanny Kemble he answered in +the following March, when already he was beset by requests to use his +influence to get friends' friends' work hung on the walls of the +Academy:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><i>March 20, 1879.</i></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Mrs. Kemble,</span>—Many thanks for your very amiable +words of congratulations on the honour done me by the Royal +Academy. The kind sympathy shown towards me by my friends had +added very greatly indeed to the pleasure my election gave me. +The belief entertained by Miss —— that the admission of works +to an exhibition is a simple matter of personal favour, is +shared by all foreigners—and I fear by many English people—and +places me at this time of year in much and often painful +embarrassment. So robust is this belief, that those who, having +applied to me, fail to find their works on our walls ascribe +their absence to personal unfriendliness or discourtesy on my +part, or, to say the least, to lukewarmness. As a matter of fact +each work of art is admitted or rejected by a separate vote of +the Council, and that in complete ignorance (except where +authorship <i>saute aux yeux</i>) of the artist's name. This applies +equally to English painters and foreign artists who reside here. +In regard, however, to foreigners sending <i>from abroad</i>, whilst +the vote is taken in the same way, admission is much more +difficult. We have so many Anglo-foreign painters who live +amongst us that, our Exhibition not being international, we can +only admit a very limited number of really prize works. These +works are therefore brought before us separately, and a small +number of them selected, according to the space we have to deal +with; I myself as a rule dissuade my foreign friends from +sending except in cases where their merit is really very great; +this may be Miss —— case; you will best know. I am quite sure, +my dear Mrs. Kemble, that you do not doubt the pleasure it would +give me to serve you in the person of your friend, and will not +misinterpret these lengthy explanations.</p> + +<p>And now I have a favour to ask of you. On Wednesday the 26th, at +3 o'clock in the afternoon, Joe will, I hope, play at my studio, +and with him Miss Janotha and Piatti; Henschel will, I hope, +sing. Will you give me the great pleasure of seeing you <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_229" id="PageV2_229">[229]</a></span>amongst +my friends on that occasion?—Believe me always, yours very +truly,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred Leighton.</p> +</div> + +<p>On December 10, 1879, Leighton delivered his first address to the +students of the Royal Academy—one of the finest of the many fine +achievements of Leighton's life. "Purely practical and technical +matters" he put aside to look into a wider and deeper question, that +of the position of Art in its relation to the world at large in the +present and in the past time, in order to gather something of its +prospects in the future. If the question why Leighton held +indisputably the great position he did were asked me by one who for a +first time had heard his name, I should be inclined to answer, +"Because he contained within him the combined powers to execute +completely the art which he created, and to think out and feel such +profound, sympathetic, and wise truths as those to be found in this +address."<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a></p> + +<p>Among the large number of appreciative letters Leighton received were +the following.</p> + +<p>Millais wrote:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">2 Palace Gate, Kensington,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad2"><i>December 11, 1879</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Leighton,</span>—I was suffering all yesterday with +tooth-ache, otherwise I would have attended the distribution +last night. The ceremony is always most interesting to me, +awakening as it does many anxious and happy recollections. My +object in writing to you is to say I have read your address, +which I think so beautiful, true, and <i>useful</i> that I cannot but +obey an impulse of congratulating you upon it. For some time +past I have been putting down notes on Art which some day may be +put into form, and I find we are thinking precisely in the same +way. I have used identical words in what I have written to those +you delivered yesterday.</p> + +<p>The exponents of Art surround it in such a cloud of mystery +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_230" id="PageV2_230">[230]</a></span>that it is a real gain when a practical authority is able to say +something definite and clear the way.—Yours sincerely,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">J.E. Millais.</p> +</div> + +<p>His poet-friend wrote:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Woodberrie, Loughton, Essex,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>December 11, 1883</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">My dear Sir Frederic,</span>—Have any of the multitude of men +who love you ever called you Chrysostom? It seems so natural +after reading yesterday's address. Will it be published by +itself and obtainable in some handier form than the broadsheet +of the <i>Times</i>? I want it as part of the education of my +daughter, who now, at sixteen, is beginning to take a new +interest in whatsoever things are lovely and of good report, and +I want it for myself, for in its lovely suggestiveness and +exquisite English I could often find refreshment when I wanted +(and needed) to "travel in the realms of gold," and forget my +own invalided personality under the magic of such guidance.</p> + +<p>My wife desires me to say a word of gracious remembrance to you, +and I am ever, faithfully yours,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Robin Allen.</p> +</div> + +<p>Mr. Briton Rivière:</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Flaxley, 82 Finchley Road, N.W.</span>,<br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>December 11, 1879</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Sir Frederic,</span>—After hearing your admirable +address last night, I came home in despair, for what little +basis of thought is contained in my lectures (more especially in +the second one) is built chiefly upon two or three of the lines +of argument that you have already expressed so beautifully: +Sincerity in the student—The effect of his own time upon +him—That time in its relation to the time of the Old Masters, +and the temper of mind in which the Old Masters should be +studied; on these points my lectures are but a feeble echo of +what I heard last night.</p> + +<p>My first thought was to change my whole line of battle, and +re-write them, but the extreme limitation of my powers of work +would make this too great a sacrifice. To throw them up +altogether, which I should much like, is impossible, for I am +pledged to the Academy to do my best.</p> + +<p>Clearly, I must go on, but I shall do so more easily now that <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_231" id="PageV2_231">[231]</a></span>I +have explained my position, so that if any one who hears me +should tell you that my lectures were only a parody of what you +had already said so well, you will believe that it has been the +misfortune and not the fault of yours very truly,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Briton Rivière.</p> + +<p>Don't trouble to answer this.</p></div> + +<p>Matthew Arnold:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Athenæum Club, Pall Mall,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>April 19, 1880</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">My dear Leighton,</span>—You have been <i>better</i> than your +word, for I see you have made me the actual possessor of your +"address." From the glance I have already taken at it, I see +that I shall both like it and you with it; but of this I might +have been sure beforehand. A thousand thanks, and believe me, +always sincerely yours,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Matthew Arnold.</p> +</div> + +<p>The scheme Leighton formed, when first considering the duty among all +others he undertook,<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> of addressing the students <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_232" id="PageV2_232">[232]</a></span>at the biennial +meetings, was begun and continued in the nine addresses he gave, but +unfortunately it could not be completed, a fact he sorely regretted +when discussing the question with me three months before his death. On +December 10, 1879, "The position of Art in the World" was the subject. +In 1881, "Relation of Art to Time, Place, and Racial Conditions; +Underlying Mystery of its Growth and Decay." In 1885, "Summary of +Foregoing Lecture." In 1887, "Art in Mediæval and Modern Italy." In +1889, "Relation of Artistic Production to Surrounding Conditions +considered in reference to Spain." In 1891, "The Art of France: its +uninterrupted development; its wide field; eminent achievement in +Architecture; the Gothic style." In 1893, "The Art of Germany: its +high qualities; deficient Æsthetic Inspiration." The tenth was to have +consisted, Leighton told me, in a summing up of the nine former +addresses, in order to prove how they had affected the past and +present condition of Art in England. To any thoughtful artist these +utterances, delivered by so great and accomplished an authority, +cannot fail to prove profoundly interesting and invaluable as +references, on account of the sound knowledge and the absolutely +reliable quality of the facts given; but it may be doubted whether the +more informative matter, contained in the six later lectures, suited +Leighton's style of oratory so happily as did the more abstract +quality of the three first. There appeared to be too many names +crowded into the comparatively short time which Leighton allotted to +himself for the delivery of these discourses, for the normal taking-in +power of an audience; the very finished rhetoric, moreover, in which +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_233" id="PageV2_233">[233]</a></span>the enormous amount of information contained in each was disclosed, +did not seem quite appropriate to their condensed form. In +conversation I have heard Leighton far more convincing, on the same +subjects as those he treated in the last six discourses. The same +intense sense of the duty he felt to do the thing as completely as it +was possible, which he evinced in painting, cropped up again in his +oratory, no less than the intense modesty—which would not recognise +how great he could be if he relaxed all effort, and was simply +himself.</p> + +<p>Mr. Briton Rivière, in the notes he furnishes for this book, writes:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"Those perhaps sometimes too perfectly built-up sentences, of +which his admirable addresses and speeches were formed, were the +outcome of this same quality of mind. One of his most intimate +friends, when we were talking about the mental strain occasioned +by these, once said to me: 'Leighton would never get over a +slight lapse of grammar,' and I can believe it. The accidental +was hateful to him when considered in reference to his own work +of any kind, though probably no one knew better than he did its +value in a work of art; but, as Watts deplored, he never would +use it or admit it into his own pictures. This quality and its +strain upon him was illustrated by an accident which occurred at +his last R.A. Banquet speech, the last he ever made, and which +gained immensely from the fact that in one place he forgot for a +moment the next sentence, and came to a pause (as he told me +afterwards), in fear that he had broken down altogether; but his +suspense, painful as it must have been to him, looked perfectly +natural and spontaneous, and gave to his speech that touch of +something which his better remembered periods did not express so +well. This system of speaking entirely from memory added much to +the constant strain of his Academy work. He had what he called a +'topical memory,' viz. he remembered the place of each word in +his written speech and used to read it off in the air with +never-failing accuracy, but did so always with the belief that a +forgotten sentence would shipwreck <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_234" id="PageV2_234">[234]</a></span>the whole. If he would have +been content now and then to lapse from this high pitch of the +accuracy he aimed at in all his work, few could have reached a +safer or higher standard spontaneously, as he proved in the +Royal Academy, General Assembly, and Council meetings, when he +never failed to speak admirably on the spur of the moment; and +his summing up of a debate there on any subject was invariably +marked by the same elegance and cleverness as his prepared +speeches, but with more vitality and flexibility, which, +however, never led him into anything that was not almost +fastidiously exact and precise. I have always felt that no one +who had heard only his elaborately prepared speeches knew his +real power as a speaker."</p></div> + +<p>There rang out perhaps, at times, just a note reminding one of the +German pedant in these discourses—a note singularly discordant when +sounding together with an ornate diction; but this was only heard when +Leighton was not deeply moved by his subject; when, on the other hand, +the not over-tutored, bigger instinctive self had full sway, as, in +the subjects he chose for the first three discourses, the glowing +style harmonised most rightly as the appropriate language for the +earnest and lofty feeling in the thought. If, as suggested above, it +is only facts and information of an historical character which words +have to convey, much eloquence and an ornate style seems +inappropriate. Each mood is obviously best expressed when the style is +adjusted to it by an intuitive instinct. Leighton, though possessing +abnormally flexible and subtle æsthetic instincts when he allowed +himself to be his natural self, seemed at times to force himself into +a theoretic rigidity when he was at his lessons. And all his official +duties he viewed as lessons, which, after he left his easel, it was +his first duty in life to learn to perform as correctly as he could. +But whatever criticisms may be made on the style of the later +discourses, students desiring to possess something more than a merely +provincial <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_235" id="PageV2_235">[235]</a></span>knowledge of the special power of the magnates in whose +work culminates the great Art of the world, should surely not neglect +to possess themselves of the wisdom to be acquired from these +discourses.</p> + +<p>Throughout their pages are to be found most suggestive passages, +inspiring new thoughts and, to any but experts, new facts on vitally +interesting art matters. For instance, take the description of +Velasquez:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"For a long period Italian painting did not cease to enjoy the +favour of the Court; it ceased, however, towards the beginning +of the seventeenth century to exercise that paralysing influence +which had marked its first advent, and the ground was cleared +for a new impulse from within. At this conjuncture a man of +commanding genius and fearless initiative was given to Spain in +the person of Diego Velasquez. It may perhaps have surprised you +that with such a name before my mind I should have spoken of +Zurbaran, a man so vastly his inferior in the painter's gift, as +perhaps the most representative of Spanish artists. I have done +so because beyond any other artist he sums up in himself, as I +have pointed out to you, all the complex elements of the Spanish +genius. In Velasquez, Spanish as he is to the finger-tips, this +comprehensiveness is not found. Of Velasquez all was Spanish, +but Zurbaran was all Spain.</p> + +<p>"Viewed simply as a painter, the great Sevillian was, as I have +just said, vastly the superior of the Estremeño. He was in more +intimate touch with Nature, and none, perhaps, have equalled the +swift magic of his brush. On the other hand, depth of feeling, +poetry, imagination were refused to him. The painter of the +'Lanzas,' the 'Hilanderas,' the 'Meninas'—works in their kind +unapproached in Art by any other man—painted also, be it +remembered, the 'Coronation of the Virgin' and the 'Mars' of the +Madrid Gallery—types of prosaic treatment. In one work, indeed, +Religion seems for a moment to have winged his pencil; but +striking and pathetic as is his famous 'Crucifixion,' it does +not equal in poignancy and <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_236" id="PageV2_236">[236]</a></span>imaginative grasp the presentment of +the same subject by Zurbaran in Seville. But if we miss in +Velasquez the higher gifts of the imagination, we find him also +free from all those blemishes of extravagance which we have so +often noted in this land of powerful impulses unrestrained by +tact. Whatever gifts may have been refused to Velasquez, in his +grave simplicity he is unsurpassed. If fancy seldom lifts him +above the level of intimate daily things, neither does she +obstruct for him with purple wings the white light of sober +truth. In days in which the young Herrera could find favour; in +a country in which Churriguera was possible, and euphuism was +applauded, he never overstepped the modesty of Nature, nor +forgot in Art the value of reticent control. I have not here to +follow his career, nor the evolution of his unique and dazzling +genius. Still less need I, before young artists of the present +day, dwell on the wizardry and the luscious fascination of the +brush of this most modern of the old masters. I will only, in +conclusion, touch briefly on one or two points that are of +interest, and one that is, perhaps, of warning.</p> + +<p>"First, I would notice the purity and decorum of his art; a +decorum not, I think, due to the characteristically Spanish laws +under which the Inquisition visited with heavy penalties every +semblance even of impurity in a work of art, but to a spirit +dwelling in the people itself, of which those laws were but the +somewhat exaggerated expression. It may be worth while also to +note that yet another virtue of the Spaniards is, in one of his +works, reflected in an unexpected manner, namely, their +sobriety. It is a curious thing that in a certain class of +Spanish literature a peculiar relish is shown for the portraying +of moral squalor and the grovelling criminality of social +outcasts. In Spanish Art, on the other hand, the picturesqueness +alone of low life seems to have sought expression. You know what +gentle Murillo made of his melon-eating beggar boys. Again, you +saw not long ago upon these walls, in the 'Water-Carrier of +Seville,' how at the outset of his career Velasquez turned his +thoughts to subjects drawn from humble life, and you know how to +the end he dwelt with peculiar gusto on the fantastic +physiognomy of the privileged buffoons, dwarfs, and <i>hombres de +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_237" id="PageV2_237">[237]</a></span>placer</i> who haunted the Palace in his day. You know further that +one of the most powerful works painted by him before reality of +atmospheric effect had become his chief preoccupation, and when +he sought exclusively after truth of character, a picture known +as 'Los Borrachos,' represents a group of drunkards doing homage +to Bacchus. It is a work of the most naked realism. Bacchus +(Dionysos!), showing his repulsive vulgarity (what a blank to +Velasquez was the poetic side of classic myths), is surrounded +by a circle of kneeling rascals, rude and ragged enough, and +supposed, no doubt, to be carousing; but here is the strange +peculiarity of this work—in spite of all the accessories of a +revel, and the flash of grinning teeth, we are unable to +persuade ourselves that any one of the disreputable crew could +ever be <i>drunk</i>. Imagine the subject treated by a Fleming.</p> + +<p>"And now, though I am loth to touch one leaf of the laurels of +so dazzling and so great an artist, I cannot pass in silence a +circumstance which must be weighed in estimating Velasquez as a +man, and which is not without bearing on his art. The virtues of +his race, as we have seen, purified his work and gave it +dignity; a Spanish foible, though it could not dim his genius, +cramped, no doubt, and curtailed its production—namely, a +tendency to subordinate everything to the pursuit of royal +favour. I said a Spanish foible; for a superstitious rendering +up of will and conscience to the sovereign, such as is, I +believe, without example, had long been a growing characteristic +of the Spaniard. On a memorable occasion Gonzalo de Cordoba +himself, one of the noblest figures recorded in Spanish +history—a man of a mind so fearless that he was bold to rebuke +Pope Borgia himself face to face in the Vatican for the scandals +of his life—did not scruple to break, in deference to what he +considered this higher duty of obedience to his king, his solemn +pledge and oath to the unfortunate young Duke of Calabria. So +all but divine did majesty appear to the Spaniards, that +divinity and majesty became almost as one in their eyes, and +they spoke, in all solemnity, as 'Su Majestad,' not only of the +Divine persons of the Trinity, but also of the sacrificial +wafer. The prevalence of this feeling must plead to some extent +in mitigation of the tenacity with which Velasquez +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_238" id="PageV2_238">[238]</a></span>canvassed—with success, alas!—to obtain at Court a post of an +onerous and wholly prosaic character—the office of 'Aposentador +Mayor,' a sort of purveyor and quartermaster, who, when his +Majesty moved from one place to another, had to convey, to +house, to feed, not the sovereign only, but all his suite. A +post demanding all his attention, says Polomino, who goes on to +deplore that this exalted office (which he has just told us any +one could fill) should have deprived the world of so many +samples of the painter's genius. We shall agree with our +sententious friend, not, perhaps, in the satisfaction he derived +from the honour conferred, as he imagines, on his calling, but +in his sorrow over the loss we have sustained! And in the sight +of canvases in which the execution of a sketch is carried out on +the full scale of life we shall at once bow before the product +of a splendid genius, and regret the signs of haste, the +evidence of too scanty leisure, by which its expression has been +marred. Truly it has been said, 'Art requires the whole +man.'"<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a></p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_239" id="PageV2_239">[239]</a></span>Again, the seventh discourse is replete with inspiring suggestions +about French architecture,<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> and in the last discourse the +description of Albert Dürer is one which, in a few lines, gives a +complete and vividly interesting setting to the great name.</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"Albert Dürer may be regarded as <i>par excellence</i> the typical +German artist—far more so than his great contemporary Holbein. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_240" id="PageV2_240">[240]</a></span>He was a man of a strong and upright nature, bent on pure and +high ideals; a man ever seeking, if I may use his own +characteristic expression, to make known through his work the +mysterious treasure that was laid up in his heart; he was a +thinker, a theorist, and, as you know, a writer; like many of +the great artists of the Renaissance, he was steeped also in the +love of science. His work was in his own image; it was, like +nearly all German art, primarily ethic in its complexion; like +all German art it bore traces of foreign influence—drawn, in +his case, first from Flanders and later from Italy. In his work, +as in all German art, the national character asserted itself +above every trammel of external influence. Superbly +inexhaustible as a designer, as a draughtsman he was powerful, +thorough, and minute to a marvel, but never without a certain +almost caligraphic mannerism of hand, wanting in spontaneous +simplicity—never broadly serene. In his colour he was rich and +vivid, not always unerring as to his harmonies, not alluring in +his execution—withal a giant."</p></div> + +<p>When the last addresses were given Leighton was getting very tired. +The wheels were running down—vitality was waning. The great mental +machine had begun to work more mechanically. We trace this in the +manner in which he tackled his last discourse. While writing it at +Perugia he wrote to his elder sister:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Perugia,</span> <i>Thursday, October 12, 1893</i>.</p> + +<p>You have misconstrued my knee; I have no <i>pain</i> in it, at most +occasionally a dull ache in the muscles and a slight soreness in +the joint; but it is an incapacitating and depressing nuisance, +and it won't move on. (I am writing near a window opening on to +a clear, star-bright sky; far below, in the <i>paese</i>, I hear the +tinkle of a wandering, nocturnal mandoline—how I like it!) You +do me the honour to appreciate my having, during my recent +precipitate odyssey, visited thirty towns in thirty days, noting +things of which I had already accurate knowledge <i>d'avance</i>; but +I can "go one better" than that: <i>ten</i> of the towns were +<i>absolutely new</i> to me, and of the whole subject on which I am +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_241" id="PageV2_241">[241]</a></span>preaching, I knew as good as nothing when you last saw me. I +suspect that, in spite of a lack of memory which <i>baffles +belief</i>, I have a certain "uptaking" knack. My preachment will +bore you, but you will (if you read it) detect an <i>ensemble</i>; +but, for goodness' sake, <i>zitti!</i> They'll think, when they hear +the P.R.A., that, Lor' bless him! he'd known it all his life. +Nevertheless, enough for the day, &c. Best love to +Gussy.—Affect. bro.,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred.</p> +</div> + +<p>I remember—when my husband and I were sitting with him one afternoon +after his return home that autumn—his saying, "I feel distinctly I +have dropped one step down off of the ladder," and it was truly about +that time that his doctor, Doctor Roberts, discerned the beginning of +the disease which proved fatal. Already in 1888 he wrote:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"The reasons which have now for a good many years impelled me to +decline any 'public utterances' outside Burlington House have +increased in weight and force as life and strength wanes, and as +demands on me grow in every direction. I am sometimes asked to +speak in public, not only in London, but all over the country, +and in all cases the demand is grounded on strong claims in so +far as I am an 'official' artist. Assent once is assent +always—assent in half the cases would mean the <i>gravest</i> injury +to my <i>work</i>, and I am a workman first and an official +afterwards. Things have their humorous side, for those who press +me most are sometimes those who on other occasions most +earnestly assure me that I '<i>do too much</i>.' How tired I am of +hearing it."</p></div> + +<p>The speeches at the yearly banquets of the Royal Academy were +extraordinary <i>tours de force</i>. Wherever Leighton took the lead—and +he was seldom anywhere when he did not take the lead,<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a>—he raised +the tone of the proceedings, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_242" id="PageV2_242">[242]</a></span>and convinced the outside world, no less +than those taking a part in them, that the matter in hand was +important and essentially worth doing. Personally I have always felt +that the finished form of Leighton's diction tended rather to hide +than to explain the real nature of the power which had this +vitalising, elevating influence. This influence emanated, I believe, +from the greatness of his "magnificent intellect" (to use Watts' +words) being united with extraordinary <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_243" id="PageV2_243">[243]</a></span>will-force invariably employed +in the service of the principles in which he had a profound faith. It +was his persistent loyalty to these principles—backed by this +abnormal will-force, giving it extra weight—which lifted Leighton's +work in all directions on to so distinguished a level—and not—in the +case of his speeches—his rounded periods, or his power over words, or +his gift of facility in grasping a subject, though the Banquet +speeches are also remarkable on account of the versatility he +displayed in grasping many subjects from the point of view of the +expert. Whether it was the Army, the Navy, Politics, Music—whatever, +in fact, was the affair of the moment, he proposed the toast from what +might be called the inside of the question, not merely treating his +text as a matter of form.<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a></p> + +<p>On asking Gladstone to the Banquet of 1880, Leighton received the +following characteristic answer:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p><span class="sc">My dear President</span>,—I have received your letter with +mixed feelings. You do me great honour, and I must obey you. But +I long for the return of the good old times, lying within the +long range of my memory, when the dinners of the Academy did not +suffer the contamination of political toasts, and kept us all +for three precious hours in purer air. Can you tell me when the +practice was changed? I am not, I think, under the dominion of a +pleasant delusion.—Yours most faithfully,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">W.E. Gladstone.</p> +</div> + +<p>In 1883 Leighton found it impossible to continue his duties as +Lieutenant-Colonel of the 20th Middlesex (Artists) Volunteers, which +post he had held since 1876, and he <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_244" id="PageV2_244">[244]</a></span>therefore resigned. He was then +made Hon. Colonel and holder of the Volunteer Decoration.<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a></p> + +<p>A few years later he made the following speech at a dinner given by +his Corps, in response to a toast proposed to himself:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>We live in times so hustling and breathless, times in which so +much happens in so short a space, that a few years seem to +divide men and habits like a deep gulf, and I feel that in the +eyes of many of you the toast that your C.O. has invited you in +such friendly terms to drink is one possessing an almost +antiquarian flavour interest; the more grateful therefore am I +for the cordial response with which, not, I hope, solely in a +spirit of discipline, but from a more human point of view, you +have given to the call of Colonel Edis.</p> + +<p>The sight of the old uniform recalls to me, in a vivid manner, a +period when not only my years, but my circumferencial inches, +were fewer, during which it was my pride, first in one grade, +then successively in others, from the ranks to the command, to +take my share in the doings of and the life of what I hope I may +call, without egotism, one of the finest corps in the Volunteer +service. I have now for some years laid by the coat, to be +furbished up only for these annual gatherings, not without +misgivings as to my power of getting into it; but I have not +laid by, nor shall I lay by while I have life, my deep interest +and my high respect for that great defensive force of which it +is the sign, and which, having sprung into existence <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_245" id="PageV2_245">[245]</a></span>in a +moment of emergency and national excitement, has shown through +over more than a quarter of a century that it requires no +excitement to sustain it, and is fed by no transitory fires.</p> + +<p>But whilst I watch this great sign of national vitality with +unchanging interest, there is of course an inmost corner of my +heart in which that national movement appears to me clad in grey +and silver, and the old corps still sits in the warmest place; +praise of its performance is always to me the most grateful +praise; strictures on its shortcomings, if like other human +things it has any, will always find me sensitive, and the +account which your excellent Colonel furnishes on these +occasions of your year's growth, comes home to me more than +other like utterances. Gentlemen, I have named your energetic +and efficient commanding officer; there is this year a special +reason why his name should be on my lips; he is about shortly to +acquire by length of service the full colonelcy of which his +long devotion to the cause makes him so worthy a recipient; and +I should wish before sitting down to offer him an old comrade's +hearty congratulation, and the expression of my confident hope +that his advanced rank will only confirm him in his loyal and +faithful efforts to promote the honour of the corps to which he, +more fortunate than I, is still privileged to belong as an +active member.</p></div> + +<p>In 1894, on the occasion of fêting his friend Joseph Joachim and +presenting the gift to the great master of a Stradivarius violin and +bow from his friends, in recognition of the fiftieth anniversary of +his first performance in London, Leighton made the following speech:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right">1894.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Ladies And Gentlemen</span>,—It was necessary that the +motives and feelings which have drawn us together to-night +should find brief expression on somebody's lips; and, in +obedience to a command which has been laid on me by this +Committee, I have to ask you to accept me, for a few moments, as +your mouthpiece. Of the varied duties which life lays on us, +there are some which we perform in simple discharge of +conscience and with little joy; some, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_246" id="PageV2_246">[246]</a></span>if few, into the +discharge of which we can pour all our hearts; and such a duty +is this which I have risen to perform.</p> + +<p>I have said that I shall only ask your attention for a few +moments, and you will feel with me the fitness of brevity; for +besides that, in every case, taste imposes restraint in praise +of those who are present before us, long drawn and redundant +eulogy would clash strangely with that rare simplicity which is +one of the qualities by which Joachim, the Man, compels the +esteem of all whose fortune it is to know him. But there would +be in it, I think, also a further deeper-lying incongruity, for +we know that Joachim, the Artist, has risen to the heights he +occupies, perhaps alone, by fixing his constant gaze on high +ideals, and lifting and sustaining his mind in a region above +the shifting fickle atmosphere of praise or blame. Well, it is +now fifty years since he took his first step along the upward +path, which he has trodden in wholeness of heart and singleness +of purpose from earliest boyhood to mellow middle age. During +these fifty years he has not only ripened to the full his +splendid gifts as an interpreter, ever interpreting the noblest +works in the noblest manner, leading his hearers to their better +comprehension; not only marked his place in the front ranks of +living composers by works instinct with fire and imagination; +but shown us also, as a man, how much high gifts are enhanced by +modesty, and how good a thing to see is the life of an Artist +who has never paltered with the dignity of his Art.</p> + +<p>Deep appreciation of these titles to respect and admiration has, +as you know, led in Germany, the country of his adoption and his +home, to an enthusiastic celebration of this, the fiftieth year +of his artistic career; and we, his English friends, living in a +country which we hope, nay, believe, is, after his own, not the +least dear to him, have felt strongly impelled to express to him +also in some form our gratitude, our sympathy, and our esteem. +It has seemed to your Committee that these sentiments could not +take a more fitting outward shape than that of the instrument +over which he is lord: such an instrument, signed with the +famous name of Stradivarius, and, as I am told, not unworthy of +his fame, flanked with a bow the work of Tourte, and once the +property of Kiesenwetter—such a fiddle and such a bow I now +offer to him in your <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_247" id="PageV2_247">[247]</a></span>name. Its sensitive and well-seasoned +shell will acknowledge and respond to the hand of the master, +and the souls of many great musicians will, we hope, often speak +through it to spellbound hearers. But we nourish another +hope—the hope that, through the great waves of melody that +shall roll forth from it under his compelling bow, a still small +voice may now and again be interfused which, reaching his heart +through his ears, shall speak to it of the many friends who, in +spirit or in the body, are gathered round him affectionately +to-night.</p></div> + +<p>In 1888 Leighton delivered the superb Address at the Art Congress held +at Liverpool on December 3 (see <a href="#PRESIDENTIAL_ADDRESS">Appendix</a>). No Life of this great man +would be complete were his utterances on this occasion not given in +full, for therein is found his creed on Art, and the records of those +principles on which it was founded, expounded with clear force, fine +analysis, and, above all, with supreme courage. The subject, moreover, +as touching England's condition respecting Art, is one directly +affecting English readers.</p> + +<p>A matter of interest to the general Art world came under discussion at +the Council meetings of the Academy in the winter of 1879 and 1880, +namely, whether women were to be admitted as members of their body. A +correspondence took place between Leighton and the late Mr. Henry +Wells, R.A., on the subject. Leighton's personal inclination was +certainly for admitting women into the body of the elect, as I know +from conversations he had with me on the subject. He invariably sought +to extend all art privileges to those who were, as artists, worthy to +receive them. He told me, however, that the majority of votes against +the inroad of women would be given as having regard to a question of +convenience rather than to one of principle, namely, the difficulty +the Academicians foresaw in admitting only one or two lady artist +Academicians to <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_248" id="PageV2_248">[248]</a></span>the yearly Banquets, and the greater difficulty of +extending invitations to lady guests.<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a></p> + +<p>The following letters from Leighton to Mr. Wells give <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_249" id="PageV2_249">[249]</a></span>an insight into +the kind of work which his office of President entailed, and of the +characteristically thorough manner in which Leighton fulfilled them.</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><i>Thursday Evening, 1879</i> or <i>1880.</i></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Wells</span>,—I have noticed during my last two sittings +at your studio, that, whenever the deeply interesting subject +of <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_250" id="PageV2_250">[250]</a></span>our Academy appeared on the tapis, it stood in the way of +your work, and I have therefore purposely abstained, as you no +doubt remarked, from going beyond the merest surface in <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_251" id="PageV2_251">[251]</a></span>the +discussion of any of the points on which we have touched. I felt +that the sittings I gave you being so few and so scantily +measured out, the least I could do was not, wittingly, to make +you lose your time. That is to say, I did not <i>tell</i> you to-day +orally what I now <i>write</i>, namely, my impression on your +proposed question concerning the Chantrey purchases. The +characteristic straightforwardness and loyalty with which you +wished me to be informed on the point beforehand will not permit +me to be silent in regard to your view. I have looked with the +greatest care into the extract from the will which we all have, +and have given the matter that thought which is due to your +earnest conscientiousness, and I have satisfied myself that the +General Assembly is wholly without a <i>locus standi</i> in claiming +to control the expenditure of the Chantrey trust moneys in any +way whatever; those moneys never pass into its hands or come +under its cognisance; they are paid into the hands of the +president and treasurer, against their receipt, and are dealt +with solely by the president and council for the time being. An +attempt, therefore, on the part of the General Assembly to +assume control in this matter is in my view <i>out of order</i>, and +it would therefore be out of order to ask or answer a question +based, as yours is, on that assumption. I think you will find +this view in harmony with the opinion of the body; if it is +largely challenged, I shall postpone the answer till I have +taken a legal opinion, as the point is very important. Here are +my cards on the table.—In haste, yours sincerely,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred Leighton.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="block"><p><i>Private.</i>]<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_252" id="PageV2_252">[252]</a></span></p> + +<p class="right"><i>Monday.</i></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Wells</span>,—The usual stress of business has prevented +me till now from thanking you for your note and valuable +information; I shall, with great interest, turn to the passages +you allude to as soon as I get a good opportunity, and what I +read will have the greatest weight with me when I vote again on +a purchase. It would not, however, touch my point in regard to +the <i>General Assembly</i>, which can only interfere with a past +purchase if it can be shown to be illegal; this can, of course, +only be established by legal authority, and I am, myself, sorry +that your first resolution does not run thus: That the President +be requested to consult high legal authority as to whether such +and such purchases are barred by the will of Sir F. Ch. If your +misgivings on that head are shared by a majority the thing would +pass immediately and undiscussed, almost.</p> + +<p>As concerns your motion on the pension resolution, I own to much +misgiving; <i>I should not dream of alluding to this had you not +yourself taken me aside about it the other day.</i> I am so far at +one with you in principle that I feel, I can't say how deeply, +that it is our paramount duty to interpret in the largest and +most elevated sense our duty to the art of the country that we +may be worthy in the eyes of the enlightened portion of the +community of our high place, and that it is equally incumbent on +us to keep our personal interests vigilantly in sub-ordination. +I think that one of the present resolutions militates against +this last view, and I need not conceal from you that it has not +my sympathy. I am, however, very strongly of opinion that the +form of your opposition to it will not be supported, and that in +your desire for a logical comprehensiveness, you will fail of +your end, which by simple direct opposition to the particular +measure on the principle you have already enunciated and +explained, you might <i>very probably</i>, I believe, achieve. I need +not, I think, assure you, my dear Wells, that nothing is further +from my thoughts than any <i>interference</i> with a member's +freedom; indeed, on that head my views are known to you; but I +can't refrain from saying thus much to give you an opportunity +of quietly thinking matters over (<i>don't answer <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_253" id="PageV2_253">[253]</a></span>this</i>) before +Wednesday. After all, you want primarily to get rid of paragraph +6, not to ensure a dialectical triumph. If the alternative is +between your Committee and the resolution as it stands, I feel +absolutely convinced that you will be left in a very cold +minority; but if you point out that paragraph 6 takes our +bounties off the ground of necessity, our only tenable ground, +in fact commutes a <i>bounty</i> into an unconditional <i>claim</i> (of a +formidable pecuniary nature, too), you will march in, I can't +help thinking, with flying colours.</p> + +<p>Don't, I repeat, be at the trouble to answer this expression of +the opinion of,—Yours sincerely,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred Leighton.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><i>Monday, February 1, (?) 1881.</i></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Wells</span>,—Since receiving your letter I have been so +absolutely engrossed with business and work that I have not had +time till now to answer it. I am sincerely glad you have asked +for a little modification in the terms of the Lucy petition; +meanwhile I have written to Gladstone, and my letter has been +acknowledged with a promise to note its contents.</p> + +<p>In regard to your Chantrey resolution, I feel that, after the +manner of very busy men, I have written in haste and not made +myself quite clear. I should like, first, to remove one +apprehension which you seem to have entertained; however +strongly I may be convinced of the correctness of my own view on +the matter under discussion, I cannot too emphatically say that +as long as the points at issue were still <i>sub judice</i> I should +not countenance a purchase which should assume my view to be the +right one; but no such postponement as would lead to this +dilemma is to be feared; what I propose is this: as soon as ever +we have closed the discussion on the schools, and whilst they +are being printed in their amended form for final consideration, +therefore, on Friday next, if we get through on Wednesday, or +failing that on the 22nd or 23rd of February, the resolutions of +Council will be put on the table in their rotation; as, however, +the next step in the Chantrey affair is to merely <i>hear</i> my +answer to your memorandum, and as I understand that discussion +on it will not be expected till members shall have had it to +consider at their leisure, I will <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_254" id="PageV2_254">[254]</a></span>read it and lay it on the +table <i>before</i> I take up the resolutions of Council which stand +on the paper before it, so that when it comes up for final +discussion, presumably in the first days of March, it can be +discussed and voted on with full mastery of the subject. It is +on the agenda paper of THAT <i>meeting</i> that your affirmative +motion will stand; it does not come into force till then, since +it is contingent on the effect produced on your mind by my +answer of Friday (or of the next meeting after).</p> + +<p>With respect to Redgrave's motion, it may lead to a technical +"censure" of the Council; but there are censures and censures, +and nobody will suppose, certainly I never dreamt, that you +meant to imply moral obliquity to us in regard to what we have +done. I have not a word to object to what you advance about the +right of complaint, but it does not exactly cover the case: if +you caught us, say, taking our friends to the Exhibition (or +ourselves) on Sunday, a matter on which no two opinions are +admissible, then "a complaint" would be in its place; but in the +matter of payment to Treasurer, two opinions may and do exist, +and they can only be measured against one another by a vote, and +a vote can only be taken on a motion.</p> + +<p>Lastly, as to the new codification committee, I think with you, +<i>in strictest confidence</i>, that —— was not a good choice; but +he was chosen in the usual manner by a majority of votes: that +your labours were not remunerated in the usual manner is an +oversight, which, of course, must and shall be set right. There +seems altogether, and your letter corroborates that impression, +to have been much vagueness about the doings of the Committee +<i>as a Committee</i>, though, as usual, much zealous work on your +part. I do not gather that attendances were entered in a book, +which is the machinery by which payment is generally regulated, +and the Committee having lapsed without reporting to the Council +on its labours (being a <i>sub-committee</i> of the Council of 1878, +it lapsed by a natural death with that Council), the whole thing +had fallen out of notice. I hope that the old sub-committee will +put in their claims, which will very certainly be satisfied. The +codification has frequently been in my mind, for I consider it +of very great importance, but as it is my impression that I am +considered to drive the work of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_255" id="PageV2_255">[255]</a></span>Academy full hard as +it is, I have hesitated to impose more labours on my colleagues, +even though I am always ready to share them.—Sincerely yours,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred Leighton.</p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep255a" id="imagep255a"></a> +<a href="images/imagep255a.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep255a.jpg" width="70%" alt="Elijah in the Wilderness" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"ELIJAH IN THE WILDERNESS." 1879<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep255b" id="imagep255b"></a> +<a href="images/imagep255b.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep255b.jpg" width="70%" alt="Elijah in the Wilderness" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">SKETCH FOR "ELIJAH IN THE WILDERNESS." 1879<br /> +Leighton House Collection<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep255c" id="imagep255c"></a> +<a href="images/imagep255c.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep255c.jpg" width="63%" alt="Neruccia" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"NERUCCIA." 1879<br /> +By permission of Mrs. Lees<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep255d" id="imagep255d"></a> +<a href="images/imagep255d.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep255d.jpg" width="25%" alt="The Bath of Psyche" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"THE BATH OF PSYCHE." 1890<br /> +National Gallery of British Art (Tate Gallery)<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="datepad"><i>Tuesday Morning</i>,</span><br /> +<span class="sc">2 Holland Park Road, Kensington, W.</span>,<br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>March 18, 1884</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Wells</span>,—Thank you for your letter received +yesterday, which only lack of time prevented me from answering +at once. I am happy to say that Richmond cheerfully acceded to +my wish in regard to clauses 6 and 7. I do not think with +Calderon, who has written to me, that the words of a man so +high-minded as Richmond will indispose members in this matter, +and, though I feel the importance of raising no prejudice +against the proposal as keenly as ever, still wish him to +initiate it. It is, I agree with you, a pity that the question +of the retiring pensions must come off first; but that is, I +fear, quite unavoidable, and it connects itself with the very +first resolution. I assure you, my dear Wells, that I <i>see</i> the +bearing of all you say on this head as plainly as possible, and +have done so all along; but it does not prevail with me, because +it does not cover the whole ground, and because I do not +anticipate the dangers for which you think it might be used as a +precedent.</p> + +<p>In view of my own personal painful position in this matter, I +shall <i>ask</i> the Assembly <i>not</i> to ratify the clause which +affects <i>me</i>.—In great haste, yours sincerely,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred Leighton.</p> +</div> + +<p>Leighton's official life, as understood and carried out by him, +entailed infinitely more strain and occupation than can be described +in these pages, but, notwithstanding, unless the call away from his +easel was imperative, he kept certain hours in the day sacred to his +art. These were from 9 <span class="sc">A.M.</span> till noon, and from 1 +<span class="sc">P.M.</span> till 4. It was only in the off hours that he got through +his other labours, which he performed, nevertheless, with most +assiduous conscientiousness.</p> + +<p>Among his duties outside the Academy were those at the British Museum. +Mr. H.A. Grueber, Keeper of the Coins and Medals, writes: "Sir +Frederic Leighton was <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_256" id="PageV2_256">[256]</a></span>elected a Trustee of the British Museum on May +14, 1881. He was an active member of the Standing Committee, who +practically manage the affairs of the Museum, and he took great +interest in the place. He was also a member of the Sub-committees on +Buildings, on Antiquities, Prints and Drawings, also of those on Coins +and Medals."</p> + +<p>In the first R.A. Exhibition after his election, three pictures of the +eight Leighton sent have, I think, a special interest—"Elijah in the +Wilderness" (the picture into which he said he put more of himself +than into any other he had painted up to that time); the portrait of +his very dear friend Professor Costa, painted in the previous autumn +at Lerici, and the head "Neruccia." Leighton with Costa studied the +methods used in painting by the Venetians and Correggio, and Costa +wrote the following with reference to them:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>The result of these studies and of the experience of years was +that Leighton and I definitely adopted the following method. +Take a canvas or panel with the whitest possible preparation and +non-absorbent—the drawing of the subject to be done with +precision and indelible. On this seek to model in monochrome so +strongly that it will bear the local colours painted with +exaggeration, and then the grey, which is to be the ground of +all the future half-tones; on this paint the lights, for which +use only white, red, and black, avoiding yellow, and, stabbing +(botteggiando) with the brush while the colour is wet, make the +half-tints tell out from the grey beneath, which should be +thoroughly dry. When all is dry, finish the picture with +scumbles (spegazzi), adding yellow to complete the colour.</p> + +<p>Leighton formed his method of painting from these general +maxims, and he painted my portrait at Lerici on these principles +as an experiment, and then in 1878 we adopted the system +definitely. For this portrait he had four sittings—one for the +drawing and the monochrome chiaroscuro, one for the local +colours; then, having covered all with grey, he painted the +lights with red, white, and black, making use of the thoroughly +dried <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_257" id="PageV2_257">[257]</a></span>grey beneath for his half-tints. With scumbles +he completed the colour and the modelling.</p></div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep256a" id="imagep256a"></a> +<a href="images/imagep256a.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep256a.jpg" width="50%" alt="The Light of the Harem" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"THE LIGHT OF THE HAREM." 1880<br /> +By kind permission of the Directors of the Leicester Gallery<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep256b" id="imagep256b"></a> +<a href="images/imagep256b.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep256b.jpg" width="75%" alt="And the Sea Gave up the Dead" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"AND THE SEA GAVE UP THE DEAD WHICH WERE IN IT"<br /> +Sketch for Complete Design, 1892<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep256c" id="imagep256c"></a> +<a href="images/imagep256c.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep256c.jpg" width="53%" alt="Music study" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">STUDY FOR FIGURE IN FRIEZE, "MUSIC." 1886<br /> +Leighton House Collection<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep256d" id="imagep256d"></a> +<a href="images/imagep256d.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep256d.jpg" width="56%" alt="Andromeda" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">STUDY FOR "ANDROMEDA." 1890<br /> +Leighton House Collection<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep256e" id="imagep256e"></a> +<a href="images/imagep256e.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep256e.jpg" width="85%" alt="Perseus and Andromeda" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">FROM SKETCH IN CLAY FOR PERSEUS, IN THE PICTURE "PERSEUS AND ANDROMEDA." 1891<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep256f" id="imagep256f"></a> +<a href="images/imagep256f.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep256f.jpg" width="55%" alt="Phœnicians Bartering with Britons" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">STUDY FOR FIGURE IN PANEL IN ROYAL EXCHANGE—"PHŒNICIANS BARTERING WITH BRITONS"<br /> +Leighton House Collection<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep256g" id="imagep256g"></a> +<a href="images/imagep256g.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep256g.jpg" width="95%" alt="Cymon and Iphigenia" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"CYMON AND IPHIGENIA." 1884<br /> +The Corporation of Leeds<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep256h" id="imagep256h"></a> +<a href="images/imagep256h.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep256h.jpg" width="95%" alt="Cymon and Iphigenia" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">STUDY IN COLOUR FOR "CYMON AND IPHIGENIA." 1884<br /> +By permission of Mrs. Stewart Hodgson<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep256i" id="imagep256i"></a> +<a href="images/imagep256i.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep256i.jpg" width="95%" alt="Cymon and Iphigenia" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">STUDY FOR SLEEPING GROUP FOR "CYMON AND IPHIGENIA"<br /> +Given by Lord Leighton to G.F. Watts, O.M., and given by the latter to +the Collection in Leighton House, 1883<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>As the exquisite fragments in pencil of cyclamen, bramble and vine +branch,<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> explain most intimately Leighton's genius as a +draughtsman, so this head of Neruccia appears to me, together with one +other work, to explain most explicitly his genius as a painter—a +modeller with the brush. In 1890 Leighton painted "The Bath of +Psyche."<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> The modelling in the torso of this figure, and in the +head of Neruccia, reach the zenith as exemplifying Leighton's +individuality as a painter. They might truly earn for him the +title—Praxiteles of the brush.</p> + +<p>It would be tedious for writer and reader alike to describe too +minutely the special characteristics of even the most notable pictures +painted during the seventeen years when Leighton occupied the position +of President of the Royal Academy. Words are but poor interpreters of +painting such as his. Eighty canvases, two statues, and two +designs—the reverse of the Jubilee Medallion, "And the sea gave up +its dead which were in it"—were exhibited at the Royal Academy; +eighteen slighter works at the Suffolk Street, and twenty-three at the +Grosvenor Galleries. On referring to the list in the <a href="#LIST_OF_PRINCIPAL_WORKS">Appendix</a> it will +be realised how great was the amount of labour involved in the +achievement of many of these works, considering their size, the +complication of their designs, and also the completeness of their +finish. It must also be remembered that Leighton made many hundreds of +studies for his pictures. More especially numerous were these for the +designs "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it," "The Dance, +Decorative Frieze"; "Cymon and Iphigenia"; "Music, a Frieze"; "Design +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_258" id="PageV2_258">[258]</a></span>for the reverse of the Jubilee Medallion," "Captive Andromache," +"Perseus and Andromeda," "Return of Persephone," "The Garden of the +Hesperides," "Rizpah," "Summer Slumbers," "The Spirit of the Summit," +"Flaming June," "Phœnicians Bartering with Britons," and "Clytie." +When all these achievements are taken into account it will be realised +that Leighton, to the end, however important his duties outside his +studios, was true to his vocation, and proved himself the "workman +first and the official after."</p> + +<p>As a work combining poetic feeling, power of design, and great beauty +in the arrangement of line, while at the same time expressing most +explicitly Leighton's creed of creeds—namely, the ennobling and +elevating influence of beauty in the lives of men and women—"Cymon +and Iphigenia" is perhaps the picture he himself would have chosen as +the most representative among these later works. He chose it as the +one he wished sent to the Berlin Exhibition in 1885. When beginning it +he described to me the moment of the day he wished to catch for the +scene—"the most mysteriously beautiful in the whole twenty-four +hours, when the <i>merest lip</i> of the moon has risen from behind the sea +horizon, and the air is haunted still with the flush of the after-glow +from the sun already hidden in the west."<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a></p> + +<p>The study for the group of sleeping figures reproduced here is almost +identical in design with the sketch in plaster from the clay, so +lamentably destroyed when Watts lent it to be <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_259" id="PageV2_259">[259]</a></span>cast in bronze +after Leighton's death. Leighton also gave the drawing of this group +to his fellow artist, so enthusiastically did Watts admire it. He, in +his turn, gave it to the Leighton House Collection in the year 1897, +together with the fine painting which Leighton exchanged for his own +portrait, painted about 1863, and which greeted friends as they +mounted the staircase in Leighton House during all the years he lived +in Holland Park Road (see <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#frontis" target="_blank">frontispiece to Vol. I.</a>). The study for +"Cymon and Iphigenia" is particularly valuable now as an example of +Leighton's rapid sketches where every touch reflects a mine of +knowledge, because it was put under glass before any of the crispness +of the touch was blurred by rubbing.<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a></p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep258a" id="imagep258a"></a> +<a href="images/imagep258a.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep258a.jpg" width="45%" alt="The Sluggard" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"THE SLUGGARD"<br /> +From the Bronze Statuette—a direct reproduction from Lord Leighton's +small sketch, 1886. Leighton House Collection<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep258b" id="imagep258b"></a> +<a href="images/imagep258b.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep258b.jpg" width="47%" alt="Needless Alarms" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"NEEDLESS ALARMS"<br /> +From Bronze Statuette, 1886. Leighton House Collection<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep259a" id="imagep259a"></a> +<a href="images/imagep259a.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep259a.jpg" width="42%" alt="The Last Watch" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"THE LAST WATCH OF HERO." 1887<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep259b" id="imagep259b"></a> +<a href="images/imagep259b.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep259b.jpg" width="41%" alt="Tragic Poetess" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">STUDY IN COLOUR FOR "TRAGIC POETESS." 1890<br /> +By permission of Mrs. Stewart Hodgson<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>In a letter dated 1886 Watts wrote: "Leighton will carry off all the +honours this year with his ceiling<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> and his two statues."</p> + +<p>"An Athlete Awakening from Sleep" (given to the Tate Gallery by Sir +Henry Tate) is generally known as "The Sluggard," a name bestowed on +it by Leighton himself. The victor's garland lies at the feet of the +athlete, a garland which does not preserve the owner from a sad +weariness. Mr. Brock, R.A., in whose studio "An Athlete" was +modelled, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_260" id="PageV2_260">[260]</a></span>executed the fine bust of Leighton which was deposited in +the Academy as Mr. Brock's diploma work.<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a></p> + +<p>Sir John Millais admired greatly the other work alluded to in Watts' +letter, "Needless Alarms." Leighton gave him this statuette, and +Millais, desiring to show his gratitude in a tangible form, painted +the picture "Shelling Peas" for Leighton.</p> + +<p>In at least fourteen of the eighty pictures shown at the Academy +during the last seventeen years of Leighton's life, there can be +traced an earnest sentiment beyond the "sincerity of emotion" for +beauty which all evince. This feeling is, however, always guarded by a +marked reticence from sentimentalism. "Elijah in the Wilderness," +"Elisha Raising the Son of the Shunammite," "The Jealousy of +Simœtha, the Sorceress," "The Last Watch of Hero," "Captive +Andromache," "Return of Persephone," "Rizpah," "Tragic Poetess," +"Sibyl," "Farewell," "The Spirit of the Summit," "Fatidica," +"Lachrymæ," and the last passionate figure of "Clytie." The most +popular pictures Leighton painted during these years appear to be +"Sister's Kiss," "The Light of the Harem" (developed into a picture +from the design of a group in the fresco, "The Industrial Arts of +Peace"), "Idyll," "Whispers," "Wedded" (now in Australia), "Memories," +"Letty," "Invocation," "Solitude," "The Bath of Psyche," "Bacchante," +"Corinna of Tanagra," "The Bracelet," "Summer Slumber," "Atalanta," +"Flaming June," and "The Fair Persian" (unfinished). Two sketches in +the Leighton House Collection record effects which greatly fascinated +Leighton in Scotland—"A Pool, Findhorn River," deep tortoiseshell +brown; and "Rocks in the Findhorn," pink and grey enriched by lichen, +and it was in Scotland <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_261" id="PageV2_261">[261]</a></span>that the Lynn of Dee inspired the +subject of "Solitude." Leighton described to me the deep impression +this Lynn of Dee had made on him. "It is the veriest note of solitude! +a wonderful spot, full of poetic inspiration." In order to transmit a +vivid record of this sentiment to his canvas, he took a second journey +to the place.<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a></p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep261a" id="imagep261a"></a> +<a href="images/imagep261a.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep261a.jpg" width="52%" alt="Atalanta" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"ATALANTA." 1893<br /> +By permission of the Berlin Photographic Co., the owners of the Copyright<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep261b" id="imagep261b"></a> +<a href="images/imagep261b.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep261b.jpg" width="72%" alt="Flaming June" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"FLAMING JUNE." 1895<br /> +By permission of Mrs. Watney<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep261c" id="imagep261c"></a> +<a href="images/imagep261c.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep261c.jpg" width="55%" alt="Flaming June" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">STUDY FOR "FLAMING JUNE." 1895<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep261d" id="imagep261d"></a> +<a href="images/imagep261d.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep261d.jpg" width="53%" alt="Fatidica" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"FATIDICA." 1894<br /> +By permission of Messrs. T. Agnew & Son, the owners of the Copyright<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep261e" id="imagep261e"></a> +<a href="images/imagep261e.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep261e.jpg" width="85%" alt="Fatidica" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">STUDIES FOR "FATIDICA." 1894<br /> +Leighton House Collection<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>Leighton wrote the following letter to his father when first visiting +Forres, in which he described the "craze" he had for these "dark brown +Scotch rivers":—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Royal Station Hotel,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad sc">Forres, N.B.</span></p> + +<p>I drove over to Dunkeld (twelve and a half miles) to lunch at +the Millais'; I think the drive one of the most enchanting +things I know, and I was favoured, moreover, by a few of those +divine glimpses of blue and silver sky of which Scotland has the +monopoly (a monopoly which she uses, perhaps, just a trifle too +modestly). This is Forres, as the paper shows you; if Macbeth's +witches really did live in this neighbourhood, it is <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_262" id="PageV2_262">[262]</a></span>just as +well they had their hands pretty full, for they would have found +the place uncommonly dull otherwise, especially on the +"Sawbath." On the other hand, the drive to and the walk along +the banks of the Findhorn—the excursion for which one comes +here—is quite delightful, and indeed surpassed my expectations. +I must tell you that I have nothing short of a craze for your +dark brown Scotch (and Irish) rivers, as dark as treacle, and as +clear as a cairngorm. This particular stream contrives to rush +part of the way through fantastic rocks of pink granite—you may +imagine the effect. Here again from the heights over the river I +<i>ought</i> to have seen the sea and the coast of Sutherlandshire; +but the weather was sulky and I had to draw on my imagination +for the view.</p> + +<p>In the forenoon I went over by train to Elgin, to see the ruined +cathedral, which is fine, but, like all Scotch architecture that +I have seen, crude and barbaric. As I stood on the platform +before starting, I heard a gruff, good-humoured voice hailing me +from a train on the other side; it was the voice which goes so +well with the rubicund face of the Duke of Cambridge. I was +going by the same train, so he made me get into his compartment; +he was going to Balmoral or Aberfeldie. He was very comic about +B—— and his article in the <i>Nineteenth Century</i>—"A fellow who +fouls his own nest is always a d——d bad lot—a d——d bad +lot," with which sentiment I close a d——d long letter.—From +your affectionate son,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred.</p> +</div> + +<p>"Atalanta" may be noted, perhaps, as the strongest work achieved by +Leighton. Here <i>is</i> "enormous power," though shown on a comparatively +small canvas. For noble beauty of the Pheidian type in the grand and +simple pose and modelling of the throat and shoulder, it would be +difficult to find its peer in Modern Art, and yet it was only the +worthy record of the beauty of an English girl. "Flaming June" (a +design first made to decorate as a bas-relief the marble bath on which +the figure in "Summer Slumber" reposes), is equally perfect in the +fine fulness of the modelling, but it lacks the direct simplicity +which gives such a <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_263" id="PageV2_263">[263]</a></span>distinguished strength to the "Atalanta." In the +sketch for "Flaming June" reproduced in these pages the pose is better +explained than in the completed picture, the foreshortened line of the +back and shoulder being confused somewhat by the drapery in the +painting.</p> + +<p>At the age of twenty-five, in the wing-like petals of a cyclamen, +Leighton had succeeded in securing with the pencil the quality towards +which he aimed from the beginning to the end of his studies—and these +only ended with his life—namely, absolute completeness as far as +human eye and hand can reach completeness in rendering the perfection +of nature's forms. Notably in "Neruccia" and in "Psyche" he reached +that aim with the brush, but in "Atalanta," and in such studies as +those for "Flaming June," "Fatidica," and—imbued with a yet further +interest of dramatic feeling—for "Clytie," his aim was reached with +more freedom and power of touch. The quality of beauty in these works +was no invention of his—only, as has been noted before, a discernment +and echo in the artist's apprehension of nobler truths in nature than +are discovered by the many. They are nobler, because possessing the +germ of life and movement. In all nature's forms, beauty and style +result from the spring and moving on—the development of growth, +whether it requires æons to develop the form as in mountains, years as +in trees, or only days as in flowers. In the human limbs there is the +further power of varied movement, and in the countenance of varied +expressions. The greatest art stamps a suggestion of this power of +growth and movement into the form and line expressing the facts it +records; and, making it harmonise graciously with perfect structure in +nature, the great artist evolves a thing of beauty. In our northern +climes, and in our modern civilisation, beauty of form and line excite +little genuine emotion. That is reserved for colour, tone, texture, +and, in these very latter days, for the cleverness of the executant. +The greatest <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_264" id="PageV2_264">[264]</a></span>opposer Leighton's teaching has had is laziness. +Students will not take the trouble to go through irksome labour to +secure knowledge, therefore they only aim at those qualities which are +made comparatively easy by an emotional preference; and such emotional +preference is rarely excited by form. There are exceptions, such as +Watts, whose greatest artistic emotion was excited when he seized the +beauty and style in Pheidias. He felt also the same enthusiastic +excitement over Leighton's studies, stamped with a like Pheidian +quality of style. Because the modern eye is so often blind to these +qualities, therefore Leighton's work has been disposed of by many as +merely academical and the result solely of taking inordinate pains! +Surely those desirous of any true culture might learn one lesson at +all events of Leighton: the value of Catholicity through learning "to +master what they reject as fully as what they adopt ... the better +motives of men" with whom they are not in sympathy. Catholicity is the +outcome of the best natures, the best understandings, the best +educations. It overrides those subtle egoisms and commercial interests +which so often guide while distorting a true judgment in art matters, +keeping the preferences of the public wriggling about without any +definite instinct or principal on a never truly-convincing dead level. +The mainspring of catholicity in art is a fervent reverence for +nature. All works in which such fervent reverence is found, in +whatever direction it is displayed, are worthy to be admitted into the +fold, whether it be form, colour, or tone in nature's aspect—whether +it be the stirring whirls of northern tempests, the rural peace of +English glades, or the fineness of rarefied atmosphere in the south, +as in Greek isles and sea. Whichever mood of nature appeals to a true +artist and inspires in him the sacred fire, and consequently the +expression in his touch, should find a place in the heart of the true +lover of art. Because the æsthetic pores of a <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_265" id="PageV2_265">[265]</a></span>music-lover are open to +the rapturous tumult of the wildly whirling Schumann symphony in A +minor, is he, therefore, incapable of being entranced by the rare +refinement of Palestrina's cameo-like phrases? Because he feels a +rapturous excitement as the curtain falls at the end of the first act +of "Lohengrin," can he not also feel a soul-satisfaction in the +elevated serenity of Bach's "Christmas Oratorio"? Does it not rather +denote a want of elasticity in the æsthetic perceptions, a want of +flexibility in the sensibilities flavouring somewhat of the +Philistine, to be touched by a limited range of emotions? Because +Leighton is not Whistler, or Watts is not Sargent, why must the one be +admired at the expense of the other? With Leighton's rare intellectual +acumen he knew well that these limitations in viewing various outlooks +on art arose chiefly from a want of wide culture and experience. In +the great galleries of Europe, among the treasures in the churches of +Italy, his own vision had been enlarged, and he had felt how +nourishing to his own best instincts such enlargement had proved. +Hence his earnest endeavours when first entering the Academy to +establish the Winter Exhibitions of Old Masters, and later, when +President, to give as many facilities as possible for students to +travel abroad. Probably, it never will be fully realised how greatly +Leighton's initiations in starting new ventures for young students and +artists have helped the real progress of English art. His great +modesty and rare tact prevented this initiation from being fully +appreciated even at the time. When such an one as Leighton is working +on great lines, the last thing he thinks of is, Who is really +achieving the work? The aim has to be accomplished; it matters little +who is used as the tool to achieve the work. The real satisfaction to +such a nature is the fact that the work <i>has</i> been achieved.</p> + +<p>Perhaps of all the ways in which Leighton helped to <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_266" id="PageV2_266">[266]</a></span>forward the +condition of art in England, the most valuable was his industry in +searching out unknown work, discovering what merit existed in it, +hunting up the artist, and, by becoming personally acquainted with +him, encouraging in every manner his onward progress. What he effected +in Mason's case with such a rich harvest to the world as the result, +he did in many other cases when the artist was a perfect stranger to +him. Mr. Alfred East, the President of the Royal Society of British +Artists, writes: "Lord Leighton was a man of broad sympathies in his +appreciation of Art, an earnest worker with a lofty purpose and a high +ideal. He liked to see these qualities in others, and spoke of the +dignity and privilege of being an artist, and lived up to it in his +own house. To those who knew him well he was singularly modest about +his work, soliciting criticism with a frankness which was as +unaffected as it was sincere. He never posed, but was a fellow-worker +and a comrade. Such were the characteristics of the artist at home. I +owe more to his encouragement than to any other influence of my life. +Our acquaintanceship grew into friendship; he helped me to speak to +him as I could speak to no other, of my own aims and ideals. This is +the great artist as I knew him."</p> + +<p>Singularly chary of accepting favours or putting himself under any +obligation where he did not feel certain he could requite it by any +feeling or action of his own, the response Leighton's nature made when +any person, thing, or place gave him delight was that of a +spontaneous, unstinting gratitude. Never did any one enjoy more fully +the best of blessings—a grateful heart. Moreover, once the tender +spot of pity touched, a self-ignoring energy of helpfulness and desire +to benefit arose, which was at once the most beautiful and the least +fully understood trait in his character. It is difficult for many to +understand a <i>passion</i> for unselfishness. "We bear <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_267" id="PageV2_267">[267]</a></span>with +resignation the sorrows of others," is one of the good sayings of +Walter Bagehot. No rule without an exception—Leighton did not bear +with resignation the sorrows of his friends, nor of those he pitied as +overweighted and in any need of help which he could give. No better +proof exists of the fineness, the distinction of a nature, or the +reverse, than the effect which misfortune or suffering produces on it. +Pity with Leighton was ever allied with profound respect. He gave help +as one indulging himself in a privilege rather than as one conferring +a benefit. A beautiful story, for which I happen to be the best +authority, is interwoven with the last years of his life.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep266a" id="imagep266a"></a> +<a href="images/imagep266a.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep266a.jpg" width="62%" alt="Memories" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"MEMORIES." 1883<br /> +By permission of Messrs. P. & D. Colnaghi, the owners of the Copyright<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep266b" id="imagep266b"></a> +<a href="images/imagep266b.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep266b.jpg" width="65%" alt="The Jealousy Of Simœtha, The Sorceress" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"THE JEALOUSY OF SIMŒTHA, THE SORCERESS." 1887<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep266c" id="imagep266c"></a> +<a href="images/imagep266c.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep266c.jpg" width="62%" alt="Letty" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"LETTY." 1884<br /> +By permission of Mrs. Henry Joachim<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>One day, somewhere in the winter of 1879, on opening a gate which +leads from our garden to the Holland Park Studios, I saw standing at +one of the studio doors a figure which I described to Leighton as a +"vision of beauty"—a young girl with a lovely white face, dressed in +deepest black, evidently a model. Needless to say, Leighton, ever +eager to procure good models, obtained her name from the artist to +whom she was sitting when I first saw her, and engaged her as a model +for the head. Shortly after she began to sit to Leighton, he wrote to +me saying the young girl was in sad circumstances, and he would be +very glad if I could help her by making some studies from her. I +agreed, and he arranged with her to give me sittings. She told me that +she had recently lost her mother, her father had deserted his family +of five girls and two boys, and she with her elder brother were left +to support them. She was endeavouring to act the part of mother to her +younger sisters and brother. As Leighton and I grew to know her better +we found her very intelligent and conscientious in acting this part, +and she enlisted our sympathies entirely. She confided to me, while +sitting one day, that she longed greatly to find something to do more +interesting <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_268" id="PageV2_268">[268]</a></span>and remunerative than spending her days as a model. She +thought she could act. I consulted Leighton. His first exclamation +was, "<i>Impossible!</i> with <i>that</i> voice! How <i>could</i> she go on the +stage?" I thought the voice, which had a singularly unpleasant Cockney +twang in it, might be trained, as I had observed how very eager she +was to learn to speak in a more educated manner, quite realising her +own shortcomings. Leighton came round to my opinion; and, once having +made up his mind that she was bent on educating herself for the stage, +showed himself as ever the most unselfish and untiring befriender. +Meanwhile four of these beautiful children became useful to him as +models. From the second daughter, who afterwards married an artist, +Leighton painted "Memories," reproduced here; from the third, Hetty, +he painted "Simœtha the Sorceress" and "Farewell"; but it was the +youngest, Lina, quite a small child, who delighted him most, and who +had a rare, refined charm which must have captivated any child-lover. +She took the place of little Connie Gilchrist of the "Cleobouline," +the "Music Lesson," and other of the earlier paintings, in the later +pictures. She sat for "Sister's Kiss," "The Light of the Harem," +"Letty," the sleeping group in "Cymon and Iphigenia," "Kittens," in +the friezes "The Dance" and "Music," and "A little girl with golden +hair and pale blue eyes"—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Yellow and pale as ripened corn<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which Autumn's kiss frees—grain from sheath<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Such was her hair, while her eyes beneath,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Showed Spring's faint violets freshly born."<br /></span> +<span class="i12 sc">Robert Browning.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noin">—also the child in "Captive Andromache." Of the sister-mother of this +little family, beautiful as she was, Leighton declared he never could +paint a successful likeness, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_269" id="PageV2_269">[269]</a></span>notwithstanding his attempts in +"Viola,"<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> "Bianca," "Serenely wandering in a trance of sober +thought," and "Miss Dene." Her very beautiful throat, however, was +reproduced worthily in many of his subject-pictures, and the true +dramatic instinct she undoubtedly possessed enabled her to be of help +in such pictures as "Antigone," "Return of Persephone," and the last +picture, the passionate "Clytie." But however useful she proved as a +model, Leighton never for a moment thought of his own interests before +the serious welfare of the young girl's life. He realised that if she +was to make a successful actress, it involved serious and concentrated +study. One morning I received the following note:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p><span class="sc">Dear Mrs. Barrington,</span>—Miss Pullen will be very happy +to sit to you on Monday, and will talk over the rest when you +meet. You are very kind about it all, as is, indeed, your wont.</p> + +<p><i>P.S.</i>—You see my harassed old head does sometimes remember +what I promise.</p></div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep268" id="imagep268"></a> +<a href="images/imagep268.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep268.jpg" width="85%" alt="Clytie" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">STUDIES FROM DOROTHY DENE FOR "CLYTIE." 1895<br /> +Leighton House Collection<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>And later:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="rightsc">2 Holland Park Road,<br /> +<span class="datepad2">Kensington, W.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Mrs. Barrington,</span>—I want you to help me in a +little conspiracy against (?) our young tragic friend. Mrs. Glyn +frequently urges that she ought, at all events for a time, to +give her <i>whole</i> mind and being to the study of her art. I need +not say I share that opinion, and I have at last, after infinite +trouble and persistence (my <i>nose</i>, you know)<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> induced her to +leave off sitting for a <i>month</i>, in the hope, if you will all +help, of making <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_270" id="PageV2_270">[270]</a></span>it a <i>quarter</i>. This would, I am confident, be +of the greatest value to her, giving her time also to read a +little and concentrate her thoughts. I am quite prepared to give +up painting from her for three months; but she is in mortal +dread lest her other friends should think her unkind and +ungrateful for their sympathy. I have told her I believe no such +thing, and that I feel sure that Schmaltz and you (who work most +from her) will, as willingly as I, postpone your studies in +order to aid her in so important a matter. She is going to call +on you to-day; if you agree with me, <i>be very firm</i>—have a +<i>nose</i>! <i>Refuse</i> to paint from her for three months.</p></div> + +<p>We succeeded in making the little girl work exclusively at her acting, +and Leighton, Watts, and I frequently visited the school where she was +being trained under Mrs. Glyn, to hear her and her fellow-students +perform the pieces they had studied. Eventually she appeared in London +and in the provinces, and quickly communicated all her successes and +failures to Leighton and to me. Constant notes passed between us as we +each received news from our young <i>protégée</i>, or when we thought some +fresh step might be taken for her advantage. For instance, one of +these notes runs as follows:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p><span class="sc">Dear Mrs. Barrington,</span>—It has occurred to me that I +perhaps seemed this morning what I certainly did not mean to +seem, churlish in regard to that letter from Irving.<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> <i>If +Miss Pullen is now ripe for him to hear her</i>—this is the most +important <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_271" id="PageV2_271">[271]</a></span>point (for to go to him <i>too soon</i> would be the most +unwise thing possible in view of her getting a good +engagement)—and if, having declined a letter on a previous +occasion, she has any unnecessary scruple about now asking for +one, it will be quite enough for you to tell me from her that +she wishes for one, and I will at once write it. <i>Kemp will +always be able to tell you where to get at me.</i> I can write as +easily from Vienna or Constantinople as from here.</p></div> + +<p>From Exeter Dorothy Dene wrote to Leighton after recounting an +unwonted success:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"Don't be frightened that I shall let all this praise turn my +head. I know how much better it could be done, and after every +scene a great weight falls on my heart that I have done no +better. But I like you to warn me; it is good for me, so don't +leave off, please. I am sorry that your friend, Lord +Mount-Edgcumbe, will not see me, and that you had the bother of +writing for nothing. Please do not fash yourself about finding +out any one else. I must leave off now, as it is time to go to +the theatre, and you will not get this any sooner if it were +posted to-night than to-morrow.</p> + +<p class="right"><i>Sunday, 24th.</i></p> + +<p>"To continue, our lodgings are very comfortable, and nearly +opposite the theatre; the food is good, and very fairly cooked, +but I am very pleased with the tuck parcel; we had one of the +birds when we arrived, the other things we have hardly touched. +I thought it better to save them for places where the food may +be bad. Please send me Mr. B. Tree's letter. I thought as you +think about its advice. Thank you so much for <i>your</i> kind advice +and gentle reminders, I shall try so hard to remember all you +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_272" id="PageV2_272">[272]</a></span>have said to me at different times; and if I do become anything +in the future, I shall owe all the best part of it to you."</p></div> + +<p>An engagement for two matinées was made for her début in London.</p> + +<p>"Dear Mrs. Barrington, 'Dorothy' acts at the <i>Globe</i> on Monday and +Tuesday afternoons," wrote Leighton; "I mean to go on Monday." I took +a party of eight to see her, including the late Lord Lytton, who took +much interest in the stage. After the performance Leighton wrote to +me, "Poor Dorothy was paralysed with terror yesterday—but I hope +intelligent people will have seen <i>through</i> that." Again, later, "she +is adding, as she deserves, to the number of her friends, several of +whom treat her with really maternal kindness." I can indeed very truly +endorse Leighton's good opinion. Dorothy and three of her sisters were +worthy of all the interest shown in them. They were entirely +self-respecting, conscientious children, most affectionately devoted +to one another, and striving their utmost to improve in every sense, +and make themselves worthy of the help they received. Naturally they +adored their chief benefactor, Leighton. Unfortunately, Dorothy, +notwithstanding dramatic gifts, great perseverance and intelligence, +lacked charm on the stage. Her very beautiful face and throat were not +seen to advantage, as they were hardly in proportion with her figure, +which was short and too stiffly set to move gracefully on the stage. +Leighton in fun always called her "the little tee-to-tum," or when she +wore a large hat, "the mushroom." As he felt vitality waning and +mental effort a greater strain, the little family of Pullens had to +Leighton somewhat the same resting charm that Italy had in early days, +when he turned from the German austerity in study to the relaxation of +the <i>dolce far niente</i> of Italian national life. "I go to see them," +he used to say, "when I want to let <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_273" id="PageV2_273">[273]</a></span>my back hair down and get off the +stilts." When Leighton was dying, his sister, Mrs. Sutherland Orr, +took Dorothy into his room. He was too ill to speak, but only smiled +to her in answer to her saying, "If I have or ever will do anything +worth doing, I owe it all to you—everything I owe to you." It is +almost unnecessary, as it is distasteful, to mention that this +beautiful paternal attitude Leighton displayed towards these orphans +was made the subject of ugly gossip—for are there not always the +<i>misérables</i> of the world who seek the ugly rather than the beautiful? +misinterpreting the beautiful so that it should come within the range +of their scandalous arrows, more especially when the darts attack a +man in the high position Leighton held. Some of these offshoots of +envy and jealousy came within earshot of Leighton's sisters, who +thought it well to warn him in a letter that such malice was in the +air. He wrote a lengthy answer, ending with the following sentence: +"But let me turn away from the whole thing, it has pained me more than +enough. I implore you not to reopen it. On the only thing that +matters, you are <i>absolutely assured, if you believe in my honour</i>. If +you hear these rumours again, meet them with a flat, ungarnished +denial. Let that suffice—it does for me." To a lady friend he wrote +still more explicitly, in order, as he said, that there should exist +in his own handwriting an implicit and unmitigated denial of the +malicious falsehood. Leighton never knew under whose auspices this +scandal was conducted. As is the case invariably, it was impossible to +put the finger exactly on the culprit—for these fulsome things have +to be propagated under the rose, in order that they should get a firm +root before an authoritative denial can be given. However, after +Leighton's death, the lie was stated more boldly—even directly to his +two sisters. It is necessary, therefore, to include in the account of +his life the full and truthful <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_274" id="PageV2_274">[274]</a></span>version of the kind and fatherly +protection Leighton gave to this family.</p> + +<p>The interests of the Kyrle Society were another cause which I had in +common with Leighton. He spoke at the first public meeting that was +held in the Kensington Town Hall on January 27, 1881, and I possess an +interesting correspondence with him on the subject, which space will +not allow me to quote. The important matter contained in it appears in +the following correspondence between Mr. T.C. Horsfall, the chief +mover in establishing the Art Museum and Galleries in Manchester, and +Leighton, together with a discussion on other vital points connected +with Art:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><i>April 7, about 1880.</i></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Sir,</span>—I am probably too late to be of any use, but +have nevertheless much pleasure in assuring you once again of +the sympathy with which I view your endeavours to bring the +refining influences of Art in all its forms, and, so to speak, +in co-operation on the masses in the vast industrial centre from +which you write. I believe that in seeking to elicit and to +cultivate their sense of what is beautiful you are opening up to +them a deep source of enjoyment, and by opposing good to bad +influences, rendering them great and lasting service.—Yours +very faithfully,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred Leighton.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p class="right"><i>February 17, 1881.</i></p> + +<p>I have carefully read over the programme of your enterprise, and +there is much in it with which I can warmly sympathise. I desire +nothing more deeply than to see the love and knowledge of Art +penetrate into the masses of the people in this country—there +is no end which I would more willingly serve; but there is in +your programme a paragraph which I cannot too emphatically +repudiate—that, namely, which excludes from Art, as far as the +public is concerned, that which is the root of the finest Art as +Art, the human form, the noblest of visible things. That you +should sternly and stringently exclude all work which reveals +an <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_275" id="PageV2_275">[275]</a></span>offensive aim or prurient mind is what I should be the +first to claim, but that you should lay down as a corner-stone +of your scheme an enactment which would exclude by implication +more than half the loftiest work we owe to Art—<i>nearly all +Michael Angelo</i>, much of Raphael's best, Sebastiano del Piomba's +"Raising of Lazarus," Titian's "Bacchus and Ariadne," +Botticelli's "Birth of Venus"—this is indeed a measure from +which I must most distinctly dissociate myself, and which makes +it impossible for me to connect my name with an enterprise which +would else command my sympathy.</p></div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep274" id="imagep274"></a> +<a href="images/imagep274.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep274.jpg" width="85%" alt="Greek Girls Playing at Ball" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">STUDY IN COLOUR FOR "GREEK GIRLS PLAYING AT BALL." 1889<br /> +By permission of Mrs. Stewart Hodgson<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="block"><p class="cen"><i>From the "Manchester Courier," August 30, 1890.</i></p> + +<p class="cen sc">Sir Frederic Leighton on the Management of Art Galleries.</p> + +<p class="noin">To the Editor of the <i>Manchester Courier</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Sir,</span>—On the 4th and 6th inst. I published two long +letters on the management of art galleries, of some part of +which this is a summary:—No one can intelligently and fully +enjoy any picture or statue unless he has some measure of three +kinds of knowledge. (1) He must know something about the subject +represented, or he cannot enjoy the expression by the work of +the artist's feeling and thought; (2) he must know something of +the processes of the art in which the artist has worked, or he +cannot know what effects the artist sought or might have sought; +(3) he must know something of the history of the art, or he +cannot understand what elements in the work are due to the +artist himself and what to his time and place; or enjoy at all +some of the finest works ever produced. For the giving of the +second and third of these three kinds of knowledge there ought +to be subsidiary collections in our Manchester galleries, kept +distinct from the principal collection, and for the giving of +the first kind there ought to be several distinct subsidiary +collections, of which some should be for the purpose of giving +knowledge of flowers, birds, trees, and the other beautiful +objects which are "elements of landscape." As a very large +proportion of the people of all large towns are ignorant of all +that is interesting in nature, and of all that is <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_276" id="PageV2_276">[276]</a></span>noblest and +most interesting in history and in contemporary life, and as +pictures can very effectively give some knowledge both of nature +and of the deeds of men while fulfilling their special function, +which is to give certain kinds of æsthetic pleasure, the +principal collections in our galleries ought to be used for the +purpose of giving knowledge of nature and of noble human nature. +A gallery of good pictures of the kind would, by reason of the +interest of the subjects represented, attract so much attention +that the public would to a far larger extent than now feel the +influence of the artistic qualities of pictures. In order to +obtain pictures of suitable subjects, the directors of art +galleries, instead of only buying pictures in exhibitions and +studios as they now do, should, as a rule, revert to the custom +which prevailed in the ages when art influenced life deeply, and +should ask artists to paint pictures of prescribed subjects. I +believe that they would get thus better pictures and at lower +prices. Many artists certainly would be at their best when they +knew they were working to enlighten a great community, and would +gladly accept a moderate price for a picture ordered for a +public gallery.</p> + +<p>I sent a copy of my letters to Sir Frederic Leighton, and asked +him if he would let me have his opinion respecting the principal +suggestions contained in them. With the great kindness which +distinguishes him, Sir Frederic Leighton has written me the +following letter, which contains advice so valuable that I am +sure every person in Manchester who cares for art will be glad +to have an opportunity of reading it:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p><span class="sc">"Dear Mr. Horsfall,</span>—I must apologise for my very +long delay in answering your letter—a delay due in great +part to lack of time, but in part also to the fact that +your questions could not be answered hastily, or without +due consideration. I may say at the outset that I very +warmly appreciate the depth of your interest in the subject +of art, and the constancy of your efforts to spread its +influence in Manchester; and I am glad to be able to add +that on not a few points, I find myself in harmony with +your views.</p> + +<p>"It is evidently not possible for me to touch, within the +compass of a letter, upon more than one or two of the +matters with <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_277" id="PageV2_277">[277]</a></span>which you deal in your two long communications +to the Manchester press; and, indeed, the question on which +you mainly dilate, and in regard to which I am not wholly at +one with you, would require to be dealt with at far greater +length than is possible to me here. I must content myself +with saying what little seems to me sufficient to indicate +the grounds of my dissent from you. But first I should like +to say a word in passing on the vexed subject of <i>copies</i>.</p> + +<p>"There can be no doubt that it would be an immense advantage +to those who cannot travel—that is to say, to the enormous +majority of men—to bring before their eyes, through +reproductions—if these reproductions were absolutely +faithful—the masterpieces to which distance deprives them +of access. This is, in the case of sculpture and +architectural detail, in a large measure achieved by the +means of plaster casts, though it is needless to point out +that the capacity of the material robs the reproduction of +much of the life and light of the original. With pictures +the case is different. The subtle and infinite charm which +resides in the <i>handiwork</i> of a master, and in the absence +of which half the personality of his work is lost, can +hardly ever be rendered by a copyist. For this reason the +overwhelming majority of even reasonable copies is to my +mind worse than useless. Such copies can kindle no +enthusiasm, and they virtually misinform the student. It has +always seemed to me that the best way to acquaint young +people with pictures which they are not able to see is to +put before them photographs of the originals, which, besides +giving design, form, and light and shade, with absolute +fidelity, render, in a wonderful way, the executive +physiognomy of the work; and by the side of these +photographs free, but faithful, coloured sketches of the +pictures should hang, giving the scheme, harmony, and tone +of the colour, but not, like finished copies, professing an +identity with the original, which is never achieved.</p> + +<p>"Turning now to what you say on the subject of the +acquisition of works for a public gallery, I should at once +dissuade you from any idea of giving definite commissions—I +mean commission to paint specially selected subjects. I have +always felt very strongly that artistic work, to be of real +value, must be the outcome of entirely spontaneous impulse +in an artist. I believe that <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_278" id="PageV2_278">[278]</a></span>in the immense majority of +cases work done under any other conditions lacks vitality +and sincerity, and will not show the worker at his best. A +subject which does not impose itself unbidden on the artist +will never elicit his full powers. I have myself on that +ground for many years past invariably declined to paint +under any kind of restriction.</p> + +<p>"Neither does your idea of—practically—refusing +encouragement to any work which does not commemorate a noble +deed, and, if possible, the noble deed of a well-known +personage, commend itself to me. It seems to me, on the +contrary, to be a harmful one, inasmuch as it misdirects the +mind of a people, already little open to pure artistic +emotion, as to the special function of Art. This can, of +course, only be the doing of something which it <i>alone</i> can +achieve. Now, direct ethical teaching is specially the +province of the written and the spoken word. A page or two +from the pen of a great and nobly-inspired moralist—a +Newman, say, or a Liddon, or a Martineau—can fire us more +potently and definitely for good than a whole gallery of +paintings. This does not, of course, mean that a moral +lesson may not indirectly be conveyed by a work of art, and +thereby enhance its purely moral value. <i>But it cannot be +the highest function of any form of expression to convey +that which can be more forcibly, more clearly, and more +certainly brought home through another channel.</i> You may no +more make this direct <i>explicit</i> ethical teaching a test of +worth in a painted work than you may do so in the case of +instrumental music; indeed by doing so you will turn the +attention of those before whom you place it from the true +character of its excellence—you will, so to speak, +mis-focus their emotional sensibility. It is only by +concentrating his attention on essentially artistic +attributes that you can hope to intensify in the spectator +that perception of what is beautiful in the highest, widest, +and fullest sense of the word, through which he may enrich +his life by the multiplication of precious moments akin to +those which the noblest and most entrancing music may bestow +on him through different forms of æsthetic emotion. It is in +the power to lift us out of ourselves into regions of such +pure and penetrating enjoyment that the privilege and +greatness of art reside. If, in a fine painting, a further +wholly human source of emotion is <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_279" id="PageV2_279">[279]</a></span>present, and if that +emotion is more vividly kindled in the spectator by the fact +that he is attuned to receive it by the excitement of +æsthetic perception through the beauty of the work of art as +such, that work will gain no doubt in interest and in width +of appeal. But it will not therefore be of a loftier order +than a great work in architecture or music—than the +Parthenon, for instance, or a symphony of Beethoven, neither +of which preaches a direct moral lesson.</p> + +<p>"But I am being led away into undue length without the +possibility, after all, of doing more than roughly indicate +the grounds of my dissent from a rather vital article of +your creed—a dissent which will, I am afraid, jar on you in +proportion to the great sincerity with which you hold your +faith. I may say, by the way, that I dwelt at rather greater +length on this very subject in my first presidential address +to the Royal Academy, delivered on 16th December 1879.—And, +herewith, I remain, dear Mr. Horsfall, yours very truly,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred Leighton.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">"2 Holland Park Road, Kensington,</span><br /> +<span style="padding-left: 7%;">"<i>August 18, 1890</i>."</span></p> +</div> + +<br /> + +<p>Examples of the kind of copies which Sir F. Leighton recommends can be +seen in the Art Museum in No. 1 Room. We have there a photograph of +the "Adoration of the Magi" of Paul Veronese, with a series of studies +by Mr. F. Shields of the composition, the light and shade, and the +arrangement of colour in the picture. These copies suffice to prove +that such a collection as Sir F. Leighton recommends would be of the +greatest value and interest. May I say with regard to two points in +the letter, that my proposal to use some parts of the collections in +our galleries for the purpose of revealing the beauty of nature and +the greatness of human nature, does not involve any belief that the +giving of ethical teaching ought to be one of the functions of +pictures, and that the proposal is made partly for the purpose of +increasing the width of appeal of works of art. While trying to make +that appeal reach a large part of the community, we may usefully +teach, by means of other parts of the collections, that the excellence +of paintings has no relation to ethical teaching.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_280" id="PageV2_280">[280]</a></span>With regard to the influence on the artist of the choice by others of +his subjects, I think that Sir F. Leighton is misled by his own great +gifts. A man of remarkably wide culture, and of great poetical power, +he has been enabled, by the great range and strength of his +imagination, to choose subjects giving ample scope for the exercise of +the qualities peculiar to the painter, and yet appealing strongly to +the powers of thought and feeling of all fairly educated people. To +such a man, and to such a man only, spontaneous impulse can now be a +sufficient guide in the choice of his subject; and to such a man, and +only to such a man, the choice of his subject by other persons of +intelligence would be a harmful restriction. In every picture gallery +it is but too obvious that the majority of even able painters, though +unrestricted by the will of any committee, are impeded by more +hampering restrictions than any intelligent committee would impose, +and are unable to find subjects interesting both to themselves and to +others. For many able painters the intelligent choice by others of +subjects for their work would remove, and not impose, restrictions. It +must be remembered that the subjects of the works of Pheidias, of +Cimabue, of Giotto, and indeed those of most of the works which have +been much cared for, were chosen for, and not by, the artists.—Yours, +&c.,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">T.C. Horsfall.</p></div> + +<p>The following letter is Mr. Horsfall's answer to the one published in +the <i>Manchester Courier</i>, August 30, 1890:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Swanscoe Park, near Macclesfield,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>August 20, 1890</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Sir Frederic Leighton,</span>—It is most kind of you to +answer my letter so fully. I shall show my gratitude by doing my +best to make your counsel as useful as possible to Manchester.</p> + +<p>The system which you suggest for giving some idea of +masterpieces which are too distant to be visited seems to me to +be admirable, and I cannot but believe that it will be adopted +in one of our Manchester Galleries.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_281" id="PageV2_281">[281]</a></span>With regard to the advisableness of choosing for public +galleries chiefly pictures of noble subjects respecting which +most people have, when they see the pictures, or can be expected +to gain, some knowledge, though I feel the great weight of your +argument, I am still of the same opinion. I may say this without +presumption, because the great question which we are discussing: +"How can Art be made most useful to England?" involves the two +other questions: "What are the best conditions under which +artists can work?" and "How can the best work of artists be made +to influence the rest of the community?" In considering the +second of these questions an artist is, I think, impeded by his +special gifts, while I, not an artist, aided by the <i>qualités de +mes défauts</i>, and by the results of several years of experiment +in the use of pictures, believe myself to have gained much +trustworthy knowledge! Speaking from the standpoint which I have +thus reached, I should say that whilst the artist is most +conscious of the analogy which exists between painting and +instrumental music, there is really a much closer analogy +between painting and poetry, or between painting and song, and +that it is this closer analogy which should guide the action of +the directors of public galleries. Painting deals, while +instrumental music does not, with subjects respecting which we +think and feel, and it must accept the results for good and evil +of this; its products cannot be, as instrumental music is, +without definite relation to our feeling and thought, and a +simply neutral relation being impossible, the relation must be +ennobling or debasing in some degree. I think that my analysis +of the conditions which must be fulfilled if the relations is to +be an ennobling one was sound.</p> + +<p>In asking that painters shall choose subjects pure and lovely +"and of good report," I am not asking that painting shall leave +its special function—shall cease to do that which it can do +better than any other art; but only that it shall recognise that +its function differs from that of instrumental music, and is the +creation in us of a symphony of feeling or emotional thought and +enjoyment of form and colour, and human skill, and love of +beauty.—With very many thanks, I am, dear Sir Frederic +Leighton, yours sincerely,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">T.C. Horsfall.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="block"><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_282" id="PageV2_282">[282]</a></span> +<p class="right"><span class="sc">2 Holland Park Road, Kensington, W.,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>August 22, 1890</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Mr. Horsfall,</span>—I have to thank you for your kind +and interesting letter of the 20th.</p> + +<p>Knowing of old the views you entertain, and the radical +divergence which exists between them and my own, I had fully +anticipated the spirit of your answer; in fact, it almost seemed +to me when I wrote at some length the other day that I ought to +explain that it was out of deference to your wish and in high +appreciation of the long and earnest thought which you have +given to a grave subject that I did so, rather than in the hope +that my views would carry conviction or commend themselves to +you.</p> + +<p>The divergence between us is, as I said, at the root of things, +and is one on which I do not think experience either qualifies +or disqualifies us to judge. The question is not what effect +pictures may have had on certain people, but what the <i>proper</i> +function of Art is. The question is theoretic rather than +practical. <i>If</i> the primary function of Art is definitely +didactic, <i>if</i> its first duty is to inculcate a specific moral +truth, then, indeed, there is, as you very rightly say, no +neutral ground. Either the teaching is wholesome or it is +mischievous.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, our brief correspondence only throws into stronger +light the impossibility to which I believe I alluded in my first +letter, of dealing with such a subject within the compass of a +letter, and in broad and sweeping outlines. So, for instance, +when I used instrumental music as a parallel, I did not for a +moment mean to describe its province as being identical with +that of painting. Neither, on the other hand, would you, I +presume, in instancing song on your side wish to be taken too +literally; for you would have, according to your theory, to +excommunicate, let us say, for instance, Schubert, the king of +song-writers, who has played on more varied chords of feeling +and imagination than any other musician of his kind, and of whom +I am not aware that he ever inculcated (I feel pretty certain +that he never meant to inculcate) a definite moral lesson.</p> + +<p>But I am beginning again. Let me at once draw rein, and +abandoning a barren, however interesting controversy, remain, +dear Mr. Horsfall, yours sincerely,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred Leighton.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="block"><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_283" id="PageV2_283">[283]</a></span> +<p class="right"><span class="sc">2 Holland Park Road, Kensington, W.,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>August 28, 1890</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Mr. Horsfall,</span>—Before starting for my holiday, of +which I stand in much need, I write one line to acknowledge and +thank you for your amiable and interesting letter, which shows +me, I am very glad to see, that we are much less divided in +opinion than I should have gathered from what you had previously +written, and indeed printed.</p> + +<p>Judgments given as absolute in your letters to the Manchester +press are shown by the commentary which your last letter +furnishes to be in a manner conditional, and without that +commentary your words were rather misleading. I was not +unnaturally a little startled—I, who do not think a "subject" +in the ordinary sense of the word imperative at all—to find you +condemn the purchase of Yeames's "Arthur and Hubert" (which, for +the element of human emotion, certainly satisfies the +Aristotelian demand in reference to tragedy), because the +emotion does not turn on an heroic act; and I may say, in +passing, that I am unable to see how a scene in which deep pity +for the helpless is aroused, can be justly described as a +"horror which it is foolish to try to realise."</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, I fully feel the practical difficulty which your last +letter describes. It is a difficulty of the most perplexing +kind. For it must be evident that whilst with a people of strong +moral fibre and an almost entire absence of æsthetic +sensibility—at all events, on the side of form—you may +indirectly insinuate some perception of the beautiful—of that +essence which lifts us out of ourselves—under the cover and +pretext of a <i>moral</i> emotion—we cannot ignore the danger of +producing the exactly opposite effect of confirming the +dully-strung spectator in the belief that the stirring of that +moral emotion is in fact the <i>raison d'être</i> of the work. One +is, of course, glad, as the world goes, that the doors of +righteousness should be opened, even by the wrong key; but one +would still more desire that the door which yields only to that +key should not itself remain closed.</p> + +<p>Pray do not take the trouble to acknowledge these parting words: +but believe me, very truly yours,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred Leighton.</p> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_284" id="PageV2_284">[284]</a></span>With regard to Leighton's acute artistic sense of fitness when it was +a matter of chosing a site for buildings or monuments, so that such +placing should give them their full value of effect, I remember, after +a site had been decided on for Cleopatra's Needle in London, Leighton +vehemently denouncing the idea of placing it where it now stands. The +conversation we had respecting it was recalled by finding the +following letter:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p><span class="sc">Dear Sir,</span>—It is a source of regret to me that I am +unable to be present as a listener at the discussion to-morrow. +Meanwhile the question of the base, though a very important one, +is in my mind very secondary to that of the site, and the (in my +poor opinion) radical wrongness of the present selection much +mars my interest in the whole affair. A monument which, intended +to be conspicuous, is not the <i>focus</i> of the avenues that lead +to it, I think against the most primary perceptions of effect. +Two magnificent avenues give access to Cleopatra's Needle, the +finest river and the finest embankment in Europe; <i>both of these +run past it</i> as if they had forgotten it. I may add that what +would only have been feeble is rendered worse than feeble by the +(of course accidental) semblance of matching with the short +tower over the way.</p> + +<p>Pray excuse the great haste in which I write and the consequent +abruptness of my expressions, and believe me, yours very truly,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred Leighton.</p> +</div> + +<p>Mr. J. Goodall, in his Reminiscences, says: "Many years before it was +removed from Egypt I used to see it lying on the seashore near +Alexandria. I agree with Lord Leighton's opinion that it was not +erected on a suitable site. It is a pity it was not put up in front of +the British Museum."</p> + +<p>Leighton, needless to say, took infinite interest in Sir Henry Tate's +splendid scheme for memorialising the success of a commercial life, by +presenting to his nation a gallery in which the best British works of +art might find a home, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_285" id="PageV2_285">[285]</a></span>and, moreover, by the gift to the public of +the nucleus of such a collection. It was truly amazing to see the +amount of time and trouble which Leighton devoted to this scheme, +considering how full to overflowing his life already appeared to be. +But, whether it was a question of a splendid enterprise, or a +struggling artist of whom the world had never heard, or even an +earnest amateur, once his sense aroused that he could be of help, +Leighton manufactured time somehow to give that help.<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> But the +high-minded, public-spirited <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_286" id="PageV2_286">[286]</a></span>view Sir Henry Tate took of the +responsibilities of wealth specially enlisted Leighton's sympathies, +and he evinced an intense interest in helping to work out the great +idea.</p> + +<p>Another matter which concerned him very seriously was the fact that a +work by the greatest sculptor England can claim—Alfred +Stevens—purporting to memorialise our great warrior, the Duke of +Wellington, was allowed to remain unfinished and shunted away in a +side chapel of St. Paul's Cathedral, instead of being completed and +placed in the position for which it was designed. The following +letters to Mr. Henry Wells show that in 1888 Leighton had induced +others to view the matter in the same light:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">2 Holland Park Road,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>August 12, 1888</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Wells,</span>—The list for the Memorial Committee is +practically complete, and though it is not in every particular +the list which you or I might have drawn up, it is a good one, +and as I told you I think in a previous note, I have not liked +to interfere too much, as Agnew has so zealously taken the work +on himself. I meant to send you the list, but have cleverly come +away from home (I am writing at the Senior United Service Club) +without it. I have of course asked Agnew to add his own name; +for the Academy I have proposed to him the four Trustees—not as +Trustees, but because they offer a ready-made group in a body +where none is afore or after—Sir J. Gilbert, Linton, and Coutts +Lindsay will complete the artistic section for the present. The +next step, as I have suggested to Agnew, is to get at the Dean +of St. Paul's—this I have offered to do. A chairman will have +to be appointed; I should suggest, or rather have suggested, the +D. of Cleveland—if he joins; I believe his answer has not yet +come in. And there must be a banker: then a letter from the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_287" id="PageV2_287">[287]</a></span>Committee should appear in the <i>Times</i> inviting adhesions and +subscriptions, to be published from time to time: is all this in +harmony with your own view? Are you not afraid that the moment +when "everybody" (for <i>our</i> purposes it <i>is</i> everybody) is +leaving town or has left it—I go myself in a few days—is a +very bad one? Many people lose sight of their <i>Times</i>, or would +not write from the country or foreign parts. How would it strike +you to wait a month or two, having now laid the foundation? It +is a nice point. There are pros, but there are also cons. With +all good wishes, yours sincerely,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred Leighton.</p> + +<p>You have seen no doubt in your <i>Times</i> that we mean to exhibit +our lamented friend's work in a worthy manner.</p> + +<p><i>P.P.S.</i>—By-the-bye, <i>S. Kensington</i> ought to be represented. I +will ask Agnew to write to T. Armstrong.</p></div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep287a" id="imagep287a"></a> +<a href="images/imagep287a.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep287a.jpg" width="55%" alt="Bacchante" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"BACCHANTE." 1892<br /> +By permission of Messrs. Henry Graves & Co., the owners of the Copyright<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep287b" id="imagep287b"></a> +<a href="images/imagep287b.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep287b.jpg" width="55%" alt="Bacchante study" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">STUDY IN OILS FOR "BACCHANTE." 1892<br /> +By permission of Mrs. Stewart Hodgson<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">2 Holland Park Road, Kensington, W.,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>November 2, 1892</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Wells,</span>—Best thanks for your cheque and kind note. +You will be glad to hear that the removal is going on capitally. +I did not wait for the full money-promise; I had <i>determined</i> to +do the thing, and I set it going on my personal guarantee when +we were £300 short of the full sum. <i>Now</i> we have the money, +young Lehmann munificently sending a cheque <i>for that amount</i>.</p></div> + +<p>The great monument having been moved to its right position, the next +question was to raise funds for the completion of the work. This was +perplexing Leighton during the last weeks of his life. Having written +a letter to the <i>Times</i> in 1895, and the donations having come in but +scantily, he was puzzled to know what further steps to take.</p> + +<p>Leighton himself, so distinguished a sculptor, took a special interest +in all efforts to promote the knowledge and love of plastic art. When, +therefore, his old friend Mr. Walter Copland Perry called a meeting at +Grosvenor House—at which the late Duke of Westminster presided—to +lay before it his scheme for the formation of a gallery of <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_288" id="PageV2_288">[288]</a></span>casts from +all the best Greek and Roman statues, Leighton was one of the most +zealous and active promoters of the scheme.<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a></p> + +<p>Leighton was commissioned by the Government to execute the medallion +for Queen Victoria's Jubilee in 1887. M. Edouard Lantéri, now +Professor of Modelling at the South Kensington schools, assisted him +in carrying out the design, and became an ardent admirer of the +President. M. Lantéri described to me how certain difficulties +occurred in the casting. Leighton said they must work on till these +were set right—and they <i>did</i> work eighteen hours on end.</p> + +<p>All to whom the work of Watts, Burne-Jones, and Rossetti has appealed, +owe Leighton a debt of gratitude. Before the Grosvenor Gallery +Exhibition of his work took place in 1882, Watts, in talking to me of +the unpopularity of the pictures he felt most inspired to paint, would +often give as a proof of this that, with one exception, no one had +ever cared to engrave his pictures; and truly, without Mr. Fred +Hollyer's photographs the general public would have known little of +the special value of this work, nor of the art of Rossetti and +Burne-Jones. Mr. Hollyer's photographs are not merely copies—they +have as art an atmosphere of charm in themselves; they render what may +be called the <i>soul</i> of a picture. He writes:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"About 1875 I received a letter from Baroness ——, requesting me +to call upon her in order to arrange to photograph the +collection of works of art in her country house. She had +employed other photographers, but the results had not been +satisfactory. I carried the matter through, and not <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_289" id="PageV2_289">[289]</a></span>only +received a considerable amount in remuneration, but was given +great encouragement to persevere with my work at a time when I +had nearly decided on going to America. The Baroness never +mentioned who it was that had recommended me, and though I had +been constantly working for him during many years, it was not +till six months after his death that I discovered it was Lord +Leighton who had been my good friend. I should be glad to bear +testimony to his great heart and loving kindness, and do regret +not having been able to thank him myself."</p></div> + +<p>Leighton was made a Baronet in 1886. The following letter from +Gladstone, written in 1885, refers to Leighton having submitted to him +the names of Millais and Watts as artists worthy to receive the +honour, at the same time begging him earnestly not to include his +own:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="noin"><i>Private.</i>]</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="sc">10 Downing Street, Whitehall</span>,<br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>June 17, 1885</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">My dear Sir F. Leighton</span>,—Your letter has given me much +pleasure. I can assure you that I in return highly appreciate +the generous spirit you have shown, and I value the advice you +kindly tendered in this matter of Art Honours. I am reporting +rather fully to Her Majesty on our conversation of Monday, and +on the personal abnegation on your own part, which commands my +cordial respect.—I remain always, very faithfully yours,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">W.E. Gladstone.</p> +</div> + +<p>On Watts declining the honour, Leighton was at first much vexed; but +Watts, having explained to him the reason which made it inadvisable +for him to accept a baronetcy, Leighton fully, as he told my husband +and myself, saw the necessity of his declining.</p> + +<p>Since the first years when Leighton settled in London he had been +favoured by the personal friendship of many members of the Royal +family, who very greatly esteemed <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_290" id="PageV2_290">[290]</a></span>him. He not only attended the State +banquets and entertainments to which he was summoned, but was +frequently the guest at receptions of a private and a more intimate +character at Marlborough House and elsewhere.</p> + +<p>In these pages there is only space to note a few, among the very many +directions in which he served the Art interests of his country. In +foreign lands, and in the Colonies no less than in England, he +extended the knowledge and appreciation of the best English Art by his +unwearying exertions; and yet it must always be remembered he ever +remained "a workman first, an official after."</p> + +<p>Professor Church, appointed in 1879 to the Professorship of Chemistry +in the Royal Academy of Arts in London, has preserved letters and +notes from Leighton on the subject of pigments.<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> It is almost +incredible that his mind could have penetrated with such accuracy into +all the details of his craft as fresh questions arose as to the value +of new vehicles and colours, considering his endless labours connected +with the wider interests of Art, and the absorbing nature of his own +work. But there exist over sixty letters, and more than twenty cards, +dating from 1880 to November 1895, two months before his death, in +which he proves his insistency to master thoroughly every detail of +his craft. He wrote: "It is, I feel, rather a duty in me to ascertain +about these various new vehicles."</p> + +<p>The following extracts may prove of interest and value to +painters.<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a></p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><i>8th.</i></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Prof. Church</span>,—I write to acknowledge your letter +of the 6th, the information in which (Jaune de Naples) is to <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_291" id="PageV2_291">[291]</a></span>me +of very great importance indeed. I believe Hills to be really +anxious to help us in the matter of medium. I should be +peculiarly glad if we could send forth a thoroughly trustworthy, +hard-drying, supple, and not yellowing vehicle. Let us consider +it. I find myself using a mixture, roughly, of equal parts of +amber varnish (Roberson's) and oil of spike; and, say, a sixth +of the whole of poppy oil (Roberson's): that is, 3/7 amber, 3/7 +spike, 1/7 poppy; but I vary according to the work; and again I +don't know what Roberson's amber varnish is, it does not seem +<i>very</i> drying. Of course one would want a good middle drying +power, to which, <i>mixing the ingredients</i>, one might add any one +at will. I think that "Siccatif de Haarlem" has about that +middle quality, if I remember it rightly. It is, I think, copal, +poppy oil, and turps.; but it seemed to me to yellow a little, +why, I don't know; poppy should not darken. Chromophile is +delightful up to a certain point, and then the work sinks +extraordinarily blind and tallowy; and as you want something in +the way of varnish at the end, it seems desirable to carry that +or <i>some</i> varnish in a moderate degree right through. Chromoph. +becomes a little <i>milky</i> in a bottle with spir. of turp., and +turns bright green when left in a dipper.</p> + +<p>Your proposal to <i>report</i> to us annually is very valuable, and +could be worked to the <i>general</i> advantage.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>I am delighted to find that you are in co-operation with my +friend Mr. Hills, who has a warm and genuine desire to serve Art +and his friends the artists. I find his poppy oil <i>clarified +with charcoal</i> very delightful stuff. Am I wrong in thinking the +action of the charcoal on it has been to render it more +<i>drying</i>? I think that a vehicle made with that oil, amber +varnish, and oil of spike will be a very satisfactory vehicle +indeed; particularly if you can, between you, <i>bleach</i> the oil +yet more. Chromophile is quite colourless. The mastic varnish +<i>that won't bloom</i> will be a great triumph. <i>Pace</i> our +detractors, it shall, I hope, be seen in time that the R.A. is +not unmindful of the needs of artists even in the matter of +material appliances.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_292" id="PageV2_292">[292]</a></span>I observe that you speak in your valuable manual of Aureolin as +a <i>very slow-drying</i> colour when ground with oil; finding, in +use, that <i>Roberson's</i> Aureolin dries, on the contrary, +extremely quick—it is always absolutely dry the next day, and I +use no vehicle but Bell's Medium, <i>i.e.</i> linseed and oil of +spike and turps.—I wrote to ask him what he grinds the colour +in. He answers "<i>pure linseed oil without the addition of any +drier.</i>" This puzzles me. Where is the solution? Are there +different kinds of Aureolin? When you have a leisure moment send +me a post-card.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>Among the madders in your handbook <i>scarlet</i> madder does not +appear; I hope it is not a treacherous colour; I use it freely, +but only mixture with other <i>dark</i> colours, to give them +richness. I also use cadmium <i>red</i>; is that wrong? A line on a +post-card will greatly oblige.</p> + +<p><i>P.S.</i>—Of course I only use cadmium red when I want a <i>very</i> +deep orange in drapery or sky—nothing could replace it.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p class="right"><i>Feb. 2, 1885.</i></p> + +<p>Here is a little problem: I thought all <i>burnt</i> colours were +<i>ipso facto</i> sound. Roberson tells me that burnt white +(Chremnitz do.), a lovely colour <i>like ivory</i>, plays most +amazing tricks, darkens and lightens again in rapid succession. +WHY? When you are in Long Acre make him show you his samples.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>Thanks for your letter. I don't use any particular colours other +than those you mentioned in your lectures, although I thought of +trying deep yellow madder again; I used to like it very much. I +suppose you have the list—it is a very long one—of Edouard's +colours. Smith is his agent here (14 Charles Street, Middlesex +Hospital). I use one or two colours (Tadema I think <i>all</i>) from +Mommen's in Brussels; his burnt sienna is <i>superb</i>. Asphaltum +would reward study; it was <i>universally</i> used by the Venetians, +and seems never to have cracked with them. I am very glad that +you are steadily pursuing your collection of specimens and +experiments, which I hope will by degrees <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_293" id="PageV2_293">[293]</a></span>become an exhaustive +one, and of infinite value to the profession. <i>Grounds</i>, too, +will deserve much attention.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>Kindly tell me whether there is any harm in putting a <i>thin</i> +coat of mastic, softened perhaps with a drop or two of oil, over +works <i>finished quite recently</i> but <i>begun</i> a year or more ago? +If I understand rightly, cracking is caused by atmospheric +action through the <i>back</i> of the canvas, by <i>distension</i> of +underlying partially soft paint and, consequent disruption of +the upper, harder layer of varnish. If the first painting is a +year old, is it not tough enough to resist the atmosphere, and +is it not <i>anyhow</i> pretty safe when the canvas is <i>backed</i>?</p> + +<p>I suppose "Mutrie yellow" is quite safe alone and mixed with +other pigments?</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>Thanks for your note. Yes, I do like the white oil, but I add +copal to it if I want it to be very drying, or mix copal on the +palette with a slow-drying colour, say a lake. This, I suppose, +is all right; if so, don't trouble to acknowledge this. The oil +of orange is delightful on account of its smell, but dries less +quickly than turpentine (rectfd. spirit). Is it not <i>always</i> +better to have <i>some</i> resin in a picture <i>throughout</i> since it +has to be varnished at the end?</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p class="right"><i>April 21, 1888.</i></p> + +<p>I am so much enamoured with the method, so far as vehicle is +concerned, which I have used during the last year, that I should +like to feel quite certain that it is <i>absolutely safe</i>. I use a +"single-primed" canvas, and underpaint with "Bell's medium" and +rect. spir. turps., which, under your advice, I have in <i>small</i> +bottles, so that using it freely a bottle lasts a very short +time, and the stuff is therefore always fresh. The mixture I +<i>use up to the end</i> (except when I now and then use the pigment +<i>alone</i>), and letting the turps. rather <i>preponderate</i> as I +advance. I have found to my amazement that this mixture dries +even in winter weather excellently, and that I can use with it +even scarlet madder and aureolin, which, at least the former, +hitherto I never <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_294" id="PageV2_294">[294]</a></span>attempted to use except stiffened with amber +or copal; and I further find that this mixture, though of course +it "sinks" to some extent (and especially with the blues), in +the main bears up very fairly, incomparably better than I should +have expected, and in fact quite enough. Before beginning to +paint I rub over the part each time with Bell's medium and +saliva nearly equal parts, or say five oil to four saliva beaten +up with the knife on the palette to a white mucilage. This, if +left alone, makes a good varnish, and is delightful to paint +into. So far, so good; at least I suppose so. (Do you see any +elements of danger? cracking? darkening?) But at the end +something must go over it all, if only to lock it up (I +suppose), certainly to get uniform gloss and strength. I propose +in the Academy to put Roberson's medium over the whole of my +large one and to retouch with the same. A portrait on to which I +<i>don't</i> intend to work I should cover with mastic and <i>a little +poppy oil</i>; there is no harm in this, I suppose, and the small +quantity of mastic is not likely to yellow, is it? I know this +mixture <i>won't come off</i>, but why should it?</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p class="right"><i>May 30, 1889.</i></p> + +<p>Messrs. Reeves send me a colour in which I delight, but which I +have hitherto always avoided as being unsafe, to wit, indigo. I +suppose one ought not to use it, ought one? although my old +friend, and in some ways my master, Robert Fleury, employed it +extensively in <i>underpainting</i> blue draperies.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p class="right"><i>December 23, 1889.</i></p> + +<p>I have got a recipe—a very simple one—from a friend of mine in +Italy, who paints a good deal in distemper, and who in technical +matters is quite the most leery person I ever came across. In +this recipe he mentions what he calls "Gum Damar," which he, in +his characteristic ignorance of spelling (for Italians are not +very strong in orthography), writes with an apostrophe, D'Amar. +Now I presume he means "Gum Dammar" (I believe there is such a +thing, is there not?), but I should like to feel sure. Perhaps +you will kindly enlighten me on a post-card.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_295" id="PageV2_295">[295]</a></span>The distemper itself is the simplest thing in the world. It is +only a proportion of water and yolk of egg (he deprecates the +use of vinegar), to which he adds a certain number of drops (I +have not the recipe by me) of this gum. Of course it would be +important not to use the wrong gum. Hence the trouble I am +giving you.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p class="right"><i>January 27, 1890.</i></p> + +<p>I have just received from Perugia the enclosed sample of Gum +Dammar, which you were kind enough to say that you would report +upon to me. A few drops of this (by-the-bye, I do not know how +it is to be dissolved) and the yolk of an egg stirred in water, +form the distemper used by my friend Mariani.</p> + +<p>I don't know whether I told you that he is rather an interesting +fellow. He is one of those extremely dexterous Italian +workmen-artists who know and can work in every material, and +whose forgeries of sixteenth century bric-à-brac, cassoni, +reliefs in pastiglia, &c. &c., have, I am afraid, not +infrequently been purchased as original by very crafty persons.</p> + +<p>Several friends of mine who use distemper, and he amongst the +number, tell me that by putting a preparatory coating of +distemper over thoroughly dry oil, you can with perfect safety +interpose a layer of <i>painting</i> in distemper between two +paintings in oil—an extremely valuable thing for us <i>for +recovering quality</i>.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p class="right"><i>January 31, 1890.</i></p> + +<p>Many thanks for your valuable letter. I have had the information +entered in a little book, where I keep the outpourings of your +wisdom on matters chemical.</p> + +<p>Thanks also for the card, in which you give me a somewhat long +name for my Gomme Dammar. I suppose in an appeal to a chemist +the <i>first</i> portion would suffice.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p class="right"> <i>February 14, 1890.</i></p> + +<p>Many thanks for your valuable note. I may say in passing that +the specimen of "Ruby Madder" sent by Mr. Laurie <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_296" id="PageV2_296">[296]</a></span>appears to me +to be inferior in brilliancy to both the Rose Madder and the +Madder Carmine furnished by Messrs. Roberson; and I have no +reason to doubt that the latter colours are perfectly +trustworthy.</p> + +<p>It will give me great pleasure to receive the dedication of your +book, which I look forward to seeing with pleasure, and using +with profit.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p class="right"><i>May 19, 1890.</i></p> + +<p>Many thanks for your note, which seems to open up an interesting +point. I gather from what you say that the mode of <i>manufacture</i> +of a colour may affect its drying properties over a range +extending from drying very slowly to drying very rapidly; and I +shall be much interested in hearing what your experiments lead +to under this head.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p class="right"><i>January 30, 1891.</i></p> + +<p>Many thanks for your letter. I see that I had better wait for a +final opinion until the few months have expired which you still +require as tests of permanence. Meanwhile, I am a little unhappy +to see in the case of colour after colour the expression +"semi-permanent." I do not quite know what that means. Let me +know <i>at your leisure</i> whether it means permanent under certain +conditions, and, if so, what; or merely in a general way that +the pigment stands, but only pretty well. The Rosso Saturno I +quite understand is to be set aside.</p> + +<p>Another perplexity is in regard to the Burnt Madder. If the +madders are in themselves sound colours, as I have always +understood them to be, how do they lose their permanence by +burning? I should like to use the Gialetto, and I rather gather +from what you say that I may do so. I hear with interest what +you tell me of your new varnish. As for myself, I have got to +dislike the use of any resins in my work to such an extent that +I have completely set them aside. Of course when a picture is +finished it requires some gum, not only to protect it, but to +bring up the colour to its full value. Will you let me know—but +this will do at your leisure, for the time has not come +yet—whether <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_297" id="PageV2_297">[297]</a></span>a picture being painted as I paint mine, +exclusively with Bell's medium and turpentine from first to +last, and, I may add, worked on up to the last moment of sending +in, <i>i.e.</i> a fortnight later, may on the walls of the Academy be +safely varnished with this new material of yours, either alone +or diluted with a little poppy oil? I look forward with interest +to Heyl's Madder Green.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p class="right"><i>December 5, 1891.</i></p> + +<p>I shall certainly try the Heyl's Madder Green, which I hear of +through you for the first time. Laurie's daffodil cadmium is +very pretty. I have got some; but my new delight now is yellow +cobalt, which you have found to be absolutely safe, and which is +absolutely delightful as a colour.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>My tempera is come from Italy, and I am told that it is made of +the tails (feelers?) of the cuttle-fish (sepia). Would you like +to look at it again from curiosity? I understand that with the +reservation that it darkens, I may use it with impunity in, +under, and with the oil—that is enough for <i>my</i> purpose.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p class="right"><i>October 16, 1894.</i></p> + +<p>Will you kindly advise me on the tempera, of which I send a +tube? It is used by my friend, Prof. Costa, who gave it me; he +likes it vastly. It coalesces <i>with oil</i>; he uses it also by +itself <i>between</i> two paintings in oil. I have often longed for +something to keep down the <i>greasiness</i> and <i>slipperiness</i> of +oil paint when correcting or going over a surface often, oil and +water <i>do</i> coalesce sufficiently. The most luminous thing I ever +painted (and it has stood like a rock) was painted (or certainly +<i>thickly under</i>painted) with a vehicle made of <i>starch and oil</i>. +What <i>this</i> medium is, I don't know. Please advise.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p class="right"><i>March 7, 1894.</i></p> + +<p>Forgive secretary again.</p> + +<p>I am much obliged by your note, and read with great satisfaction +what you say about Newman's golden ochre. I <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_298" id="PageV2_298">[298]</a></span>shall now, until I +hear from you further, adopt the motto "Ex uno disce omnes," and +assume that the <i>yellow</i> ochre is equally sound and serviceable; +although the colour is so much finer than any yellow ochre of my +acquaintance that I cannot quite close my mind to a lurking +suspicion that it is stimulated or refreshed by some foreign +ingredient.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p class="right"><i>March 13, 1894.</i></p> + +<p>Many thanks. You send me good tidings. The yellow ochre is by +far the finest I have ever seen.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>I enclose, because we think (Watts and I) that it will interest +you, a specimen of purple <i>lake</i> (<i>not madder</i>), such as Watts +has used <i>all his life</i>, which has been baking in the sun for +<i>two</i> years; it is slightly browner, but more beautiful than +ever, and has, you see, retained its full <i>body</i>; this is +remarkable.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p class="right"><i>June 22, 1894.</i></p> + +<p>Very many thanks for your interesting and exhaustive +investigations on the French lakes. I observe that in several +cases you mention lakes having <i>cracked</i>. I presume, however, +there is no reason to suppose they would do this when embodied +with other colours, and that <i>if</i> otherwise safe they might +therefore be used. The purple lake used by our friend Watts is +furnished to him, I have always understood, by Messrs. Newton of +Rathbone Place. I am glad to hear so good an account of the pale +boiled linseed oil from May & Baker, Ltd., of Battersea. I do +not, however, gather from what you say that there can be any +reason for substituting it for Bell's medium, to which I am much +attached, and which, as you know, is, with the admixture of +one-third rectified essence of turpentine, the only vehicle I +use. This note, of course, requires no acknowledgment—anything +you may have to say on these various points will abundantly keep +until I get a further account of your investigations on the +purple lake.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_299" id="PageV2_299">[299]</a></span>Many thanks for your valuable caution. Amongst the lakes you +tried, did you include the garance <i>nuance brun</i> and do. <i>brun +foncé</i>? Both are superb colours, and it would be nice to think +one might use them. It is very comfortable to feel that one has +a <i>conscience</i> one can tune at Shelsley.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p class="right"><i>April 19, 1894.</i></p> + +<p>I am about now to take up a large decorative painting for the +Exchange, a work which cannot be done on the spot on account, +<i>inter alia</i>, of the darkness of the place, and will, therefore, +be carried out here at the studio on <i>canvas</i>, and then +"marouflé" on the wall. Macbeth (A.R.A.), who is also doing one, +is using <i>Parris's</i> "Marble medium," in which, a thousand years +ago, I painted two figures for mosaic at South Kensington; great +brilliancy is obtainable, but I rather fear a certain tendency +to look waxy and almost shiny. I myself incline to use Gambier +<i>Parry's</i> material, which I have used on the <i>wall</i> at South +Kensington and greatly like. But now the question arises, ought +the canvas to be <i>prepared</i>? and on this I shall be grateful for +your opinion, as the matter is very important. G. Parry told me +that canvas either <i>could</i> or <i>should</i> be prepared for his +medium, I don't remember which. Roberson's man tells me that +Madox Brown and Fredk. Shields (I think) both had canvases +prepared for a similar purpose. I shall postpone ordering mine +till I have your instructions; till when, and always, I am, in +much haste.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p class="right"><i>April 23, 1894.</i></p> + +<p>Many thanks for your letter. I shall, of course, obey your +instructions punctually, and substitute paraffin wax for the +ordinary Brecknell and Turner beeswax, as prescribed by Parry +himself. I will see Roberson immediately, for I should not think +it right, as he ground the colours and prepared the medium +throughout for my two large frescoes at South Kensington, to +abandon him in favour of Laurie, or anybody else.</p> + +<p>You suggest that I should make a little experiment on a small +canvas. Do you think that would be necessary? I presume that the +material will work exactly as it did before, and that the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_300" id="PageV2_300">[300]</a></span>surface will be—bar the granulation—very much the same as on a +wall. I ask this question, because I ought to get to work +immediately, and I gather from a reference to your work that it +will take several weeks before the process of preparation is +complete.</p> + +<p>I wish I could throw light for you on the verb "maroufler," and +should like to know what subterranean connection there is, or +can be, between it and the word "maroufle" which is, as you say, +being interpreted, a "rascal."</p> + +<p>At all events, when the moment comes for the operation, I must +endeavour to obtain information from France, where the process +is in very frequent use.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p class="right"><i>February 27, 1895.</i></p> + +<p>A contretemps has occurred of which I think I ought to inform +you, as it relates to the very interesting subject of grounds +and pigments.</p> + +<p>Robersons, when they came to roll up my fresco to transport it +to the Exchange, found that either the ground or the +pigment—probably both, as they are of the same substance—was +extremely brittle and cracked right across, cracking at a rather +abrupt tangent from the circumference of the circle; so that +they immediately struck work, and declined to go any further.</p> + +<p>As far as the painting itself is concerned, I do not believe +that any serious damage is done, because on re-straining it +flat, the cracks are barely perceptible, and probably would not +be at all perceptible in <i>situ</i>.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, if any question arises as to the ground, it has +occurred to me, and it is on this point I wish to consult you, +that the cause may be the substitution of paraffin wax for the +ordinary wax hitherto used in Gambier Parry's material, which, +though perhaps not absolutely so durable as paraffin, is +sufficiently so, and very malleable. One does not see what else +could have cracked in that abrupt and sharp manner—certainly +not the copal, which has oil in it and is further made supple by +the oil of spike. If it turned out that the paraffin was the +peccant element, I should be, <i>entre nous</i>, rather glad, because +it diminished the facility of the work.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_301" id="PageV2_301">[301]</a></span>With reference to the cracking of this work Professor Church writes:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>This unrolling was begun in very cold weather; if the +temperature had been a little higher, nothing of this kind would +have taken place. The picture now shows no sign of defect or +injury, and is in perfect condition. By substituting <i>ceresin</i>, +a paraffin obtained from ozokerite or earthwax, for crystalline +paraffin, the chance of cracking is obviated. The ceresin, which +should have a melting-point of 150° or 160° Fahrenheit, +constitutes a safe substitute for the beeswax commonly employed +in Gambier Parry's Spirit Fresco Medium.</p> +</div> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Foggia,</span> <i>October 15, 1895</i>.</p> + +<p>You will be surprised to get a letter from me with an Italian +superscription; I am writing thus early before my return to save +time. When I was in Venice the other day, Van Haanen spoke to +me, <i>with approval</i>, of a certain vehicle, of which I had +already heard before vaguely, the invention of the French +painter, Vibert. You probably know of it, as the subject of +media has occupied you. There are, it appears, three forms of +this medium: the vehicle for painting, the medium for painting +<i>into</i> in retouching, and the final <i>varnish</i>. As far as I +understood Van Haanen in a hurried conversation—he was a little +vague—the painting medium contains no gum, only, he seemed to +think, petroleum and oil; I assume that in the final "vernis" +there <i>is</i> gum of some kind.</p> + +<p>I am perfectly satisfied with Bell's medium and fresh turpentine +for the very little use I make of vehicle in painting; but there +is always the difficulty of the <i>final</i> varnish in the Academy. +I don't like risking mastic or copal <i>so soon</i> on work which +contains <i>nothing</i> but oil (and if I ever do use a little, I put +poppy oil with it), and the result is that I generally varnish +with Roberson's medium, which is safe, but I fear a little +inclined to <i>yellow</i> in time.</p> + +<p>Now what I want you kindly to tell me, my dear Church, is the +exact composition of the <i>three</i> Vibert media, and your opinion +about the safety of using <i>all three</i> in the prescribed order; +and this I should like to know on my return at the <i>beginning</i> +of November (hence my haste in writing), and also whether I can +safely use these vehicles on work <i>begun in my usual medium</i>.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_302" id="PageV2_302">[302]</a></span>It is just possible you may not have heard of the Vibert +vehicles; if so, I would ask you to be so kind as to obtain (of +course at <i>my</i> expense) a bottle of each of the mixtures and to +test them carefully.</p> + +<p>A line to say this has reached you would find me at the Hôtel +Royal Mazzeri, Via 20 Settembre, <i>Rome</i>.</p> + +<p>With kind regards and anticipated thanks.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p class="right"><span class="sc">Hôtel Royal Mazzeri, Rome,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>October 22, 1895</i>.</span></p> + +<p>Many thanks for your prompt and amiable answer. I shall be +interested to hear on my return the upshot of your analysis; but +I <i>hate vernis</i> in painting, as Bocchini tells us the Venetians +did, <i>comme la peste</i>.</p> + +<p>I am very glad you are getting on so satisfactorily with your +work on the frescoes.</p> + +<p>In haste (for I have many letters before me).</p> + +<p><i>P.S.</i>—No; I am sorry to say I am no better of my special +ailment though my <i>general</i> condition is good.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p class="right"><span class="sc">2 Holland Park Road, Kensington, W.,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>November 8, 1895</i>.</span></p> + +<p>Excuse the hand of my secretary.</p> + +<p>Many thanks for your note about Vibert's varnishes, which I +shall accordingly dismiss from my mind—the varnishes, I mean, +not your note.</p></div> + +<p>One chapter in which is revealed Leighton's serious inner life closed +during the years he was President. The last letter which has been +preserved from his beloved master, Steinle, is dated 22nd November +1883, Frankfurt:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p><span class="sc">Dear Friend,</span>—Yesterday evening I received your letter +from Florence, and answer at once, partly to tell you how +delighted I am at the result of the consultation with Quarfe, as +also at your comfort and well-being, and partly because this +part of your letter has greatly roused my curiosity for a +second, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_303" id="PageV2_303">[303]</a></span>which shall also tell me something about Vienna, +Verona, and Florence. At the same time, however, I want to make +use of a pause in my work to tell you that the first three +coloured contours are completed. To the painting I dedicated all +my small skill, and would have died in order to secure that the +drawing and composition should produce a life-like effect; I +believe also that these pictures will look like frescoes in +their surroundings.</p></div> + +<p>Some time after this Leighton wrote to Mrs. Pattison the following +letter, which proves that to the end he retained his great affection +for Eduard von Steinle. This friend and master died in 1886, but +whether Leighton made this inquiry before or after that date I do not +know, as his letter is not dated:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p><span class="sc">Dear Mrs. Pattison,</span>—I saw a paragraph not long ago in +the <i>Academy</i> which concerned me deeply; it did not <i>say</i>, but +it implied that my dear old friend and master, Ed. Steinle +(professor at Frankfurt a/M) is dead. Did you by chance write +the note? and do you know when or how he died, if he be indeed +dead? His wife has not written to me. I am anxious to have some +certainty in the matter.</p></div> + +<p>(Influenced) "—for good far beyond all others by Steinle, a +noble-minded, single-hearted artist, <i>s'il en fut</i> ... Steinle's is +the indelible seal." In making any estimate of Leighton's character +these words should ever be remembered. They prove how deeply rooted +were those feelings on which his principles were grafted. These words +were no mere outlet for youthful enthusiasm and affection, but were +noted with reference to an account of his life about to be written for +publication; therefore we may consider them to be a deliberate +statement made for a purpose, when he had reached the zenith of his +fame and was already President of the Academy. The design by Steinle +here produced, called <i>Der Winter</i>, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_304" id="PageV2_304">[304]</a></span>in which the artist has drawn his +own portrait when old, throws a light on the mind and nature of +Leighton's master, whose influence on him for good was greater "far +beyond all others."</p> + +<p>Written on the drawing are these lines, penned by Steinle:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Giunto è gia 'l corso della vita mia,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Che tempestoso mar per fragil barca<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Al comun porto ov 'a render si varca<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Giunto ragion d'ogni opera trista e pia.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Indi l'affettuosa fantasia<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Che l'arte si fece idola e monarca<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Conosco ben quant 'era d'error carca<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ch' errore è ciò che l'uom quaggiù desia.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"> . . . . . . . .<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I pensier miei già de' miei danni lieti<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Che fian se s'a due morti m'avvicino<br /></span> +<span class="i0">L'una m' è certa, l'altra mi minaccia?<br /></span> +<span class="i0"> . . . . . . . .<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ne pinger ne scolpir fin più che queti<br /></span> +<span class="i0">L'anima volta a quell' amor divino<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ch'aperse a prender noi in croce le braccia.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep304" id="imagep304"></a> +<a href="images/imagep304.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep304.jpg" width="40%" alt="Der Winter by Steinle" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"DER WINTER"<br /> +Drawing by Eduard von Steinle<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>No other member of Leighton's family was ever known to have been an +artist, and neither his parents nor his sisters pretended to any +knowledge of painting; but respecting literature he had an interest in +common with both his sisters, also a very strong sympathy existed +between Mrs. Matthews and Leighton in their love for music. In answer +to a letter from Mrs. Orr relating to Mr. Augustine Birrell's +well-known book, Leighton wrote, "I have read 'Obiter Dicta,' and am +much charmed with its delicate humour and ease of its style. I thought +'Truth Seekers' charmingly written." With reference, however, to the +Browning chapter he continues:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>Browning's obscurity hides a shorthand of which he keeps the key +in <i>his</i> pocket. A matter of form, <i>not</i> of matter, as <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_305" id="PageV2_305">[305]</a></span>"O.D." +hath it. Browning is not abstruse; he is a <i>deep</i> thinker, who +<i>therefore</i> (<i>vide</i> "O.D.") requires obscure language; he is a +most ingenious dialectician and a subtle analyst; but he is not +a great poet on <i>that</i> account—he is a great poet because of +his magnificent central heat, and the surface of interests over +which he sheds it. All this is rather late in the day to remark, +and one would not be exasperated by his friends if one had not a +sort of feeling that they <i>have</i> done something to mar him. You +say he would not be obscure if he <i>knew</i> it?—<i>distinguons</i>. His +obscurity is not intentional—of course—it is inherent in a +style which is strongly personal, and therefore sincere—but is +it in no degree <i>wilful</i>?—does he <i>not</i> accept, virtually, some +such (absolutely false) view of his obscurity as "O.D.'s"? A +pity it certainly is; Browning is the last man who in his heart +<i>wishes</i> to touch only the few—nobody knows better than he does +that that is not the characteristic of the greatest poets, and +that not for that is a poet's soul kindled to a white heat. +Meanwhile, here <i>is</i> the fact that men of average culture and +average brains (I claim both, for an example), and <i>desirous</i> of +<i>understanding</i>, as well as full of admiration for his powers, +often get at his meaning only by considerable effort, and +sometimes not at all, and that not because the thought is +obscure, but because it is wilfully written in cypher.</p></div> + +<p>The following letter to a friend of his sister's contains a criticism +of Leighton's on Goethe's <i>Sprüche</i> under the head of "Kunst":—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="noin"><i>Private.</i>]</p> + +<p class="rightsc">2 Holland Park Road, Kensington, W.,<br /> +<span class="datepad">17/8/91.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Mr. Bailey Saunders</span>,—Complying with your wish, +expressed through my sister, Mrs. Orr, I have gone carefully +through the <i>Sprüche</i> under the head "Kunst," and have marked +certain passages. I have, however, deferred writing till the +last moment (I am starting presently for the Continent), partly +because I have been overwhelmingly busy, and partly because I am +a good deal "exercised" on the whole matter. <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_306" id="PageV2_306">[306]</a></span>To speak with +entire frankness, I cannot feel sympathy with the idea of the +publication, and feel that the connection of my name with it +would imply an adhesion which does not exist. On re-reading more +than once the maxims and sayings in question, which I had not +seen for many years, I find myself confirmed in my earlier +impression of them, that their value is in no way commensurate +to the authority of Goethe's great name. Some of them are, in my +opinion, wholly misleading and some obscure; some commonplace, +some irrelevant to the subject. Again, my markings do not by any +means always mean assent; and, on the other hand, the +discrimination between the value of a marked paragraph is often +a nice one, and is not represented by the difference between +selection and omission, which, <i>on the face of it</i>, seems assent +and dissent. In sum, I ask myself what the outcome is—what <i>is</i> +the selection? it does not give to the world an important or +instructive intellectual possession; it <i>seems</i> to express the +selection of the best by a particular individual (who does not +spontaneously desire to make such selections), and in <i>reality</i> +does <i>not</i> represent anything that he assents to throughout.</p> + +<p>But why a selection at all? I cannot refrain from asking myself. +The interest of these particular <i>Sprüche</i> lies in the fact that +<i>they are utterances of Goethe's</i> (and he gave them with a +context)—but then what is the meaning of a selection?</p> + +<p>You see I speak very bluntly in the matter, but also sincerely; +and I have at all events shown my good will.—In much haste, +yours faithfully,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred Leighton.</p> + +<p>I am, as I said, just off, but if you wished especially to +communicate with me, a line sent <i>here</i> would reach me after +some delay.</p></div> + +<p>Though Leighton persisted in affirming that he hardly ever read, the +number of letters, and answers to letters from scholars, referring to +poems and general literature, which exist in the correspondence he +preserved, prove that if he did not read he nevertheless somehow got a +knowledge of the inside of books. To a question having <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_307" id="PageV2_307">[307]</a></span>reference to +the Nine Muses (he was then painting his frieze "Music") which he +asked Swinburne, he received the answer:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">The Pines, Putney Hill, S.W.,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>August 21, 1885</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Leighton</span>,—I doubt very much whether Shelley +himself could have answered your question to your satisfaction. +His scholarship was that of a clever but idle boy in the upper +forms of a public school. His translation from Plato, as Mr. +Jowett tells me, and his translation from Euripides, as I know +by personal experiment, having carefully collated it with the +original text, absolutely swarm with blunders, sometimes, +certainly, resulting in sheer nonsense. I fancy he may have been +thinking of Aphrodite Urania, and perhaps confounding (as indeed +it seems to me that a Greek poet might possibly and pardonably +have done) the goddess of divine love with the Muse who was +<i>not</i> the Muse of astronomy when she first made her appearance +in the Theogony of Hesiod, but simply the "heavenly one" in a +general way, as I gather from a reference to the lexicon. I +should have thought Calliope or Euterpe a fitter head mourner +for Keats: but probably Shelley wished to introduce the most +distinguished in the rank of the Muses in that capacity, on such +an occasion. And if Urania was in a certain sense the chief of +the Nine, she would naturally be most musical of mourners.—Ever +yours sincerely,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">A.C. Swinburne.</p> +</div> + +<p>As years went on, Leighton became more and more enamoured of the +beauty to be found in our own islands, and longed, as can be traced in +his letters, that his sisters should share with him his intense love +of nature.</p> + +<p>To his elder sister, who was in Yorkshire, he wrote in 1887:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"A broad shoulder of moor, lifted against a great field of sky, +is one of the grandest and most pathetic things in nature (see +Leopardi). The beauty of moorland is that it has a particular +poetry and impressiveness for <i>every</i> condition of atmosphere +and weather."</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_308" id="PageV2_308">[308]</a></span>Again:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"I am very glad you like Ilkley so much—moors have an immense +fascination for me, but all English scenery of whatever kind has +charm for me. It has two immense virtues: first, being entirely +of its own <i>kind</i>, it never suggests a, to itself, disparaging +comparison with the scenery of any other country, and secondly, +it is steeped, every fold and nook of it, in English poetry, and +is haunted with the murmur of the prettiest of peace-suggesting +words: <i>home</i>. I wonder whether you both feel as I do the +endearing quality in our old green-brown country."</p></div> + +<p>It became his habit, in these later years, to visit Scotland in +September before flying off to his second home. More and more did he +realise the marvellous beauty of the scenery there. He told me, +shortly before he died, that the most beautiful vision he had ever +beheld on earth was the one he saw when approaching Skye by sea from +the south, when the sun was setting and illuminating the range of the +Cuillin Hills with magic light and colour. He wrote to his father +from:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="rightsc">The Highland Railway Company's Station Hotel,<br /> +<span class="datepad">Inverness.</span></p> + +<p>Accurately the <i>charmingness</i> of Scotland, it is the +starting-point for everything. But I observe that at the rate of +writing I should fill a volume before I had given you the +hastiest account of my journey, so I will e'en cut it short and +simply say that, taking it altogether, my too brief stay in the +Highlands has been a source of very great enjoyment to me, if +not of any particular benefit to my health, for which indeed it +has been too short. I have had more than the usual proportion of +fine weather, and am corroborated in my old opinion that for +beauty of colouring nothing north of the Alps will compare with +this most lovely country, and that the wealth and variety of +effects of light and shade is altogether unrivalled. +Unfortunately, working here is very difficult, all the effects +are so bafflingly fugitive; nevertheless, I have made three +little sketches which, though hasty, will <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_309" id="PageV2_309">[309]</a></span>be of value if only +to revive my recollections of the effects they very feebly +render; they were all done in one day; and no one day since I +did them has been such as to make sketching possible—except +this the last and one of the most enchanting, which I have spent +delightfully but fruitlessly on the top of a coach.</p></div> + +<p>From Gressoney, St. Jean, September 1, 1891, he wrote to Mrs. +Matthews:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>Many thanks for your letter received last night; as it crossed +one from me to the Dad, which I hope he could read (it was writ +large), I should not write again at once (having, of course, +nothing to say—except that it is, <i>pour changer</i>, a splendid +afternoon, and I ought to be out of doors) but that I want you +at once to tell the poor old Dad how concerned and sorry I am to +hear that he has been so ailing, and ailing so long, and how I +wonder at his superb power of recuperation. I don't ask in +<i>this</i> letter how the Dad is, because I am sure he will send me +a line in answer to my note to him. But I have another reason +for writing at once; I want you, please, to thank Lina with best +love, for her nice long letter (<i>she does not want a letter +written from here</i>), and tell her, before it is too late, that I +hope she won't give up her Ballater without <i>a very full trial</i>, +because I know that it takes many people a considerable time to +get acclimatised to that bracing air. Tell her also that I was +myself going to suggest an <i>Ausflug</i> to Braemar; if she goes to +the Invercauld Arms let her use my name, and she will be well +treated. I should <i>peculiarly</i> like her to see the Lynn of +Dee—she will only have to scramble five or six yards off the +main road to look down into the stream from under some of the +grandest old Scotch firs in Scotland; and I verily believe that +the watching for a silent bit of those dark, dark, seemingly +bottomless, noiselessly swirling pools, <i>tiny</i> as they are under +the hollow grey craig, will, somehow, whisper a big peace and a +strange wondering fascination into her being; the whole thing is +not bigger than an expensive toy, but it lays a never-failing +grip on <i>me</i>.<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a>—Affectionate brother,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred.</p> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_310" id="PageV2_310">[310]</a></span>To Mrs. Orr when in Scotland:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><i>August 22, 1891.</i></p> + +<p>If you can manage it go to a favourite haunt of mine, the Lynn +of Dee, quite a tiny tumble of green waters in fantastically +scooped grey rocks, no higher than a cottage, under astounding +old Scotch firs (by-the-bye the grandest tree in the world to my +thinking), where I have sat interminably long looking down into +the dark deep pools, from which now and then a salmon leaps. To +me no spot about there is so fascinating.</p></div> + + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Grand Hotel, Brufani, Perugia,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>October 3, 1891</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Lina,</span>—Well, I am glad you got to the Lynn of Dee, +though sorry that you could not be there in solitude and see it +without sitting in a pool of water. I am glad, too, that you saw +the salmon leap; I did not mention that most exciting spectacle +because it is not by any means <i>always</i> on view—you were in +luck; but what you must make for another time is the bit three +or four yards <i>below</i> the fall where the vehemence of the winter +torrent has scooped and worn pools so deep that as your eye is +drawn down past half-hidden submerged rocky shapes you come at +last to absolute dark brown night, and whilst you are conscious +of a rapid, swirling current, no <i>sound</i>, no faintest gurgle +even, reaches your ear; the silent mystery of it all absolutely +invades and possesses you; that is what I faintly tried to put +into my "Solitude," of which a photogravure embellishes your +staircase. I am vexed that you had so much rain; however, you +had a few fine glimpses, and if a rainy day in Scotland is like +the Scotch Sawbath, a fine one throws you the gates of Heaven. +It is curious how much clearer the air is (<i>when clear</i>) than we +get it south of the Tweed.</p> + +<p>I am glad that the Dad has rallied so satisfactorily; tell him, +with my love, that I have heard from the gentleman in Copenhagen +for whom I carved the marble "Athlete." He is benighted enough +to say that in his opinion it is one of the most important +statues of modern times; and he wants my bust, if there is one, +for his collection of portraits.</p></div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep310" id="imagep310"></a> +<a href="images/imagep310.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep310.jpg" width="35%" alt="Solitude study" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">STUDY IN COLOUR FOR "SOLITUDE." 1890<br /> +By permission of Mrs. Stewart Hodgson<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_311" id="PageV2_311">[311]</a></span>Leighton also particularly desired that his sister should see +Malinmore, County Donegal, when visiting Ireland. He wrote from +Kensington, "I am bent on your seeing Malinmore."</p> + +<p>And again, from Scotland:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Inverness,</span> <i>September 13</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Lina</span>,—I can't help feeling a good deal of +responsibility about the melancholy, treeless wilds to which I +have sent you, because I happen to like them vastly; and I +particularly feel that <i>everything</i> will turn on your seeing, +not indeed all or nearly all <i>I</i> saw—that is impossible—but as +much as your strength will allow; take your courage, therefore, +in one hand, your goloshes in another, and your umbrella in a +third, and <i>from</i> the car—<i>abseits</i>—see the <i>whole coast-line +close</i> to the rocks overlooking the sea; there is not an inch +that won't reward you. There is a bit not more than half a mile +from Malinmore (<i>to'ards</i> Malinhead), that is, though <i>small</i>, +quite Dantesque in its grim blackness (a few wet feet <i>im +Nothfall</i> won't hurt you). Of course, to do this well you must +be in cars <i>every</i> day to take you in all directions to the +point <i>from</i> which to make your <i>Abstecher</i>—sometimes towards +Glencolumskill and the Hog's Back beyond (magnificent), +sometimes towards Malinhead, where you must see every little +bay, including the Silver Strand.</p> + +<p>At first sight the breaking up of the weather is a bore, <i>mit +Seitenblick auf Ihnen</i>—but is not as bad as it seems; bad +(dirty) weather suits these parts, and the day will not dawn in +which I shall have forgotten certain dramatic sunsets and the +swooping of certain storm-clouds like the flight of huge fiery +birds of prey, more than once witnessed and deposed to on canvas +by me, over this treeless tract of moor.</p></div> + + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> "Athlete Strangling a Python," exhibited in the +International Exhibition, Paris, 1878.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> "The Arts of War."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> "Addresses delivered to the Students of the Royal +Academy by the late Lord Leighton." Publishers: Kegan Paul, Trench, +Trübner & Co. 1897.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> "Not everybody," wrote the late Mr. Underhill, who for +some time, as private secretary to Sir Frederic Leighton, had special +opportunities of knowing, "is aware of the tax upon a man's time and +energy that is involved in the acceptance of the office in question. +The post is a peculiar one, and requires a combination of talents not +frequently to be found, inasmuch as it demands an established standing +as a painter, together with great urbanity and considerable social +position. The inroads which the occupancy of the office makes upon an +artist's time are very considerable. There is, on the average, at +least one Council meeting for every three weeks throughout the whole +year. There are, from time to time, general assemblies for the +election of new members and for other purposes, over which the +President is bound, of course, to preside. For ten days or a fortnight +in every April he has to be in attendance with the Council daily at +Burlington House, for the purpose of selecting the pictures which are +to be hung in the Spring Exhibition. He has to preside over the +banquet which yearly precedes the opening of the Academy, and he has +to act as host at the annual conversazione. Finally, it is his duty +every other year to deliver a long, elaborate, and carefully prepared +'Discourse' upon matters connected with art, to the students who are +for that purpose assembled. It is a post of much honour and small +profit." "To administer the affairs of the Academy, to fulfil a round +of social semi-public and public engagements, and to paint pictures +which invariably reach a high level of excellence, would, of course, +be impossible—even to Sir Frederic Leighton—were it not for the fact +that he makes the very most of the time at his disposal. 'That's the +secret,' remarked a distinguished member of the Academy to the present +writer some little time before the President's death; 'Sir Frederic +knows exactly how long it will take to do a certain thing, and he +apportions his time accordingly.'"—"Frederic, Lord Leighton, P.R.A.: +His Life and Works." By Ernest Rhys.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> While writing this discourse Leighton wrote to his +father:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Perugia</span>, <i>October 5, 1889</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Dad</span>,—You will be surprised to hear that your +letter (for which best thanks) only came to my hands <i>yesterday</i> +on my arrival here; it had apparently, after enjoying a junket +through Spain, returned to England before its final despatch +here. The envelope, which I enclose, will amuse you; Ulysses +himself did not visit more cities of men! I am glad my Spanish +tour is at an end; the insufferable heat, the long journeys, the +frequent <i>night</i> travelling, have conspired to make it rather +trying to me physically. I have never been thoroughly well the +whole time. Here it is absolutely cold, and I shall probably +soon begin firing; it rains also, and I fear the weather is +altogether unpromising; but the air is magnificent, and I am +very fond of the place, and I shall enjoy my stay as much as the +necessity of writing my (adjective) Address will allow.</p> + +<p>My journey through Spain, though fatiguing, was extremely +interesting and very profitable to me for the matter in hand. My +stay in Madrid was made more enjoyable by the extreme amiability +of my very old friend our ambassador, who brought me into +contact with two or three interesting people, from whom I +gathered valuable information in regard to things Spanish; to +say nothing of getting compartments reserved for me in trains, +&c. &c. It is rather fortunate that our diplomatic +representatives abroad are mostly personal friends of mine. Post +is just going, so good-bye for the present.—Your affectionate +son,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred.</p> +</div> + +<p class="noin">Leighton mastered the Spanish language completely in the course of the +few weeks he spent in Spain in 1866. A friend who was present gives an +amusing account of an incident which occurred when Leighton dined with +Mrs. Adelaide Sartoris after his return. He was sitting next Señor +Garcia (only now just dead at the age of 102); the conversation was +being carried on in Spanish. Mrs. Sartoris, in astonishment and +admiration at the fluent manner in which Leighton was talking the +language of which he did not know a word a few weeks before, +exclaimed, "But, Señor Garcia, <i>do</i> say he makes some little +mistakes!" "But he <i>doesn't</i>," replied Garcia; "he hasn't made one!"</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> Mr. Norman Shaw wrote the following letter the day after +he heard this address in 1891:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">6 Ellerdale Road, Hampstead, N.W.</span>,<br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>December 11, 1891</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Sir Frederic</span>,—I was so sorry I missed you last +night. After the election I went into the galleries to find my +people, and when I came out you had gone—and quite right too, +for you must have been very tired.</p> + +<p>I thank you very sincerely for your most admirable address. I +had heard that it was to be on the subject of French Art, but I +had not realised that it was to be entirely about Architecture! +and as an architect I naturally feel very deeply its great and +permanent value. It is altogether a new sensation to have a +Presidential address devoted to the Mother of the Arts! and I am +sure its influence will be wide, deep, and lasting.</p> + +<p>Amongst the many regrettable phases of modern art, there is none +that I feel more than the isolation that the three great +branches of art exist under in this country (for in France I am +sure it is quite different), and I cannot help feeling that your +address is a tremendous step in the right direction; but, alas! +I don't believe one in twenty of our colleagues understood what +you were so clearly explaining, and I fear not one in fifty +cared! But it is absurd to suppose that with the advancement of +knowledge this state of things can last, so it is intensely +satisfactory to have it on record that not merely have we had a +President that knew all that is to be known about the art, but +who also cared and loved it!</p> + +<p>I thought your remarks on the French apse quite delightful. I +have always felt this strongly, and though as an Englishman +(Scotchman!) I like our square east ends, still I am bound to +admit that there is a logical completeness about a chevet that +the square end cannot claim. But I shall only weary you if I go +on in this prosy way! so thanking you again most heartily for +your grand contribution, believe me to remain,—Yours very +sincerely,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">R. Norman Shaw.</p> + +<p class="sc">Sir Frederic Leighton, Bart.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> From a boy, without any effort or thought on his part, +he exercised an unquestioned domination over others. Speaking of the +days when he, as a boy of seventeen, first made friends with Leighton +in Rome, Sir E. Poynter said, "He knew he was clever, but he hadn't a +particle of conceit. I never saw him cast down, he was always jolly +and noble; none ever thought of refusing him obedience." Again, Sir E. +Poynter refers to these early days in his Dedication to Leighton of +"Ten Lectures on Art": "I came to-day from the 'Varnishing Day' at the +Royal Academy Exhibition with a pleasant conviction that there is, on +all sides, a more decided tendency towards a higher standard in Art, +both as regards treatment of subject and execution, than I have before +noticed; and I have no hesitation in attributing this sudden +improvement, in the main, to the stimulus given us all by the election +of our new President, and to the influence of the energy, +thoroughness, and nobility of aim which he displays in everything he +undertakes. I was probably the first, when we were both young, and in +Rome together, to whom he had the opportunity of showing the +disinterested kindness which he has invariably extended to beginners; +and to him, as the friend and master who first directed my ambition, +and whose precepts I never fail to recall when at work (as many +another will recall them), I venture to dedicate this book with +affection and respect." Signor Giovanni Costa wrote: "I remember once +in Siena there was an unemployed half-hour in our programme. Leighton +happening to go to the window of the hotel, exclaimed, 'The Cupola of +the Duomo is on fire!' and as he said it he rushed downstairs to go +there. I, being lame, could not keep pace with him, but followed, and +on arriving in the Piazza attempted to enter the Duomo past a line of +soldiers who were keeping the ground; but they would not allow me to. +Seeing them carrying wooden hoardings into the cathedral, I shouted. +'You are taking fuel to the fire! Let me in—I am an artist and a +custodian of artistic treasures.' The word 'custodian' moved them, and +they let me pass. When I got inside the Duomo I found Leighton +commanding in the midst. He was saying, 'You are bringing fuel to the +fire.' There was a major of infantry with his company, who cried out, +'Open the windows!' Leighton exclaimed, 'My dear sir, you are fanning +the flames; you must shut the windows.' He had placed himself at the +head of everybody, and the windows were shut. From the cupola into the +church fell melting flakes of fire ('cadean di fuoco dilatate +falde'—<i>Dante</i>) from the burning and liquefied lead, which would +certainly have ignited the boards with which they had intended to +cover the <i>graffitte</i> by Beccafumi on the marble pavement. Our +half-hour was over. Leighton looked at his watch and said, 'In any +case the cupola is burnt; let us be off to the Opera del Duomo; Duccio +Buoninsegna is waiting for us!'"</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> Sir George Grove wrote after the banquet in 1882: "Dear +Leighton,—Let me say a word of most hearty congratulations on the +brilliant way in which you got through your <i>Herculean</i> task on +Saturday. You are really a prodigy! Your last speech reads just as +fresh and gay and unembarrassed as the first, and every one of the +nine is as neat, as pointed, as perfectly <i>à propos</i> as if there were +nothing else to be said! Thank you especially for the reference to the +music business."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> The following is one of many letters of regret expressed +when Leighton resigned:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">19 Queen Street, Mayfair, W.,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>June 24</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Sir Frederic</span>,—I trust you will allow me to +express to you the sincere regret I feel at your being compelled +to give up your command of the "Artists." To myself volunteering +has always been so inseparably connected with your command, that +I cannot at present realise the extent of the blank which your +resignation will create. I shall ever remember with pride that +it was under your auspices that I rose through the ranks and +obtained my commission.—Believe me, dear Sir Frederic, very +truly yours,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">W. Pasteur.</p> + +<p class="sc">Sir Frederic Leighton, P.R.A.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> The following correspondence took place between Leighton +and Mr. Henry Wells, R.A.</p> + +<div class="block"><p>To Sir <span class="sc">Frederic Leighton</span>, P.R.A.</p> + +<p class="right"><i>January 27, (?) 1880.</i></p> + +<p>I will avail myself of this opportunity to remark upon the +statement you made in your summing up, viz. that if women were +made members under the existing law they would not have the +right to sit on Council.</p> + +<p>If you can establish this, if you can show us that any one +elected a "member" under our law can be debarred on the score of +sex from taking a seat on the Council, then I will instantly +allow that our laws do provide for the election of women, and +that the very ground of our argument is proved to be a +quicksand. When you endorsed the statement that came so +naturally from Millais, Calderon, and Leslie, I felt the matter +was serious, for I saw at once that you could not do justice to +our argument in the summing up because its very foundation was +misapprehended by you. Although the question is now disposed of, +I beg of you to look closely into the matter and assure yourself +of it. I only wish I had known beforehand where your doubts were +centered, for I would have done my best to remove them. I know +you will find, beyond all doubt and controversy, that any one +made a "member" by election can make good a claim to a seat on +the Council, just as Mr. Tresham made good his claim; and it is +because our laws provide for only one kind of members—a +Council-sitting kind—that we felt the necessity of providing +for the election of a non-Council-sitting kind.</p> + +<p>In making this distinction we follow the example of George the +Third and the founders of the Academy (who presumably knew +something of the understanding upon which the two ladies became +connected with the Society), for their decision, when they +<i>administered</i> the law in the Tresham case, excluded women from +a privilege which could not be denied to a "member" elected +under the law. Of course their and our interpretation is open to +dispute; but this much is beyond dispute, that if the law is +interpreted as providing for women being "members," then it also +places them (against the intention, as we see, of the founders) +upon the Council; and as the great majority of the present +Academicians have made up their minds that women shall not sit +on Council, legislation would be necessary on either reading of +the law.</p> + +<p>The schedule of privileges to be given on the one hypothesis, +would on the other give place to a subtraction of privileges, +and either schedule would be determined according to the varying +shades of opinions of the members.</p> + +<p>There would remain only this difference in the result; one +schedule would be based upon a law that is open to varying +interpretations, whereas according to our method the schedule +was based upon a positive resolution providing for the election +of women, thus removing the question from all future discussion +and doubt.</p> + +<p class="right">H.T.W.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="block"><p>From Sir <span class="sc">Frederic Leighton</span>, P.R.A.</p> + +<p class="right"><i>January 30, 1880.</i></p> + +<p>"In regard to the women question, I perfectly <i>saw</i> your +contention and the logical cohesion of your view, and I was +familiar with the Tresham episode, only I dissent from your +view; I maintain that there were from the first +non-Council-sitting members—for 'members' the women certainly +were. 'It is the King's pleasure that the following forty +persons be the original <i>members</i> of the Society,' and they did +not serve on Council, as the roster shows, <i>though all members</i> +were supposed to have sat; of course the laws were for the +original as well as the elected members, and if the privilege +could be refused to an original member whose name stands on the +paper that says that all members shall serve in Council, it can +and must on the same grounds be refused to elected female +members after the custom is consecrated by Royal sanction."</p></div> + + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><i>January 31, 1880.</i></p> + +<p><span class="sc">"Dear Wells</span>,—I should much like to hear what you wish +to say about the office of Treasurer—there are several points +connected directly or indirectly with the office which it will +be well to consider before I ask the Queen to appoint, and I +have called a Council for <i>Thursday</i> (the funeral is not till +Tuesday), at which these matters may be considered. It would +seem advisable and convenient that the Treasurer's work be done +at the Academy, and not away from it. I think also that the +wording of the clause appointing a Surveyor might be made +clearer; it ought not to be <i>possible</i> for any one to +misunderstand or misinterpret its bearing. Unfortunately I have +an appointment to-morrow afternoon at 4.30, and my work in the +day is so urgent, having to be handed over on a fixed day, that +I cannot leave it—would <i>Tuesday</i> at <i>five</i> do? say at the +Athenæum, or here a little later? we should still be forty-eight +hours in advance of the Council. In regard to the women +question, I perfectly <i>saw</i> your contention and the logical +cohesion of your view, and I was familiar with the Tresham +episode, only I dissent from your view; I maintain that there +were from the first 'non-Council-sitting' members—for 'members' +the women certainly were: 'It is Her Majesty's pleasure that the +following forty persons be the original <i>members</i> of the +Society,' and they did not serve on Council as the roster shows, +though <i>all members</i> were supposed to have sat. Of course the +laws were for the 'original' as well as for the 'elected' +members, and if the privilege could be refused to an original +member whose name stands on the paper, that says that all +members shall serve on Council, it can and must on the same +grounds be refused to 'elected' female members after the custom +is consecrated by Royal sanction.—In haste, yours very truly,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred Leighton.</p> + +<p>"I have said nothing in this letter about poor Barry, but you +may imagine whether the tragic event has moved and haunts me."</p></div> + + +<div class="block"><p>To Sir <span class="sc">Frederic Leighton</span>, P.R.A.</p> + +<p class="right"><i>February 1, 1880.</i></p> + +<p>I am very glad indeed to have the statement of your views which +you have given me on the women question. Everything is now +clear, side matters are disposed of, and only a single point +remains on which we have to join issue. On my part I hold that +our laws are in a definite and unequivocal form. That their +foundation is in the "Instrument" and that every addition to, or +modification, or annulment of the provisions in that document +has been made in the manner prescribed, viz. by "resolutions" +passed by the General Assembly and afterwards sanctioned by the +Sovereign. These acts of legislation are all drawn up in a +special way (as to size and pattern), to receive the sign manual +of the Sovereign; and the tablets arranged in the order of their +dates constitute our Statute-Book. I hold that no law can be +changed or privilege taken away except by a subsequent act of +legislation done in the prescribed manner.</p> + +<p>On your part you hold that laws can be changed and privileges +taken away by a "custom consecrated by Royal sanction." Thus the +issue raised is very clear and distinct indeed.</p> + +<p>I will point out that the question as to women sitting on +Council was only on one occasion, and then only incidentally, +before the Academy. Until the Tresham case arose the ballot had +been used in forming the Council, and consequently no question +of rights could appear while that process remained unchallenged. +But whether we are discussing a single act of adjudication, or +such a succession of acts as may be called a "custom," is really +immaterial, because the sole question before us is this—can any +act or acts other than those of legislation override and +supplant the enactments of our law?</p> + +<p>If it could be established that our laws must give way to the +class of acts you point to, it would then be the first duty of +the Academy to have our records minutely searched to ascertain +what other laws have been supplanted by administrative actions +sanctioned by the Sovereign; and the historical method so much +discountenanced at our last Assembly would in truth rise into +paramount importance. Many cases would most probably be found. +We have one in suspense before us at this moment—the case of +the engravers.</p> + +<p>The laws of the Academy distinctly provide (but not more +distinctly than that without discrimination "members" shall sit +on Council) that a vacancy in the case of R.A. engravers shall +not be filled up until the assent of the General Assembly has +been taken by vote. Since the making of that law only two +vacancies have occurred. They were both filled up without a +preliminary permission, and the Sovereign sanctioned the +election. On your contention, therefore, the custom consecrated +by these sanctions must override the law itself, and nothing at +this time stands between Barlow and the Queen's signature to his +Diploma.</p> + +<p>The Constitutional question you have raised is certainly one of +the highest importance, and I shall watch its development with +great interest. It is a matter of little moment what the view of +an ordinary member like myself may be, but not so with the +President, and I offer no apology for endeavouring to throw +light upon the subject.</p> + +<p class="right">H.T.W.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> See <a href="#CHAPTER_III">Chapter III</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> Now in the Tate Gallery, purchased under the terms of +the Chantrey Bequest.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> The owners of Leighton's pictures must feel +satisfaction, not only in the fact that in all cases the beauty of the +forms and arrangements of line grow on the eye more and more the +longer they are studied, but also that the work itself improves by +keeping. I noticed this to be the case very decidedly in "Cymon and +Iphigenia." I had seen it when completed, the day before it left the +studio in 1884; and when it returned there in 1901 (the owner, Sir +Cuthbert Quilter, having kindly lent it for exhibition), and was +placed in precisely the same light, I was surprised to see how much it +had improved in tone during those seventeen years; it had gained so +very greatly in those qualities which suggest the feeling Leighton +wished it to inspire.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> Leighton kept these precious studies he made for his +pictures in a drawer where I was often invited, rather apologetically, +to turn them over as if they were absolutely of no importance. I +protested against the cursory treatment they received at the hand of +their creator; and on seeing one superlatively beautiful study of +drapery pinned on his easel one day, I implored him to have it glazed +and framed before it ran any danger of being rubbed. He did so, and +always alluded to it after as "that sketch you lost for me," because, +being framed, he lent it to some one—he did not remember to whom—and +it never came back. Periodically I asked if it had returned; "No—some +one, I suppose, has taken a fancy to it," Leighton would reply. The +pace at which he had to live in order to fulfil the work he had set +himself, enforced great carelessness about his own interests in such +matters. Unfortunately, after Leighton's death, the sketches were +exposed to much defacement, a natural consequence of their being moved +before being secured under glass.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> Ceiling for a music room, painted for Mr. Marquand, New +York.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> Mr. Brock gave a replica of this bust to the Leighton +House Collection in 1897. It is from some points of view the most +characteristic portrait of Leighton in existence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> Miss Emily Hickey, the poetess, was inspired by +Leighton's picture to write the following lines:—</p> + +<p class="cen">SOLITUDE</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O'er the grey rocks, like monarchs robed and crowned,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">High tower the firs in swart magnificence,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Where, winter after winter, vehemence<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of the wild torrent's rush, unstayed, unbound,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hath scooped and worn the rocks till so profound<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The deep pool's depth that all the gazer's sense<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Fills with the absolute, dark-brown night intense.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The rapid current swirls, but never a sound.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">By the high grandeur of the silence wooed<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Into its bond of comradeship, the maid<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Sits with the quiet on her bosom laid;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not on the great unknowable to brood;<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Only to wait a while till, unafraid,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She see the spirit of the solitude.<br /></span> +<span class="i12 sc">E.H. Hickey.<br /></span> +<span class="i16"><i>Oct. 26, '91.</i><br /></span></div> +</div> <!-- poem ending div --> +</div> <!-- footnote ending div --> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> As portraits, the two heads Watts painted from "Dorothy +Dene" were superior to those Leighton painted.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> This referred to a joke we had had with reference to a +photograph Mrs. Cameron had taken of my brother-in-law, Mr. W.R. Greg. +Mrs. Cameron had insisted that all character, will-force, and +superiority in general, evinced themselves through the size of the +nose and the height of the bridge. The result was, in trying to +accentuate this feature in my brother-in-law's photograph, she had +made it almost <i>all</i> nose!</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> Among Leighton's correspondence is the following +interesting letter from Irving, who was an ardent admirer of +Leighton's, and was among the first to join the committee formed to +preserve his house for the public. +</p> +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">15a Grafton Street, Bond Street, W.,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>January 1, 1889</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Sir Frederic,</span>—I am glad that you are coming to +"Macbeth," and I wish you had been with us on Saturday.</p> + +<p>The seats you wish for I enclose, though I should ever look upon +it as a great privilege to welcome you myself.</p> + +<p>Ellen Terry's performance is remarkable, and perfectly +delightful after the soulless and insipid imitations of Sarah +Siddons to which we have been accustomed.</p> + +<p>You will find the cobwebs of half a century brushed away.</p> + +<p>There is an amusing article in to-day's <i>Standard</i>, which +overshoots the mark, and clearly shows how offensive it is to +some minds to be earnest and conscientious in one's work. But I +need not point this out to you.—Remaining, my dear Sir +Frederic, yours sincerely,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">H. Irving.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> Needless to say that time was invariably forthcoming to +welcome and entertain the friends he loved. The following letter from +Costa gives a picture of his delight in so doing:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">"London</span>, <i>Dec. 10, 1888</i>, <br /> +<span class="sc">"2 Holland Park Road.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">"Dearest Tonina,</span>—A thousand thanks for the twelve +letters which I have found awaiting me here.</p> + +<p>"I have just arrived from the station, where I found the +President, who was shedding light all round him, all radiant +with his white beard. Note that the train arrived at a quarter +past five, and there was an hour's drive from the station to his +house, and then he had to dine, and at half-past seven he was +due at the Academy for a distribution of prizes to the students, +where I, too, was to have accompanied him. However, in London +there was one of those fogs which put a stop to all traffic, and +it took us an hour and three-quarters to reach home.</p> + +<p>"The cabman had to get down and lead the horse; with one hand he +guided the animal, which was slipping on the ice, and with the +other he held a lantern. What darkness,—the gloom of hell +itself! Boys holding torches and shouting, showed us the way; +foot passengers called out, 'Hi there! look where you're going +to!' but, in spite of everything, the cabman with his lantern +banged into a railing.</p> + +<p>"At last we arrived at our destination, having discussed all the +way along the speech which Leighton made at Liverpool. The +dinner was ready, and eaten hurriedly, with the obligatory +champagne. I had eaten nothing since the morning. Whilst dining, +I got off accompanying him to the Academy, pleading my rheumatic +pains, and I ate like a famished and attentive dog. But the +President, spite of the hurry he was in, never once ceased from +tracing the iron line along which I am to run as long as I am +with him, and so he has set me down for a trip on Saturday.</p> + +<p>"Good-night; I am going to bed, as I am deadly sleepy. Did you +receive a letter of mine from Castle Howard?</p> + +<p>"Thank for me the kind writers of the twelve little letters; in +the midst of these fogs they have been twelve stars to me. A +kiss to dear Tonachino. Frederic was much amused by Georgia's +letter, and embraces you all.</p> + +<p>"Love to all, from Ninaccio, who has the greatest possible +desire to repass the Channel."—(See "Giovanni Costa: His Life, +Work, and Times," by Olivia Rossetti Agresti.)</p></div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> It may interest his friends to know that the valuable +collection of casts which Mr. Copland Perry spent four years in +forming, after visits to all the collections of ancient sculptures in +Europe, has been ceded to the British Museum, and will be transferred +from the South Kensington Museum, where it has long been hidden away +in a dark corridor, to suitable courts in the new buildings of the +British Museum.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> Professor Church's Lectures were given to the outer +world beyond the Academy in the form of a book, published in 1891, and +dedicated by permission to Leighton.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> The questions raised in these letters have been very +fully answered in the third edition of Professor Church's "Chemistry +of Paints and Painting" (see Index), published in 1901.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> This spot inspired the picture "Solitude."</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_312" id="PageV2_312">[312]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>CHAPTER VI<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>LIFE WANING—DEATH</h4> + +<h4>1887-1896</h4> +<br /> + +<p>Already in 1887 his friends noticed that Leighton showed at times that +he was overtaxing his strength. On retiring from the Academy as an +active member, Mr. George Richmond wrote:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">20 York Street, Portman Square, W.,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>January 13, 1887</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">My dear Sir Frederic,</span>—I have just received your most +kind and generous note, and thank you and the Council for so +promptly complying with my request to retire from the R. Academy +as an active member.</p> + +<p>To do it was much worse than making a will; but, having done it, +I am greatly relieved.</p> + +<p>Had it been earlier it would have been wiser; but as delay has +not forfeited the esteem of my dear President and others, I am +thankful and content.</p> + +<p>But one word of parting advice I crave to offer, which my +admiration of your rule and guidance in your high office +constrains me to make.</p> + +<p>Many of us have remarked that you draw upon your strength too +severely; my parting words then are, and please accept, follow, +and forgive them:—</p> + +<p>Spare yourself when you can, that you may long be spared to give +yourself, when you ought.</p> + +<p>And now farewell, from your loyal and affectionate old friend,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Geo. Richmond.</p> +</div> + +<p>From San Martino, 20th September 1889, Leighton wrote to his +father:—</p> + +<div class="block"><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_313" id="PageV2_313">[313]</a></span> +<p class="right"><span class="sc">San Martino,</span> <i>September 20 (1889)</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Dad,</span>—I received your letter two or three days +ago, but have deferred answering till I could say something one +way or another about my health, for of course I have nothing +else to tell of in these high latitudes. Well, I am in fairly +good trim, and as well as I am likely to be till I leave, for +San Martino will be shorn of my presence on Friday next as ever +is (my address for the first fortnight in October will be Hotel +Brufani, <i>Perugia</i>). On the other hand, if you were to ask me +whether I am "as fit as a fiddle" or a "flea," or "as a strong +man requiring to run a race," or "a giant refreshed," or "a +bridegroom coming forth from his chamber," or whatever simile +you like, I am obliged to own that I am not. I am aware that the +air is superb, and when I get on to an exposed slope and open my +mouth like a carp I am further aware at (and for) the time—so +to speak, "for this once only"—of very gratifying symptoms; +then they are fugitive, and my <i>average</i> condition is perhaps a +little less satisfactory than on Hampstead Heath. On the other +hand, of course, such air <i>must</i> in some occult way be +benefiting my tissues, and I shall no doubt, as the stock phrase +is, "feel <i>so</i> much better <i>afterwards</i>." Meanwhile, I undergo +much humiliation; whilst <i>ladies</i> make with comfort and ease +delightful ascents to neighbouring peaks, I humbly pant up an +anthill or two, resting at every third yard—puffy, helpless, +effete. And lest I should console myself with inexpensive +commonplace about my years, &c. &c., I have before me two +acquaintances, <i>not</i> climbers by trade, one 65 and the other +(most charming of men, Sir James Paget) 73, who put in their +twelve, sixteen, or even at a pinch eighteen or twenty miles to +my one, and back again without turning a hair or having a +vestige of fatigue! Ugh!!</p> + +<p>I am most truly sorry that your strength did not enable you to +see Manchester; but it is <i>wonderful</i> that you do what you do on +the doorstep of 89!—Your affectionate son,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred.</p> +</div> + +<p>From Tours, October 30, he wrote to Mrs. Matthews:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Tours,</span> <i>October 30, 1890</i>.</p> + +<p>I hope, when I get back next week, that I shall find the old dad +fairly well. More can't be expected; and especially I hope <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_314" id="PageV2_314">[314]</a></span>to +find Lina drawing within sight of the end of her anxious +toil.<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> I am delighted to hear that she means to leave town +again for a bit—a <i>good</i> bit, I hope. Tell her with my love +that she is to make herself <i>very</i> comfortable, and <i>not to look +at the money</i>, but <i>send for a cheque whenever convenient</i>. She +<i>must</i>, in justice to herself, do her work under the most +favourable circumstances she can command.</p> + +<p>I have, of course, no particular news; I have been visiting +<i>till now</i>. (I am going to-morrow to Blois and Chambord.) +Nothing but old familiar scenes with the old familiar enjoyment, +in the more serious sense of the word, but not of course with +the old buoyancy of spirit—<i>that</i> must necessarily fade with +every year now, and I must be content with an occasional little +flicker of the waning candle. I have, however, been better in +health during the second than during the first half of my +holiday. In Rome I was the whole time with old Nino,<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> whom I +further took on a <i>Giro</i> to Siena and Florence. I also gave him +a commission: very few things could give him so much pleasure +(<i>inside</i>—he is not demonstrative!), and <i>nothing</i> is now so +needful to him. His lameness is not as bad as I had feared; but +he had a bad attack of his enemy, rheumatism, at Florence, and +had to bolt back to his people. Of course, too, his anxiety +about Georgina, my god-daughter, who has only just pulled +through a terrible illness, has put a heavy strain on him in +every way.</p> + +<p>Weather has broken up; of late <i>bitter</i> cold, to-day cold <i>plus</i> +rain, worthy of London.</p></div> + +<p>On January 24, 1892, Doctor Leighton died at the age of ninety-two, at +11 Kensington Park Gardens, where for many years, every Sunday when in +London, Leighton invariably went to see his father and his two sisters +at five o'clock, remaining to the last minute before dinner. This +regular habit he continued after Doctor Leighton's death; Mrs. +Sutherland Orr living on in the same house and Mrs. Matthews in the +close vicinity. In the autumn of 1893 <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_315" id="PageV2_315">[315]</a></span>Leighton was advised to go to +the Hotel Riffel Alp, Zermatt. "What a stupendous view this is from my +window," he wrote. "Weather in the main superb; it is finest for this +scenery when it is not fine. Knee still rather troublesome—nuisance! +Am seeing a doctor." In the October of the same year he wrote to Mrs. +Matthews:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Verona</span> (Italy again!),<br /> +<span class="datepad2"><i>October 2, 1893</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Gussy,</span>—I hope you are not very savage with me for +not writing sooner. I've had a tremendous "Hetztour" through +Germany—<i>thirty</i> towns in thirty days; a Yankee might be proud +of it; and over an area contained between <i>Lübeck</i> (N.), if you +please, and Berne (S.), Vienna (E.), and Colmar (W.), and I have +made notes everywhere, <i>and</i> I have a game knee, with the result +(not so much of the game knee as of the hurried travelling) that +I have had little time for writing anything beyond notes of +immediate necessity. But you <i>will</i> be savage at hearing that I +never received your Munich letter (alluded to in Lina's last), +either at the hotel or "Postlagernd"—can you remember at what +<i>date</i> you wrote it? I would <i>try</i> to recover it—I hate losing +letters, don't you? Thank Lina for her letter, and say that I am +concerned at the very poor and shabby account given of her. She +was going to send for the doctor; I hope he was able to help her +(though I don't know on what plea one expects that of a doctor). +By this time you may have recovered from your cure. What a +rickety lot we are! At Perugia, where I shall be on Wednesday, I +am going under physic for my knee, which, though hardly more +than an inconvenience, is a very depressing prospect. I have +written to Roberts, who has sent me prescriptions which I shall +have made up (to-morrow) by his namesake in Florence. My journey +has been, I am bound to say, in a high degree interesting and +sometimes delightful. (I wonder whether you were ever at +Hildesheim—its amazing picturesqueness, Renaissance houses, +carved and painted, are enough to make your hair curl for the +rest of your natural life.) But I have not bought a single +German novel, after all the trouble you took twice over, except +<i>Soll <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_316" id="PageV2_316">[316]</a></span>und Haben</i>, which I have just begun; how amazingly +<i>altmodisch</i> and stodgy it is, but evidently very clever. I have +grown very indolent about reading in trains. Wednesday I reach +Perugia—Thursday I shall take a holiday—Friday I shall—but +enough! In Berlin I saw dear old Joe (Dr. Joachim)—(the only +person I did see, except Malet, the Ambassador, a very old +friend of mine—very snug and <i>good</i> little bachelor dinner +there—"just as you are"). He (Joe) seemed very fit after "les +eaux" somewhere, and sent you kind messages. He was pleased at +my calling, and came next day to see me off at the station.</p></div> + +<p>In August 1894 he took his sister, Mrs. Matthews, to Bayreuth. On his +rapidly returning to London he completed the panel he presented to the +Royal Exchange. He worked hard at this for three weeks. He then went +to Scotland, and finished his holiday, as usual, in Italy. On his +return, after attending the first Monday Popular concert at St. James' +Hall, when walking to the Athenæum he was seized by his first attack +of angina pectoris. Dr. Roberts, to whom Leighton was attached, and in +whose judgment and skill he had had great confidence for years, +writes, "I attended Lord Leighton for over twenty years. I was +constantly seeing and watching him. He never was a robust man; but all +his organs kept in health till two years before his death, when I +discovered the commencement of the trouble that ultimately proved +fatal. I never told him of this condition, as I felt its progress +would be slow.... He once told me he considered my fees to him were +too small, and asked me to increase them." Some years previous to this +first attack Leighton would say, "I always see Dr. Roberts every +Sunday for him to tell me I am not ill." In November 1894 Sir Lauder +Brunton was called in for consultation, and he and Dr. Roberts +prescribed a course of Swedish massage; and to this Leighton devoted +the later hours of his afternoons for several months that winter. Work +continued as vigorously as ever. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_317" id="PageV2_317">[317]</a></span>pictures—"Lachrymæ," "'Twixt +Hope and Fear," "Flaming June," "Listener," "Clytie," "Candida," "The +Vestal," "A Bacchante," "The Fair Persian," were the fruit of the last +year's labours, besides the sketches which he painted on his last +journeys to Algiers, Ireland, and Italy.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep316a" id="imagep316a"></a> +<a href="images/imagep316a.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep316a.jpg" width="85%" alt="Summer Slumber" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"SUMMER SLUMBER." 1894<br /> +By permission of Mr. Phillipson<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep316b" id="imagep316b"></a> +<a href="images/imagep316b.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep316b.jpg" width="85%" alt="Sketch for Summer Slumber" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">SKETCH FOR "SUMMER SLUMBER." 1894<br /> +Presented by H.M. the King to the Leighton House Collection<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>Very characteristic was the manner in which Leighton faced his +condition. Absolutely natural as he invariably was, without +nervousness, and considerate to the last degree in not making his +state a burden on others, he never, even at this juncture, +concentrated his thoughts on himself. Once when a friend implored him +to draw in and not expend his strength unnecessarily, he answered, +with almost impatience, "But that would not be life to me! I must go +on, thinking about it as little as possible." There was something of +the boy about Leighton up to the very end, and in those last months +much of the pathos of the boy who is known to be doomed, but who plays +his game with just as much eager verve up to the end.</p> + +<p>Mr. Briton Rivière, the comrade whose nature was so worthily tuned to +Leighton, writes:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>One of the last times that I met him actively employed was at a +committee meeting of the Athenæum. He had some pain and +difficulty in climbing the stairs to the committee-room, and +evident pain in speaking; but because he felt that the candidate +he proposed ought to be elected, and that no one else would +propose him with more earnest conviction than he could (and he +was the best proposer of a candidate I have ever heard), he came +there at all risks to himself and <i>would</i> have done so against +all opposition and all disadvantages, simply because he thought +it his particular duty to do so. This is only a type of the +manner in which he treated all his official work during those +last years of physical suffering which he fought so bravely. +Watching him, it was then I recognised that he was on the same +plane as the seaman who never strikes his flag, and at the last +goes down practically unvanquished.</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_318" id="PageV2_318">[318]</a></span>Every day that grey pallor increased, and that sunken, indescribable +look of waning life in the face. Nevertheless Leighton lived much as +before, never making illness an excuse for avoiding any duty. As +matters grew more serious his doctors enforced a rest—a voyage—an +absence from the May Academy Banquet. At this juncture Leighton +tendered his resignation as President of the Academy. It was not +accepted.</p> + +<p>To Mr. Briton Rivière he wrote:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p><span class="sc">Dear Rivière,</span>—Many thanks for your most kind words. I +have been deeply touched by the generous, and, I must almost +say, affectionate attitude of my brother members in this painful +conjuncture. How much I value <i>your</i> friendship, you, I am sure, +know.—Sincerely yours always,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred Leighton.</p> +</div> + +<p>He decided on leaving England for two months, and fixed on Algiers as +a dry climate likely to suit his health. It had lived in his memory +also ever since the first visit in 1857, as a country singularly +fascinating to him. Before leaving he fulfilled his duties as +President in choosing the pictures for that year's Exhibition. These +duties he had often described as the most wearing of the whole year. +His intense sense of duty, and desire to judge in every case the +interests of the individual artist together with those of art, fairly +and adequately, inflicted a strain and entailed an indescribable +fatigue, he said, even when he was well. During those days in 1895 he +suffered acutely.</p> + +<p>From Hotel Continental, Tangiers, 18th April 1895, Leighton wrote:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p><span class="sc">Dear Wells,</span>—Although letters do not leave these wilds +daily and take an unconscionable time, as I now find, on the +way, I trust this will reach you in time for the first +varnishing day, on which I believe you hold the general meeting; +it carries with <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_319" id="PageV2_319">[319]</a></span>it warm and grateful—and <i>envious</i> greetings +to you all. These you will, I know, deliver to my brother +members at lunch, for then only is the <i>whole</i> body gathered +together. They, knowing me, will understand my humiliation at +not being under arms and at my post at this season. I wish I +could ask you to tell them that I see much sign of betterment in +my condition: the slowness of my cure—if cure it be—is, of +course, depressing; but I shall comfort myself on Thursday with +the thought that perhaps, at some time between one and two, you +are wishing well to one who claims to be a faithful friend to +you all. I look forward keenly to what will, I feel sure, be the +admirable performance of our dear old Millais. Unfortunately, I +have not the remotest notion of where I shall be when the news +might reach me—in Africa or in Europe—but reach me it will in +time. You perhaps think of me as basking in the sun between blue +skies and blue seas. How different are the facts! Blustering +winds, occasionally rain, chilly atmosphere, everything murky +and without colour! A change <i>should</i> not be far off, for this +sort of thing has prevailed for a month and more. I did not +bargain for it.</p> + +<p>I hope, my dear Wells—and indeed I do not doubt—that you are +getting on well and comfortably with your vice-regency, and am +always yours sincerely,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred Leighton.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Tangiers,</span> <i>April 25, 1895</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Lina,</span>—The day before yesterday I received your +nice long letter—you had not yet got mine from Gib.—and +yesterday one came from poor Gussy, and I am going, as you will +both believe when this reaches you, to kill two birds with one +epistolary stone. First, let me say that I am grieved—I dare +hardly say, <i>surprised</i>, for it is, alas! a wicked way you both +have—to hear that neither of you has derived any benefit, to +speak of, by your outing, and you indeed, poor dear, appear to +be a little worse. The fact is that at our ages, <i>con rispetto</i>, +when one happens to have pretty homes, one <i>does</i> miss them +under the discomforts and shortcomings of lodgings or inns. As +for me, though I am fairly comfortable here, I have whiffs of a +certain "House Beautiful" in Kensington which are very +tantalising. How am I? Well, I think I may at last claim a +<i>little</i> improvement, of course I give <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_320" id="PageV2_320">[320]</a></span>myself every chance, and +am superlatively, disgracefully lazy, <i>and put myself to no +tests</i>; but I notice this, that though I have my regulation +three attacks (when not more) a day, they are milder, I think, +and I <i>know</i> that I can get rid of them almost immediately by +certain respiratory exercises my Swede taught me. This I assume +is again <i>no more capsules</i>, we shall see.</p> + +<p>Yes, I do perfectly remember the old home in St. Katherine's at +Bath, and should hugely like to see it. I hope when the old +inhabitant goes off, it will fall into reverent hands.</p> + +<p>No, I have not yet tackled Nordau. I am looking forward to him +much, but have so far, except some Pater (Greek studies), mostly +fribbled; two or three Spanish novels; a few short tales by +Hardy, clever, but his figures are talking dolls, taught out of +a book; <i>L'Innocente</i>, dull, but not so <i>coarse</i> as I had +understood. "Tales of Mean Streets"—now there, if you like, is +powerful stuff. For pithy terseness and absolute sobriety of +means, for subtle and humorous observation and scathing +directness, they are unrivalled; but oh! what a picture! what a +state of things, and who shall ever let the light into the +tenebrous and foul depths? But how funny too, and grim; the old +woman who pockets the ten shillings given for port, in order +that she may have mutes at the funeral! Have also read +"Keynotes." Clever, one or two even powerful, but other than I +expected. Who is the woman? half Norse? half Irish? The writing +is bad; intentionally, apparently; a cross between an +interviewer and Ibsen for scrappy abruptness. <i>Her</i> keynote is +belief in the <i>immeasurable</i> (but not explained) superiority of +women, whom no man can <i>understand</i>; well, certainly, <i>I</i> don't +know <i>wo sie hinaus will</i>.</p> + +<p>I have had more kind notes, this is a kind world <i>tout de même</i>. +When stodgy, elderly Englishmen talk to me of the number of +people who <i>love</i> me, I feel quite a lump in my throat. Of +another kind, but pretty, is the enclosed from W. Watson, the +poet, whom I admire, you know; nice also the telegram. I wrote a +<i>menschlich</i> letter when her husband died (<i>I</i> have known them +nearly forty years), and again a pretty letter t'other day about +the wedding.</p> + +<p>But I <i>must</i> finish this scribble. I shall be gone when you <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_321" id="PageV2_321">[321]</a></span>get +this, write <i>Algiers</i> (poste restante), I shall get it <i>some</i> +time or other, but am still vague.</p> + +<p>Love to poor Gussy.—Afft. bro.,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred.</p> +</div> + +<p>Leighton enclosed the following from William Watson, and the telegram +from the Comtesse de Paris:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">66 Cheriton Road, Folkestone,</span><br /> +<i>April 18, 1895</i>.<br /> +</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Sir Frederic Leighton,</span>—May I venture to say, +somewhat superfluously, what a delight it was to be made free of +your Palace of Art on a recent Sunday, and how highly I valued +the privilege. Mr. Wilfrid Meynell had already made me happy by +reporting the generous things you had said about my verses. I +wish the great pleasure thus given me were not alloyed by the +news of your temporarily impaired health. But in common with the +rest of the world I hope those sunnier regions to which you +perhaps feel more spiritually akin than to our own may quickly +renew your full energies.</p> + +<p>Pray forgive anything which may be intrusive or otherwise +unwarrantable in this letter, and believe me, dear Sir +Frederick, with very grateful sense of your kindness, and pride +in your good opinion, yours sincerely,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">William Watson.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Sir Frederic Leighton,</span> Bart., P.R.A.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="block"><p><i>Telegram.</i>]</p> + +<p class="right"><i>April 16, 1895.</i></p> + +<p class="sc">To Sir Frederic Leighton,<br /> +<span style="padding-left: 4%;">2 Holland Park Road,</span><br /> +<span style="padding-left: 7%;">Kensington, London.</span></p> + +<p>Profondement touchée de votre si bonne lettre et aimables +vœux pour ma fille, je vous en remercie de tout mon cœur, +y voyant une nouvelle preuve de votre amitié. Je regrette +vivement pas avoir le plaisir de vous revoir avant longtemps, +mais suis sure penserez à moi.</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Comtesse Paris.</p> + +<p class="sc">Buckingham.</p> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_322" id="PageV2_322">[322]</a></span>On arriving at Alger, Leighton wrote:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Hotel d'Europe, Alger,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>May 9, 1895</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Wells,</span>—I got your first kind letter three days +ago at Tlencen, and this morning, on passing through this place, +your very interesting account of the Banquet. I know you will +not resent a <i>very</i> brief acknowledgment; I have <i>one</i> day here +only, and a large pile of letters, with a good many of which I +must deal, however laconically, at once. I need not assure you +that your most kind words, like so many manifestations of +friendship that I have received, touch me to the quick and will +not be forgotten. That my dear old friend Millais could carry +away his audience by his earnest and intense personality, I was +quite certain. I rejoice in my heart at his success, apart from +what I feel about his affectionate and warm expressions. It is +worth while to break down, to be treated with such infinite +kindness as I have met with everywhere amongst my colleagues and +friends. I know you will like to hear that I am at last very +decidedly better; in another month—for I don't mean to come +home sooner—I really expect to be externally quite patched +up—of course, the warning and the constant threat will remain +by me, but I shall try to be careful, and hope yet for long to +be the devoted servant of my brother members in the Academy. +Meanwhile, believe me, always sincerely yours,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred Leighton.</p> + +<p><i>P.S.</i>—I trust you have not suffered in your throat, which is a +frequent anxiety to you from the necessity of much speaking. <i>I</i> +know how trying that is.</p></div> + + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Hotel d'Europe, Alger,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad2"><i>May 21, 1895</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Lina,</span>—In an hour or two I leave for Europe, and +in three weeks I shall be home again in comfortable Kensington.</p> + +<p>I am grieved that you should have been worried—as well you +might—by that idiotic report that I should not return to +society or my profession (I wonder who invented it!), but you +were fortunately soon relieved; I think I told you about the +trouble Reuter and Hardy took in the matter. By-the-bye, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_323" id="PageV2_323">[323]</a></span>you +were right in supposing that the "long walk" was also a figment +of the correspondents.</p> + +<p>I am very glad to hear that you and Gussy are both at all events +a little better at last. My bulletin is chequered, but certain +things are satisfactory; in the first place, I see that fine +weather and sun and pure air and the rest of it have nothing +whatever to do with my condition; this, as I can't choose my +climate, is distinctly reassuring; also, the fact of my having +been much better shows that I may hope distinctly for much +improvement: in the other, a certain relapse which is now upon +me shows how needful caution is, only it is disappointing to +have had to go back to capsules. I have had in the main a most +enjoyable time; have been very fortunate in the weather, +inasmuch as the heat has not yet been intolerable, and I have +done some work which will be useful perhaps and certainly +delightful as a reminiscence and suggestion. A variety of +untoward things, one on the top of the other, no doubt quite +account for my, I hope not durable, relapse, and I have no doubt +when I write again I shall be able to report fresh improvement. +The odd thing is, the bad effects <i>last</i> so curiously. I +understand hot railway journeys, bad food, &c. &c., telling on +me, but I have been now two whole days and a bit in Algiers in +<i>utter</i> idleness, and a great deal on my back, and yet this +morning I got an attack <i>lying in bed</i>! but don't let this +disturb you—for several weeks I was much better and required +<i>no</i> capsules at all. This short little note will reach you, I +suppose, on Friday morning; a line on that day or on Saturday or +Sunday, just to say that it has reached you would catch me at +the Hotel Continental, Rue Castiglione, <i>Paris</i>. Please tell me, +on the altogether improbable chance of my "looking in" on the +Channel Islands, what the <i>best</i> hotels are—I <i>must</i> be +comfortable. Best love to Gussy.—From your affectionate old +brother,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred.</p> + +<p><i>P.S.</i>—I wrote to the P. of W.'s secretary, asking him to say +how much H.R.H.'s kind words had gratified me—I enclose the +answer, which is nice, I think.</p></div> + +<p>On Leighton's return to London he resumed his duties as President. He +tried to believe what Sir Lauder Brunton <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_324" id="PageV2_324">[324]</a></span>hoped, but found it somewhat +difficult to do so in the face of <i>facts</i>, he used to say. He, +however, assumed that he was mending. On 19th July 1895 he wrote:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p><span class="sc">Dear Briton Rivière</span>,—Very many thanks for your kind +and thoughtful note. Do not think of postponing your motion; I +have already been the innocent cause of the postponement of two +very contentious motions in Council; I could not think of +standing further in the way—pray, therefore, proceed with it. I +had a nasty attack at that meeting but have felt no after +effects, and am no doubt slowly mending. In haste, yours ever +sincerely,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred Leighton.</p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep324" id="imagep324"></a> +<a href="images/imagep324.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep324.jpg" width="57%" alt="The Fair Persian" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"THE FAIR PERSIAN"<br /> +(Unfinished at the time of Lord Leighton's death.) 1896<br /> +By permission of Sir Elliott Lees<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>From his account to his friends after his return, his health had +varied while abroad in an unaccountable manner, except in one instance +where, as my husband and I knew from personal experience, the +conditions were normally unhealthy. This evidently was the cause for +his having had specially violent attacks at Morlaix in Brittany, which +he visited on his journey home—and where, some years previously, our +whole party had become more or less ill, owing, it was thought, to the +unhealthiness of the place. His condition was much the same as when he +left England. He worked steadily in his studio, and received the +guests at the Annual Soirée of the Royal Academy. At the conclusion of +the function a friend asked him how it had really fared with him—for +apparently his vitality had appeared, as usual, inexhaustible. "I +think the attacks must be greatly a matter of nerves," he answered. "I +have stood here three hours and a quarter and have not had one,—while +I was dressing and fearing how I should get through it, I had +<i>three</i>."</p> + +<p>Leighton did not go to Scotland that autumn but to the wild west coast +of Ireland, again to that Malinmore that had so greatly fascinated +him, and whose wild beauty he had longed for his sister to enjoy, +"taking her courage in <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_325" id="PageV2_325">[325]</a></span>one hand, her goloshes in a second, and +umbrella in the third."<a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> On his way there he wrote to Mrs. Orr:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc datepad">Imperial Hotel,</span><br /> +<span class="sc datepad2">Pembroke Street, Cork,</span><br /> +<i>Thursday, September 5, 1895</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Lina</span>,—I was glad to glean from your letter of +last Thursday that, taking it all round, you are having a fairly +good time, and Gussy ditto. (I can't stand <i>wind</i> either, it +aggravates my system.) I've never seen Mull—should like to—but +<i>not</i> being a sociable bird (like you) should wish to have no +acquaintances. Is it Napier of <i>Magdala</i>? if so, I knew the old +lord of that ilk; indeed, to be accurate, I knew him even if it +was not so; or Lord Napier of <i>Ettrick</i>? if so ditto, ditto. It +is always the previous lot <i>I</i> knew. By this time you will have +been to Lindisfarne<a name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> (lovely name!)—if you did not enjoy the +sands and the Abbey you need not call on me again. I suppose you +are at home now. In a week or two I shall no doubt know how I +am. Just off to Killarney, then Galway, then <i>Malinmore</i>, County +Donegal, where I shall be from (say) the 10th to (say) the 17th, +your affectionate old brother.</p></div> + +<p>In another letter he wrote to Mrs. Orr: "I am too glad that you have +made acquaintances—been a gregarious person. If I make an +acquaintance anywhere, I have simply lost the game." From Malinmore on +September 19th he wrote to me: "I'm sorry that you saw Scotland in a +mist; its beauty is <i>succulent colour</i>—you want rain first and then a +burst of sun—I am enjoying unsociable solitude keenly, like the bear +I am; health so so; I'm sowing patience, but so far reaping nothing in +particular. In a fortnight, off to Italy." On this visit to his +"second home" Leighton began with Venice, from whence he wrote to me +Oct. 9th: "The wind <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_326" id="PageV2_326">[326]</a></span>is howling and the rain pouring down in +torrents—not a correct attitude in Venice—I'm no better." Leighton +next went to Naples, where he wrote the following letter to Mrs. +Orr:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">Hotel Bristol, Naples,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>October 18, 1895</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Lina</span>,—I am sorry that you and Gussy don't see +your way to going to Bayreuth, since it is your health that +seems to stand in the way; other reasons are all my eye. I +<span class="sc">KNOW</span> from Gussy's own mouth that she would particularly +like to hear the Siegfried Tetralogy at Bayreuth (and this <i>may</i> +be the last time of giving it <i>there</i>), I <i>know</i> also that, +given, of course, the Fürsten Loge with its facilities, you +would like to go, because you have said so. Well it will remain +open in case you change what you, fondly and perhaps sincerely, +regard as your minds.</p> + +<p>I am very glad you take such a very sensible view of my ailment, +because it makes it more easy to speak of it; I also live in the +hope and, almost, expectation, that it will fizzle out some day +of its own accord, and this enables me to bear up against the +entire absence <i>at present</i> of any improvement. I have at last +finished my "Nordau," which I have read through from cover to +cover; it is a very vigorous and remarkable book and of riveting +interest to any one who likes polemics (from <i>outside</i>) as I do. +The author is at his best when he is dissecting a particular +victim—say Nietzsche—on the other hand one is not a little +repelled by his astoundingly unparliamentary insolence, his not +infrequent disingenuousness and <i>spitzfindelei</i> and his curious +narrownesses and lacunæ. The <i>Böcke die er schneidet</i> when he +gets on the subject of graphic art are quite comic. The fact is +he is in some respects absolutely devoid of perception, like an +otherwise most intelligent and cultured man who should have no +ear for music. What, for instance, can we say of a man who +asserts, as a truism, that æsthetic and <i>sexual</i>(!) feelings +(not sensual but "<i>geschlechtlich</i>") are not merely akin but +actually cover one another to a very large extent! I doubt +whether there is anything chaster than the sense of beauty in +abstract form; he has no inkling of this. When all is said and +done he is himself <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_327" id="PageV2_327">[327]</a></span>in some measure a <i>crypto</i>degenerate, if I +may so call him; degeneracy is a <i>Zwangsvorstellung</i> with him, +he sees it everywhere; a curious instance is his seeing it in +the fondness of English writers for alliteration; of course he +knows, with his wide culture, better than I do that this +assonance of the beginning of words dates from the dawn of our +literature; <i>he might</i>, no doubt, say, "Yes! it is a +<i>Rückschlag</i>," but he would therein give another proof of his +ineptitude in æsthetic matters. In <i>every</i> Art, <i>iteration</i>, of +which alliteration is a form, has ever been a powerful source of +expression and charm. Meanwhile his last, remarkable, chapter +"Therapie" takes a good deal of the sting out of the book; he +owns that certain peculiarities—excess of sensibility and the +like—are present in <i>nearly all art</i>, that it is, in fact, only +a question of a degree and, he adds, in a passage which Gussy +has marked, "Who shall say <i>where</i>, exactly, madness begins?" +Amen! And that little (or large) spice of something which +<i>might</i> be madness if there was much more of it, has given to us +poor mortals some of our keenest delights—"more grease to its +elbow," say I, in my vulgar way. But, I say! Nietzsche!! +eh?—I've also read J. Kowaleski, with great interest—but, +crikey! <i>what</i> a creature to live with!!</p> + +<p>Tell Gussy, with my love, that I have got the usual two seats +(Queen's Hall) for the November <i>Wagner</i>. Tell her to keep the +day open.—Afftly. yrs.</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred.</p> +</div> + +<p>From Naples he travelled to Rome to find his dear friend Giovanni +Costa, with whom he spent the last weeks of his holiday. Of this visit +Costa wrote the following in his "Notes":—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"His last study from nature was painted in Rome in October 1895, +for the unfinished picture of 'Clytie,' exhibited in the Royal +Academy, 1896. It was a study of fruit, and he enjoyed working +on it for several hours, though he was then ill; and I believe +that the hours he passed in the courtyard of the Palazzo +Odeschalchi painting these fruits, which he had arranged on a +marble sarcophagus, afforded him, perhaps, the last artistic +pleasures he ever enjoyed. It is true that after this he went to +the Vatican, to Siena, and to Florence, where he saw for the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_328" id="PageV2_328">[328]</a></span>last time the masterpieces with which these towns abound. But, +standing before the great works of the masters of the past, he +could only sigh.</p> + +<p>"He worshipped children, and his pictures of children with fruit +and flowers are among the most delicious and spontaneous work +ever done by him in painting. And I can see him again, during +the last visit he paid to Rome in 1895, on his knees before my +little girl, to accede to her request that she should have a +lock of his hair as a remembrance."</p></div> + +<p>Nothing could give a better record of two sides of Leighton's nature, +often believed to be incompatible, than the contents of the letter +from Naples to his sister, with its remarks on Nordau, Nietzsche, and +the like, and this beautiful picture recalled by his old friend +Costa—Leighton on his knees before a little child. The intellect +which could crack the hardest of intellectual nuts was surmounted by +lowly reverence for all beauty, most ardently adored when that beauty +came to him in its most innocent childlike garb.</p> + +<p>Writing to me on his return on November the 6th Leighton says: "I +shall try to look in to-morrow at five. I want very much to hear +Fuller-Maitland's preachment" (Lectures on Purcell were being given at +our house previous to the Purcell Festival). "I am sorry to say I am +no better, rather worse." On being asked the next day, as he came into +our house, "How is it?" the answer Leighton gave was, "Oh, worse! +Sometimes fifteen attacks a day." On his birthday, the 3rd of +December, he wrote to his sister:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">2 Holland Park Road, Kensington, W.,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>December 3, 1895</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Lina,</span>—The grand leaves in a mossy pot, and the +sweet flowers, and the poems, and your letter, came all +together. I know you will let me answer you both on one piece of +paper. I know, dears, how true is your love, and though I am not +a <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_329" id="PageV2_329">[329]</a></span>demonstrative person, it is very precious to me. I know you +will both like to hear that after an <i>hour's</i> innings between L. +Brunton, Dr. Tunnicliffe his partner, Roberts, and three most +ingenious scientific instruments, and after tapping and +auscultating of my wretched ear cap fore and aft, it was +pronounced that (in some mysterious way) I am <i>not</i> worse, but +<i>better</i>; well, I am glad to hear it; meanwhile my medicine is +being strengthened, and will be again in the (pretty certain) +event of its requiring more strength. L.B. quite <i>hopes</i> to rig +me out for the May banquet. Much love to both from affectionate +old brother.</p></div> + +<p>On the 14th he wrote to his friend Mr. Henry Wells:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><span class="sc">2 Holland Park Road, Kensington, W.,</span><br /> +<span class="datepad"><i>December 14, 1895</i>.</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Dear Wells,</span>—Many thanks for your kind letter, relying +on which I hasten to "nail" you for the <i>27th</i>; I shall be very +much disappointed if you say me "nay." I never give a <i>long</i> +notice, in part so as to bring about a little shuffling of +cards, and relieving my guests of a certain monotony of routine +which might in the end irk them. I need not assure you that I am +most warmly sensible to the vigilant and truly friendly interest +which you manifest concerning my health; believe me, if I differ +from you in not believing in the efficacy or feasibility of a +suspension of activity for a year or two, it is in no +unreasoning or perverse spirit (and let me, by-the-bye, say in +passing that I have, for a few days past, certainly been a +little better). Putting aside for a moment the fact that I have +for the next year, and more, definite professional <i>obligations</i> +in the way of commissioned work (which is, unfortunately, not +incompatible with having a certain number of unsold works!), to +withdraw from Academic duties would mean <i>leaving England</i> for +the period in question; it would be morally impossible to remain +here, apparently in robust health, congratulated constantly, as +I am, on my healthy appearance, going about unrebuked by a +<i>very</i> cautious doctor (Lauder Brunton), taking the pleasures of +life <i>apparently</i> without any stint (as a matter of <i>fact</i> I am +very quiet and regular, and under <i>continuous</i> medical +treatment), and then shirking all its <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_330" id="PageV2_330">[330]</a></span><i>duties</i>; but experience +has shown that I gain nothing by absence—by change of climate +and the rest; and, on the other hand, my temperament being what +you know, the withdrawal from my active life would infallibly +prey on me and have a marked effect on my health through my +spirits; this is also the opinion of Lauder Brunton. My care +must be to live quietly but not idly, and thus try to mend +gradually, as I doubtless shall, in the hands of my doctor <i>and +my masseur</i>. <i>If</i>, which God forbid, I am pronounced still unfit +in May, I will bow, with whatever bitterness, to the judgment, +but till then I must not forego hope. Meanwhile, you have all +done me infinite service in prohibiting the "Discourse" for this +year—I can't say how grateful I was for that! I shall also +avoid, as far as may be, all <i>controversy</i> at our table; that is +the worst thing of all by far, for yours sincerely always,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred Leighton.<a name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a></p> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_331" id="PageV2_331">[331]</a></span>With the New Year honours and among those bestowed was a Peerage on +Leighton, who was created Lord Leighton, Baron of Stretton (see <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#CHAPTER_I">chap. +i. vol. i., Antecedents</a>). Needless to say, congratulations poured in +from all sorts and conditions. One of these in writing was preserved +because enclosed in a note to his sister.</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="right"><i>January 13, 1896.</i></p> + +<p><span class="sc">My dear Leighton,</span>—I have just come back from Italy, +and hope that it is not too late to tell you with how much +satisfaction I read of the mark of honour that has been accepted +by you. I am not a passionate admirer of the legislative feats +of the House of Lords, but so long as it stands, it is well that +such a man as you should sit there. I hope that the thing has +given you pleasure, and for my poor part I rejoice both as a +friend and as a humble admirer of art and genius that this +honourable recognition has fallen to you.—Yours sincerely,</p> + +<p class="rightsc">John Morley.</p> + +<p>Not a word of reply, I pray.</p></div> + +<p>From his native place Leighton received the following:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>When it was announced on Wednesday that the Queen had been +pleased to confer the dignity of a Peerage of the United Kingdom +upon Sir Frederic Leighton, Bart., President of the Royal +Academy, who is a native of Scarborough, having been born here +sixty-five years ago, the Mayor (Alderman Cross, J.P.) sent the +following telegram:—"Sir Frederic Leighton, 2 Holland Park +Road, London, the Mayor, Corporation, and inhabitants of +Scarborough present their hearty congratulations on the honour +conferred upon you.—The Mayor, Scarborough." The next morning +the following reply was received:—"The Mayor of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_332" id="PageV2_332">[332]</a></span>Scarborough,—Sincere thanks for congratulations from my +birthplace.</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Leighton."</p> +</div> + +<p>Leighton had been loath to acquaint his sisters with the real nature +of his complaint, as he was aware how much their anxiety for him would +be increased if they knew. However, he at last felt it was necessary +to tell them. Very characteristically, he chose the moment when they +were at the theatre, thinking it might produce a less painful shock +when mentioned casually, and when their attention might be distracted +more easily. It was difficult, however, under any circumstances to +temper the blow. Leighton wrote the next Sunday—"I do hope I shall +find you better this afternoon.... I ought not to have spoken to you +about my ailment." I received the following in Somerset, dated January +20, dictated, ... "As I am (not to put too fine a point on it) in bed +with a very bad cough at this moment, you will, I know, forgive my +using the hand of a secretary in writing to you. I see that you want a +contribution for Mrs. Watts Hughes' Home for Boys; I therefore enclose +a cheque." ... On the day following, Tuesday, his doctors decreed that +he should remain in his room, but on Wednesday, the day after, +Leighton insisted on getting into his studio, where he worked all the +morning from models. In the afternoon he drove in his open +carriage—certainly without the permission of his doctors!—to +Westminster, getting out and standing in the raw damp of a cold +January afternoon to watch the pulling down of some old houses which +had interested him. In the evening he wrote to me a letter, which +happened to be the last he penned. A Lecture was to be given for the +benefit of Mrs. Watts Hughes' Home for Boys; and in return for +Leighton's contribution I had sent him four five shilling tickets to +give away, offering to change them for half guinea tickets, but +suggesting it would be most rash of him to go <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_333" id="PageV2_333">[333]</a></span>himself. However, he +intended to go, and wrote that Wednesday evening:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p><span class="sc">Dear Mrs. Barrington,</span>—... Since you are good enough to +offer to change the tickets for tenners, I will ask you to do +so, and thank you in advance. Yes, Mackail's book, which oddly +enough I <i>have</i> read—for, alas! I never read now—is an +exquisite bit of work.</p></div> + +<p>When the Lecture was given on the evening of January 29, Leighton had +left us already four days!</p> + +<p>At five o'clock on Thursday morning, January 23, he woke, feeling +terrible pain and great distress in breathing, but would not ring for +his servant because he believed him to be delicate, and thought it +might hurt him to be disturbed so early. At seven he rang, and Dr. +Roberts, who was telegraphed for, at once saw that the situation was +of the gravest. Sir Lauder Brunton also was summoned. Leighton's +servant had promised his sisters that they should be sent for at once +if the symptoms at any time became more acute; but on his mentioning +this, Leighton said he must not send for Mrs. Orr and Mrs. Matthews, +as they were both more ill than he was. However, as the morning went +on and there were no signs of any change for the better, the sisters +were told of his condition, and at once came—not leaving him till the +end.</p> + +<p>On Thursday afternoon, when he was supposed to be sinking, and they +were with him alone, he expressed his wishes as to his property—the +sums of money he wished given to various friends—adding that he +should like ten thousand pounds to be given to the Royal Academy. +These were wishes expressed—not legacies, as he left his whole +property unconditionally to his sisters, and believed that they, as +next-of-kin, would, as a matter of course, be his heirs.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_334" id="PageV2_334">[334]</a></span>Contrary to the doctor's expectations, Leighton rallied on the Friday, +and hopes were expressed that he might recover from the acute attack +from which he was suffering. On his hearing this, he exclaimed to his +sisters, "Would it not have been a pity if I had had to die just when +I was going to paint better!"</p> + +<p>On the Saturday morning the gravest symptoms returned, and every hope +vanished. It was then suggested to Leighton that it would be better +for him to make a will, and his lawyer was sent for; but it was some +time before he could arrive. Though the agony was great, Leighton +refused all alleviations till his will was written out. It was as +follows:—</p> + +<div class="block2"><p>This is the last will and testament of Frederic Leighton. +I will and bequeath to my sisters, Alexandra Orr and +Augusta Newnburg Matthews, the whole estate +unconditionally.</p> + +<p class="rightsc">Fred Leighton.</p> +</div> + +<p>Mrs. Orr wrote: "When the official will had been drawn up and signed, +he said, 'Does this give my sisters absolute control over all I have?' +On the lawyer answering in the affirmative, Leighton asked, 'Then no +one can interfere with them?' 'No one,' answered the lawyer; 'they are +paramount.' He was afraid that the brief paragraph was not +sufficiently strong."</p> + +<p>After signing it, he said, "My love to the Academy"; but his last +words were spoken in German, and meant for his sisters' ears alone. +Then came the end.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> +<br /> + +<p>"We went together," writes Lady Loch, "to see Fred Leighton the Sunday +before he died, and he said, 'Mind you come to "my concert." I have +just settled it all with Villiers Stanford, and it will be +beautiful.'" In about ten days after, with aching hearts at the loss +of so true, so <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_335" id="PageV2_335">[335]</a></span>warm, so great a friend, we attended his burial +service at St. Paul's Cathedral, seeing such proofs of real mourning +all along the Embankment and streets, for indeed every man, woman, and +child had lost a real, true friend.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep334" id="imagep334"></a> +<a href="images/imagep334.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep334.jpg" width="38%" alt="The Spirit of the Summit" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"THE SPIRIT OF THE SUMMIT." 1894<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep335" id="imagep335"></a> +<a href="images/imagep335.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep335.jpg" width="42%" alt="Study for Lachrymæ" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">STUDY FOR "LACHRYMÆ." 1895<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>All who were present must ever remember the last "Music" in the March +before, when (contrasting so strongly in colour and sentiment) +"Lachrymæ" and "Flaming June" stood on the easels, and for the first +time the silk room was open, hung with the work of Leighton's friends; +how, through all the beautiful strains from Joachim and the rest, a +tragic note rang out to tell, as it seemed, of the waning life of the +centre of it all. No one said it, but all felt that the last chapter +was ending of those many, many perfect pages in life known as +"Leighton's music."</p> + +<p>A voice sang with emotion Charles Kingsley's soul-stirring verse—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"When all the world is old, lad,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And all the trees are brown;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And all the sport is stale, lad,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And all the wheels run down,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Creep home, and take your place there,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The spent and maim'd among;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">God grant you find one face there<br /></span> +<span class="i1">You loved when all was young."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Cruelly pathetic did it seem that one who had ever had the vitality of +a boy, who had ever been the inspirer and support of those weary +overwrought ones whose wheels had run down before their time, should +himself be stricken, creeping home "the spent and maimed among."</p> + +<p>The studios emptied, and he came down the stairs with the last of us. +Dainty figures of girls were dancing round the fountain in the empty +Arab Hall; and as he went to the outer door they flew to him, throwing +their arms round his neck. "They are all my god-children," he said, +as <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_336" id="PageV2_336">[336]</a></span>each, fleet-footed, fled out of the gate. A clasp, a wring of a +friend's hand; then, ashen pale, tired and haggard, he turned back +lonely into the House Beautiful—and that book was closed.</p> + +<p>Instead of strains of perfect song and music hailing their completion, +the six pictures of the next year looked down on the coffin, and over +a rich carpeting of beautiful flowers. In the centre, above the head, +the sun-loving "Clytie" stretched out her arms, bidding a passionate +farewell to her god.</p> + +<p>The coffin was borne away to the Academy on Saturday, February 1, +previous to the funeral on the Monday.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep336" id="imagep336"></a> +<a href="images/imagep336.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep336.jpg" width="63%" alt="Clytie" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"CLYTIE." 1896<br /> +By permission of the Fine Art Society, the owners of the Copyright<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<p>The following is a correct account of the public funeral, written on +the day it took place, and forwarded to Leighton's birthplace.</p> + +<div class="block"><p>At half-past ten this morning, by which time a dense crowd had +collected in the neighbourhood of the Royal Academy, the workmen +commenced to remove the numerous wreaths from the Central Hall, +where the body of Lord Leighton has rested since Saturday night, +and to load the huge floral car. Prominent among these wreaths +was one from the Princess Christian; but that from the Prince +and Princess of Wales was conveyed in a separate carriage by +representatives of the Prince and Princess, General Ellis and +Lord Colville of Culross. The wreath consisted of choice white +flowers rising from a bank of delicate green foliage, and +attached was a card written by the Princess of Wales, and +inscribed as follows:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Life's race well run,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Life's work well done,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Life's Crown well won,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Now comes rest."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noin">Then follow the words, "A mark of sincere and affectionate +regard, esteem, and admiration for a great artist and much +beloved friend, from Alexandra and Albert Edward." At the head +of the card were the words, "To Sir Frederic Leighton." <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_337" id="PageV2_337">[337]</a></span>There +was also a wreath from the Empress Frederick, bearing the words: +"From Victoria, Empress Frederick," in the Empress's own +writing.</p> + +<p>The Queen's wreath for the funeral of Lord Leighton was sent +from Buckingham Palace this morning to Colonel the Honourable W. +Carington, by whom it was conveyed to St. Paul's Cathedral. The +wreath is composed of laurel, entwined with which are +immortelles, and it is tied with broad satin ribbon. Attached to +the wreath is an autograph card from Her Majesty, with the +following inscription: "A mark of respect from Victoria, R.I."</p> + +<p>About five minutes to eleven the coffin was removed from the +Central Hall, and carried through the vestibule into the +quadrangle. A detachment of the Artists' Volunteers was drawn up +here, and saluted the coffin as soon as it emerged into the open +by presenting arms. The remains were placed in a glass hearse, +and the volunteers took up their position at the front and +sides. The pall-bearers, relatives, and others meanwhile formed +in procession, and punctually at eleven the cortège left the +Academy, the crowd reverentially uncovering as the hearse passed +into the street. The whole length of the route, from Piccadilly +to St. Paul's, was lined with people; but the crowds were quiet +and orderly, and maintained a clear space for the funeral +cortège without the assistance of the police. The volunteers +marched with arms reversed, and the remains of the deceased +artist were carried to their last resting-place with every +manifestation of mournful regret. Flags were at half-mast on +many public buildings, and as the solemn procession passed +slowly along, the remains were reverently saluted by the crowd. +Passing into Pall Mall by Charing Cross, the procession wended +its way through Northumberland Street, proceeding thence along +the Thames Embankment, New Bridge Street, and Ludgate Hill, St. +Paul's being reached shortly before noon.</p> + +<p>The service in the Cathedral, which occupied an hour, was at +once picturesque as a spectacle and impressive in its solemnity +as a religious function.</p> + +<p>More than an hour before the time appointed for the arrival of +the funeral cortège, the space available to the public in St. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_338" id="PageV2_338">[338]</a></span>Paul's was occupied, and a few minutes after eleven o'clock, +visitors of distinction, who had been provided with special +invitations, began to fill up the reserved seats in the +transept.</p> + +<p>Among those present were representatives of the Royal Family, +the German Emperor, and the King of Belgium, members of both +Houses of Parliament, including the Speaker; delegates from +learned bodies and artistic associations, as well as from the +art committees of various provincial municipalities.</p> + +<p>The first lesson was read by the Dean, and the succeeding +passages were given by the Bishop of Stepney; but the greater +part of the service was undertaken by the Archbishop of York, +chaplain of the Royal Academy. The musical portions of the +service were exceptionally fine, and included, as a somewhat +unusual feature, a trombone quartette.</p> + +<p>Lord Salisbury had promised to be one of the pall-bearers, but +found himself unable to attend. The pall-bearers were +Major-General Ellis, representing the Prince and Princess of +Wales; the Duke of Abercorn, Sir Joseph Lister, Sir J. Millais, +Sir E. Thompson, Sir A. Mackenzie, and Professor Lecky.</p> + +<p>After the coffin was lowered into the crypt by a central opening +directly beneath the dome, the two sisters of the late Lord +Leighton came to the front, and took a last look at it. When the +coffin was lowered many beautiful flowers were placed upon it, +and again, after the opening was covered up, the space was more +than covered by further wreaths sent by various Academicians, +the Royal Academy, students, and personal friends, many of whom +lingered some time after the conclusion of the solemn ceremony.</p> + +<p class="right"><i>Scarborough Evening News, February 3, 1896.</i></p> +</div> + +<br /> +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> +<br /> + +<p>Leighton's death touched, as did his life, all sorts and conditions of +men; for he had been the true friend alike of the greatest and of the +least. The soil in which true distinction is rooted is of a quality +too rich, too fertile to be affected by class prejudice. Leighton's +own life was made beautiful by the gratitude he felt for the joy +nature's loveliness inspired in his soul, and by the passion to make +known <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_339" id="PageV2_339">[339]</a></span>through his work the mysterious treasure, the never-failing +fountain of delight, ever springing up in his heart. Lovingly human, +he ardently desired not only to pass on his own joy in beauty to every +fellow-creature who crossed his path, but, where he saw in any +possible way help could be given, to give it.</p> + +<p>Of the eager, great-hearted Leighton, not a few can echo Romola's +tribute to Savonarola—the last words of the great book whose pages he +vivified with his art: "Perhaps I should never have learned to love +him if he had not helped me when I was in great need."</p> + +<br /> +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> +<br /> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A light has passed that never shall pass away,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">A sun has set whose rays are unequalled of might;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The loyal grace, the courtesy bright as day,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The strong, sweet, radiant spirit of life and light,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">That shone and smiled and lightened in all men's sight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The kindly life whose tune was the tune of May,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">For us now dark, for love and for fame is bright.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i10 sc">Algernon Charles Swinburne.<a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep340a" id="imagep340a"></a> +<a href="images/imagep340a.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep340a.jpg" width="85%" alt="Leighton Monument" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">MONUMENT IN ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL, ERECTED AS A MEMORIAL +TO LORD LEIGHTON BY HIS FRIENDS AND ADMIRERS<br /> +Sculptured by Thomas Brock, R.A.<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep340b" id="imagep340b"></a> +<a href="images/imagep340b.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep340b.jpg" width="55%" alt="Leighton House" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">View of Inner Hall and Staircase of Leighton House, +with reproduction of Mr. Thomas Brock's R.A. Diploma <br />work, Bust of +Lord Leighton, presented by Mr. Brock to the Leighton House Collection +in 1898.<br /> +By permission of Mr. J. Harris Stone.<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p> +</div> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> "Life and Letters of Robert Browning."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> Professor Giovanni Costa.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> It was during this last visit to Malinmore Leighton made +those sketches of the sea thistle (see <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#CHAPTER_III">chapter iii. vol. i.</a>), and also +some last sketches in oil.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> Leighton had visited Mr. Pepys Cockerell and his family +at Lindisfarne (Holy Island) more than once when going or returning +from Scotland.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> Mr. Percy Fitzgerald wrote the following:—</p> + +<div class="block"><p>"Being in the same club with Lord Leighton, I could note many +instances of his good humour and sweetness of temper. I am happy to +think, for it was a high compliment from him, that he made my +acquaintance, not I his. He had always a pleasant word; as when, +entering the writing-room with his hasty tramp, he looked over at me, +seated at the window pencil in hand, and rushed over in his impetuous +way: "Ah, one of <i>our</i> trade, I see!" He was particularly interested +in a museum or institute at Camberwell, and one day thanked me most +warmly for having gone down to lecture there, and that it was +appreciated by the people, &c. This was good-natured.</p> + +<p>"The day he received his title, an old gentleman of the club, who did +not know him, congratulated him as he passed by in high-sounding +Italian. He was delighted, and poured out a reply in the same tongue, +adding some pleasant remark. This little incident quite illustrates +his <i>bonhomie</i>. It is just what Dickens would do. I gave him a copy of +Sir Joshua's Discourses, a presentation one to Burke. It was fitting +that the modern President should have it.</p> + +<p>"How tragic were his last appearances at the Academy <i>soirée</i>! How +jaded, shrunk and haggard looked the once handsome painter! He must +have suffered cruelly, and at the end seemed worn out. There was +something of a likeness to the lamented Irving, the same sweetness of +manner, the same grace and romantic view of things. His dress was +characteristic, somewhat showy, yet not scrupulously neat like a +dandy. His clothes, like Irving's, seemed old friends, and lay about +him in roomy fashion. His somewhat unkempt beard left some traces on +the lapels of his favourite snuff-coloured coat with the flowing +tails. The blue or red silk, its ends flying free, was a note of +colour. Three men of mark, and on some points resembling each other, +had each this fancy for a somewhat theatrical attire.</p> + +<p>"I noticed that a nervous guest innocently presented to the porter a +ticket for some artistic <i>soirée</i>, which was declined, to the +embarrassment of the visitor. But Leighton promptly stepped forward, +and kindly came to his rescue. It was curious that those three eminent +artistic beings, Dickens, Leighton, and Irving, should have perished +from outwearing their nervous systems, Leighton and Irving from +heart-failure, Dickens from an overtaxed brain."</p></div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> "A Reminiscence," Leighton, 1896.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_340" id="PageV2_340">[340]</a></span><br /> +<a name="APPENDIX" id="APPENDIX"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_341" id="PageV2_341">[341]</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h3>APPENDIX<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="PRESIDENTIAL_ADDRESS" id="PRESIDENTIAL_ADDRESS"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<h3>PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> +<br /> + +<p class="cen"><i>Delivered by</i> <span class="sc">Sir F. Leighton</span>, Bart., P.R.A., <i>at the Art +Congress, held at Liverpool, December 3rd, 1888</i>.</p> +<br /> + +<p>I cannot but feel that to some of my hearers, and to not a few of +those who do not hear me, but whom the words spoken in this place may +chance to reach through the Press, some brief explanation is, at the +outset, due as to my occupancy of this chair. To them it is known that +weighty reasons have for many years compelled me to decline all +requests—and those requests have been frequent, urgent, and most +gratifying to me in form and spirit—that I should publicly address +audiences, beyond the walls of Burlington House, on the subject which +is to occupy this Congress, the subject of Art. It is not without some +compunction that I have followed this course, but the exigencies, on +the one hand, of the duties of my office, and, on the other, a firm +purpose, which you will not, I hope, rebuke, to remain always and +before all things a working artist, have left to my too limited +strength and powers no alternative but that which I have adopted. +Nevertheless, I have felt justified in obeying the summons of the +founders of this Congress—and for this reason that, while the +far-reaching character of the effort here initiated, and my earnest +desire to contribute, in however small a measure, to whatever of good +may flow from it have seemed to make it incumbent on me to accept the +duty of saying a few words on this occasion, its comprehensive and +national character lifts it into a category wholly apart from and +outside the sphere of purely local interests such as those which I had +hitherto been invited to support.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_342" id="PageV2_342">[342]</a></span>I trust I shall be pardoned this short obtrusion of private +considerations, and that you will see in it not a movement of egotism +but the discharge of a simple debt of courtesy; which said, let me +address myself to the task imposed upon me—the task of showing cause +and need for the existence of the association which inaugurates to-day +its public work, and of arousing, if it is in my power, your efficient +sympathy in that work, that it may not remain barren and without +fruit. But here I am at once conscious of a perplexity lurking in your +minds. "Why," I hear you ask, "should an organisation have been called +into life for the sole purpose of considering in public matters +relating to the development and spread of art in this country? What +hitherto unfulfilled ends do you seek to achieve? Do you aim at the +wider extension of artistic education in this country? But vast sums +from the public purse are annually devoted to its promotion; schools +of art multiply, one might almost say swarm, over the face of the +land. Or do you tax the great municipal bodies of England with +remissness on this score? But day by day efforts in this direction +among the great provincial centres of trade and industry become more +marked and effectual. No announcement more frequently meets our eyes +than that of the opening, with due ceremony and circumstance, and +seemingly with full recognition that the event is an important one, of +spacious public galleries for the annual exhibition, or for the +permanent housing, of works of contemporary art. Or does art find +private individuals lacking in that noble spirit which so often +prompts Englishmen to devote to the enjoyment and profit of their +fellow-citizens a large share of the wealth gained by them in the +pursuit of their avocations? But a great gallery of art which rises +hard by across the road would shame and silence any such assertion. +Or, again, can it be denied that what encouragement to artists is +afforded by the purchase of innumerable pictures, at all events, was +never more liberally meted out to them than within our generation, and +does not the crowding of exhibitions, of which the name is legion, +evince abundantly the responsive attitude of the country, as far at +least as one of the arts is concerned? Are not statues multiplying in +our streets? Is not architecture, as an art, finding at this time +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_343" id="PageV2_343">[343]</a></span>increasing, if tardy, acceptance at the hands of private individuals? +Is not a wholesome sense dawning among us that even a private dwelling +should not offend, nay, should conciliate, the eye of the passer-by in +our public thoroughfares? and lastly, has not a more than marked +improvement taken place within our day in the character of all those +intimate domestic surroundings which are the daily diet of our eyes, +and should be daily their delight? Are these not facts patent to all, +and do they not seem to cut from under your feet the ground on which +you seek to stand?" Yes, all this and more may be said; and I should +be blind as an observer—I should be ungrateful as one speaking in the +name of artists—did I not recognise the force of these words which I +have put into the mouth of an imaginary querist. I acknowledge with +joy that there is in all these facts, and still more in their +significance, much on which we may justly congratulate ourselves, much +that points to a quickening consciousness, a stirring of slumbering +æsthetic impulse, a receptive readiness, a growing malleability in the +general temper, which promise well; and it is precisely such a +condition of things which justifies our hope of good results from this +Congress, and in it we find our best encouragement.</p> + +<p>Well, what then is our charge in respect to the present relation of +the country to art? What are the shortcomings for which we are here to +seek a remedy? Our charge is that with the great majority of +Englishmen the appreciation of art, as art, is blunt, is superficial, +is desultory, is spasmodic; that our countrymen have no adequate +perception of the place of art as an element of national greatness; +that they do not count its achievements among the sources of their +national pride; that they do not appreciate its vital importance in +the present day to certain branches of national prosperity; that while +what is excellent receives from them honour and recognition, what is +ignoble and hideous is not detested by them, is, indeed, accepted and +borne with a dull, indifferent acquiescence; that the æsthetic +consciousness is not with them a living force, impelling them towards +the beautiful, and rebelling against the unsightly. We charge that +while a desire to possess works of art, but especially pictures, is +very widespread, it is in a large number, perhaps <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_344" id="PageV2_344">[344]</a></span>in a majority of +cases, not the essential quality of art that has attracted the +purchaser to his acquisition; not the emanation of beauty in any one +of its innumerable forms, but something outside and wholly independent +of art. In a word, there is, we charge, among the many in our country, +little consciousness that every product of men's hands claiming to +rank as a work of art, be it lofty in its uses and monumental, or +lowly and dedicated to humble ends, be it a temple or a palace, the +sacred home of prayer or a Sovereign's boasted seat, be it a statue or +a picture, or any implement or utensil bearing the traces of an +artist's thought and the imprint of an artist's finger—there is, I +say, little adequate consciousness that each of these works is a work +of art only on condition that, is a work of art exactly in proportion +as, it contains within itself the precious spark from the Promethean +rod, the divine fire-germ of living beauty; and that the presence of +this divine germ ennobles and lifts into one and the same family every +creation which reveals it; for even as the life-sustaining fire which +streams out in splendour from the sun's molten heart is one with the +fire which lurks for our uses in the grey and homely flint, so the +vital flame of beauty is one and the same, though kindled now to +higher and now to humbler purpose, whether it be manifest in the +creations of a Phidias or of a Michael Angelo, of an Ictinus or of +some nameless builder of a sublime cathedral; in a jewel designed by +Holbein or a lamp from Pompeii, a sword-hilt from Toledo, a caprice in +ivory from Japan or the enamelled frontlet of an Egyptian queen. We +say, further, that the absence of this perception is fraught with +infinite mischief, direct and indirect, to the development of art +among us, tending, as it does, to divorce from it whole classes of +industrial production, and incalculably narrowing the field of the +influence of beauty in our lives. And with the absence of this true +æsthetic instinct, we find not unnaturally the absence of any national +consciousness that the sense of what is beautiful, and the +manifestation of that sense through the language of art, adorn and +exalt a people in the face of the world and before the tribunal of +history; a national consciousness which should become a national +conscience—a sense, that is, of public duty and of a collective +responsibility in regard to this loveliest flower of civilisation.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_345" id="PageV2_345">[345]</a></span>Well, it is in the belief that the consciousness of which I have +spoken is rather dormant with us than absent, waiting to be aroused +rather than wholly wanting, that the founders of this Association have +initiated the movement which has brought you together, and laid upon +me the ungracious task to which I am now addressing myself—a task I +have accepted in the hope that, at least, some good to others may come +out of the wreck and ruin of any character for courtesy which may +hitherto have been conceded to me.</p> + +<p>But let us now look closer into my indictment; and let us, first, for +a moment, and by way of getting at a standard, turn our thoughts to +one or two of those races among which art has reached its highest +level and round whose memory art has shed an inextinguishable +splendour. Let us first consider the Greek race in the day of its +greatest achievements and the most perfect balance of its transcendent +gifts. What is it that impresses us most in the contemplation of the +artistic activity of this race? It is, first, that the stirring +æsthetic instinct, the impulse towards and absolute need of beauty, +was universal with it, and lay, a living force, at the root of its +emotional being; and, secondly, that the Greeks were conscious of this +impulse as of a just source of pride and a sign of their supremacy +among the nations. So saturated were they with it that whatever left +their hands bore its stamp. Whatever of Greek work has been preserved +to us, temple or statue, vessel or implement, is marked with the same +attributes of stately and rhythmic beauty; in all their creations, +from the highest to the lowest, one spirit lives, and whatever be the +rank of each of these creations in the hierarchy of works of art, in +one thing they are even-born and kin—in the spirit of loveliness. And +of the dignity of this artistic instinct, which they regarded as their +birthright, they were, as I have said, proudly conscious. Would you +have an instance of this high consciousness? Here is one. At the end +of the first year of the Peloponnesian war the Athenians having, +according to ancestral custom, decreed a public funeral to those who +had fallen in battle, Pericles, the son of Xanthippus, was chosen by +them to speak the praises of the dead. It is a famous speech, that in +which he obeyed their injunction, and it opens with a lofty eulogy of +the Republic for which the heroes <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_346" id="PageV2_346">[346]</a></span>whom they mourned had fallen. In +this magnificent song of praise he enumerates the virtues of the +Athenians; he shows them heroic, wise, just, tolerant, <i>lovers of +beauty</i>, philosophers—in all things foremost amongst men. Mark this! +At a celebration of the most moving solemnity—in a breathing space +between two acts of a gigantic international struggle for +hegemony—you have here a great statesman enumerating the titles of +his fellow-citizens to headship among the nations, and placing not at +the end of his panegyric and as an oratorical embellishment, but in +its very heart and centre, these words: "We love the beautiful."</p> + +<p>But we may gain, perhaps, a yet more vivid sense of the extent to +which the artistic impulse possessed and filled this people in the +fascinating epitome of Grecian handicraft which is presented to us in +Pompeii, or rather in the Museo Nazionale at Naples. Here you have the +work, not of Athenian Greeks, of the Periclean or of the Alexandrian +age, but the work of provincial Greeks inhabiting a watering-place of +no very great importance, in the first century of our era; a period as +far removed from the days of the Parthenon sculptures as we are from +the days of the Canterbury Tales. And what a display it is! How full +of interest! Here we are admitted into the most intimate privacy of a +multitude of Pompeian houses—the kitchens, the pantries, the cellars +of the contemporaries of the Plinies have here no secret for us; +indeed, for aught we know, more than one of those dinners of which +that delicate <i>bon vivant</i>, the nephew of the naturalist, was so +appreciative a judge may have been cooked in one of these very ranges, +one of these ladles may have skimmed his soup, his quails may have +been roasted on yonder spit. Nothing is wanting that goes to make the +complete armament of a kitchen—stoves, cauldrons, vessels of every +kind, lamps of every shape, forks, spoons, ladles of every dimension. +And in all this mass of manifold material perhaps the most marked +characteristic is not the high level of executive merit it reveals, +high as that level is, but the amazing wealth of <i>idea</i>, the +marvellous intellectual activity brought to bear on what we now call +objects of industrial art—whatever that may mean—in this outpost of +Greek civilisation. These accumulated appliances of the kitchen and +the pantry form a museum of art—a museum <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_347" id="PageV2_347">[347]</a></span>of art of inexhaustible +fascination; and not only does this vast collection of necessary +things contain nothing ugly, but it displays, as I have just said, an +amazing wealth of ideas; each bowl, each lamp, each spoon almost, is +an individual work of art, a separate and distinct conception, a +special birth of the joy of creation in a genuine artist. But, above +all, let us bear this fact in mind—<i>the absence there of any ugly +thing</i>; for the instinct of what is beautiful not only delights and +seeks to express itself in lovely work, but forbids and banishes +whatever is graceless and unsightly.</p> + +<p>As next to the Greeks, and as almost their equals in this craving for +the beautiful, the Italians will occur to you. And here it may be well +to note, in a parenthesis, that a vivid sense of abstract beauty in +line and form does not necessarily carry with it a keen perception of +shapliness in the human frame. This curious fact we see strikingly +illustrated in a race which possesses the artistic instinct in certain +of its developments in a greater degree than any other in our time—I +mean the Japanese. With them the sense of decorative distribution and +of subtle loveliness of form and colour is absolutely universal, and +expresses itself in every most ordinary appliance of daily life, +overflowing, indeed, into every toy or trifle that may amuse an idle +moment; and yet majesty and beauty in the human form are as absent +from their works as from their persons. Be this said without prejudice +to the fact that in the movement imparted by them to the figures in +their designs there is often much of daintiness and dignity, the +outcome of that keen perception of beauty of line in the abstract +which we have seen to be dominant in them. I need not follow further +this, I think, interesting train of thought, but the digression seemed +to me useful, not as illustrating the fact that beauty is not to be +regarded only in connection with the human form, which is a mere +truism, but as showing that the abstract sense of it, in certain +aspects, may possess and penetrate a race in which the perception of +comeliness in the human body is almost entirely absent; and I meet by +it also, in anticipation, certain objections that may suggest +themselves to you in connection with the Italians, as far, at least, +as the Tuscans are concerned; for in them, too, we find occasionally, +side by side with an unsurpassed sense of the expressiveness of line +and form, a defective perception of beauty <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_348" id="PageV2_348">[348]</a></span>in the human +frame—witness the ungainly angularities, for instance, of a +Verrocchio, a Gozzoli, a Signorelli.</p> + +<p>The thirst for the artistically delightful was the mark in Italy of no +particular class; it was common to all, high and low, to the Pontiff +on his throne, to the trader behind his counter, to the people in the +market-place. And here, again, observe that this desire was not alone +for the adornment of walls and public places with painting and +statuary—though every wall in every church or public building was, in +fact, enriched by the hand of painters and of sculptors—but it +embraced every humbler form of artistic expression, and was, indeed, +especially directed to one which has in our time touched, here and +there, a melancholy depth—the craft of the goldsmith. I said "humbler +form" of art for lack of a better word; for a craft cannot fitly be +called humble which has occupied and delighted men of the very highest +gifts. Did not the mind that conceived the "Perseus" of the Loggia dei +Lanzi pour out some of its richest fancies in a jewelled salt-cellar +for the table of a Pope? Did not the sublimest genius that ever shone +upon the world of art receive its first guidance in the workshop of a +jeweller—a jeweller who was himself a painter also of high renown? +For was it not that painter-goldsmith whose hands adorned with noble +frescoes the famous choir of Sta. Maria Novella?</p> + +<p>Now, to a cultured audience such as that which I am here addressing, +these facts are familiar and trite, so trite and so familiar that it +may, perhaps, be doubted whether their true significance has ever +stood quite clearly before your minds, and whether you have fully +grasped the solidarity of the arts—if I may use an outlandish +expression—which at one time prevailed. Let us in imagination +transfer the last quoted fact into contemporary life. Let us suppose +that the municipality of a great English city, proud of its annals and +of its culture, determined to decorate with paintings in some +comprehensive manner the walls of a great public building; and +suppose, further, that an artist, admittedly of the first rank, were +to answer to its call from the workshop—and I say advisedly from the +workshop, for it is there, and not on an armchair in the office, that +the head of the house would have been found in the old day—suppose, I +say, that such an <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_349" id="PageV2_349">[349]</a></span>artist came forth from some great firm of +jewellers, in Bond Street for instance, we should have, on the +artistic side, the exact parallel of the case of the Dominicans of +Sta. Maria Nuova and Domenico, the son of Thomas the garland-maker of +Florence. Meanwhile, striking as is this instance of the unity of art +in long past days, it is but just to add, and I rejoice to be able +here to do so, that signs are not wanting on the side of our own +artists of a strong tendency towards a return to closer bonds between +its various branches, in which direction, indeed, a movement has been +for some years increasingly marked and practical; and it is with a +glad outlook into the future, and with a sense of breathing a wider +air, that I place by the side of the cases which I have just +mentioned—cases which were, in their time, of natural and frequent +occurrence—one which is of yesterday. The chief magistrate of an +important provincial centre of English industry, the Mayor of Preston, +wears at this time a chain of office which is a beautiful work of art, +and this chain was not only designed but wrought throughout by the +sculptor who modelled the stately commemorative statue of the Queen +that adorns the County Square of Winchester, the artist who presides +over the section of sculpture in this Congress, my young friend and +colleague, Mr. Alfred Gilbert.</p> + +<p>I have pointed to the Italians and the Greeks as culminating instances +of people filled with a love of beauty and achieving the highest +excellence in its embodiment, and I have named the Japanese as +manifesting the æsthetic temper in a high degree of sensitiveness, but +within certain limitations. It is not necessary to remind you that I +might extend this list, if with some qualification, and that the same +lesson—the lesson that the nations which love beauty seek it in the +humblest as well as the highest things—is taught us by others than +those I have mentioned. Whosoever, for instance, has wondered at the +work of Persian looms, or felt the fascination of the manuscripts +illuminated by the artists of Iran, or noted the unfailing grace of +subtle line revealed in their metal-work, will feel that for this race +also the merit of a work of art did not reside in its category, but in +the degree to which it manifested the spirit which alone could ennoble +it, the spirit of beauty. And if, further, this dominant instinct of +the beautiful is not in our own time found in any Western race in its +fullest <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_350" id="PageV2_350">[350]</a></span>force, and among one Eastern people, with, as we saw, +important limitations, there is yet one modern nation in our own +hemisphere in which the thirst for artistic excellence is widespread +to a degree unknown elsewhere in Europe; a people with whom the sense +of the dignity of artistic achievement, as an element of national +greatness, an element which it is the duty of its Government to foster +and to further, and to proclaim before the world, is keen and +constant; I mean, of course, your brilliant neighbours, the people of +France. Here, then, are standards to which we may appeal to see how +far, all allowance being made for many signs of improvement in things +concerning art, we yet fall short, as a nation, of the ideal which we +should have before us.</p> + +<p>Let me now revert to my indictment. I said that the sense of abstract +beauty with the mass of our countrymen—and once again I must be +understood not to ignore, but only to leave out of view for the +moment, the considerable and growing number of those in whom this +sense is astir and active—with the mass, I repeat, of our countrymen, +the perception of beauty is blunt, and the desire for it sluggish and +superficial; with them the beautiful is, indeed, sometimes a source of +vague, half-conscious satisfaction, especially when it appeals to them +conjointly with other incitements to emotion, but their perception of +it is passive, and does not pass into active desire; it accepts, it +does not demand; it is uncertain of itself, for it lacks definiteness +of intuition, and having no definite intuition, it is necessarily +uncritical. This weakness, among the many, of the critical faculty in +æsthetic matters, and the curious bluntness of their perceptions, is +seen not in connection with the plastic arts only, but over the whole +artistic field, in the domains of music and the drama, as in that of +painting and sculpture. Who, for instance, where a body of English men +and women has been gathered together in a concert room, has not, at +one moment, heard a storm of applause go up to meet some matchless +executant of noble music, and then, five minutes later, watched in +wonder and dismay the same crepitation of eager hands proclaiming an +equal satisfaction with the efforts of some feeblest servant of +Apollo? Or have you not often, in your theatres, blushed to see the +lowest buffoonery received with exuberant delight by an audience—and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_351" id="PageV2_351">[351]</a></span>a cultivated audience—which had just before not seemed insensible to +some fine piece of histrionic art? And what could proclaim the lack of +true, spontaneous instinct in more startling fashion than the +notorious fact that the most thrilling touch of pathos in the +performance of an actor reputed to be comic will be infallibly +received with a titter by a British audience, which has paid to laugh +and come to the play focussed for the funny?</p> + +<p>Now this little glimpse into the attitude of the public in regard to +other arts than ours has its bearing upon our present subject. This +same feebleness of the critical sense which arises out of the +indefiniteness—to say the best of it—of the inner standard of +artistic excellence, is not unnaturally accompanied by and fosters an +apathy in regard to that excellence, and an attitude of callous +acquiescence in the unsightly, which are inexpressibly mischievous; +for you cannot too strongly print this on your minds, that what you +demand that will you get, and according to what you accept will be +that which is provided for you. Let an atmosphere be generated among +you in which the appetite for what is beautiful and noble is whetted +and becomes imperative, in which whatever is ugly and vulgar shall be +repugnant and hateful to the beholder, and assuredly what is beautiful +and noble will, in due time, be furnished to you, and in steadily +increasing excellence, satisfying your taste, and at the same time +further purifying it and heightening its sensitiveness.</p> + +<p>The enemy, then, is this indifference in the presence of the ugly; it +is only by the victory over this apathy that you can rise to better +things, it is only by the rooting out and extermination of what is +ugly that you can bring about conditions in which beauty shall be a +power among you. Now, this callous tolerance of the unsightly, +although it is, I am grateful to think, yielding by degrees to a +healthier feeling, is still strangely prevalent and widespread among +us, and its deadening influence is seen in the too frequent absence of +any articulate protest of public opinion against the disfigurement of +our towns.</p> + +<p>Let me give you an instance of this indifference. Our country is happy +in possessing a collection of paintings by the old masters of +exceptional interest and splendour, a collection which, thanks to the +taste and highly trained discernment of its present <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_352" id="PageV2_352">[352]</a></span>accomplished +head, Sir Frederick Burton, is, with what speed the short-sighted +policy of successive Governments permits, rising steadily to a +foremost place among the famous galleries in the world. Some years +ago, the building destined to receive it being found no longer +adequate, it became necessary to provide, by some means, ampler space +for the display of the national treasure. It was resolved that another +edifice should take the place of that designed by Wilkins, an edifice +which, be it said in passing, has been made the butt of curiously +unmerited ridicule in the world of connoisseurship, and which, apart +from certain very obvious blemishes, it has always seemed to me to be +much easier to deride than to better. A competition was opened, and +designs were demanded for a spacious building, equal to present and +future needs, and worthy of the magnificence of the collection it was +to house. It is hardly necessary to say that we have here no concern +whatever with the controversy which arose over these designs. My +concern is with its final outcome, which is this: the original +building has remained unaltered as to its exterior; but on the rear of +one of its flanks loom now into view, first, an appendage in an +entirely different style of architecture, and further on, an +excrescence of no style of architecture at all; the one an Italian +tower, the other a flat cone of glass, surmounted by a ventilator—a +structure of the warehouse type—the whole resulting in a jarring +jumble and an aspect of chaotic incongruity which would be ludicrous +if it were not distressing; and we enjoy, further, this instructive +phenomenon that a public opinion which sensitively shrank from the +blemishes of the original edifice has accepted its retention, with all +those blemishes unmodified, <i>plus</i> an appendage which adds to the +whole the worst almost of all sins architectural—a lack of unity of +conception. Now, I have never to my knowledge heard one single word of +articulate public reprobation levelled at this now irremediable blot +on what we complacently call the finest site in the world; and yet I +cannot find it in me to believe that many have not, like myself, +groaned in spirit before a spectacle so deplorable—a spectacle which, +indeed, is only conceivable within these islands. I think that a good +deal is summed up in this episode, and I need not, for my present +purpose, seek another in the domain of architecture.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_353" id="PageV2_353">[353]</a></span>In regard to sculpture, the public apathy and blindness are yet more +depressing and complete, and illustrate the deadness of the many to +the perception of the essential qualities of art. To the overwhelming +majority of Englishmen sculpture means simply the perpetuation of the +form of Mr. So-and-So in marble, bronze, or terra-cotta—this, and no +more. That marble, bronze, or terra-cotta may, under cunning hands, +become vehicles, for those who have eyes to see, of emotions, æsthetic +and poetic, not less lofty than those which are stirred in us by the +verse of a Dante or a Milton, or by strains of noblest music, of this +the consciousness is for practical purposes non-existent. For +sculpture, for an art through which alone the name of Greece would +have been famous for all time, there is, outside portraiture, even +now, under conditions admittedly improved, little or no field in this +country. Portrait-statues galore bristle, indeed, within our streets; +but the notion of setting up in public places pieces of monumental +sculpture solely for adornment and dignity, or of monuments that shall +remind us of deeds in which our country or our town has earned fame +and deserved gratitude, and incite the young to emulation of those +deeds, or that shall be the allegorised expression of any great +idea—and yet our race has had great ideas, and clothed them in deeds +as great—hardly ever, it would seem, enters the heads of a people +whose aspirations are surely not less noble or less high than those of +other nations. Nay, even a monument commemorative of the great public +services of some individual man which shall be a monument <i>to</i> him +rather than exclusively an image <i>of</i> him, a monument of which his +effigy shall form a part, but of which the main feature shall be the +embodiment or illustration, in forms of art, of the virtues that have +earned for him the homage of his countrymen—even this is suggested in +vain.</p> + +<p>And if we are tolerant of treason against fitness in architecture, +what shall we say of our tolerance in regard to its sculptural +adornments? What shall we say of the complacent acceptance, above and +about windows and doorways in clubs, offices, barracks, and the like +buildings, of carven wonders such as no other civilised community +would accept in silence? Though I fear I must here, with all +deference, add that my brethren, the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_354" id="PageV2_354">[354]</a></span>architects, who suffer their +work to be so defaced, are themselves not wholly blameless; and +indeed, it is a truth in the assertion of which the most enlightened +workmen in every branch of art will stand by me, that among ourselves +also the sense of the kinship of the arts is too often a mere theory, +received, no doubt, with respect as an abstract proposition, but not +perceptibly colouring our practical activity.</p> + +<p>In sculpture the inertness of demand and tolerance of inferior supply +is due mainly to the want, to which I have alluded, of a sense of and +a joy in the purely æsthetic quality in artistic production, an +insensibility to the power inherent in form, by its own virtue, of +producing the emotion and exciting the imagination, a power on which +the dignity of this pure and severe art does or should mainly rest.</p> + +<p>In the appreciation of painting, which on various grounds appeals as +an art to a far wider public than either architecture or sculpture, +the same shortcomings are evident, though in a less degree, and with +less mischievous results; for the witchery of colour, at least, is +felt and appreciated, more or less consciously, by a very large number +of people. The inadequacy of the general standard of artistic insight +is here seen in the fact that to a great multitude of persons the +attractiveness of a painted canvas is in proportion to the amount of +literary element which it carries, not in proportion to the degree of +æsthetic emotion stirred by it, or of appeal to the imagination +contained in it—persons, those, who regard a picture as a compound of +anecdote and mechanism, and with whom looking at it would seem to mean +only another form of reading. Time after time, in listening to the +description—the enthusiastic description—of a picture, we become +aware that the points emphasised by the speaker are such as did not +specially call for treatment in art at all, were often not fitted for +expression through form or colour, their natural vehicle being not +paint but ink, which is the proper and appointed conveyor of abstract +thoughts and concrete narrative. I have heard pictures extolled as +works of genius simply because they expressed, not because they nobly +clothed in forms of art, ideas not beyond the reach of the average +penny-a-liner.</p> + +<p>Now I know that in what I am here saying I skirt the burning <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_355" id="PageV2_355">[355]</a></span>ground +of controversy long and hotly waged—skirt it only, for that +controversy touches but the borders of my subject, and I shall of +course not pursue it here. I will, nevertheless, to avoid +misrepresentation in either sense, state, as briefly as I can, one or +two definite principles on which it appears to me safe to stand. It is +given to form and to colour to elicit in men powerful and exquisite +emotions, emotions covering a very wide range of sensibility, and to +which they alone have the key. The chords within us which vibrate to +these emotions are the instrument on which art plays, and a work of +art deserves that name, as I have said, in proportion as, and in the +extent to which, it sets those chords in motion. The power and +solemnity of a simple appeal of form as such is seen in a noble +building of imposing mass and stately outlines. When, however, form in +arts is connected with the human frame, and when combinations of human +forms are among the materials with which a beautiful design is built +up, then another element is added to the sum of our sensations—an +element due to the absorbing interest of man in all that belongs to +his kind; and the emotion primarily produced by the force of a purely +æsthetic appeal is enhanced and heightened by elements of a more +intimate and universal order, one more nearly touching our affections, +but not, therefore, necessarily of a higher order. Thus the episode, +for instance, of Paolo and Francesca, clothed in the rare, grave +melody of Dante's verse, entrances us with its pathos; but our +emotion, intensely human as it is, is not therefore of a higher kind +than that which holds us as we listen to sounds sublimely woven by +some great musician; nor are the impressions received in watching from +the floor of some great Christian church the gathering of the gloom +within a dome's receding curves of less noble order than those aroused +by a supreme work of sculpture or a painting—by, say, the "Notte" of +Michael Angelo or the "Monna Lisa" of Lionardo; and yet in both of +these last the chord of human sympathy is strongly swept, though in +different ways—in the "Notte" by the poetic and pathetic +suggestiveness of certain forms and movements of the human body; in +the "Monna Lisa" by a more definitely personal charm and feminine +sorcery which haunts about her shadowy eyes, and the subtle curling of +her mysterious lips.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_356" id="PageV2_356">[356]</a></span>I say, then, that in a work of art the elements of emotion based on +human sympathies are not of a loftier order than those arising out of +abstract sublimity or loveliness of form, but that the presence of +these elements in such a work, while not raising it as an artistic +creation, does impart to it an added power of appeal, and that, +therefore, a work in which these elements are combined will be with +the great majority of mankind a more potent engine of delight than one +which should rest exclusively on abstract qualities. And it follows, +therefore, that while a work of art earns its title to that name on +condition only, once again I say, of the purely æsthetic element being +present in it, and will rank as such in exact proportion to the degree +in which this element prevails in it; and while, further, this +element, carrying with it, as it does, imaginative suggestiveness of +the highest order and of the widest scope, is all-sufficient in those +branches of art in which the human form plays no part, the element +which is inseparable in a work of art from the introduction of human +beings is one which it is not possible for us to ignore in our +appreciation of that work as a source and vehicle of emotion.</p> + +<p>Every attempt at succinct exposition of a complex question risks being +unsatisfactory and obscure, and I am painfully alive to the inadequacy +of what I have just said. I trust, however, that I have conveyed my +meaning, if roughly, yet sufficiently to shield me from misconception +in regard to the special emphasis I am laying on the importance of a +proper estimation of the essentially æsthetic quality in a work of +art, an importance which I urge upon you, not so much here on account +of the effect its absence may have exercised on the development of +painting, as on account of the significant fact that its want—the +lack of a perception that certain qualities are the very essence of +art, and link into one great family every work of the hands of men in +which they are found—has led with us to a disastrous divorce between +what is considered as art proper and the arts which are called +industrial. I say advisedly "disastrous," for the lowering among us in +the present day of the status of forms of art, in the service of which +such men as Albert Dürer, for example, and Holbein (men, by-the-by, of +kindred blood with <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_357" id="PageV2_357">[357]</a></span>ourselves), Cellini and Lionardo, were glad to +labour and create—and that not as a concession, but in the joyful +exercise of their fullest powers—is one of its results, and carrying +with it, as is natural, a lowering of standard in these arts, has +generated the marvellous notion, not expressed in words, but too +largely acted on, that art in any serious sense is not to be looked +for at all in certain places—where, in truth, alas! neither is it +often found—and led to the holding aloof to a great extent, until +comparatively recent years, of much of the best talent from very +delightful forms of artistic creation; and this notion has led further +to the virtual banishment from certain provinces of designing of the +human figure, or where it is not banished, to its defacement, too +often, in the hands of the untrained or the inept.</p> + +<p>We are to a wonderful degree creatures of habit, our thoughts are +prone to run—or shall I say rather to stagnate?—within grooves; and +if we are a people of many and great endowments, a swift and free play +of thought is, as we have been forcibly told by a voice that we shall +hear no more, and can ill miss, not a distinguishing feature among us. +Is it not an amazing thing, for example, that human shapes, which in +clay or plaster would be ignominiously excluded from a second-rate +exhibition, are not only accepted, but displayed with a chuckle of +elated pride, when cast in the precious metals, flanked, say by a +palm-tree, borne aloft on a rock, and presented in the guise of a +piece of ornamental plate? But is this even rare? Is it not of +constant occurrence? Do you demur? Well, let me ask you a plain +question: Of all the nymphs and goddesses, the satyrs, and the +tritons, that disport themselves on the ceremonial goldsmithery of the +United Kingdom, how many if cast in vulgar plaster, and not in +glittering gold, would pass muster before the jury of an average +exhibition? And if few, I ask why is this so? In the name of +Cellini—nay, in the name of common sense, why? And is it on account +of the low ebb of figure modelling for decorative purposes that on our +carved furniture—what we mysteriously describe as "art +furniture"—the human form is hardly ever seen? Then why is the best +talent not enlisted in this work? Certain it is that the absence of +living forms imparts to much of the furniture now made in England, +unsurpassed as it is in regard to delicacy and finish of <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_358" id="PageV2_358">[358]</a></span>handiwork, +and frequently elegant in design, a certain look of slightness and +flimsy, faddy dilettantism which prevent it from taking that rank in +the province of applied art in which it might and should aspire.</p> + +<p>But I have, I fear, already unduly drawn upon your patience, and I +must bring to a close these too disjointed prefatory words, leaving it +to the accomplished gentlemen who head the various sections of this +Congress to amplify and enrich as they will out of the wide fund of +their knowledge and experience the bald outline I have sketched before +you. They, in their turn, taking up, no doubt, our common parable, +will emphasise and press on you the fact that by cultivating its +æsthetic sense in a more comprehensive and harmoniously consistent +spirit than hitherto, and with a clearer vision of the nature of all +art and a more catholic receptiveness as to its charms, and by +stimulating in a right direction the abundant productive energy which +lies to its hand, this nation will not only be adding infinitely to +the adornment and dignity of its public and private life, not only +providing for itself an increasing and manifold source of delight and +renovating repose, mental and spiritual, in a day in which such +resting and regenerating elements are more and more called for by our +jaded nervous systems, and more and more needed for our intellectual +equilibrium, but will be dealing with a subject which is every day +becoming more and more important in relation to certain sides of the +waning material prosperity of the country. For, as they will no doubt +remind you, the industrial competition between this and other +countries—a competition, keen and eager, which means to certain +industries almost a race for life—runs, in many cases, no longer +exclusively or mainly on the lines of excellence of material and +solidity of workmanship, but greatly nowadays on the lines of artistic +charm and beauty of design. This, to you, vital fact is one which they +will, I am convinced, not suffer to fall into the background.</p> + +<p>One last word in anticipation of certain objections not unlikely to be +raised against an assumption which may seem to be implied in the +existence of our Association—the assumption that the evils and +shortcomings of which I have spoken with such unsparing +frankness can be removed or remedied by the gathering together<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_359" id="PageV2_359">[359]</a></span>of a number +of persons to listen to a series of addresses. The causes of these +evils, we may be told, and their antidote, are not on the surface of +things, but rest on conditions of a complex character, and are +fundamental. "Who," I hear some one say, "is this dreamer of dreams, +who hopes to cure by talking such deep-seated evils? Who is this +shallow and unphilosophical thinker who does not see that the same +primary conditions are operative in making the purchaser indifferent +what he gets and the supplier indifferent to what he produces, and who +attributes the circumstance that good work is not generally produced +in certain forms of industry to the lack of demand, rather than to the +deeper-lying fact that suppliers and demanders are of the same stock, +having the same congenital failings; and satisfied with the same +standards?" My answer to this imaginary, or I ought, perhaps, to say +this foreseen objector would be, first, this—that I am not the +visionary for whom he takes me, and that I do not believe in the +efficacy of words either directly to remedy the state of things I have +been deploring, or to create a love of art and a delicate +sensitiveness to its charms in those to whom the responsive chords +have been refused; neither is the eloquence, trumpet-toned and +triumphant, conceivable by me before which the walls of the Jericho of +the Philistine shall crumble in abrupt ruin to the ground; least of +all do I believe in sudden developments of the human intellect. But it +has nevertheless seemed to me, as it has seemed to the framers of this +Association, that words, if they be judicious and sincere, may rally +and strengthen and prompt to action instincts and impulses which only +await a signal to assert themselves—instincts, sometimes, perhaps, +not fully conscious of themselves—and that a favouring temperature +may be thus created within which, by the operation of natural laws, in +due time, but by no stroke of the wand, a new and better order may +arise. Neither, indeed, do I ignore the force of my critic's +contention that the causes of mischief lie deep, and are not to be +touched by surface-tinkering, if they are to be removed at all; +although I demur to his pessimistic estimate of them as a final bar to +our hopes. It is true that certain specific attributes are, or seem to +be, feeble in our race; it is true, too true—I have it on the +repeated assurance of apologetic vendors—that with us the ugliest +objects—often, oh! <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_360" id="PageV2_360">[360]</a></span>how ugly—have the largest market; nevertheless, +the amount of good artistic production in connection with industry—I +purposely speak of this first—has grown within the last score or so +of years, and through the initiative, mind, of a mere handful of +enthusiastic and highly gifted men in an extraordinary degree; and in +a proportionate degree has the number increased, also, of those who +accept and desire it; and this growth has been steady and organic, and +is of the best augury. Now, the increase in the number of those who +desire good work, and the concurrent development of their critical +sensitiveness in matters of taste, stimulate, in their turn, the +energies, and sustain the upward efforts, of the producers, and thus, +through action and reaction, a condition of things should be slowly +but surely evolved which shall more nearly approach that general level +of artistic culture and artistic production so anxiously looked for by +us all. It is in the hastening of this desired result that we invoke, +not your sympathy alone, but your patient, strenuous aid. And if I am +further asked how, in my view, this association can best contribute to +the furtherance of our common end, I would say, not merely by seeking +to fan and kindle a more general interest in the things of art, but +mainly by seeking to awaken a clearer perception of the true <i>essence</i> +of a work of art, by insisting on the fundamental identity of all +manifestations of the artistic creative impulse through whatever +channels it may express itself, and by setting forth and establishing +this pregnant truth—that whatever degrees of dignity and rank may +exist in the scale of artistic productions, according to the order of +emotion to which they minister in us, they are in one kind; for the +various and many channels through which beauty is made manifest to us +in art are but the numerous several stops of one and the same divine +instrument.</p> + +<p>And if in what I have said I have laid especial stress on that branch +of art which is called industrial, it is not solely to develop this +cardinal doctrine, neither only because of the pressing, practical, +paramount national importance of this part of our subject, but also +because I, in truth, believe that it is in a great measure through +these very forms of art that the improvement, to which I look with a +steadfast faith, will be mainly operated. The almost unlimited area +which they cover in itself constitutes them an engine <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_361" id="PageV2_361">[361]</a></span>of immense +power, and I believe that through them, if at all, the sense of beauty +and the love for it will be stimulated in, and communicated to, +constantly increasing numbers. I believe that the day may come when +public opinion, thus slowly but definitely moulded, will make itself +loudly heard; when men will insist that what they do for the gracing +and adornment of their homes shall be done also for the public +buildings and thoroughfares of their cities; when they will remind +their municipal representatives and the controllers of their guilds of +what similar bodies of men did for the cities of Italy in the days of +their proud prosperity in trade, and will ask why the walls of our +public edifices are blank and silent, instead of being adorned and +made delightful with things beautiful to see, or eloquent of whatever +great deeds or good work enrich and honour the annals of the places of +our birth. And lastly, I believe that an art desired by the whole +people and fostered by the whole people's desire would reflect—for +such art must be sincere—some of the best qualities of our race; its +love of Nature, its imaginative force, its healthfulness, its strong +simplicity.</p> + +<p>And now, ladies and gentlemen, my task is ended. My duties to-night +were purely prefatory; my words are but the prologue of the +proceedings which begin to-morrow—a prologue which I undertook to +speak less from any faith in its possible efficacy than in the belief +that the first word spoken at such a time should be heard from the +lips of one to whom, from the nature of the office he is privileged to +fill, as well as from the whole bent of his mind, everything that +concerns art, from end to end of its enchanting field, must be, and +is, a source of deep, of constant, and engrossing interest. The +curtain is now raised, the stage is spread before you, and I step +aside to make room for others, leaving with you the expression of my +fervent wish that the hopes which have brought us together in this +place may not have been entertained in vain.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="LORD_LEIGHTONS_HOUSE" id="LORD_LEIGHTONS_HOUSE"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_362" id="PageV2_362">[362]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>LORD LEIGHTON'S HOUSE<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h4>AND WHAT IT CONTAINS<a name="FNanchor_89_89" id="FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a></h4> +<br /> + +<p class="cen sc">Preface To Catalogue</p> + +<p>Two miles and a quarter from Hyde Park Corner, removed but a few steps +from the main thoroughfare between London and Hammersmith, and running +parallel to it, is Holland Park Road, facing which stands Lord +Leighton's House. "I live in a mews," he used to say. This meant more +than a figure of speech merely, though the "mews" in question is very +different from a London street mews. Low, odd-shaped, irregular +buildings, formerly stables (a few are still used as such), were in +Lord Leighton's life converted into studios by artists who wished to +cluster around the President of the Royal Academy. These stand in old +gardens and are studded at intervals along the road, bordered by trees +branching across it, and taking away all idea of its being a London +street. Screened by a hedge of closely-cut lime-trees, the Leighton +House stands back but a few yards from the pavement. Through a porch +and a small outer hall the House is entered. Monsieur Choisy, the +distinguished French architect, in his letter to the <i>Times</i> of April +the 27th, 1896, written with the view of trying to induce the English +nation to rise to the value of preserving this House as a national +treasure, writes as follows:—</p> + +<p>"Allow me also to point out the original beauty of the house where so +many masterpieces are grouped. The French public have been enabled to +admire this house through the excellent article of my friend and +fellow-member of the R.I.B.A., Mr. Charles Lucas.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_363" id="PageV2_363">[363]</a></span>"Nowhere have I found in an architectural monument a happier gradation +of effects nor a more complete knowledge of the play of light.</p> + +<p>"The entrance to the house is by a plain hall that leads to a 'patio,' +lit from the sky, where enamels shine brilliantly in the full light; +from this 'patio' one passes into a twilight corridor, where enamel +and gold detach themselves from an architectural ground of a richness +somewhat severe; it is a transition which prepares the eye for a jewel +of Oriental art, where the most brilliant productions of the Persian +potter are set in an architectural frame inspired by Arab art, but +treated freely; the harmony is so perfect that one asks oneself if the +architecture has been conceived for the enamels or the enamels for the +hall. This gradation, perhaps unique in contemporary architecture, was +Leighton's idea; and the illustrious painter found in his old friend +Mr. G. Aitchison, who built his house, a worthy interpreter of his +fine conception. This hall where colour is triumphant, was dear to +Leighton, and even forms the background to some of his pictures. +Towards the end of his life he still meant to embellish it by +substituting marble for that small part that was only painted. The +generous employment of his fortune alone prevented him from realising +his intention.</p> + +<p>"England has at all times given the example of honouring great men; +she will, I am sure, find the means of preserving for art a monument +of which she had such reason to be proud."</p> + +<p>As is now well known, Lord Leighton's executrixes, his two sisters, +have assigned the lease of the property, which has sixty-six years yet +to run, to three gentlemen who are members of the committee formed to +preserve it for the use and education of the public, in memory of Lord +Leighton, and the committee are now tenants at will of the +proprietors. Works by Lord Leighton have been collected and placed in +the studios and other rooms of the House. A large collection of his +drawings and sketches and a few finished paintings have been secured +through the generosity of his sisters, Mrs. Sutherland Orr, Mrs. +Matthews, and his personal friends, the list of these being headed by +the Prince of Wales. This collection of original works numbers 1114, +594 being now framed and hung on the walls. The collection also +contains 28 proof engravings from Lord Leighton's principal pictures, +presented by those who <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_364" id="PageV2_364">[364]</a></span>own the copyrights, <i>i.e.</i> Mrs. James Watney +(who has also given an original drawing), the Fine Arts Society, the +Berlin Photographic Company, Messrs. Agnew, Graves, Colnaghi, and +Tooth. There are also 112 photographic reproductions by Mr. F. Hollyer +and Messrs. Dixon, these, with a few exceptions, having been taken for +Lord Leighton in his studio. The greater number of these photographs +were given to the House by Mr. Wilfred Meynell, Mr. F. Hollyer, and +Messrs. Dixon; the remainder by Lord Davey, Sir Henry Acland, Mr. A. +Henderson, Mr. Philipson, Mr. A.G. Temple, and Mr. George Smith. The +reproductions of completed pictures have been hung on the walls +together with the sketches executed for them, in order that the +student may realise how Leighton developed the designs he made into +finished pictures. When funds permit, the 520 remaining drawings and +sketches will be framed, and it is the desire of the committee that, +though the Leighton House should always remain the chief centre of the +collections, groups of sketches should be lent to exhibitors in the +provinces and in the poorer parts of London. In the middle of the +centre hall is now placed a reproduction presented by Mr. Brock, R.A., +of the bust of Lord Leighton, executed by his sculptor friend—that +perfect likeness in bronze of the President placed among the Diploma +works in Burlington House. Surrounding this reproduction and lining +the walls and staircase are plaques of Oriental designs, pictures in +enamel, framed in by a background of Mr. William De Morgan's beautiful +blue tiles.<a name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> The same treatment is continued through the "twilight +corridor" leading to the great casket of treasures known as the Arab +Hall. In the summer of 1899 the Society of the Library Association was +received at the Leighton House, and at the meeting which preceded the +conversazione, Lord Crawford, President of the Association, ended the +speech he made on the merits and rare gifts of his friend, Lord +Leighton, by a reference to the unique value of this casket of +treasures. "We often," he said, "see Persian tiles in England. They +are chiefly made in England, but they are bought in Persia! A genuine +Persian tile is a very rare thing. When you meet it, cherish it!" In +this Arab Hall hundreds of these "rare" things are collected, each +individually of a quality of uncommon <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_365" id="PageV2_365">[365]</a></span>beauty and almost priceless, +owing to the fact that large spaces on the walls are filled with these +gorgeous tiles, fitted together as originally designed and intended by +the Persian artists who invented them. Travellers who went to the East +when there was still a chance of buying genuine Persian tiles know how +it came about that these could sometimes be procured. The owners of +the houses on the walls of which they were placed would become +impoverished and were easily induced to sell a single tile to a +traveller as a specimen. When the money paid for it was spent and more +was wanted, if a second traveller came by another single tile was +sold. The first purchaser might have been an Englishman, the second a +Frenchman, the third a German, and so on. In this way the several +tiles making one design got hopelessly dispersed. Lord Leighton, aided +by his friend, Sir C. Purdon Clarke, the Director of the Art Museum, +South Kensington, was extraordinarily lucky in obtaining large plaques +of tiles intact. "During his visits to Rhodes, to Cairo, and to +Damascus," writes Mr. George Aitchison, R.A., "he made a lovely +collection of Saracenic tiles, and had, besides, bought two +inscriptions, one of the most delicate colour and beautiful design, +and the other about sixteen feet long and strikingly magnificent; +besides getting some panels, stained glass, and lattice-work from +Damascus afterwards; these were fitted into an Arab Hall in 1877." The +enamelled tiles made the keynote of this beautiful creation, the Arab +Hall, which, to repeat Mr. Choisy's words, forms a harmony "so perfect +that one asks oneself if the architecture has been conceived for the +enamels or the enamels for the Hall." Round three sides (the fourth +being filled by the large inscription) runs a frieze in mosaics, the +designs of which are among the most beautiful of those invented by our +great English decorator, Walter Crane. Sir C. Purdon Clarke has +designated this creation of Lord Leighton's, in which he was so ably +assisted by his friend, Mr. George Aitchison, R.A., President of the +Royal Society of British Architects, and in which is to be traced that +generous delight which Leighton took in all that was good in the art +of his contemporaries, as "the most beautiful structure which has been +raised since the sixteenth century." It would, alone, make the +preservation of the House as an effective medium for education in the +beautiful a necessity to any truly art-loving people.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_366" id="PageV2_366">[366]</a></span>To turn to the collection of Leighton's own paintings, the most +complete work secured is the "Clytemnestra from the battlements of +Argos watches for the beacon fires that are to announce the return of +Agamemnon" (No. 212).</p> + +<p>Mr. G.F. Watts, R.A., writes: "I am more pleased than I can say that +the picture is possible. It is very fine, a grand pictorial +realisation of Greek sculpture and Greek poetry, very noble in form +and expression, and singularly fine in the arrangement of drapery. +Certainly a better example of Leighton at his happiest could not, I +think, be found. It is also <i>especially</i> Leighton."</p> + +<p>Mr. Watts has himself presented a finished painting by Leighton—a +half-length figure of a man, which is an exquisite piece of work and +given to Mr. Watts many years ago by the artist. When presenting it to +the House Mr. Watts wrote that it was one of his possessions which he +prized the most. Though the collection in Lord Leighton's House is +mainly formed of his drawings, the few finished paintings and the +several oil sketches of landscape belonging to it are sufficient to +show how exquisite was his native sense of colour. The colour in +"Clytemnestra" (No. 212) is both true to nature as a presentiment of +the moonlight effect and to the dramatic feeling of the subject. The +study (No. 110), for one of the heads in "Summer Moon" (No. 272), +presented by Mr. Alfred Waterhouse, R.A., and executed actually by the +light of the moon in Rome, is notably fine in texture and gives us the +origin of that curiously happy note of colour in "Clytemnestra"—the +bar of dull red cooled by moonlight. The model wore a scarlet ribbon, +or might be, a row of coral beads round her neck while sitting to +Leighton for the study, and this evidently gave him what he wanted, +and suggested, when he was painting the "Clytemnestra" two years +later, the contrast to the greys and blues in the red bar in this +picture. Mr. A.G. Temple in his valuable work, "The Art of Painting in +the Queen's Reign," alludes to this effect: "A picture <i>low in key</i>, +but curiously strengthened by the massive bar of dark red that runs +from the bottom to the top of the picture." Very fine colour and +texture is seen in the sketch for a design of "St. George and the +Dragon" made for some arched space (No. 115), and also in the small +oil sketch for "Golden Hours" (No. 5-A), the study for the background +of the picture "David" (No. 111), <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_367" id="PageV2_367">[367]</a></span>"A pool, Findhorn River" (No. 120), +"Rocks in the Findhorn" (No. 123<i>a</i>), "Kynance Cove" (No. 125), "A View +in Spain" (No. 122), "Simætha, the Sorceress" (No. 124), "Bay of +Naples by Moonlight" (No. 112), are rapid though eminently careful +sketches which prove, perhaps even more convincingly than +highly-finished works, that in the very grain of his native art +instinct was Leighton's delight in beauty of colour. In the sketch +(No. 109), "The Entrance of a House," is one of many examples among +his paintings which show what a master he was in the art of painting +white; really true white, such as we see in marble and whitewashed +walls in Greece, Sicily, and Italy. Surely no artist has ever painted +more truly or poetically the quality of Southern light as it falls on +white walls and columns. "Lieder ohne Worte" is one of several +examples of a successful treatment of white marble as a background +painted as Leighton could paint it.</p> + +<p>It is indeed to be hoped that Leighton's friends who possess any of +those oil paintings of landscape, sea, and architecture which lined +the walls of the great studio during his life may help in aiding to +make his gifts as a colourist more adequately represented in this +permanent collection. The above-named works are, one and all, good +specimens for the purpose. Whatever key of colour was struck, each of +these studies from nature is a faithful and beautiful record of a +scene in some lovely part of the world; whether the scene was fair and +bathed in southern sunlight, or glowing in rich depths of shadow as in +the paintings of the golden-lined interior of St. Mark's, Venice, +further enriched by the scintillating texture of mosaic surface.</p> + +<p>Leighton's early education, however, especially when he was in +Germany, tended more to the development of his gifts as a draughtsman +than to his gifts as a colourist; still it is evident that as soon as +he began working independently of any master, his love of colour at +once asserted itself. At the age of twenty-five his first picture, +"The Cimabue Procession" (No. 42), was exhibited at the Royal Academy +and purchased by the Queen. Mr. Ruskin criticised it at the time as +the work of a <i>colourist</i>. "This is a very important and very +beautiful picture," he writes. "It has both sincerity and grace, and +is painted on the purest principles of Venetian art.... The great +secret of the Venetians was their simplicity. They were <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_368" id="PageV2_368">[368]</a></span>great +colourists." (See Catalogue for full quotation.) A lengthy description +of Leighton's complete pictures would not find an appropriate place in +this preface. Those who had the good fortune to see the wonderful +collection of his works in 1897 will hardly need to be reminded of the +rich and glowing feast of colour enjoyed before such pictures as +"Helios and Rhodos," painted 1869 (studies in Collections No. 218), +nor the depth and beauty in "Weaving the Wreath"(No. 144), "Antique +Juggling Girl" (No. 359), "Moorish Garden: a Dream of Granada" (No. +280), not to mention the splendour and harmony in many of the larger +and more intricate compositions. No less beautiful, it will be +remembered, was the colouring of pictures in which the scheme was +light and fair rather than rich and glowing. In "Winding the Skein" +(No. 198), for instance, there is a feeling of morning freshness in +its lovely sea and mountain background and white-marble terrace +foreground. Though cool and pale the picture is full of colour. Again, +in the slightly-turning figure of Psyche, now in the Tate Gallery (No. +59), the exquisite, pearly fairness of flesh tint must ever make this +picture a standard of colour as well as of modelling. In its own line +it is an achievement in painting that has surely never been surpassed. +Almost equally beautiful is the passage in "Venus Disrobing for the +Bath" (No. 151), where the line of the figure comes against the sea +background. Leighton's native genius might perhaps be most truly +described as one allied closely to, and echoing, that of the Greeks in +Art, though trained, during a few important years of study, in +Germany. The work of his great contemporaries, Rossetti, Millais, and +Burne-Jones, might be described as revealing Italian, English, and +Celtic sentiment, influenced by the fervour of pre-Raphaelite feeling. +Leighton's genius as a colourist will probably be ever more and more +appreciated as a partial allegiance to those three great colourists +subsides as a fashion merely.</p> + +<p>It is quite clear, from the evidence of the earliest studies, that the +extraordinary facility evinced in Lord Leighton's drawings was the +outcome of natural gifts. No one can study his art without realising +very conclusively that he spared neither time nor trouble in order to +make it as perfect as it was in his power to make it; but equally +evident is it to those who examine his work with artistic <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_369" id="PageV2_369">[369]</a></span>and +intelligent insight that the great power that he possessed for taking +pains was inspired by a joyous, sensitive delight in beauty. The +untiring industry which alone could have produced the unparalleled +amount of work which he has left was clearly never weighted by any +feeling that the toil of study was irksome. On the contrary there is, +in every stroke, evidence that a fine delicate sense of beauty, a +fervent, spontaneous "sincerity of emotion" (to use Leighton's own +expression) was ever present, instigating and propelling the +conscientious persistency of his efforts. Whether it be a flower, a +face, a figure, a landscape, or but a piece of drapery—there is in +every sketch in this collection that convincing stamp on the work +which proves that the doing of it interested and delighted the artist; +the test, in other words, that the work has in it the true fibre of +the most genuine art. It is well to draw attention to this fact, +because his abnormal industry has apparently been considered by some +to be a sign of his having been deficient in rare and native art +instincts. Some there are who hold that the most notable +characteristic in Leighton's nature was an extraordinary power of +will. That he exercised such a power is undoubtedly true. In no other +manner could he have achieved the main purposes of his life, but +surely those who knew him best, and who were in the position best to +appreciate his art, would say rather that such an exercise of will was +used in the service of a still more powerful ingredient, in the truly +leading passion of his life, the moving motive of all his labours, +<i>i.e.</i> a reverent worship of beauty. Much has been said and +written,—even, strange to say, with respect to the great exhibition +of his works exhibited at Burlington House in the winter of +1897,—which implies that the scholarly element outweighed the +qualities resulting from natural gifts. Happily, the unprejudiced mind +of the widest public was not deluded into sparing its praise by +unappreciative or unintelligent criticism. Those who had not the +opportunity at the Burlington House Exhibition of judging for +themselves of the very great qualities Lord Leighton's art possesses, +have but to study the collection of drawings in his house in order to +realise that his gifts as an artist were as rare and native as was the +intellect and splendour of nature which made his personality one of +the most striking of his era.</p> + +<p>A strong dramatic power is shown in many of Leighton's <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_370" id="PageV2_370">[370]</a></span>early designs, +and the best examples of these have been secured for this national +collection. Of the "Plague in Florence" (project for a picture), a +notable example, there is a photograph by Mr. Fred Hollyer (No. 175), +taken for Lord Leighton, the original sketch being in South Kensington +Museum. The evidence of this power recurs at intervals in the later +work in such pictures as "Heracles struggling with Death for the Body +of Alcestis" (No. 54), "Electra at the Tomb of Agamemnon" (No. 7), (in +this picture the colour carries out the imaginative and truly-felt +dramatic instinct with singular power and beauty), "Orpheus and +Eurydice" (No. 236), "St. Jerome," "The Last Watch of Hero" (No. 28), +"Rizpah" (No. 193), and in the last work exhibited in the Royal +Academy after Lord Leighton's death, "Clytie" (No. 27), the sun-loving +soul bidding farewell to this world. But in many of the later works, +as the artist grew older, as the drama of real life became more +absorbing and intricate, as the struggle to sustain the interests of +the art of his country fell more and more directly on him +individually, he seemed to turn with a sense of relief to the more +serene, passive sentiment of such pictures as "Idyll," "Winding the +Skein" (No. 198), "Summer Slumber" (No. 94), "The Bath of Psyche," as +a contrast to the pressure and restless fever of his active life. The +tenderness of feeling, such as is invariably united with the highest +manly qualities, finds expression throughout every stage of Leighton's +art development, most notably in the drawing and painting of children. +(Children had the greatest fascination for him.) In "Elisha and the +Shunammite's Son" (No. 207), the tenderness is as touching as it is +unobtrusive. "Sister's Kiss" (No. 275), and "Return of Persephone" +(No. 53), are both examples in which wholesome, loving, human feeling +is depicted with exquisite tenderness. In "Captive Andromache" (No. +21), such feeling in the group of the caressing parents and child is +used as a contrast to enforce the loneliness of the captive widow. In +"Ariadne abandoned by Theseus: Artemis releases her by Death" (many +studies for which are in the collection still unframed), the whole +picture breathes a feeling of tenderness which is in a high sense +pathetic. In the sketches for "Michael Angelo nursing his Dying +Servant" (No. 192), even <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_371" id="PageV2_371">[371]</a></span>more than in the completed picture, is seen +evidence of the manly tender-heartedness which was a notable +characteristic in Leighton's nature.</p> + +<p>The hundreds of sketches and drawings now hung on the walls of the +Leighton House form a diary of the artist's working life.</p> + +<p>Here are records of the earliest student days in Florence in 1842. +When twelve years old he studied at the Academy there under Bezzuoli +and Servolini. Professor Costa writes of these two masters: "They were +celebrated Florentines, excellent good men, but they could give but +little light to this star, which was to become one of the first +magnitude. Leighton, from his innate kindness, loved and esteemed his +old masters much, though not agreeing in the judgment of his +fellow-students, that they should be considered on the same level as +the ancient Florentines. 'And who have you,' said Leighton one day to +a certain Bettino (who is still living), 'who resembles your ancient +masters?' And Bettino answered, 'We have still to-day our great +Michael Angelos, and Raffaels, in Bezzuoli, in Servolini, in Ciseri.' +But this boy of twelve years old could not believe this, and one fine +day got into the diligence and left the Academy of Florence to return +to England. Although the diligence went at a great pace, his +fellow-students followed it on foot, running behind it, crying, 'Come +back, Inglesino! come back, Inglesino! come back!' so much was he +loved and respected. He did come back, in fact, many times to Italy, +which he considered as his second fatherland."</p> + +<p>There are also many records of the studies in Germany when Leighton +was working under Steinle, of all his masters the one for whom he felt +the greatest enthusiasm. The drawing in the collection which shows +most clearly the influence of Steinle's teaching, was made on the +journey from Frankfort to Rome in 1852. The subject is a monk leading +a man away from his enemy and teaching him a lesson in forgiveness. It +is signed, "<i>Ulm, F.L., /52</i>" (No. 251).</p> + +<p>There is the sketch for the picture which Leighton and one of his +fellow-students, Signor Gamba, on that same journey, took it into +their heads to paint on the walls of an old ruined castle <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_372" id="PageV2_372">[372]</a></span>near +Darmstadt. "The schloss," writes Mrs. Andrew Lang, "where this piece +was painted is still in ruins, but the Grand Duke has lately erected a +wooden roof over the painting to preserve it from destruction." While +still at Frankfort, Leighton had begun the design for the "Cimabue's +Procession" (No. 42). In the collection we find the drawing of the +first design. For extraordinary precision of outline and graceful +arrangement of moving figures, this is one of the most remarkable on +the walls. We have also the study of the head in pencil for the figure +of Dante in the right-hand corner of the picture (No. 42-B), (given by +Canon Rawnsley), and a large study in water-colour and pencil of the +woman seated at the window (given by Mr. J.A. Fuller Maitland) (No. +42-C). Hanging near these is a very finely pencilled head of that boy +whom Leighton called "The prettiest and the wickedest boy in Rome." On +it is written "<i>Vincenzo—Roma, 1854, F.L.</i>" Another, on which is +written "<i>Venezia, 1856, F.L.</i>," is, for strength of character and +beauty combined, one of the most powerful in the collection (purchased +by a donation given by Lord Rosebery). These are a few out of fifty +drawings of heads in the House, executed for the main part, between +the years 1852 and 1856. There are many records in landscape and +street scenes of Leighton's journeying to Capri, Athens, Rhodes, +Damascus, and Algeria. Of the drawings made during his stay in Algeria +(presented to the House by Mr. Walter Derham) (Nos. 284 and 285), Mr. +Pepys Cockerell wrote in his interesting article which appeared in the +<i>Nineteenth Century</i>, "The finest of all, except the famous 'Lemon +Tree,' which is in silver point, and was done in 1859, are the +products of a visit to Algeria in 1857. I do not believe that more +perfect drawings, better defined or more entirely realised, than these +studies of Moors, of camels, &c., were ever executed by the hand of +man.... They are not particularly summary, nor do they look as if they +had been done in a moment, or without trouble. The drawings in +question are as complete as if they came from the hand of Lionardo or +Holbein."</p> + +<p>Among the most perfect drawings Lord Leighton has left, are also the +studies from flowers and foliage. Professor Aitchison writes: "One day +I found him (Leighton) drawing the flower <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_373" id="PageV2_373">[373]</a></span>of the pumpkin, and he said +flowers were quite as hard to draw as human heads, if you drew them +conscientiously, but doing that rested with yourself, for there could +be no critics. He said of drawing that the great thing was to +thoroughly understand the structure, and that then, by patience and +labour, you could express the outline and the modelling. In 1859, +while at Capri, he drew the celebrated 'Lemon Tree,' working from +daylight to dusk for a week or two, and giving large details in the +margin of the snails on the tree." Mr. Ruskin writes: "Two perfect +early drawings are of 'A Lemon Tree,' and another of the same date, of +'A Byzantine Well,' which determine for you without appeal the +question respecting necessity of delineation as the first skill of a +painter. Of all our present masters, Sir Frederic Leighton delights +most in softly-blended colours, and his ideal of beauty is more nearly +that of Correggio than any since Correggio's time. But you see by what +precision of terminal outline he at first restrained and exalted his +gift of beautiful <i>vaghezza</i>."</p> + +<p>Of this drawing of "A Lemon Tree," now in the Oxford Museum, lent by +Mr. Ruskin, Sir Henry Acland has given a singularly fine photograph, +very nearly the size of the original. Lord Leighton gave Mr. Ruskin +for his life this wonderful drawing of "A Lemon Tree" to hang in his +Oxford Museum, that it might serve to impede, if possible, the +increasing wrong-headedness in study—the careless conceit, the +irreverent dash, the incompetent confidence of many modern students.</p> + +<p>How Leighton's theories as to the manner in which flowers should be +drawn were carried out, is exemplified by two wonderful studies of the +said pumpkin flower (Nos. 97 and 104), and fifty other studies from +flowers and plants in this collection. This artist in his early +twenties, brilliant in society, full of intellectual and every other +kind of vitality, could nevertheless sit for hours perfecting the +study of a flower or a plant. One who knew him well in 1854 and 1855, +wrote in the <i>Times</i> of 28th January 1896, three days after Leighton's +death: "I remember hearing a relative of his, a clergyman, deplore in +1854, the persistency with which Leighton was throwing away his +chances in life to become a mere artist." Five years previously, +Leighton had embodied in a design, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_374" id="PageV2_374">[374]</a></span>now in his house, the longing, the +home sickness, the <i>Sehnsucht</i> he felt for his own true much-loved +vocation. It is in the drawing of Giotto as a boy lying among his +sheep upon a bank (No. 227). Below the sketch, in Leighton's +handwriting, are the words "<i>Giotto, Sehnsucht</i>." The same writer +continues: "I enjoyed constant intercourse with him during the whole +of 1854 and to the middle of 1855. The summer of the former year we +passed at the Baths of Lucca, dining together every day for three +months. Finding the solitary splendour of the hotel at 'Villa' +irksome, he suggested that we should mess together in my lodgings, +which happened to be close to a little restaurant. In after years, +meeting in London houses, we always referred with pleasure to the +modest, but always wholesome and cleanly feasts that Lucrezia, +landlady, chef, and waitress, supplied us with at an almost nominal +cost. To me, at least, that period was one of great value and +interest, for it gave me the opportunity of studying the character of +one whose personality was attractive in no small degree. He was the +most brilliant man I ever met.... He longed for and desired success: +but only in so far as he deserved it. When he was sharply checked in +his upward career, he accepted the rebuke with humility, for he was a +modest man.<a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> I had not met him for years when, coming into contact +with him, I told him how keen the interest had been with which I had +watched his progress. 'I am not satisfied,' he answered; 'I alone know +how far I have fallen short of my ideal.'" In his House are two +records of this visit to the Bagni di Lucca. One has been presented by +Mr. J. MacWhirter, R.A. (No. 249). It is a highly finished drawing of +a wreath of leaves exquisitely executed. On the same sheet is a +drawing of a vine in fruit, and in Leighton's own writing +"<i>Pomegranate Lucca Bagni Villa</i>."</p> + +<br /> +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> +<br /> + +<p>No work in the collection evinces the precision and exact truthfulness +of Leighton's drawing better than the outline copies from pictures and +frescoes by V. Carpaccio, Giorgione, Simone Memmi and Signorelli made +in 1852-53. In the copy from the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_375" id="PageV2_375">[375]</a></span>fresco in the Capella Spagnuola, +Sta. Maria Novella, Florence (No. 292), we have the portraits of +Cimabue, Giotto, Taddeo Gaddi and Simone Memmi whose work it is.<a name="FNanchor_92_92" id="FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> +The accuracy of the copy and the difficulty of making a copy at all, +can hardly fully be realised, save by one who has attempted also to +repeat the fading outlines of these dim frescoes in the only +half-lighted chapel. Slight and ineffective as Leighton's drawing may +appear at a first glance, it is, on further acquaintance, found to be +an exquisite piece of work. The absolute truth and precision with +which in pencil lines, on a small scale, he has unravelled the +outlines of the dim forms, and has depicted the quaint seriousness of +these old-world Italian countenances, makes this copy an extraordinary +feat of eye and hand. From this drawing he designed the dress of +Cimabue for the figure in his large picture, and also for the Cimabue +in the South Kensington Mosaic. Written by Leighton above the pencil +drawing are the words: "<i>Simone Memmi Capella Spagnoli (St. Maria +Novella, Florence), Taddeo Gaddi white and gold cap, Giotto gold and +sea green, Cimabue gold flowers on white ground, Sim. Memmi with grey +beard, head dress, yellow hood with black lining, Florence, 1853, +F.L.</i>"</p> + +<p>A study in brown (water-colour) (No. 91) signed "<i>Florence, 1854, +F.L.</i>," was used by Leighton forty years after it was made in his +background for "Lachrymæ" (No. 147), an engraving of which was given +to the collection by Messrs. A. Tooth. The same study was also used +for a charming design, highly finished in pencil and Chinese white, +apparently executed for a book illustration, which is now in the +House. One of the most beautiful of the foliage studies tells of a +happy day "<i>Near Bellosguardo, Sept./56.</i>" (No. 171). It is a perfect +and highly-finished study of a vine. What joy Leighton must have had +while looking at this exquisite thing in the September sunshine on +that delicious Bellosguardo height! A butterfly and a bee were +minutely pencilled on the paper as they flew round the vine-leaves as +he drew them. "<i>Cyclamen Tivoli, Oct./56.</i>" is written on another of +these tiny treasures. "<i>Aloes Pampl. Doria</i>," "<i>Pyrte Roma</i>," "<i>Thistle +Rhodes</i>," "<i>Lindos/67 Asphodel</i>," "<i>Thistle Banks of Tiber, stalk +light warm brown, leaf dark cld. brown, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_376" id="PageV2_376">[376]</a></span>flow. dsk. warm brown, +Roma/56</i>," are notes on some of these pages of studies, which can only +be said to compare with the work of a Leonardo or an Albert Dürer. +There is absolutely no mannerism traceable; there is Nature's own +quality of style. There is nothing slovenly in Nature, there is as +surely nothing slovenly in Lord Leighton's art. The gift which in +these modern days is perhaps most rare is a sense of style. Leighton's +feeling for style was as much a part of his individual and native +taste as was his delight in any other quality of beauty in Nature. +Indeed what we call style in art is but the reflection of the same +quality in Nature herself, the love which adds to the more oblivious +facts of Nature a further quality of truth, a completer insight into +her. Leighton possessed a sculptor's feeling for form. It was his +subtle grasp of truth in structure which gives a special value to his +outline drawings. The keen sensitiveness to the right character of the +form, to which his pencil outline was the limit, influenced the +quality of his touch as he portrayed that limit. He felt things "in +the round" as solid projections in various planes, advancing or +receding from the eye. As in the best sculpture, to every aspect of +the solid form you get a fine, subtle, absolutely clear outline; so in +Leighton's drawing of a contour, never is there any vague or undecided +passage. This insures to his work the quality of distinction. These +studies have, one and all, that quality. They are <i>distinguished</i>, as +are fragments of the best Greek sculpture. Every born artist falls in +love specially with one class of sentiment in Nature. Whether his +special gifts guide his passion, or his passion his gifts, who can +say? Probably each urges the other. The special note of beauty in +Nature which excited Leighton's deepest enthusiasm was the quality +which is most like that in a shell. In the pumpkin flowers in the +study given by Mr. Hamo Thornycroft of "<i>Kalmia Califolia</i>," and in +many others, is recalled notably the fine, pure, carved distinctness +of the forms in a shell—the shell that contains the form and colour +that at once delights the sense both of the painter and the sculptor. +In the oil sketches by Leighton, those poems of Southern sunlight and +colour, records of voyages in the Ægean seas, and off the coasts and +islands of Greece and Asia Minor, we again recall the special beauty +in the quality and colour of a shell, the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_377" id="PageV2_377">[377]</a></span>rainbow tints in +mother-of-pearl, the faint translucence trembling in a sheen of light.</p> + +<p>In gauging the exceptional quality of the gifts which all these +studies evince it will be well to remember that Leighton, at the time +they were made, was under no influence but that of his own high +standard, and led by no lights save those of his own exquisitely +delicate perceptions. For the last twenty or thirty years detail in +Nature—vegetation and Nature which is called "still life"—has been +truthfully popularised by photography, so that now all students have +it in their power to study from such detail treated on a flat surface. +Beauty of natural structure and grace of line rendered with right +perspective on a sheet of paper can be enjoyed and made use of by +every artist. Many do avail themselves of photographs to carry out and +complete the details of their pictures. But when Leighton made these +wonderful drawings no such standards of elaborate finish of detail had +been diffused. Nor had he joined, nor in any way come under the +influence of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, nor received any +inspiration from the teaching of Mr. Ruskin. Though we may truly liken +these studies from "still life" to those by Leonardo as regards the +truthful perfection of copies from Nature, there is no evidence in +Leighton's drawings that the work, even of the great, +much-revered-by-him Italian masters had influenced him when drawing +from Nature. On the contrary, there is the strong stamp of his own +peculiar genius on all of them, the stamp that proves rather that he +saw and loved Nature as a Greek would have seen and loved her. +Essentially Greek-like was the attitude in which Leighton approached +Nature, <i>i.e.</i> with an emotion ever ardent in its intensity; but as +ever restrained by the rare gift—the sense of <i>style</i> and of the +right balance and proportion necessary in treating worthily the +beauties of Nature in the language of art. Indeed, it may truly be +affirmed that Leighton was made more like a Greek than like an +Englishman as regarded his artistic powers, English though he was to +the backbone in feeling and sentiment. The effect produced by that +collected exhibition of his works in 1897 was, beyond all other +effects, that of <i>achievement</i>; and achievement which was the result +of a perfect mastery and grasp of aims meant to be achieved from the +first to the last touch on the <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_378" id="PageV2_378">[378]</a></span>canvas. Leighton was far too great an +artist ever to be satisfied with the results of his labour. Those who +knew him best can testify to his terrible depressions and +disappointments. Still, there was no "<i>muddling through</i>," to use Lord +Rosebery's expression, such as so many English artists confess to in +reaching the final result. Greek-like, Leighton saw everything in a +definite, clearly outlined view, and, from the beginning to the end, +his work was one direct forwarding of his purpose.</p> + +<p>In 1860, Leighton migrated to his studio in Orme Square, Bayswater. +The collection possesses several drawings made about that time, +notably the studies for "Lieder ohne Worte" (No. 36). His young +friend, now the well-known portrait-painter, Mr. Hanson Walker, sat +for the head in the picture: "A Crowded Scene in Florence" (No. 198), +a design full of interest and movement, was the gift to the House of +this friend of Leighton's, who, at his instigation, took up art as a +profession. In 1866 Leighton moved from Orme Square to the House he +had built in Holland Park Road, and there we can now follow his yearly +labours by studying the sketches and drawings made for all the +well-known famous pictures of the last thirty years, till we come to +the last—to that passionate appealing figure of Clytie (No. 27), +drawn after the fatal warning had been given. The motive is the same +as that of the first design—the early design of the "Giotto" (No. +227), (made very nearly fifty years before), <i>i.e.</i> "Sehnsucht"—not +the dreamy half-conscious Sehnsucht of the awakening artist-nature as +is seen in the boy Giotto—but the passionate longing to remain in the +rich existence that rare gifts and noble affections had secured for +that artist-nature. After the studies for "Clytie" there but remain +those made for pictures never to be painted, till we reach at last the +drawings made on the 22nd of January 1896 (No. 268), the last day on +which Leighton worked. Three days after, on the following Saturday, he +died.</p> + +<p>The object of the Committee is to make this House and its treasures a +centre for Art in the Parish of Kensington, where Lord Leighton lived +for thirty years. During seventeen of these years he was the President +of the Royal Academy, and, by common consent, the greatest President +that institution has ever had. The South Kensington Museum is not in +the parish, and, <span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_379" id="PageV2_379">[379]</a></span>though this is one of the richest in London, +Kensington proper has no centre of Art, and is sufficiently far +removed from the centre of the metropolis to make it important that it +should possess such a centre. Since October 1898, the Committee has +arranged for Concerts, Lectures, and Readings to take place in the +Studios, and the public is now enlightened as to the exceptional +acoustic qualities the Studios possess, a fact for long recognised by +Leighton's personal friends at the yearly concerts he gave to them +when his pictures were ready for the Royal Academy. It is proposed to +add to the contents of the House an Art Library, and for this many +valuable volumes are waiting to be presented for the book-shelves to +contain them. The present proprietors are prepared to hand over the +house and all it contains to any public body who will engage to +maintain it and to meet the views of the Committee as to the use of +the House. As a memorial to Lord Leighton, the most suitable use will +be, they feel, to devote it to the furtherance of the interests of Art +of the best in all lines and among all classes; in fact to continue in +his own home the culture of that "sweetness and light" which emanated +so notably from his own nature. To conclude with words written by his +old and very intimate friend, Professor Costa, with whom he spent his +last holiday in the autumn before he died: "Leighton solved certain +problems which appeared insoluble. For instance, he combined a life at +high pressure with the most exquisite politeness—truth with poetry, +an iron will with the tenderness of a mother's heart, high aims with a +practical life and with the worship of beauty, the ardour of which was +only equalled by its purity."</p> + +<p class="right">E.I.B.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> The greater portion of this preface appeared as an +article in the <i>Magazine of Art</i>, October 1899. It is with the kind +permission of the proprietors that it is reprinted.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> Mr. De Morgan is at present engaged in making two jars +in pottery, which he intends to present to the House, to fill the +niches in the Arab Hall.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> "Leighton has been cut up unmercifully by the critics, +but bears on, Robert says, not without courage. That you should say +his picture looked well, was comfort in the general gloom."—<i>Letter +from Mrs. Browning to Mrs. Jameson, May 6th, 1856, Paris.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> Nineteen years later, I happened to copy the same group +in water-colour; but it was only after Leighton's death that I saw +this extraordinarily beautiful drawing.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="LIST_OF_DIGNITIES" id="LIST_OF_DIGNITIES"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_380" id="PageV2_380">[380]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>LIST OF DIGNITIES AND HONOURS CONFERRED ON FREDERIC LEIGHTON<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> +<br /> + +<p>Knighted, 1878; created a Baronet, 1886; created Baron Leighton of +Stretton, 1896; elected Associate of the Royal Academy, 1864; Royal +Academician, 1869; President of the Royal Academy, 1878; Hon. Member, +Royal Scottish Academy, and Royal Hibernian Academy, Associate of the +Institute of France, President of the International Jury of Painting, +Paris Exhibition, 1878; Hon. Member, Berlin Academy, 1886; also Member +of the Royal Academy of Vienna, 1888; Belgium, 1886; of the Academy of +St. Luke, Rome, and the Academies of Florence (1882), Turin, Genoa, +Perugia, and Antwerp (1885); Hon. D.C.L., Oxford, 1879; Hon. LL.D., +Cambridge, 1879; Hon. LL.D., Edinburgh, 1884; Hon. D. Lit., Dublin, +1892; Hon. D.C.L., Durham, 1894; Hon. Fellow of Trinity College, +London, 1876; Lieut.-Colonel of the 20th Middlesex (Artist's) Rifle +Volunteers, 1876 to 1883 (resigned); then Hon. Colonel and Holder of +the Volunteer Decoration; Commander of the Legion of Honour, 1889; +Commander of the Order of Leopold; Knight of the Prussian Order "pour +le Mérite," and of the Coburg Order Dem Verdienste.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="LIST_OF_PRINCIPAL_WORKS" id="LIST_OF_PRINCIPAL_WORKS"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_381" id="PageV2_381">[381]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>LIST OF PRINCIPAL WORKS<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<p class="cen"><i>With Date and Place of Exhibition.<a name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> Corrected and amplified from +"Frederic, Lord Leighton, His Life and Work," by Ernest Rhys.</i></p> +<br /> + +<div class="block4"><p class="hang">1850 (<i>circa</i>). *Cimabue finding Giotto in the fields of +Florence. (49½ × 37 inches.) Steinle Institute +(Frankfort).</p> + +<p class="hang">1850. The Duel between Romeo and Tybalt. (37 × 50 inches.)</p> + +<p class="hang">1851 (<i>circa</i>). The Death of Brunelleschi. Steinle Institute.</p> + +<p class="hang">1851. [Early Portrait of Leighton by Himself.]</p> + +<p class="hang">1852. *A Persian Pedlar.</p> + +<p class="hang">1852. [Buffalmacco, the Painter. A humorous subject, from Vasari, +was undertaken about this date.] See Sketch in water-colour, +Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1853. Portrait of Miss Laing (Lady Nias).</p> + +<p class="hang">1855. Cimabue's celebrated Madonna is carried in procession +through the streets of Florence. In front of the Madonna, +and crowned with laurels, walks Cimabue himself, with his +pupil Giotto; behind it, Arnolfo di Lappo, Taddeo Gaddi, +Andrea Tafi, Niccola Pisano, Buffalmacco, and Simone Memmi; +in the corner, Dante. (87½ × 205 inches.) R.A.<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> +Purchased by H.M. Queen Victoria, Buckingham Palace. See +Sketches, Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1855. The Reconciliation of the Montagues and Capulets over the +dead bodies of Romeo and Juliet. Paris International +Exhibition.<a name="FNanchor_95_95" id="FNanchor_95_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a></p> + +<p class="hang">1856. The Triumph of Music. (80 × 110 inches.) R.A. Painted in +Paris.</p> + +<p class="cen1">"Orpheus, by the power of his art, redeems his wife from Hades."</p> + +<p class="hang"><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_382" id="PageV2_382">[382]</a></span>1856. Pan. [A subject from Keats' <i>Hymn to Pan</i>, in the first book +of "Endymion."] Painted in Paris. A figure of Pan under a +fig-tree, with this inscription:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">"O thou, to whom<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Broad-leaved fig-trees even now foredoom<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Their ripen'd fruitage."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="hang">1856. Venus. [A pendant to the Pan.] The figure of a nude nymph +about to bathe, with a little Cupid loosening her sandal. +Exhibited at the Manchester Exhibition and sent to America +after. Painted in Paris.</p> + +<p class="hang">1857. *Salome, the daughter of Herodias. (44½ × 25 inches.) See +Sketch, Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1858. *The Mermaid (the fisherman and the syren). (From a ballad +by Goethe.) (26½ × 18½ inches.) R.A.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Half drew she him,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Half sunk he in,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And never more was seen."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="hang">1858. "Count Paris, accompanied by Friar Lawrence and a band of +musicians, comes to the house of the Capulets to claim his +bride: he finds Juliet stretched apparently lifeless on the +bed."—<i>Romeo and Juliet</i>, Act iv. sc. 5. (26½ × 18½ +inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1858. Reminiscence of Algiers: A Negro Dance. (Water-colour.) +Suffolk Street Gallery.</p> + +<p class="hang">1859. Sunny Hours. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1859. *Roman Lady (La Nanna). R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1859. *Nanna (Pavonia). R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1859. Samson and Delilah. S.S. See Sketches, Leighton House +Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1860. Capri—Sunrise. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1861. *Portrait of Mrs. Sutherland Orr [Mrs. S.O., a Portrait]. +(28 × 18 inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1861. *Portrait of John Hanson Walker, Esq. (23 × 17 inches.) +Owner, H.M. The King. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1861. Paolo e Francesca. See Sketch, Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Ma solo un punto fu quel che ci vinse<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Quando legemmo il disiato riso<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Esser baciato da cotanto amante,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Questi, che mai da me non fia diviso,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">La bocca mi baciò tutto tremante:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Galeotto fu 'l libro e chi lo scrisse:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Quel giorno più non vi legemmo avante."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="hang"><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_383" id="PageV2_383">[383]</a></span>1861. A Dream.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i5">"...Not yet—not yet—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Still there is trial for thee, still the lot<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To bear (the Father wills it) strife and care;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With this sweet consciousness in balance set<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Against the world, to soothe thy suffering there<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The Lord rejects thee not.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Such tender words awoke me hopeful, shriven<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To life on earth again from dream of heaven."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="hang">1861. Lieder ohne Worte. R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House +Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1861. J.A. A Study. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1861. Capri—Paganos. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1862. Odalisque. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1862. *The Star of Bethlehem. (60 × 23½ inches.) One of the +Magi, from the terrace of his house, stands looking at the +star in the East; the lower part of the picture indicates a +road, which he may be supposed just to have left. R.A. See +Sketches, Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1862. Sisters. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1862. *Michael Angelo Nursing his Dying Servant. (43 × 36 inches.) +R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1862. Duett. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1862. Sea Echoes. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1862. Rustic Music. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1863. Jezebel and Ahab, having caused Naboth to be put to death, +go down to take possession of his vineyard; they are met at +the entrance by Elijah the Tishbite. R.A. See Sketches, +Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="cen1">"Hast thou killed, and also taken possession?"</p> + +<p class="hang">1863. *Eucharis. (A Girl with a Basket of Fruit.) (32½ × 22 +inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1863. A Girl Feeding Peacocks. R.A. See Sketch, Leighton House +Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1863. An Italian Crossbowman. (51 × 24½ inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1864. Dante at Verona. R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House +Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1864. *Orpheus and Eurydice. (49 × 42 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, +Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"But give them—the mouth, the eyes,—the brow—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let them once more absorb me! One look now<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Will lap me round for ever, not to pass<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Out of its light, though darkness lie beyond!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hold me but safe again within the bond<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of one immortal look! All woe that was,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Forgotten, and all terror that may be,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Defied—no past is mine, no future! look at me!"<br /></span> +<span class="i7">—Robert Browning: <i>A Fragment.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="hang"><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_384" id="PageV2_384">[384]</a></span>1864. *Golden Hours. (36 × 48 inches.) R.A. See Sketches in oil +and chalk, Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1864. *Portrait of the late Miss Lavinia I'Anson. (Circular, +12½ inches.)</p> + +<p class="hang">1865. *David. (37 × 47 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House +Collection.</p> + +<p class="cen1">"Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly +away, and be at rest."—<i>Psalm</i> lv.</p> + +<p class="hang">1865. Mother and Child. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1865. Widow's Prayer. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1865. Helen of Troy. R.A.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Thus as she spoke, in Helen's breast arose<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fond recollections of her former lord,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her home, and parents; o'er her head she threw<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A snowy veil; and shedding tender tears<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She issued forth not unaccompanied;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For with her went fair Æthra, Pittheus' child,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And stag-eyed Clymene, her maidens twain.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They quickly at the Scæan gate arrived."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="hang">1865. In St. Mark's. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1866. Painter's Honeymoon. R.A. See Sketch, Leighton House +Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1866. Portrait of Mrs. James Guthrie. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1866. Syracusan Bride leading wild beasts in procession to the +Temple of Diana. (Suggested by a passage in the second Idyll +of Theocritus.) R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House +Collection.</p> + +<p class="cen1">"And for her, then, many other wild beasts were going in +procession round about, and among them a lioness."</p> + +<p class="hang">1866. A Noble Lady of Venice. (Not exhibited till 1897.)</p> + +<p class="hang">1866. The Wise and Foolish Virgins. (Fresco in Lyndhurst Church, +finished 1864.) See Sketches, Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1867. *Pastoral. (51½ × 26 inches.) R.A. See Sketch, Leighton +House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1867. *Greek Girl Dancing. (Spanish Dancing Girl; Cadiz in the old +times.) (34 × 45 inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1867. Knuckle-Bone Player. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1867. *Roman Mother. (24 × 19 inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1867. *Venus disrobing for the Bath. (79 × 35½ inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1867. *Portrait of Mrs. John Hanson Walker. (18 × 16 inches.)</p> + +<p class="hang">1868. Jonathan's Token to David. R.A.</p> + +<p class="cen1">"And it came to pass in the morning, that Jonathan went +out into the field at the time appointed by David, and +a little lad with him."</p> + +<p class="hang"><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_385" id="PageV2_385">[385]</a></span>1868. *Portrait of Mrs. Frederick P. Cockerell. (23½ × 19½ +inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1868. *Portrait of John Martineau, Esq. (23½ × 19½ inches.) +R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1868. *Ariadne abandoned by Theseus; Ariadne watches for his +return; Artemis releases her by death. (45 × 62 inches.) +R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1868. *Acme and Septimius. (Circular, 37½ inches.) R.A.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Then bending gently back her head<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With that sweet mouth, so rosy red,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Upon his eyes she dropped a kiss,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Intoxicating him with bliss."<br /></span> +<span class="i8">—Catullus (Theodore Martin's translation).<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="hang">1868. *Actæa, the Nymph of the Shore. (22 × 40 inches.) R.A. See +Sketches, Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1869. *S. Jerome. (Diploma work, deposited in the Academy on his +election as an Academician.) (72 × 55 inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1869. *Dædalus and Icarus. (53½ × 40½ inches.) R.A. See +Sketches, Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1869. *Electra at the Tomb of Agamemnon. (59½ × 29 inches.) +R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1869. *Helios and Rhodos. (65½ × 42 inches) R.A. See Sketches, +Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1870. A Nile Woman. (21½ × 11½ inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1870. Study. S.S.</p> + +<p class="hang">1871. *Hercules Wrestling with Death for the Body of Alcestis. (54 +× 104½ inches.) R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House +Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1871. Greek Girls picking up Pebbles by the shore of the Sea. R.A. +See Sketch, Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1871. *Cleoboulos instructing his daughter Cleobouline. (24 × +37½ inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1871. View of Assiout (?). (A sketch.) S.S.</p> + +<p class="hang">1871. Sunrise at Lougsor. (A sketch.) S.S.</p> + +<p class="hang">1871. View of the Red Mountains near Cairo. (A sketch) S.S.</p> + +<p class="hang">1872. *After Vespers. (43 × 27½ inches.) R.A. See Sketch, +Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1872. *Summer Moon. (Guildhall, 1890.) (39½ × 50½ inches.) +R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1872. Portrait of the Right Hon. Edward Ryan, Secretary of the +Dilettante Society, for which the picture was painted. +(S.P.P., 1893.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1872. A Condottiere. R.A. See Sketch, Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1872. *The Industrial Arts of War, at the International Exhibition +at South Kensington. (Monochrome, 76 × 177 inches.) Carried +out in fresco on the wall of the Victoria and Albert Museum. +R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1872. The Captive. S.S.</p> + +<p class="hang"><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_386" id="PageV2_386">[386]</a></span>1872. An Arab Café, Algiers. S.S.</p> + +<p class="hang">1873. *Weaving the Wreath. (Guildhall, 1895.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1873. Moretta. (Guildhall, 1894.) (20½ × 14½ inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1873. The Industrial Arts of Peace. (Monochrome, 76 × 177 inches.) +Carried out in fresco on the wall of the Victoria and Albert +Museum. R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1873. A Roman. S.S.</p> + +<p class="hang">1873. Vittoria. S.S.</p> + +<p class="hang">1874. *Moorish Garden: A Dream of Granada. (Guildhall 1895.) (41 × +40 inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1874. Old Damascus: Jews' Quarter. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1874. *Antique Juggling Girl. (Guildhall, 1892.) (41½ × 24 +inches.) R.A. See Sketch, Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1874. Clytemnestra from the battlements of Argos watches for the +Beacon Fires which are to announce the return of Agamemnon. +R.A. Leighton House Collection. See also Sketches, Leighton +House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1874. Annarella, Ana Capri. D.G.</p> + +<p class="hang">1874. Rubinella, Capri. D.G.</p> + +<p class="hang">1874. Lemon Tree, Capri. D.G.</p> + +<p class="hang">1874. West Court of Palazzo, Venice. D.G.</p> + +<p class="hang">1875. *Portion of the Interior of the Grand Mosque of Damascus. +(62 × 47 inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1875. *Portrait of Mrs. H.E. Gordon. (35½ × 37 inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1875. *Little Fatima. (15½ × 9¼ inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1875. Venetian Girl. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1875. *Egyptian Slinger. (Eastern slinger scaring birds in harvest +time: Moonrise.) (Guildhall, 1890.) R.A. See Sketches, +Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1875. Florentine Youth. S.S.</p> + +<p class="hang">1875. Ruined Mosque in Damascus. S.S.</p> + +<p class="hang">1876. *Portrait of Sir Richard Francis Burton, K.C.M.G. (Portrait +of Captain Richard Burton, H.M. Consul at Trieste.) (23½ +× 19½ inches.) (Paris, 1878; Melbourne, 1888; S.P.P., +1892.) R.A. National Portrait Gallery.</p> + +<p class="hang">1876. *The Daphnephoria. (89 × 204 inches.) A triumphal procession +held every ninth year at Thebes, in honour of Apollo and to +commemorate a victory of the Thebans over the Æolians of +Arne. (See Proclus, "Chrestomath," p. 11.) R.A. See +Sketches, Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1876. Teresina. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1876. Paolo. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang"><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_387" id="PageV2_387">[387]</a></span>1877. *Music Lesson. (36½ × 37-1/8 inches.) (Paris, 1878.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1877. *Portrait of Miss Mabel Mills (The Hon. Mrs. Grenfell). (23 +× 19 inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1877. *An Athlete Strangling a Python.<a name="FNanchor_96_96" id="FNanchor_96_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a> Bronze. (Paris, 1878.) +R.A. See Sketch in plaster, Leighton House Collection, +presented by G.F. Watts, O.M.</p> + +<p class="hang">1877. *Portrait of H.E. Gordon. (23½ × 19 inches.) G.G.</p> + +<p class="hang">1877. An Italian Girl. G.G.</p> + +<p class="hang">1877. *Study. (A little girl with fair hair, in a pink robe.) (24 +× 28 inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1877. A Study. G.G.</p> + +<p class="hang">1878. *Nausicaa. (57½ × 26½ inches.) (Guildhall, 1896.) R.A. +See Sketches, Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1878. Serafina. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1878. *Winding the Skein. (39½ × 63½ inches.) R.A. See +Sketch, Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1878. A Study. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1878. *Portrait of Miss Ruth Stewart Hodgson. (50½ × 35½ +inches.) G.G.</p> + +<p class="hang">1878. Study of a Girl's Head. G.G.</p> + +<p class="hang">1878. Sierra: Elviza in the distance, Granada. S.S.</p> + +<p class="hang">1878. The Sierra Alhama, Granada. S.S.</p> + +<p class="hang">1879. Biondina. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1879. Catarina. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1879. *Elijah in the Wilderness. (91 × 81½ inches.) R.A. +(Paris, 1878.) Corporation of Liverpool. See Sketches, +Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1879. Portrait of Signor G. Costa. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1879. Amarilla. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1879. A Study. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1879. Portrait of the Countess Brownlow. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1879. *Neruccia. (19 × 16 inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1879. A Study. S.S.</p> + +<p class="hang">1879. The Carrara Hills. S.S.</p> + +<p class="hang">1879. A Street in Lerici. S.S.</p> + +<p class="hang">1879. Via Bianca, Capri. G.G.</p> + +<p class="hang">1879. Archway in Algiers. G.G.</p> + +<p class="hang">1879. Ruins of a Mosque, Damascus. G.G.</p> + +<p class="hang">1879. Study of a Donkey. G.G.</p> + +<p class="hang">1879. On the Terrace, Capri. G.G.</p> + +<p class="hang">1879. Sketch near Damascus. G.G.</p> + +<p class="hang">1879. View in Granada. G.G.</p> + +<p class="hang"><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_388" id="PageV2_388">[388]</a></span>1879. Study of a Donkey, Egypt. G.G.</p> + +<p class="hang">1879. Study of a Head. G.G.</p> + +<p class="hang">1879. Nicandra. G.G.</p> + +<p class="hang">1880. *Sister's Kiss. (48 × 21½ inches.) R.A. See Sketch, +Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1880. *Iostephane. (37 × 19 inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1880. The Light of the Harem. (60 × 33 inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1880. Psamathe. (36 × 24 inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1880. *The Nymph of the Dargle (Crenaia). (29½ × 10 inches.) +R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1880. Rubinella. G.G.</p> + +<p class="hang">1880. The Pozzo Corner, Venice. Winter Exhibition. G.G.</p> + +<p class="hang">1880. Jack and his Cider Can. Winter Exhibition. G.G.</p> + +<p class="hang">1880. The Painter's Honeymoon. Winter Exhibition. G.G.</p> + +<p class="hang">1880. Winding of the Skein (with sketch). Winter Exhibition. G.G.</p> + +<p class="hang">1880. Head of Urbino. Winter Exhibition. G.G.</p> + +<p class="hang">1880. Steps of the Bargello, Florence. Winter Exhibition. G.G.</p> + +<p class="hang">1880. A Contrast. Winter Exhibition. G.G.</p> + +<p class="hang">1880. Garden at Capri. Winter Exhibition. G.G.</p> + +<p class="hang">1880. Twenty-nine Studies of Heads, Flowers, and Draperies. Winter +Exhibition. G.G.</p> + +<p class="hang">1881. Elisha raising the son of the Shunammite. (32 × 54 inches.) +(Guildhall, 1895.) R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House +Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1881. Portrait of the Painter.<a name="FNanchor_97_97" id="FNanchor_97_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1881. *Idyll. (41½ × 84 inches.) R.A. See Sketches in oil and +chalk, Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1881. *Portrait of Mrs. Stephen Ralli. (48 × 33 inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1881. *Whispers. (48 × 30 inches.) R.A. See Sketch, Leighton House +Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1881. Viola. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1881. *Bianca. (18 × 12½ inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1881. Portrait of Mrs. Algernon Sartoris. G.G.</p> + +<p class="hang">1882. *Day-Dreams. (47½ × 35½ inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1882. Wedded. R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1882. Phryne at Eleusis. (86 × 48 inches.) (Melbourne, 1888.) R.A. +See Sketches, Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1882. Antigone. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1882. "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it"—Rev. xx. +13. (Design for a portion of a decoration in St. Paul's.) +R.A. The Tate Gallery. See Sketches, Leighton House +Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang"><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_389" id="PageV2_389">[389]</a></span>1882. Melittion. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1882. *Portrait of Mrs. Mocatta. (23½ × 19½ inches.)</p> + +<p class="hang">1882. Zeyra. G.G.</p> + +<p class="hang">1883. The Dance: decorative frieze for a drawing-room in a private +house. R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1883. *Vestal. (24½ × 17 inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1883. *Kittens. (48 × 31½ inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1883. Memories. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1883. Portrait of Miss Nina Joachim. (16 × 13 inches.)</p> + +<p class="hang">1884. *Letty. (18 × 15½ inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1884. *Cymon and Iphigenia. (64 × 129 inches.) (Berlin, 1885.) +R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1884. A Nap. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1884. Sun Gleams. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1885. ..."Serenely wandering in a trance of sober thought." ... +(46 × 27 inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1885. Portrait of the Lady Sybil Primrose. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1885. *Portrait of Mrs. A. Hichens. (26½ × 20½ inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1885. Music: a frieze. R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House +Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1885. Phœbe. (Manchester, 1887.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1885. A Study. G.G.</p> + +<p class="hang">1885. Tombs of Muslim Saints. S.S.</p> + +<p class="hang">1885. Mountains near Ronda Puerta de los Vientos. S.S.</p> + +<p class="hang">1886. Painted decoration for the ceiling of a music-room.<a name="FNanchor_98_98" id="FNanchor_98_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a> (7 × +20 feet.) R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1886. Gulnihal. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1886. *The Sluggard. Statue, bronze. R.A. Presented to the Tate +Gallery by Sir Henry Tate. See Statuette, Leighton House +Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1886. *Needless Alarms. Statuette. R.A. See Bronze, Leighton House +Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1887. *The Jealousy of Simœtha, the Sorceress. (35 × 55½ +inches.) R.A. See Sketch, Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1887. *The Last Watch of Hero. (62½ × 35½ inches, with +predella 12½ × 29½ inches.) R.A. Corporation of +Manchester. See Sketch, Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"With aching heart she scanned the sea-face dim.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"> . . . . . . . . .<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lo! at the turret's foot his body lay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rolled on the stones, and washed with breaking spray."<br /></span> +<span class="i3">—<i>Hero and Leander: Musæus</i> (translated by Edwin Arnold).<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="hang"><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_390" id="PageV2_390">[390]</a></span>1887. [Picture of a little girl with golden hair, and pale blue +eyes.]</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Yellow and pale as ripened corn<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which Autumn's kiss frees—grain from sheath—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Such was her hair, while her eyes beneath,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Showed Spring's faint violets freshly born."<br /></span> +<span class="i10 sc">—Robert Browning.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="hang">1887. *Design for the reverse of the Jubilee Medallion. (Executed +for Her Majesty Queen Victoria's Government.) R.A. See +Sketches, Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="noin" style="margin-left: 2%;">Empire, enthroned in the centre, rests her right hand on the sword +of Justice, and holds in her left the symbol of victorious +rule. At her feet, on one side, Commerce proffers wealth; on +the other, a winged figure holds emblems of Electricity and +Steam-power. Flanking the throne to the right of the +spectator are Agriculture and Industry; on the opposite +side, Science, Literature, and the Arts. Above, interlocking +wreaths, held by winged genii representing respectively the +years 1837 and 1887, inclose the initials V.R.I.</p> + +<p class="hang">1888. *Captive Andromache. (77 × 160 inches.) R.A. Corporation of +Manchester. See Sketches, Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i7">..."Some standing by,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Marking thy tears fall, shall say, 'This is she,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The wife of that same Hector that fought best<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of all the Trojans, when all fought for Troy.'"<br /></span> +<span class="i10">—<i>Iliad</i>, vi. (E.B. Browning's translation).<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="hang">1888. *Portrait of Amy, Lady Coleridge. (42 × 39½ inches.) +(S.P.P., 1891.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1888. *Portraits of the Misses Stewart Hodgson. (47 × 39½ +inches.)</p> + +<p class="hang">1888. Four Studies. R.W.S.</p> + +<p class="hang">1888. Five Studies. S.S.</p> + +<p class="hang">1889. *Sibyl. (59 × 34 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House +Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1889. *Invocation. (54 × 33½ inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1889. Elegy. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1889. Greek Girls playing at Ball. (45 × 78 inches.) R.A. See +Sketches, Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1889. *Portrait of Mrs. Francis A. Lucas. (23½ × 19½ +inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1890. Solitude. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1890. *The Bath of Psyche.<a name="FNanchor_99_99" id="FNanchor_99_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a> (75 × 24½ inches.) R.A. See +Sketches, Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang"><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_391" id="PageV2_391">[391]</a></span>1890. *Tragic Poetess. (63 × 34 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, +Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1890. *The Arab Hall. (33 × 16 inches.) (Guildhall, 1890.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1891. *Perseus and Andromeda. (91½ × 50 inches.) R.A. See +Sketches, Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1891. *Portrait of A.B. Freeman-Mitford, Esq., C.B. (46¼ × +38½ inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1891. *Return of Persephone. (79 × 59½ inches.) R.A. +Corporation of Leeds. See Sketches, Leighton House +Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1891. Athlete Struggling with a Python. Group, marble. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1892. *"And the sea gave up the dead which were in it." (Circular, +93 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1892. At the Fountain. (49 × 37 inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1891. *The Garden of the Hesperides. (Circular, 66 inches.) +(Chicago, 1893; Guildhall, 1895.) R.A. See Sketches, +Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1892. Bacchante. R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1892. *Clytie. (32½ × 53½ inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1892. Phryne at the Bath. (24 × 12 inches.) S.S. See Sketches, +Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1892. Malin Head, Donegal. S.S.</p> + +<p class="hang">1892. St. Mark's, Venice. S.S.</p> + +<p class="hang">1892. Interior of St. Mark's, Venice. S.S.</p> + +<p class="hang">1892. The Doorway, North Aisle, Venice. S.S.</p> + +<p class="hang">1892. Rizpah (the small study in oils). (7 × 7 inches.) S.S.</p> + +<p class="hang">1893. *Farewell! (63 × 26½ inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1893. *Hit! (29 × 22 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House +Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1893. Atalanta. (26½ × 19 inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1893. Rizpah. (36 × 52 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House +Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1893. Corinna of Tanagra. (47½ × 21 inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1894. *The Spirit of the Summit. (77½ × 39½ inches.) R.A. +See Sketches, Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1894. *The Bracelet. (59½ × 23 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, +Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1894. *Fatidica. (59½ × 43 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, Leighton +House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1894. *Summer Slumber. (45½ × 62 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, +Leighton House Collection, one presented by H.M. The King.</p> + +<p class="hang">1894. At the Window. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1894. Wide, Wondering Eyes. (20 × 15½ inches.) Manchester.</p> + +<p class="hang">1894. The Roman Campagna, Monte Soracte in the distance. S.S.</p> + +<p class="hang"><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_392" id="PageV2_392">[392]</a></span>1894. The Acropolis of Lindos. S.S.</p> + +<p class="hang">1894. Fiume Morto, Gombo, Pisa. S.S.</p> + +<p class="hang">1894. Gibraltar from San Rocque. S.S.</p> + +<p class="hang">1895. Lachrymæ. (60 × 24 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, Leighton +House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1895. The Maid with the Yellow Hair. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1895. *'Twixt Hope and Fear. (43½ × 38½ inches.) R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1895. *Flaming June. (46 × 46 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, Leighton +House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1895. Listener. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1895. A Study. R.A.</p> + +<p class="hang">1895. Phœnicians bartering with Britons. Presented to the Royal +Exchange by Lord Leighton. See Sketches, Leighton House +Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1895. Boy with Pomegranate. Grafton Gallery.</p> + +<p class="hang">1895. Miss Dene.</p> + +<p class="hang">1895. Aqua Certosa, Rome. S.S.</p> + +<p class="hang">1895. Chain of Hills seen from Ronda. S.S.</p> + +<p class="hang">1895. Rocks, Malin Head, Donegal. S.S.</p> + +<p class="hang">1895. Tlemcen, Algeria. S.S.</p> + +<p class="hang">1896. *Clytie. (61½ × 53½ inches.) R.A. See Sketches, +Leighton House Collection.</p> + +<p class="hang">1896. Candida. (21 × 41½ inches.) Antwerp, 1896.</p> + +<p class="hang">1896. *The Vestal. (27 × 20½ inches.) Unfinished.</p> + +<p class="hang">1896. *A Bacchante. (26½ × 21 inches.)</p> + +<p class="hang">1896. *The Fair Persian. (25½ × 19½ inches.) Unfinished.</p></div> + + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> The asterisk denotes works exhibited at the Winter +Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, 1897.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> R.A., Royal Academy; G.G., Grosvenor Gallery; R.W.S., +Royal Society of Painters in Water-Colours; S.S., Royal Society of +British Artists, Suffolk Street; D.G., Dudley Gallery; S.P.P., Society +of Portrait Painters.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_95_95" id="Footnote_95_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> Exhibited in the Roman section by some blunder of the +Committee, the picture having been painted in Rome.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_96_96" id="Footnote_96_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> Purchased for £2000 by the President and Council of the +Royal Academy, under the terms of the Chantrey Bequest.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_97_97" id="Footnote_97_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> Painted by invitation for the collection of Portraits of +Artists painted by themselves, in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_98_98" id="Footnote_98_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> Painted for the house of Mr. Marquand, New York.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_99_99" id="Footnote_99_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> Purchased for 1000 guineas by the President and Council +of the Royal Academy, under the terms of the Chantrey Bequest.</p></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_393" id="PageV2_393">[393]</a></span><br /> + +<h3>INDEX<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> +<br /> + +<ul><li>Abercorn, Lady, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_256" target="_blank">256</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_338">338</a></li> + +<li>Aberdeen, Lord, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_256" target="_blank">256</a></li> + +<li>Abydos, ii. <a href="#PageV2_180">180</a></li> + +<li>Academy, <i>see</i> Royal Academy</li> + +<li>Acland, Sir Henry, ii. <a href="#PageV2_364">364</a>, <a href="#PageV2_373">373</a></li> + +<li>Acton, Lord, quoted, ii. <a href="#PageV2_33">33-34</a></li> + +<li>Æsthetics, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_103" target="_blank">103-104</a></li> + +<li>Afreet, ii. <a href="#PageV2_168">168</a></li> + +<li>Agnew, ii. <a href="#PageV2_286">286</a></li> + +<li>Aïdé, Hamilton, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_195" target="_blank">195</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_60">60</a>, <a href="#PageV2_105">105</a>, <a href="#PageV2_110">110</a>, <a href="#PageV2_111">111</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>letter from, ii. <a href="#PageV2_126">126 <i>note</i> [40]</a>;</li> + <li>quoted, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_154" target="_blank">154 <i>note</i> [28]</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Aitchison, George, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_164" target="_blank">164</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_7">7</a>, <a href="#PageV2_116">116</a>, <a href="#PageV2_117">117</a>, <a href="#PageV2_221">221</a>, <a href="#PageV2_363">363</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>letter from, to Prof. Church, ii. <a href="#PageV2_222">222 <i>note</i> [57]</a>;</li> + <li>quoted, ii. <a href="#PageV2_118">118-119</a>, <a href="#PageV2_217">217 <i>note</i> [55]</a>, <a href="#PageV2_365">365</a>, <a href="#PageV2_372">372</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Albert, Prince Consort, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_1" target="_blank">1</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_261" target="_blank">261</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_262" target="_blank">262</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_202">202</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>death of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_85">85</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Alexandra, Queen (Princess of Wales), lines by, on Leighton, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_33" target="_blank">33</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_336">336</a></li> + +<li>Algiers (1857), i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_18" target="_blank">18</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_293" target="_blank">293-294</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_297" target="_blank">297-304</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>(1895), ii. <a href="#PageV2_318">318</a>;</li> + <li>Drawings of Moorish subjects, ii. <a href="#PageV2_372">372</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Allen, Robin, letters from, ii. <a href="#PageV2_59">59 <i>note</i> [18]</a>, <a href="#PageV2_102">102</a>, <a href="#PageV2_230">230</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>poem by, <a href="#PageV2_102">102</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>America— + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Hospitality in, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_277" target="_blank">277</a></li> + <li>Slave crisis (1862), ii. <a href="#PageV2_77">77-78</a>, <a href="#PageV2_82">82-85</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Ampère, Mr., i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_146" target="_blank">146</a></li> + +<li>Arab Hall, ii. <a href="#PageV2_7">7-8</a>, <a href="#PageV2_217">217-222 <i>and notes</i> [55-57]</a>, <a href="#PageV2_365">365</a></li> + +<li>Arabic, ii. <a href="#PageV2_154">154</a></li> + +<li>Architecture— + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Athenian, ii. <a href="#PageV2_128">128</a>, <a href="#PageV2_130">130-131</a>, <a href="#PageV2_145">145</a>, <a href="#PageV2_166">166</a></li> + <li>Ecclesiastical, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_74" target="_blank">74</a></li> + <li>Egyptian, ii. <a href="#PageV2_164">164-165</a>, <a href="#PageV2_185">185-186</a></li> + <li>Leighton's presidential address on, ii. <a href="#PageV2_239">239 <i>and note</i> [63]</a></li> + <li>Scottish, ii. <a href="#PageV2_262">262</a></li> + <li>Westminster, in, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_87" target="_blank">87</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Armstrong, T., ii. <a href="#PageV2_287">287</a></li> + +<li>Arnold, Matthew, letters from, ii. <a href="#PageV2_226">226</a>, <a href="#PageV2_231">231</a></li> + +<li>Art— + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Academic, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_209" target="_blank">209</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_5">5</a></li> + <li>"Barbarians'" view as to, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_41" target="_blank">41</a></li> + <li>Breadth-of-treatment school, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_70" target="_blank">70-71</a></li> + <li>Catholicity in, ii. <a href="#PageV2_264">264-265</a></li> + <li>Classification in, ii. <a href="#PageV2_16">16</a></li> + <li>Detail, scrupulous care in, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_202" target="_blank">202</a></li> + <li>Florentine, ii. <a href="#PageV2_117">117-118</a></li> + <li>Form, importance of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_293" target="_blank">293</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_11">11</a>, <a href="#PageV2_263">263</a></li> + <li>Foundation-laying in, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_155" target="_blank">155-156</a></li> + <li>Function of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_25" target="_blank">25-26</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_23">23</a>, <a href="#PageV2_278">278</a>, <a href="#PageV2_282">282</a>, <a href="#PageV2_283">283</a></li> + <li>Greek, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_228" target="_blank">228</a></li> + <li>Impressionist, ii. <a href="#PageV2_33">33</a></li> + <li>Industry, need for, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_206" target="_blank">206-208</a></li> + <li>Influence of, Leighton's views as to, ii. <a href="#PageV2_33">33-35</a></li> + <li>Inspiration, moments of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_4">4</a></li> + <li>Inward source of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_92" target="_blank">92</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_188" target="_blank">188</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_212" target="_blank">212 <i>note</i> [45]</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_15">15</a></li> + <li>Italian, Leighton's love for, ii. <a href="#PageV2_5">5</a></li> + <li>Nature-study in, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_174" target="_blank">174-175</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_191" target="_blank">191</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_199" target="_blank">199</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_213" target="_blank">213</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_17">17-18</a></li> + <li>Practical nature of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_238" target="_blank">238</a></li> + <li>Protestant inconsistency as to, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_74" target="_blank">74</a></li> + <li>Roman Catholic influence on, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_66" target="_blank">66</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_73" target="_blank">73</a></li> + <li>Roman influence on, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_147" target="_blank">147</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_188" target="_blank">188</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_191" target="_blank">191</a></li> + <li>Spontaneity of, in the young, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_217" target="_blank">217-218</a></li> + <li>Suggestion <i>v.</i> definition, ii. <a href="#PageV2_26">26-28</a></li> + <li>White, painting of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_367">367</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Art of Painting in the Queen's Reign, The</i>, cited, ii. <a href="#PageV2_366">366</a></li> + +<li>Artist Benevolent Fund, ii. <a href="#PageV2_213">213</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_394" id="PageV2_394">[394]</a></span></li> + +<li>Artist Volunteer Corps, Leighton's membership of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_11" target="_blank">11-14</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_107">107</a>, <a href="#PageV2_111">111</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>resignation of commission (1883), ii. <a href="#PageV2_243">243-245</a>;</li> + <li>at Leighton's funeral, ii. <a href="#PageV2_337">337</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Ashburton, Lord, portrait of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_123">123 <i>and note</i> [37]</a></li> + +<li>Assouan, ii. <a href="#PageV2_148">148-150</a>, <a href="#PageV2_152">152</a></li> + +<li>Athens, ii. <a href="#PageV2_128">128</a>, <a href="#PageV2_130">130-131</a>, <a href="#PageV2_229">229 <i>note</i> [60]</a></li> + +<li>Austin, Mrs., ii. <a href="#PageV2_86">86</a></li> + +<li>Avignon, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_298" target="_blank">298</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Ballater, ii. <a href="#PageV2_309">309</a></li> + +<li>Barrington, Mrs. Russell, letters to, ii. <a href="#PageV2_328">328</a>, <a href="#PageV2_332">332</a>, <a href="#PageV2_333">333</a></li> + +<li>Bayreuth, ii. <a href="#PageV2_316">316</a>, <a href="#PageV2_326">326</a></li> + +<li>Beards, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_170" target="_blank">170</a></li> + +<li>Beauty— + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Leighton's passion for, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_59" target="_blank">59</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_2">2</a>, <a href="#PageV2_30">30</a>, <a href="#PageV2_328">328</a>, <a href="#PageV2_369">369</a></li> + <li>Puritanical attitude towards, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_60" target="_blank">60</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Becker, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_56" target="_blank">56</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_89" target="_blank">89</a></li> + +<li>Beechey, Sir William, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_269" target="_blank">269</a></li> + +<li>Benedetto Bonfiglio, ii. <a href="#PageV2_19">19</a></li> + +<li>Beni Hassan, ii. <a href="#PageV2_185">185-187</a></li> + +<li>Benson, Ralph A., ii. <a href="#PageV2_206">206-207</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>letter from, <a href="#PageV2_58">58 <i>note</i> [18]</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Bentinck, Count, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_49" target="_blank">49</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_52" target="_blank">52</a></li> + +<li>Bentinck, Gen., i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_63" target="_blank">63</a></li> + +<li>Bentinck, Penelope, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_255" target="_blank">255</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_262" target="_blank">262</a></li> + +<li>Bergheim, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_49" target="_blank">49-53</a></li> + +<li>Berlin, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_158" target="_blank">158-160</a></li> + +<li>Bettino, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_39" target="_blank">39</a></li> + +<li>Bezzuoli, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_38" target="_blank">38</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_39" target="_blank">39</a></li> + +<li>Bideford, ii. <a href="#PageV2_66">66-67</a></li> + +<li>Bileith, Mr., ii. <a href="#PageV2_129">129</a></li> + +<li>Birrell, Augustine, ii. <a href="#PageV2_304">304-305</a></li> + +<li>Boehm, Sir Edgar, letter from, ii. <a href="#PageV2_200">200</a></li> + +<li>Boughton, George H., letters from, ii. <a href="#PageV2_199">199</a></li> + +<li>Boxall, ii. <a href="#PageV2_119">119</a>, <a href="#PageV2_227">227</a></li> + +<li>Brackley, Lord, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_264" target="_blank">264</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_284" target="_blank">284</a></li> + +<li>Brandes, Miss, ii. <a href="#PageV2_217">217</a></li> + +<li>British Institution, ii. <a href="#PageV2_39">39</a>, <a href="#PageV2_44">44</a></li> + +<li>British Museum, Leighton a trustee of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_256">256</a></li> + +<li>Brock, Mr., ii. <a href="#PageV2_241">241</a>, <a href="#PageV2_259">259-260 <i>and note</i> [73]</a></li> + +<li>Brown, Madox, ii. <a href="#PageV2_299">299</a></li> + +<li>Browning, Mrs., ii. <a href="#PageV2_51">51-52</a>, <a href="#PageV2_64">64</a>, <a href="#PageV2_374">374 <i>note</i> [91]</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>letter from, <a href="#PageV2_93">93</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Browning, Robert, estimate of Leighton by, ii. <a href="#PageV2_29">29 <i>note</i> [6]</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>conversational powers of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_146" target="_blank">146 <i>and note</i> [27]</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_149" target="_blank">149</a>;</li> + <li>lines by, on the Heracles picture, ii. <a href="#PageV2_190">190</a>;</li> + <li>Leighton's estimate of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_304">304-305</a>;</li> + <li>letter to, ii. <a href="#PageV2_51">51</a>;</li> + <li>letters from, ii. <a href="#PageV2_65">65</a>, <a href="#PageV2_225">225</a>;</li> + <li>quoted, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_164" target="_blank">164</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_28" target="_blank">28</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_149" target="_blank">149</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_243" target="_blank">243</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_280" target="_blank">280</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_285" target="_blank">285</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_121">121</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Bruce, Col. and Mrs., ii. <a href="#PageV2_39">39</a></li> + +<li>Bruckmann, Herr, ii. <a href="#PageV2_113">113</a></li> + +<li>Brunton, Sir Lauder, ii. <a href="#PageV2_316">316</a>, <a href="#PageV2_323">323</a>, <a href="#PageV2_329">329-330</a></li> + +<li>Buckner, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_171" target="_blank">171</a></li> + +<li>Bull-fights, ii. <a href="#PageV2_210">210</a></li> + +<li>Bulteel, Lady E., ii. <a href="#PageV2_66">66</a></li> + +<li>Burne-Jones, Sir E., ii. <a href="#PageV2_3">3</a>, <a href="#PageV2_8">8</a>, <a href="#PageV2_199">199</a>, <a href="#PageV2_288">288</a>, <a href="#PageV2_368">368</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>inaccuracies of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_219" target="_blank">219 <i>note</i>-220 [47]</a>;</li> + <li>estimate of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_25">25</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Burton, Sir Richard, portrait of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_195">195-196</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>letters from, <a href="#PageV2_218">218-219</a></li> + </ul> +<br /></li> + + +<li>Calderon, ii. <a href="#PageV2_196">196-197</a>, <a href="#PageV2_255">255</a></li> + +<li>Cambridge, H.R.H. Duke of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_262">262</a></li> + +<li>Cameron, Mrs., cited, ii. <a href="#PageV2_269">269 <i>note</i> [76]</a></li> + +<li>Campagna, Roman, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_22" target="_blank">22 <i>and notes</i> [8 and 9]</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_162" target="_blank">162</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_164" target="_blank">164</a></li> + +<li>Capri, ii. <a href="#PageV2_18">18</a>, <a href="#PageV2_41">41</a></li> + +<li>Carlisle, Earl of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_6">6</a></li> + +<li>Cartwright, W.C., politics of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_307" target="_blank">307-308</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>letters from, ii. <a href="#PageV2_126">126 <i>note</i> [40]</a>, <a href="#PageV2_152">152</a>, <a href="#PageV2_286">286</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_124" target="_blank">124</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_243" target="_blank">243</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_255" target="_blank">255-257</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_278" target="_blank">278</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_38">38</a>, <a href="#PageV2_46">46</a>, <a href="#PageV2_52">52</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Casts, gallery of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_287">287-288 <i>and note</i> [79]</a></li> + +<li>Chamberlayne, Kate, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_126" target="_blank">126</a></li> + +<li>Change of scene, importance of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_92" target="_blank">92-95</a></li> + +<li>Chantrey Bequest, terms of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_249">249-253</a></li> + +<li><i>Chemistry of Paints and Painting</i> (Church), cited, ii. <a href="#PageV2_290">290 <i>notes</i> [80]</a></li> + +<li>Choisy, M., quoted, ii. <a href="#PageV2_221">221</a>, <a href="#PageV2_362">362-363</a></li> + +<li>Chorley, Henry J., ii. <a href="#PageV2_43">43 <i>and note</i> [13]</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>letter from, <a href="#PageV2_127">127 <i>note</i> [40]</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Church, Prof., cited, ii. <a href="#PageV2_290">290 <i>notes</i> [80 and 81]</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>letters to, <a href="#PageV2_290">290-302</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Churche, ii. <a href="#PageV2_70">70</a></li> + +<li>Cimabue, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_227" target="_blank">227</a></li> + +<li>Clarke, Sir C.P., ii. <a href="#PageV2_365">365</a>;<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_395" id="PageV2_395">[395]</a></span> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>quoted, <a href="#PageV2_218">218 <i>note</i> [55]</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Cleopatra, ii. <a href="#PageV2_163">163</a>, <a href="#PageV2_172">172</a></li> + +<li>Cleopatra's Needle, ii. <a href="#PageV2_284">284</a></li> + +<li>Cleveland, Duke of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_286">286</a></li> + +<li>Cliquiness, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_192" target="_blank">192</a></li> + +<li>Cockerell, F. Pepys, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_285" target="_blank">285</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_58">58 <i>note</i> [18]</a>, <a href="#PageV2_87">87</a>, <a href="#PageV2_325">325 <i>note</i> [86]</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>quoted, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_294" target="_blank">294</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_372">372</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Cole, Sir Henry, ii. <a href="#PageV2_212">212</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>letter from, <a href="#PageV2_202">202</a>;</li> + <li>letter to, <a href="#PageV2_204">204</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Coleridge, Lord, letter from, ii. <a href="#PageV2_227">227</a></li> + +<li>Colfax, Mr., ii. <a href="#PageV2_165">165</a></li> + +<li>Colnaghi, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_252" target="_blank">252</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_254" target="_blank">254</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_364">364</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>cited <a href="#PageV2_246">246</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Colonna, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_229" target="_blank">229 <i>note</i> [50]</a></li> + +<li>Colour, Leighton's feeling for, ii. <a href="#PageV2_188">188</a>, <a href="#PageV2_189">189</a>, <a href="#PageV2_366">366</a>, <a href="#PageV2_367">367</a></li> + +<li>Colours, &c., letters to Prof. Church regarding, ii. <a href="#PageV2_290">290-302</a></li> + +<li>Commissioned subjects, Leighton's views on, ii. <a href="#PageV2_277">277-278</a></li> + +<li>Conture, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_154" target="_blank">154</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_296" target="_blank">296</a></li> + +<li>Copies, Leighton's views on, ii. <a href="#PageV2_277">277</a></li> + +<li>Cornelius, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_56" target="_blank">56</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_66" target="_blank">66</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_141" target="_blank">141</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_149" target="_blank">149</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_151" target="_blank">151</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_173" target="_blank">173</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Leighton's estimate of, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_180" target="_blank">180</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_190" target="_blank">190-191</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_291" target="_blank">291</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_295" target="_blank">295</a>;</li> + <li>Steinle's estimate of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_280" target="_blank">280</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Cornhill Magazine</i>, Leighton's illustrations for, ii. <a href="#PageV2_91">91</a>, <a href="#PageV2_92">92</a>, <a href="#PageV2_95">95</a>, <a href="#PageV2_103">103</a></li> + +<li>Corot, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_241" target="_blank">241</a></li> + +<li>Correggio, ii. <a href="#PageV2_41">41</a>, <a href="#PageV2_256">256</a></li> + +<li>Costa, Prof. Giovanni, Leighton's first meeting with, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_162" target="_blank">162-164</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>portrait of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_256">256</a>;</li> + <li>estimate of Leighton by, ii. <a href="#PageV2_379">379</a>;</li> + <li>letter from, on Leighton, ii. <a href="#PageV2_285">285 <i>note</i> [78]</a>;</li> + <li>quoted— + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>on Leighton in Florence, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_39" target="_blank">39</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_371">371</a>;</li> + <li>on Leighton in Siena, ii. <a href="#PageV2_242">242 <i>note</i> [64]</a>;</li> + <li>on Leighton's methods, ii. <a href="#PageV2_256">256</a>;</li> + <li>on Leighton's last visit, ii. <a href="#PageV2_327">327-328</a>;</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, ii. <a href="#PageV2_7">7</a>, <a href="#PageV2_223">223</a>, <a href="#PageV2_297">297</a>, <a href="#PageV2_314">314</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Cowley, Lady, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_240" target="_blank">240</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_309" target="_blank">309</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_88">88</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>letter from, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_48" target="_blank">48</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Cowley, Lord, letters from, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_53" target="_blank">53-54</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>portrait of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_88">88</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Cowper, Lady, ii. <a href="#PageV2_66">66</a></li> + +<li>Cowper, Lord, portrait of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_88">88</a></li> + +<li>Crane, Walter, ii. <a href="#PageV2_365">365</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>estimate of Leighton by, <a href="#PageV2_6">6-9</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Craven, Augustus, ii. <a href="#PageV2_41">41</a></li> + +<li>Crawford, Lord, quoted, ii. <a href="#PageV2_364">364</a></li> + +<li>Criticism— + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Leighton's appraisement of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_179" target="_blank">179</a></li> + <li>Ruskin on, ii. <a href="#PageV2_122">122</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Currie, Sir Donald, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_4" target="_blank">4</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Dalou, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_241" target="_blank">241</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>letter from, ii. <a href="#PageV2_198">198</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Dalziel's Bible, Leighton's illustrations for, ii. <a href="#PageV2_94">94-95</a></li> + +<li>Damascus, ii. <a href="#PageV2_206">206-209</a></li> + +<li>Davey, Lord, ii. <a href="#PageV2_364">364</a></li> + +<li>De l'Aigle, Madame, ii. <a href="#PageV2_191">191</a></li> + +<li>De l'Aigle, Marquis, ii. <a href="#PageV2_103">103</a></li> + +<li>De Morgan, Wm., ii. <a href="#PageV2_364">364 <i>and note</i> [90]</a></li> + +<li>De Savelege, Emile, ii. <a href="#PageV2_214">214</a></li> + +<li>Delaroche, Paul, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_249" target="_blank">249</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_290" target="_blank">290</a></li> + +<li>Denderah, ii. <a href="#PageV2_172">172</a></li> + +<li>Dene, Dorothy (Miss Pullen), ii. <a href="#PageV2_267">267-274</a></li> + +<li>Detail, perfection of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_202" target="_blank">202</a></li> + +<li>Dickens, Charles, letters from, ii. <a href="#PageV2_89">89</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Leighton compared with, <a href="#PageV2_330">330-331 <i>and note</i> [87]</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Dilettanti, Society of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_212">212-213</a></li> + +<li>Disneh, ii. <a href="#PageV2_141">141</a></li> + +<li>Dixon, Messrs., ii. <a href="#PageV2_364">364</a></li> + +<li>Dolby, Miss, ii. <a href="#PageV2_43">43-44</a></li> + +<li>Domestic decoration, ii. <a href="#PageV2_220">220</a></li> + +<li>Doyle, Richard, letter from, ii. <a href="#PageV2_124">124 <i>note</i> [38]</a></li> + +<li>Drawings by Leighton— + <ul class="nest"> + <li>"Cervara," i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_163" target="_blank">163 <i>note</i> [32]</a></li> + <li>Comparison of, with finished paintings, ii. <a href="#PageV2_93">93</a></li> + <li>"Drifting," ii. <a href="#PageV2_103">103</a></li> + <li>Estimate of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_197" target="_blank">197</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_205" target="_blank">205</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_368">368</a>, <a href="#PageV2_376">376</a></li> + <li>"Evening in a French Country House, An," ii. <a href="#PageV2_103">103</a></li> + <li>Florentine fresco, copy of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_374">374-375</a></li> + <li>"Lemon Tree," i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_201" target="_blank">201 <i>and note</i> [42]-202</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_41">41 <i>and note</i> [11]</a></li> + <li>"Monk Dividing Enemies, A," i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_65" target="_blank">65 <i>note</i> [18]</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_371">371</a></li> + <li>Moorish subjects, of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_372">372</a></li> + <li>"Plague in Florence in 1850," ii. <a href="#PageV2_93">93</a></li> + <li>"Samson Wrestling with the Lion," ii. <a href="#PageV2_94">94</a></li> + <li>"Vincenzo's Head," i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_151" target="_blank">151-152</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_154" target="_blank">154-155</a></li> + <li>"Well-Head, The," i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_110" target="_blank">110 <i>note</i> [24]</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Du Maurier, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_20" target="_blank">20 <i>note</i> [7]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_396" id="PageV2_396">[396]</a></span></li> + +<li>Duccio, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_227" target="_blank">227</a></li> + +<li>Dudley, Lord, ii. <a href="#PageV2_53">53 <i>note</i> [14]</a></li> + +<li>Duff, Sir M. Grant, quoted, ii. <a href="#PageV2_33">33</a></li> + +<li>Dürer, Albert, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_220" target="_blank">220</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_239">239-240</a></li> + +<li>Dyer, Sir W. Thistelton, estimate of Leighton by, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_219" target="_blank">219-221 <i>note</i> [47]</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>East, Alfred, estimate of Leighton by, ii. <a href="#PageV2_266">266</a></li> + +<li>Eastlake, Sir Ch., i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_48" target="_blank">48</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_94" target="_blank">94</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_265" target="_blank">265</a></li> + +<li>Edfou, ii. <a href="#PageV2_162">162</a></li> + +<li>Edis, Col., ii. <a href="#PageV2_244">244-245</a></li> + +<li>Edward VII., King (Prince of Wales), "Cimabue's Madonna" lent by, for exhibition, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_185" target="_blank">185</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Leighton's studio visited by, ii. <a href="#PageV2_37">37</a>, <a href="#PageV2_39">39</a>, <a href="#PageV2_40">40</a>;</li> + <li>tribute to Leighton by, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_7" target="_blank">7</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_37">37</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_265" target="_blank">265</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_41">41 <i>and note</i> [9]</a>, <a href="#PageV2_56">56</a>, <a href="#PageV2_60">60</a>, <a href="#PageV2_131">131</a>, <a href="#PageV2_213">213</a>, <a href="#PageV2_323">323</a>, <a href="#PageV2_363">363</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Egypt, Leighton's visit to, ii. <a href="#PageV2_131">131-187</a></li> + +<li>Egyptian tombs, ii. <a href="#PageV2_144">144-145</a></li> + +<li>Elephantina, ii. <a href="#PageV2_150">150</a></li> + +<li>Elgin Cathedral, ii. <a href="#PageV2_262">262</a></li> + +<li>Eliot, George, <i>see</i> Lewes</li> + +<li>Ellesmere, Earl of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_252" target="_blank">252</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_257" target="_blank">257</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_265" target="_blank">265</a></li> + +<li>Ellesmere, Lady, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_268" target="_blank">268</a></li> + +<li>Ellis, Maj.-Gen., ii. <a href="#PageV2_338">338</a></li> + +<li>Elmore, ii. <a href="#PageV2_118">118</a></li> + +<li>Ely, Lady, ii. <a href="#PageV2_178">178</a></li> + +<li>Erskine, Mr., ii. <a href="#PageV2_130">130</a></li> + +<li>Esne, ii. <a href="#PageV2_147">147-148</a></li> + +<li>Etty, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_216" target="_blank">216</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Farquhar, Miss, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_152" target="_blank">152</a></li> + +<li>Farrer, Lady (Miss Wedgwood), ii. <a href="#PageV2_217">217</a></li> + +<li>Fatma, ii. <a href="#PageV2_167">167</a></li> + +<li>Fenzi, M., i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_100" target="_blank">100</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_285" target="_blank">285</a></li> + +<li>Ferronay, Pauline la (Mrs. A. Craven), ii. <a href="#PageV2_41">41 <i>note</i> [10]</a></li> + +<li>Ffrench, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_260" target="_blank">260</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_262" target="_blank">262</a></li> + +<li>Findhorn River, ii. <a href="#PageV2_261">261-262</a></li> + +<li>Finlay, Mr., ii. <a href="#PageV2_130">130</a>, <a href="#PageV2_131">131</a></li> + +<li>FitzGerald, Percy, quoted, ii. <a href="#PageV2_330">330 <i>note</i> [87]</a></li> + +<li>Flatz, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_133" target="_blank">133</a></li> + +<li>Fleury, Robert, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_27" target="_blank">27</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_154" target="_blank">154</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_245" target="_blank">245</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_248" target="_blank">248</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_249" target="_blank">249</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_290" target="_blank">290</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_214">214</a>, <a href="#PageV2_294">294</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>letter from, ii. <a href="#PageV2_37">37</a>;</li> + <li>cited, ii. <a href="#PageV2_46">46</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Florence— + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Leighton's early studies in, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_38" target="_blank">38-40</a>;</li> + <li>his stay at (1853), <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_136" target="_blank">136</a>; + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>(1856), <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_284" target="_blank">284</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>List by Steinle of works to be studied in, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_225" target="_blank">225-226</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Florentine art, ii. <a href="#PageV2_117">117-118</a></li> + +<li>Flowers, Leighton's feeling for, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_69" target="_blank">69</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_75" target="_blank">75</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_198" target="_blank">198</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>studies, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_200" target="_blank">200</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_218" target="_blank">218-219</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_263">263</a>, <a href="#PageV2_325">325 <i>note</i> [85]</a>, <a href="#PageV2_372">372-373</a>, <a href="#PageV2_375">375-376</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Form and matter, divergence between, ii. <a href="#PageV2_184">184</a></li> + +<li>Forres, ii. <a href="#PageV2_261">261-262</a></li> + +<li>Frankfort, Leighton at school at, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_42" target="_blank">42</a></li> + +<li>Frederick, Empress, ii. <a href="#PageV2_337">337</a></li> + +<li>French, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_243" target="_blank">243</a></li> + +<li>Fresco, Gambier Parry's medium for, ii. <a href="#PageV2_105">105-106</a>, <a href="#PageV2_108">108-110</a>, <a href="#PageV2_301">301</a></li> + +<li>Fresco <i>v.</i> oils, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_296" target="_blank">296-297</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_305" target="_blank">305</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_20">20</a></li> + +<li>Freshfield, Mrs. Douglas, ii. <a href="#PageV2_217">217</a></li> + +<li>Frith, W.P., letter from, ii. <a href="#PageV2_119">119 <i>note</i> [35]</a></li> + +<li>Führich, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_174" target="_blank">174</a></li> + +<li>Fuller-Maitland, J.A., ii. <a href="#PageV2_328">328</a>, <a href="#PageV2_372">372</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Gamba, Count, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_75" target="_blank">75</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_85" target="_blank">85</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_87" target="_blank">87</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_90" target="_blank">90</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_96" target="_blank">96</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_98" target="_blank">98</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_116" target="_blank">116-118</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_120" target="_blank">120</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_122" target="_blank">122</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_123" target="_blank">123</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_125" target="_blank">125</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_132" target="_blank">132</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_149" target="_blank">149</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_151" target="_blank">151</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_152" target="_blank">152</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_164" target="_blank">164</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_174" target="_blank">174</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_188" target="_blank">188</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_189" target="_blank">189</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_191" target="_blank">191</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_237" target="_blank">237</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_371">371</a></li> + +<li>Gambart, ii. <a href="#PageV2_114">114</a>, <a href="#PageV2_123">123</a></li> + +<li>Garcia, Señor, ii. <a href="#PageV2_238">239 <i>note</i> [62]</a></li> + +<li>Gebel Silsily, ii. <a href="#PageV2_161">161</a></li> + +<li>Genius, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_206" target="_blank">206</a></li> + +<li>German æsthetics, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_103" target="_blank">103-104</a></li> + +<li>Germany, Leighton's journey through (1852), i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_63" target="_blank">63-68</a></li> + +<li>Gérôme, ii. <a href="#PageV2_147">147</a>, <a href="#PageV2_155">155</a></li> + +<li>Gibson, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_181" target="_blank">181</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_261" target="_blank">261</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_39">39</a>, <a href="#PageV2_56">56</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Leighton's estimate of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_114" target="_blank">114</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Gilbert, Alfred, quoted, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_7" target="_blank">7</a></li> + +<li>Gilbert, Sir J., ii. <a href="#PageV2_286">286</a></li> + +<li>Gilchrist, Connie, ii. <a href="#PageV2_268">268</a></li> + +<li>Giotto, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_128" target="_blank">128</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_226" target="_blank">226 <i>note</i> [49]</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_228" target="_blank">228</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_374">374</a></li> + +<li>Gladstone, W.E., ii. <a href="#PageV2_57">57</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>letters from, <a href="#PageV2_243">243</a>, <a href="#PageV2_289">289</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Glyn, Mrs., ii. <a href="#PageV2_269">269</a>, <a href="#PageV2_270">270</a></li> + +<li>Goethe's <i>Sprüche</i>, Leighton's criticism of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_305">305-306</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_397" id="PageV2_397">[397]</a></span></li> + +<li>Gondolas, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_78" target="_blank">78</a></li> + +<li>Goodall, J., i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_48" target="_blank">48</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>quoted, ii. <a href="#PageV2_284">284</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Gooderson, T., i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_171" target="_blank">171</a></li> + +<li>Gordon, Lady Duff, ii. <a href="#PageV2_132">132</a>, <a href="#PageV2_177">177</a>, <a href="#PageV2_181">181</a></li> + +<li>Gortschakoff, Prince, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_56" target="_blank">56</a></li> + +<li>Gozze, Count, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_169" target="_blank">169</a></li> + +<li>Graefe, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_157" target="_blank">157</a></li> + +<li>Granada, ii. <a href="#PageV2_210">210</a></li> + +<li>Grant, Gen., ii. <a href="#PageV2_165">165</a></li> + +<li>Greek language, ii. <a href="#PageV2_130">130-131</a></li> + +<li>Greene, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_258" target="_blank">258</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_259" target="_blank">259</a></li> + +<li>Greg, W.R., ii. <a href="#PageV2_269">269 <i>note</i> [76]</a></li> + +<li>Grenfell, Hon. Mrs. (Miss Mabel Mills), portrait of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_197">197</a></li> + +<li>Greville, Charles, ii. <a href="#PageV2_108">108</a></li> + +<li>Greville, Henry, Leighton's friendship with, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_28" target="_blank">28</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_164" target="_blank">164</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_251" target="_blank">251 <i>and note</i> [56]</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_282" target="_blank">282</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>extracts from diaries of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_242" target="_blank">242-244</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_246" target="_blank">246</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_278" target="_blank">278</a>;</li> + <li>death of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_268" target="_blank">268-269</a>;</li> + <li>letters from, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_252" target="_blank">252-268</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_241" target="_blank">241</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_247" target="_blank">247</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_43">43</a>, <a href="#PageV2_44">44</a>, <a href="#PageV2_46">46</a>, <a href="#PageV2_86">86</a>, <a href="#PageV2_92">92</a>, <a href="#PageV2_216">216</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Grey, Countess, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_270" target="_blank">270</a></li> + +<li>Grove, Sir George, letter from, ii. <a href="#PageV2_243">243 <i>note</i> [65]</a></li> + +<li>Grueber, H.A., quoted, ii. <a href="#PageV2_255">255-256</a></li> + +<li>Guaita, Mr., i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_281" target="_blank">281</a></li> + +<li>Guthrie, Mrs. James, portrait of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_10">10 <i>note</i> [1]</a>, <a href="#PageV2_114">114</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Habit, deadening effect of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_93" target="_blank">93</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_95" target="_blank">95</a></li> + +<li>Hague, The, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_54" target="_blank">54-55</a></li> + +<li>Hale, Mr., ii. <a href="#PageV2_163">163</a>, <a href="#PageV2_165">165</a></li> + +<li>Hallé, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_234" target="_blank">234</a></li> + +<li>Handel Festival (1859), ii. <a href="#PageV2_43">43-44</a></li> + +<li>Hardy, Thomas, ii. <a href="#PageV2_320">320</a></li> + +<li>Harrison, Mr., i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_260" target="_blank">260</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_267" target="_blank">267</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_282" target="_blank">282</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_46">46</a></li> + +<li>Hassan Effendi, ii. <a href="#PageV2_143">143</a></li> + +<li>Haydon, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_143" target="_blank">143-144</a></li> + +<li>Hébert, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_236" target="_blank">236</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_237" target="_blank">237</a></li> + +<li>Heidelberg, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_63" target="_blank">63-64</a></li> + +<li>Heilbronn, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_64" target="_blank">64</a></li> + +<li>Henderson, A., ii. <a href="#PageV2_364">364</a></li> + +<li>Hendschel, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_150" target="_blank">150</a></li> + +<li>Herkomer, Hubert, letter from, ii. <a href="#PageV2_226">226</a></li> + +<li>Hickey, Miss Emily, sonnet by, ii. <a href="#PageV2_261">261 <i>note</i> [74]</a></li> + +<li>Hildesheim, ii. <a href="#PageV2_315">315</a></li> + +<li>Hills, Mr., ii. <a href="#PageV2_291">291</a></li> + +<li>Hoare, Lady, ii. <a href="#PageV2_38">38</a>, <a href="#PageV2_40">40</a>, <a href="#PageV2_48">48</a></li> + +<li>Hodgson, J.G., i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_275" target="_blank">275</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>letter from, ii. <a href="#PageV2_205">205 <i>note</i> [53]</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Holland, Leighton's visit to (1852), i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_54" target="_blank">54-55</a></li> + +<li>Holland, Lord and Lady, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_309" target="_blank">309</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_41">41</a>, <a href="#PageV2_67">67</a>, <a href="#PageV2_92">92</a></li> + +<li>Hollyer, Fred, ii. <a href="#PageV2_364">364</a>, <a href="#PageV2_370">370</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>quoted, <a href="#PageV2_288">288-289</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Hommel, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_150" target="_blank">150</a></li> + +<li>Hooker, Sir Joseph, cited, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_220" target="_blank">220</a></li> + +<li>Hope, J.K. Kempton, letter from, ii. <a href="#PageV2_213">213</a></li> + +<li>Horsfall, T.C., correspondence with, ii. <a href="#PageV2_274">274</a>, <a href="#PageV2_276">276-283</a></li> + +<li>Horsley, Mr., ii. <a href="#PageV2_223">223</a></li> + +<li>Hosmer, Miss Harriet, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_146" target="_blank">146</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_181" target="_blank">181</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_195" target="_blank">195</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_72">72</a>, <a href="#PageV2_76">76</a></li> + +<li>Hosseyn, ii. <a href="#PageV2_137">137-138</a>, <a href="#PageV2_140">140-142</a>, <a href="#PageV2_144">144</a>, <a href="#PageV2_146">146</a>, <a href="#PageV2_148">148</a>, <a href="#PageV2_153">153</a>, <a href="#PageV2_157">157</a>, <a href="#PageV2_158">158</a>, <a href="#PageV2_160">160</a>, <a href="#PageV2_165">165</a>, <a href="#PageV2_167">167</a>, <a href="#PageV2_170">170</a>, <a href="#PageV2_172">172</a>, <a href="#PageV2_174">174</a>, <a href="#PageV2_176">176-180</a>, <a href="#PageV2_187">187</a></li> + +<li>Hughes, Mrs. Watts, ii. <a href="#PageV2_332">332</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>letter from, <a href="#PageV2_217">217</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Human form, Leighton's treatment of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_29">29</a></li> + +<li>Hunt, Holman, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_187" target="_blank">187 <i>note</i> [34]</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_220" target="_blank">220</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_278" target="_blank">278</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_118">118</a>, <a href="#PageV2_148">148</a>, <a href="#PageV2_219">219</a></li> + +<li>Hunter, Colin, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_4" target="_blank">4</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>I'Anson, Mr. (great-uncle), i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_45" target="_blank">45-46</a></li> + +<li>Impressionists, ii. <a href="#PageV2_33">33</a></li> + +<li>Ingres, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_245" target="_blank">245</a></li> + +<li>Innsbruck statues, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_69" target="_blank">69-70</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_88" target="_blank">88-89</a></li> + +<li>Irish scenery, ii. <a href="#PageV2_311">311</a></li> + +<li>Irving, Sir H., ii. <a href="#PageV2_270">270 <i>note</i> [77]</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Leighton compared with, <a href="#PageV2_330">330-331 <i>and note</i> [87]</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Italian art, ii. <a href="#PageV2_5">5</a>, <a href="#PageV2_19">19</a>, <a href="#PageV2_117">117</a></li> + +<li>Italy (<i>for districts, towns, &c., see their names</i>)— + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Leighton's affection for, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_19" target="_blank">19-24</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_56" target="_blank">56</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_62" target="_blank">62</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_67" target="_blank">67-68</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_72" target="_blank">72</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_135" target="_blank">135</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_137" target="_blank">137</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_158" target="_blank">158</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_302" target="_blank">302-303</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_51">51</a></li> + <li>Music of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_167" target="_blank">167</a></li> + <li>Street cries in, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_72" target="_blank">72-73</a></li> + </ul> +<br /></li> + +<li>Jameson, Mrs., i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_280" target="_blank">280</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_398" id="PageV2_398">[398]</a></span></li> + +<li>Janauschek, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_55" target="_blank">55</a></li> + +<li>Janotha, Miss, ii. <a href="#PageV2_228">228</a></li> + +<li>Joachim, Dr. Joseph, ii. <a href="#PageV2_216">216</a>, <a href="#PageV2_223">223</a>, <a href="#PageV2_228">228</a>, <a href="#PageV2_316">316</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Leighton's speech at jubilee presentation to, ii. <a href="#PageV2_245">245-247</a></li> + </ul> +<br /></li> + + +<li>Kalergi, Madame, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_242" target="_blank">242</a></li> + +<li>Karnak, ii. <a href="#PageV2_165">165-167</a></li> + +<li>Kaye, Miss, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_264" target="_blank">264</a></li> + +<li>Kemble, Adelaide, <i>see</i> Sartoris</li> + +<li>Kemble, Mrs. (Fanny), on "Pan" and "Venus," ii. <a href="#PageV2_45">45</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>reading of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_184" target="_blank">184</a>;</li> + <li>estimate of Leighton by, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_264" target="_blank">264</a>;</li> + <li>letter to, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_165" target="_blank">165</a>;</li> + <li>letters from, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_165" target="_blank">165 <i>note</i> [33]</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_68">68-83</a>, <a href="#PageV2_126">126 <i>note</i> [40]</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_146" target="_blank">146</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_147" target="_blank">147</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_149" target="_blank">149</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_178" target="_blank">178</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_181" target="_blank">181</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_245" target="_blank">245</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_255" target="_blank">255</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_300" target="_blank">300</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Kew gardens, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_219" target="_blank">219-221 <i>note</i> [47]</a></li> + +<li>Kimberley, S.A., art exhibition at, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_4" target="_blank">4</a></li> + +<li>Kom Ombo, ii. <a href="#PageV2_160">160</a>, <a href="#PageV2_161">161</a></li> + +<li>Koorveh, ii. <a href="#PageV2_145">145</a></li> + +<li>Kuppelwieser, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_174" target="_blank">174</a></li> + +<li>Kyrle Society, ii. <a href="#PageV2_274">274-275</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Laing, Isabel (Lady Nias), i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_108" target="_blank">108</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_122" target="_blank">122 <i>note</i> [25]</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_125" target="_blank">125</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>portrait of, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_122" target="_blank">122-123</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_177" target="_blank">177</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Land, W.C., ii. <a href="#PageV2_225">225</a></li> + +<li>Landseer, Sir Edwin, ii. <a href="#PageV2_59">59</a>, <a href="#PageV2_61">61</a></li> + +<li>Lang, Mrs. Andrew, quoted, ii. <a href="#PageV2_372">372</a></li> + +<li>Lansdowne, Lord, ii. <a href="#PageV2_41">41</a>, <a href="#PageV2_43">43</a></li> + +<li>Lantéri, Edouard, ii. <a href="#PageV2_288">288</a></li> + +<li>Lascelles, E., ii. <a href="#PageV2_92">92</a></li> + +<li>Lawrence, Sir Thos., i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_269" target="_blank">269</a></li> + +<li>Lecky, Prof., ii. <a href="#PageV2_338">338</a></li> + +<li>Leech, John, ii. <a href="#PageV2_68">68</a></li> + +<li>Lehmann, ii. <a href="#PageV2_287">287</a></li> + +<li>Leighton, Dr. (father), career of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_36" target="_blank">36-37</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>attitude towards art as a profession, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_16" target="_blank">16-17</a>;</li> + <li>severity towards his son, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_37" target="_blank">37</a>;</li> + <li>anatomy studies, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_38" target="_blank">38</a>;</li> + <li>move to Bath, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_56" target="_blank">56</a>;</li> + <li>illness, ii. <a href="#PageV2_309">309-310</a>;</li> + <li>death, <a href="#PageV2_314">314</a>;</li> + <li>letters to, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_44" target="_blank">44</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_110" target="_blank">110</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_171" target="_blank">171</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_177" target="_blank">177</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_180" target="_blank">180</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_212" target="_blank">212</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_236" target="_blank">236</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_237" target="_blank">237</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_244" target="_blank">244</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_248" target="_blank">248</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_269" target="_blank">269</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_283" target="_blank">283</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_307" target="_blank">307</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_58">58</a>, <a href="#PageV2_62">62</a>, <a href="#PageV2_86">86</a>, <a href="#PageV2_95">95</a>, <a href="#PageV2_114">114-116</a>, <a href="#PageV2_129">129</a>, <a href="#PageV2_131">131</a>, <a href="#PageV2_206">206</a>, <a href="#PageV2_209">209</a>, <a href="#PageV2_211">211</a>, <a href="#PageV2_213">213</a>, <a href="#PageV2_238">238 <i>note</i> [62]</a>, <a href="#PageV2_261">261</a>, <a href="#PageV2_313">313</a>;</li> + <li>letter from, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_101" target="_blank">101</a>;</li> + <li>letter regarding, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_135" target="_blank">135-136</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_76" target="_blank">76</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_84" target="_blank">84</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Leighton, Lady (grandmother), i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_47" target="_blank">47</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_56" target="_blank">56</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_86" target="_blank">86</a></li> + +<li>Leighton, Mrs. (mother), delicate health of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_36" target="_blank">36-38</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>tenderness of, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_37" target="_blank">37</a>;</li> + <li>death of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_126">126</a>;</li> + <li>letters to, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_18" target="_blank">18</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_42" target="_blank">42</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_46" target="_blank">46</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_49" target="_blank">49</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_51" target="_blank">51</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_59" target="_blank">59</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_84" target="_blank">84</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_92" target="_blank">92</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_104" target="_blank">104</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_122" target="_blank">122</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_137" target="_blank">137</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_139" target="_blank">139</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_142" target="_blank">142</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_147" target="_blank">147</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_166" target="_blank">166</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_167" target="_blank">167</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_176" target="_blank">176</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_178" target="_blank">178</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_212" target="_blank">212</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_224" target="_blank">224</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_234" target="_blank">234</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_236" target="_blank">236</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_240" target="_blank">240</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_245" target="_blank">245</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_247" target="_blank">247</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_281" target="_blank">281</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_287" target="_blank">287</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_289" target="_blank">289</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_290" target="_blank">290</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_297" target="_blank">297</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_308" target="_blank">308</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_14">14 <i>note</i> [2]</a>, <a href="#PageV2_38">38</a>, <a href="#PageV2_43">43-48</a>, <a href="#PageV2_55">55</a>, <a href="#PageV2_57">57</a>, <a href="#PageV2_60">60</a>, <a href="#PageV2_64">64-68</a>, <a href="#PageV2_88">88</a>, <a href="#PageV2_91">91</a>, <a href="#PageV2_107">107</a>, <a href="#PageV2_108">108</a>, <a href="#PageV2_110">110</a>, <a href="#PageV2_111">111</a>, <a href="#PageV2_119">119</a>, <a href="#PageV2_122">122</a>, <a href="#PageV2_191">191</a>;</li> + <li>letters from, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_57" target="_blank">57</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_98" target="_blank">98</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_133" target="_blank">133</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_139" target="_blank">139</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_144" target="_blank">144</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_177" target="_blank">177</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_226" target="_blank">226 <i>note</i> [49]</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_232" target="_blank">232</a>;</li> + <li>letter from, to younger daughter, ii. <a href="#PageV2_56">56</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Leighton, Alexandra (sister), <i>see</i> Orr</li> + +<li>Leighton, Augusta (sister), <i>see</i> Matthews</li> + +<li>Leighton, Sir Baldwyn, letter from, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_34" target="_blank">34</a></li> + +<li>Leighton, Frederic, Lord— + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Ancestry of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_34" target="_blank">34-36</a></li> + <li>Career, chronological sequence of— + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>birth, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_36" target="_blank">36</a>;</li> + <li>early travels, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_37" target="_blank">37</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_38" target="_blank">38</a>;</li> + <li>education, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_37" target="_blank">37-39</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_41" target="_blank">41-42</a>;</li> + <li>under Steinle's influence, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_40" target="_blank">40-42</a>;</li> + <li>first picture, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_44" target="_blank">44</a>;</li> + <li>studies in Brussels, Paris and Frankfort, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_44" target="_blank">44</a>;</li> + <li>visit to London, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_45" target="_blank">45-48</a>;</li> + <li>portrait painting, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_46" target="_blank">46</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_48" target="_blank">48</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_51" target="_blank">51-53</a>;</li> + <li>back to Frankfort, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_48" target="_blank">48</a>;</li> + <li>at Bergheim, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_49" target="_blank">49</a>;</li> + <li>in Holland, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_54" target="_blank">54-55</a>;</li> + <li>Italy, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_72" target="_blank">72-83</a>;</li> + <li>Rome, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_95" target="_blank">95-96</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_106" target="_blank">106 <i>et seq.</i></a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_161" target="_blank">161</a>;</li> + <li>at Bad Gleisweiler, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_134" target="_blank">134</a>;</li> + <li>at Frankfort and Florence, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_136" target="_blank">136</a>;</li> + <li>return to Rome, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_139" target="_blank">139</a>;</li> + <li>at Lucca, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_154" target="_blank">154 <i>note</i> [28]</a>;</li> + <li>Frankfort, Venice, Florence and Rome, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_154" target="_blank">154</a>;</li> + <li>consultation with Graefe, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_157" target="_blank">157</a>;</li> + <li>success of "Cimabue's Madonna," <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_193" target="_blank">193</a>;</li> + <li>in London, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_222" target="_blank">222</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_233" target="_blank">233</a>;</li> + <li>in Paris, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_235" target="_blank">235-237</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_239" target="_blank">239 <i>et seq.</i></a>;</li> + <li>to Frankfort and Italy, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_281" target="_blank">281-285</a>;</li> + <li>back to Rome, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_289" target="_blank">289</a>;</li> + <li>in Algiers, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_18" target="_blank">18</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_293" target="_blank">293-294</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_297" target="_blank">297-304</a>;</li> + <li>in Rome (1858), ii. <a href="#PageV2_37">37</a>;</li> + <li>in London, <a href="#PageV2_43">43</a>;</li> + <li>at 2 Orme Square, <a href="#PageV2_47">47</a>, <a href="#PageV2_49">49</a>;</li> + <li>volunteering activities, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_11" target="_blank">11-14</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_55">55</a>, <a href="#PageV2_107">107</a>, <a href="#PageV2_111">111</a>;</li> + <li>in Devonshire, <a href="#PageV2_66">66</a>;</li> + <li>visit to Mason, <a href="#PageV2_89">89-90</a>;</li> + <li>at Compiègne, <a href="#PageV2_103">103-104</a>;</li> + <li>the Lyndhurst fresco, <a href="#PageV2_104">104-108</a>, <a href="#PageV2_110">110-112</a>;</li> + <li>building of Leighton House, <a href="#PageV2_114">114-117</a>;<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_399" id="PageV2_399">[399]</a></span></li> + <li>A.R.A., <a href="#PageV2_118">118</a>;</li> + <li>visit to Spain (1866), <a href="#PageV2_128">128</a>;</li> + <li>examiner at Victoria and Albert Museum (1866-1875), <a href="#PageV2_212">212</a>;</li> + <li>at Vichy (1869), <a href="#PageV2_218">218 <i>note</i> [56]</a>;</li> + <li>up the Nile, <a href="#PageV2_131">131-187</a>;</li> + <li>R.A. (1869), <a href="#PageV2_123">123</a>, <a href="#PageV2_188">188</a>;</li> + <li>visit to Damascus (1873), <a href="#PageV2_205">205-209</a>;</li> + <li>to Spain (1877), <a href="#PageV2_209">209</a>;</li> + <li>P.R.A. (1878), <a href="#PageV2_223">223</a>;</li> + <li>trustee of British Museum (1881), <a href="#PageV2_256">256</a>;</li> + <li>resigns volunteer commission (1883), <a href="#PageV2_243">243-245</a>;</li> + <li>made a baronet (1886), <a href="#PageV2_289">289</a>;</li> + <li>waning health, <a href="#PageV2_241">241</a>, <a href="#PageV2_313">313</a>, <a href="#PageV2_318">318</a>, <a href="#PageV2_323">323</a>, <a href="#PageV2_324">324</a>, <a href="#PageV2_328">328</a>;</li> + <li>visit to Spain (1889), ii. <a href="#PageV2_238">238 <i>note</i> [62]</a>;</li> + <li>foreign travel, <a href="#PageV2_313">313-316</a>;</li> + <li>Algiers, <a href="#PageV2_318">318</a>;</li> + <li>made a peer, <a href="#PageV2_331">331</a>;</li> + <li>fatal illness, <a href="#PageV2_333">333-334</a>;</li> + <li>death, <a href="#PageV2_334">334</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Characteristics of— + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>Actuality, sense of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_280" target="_blank">280</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_5">5</a>, <a href="#PageV2_26">26-27</a>, <a href="#PageV2_30">30</a></li> + <li>Art, passionate attachment to, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_2" target="_blank">2</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_16" target="_blank">16</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_17" target="_blank">17</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_338">338-339</a></li> + <li>Beauty, love of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_59" target="_blank">59</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_2">2</a>, <a href="#PageV2_30">30</a>, <a href="#PageV2_328">328</a>, <a href="#PageV2_369">369</a></li> + <li><i>Bonhomie</i>, ii. <a href="#PageV2_330">330</a></li> + <li>Boyishness, ii. <a href="#PageV2_317">317</a></li> + <li>Children, love of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_192">192</a>, <a href="#PageV2_328">328</a>, <a href="#PageV2_370">370</a></li> + <li>Consistency, ii. <a href="#PageV2_3">3</a>, <a href="#PageV2_21">21</a></li> + <li>Courage, ii. <a href="#PageV2_317">317</a></li> + <li>Critical faculty, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_217" target="_blank">217</a></li> + <li>Criticism, attitude towards, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_179" target="_blank">179</a></li> + <li>Depression, liability to, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_10" target="_blank">10</a></li> + <li>Duty, sense of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_250" target="_blank">250</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_21">21</a></li> + <li>Enthusiasm, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_18" target="_blank">18</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_41" target="_blank">41</a></li> + <li>Fastidiousness, ii. <a href="#PageV2_5">5</a></li> + <li>Gratitude, ii. <a href="#PageV2_266">266</a></li> + <li>Greek-like combination of qualities, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_24" target="_blank">24-25</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_59" target="_blank">59</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_368">368</a>, <a href="#PageV2_377">377-378</a></li> + <li>Impartiality, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_5" target="_blank">5</a></li> + <li>Industry and strenuousness, ii. <a href="#PageV2_4">4</a>, <a href="#PageV2_207">207-208</a>, <a href="#PageV2_223">223</a>, <a href="#PageV2_369">369</a></li> + <li>Insight, rapidity of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_24" target="_blank">24</a></li> + <li>Intellectual brilliancy, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_4" target="_blank">4</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_23" target="_blank">23</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_24" target="_blank">24</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_210" target="_blank">210</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_2">2</a>, <a href="#PageV2_242">242</a></li> + <li>Kindness, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_269" target="_blank">269</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_7">7</a>, <a href="#PageV2_90">90</a>, <a href="#PageV2_104">104</a>, <a href="#PageV2_242">242 <i>note</i> [64]</a></li> + <li>Loyalty, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_19" target="_blank">19</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_3">3</a>, <a href="#PageV2_8">8</a></li> + <li>Mastery of others, ii. <a href="#PageV2_242">242-243 <i>and note</i> [64]</a></li> + <li>Modesty, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_8" target="_blank">8</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_206" target="_blank">206</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_280" target="_blank">280</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_16">16</a>, <a href="#PageV2_233">233</a>, <a href="#PageV2_265">265</a>, <a href="#PageV2_266">266</a></li> + <li>Music, love of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_108" target="_blank">108</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_126" target="_blank">126</a></li> + <li>Oratorical powers, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_5" target="_blank">5</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_6" target="_blank">6</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_29" target="_blank">29</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_233">233-234</a></li> + <li>Originality, ii. <a href="#PageV2_5">5</a>, <a href="#PageV2_16">16</a></li> + <li>Selective faculty, predominant, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_219" target="_blank">219 <i>note</i> [47]</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_2">2</a></li> + <li>Sensitiveness, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_31" target="_blank">31</a></li> + <li>Simplicity, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_9" target="_blank">9</a></li> + <li>Sincerity, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_8" target="_blank">8</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_60" target="_blank">60</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_92" target="_blank">92</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_216" target="_blank">216</a></li> + <li>Smell and hearing, keen senses of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_72" target="_blank">72</a></li> + <li>Social charm, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_8" target="_blank">8</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_30" target="_blank">30</a></li> + <li>Society, general, distaste for, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_166" target="_blank">166</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_168" target="_blank">168</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_222" target="_blank">222-223</a></li> + <li>Spontaneity, lack of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_246" target="_blank">246</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_1">1</a>, <a href="#PageV2_20">20</a>, <a href="#PageV2_233">233-234</a></li> + <li>Sympathy, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_4" target="_blank">4-6</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_9" target="_blank">9 <i>and note</i> [4]</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_216" target="_blank">216</a></li> + <li>Thoroughness, ii. <a href="#PageV2_20">20</a>, <a href="#PageV2_31">31</a>, <a href="#PageV2_208">208</a>, <a href="#PageV2_233">233</a></li> + <li>Unselfishness, ii. <a href="#PageV2_266">266</a></li> + <li>Vitality, exuberance of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_59" target="_blank">59</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_224" target="_blank">224</a></li> + <li>Will power, ii. <a href="#PageV2_369">369</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Diary ("Pebbles"), extracts from, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_61" target="_blank">61-87</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_198" target="_blank">198</a></li> + <li>Diary of Egyptian visit, ii. <a href="#PageV2_133">133-187</a></li> + <li>Dignities and honours conferred on, ii. <a href="#PageV2_380">380</a></li> + <li>Drawings by, <i>see that title</i></li> + <li>Estimates of, by— + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>Anonymous, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_60" target="_blank">60</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_29">29-30</a>, <a href="#PageV2_374">374</a></li> + <li>Browning, Robert, ii. <a href="#PageV2_29">29 <i>note</i> [6]</a></li> + <li>Costa, Prof. G., ii. <a href="#PageV2_379">379</a></li> + <li>Crane, W., ii. <a href="#PageV2_6">6-9</a></li> + <li>Dyer, Sir W.T., i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_219" target="_blank">219-221 <i>note</i> [47]</a></li> + <li>East, A., ii. <a href="#PageV2_266">266</a></li> + <li>Greville, H., i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_243" target="_blank">243</a></li> + <li>Kemble, Mrs., i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_264" target="_blank">264</a></li> + <li>Powers, Hiram, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_39" target="_blank">39</a></li> + <li>Poynter, Sir E., ii. <a href="#PageV2_242">242 <i>note</i> [64]</a></li> + <li>Richmond, Sir W., i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_209" target="_blank">209</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_1">1-6</a></li> + <li>Rivière, Briton, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_5" target="_blank">5</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_129" target="_blank">129</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_207" target="_blank">207</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_250" target="_blank">250</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_21">21-22</a></li> + <li>Ruskin, J., i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_212" target="_blank">212</a></li> + <li>Thornycroft, H., i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_5" target="_blank">5-6</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_13" target="_blank">13-14</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_400" id="PageV2_400">[400]</a></span></li> + <li>Watts, G.F., i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_4" target="_blank">4</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_7" target="_blank">7</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_210" target="_blank">210</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_22">22</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Frescoes by, ii. <a href="#PageV2_104">104-108</a>, <a href="#PageV2_110">110-112</a>, <a href="#PageV2_203">203-204</a></li> + <li>Funeral of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_31" target="_blank">31-33</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_335">335-338</a></li> + <li>Health difficulties, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_42" target="_blank">42</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_59" target="_blank">59</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_130" target="_blank">130</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_169" target="_blank">169</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_240" target="_blank">240</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_241" target="_blank">241</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_22">22</a>, <a href="#PageV2_68">68</a>; + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>eyesight trouble, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_101" target="_blank">101</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_111" target="_blank">111</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_113" target="_blank">113</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_123" target="_blank">123-124</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_130" target="_blank">130</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_131" target="_blank">131</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_142" target="_blank">142</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_157" target="_blank">157</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_247" target="_blank">247</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_309" target="_blank">309</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_22">22</a>;</li> + <li>waning health, <a href="#PageV2_313">313</a>, <a href="#PageV2_318">318</a>, <a href="#PageV2_323">323</a>, <a href="#PageV2_324">324</a>, <a href="#PageV2_328">328</a>;</li> + <li>fatal disease, ii. <a href="#PageV2_241">241</a>, <a href="#PageV2_302">302</a>, <a href="#PageV2_316">316</a>, <a href="#PageV2_333">333-334</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Limitations in his art, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_211" target="_blank">211-215</a></li> + <li>Methods of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_12">12-15</a>, <a href="#PageV2_256">256</a>, <a href="#PageV2_293">293</a></li> + <li>Pictures by, <i>see that title</i></li> + <li>Portrait of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_259">259</a>; + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>bust by Brock, <a href="#PageV2_260">260 <i>and note</i> [73]</a>, <a href="#PageV2_364">364</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Portraits by, <i>see that title</i></li> + <li>Presidential addresses by, ii. <a href="#PageV2_229">229-233</a>, <a href="#PageV2_235">235-241</a></li> + <li>Sketches by, ii. <a href="#PageV2_257">257-259 <i>and note</i> [71]</a>, <a href="#PageV2_366">366-367</a>, <a href="#PageV2_371">371-372</a></li> + <li>Speeches by, ii. <a href="#PageV2_241">241-247</a></li> + <li>Statuary by, ii. <a href="#PageV2_198">198-200</a>, <a href="#PageV2_259">259-260</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Leighton, Sir James (grandfather), i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_36" target="_blank">36</a></li> + +<li>Leighton, Rev. Wm., i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_35" target="_blank">35</a></li> + +<li>Leighton House— + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Aims of committee of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_378">378-379</a></li> + <li>Arab Hall, ii. <a href="#PageV2_217">217-222</a>, <a href="#PageV2_365">365</a></li> + <li>Contents of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_363">363-378</a></li> + <li>Preface to Catalogue of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_362">362-379</a></li> + <li>Preliminaries to building of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_115">115-116</a></li> + <li>Site of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_114">114 <i>and note</i> [32]</a></li> + <li>Style of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_362">362-363</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Leitch, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_181" target="_blank">181</a></li> + +<li>"Les Natchez," ii. <a href="#PageV2_184">184</a></li> + +<li>Leslie, Lady Constance, ii. <a href="#PageV2_92">92</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>quoted, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_193" target="_blank">193</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Leslie, Sir John, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_164" target="_blank">164</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_261" target="_blank">261</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_262" target="_blank">262</a></li> + +<li>Lewes, Mr., ii. <a href="#PageV2_95">95</a>, <a href="#PageV2_100">100</a></li> + +<li>Lewes, Marian E. (George Eliot), ii. <a href="#PageV2_95">95</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>letters from, <a href="#PageV2_96">96-100</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Lewis, Arthur, ii. <a href="#PageV2_55">55</a>, <a href="#PageV2_92">92</a></li> + +<li>Lindos, ii. <a href="#PageV2_129">129</a>, <a href="#PageV2_148">148</a></li> + +<li>Lindsay, Sir Coutts, ii. <a href="#PageV2_286">286</a></li> + +<li>Linton, ii. <a href="#PageV2_286">286</a></li> + +<li>Lister, Sir Joseph, ii. <a href="#PageV2_338">338</a></li> + +<li>Lister, Villers, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_285" target="_blank">285</a></li> + +<li>Listowel, Lord, ii. <a href="#PageV2_92">92</a></li> + +<li>Liszt, ii. <a href="#PageV2_43">43 <i>note</i> [13]</a></li> + +<li>Liverpool, Leighton's speech at Art Congress at (1888), ii. <a href="#PageV2_247">247</a>, <a href="#PageV2_341">341-361</a></li> + +<li>Loch, Lady, quoted, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_3" target="_blank">3-4</a>; ii. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_334" target="_blank">334</a></li> + +<li>Lockhart, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_176" target="_blank">176</a></li> + +<li>Lougsor, ii. <a href="#PageV2_143">143</a>, <a href="#PageV2_174">174</a>, <a href="#PageV2_175">175</a></li> + +<li>Lucas, Charles, cited, ii. <a href="#PageV2_362">362</a></li> + +<li>Lugano, Lake of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_283" target="_blank">283</a></li> + +<li>Lynn of Dee, ii. <a href="#PageV2_261">261 <i>and note</i> [74]</a>, <a href="#PageV2_309">309</a></li> + +<li>Lyon, Lord, ii. <a href="#PageV2_76">76</a></li> + +<li>Lyons, Bickerton, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_146" target="_blank">146</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_243" target="_blank">243</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Mackail, ii. <a href="#PageV2_333">333</a></li> + +<li>Mackenzie, Sir A., ii. <a href="#PageV2_338">338</a></li> + +<li>MacWhirter, J., ii. <a href="#PageV2_374">374</a></li> + +<li>Maeterlinck, ii. <a href="#PageV2_25">25</a>, <a href="#PageV2_27">27</a></li> + +<li><i>Magazine of Art</i>, reprint from, ii. <a href="#PageV2_362">362 <i>and note</i> [89]</a>, <a href="#PageV2_379">379</a></li> + +<li>Mahometans, ii. <a href="#PageV2_146">146</a>, <a href="#PageV2_169">169-170</a></li> + +<li>Malet, Sir E., ii. <a href="#PageV2_316">316</a></li> + +<li>Malinmore (Co. Donegal), ii. <a href="#PageV2_311">311</a>, <a href="#PageV2_324">324-325 <i>and note</i> [85]</a></li> + +<li>Man, Isle of, art exhibition in, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_3" target="_blank">3</a></li> + +<li>Manchester Art Museum and Galleries, ii. <a href="#PageV2_274">274-281</a></li> + +<li><i>Manchester Courier</i>, extract from, ii. <a href="#PageV2_275">275-280</a></li> + +<li>Maquay, Mrs., i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_134" target="_blank">134</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_285" target="_blank">285</a></li> + +<li>Mariani, ii. <a href="#PageV2_294">294-295</a></li> + +<li>Mario, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_309" target="_blank">309</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_43">43</a></li> + +<li>Marochetti, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_176" target="_blank">176</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_261" target="_blank">261</a></li> + +<li>Marquand, Mr., i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_277" target="_blank">277</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_259">259 <i>note</i> [72]</a></li> + +<li>Marriage, Leighton's views on, ii. <a href="#PageV2_56">56</a></li> + +<li>Massarani, Sig. Tullio, ii. <a href="#PageV2_214">214</a></li> + +<li>Mason, George, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_32" target="_blank">32</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_164" target="_blank">164</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_286" target="_blank">286</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_66">66</a>, <a href="#PageV2_118">118</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Leighton's relations with, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_193" target="_blank">193</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_89">89-90</a>, <a href="#PageV2_266">266</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Matthews, Mrs. (Augusta N. Leighton), birth of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_36" target="_blank">36</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Leighton's advice to, on musical studies, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_91" target="_blank">91-92</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_97" target="_blank">97-98</a>;</li> + <li>extracts from diary of, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_233" target="_blank">233</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_241" target="_blank">241</a>;</li> + <li>in Leighton's last illness, ii. <a href="#PageV2_333">333-334</a>;</li> + <li>at the funeral, ii. <a href="#PageV2_338">338</a>;</li> + <li>letters to, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_97" target="_blank">97</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_182" target="_blank">182</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_52">52</a>, <a href="#PageV2_64">64</a>, <a href="#PageV2_85">85</a>, <a href="#PageV2_90">90</a>, <a href="#PageV2_117">117</a>, <a href="#PageV2_216">216</a>, <a href="#PageV2_223">223</a>, <a href="#PageV2_309">309</a>, <a href="#PageV2_313">313</a>, <a href="#PageV2_315">315</a>;<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_401" id="PageV2_401">[401]</a></span></li> + <li>letter from Mrs. Leighton to, ii. <a href="#PageV2_56">56</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_76" target="_blank">76</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_87" target="_blank">87</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_99" target="_blank">99</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_105" target="_blank">105</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_145" target="_blank">145</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_169" target="_blank">169</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_181" target="_blank">181</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_65">65</a>, <a href="#PageV2_95">95</a>, <a href="#PageV2_304">304</a>, <a href="#PageV2_316">316</a>, <a href="#PageV2_326">326</a>, <a href="#PageV2_363">363</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>May, Phil, ii. <a href="#PageV2_32">32</a></li> + +<li>Medinet Haboo, ii. <a href="#PageV2_164">164</a></li> + +<li>Meissonier, ii. <a href="#PageV2_214">214</a></li> + +<li>Melbourne, art exhibition in, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_3" target="_blank">3-4</a></li> + +<li>Meli, Signor, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_37" target="_blank">37</a></li> + +<li>Mendelssohn, Frau, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_56" target="_blank">56</a></li> + +<li>Meran, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_71" target="_blank">71</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_89" target="_blank">89</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_282" target="_blank">282</a></li> + +<li>Meynell, Wilfrid, ii. <a href="#PageV2_321">321</a>, <a href="#PageV2_364">364</a></li> + +<li>Middleburgh, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_63" target="_blank">63</a></li> + +<li>Millais, Sir J., Leighton's estimate of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_67">67</a>, <a href="#PageV2_68">68</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>flower painting by, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_220" target="_blank">220</a>;</li> + <li>"Needless Alarms" given to, ii. <a href="#PageV2_260">260</a>;</li> + <li>letter from, <a href="#PageV2_230">230</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_186" target="_blank">187 <i>note</i> [34]</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_221" target="_blank">221</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_234" target="_blank">234</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_254" target="_blank">254</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_60">60</a>, <a href="#PageV2_87">87</a>, <a href="#PageV2_118">118</a>, <a href="#PageV2_319">319</a>, <a href="#PageV2_322">322</a>, <a href="#PageV2_338">338</a>, <a href="#PageV2_368">368</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Millet, Jean François, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_241" target="_blank">241</a></li> + +<li>Mills, Sir Charles, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_4" target="_blank">4</a></li> + +<li>Mills, Miss Mabel (Hon. Mrs. Grenfell), portrait of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_197">197</a></li> + +<li>Minyeh, ii. <a href="#PageV2_135">135-136</a></li> + +<li>Monbrison, George de, ii. <a href="#PageV2_41">41</a></li> + +<li>Monson, Lady, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_244" target="_blank">244</a></li> + +<li>Montfort, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_243" target="_blank">243</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_249" target="_blank">249</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_39">39</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>cited, <a href="#PageV2_46">46</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Moor scenery, ii. <a href="#PageV2_308">308-309</a>, <a href="#PageV2_311">311</a></li> + +<li>Moorish interior, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_301" target="_blank">301</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>music, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_303" target="_blank">303</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Morants, ii. <a href="#PageV2_66">66</a></li> + +<li>Morlaix, ii. <a href="#PageV2_324">324</a></li> + +<li>Morley, Rt. Hon. John, letter from, ii. <a href="#PageV2_331">331</a></li> + +<li>Morny, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_243" target="_blank">243</a></li> + +<li>Morris, William, ii. <a href="#PageV2_220">220</a></li> + +<li>Mortlake, M.C., ii. <a href="#PageV2_119">120 <i>note</i> [35]</a></li> + +<li>Music— + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Italian, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_167" target="_blank">167</a></li> + <li>Leighton's feeling for, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_100" target="_blank">100</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_182" target="_blank">182</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_6">6</a>; + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>his singing, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_140" target="_blank">140-141</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_169" target="_blank">169-170</a>;</li> + <li>his yearly gatherings, ii. <a href="#PageV2_216">216-217</a>;</li> + <li>his speech at the Joachim celebration, ii. <a href="#PageV2_245">245-247</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Monday popular concerts, ii. <a href="#PageV2_216">216</a></li> + <li>Moorish, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_303" target="_blank">303</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Mustafa Aga, ii. <a href="#PageV2_143">143-144</a>, <a href="#PageV2_165">165</a>, <a href="#PageV2_172">172</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Napier, Lord, ii. <a href="#PageV2_325">325</a></li> + +<li>Naples, Leighton's visit to (1859), ii. <a href="#PageV2_41">41</a></li> + +<li>Nash, Mr. and Mrs., i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_224" target="_blank">224</a></li> + +<li>Neville, Lady Dorothy, ii. <a href="#PageV2_111">111</a>, <a href="#PageV2_114">114</a></li> + +<li>Nettleship, ii. <a href="#PageV2_114">114</a></li> + +<li>Nias, Lady, <i>see</i> Laing, Isabel</li> + +<li>Nicholson, ii. <a href="#PageV2_55">55</a></li> + +<li>Nordau, Leighton's estimate of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_326">326-327</a></li> + +<li>North, Miss, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_220" target="_blank">220</a></li> + +<li>Norton, Hon. Mrs., letter from, ii. <a href="#PageV2_10">10 <i>note</i> [1]</a></li> + +<li>Novello, Clara, ii. <a href="#PageV2_43">43</a></li> + +<li>Nubians, ii. <a href="#PageV2_150">150</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Oakes, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_96" target="_blank">96</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_108" target="_blank">108</a></li> + +<li><i>Obiter Dicta</i> (Birrell), ii. <a href="#PageV2_304">304-305</a></li> + +<li>O'Conor, ii. <a href="#PageV2_226">226</a></li> + +<li>Ogle, Miss, ii. <a href="#PageV2_38">38</a></li> + +<li>Old Masters— + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Leighton's attitude towards, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_230" target="_blank">230</a></li> + <li>Winter Exhibitions of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_214">214</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Oppenheim, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_56" target="_blank">56</a></li> + +<li>Orcagna, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_225" target="_blank">225</a></li> + +<li>Ordway, Mr., ii. <a href="#PageV2_69">69</a>, <a href="#PageV2_71">71</a>, <a href="#PageV2_74">74</a>, <a href="#PageV2_75">75</a>, <a href="#PageV2_83">83</a></li> + +<li>Orr, Col. Sutherland, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_3" target="_blank">3 <i>note</i> [2]</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_300" target="_blank">300</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_309" target="_blank">309</a></li> + +<li>Orr, Mrs. Sutherland (Alexandra Leighton), birth of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_36" target="_blank">36</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>marriage of, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_3" target="_blank">3 <i>note</i> [2]</a>;</li> + <li>in India, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_300" target="_blank">300 <i>and note</i> [70]</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_306" target="_blank">306</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_309" target="_blank">309</a>;</li> + <li>widowed, ii. <a href="#PageV2_50">50</a>;</li> + <li>portrait of, <a href="#PageV2_54">54</a>, <a href="#PageV2_57">57</a>, <a href="#PageV2_61">61</a>;</li> + <li>in Leighton's last illness, <a href="#PageV2_333">333-334</a>;</li> + <li>at the funeral, <a href="#PageV2_338">338</a>;</li> + <li>work on Browning by, <a href="#PageV2_314">314 <i>and note</i> [83]</a>;</li> + <li>letters to, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_18" target="_blank">18</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_19" target="_blank">19</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_22" target="_blank">22 <i>note</i> [8]</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_302" target="_blank">302</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_240">240</a>, <a href="#PageV2_304">304</a>, <a href="#PageV2_307">307</a>, <a href="#PageV2_310">310</a>, <a href="#PageV2_311">311</a>, <a href="#PageV2_319">319</a>, <a href="#PageV2_322">322</a>, <a href="#PageV2_325">325</a>, <a href="#PageV2_326">326</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_42" target="_blank">42</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_44" target="_blank">44</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_46" target="_blank">46</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_99" target="_blank">99</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_126" target="_blank">126</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_183" target="_blank">183</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_45">45</a>, <a href="#PageV2_211">211</a>, <a href="#PageV2_273">273</a>, <a href="#PageV2_315">315</a>, <a href="#PageV2_363">363</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>"Orphée," ii. <a href="#PageV2_52">52-53 <i>and note</i> [14]</a></li> + +<li>Ouless, W.W., i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_4" target="_blank">4</a></li> + +<li>Overbeck, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_96" target="_blank">96</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_116" target="_blank">116</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_132" target="_blank">132-133</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_189" target="_blank">189</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_190" target="_blank">190</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_192" target="_blank">192</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Leighton's estimate of, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_113" target="_blank">113-114</a>;</li> + <li>Steinle's, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_121" target="_blank">121</a></li> + </ul> +<br /></li> + + +<li>Paestum, ii. <a href="#PageV2_50">50</a></li> + +<li>Paget, Sir James, ii. <a href="#PageV2_313">313</a></li> + +<li>Palmer, ii. <a href="#PageV2_55">55</a></li> + +<li>Panshanger, ii. <a href="#PageV2_92">92</a></li> + +<li>Pantaleone, Dr., i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_169" target="_blank">169</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_52">52</a></li> + +<li>Paris, Comtesse de, telegram from, ii. <a href="#PageV2_321">321</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_402" id="PageV2_402">[402]</a></span></li> + +<li>Parry, Gambier, ii. <a href="#PageV2_105">105</a>, <a href="#PageV2_299">299-301</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>letter from, <a href="#PageV2_108">108</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Pasta, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_267" target="_blank">267-268</a></li> + +<li>Pasteur, W., letter from, ii. <a href="#PageV2_244">244 <i>note</i> [66]</a></li> + +<li>Pattison, Mrs. Mark, letters to, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_16" target="_blank">16</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_27" target="_blank">27</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_302" target="_blank">302</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_118">118</a>, <a href="#PageV2_128">128</a>, <a href="#PageV2_209">209</a>, <a href="#PageV2_303">303</a></li> + +<li>"Pebbles," <i>see under</i> Leighton—Diary</li> + +<li>Perry, Walter Copland, ii. <a href="#PageV2_287">287-288 <i>and note</i> [79]</a></li> + +<li>Persian tiles, ii. <a href="#PageV2_364">364-365</a></li> + +<li>Perugia, ii. <a href="#PageV2_19">19</a></li> + +<li>Perugini, Carlo, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_236" target="_blank">236</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_237" target="_blank">237</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_241" target="_blank">241</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_55">55</a></li> + +<li>Petre, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_290" target="_blank">290</a></li> + +<li>Pheidias, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_224" target="_blank">224</a></li> + +<li>Philipson, Mr., ii. <a href="#PageV2_364">364</a></li> + +<li>Phipps, Hon. Col., i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_265" target="_blank">265</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_267" target="_blank">267</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_282" target="_blank">282</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_290" target="_blank">290</a></li> + +<li>Phipps, Hon. Mrs., ii. <a href="#PageV2_40">40</a></li> + +<li>Photography, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_202" target="_blank">202-206</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>of masterpieces, ii. <a href="#PageV2_277">277</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Phylæ, ii. <a href="#PageV2_150">150-151</a>, <a href="#PageV2_154">154-155</a>, <a href="#PageV2_167">167</a></li> + +<li>Piatti, ii. <a href="#PageV2_228">228</a></li> + +<li>Pictures by Leighton— + <ul class="nest"> + <li>"And the Sea gave up ...," ii. <a href="#PageV2_193">193</a></li> + <li>"Antique Juggling Girl, The," ii. <a href="#PageV2_194">194-195</a>, <a href="#PageV2_205">205 <i>note</i> [53]</a></li> + <li>"Ariadne abandoned by Theseus," ii. <a href="#PageV2_370">370</a></li> + <li>"Atalanta," ii. <a href="#PageV2_262">262-263</a></li> + <li>"Bath of Psyche, The," ii. <a href="#PageV2_257">257</a></li> + <li>"Byzantine Well," ii. <a href="#PageV2_42">42 <i>and note</i> [12]</a></li> + <li>"Captive Andromache," ii. <a href="#PageV2_370">370</a></li> + <li>"Cimabue finding Giotto in the Fields of Florence," i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_56" target="_blank">56</a></li> + <li>"Cimabue's Madonna"— + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>Description of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_173" target="_blank">173</a></li> + <li>Estimate of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_185" target="_blank">185-186</a>; + <ul class="nest3"> + <li>by Richmond, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_186" target="_blank">186</a>;</li> + <li>by Ruskin, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_186" target="_blank">186 <i>note</i> [34]</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_367">367</a>;</li> + <li>by Rossetti, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_186" target="_blank">187 <i>note</i> [34]</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Exhibition of, in Rome, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_177" target="_blank">177</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_180" target="_blank">180</a>; + <ul class="nest3"> + <li>at Leighton House (1900), i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_185" target="_blank">185</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Holes in, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_260" target="_blank">260 <i>and note</i> [59]</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_282" target="_blank">282-283</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_290" target="_blank">290</a></li> + <li>Success of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_32" target="_blank">32</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_193" target="_blank">193</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_367">367</a></li> + <li>Work on, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_128" target="_blank">128-130</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_135" target="_blank">135-136</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_141" target="_blank">141</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_145" target="_blank">145</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_148" target="_blank">148-151</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_155" target="_blank">155</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_175" target="_blank">175</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_179" target="_blank">179</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_184" target="_blank">184-186</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>"Cleoboulos Instructing his Daughter Cleobouline," ii. <a href="#PageV2_192">192</a></li> + <li>"Clytemnestra Watching from the Battlements of Argos," ii. <a href="#PageV2_195">195 <i>and note</i> [46]</a>, <a href="#PageV2_205">205 <i>note</i> [53]</a>, <a href="#PageV2_366">366</a></li> + <li>"Clytie," ii. <a href="#PageV2_96">96</a>, <a href="#PageV2_263">263</a>, <a href="#PageV2_327">327</a></li> + <li>"Condottiere, A," ii. <a href="#PageV2_193">193</a></li> + <li>"Crossbowman, The," ii. <a href="#PageV2_119">119</a></li> + <li>"Cymon and Iphegenia," i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_25" target="_blank">25</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_258">258 <i>and note</i> [70]</a>, <a href="#PageV2_259">259</a></li> + <li>"Dædalus and Icarus," ii. <a href="#PageV2_188">188</a>, <a href="#PageV2_189">189</a></li> + <li>"Dante at Verona," ii. <a href="#PageV2_114">114</a>, <a href="#PageV2_123">123 <i>and note</i> [38]</a></li> + <li>"Daphnephoria, The," ii. <a href="#PageV2_195">195-197</a></li> + <li>"Death of Brunelleschi, The," i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_55" target="_blank">55-56</a></li> + <li>"Duel between Romeo and Tybalt, The," i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_56" target="_blank">56</a></li> + <li>"Duet" (small "Johnnie"), ii. <a href="#PageV2_85">85 <i>note</i> [22]</a>, <a href="#PageV2_88">88</a>, <a href="#PageV2_123">123</a></li> + <li>"Eastern King, The," ii. <a href="#PageV2_86">86-88</a>, <a href="#PageV2_107">107</a></li> + <li>"Egyptian Slinger," ii. <a href="#PageV2_370">370</a></li> + <li>"Electra at the Tomb of Agamemnon," ii. <a href="#PageV2_188">188</a>, <a href="#PageV2_189">189</a>, <a href="#PageV2_370">370</a></li> + <li>"Elijah in the Wilderness," ii. <a href="#PageV2_188">188</a>, <a href="#PageV2_256">256</a></li> + <li>"Eucharis," ii. <a href="#PageV2_9">9</a>, <a href="#PageV2_108">108</a>, <a href="#PageV2_119">119 <i>and note</i> [34]</a></li> + <li>"Fisherman and the Syren, The," ii. <a href="#PageV2_36">36 <i>and note</i> [8]</a>, <a href="#PageV2_62">62</a></li> + <li>"Flaming June," ii. <a href="#PageV2_262">262-263</a></li> + <li>"Francesca," ii. <a href="#PageV2_57">57</a>, <a href="#PageV2_58">59 <i>note</i> [18]</a></li> + <li>"Girl feeding Peacocks," ii. <a href="#PageV2_119">119 <i>and note</i> [33]</a></li> + <li>"Golden Hours," ii. <a href="#PageV2_9">9</a>, <a href="#PageV2_114">114</a></li> + <li>"Greek Girl Dancing," ii. <a href="#PageV2_193">193</a></li> + <li>"Greek Girls Picking up Pebbles," ii. <a href="#PageV2_192">192</a></li> + <li>"Helen of Troy," ii. <a href="#PageV2_125">125 <i>and note</i> [39]</a></li> + <li>"Helios and Rhodos," ii. <a href="#PageV2_188">188</a></li> + <li>"Heracles Wrestling with Death for the Body of Alcestis," ii. <a href="#PageV2_189">189-191</a>, <a href="#PageV2_370">370</a></li> + <li>"Honeymoon, The," ii. <a href="#PageV2_114">114</a>, <a href="#PageV2_123">123</a></li> + <li>Improvement in, by keeping, ii. <a href="#PageV2_258">258 <i>note</i> [70]</a></li> + <li>"In a Moorish Garden," ii. <a href="#PageV2_194">194</a>, <a href="#PageV2_205">205 <i>note</i> [53]</a></li> + <li>"Industrial Arts of Peace, The," ii. <a href="#PageV2_193">193-194</a>, <a href="#PageV2_202">202</a></li> + <li>"Industrial Arts of War, The," ii. <a href="#PageV2_193">193-194</a>, <a href="#PageV2_224">224</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_403" id="PageV2_403">[403]</a></span></li> + <li>Landscapes in Oil, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_208" target="_blank">208</a></li> + <li>"Lieder ohne Worte," ii. <a href="#PageV2_17">17 <i>and note</i> [3]</a>, <a href="#PageV2_57">57</a>, <a href="#PageV2_57">58 <i>note</i> [16]</a>, <a href="#PageV2_60">60 <i>note</i> [19]</a>, <a href="#PageV2_61">61-63</a>, <a href="#PageV2_65">65</a>, <a href="#PageV2_367">367</a></li> + <li>List of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_381">381-392</a></li> + <li>"Michael Angelo Nursing his Dying Servant," ii. <a href="#PageV2_86">86-88</a>, <a href="#PageV2_93">93</a>, <a href="#PageV2_105">105-107</a>, <a href="#PageV2_370">370</a></li> + <li>"Music Lesson," ii. <a href="#PageV2_197">197</a></li> + <li>"Nanna, La," ii. <a href="#PageV2_39">39-41</a>, <a href="#PageV2_48">48</a></li> + <li>"Nausicaa," ii. <a href="#PageV2_200">200-201</a></li> + <li>"Negro Festival, A," i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_302" target="_blank">302</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_44">44-47</a></li> + <li>"Neruccia," ii. <a href="#PageV2_256">256</a>, <a href="#PageV2_257">257</a></li> + <li>"Nile Woman, A," ii. <a href="#PageV2_189">189</a></li> + <li>"Noble Lady of Venice, A," ii. <a href="#PageV2_10">10</a></li> + <li>"Plague in Florence," ii. <a href="#PageV2_370">370</a></li> + <li>"Psyche," ii. <a href="#PageV2_368">368</a></li> + <li>Number of, during Presidency, ii. <a href="#PageV2_257">257</a></li> + <li>"Odalisque," ii. <a href="#PageV2_87">87</a>, <a href="#PageV2_88">88</a></li> + <li>"Old Damascus," ii. <a href="#PageV2_205">205 <i>and note</i> [53]</a></li> + <li>"Orpheus," <i>see subheading</i> "Triumph of Music"</li> + <li>"Othello and Desdemona," i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_44" target="_blank">44</a></li> + <li>"Pan," i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_249" target="_blank">249</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_258" target="_blank">258</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_278" target="_blank">278</a>; + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>in America, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_300" target="_blank">300</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_45">45-46</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>"Paolo and Francesca," ii. <a href="#PageV2_63">63</a>, <a href="#PageV2_76">76-77</a></li> + <li>"Persephone," i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_220" target="_blank">220</a></li> + <li>"Perseus and Andromeda," ii. <a href="#PageV2_198">198</a></li> + <li>Perugini, Carlo, head of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_237" target="_blank">237</a></li> + <li>Poetry in, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_211" target="_blank">211</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_29">29 <i>and note</i> [6]</a></li> + <li>"Reconciliation of the Montagues and Capulets"— + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>America, in, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_300" target="_blank">300</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_46">46</a></li> + <li>Criticism of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_287" target="_blank">287 <i>note</i> [68]</a></li> + <li>France, in, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_235" target="_blank">235</a></li> + <li>Sale of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_289" target="_blank">289</a></li> + <li>mentioned, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_141" target="_blank">141</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_176" target="_blank">176</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>"Romeo," <i>see subheading</i> "Reconciliation"</li> + <li>"Romeo and Juliet," ii. <a href="#PageV2_36">36 <i>and note</i> [8]</a></li> + <li>"Rustic Music" (large "Johnnie"), ii. <a href="#PageV2_85">85 <i>note</i> [22]</a>, <a href="#PageV2_86">86</a>, <a href="#PageV2_88">88</a></li> + <li>"S. Jerome," ii. <a href="#PageV2_188">188</a></li> + <li>"Salome, the Daughter of Herodias," i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_308" target="_blank">308</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_119">119 <i>and note</i> [35]</a></li> + <li>"Samson and Delilah," ii. <a href="#PageV2_39">39</a>, <a href="#PageV2_47">47</a>, <a href="#PageV2_74">74</a></li> + <li>"Sea Echoes," ii. <a href="#PageV2_87">87 <i>and note</i> [24]</a>, <a href="#PageV2_88">88</a></li> + <li>"Solitude," ii. <a href="#PageV2_260">260-261 <i>and note</i> [74]</a></li> + <li>"Spirit of the Summit, The," i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_10" target="_blank">10</a></li> + <li>"Study," ii. <a href="#PageV2_197">197</a></li> + <li>"Summer Moon," ii. <a href="#PageV2_192">192-193</a>, <a href="#PageV2_366">366</a></li> + <li>"Sunrise—Capri," ii. <a href="#PageV2_53">53</a></li> + <li>"Syracusan Bride ..., A," ii. <a href="#PageV2_10">10 <i>and note</i> [1]</a>, <a href="#PageV2_124">124</a></li> + <li>Texture of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_93">93</a></li> + <li>"Triumph of Music, The"— + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>Failure of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_246" target="_blank">246-249</a></li> + <li>"Sketches of Orpheus," i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_278" target="_blank">278</a></li> + <li>Subject of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_244" target="_blank">244-245</a></li> + <li>mentioned, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_236" target="_blank">236</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_238" target="_blank">238</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_257" target="_blank">257</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_46">46</a>, <a href="#PageV2_114">114</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>"Venus," i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_249" target="_blank">249</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_258" target="_blank">258-259</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_278" target="_blank">278</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_287" target="_blank">287 <i>note</i> [68]</a>; + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>in America, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_300" target="_blank">300</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_45">45-46</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>"Venus disrobing for the Bath," ii. <a href="#PageV2_368">368</a></li> + <li>Vision of Mrs. Sandbach, ii. <a href="#PageV2_54">54 <i>and note</i> [15]</a>, <a href="#PageV2_56">56</a>, <a href="#PageV2_57">57</a>, <a href="#PageV2_58">58</a></li> + <li>"Weaving the Wreath," ii. <a href="#PageV2_194">194</a></li> + <li>"Wedded," ii. <a href="#PageV2_29">29 <i>note</i> [6]</a></li> + <li>"Winding the Skein," ii. <a href="#PageV2_201">201</a>, <a href="#PageV2_368">368</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Pisano, Nicolo, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_227" target="_blank">227</a></li> + +<li>Pocock, ii. <a href="#PageV2_87">87</a></li> + +<li>Pollington, Lady, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_115" target="_blank">115</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>portrait of, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_54" target="_blank">54</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Portraits by Leighton— + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Ashburton, Lord, ii. <a href="#PageV2_123">123 <i>and note</i> [37]</a></li> + <li>Bentinck, Count, family of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_49" target="_blank">49</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_52" target="_blank">52</a></li> + <li>Burton, Sir R., ii. <a href="#PageV2_195">195</a>, <a href="#PageV2_196">196</a></li> + <li>Costa, Giovanni, ii. <a href="#PageV2_256">256</a></li> + <li>Cowley, Lady, and family, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_48" target="_blank">48-49</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_53" target="_blank">53</a></li> + <li>Cowper, Lord, ii. <a href="#PageV2_88">88</a></li> + <li>Guthrie, Mrs. James, ii. <a href="#PageV2_10">10 <i>note</i> [1]</a>, <a href="#PageV2_114">114</a></li> + <li>I'Anson, Mr., i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_46" target="_blank">46</a></li> + <li>Mills, Miss Mabel, ii. <a href="#PageV2_197">197</a></li> + <li>Pollington, Lady, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_54" target="_blank">54</a></li> + <li>Walker, Mrs. Hanson, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_251" target="_blank">251 <i>note</i> [57]</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Powers, Hiram, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_114" target="_blank">114</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>estimate of Leighton by, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_39" target="_blank">39</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Poynter, Sir E., i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_164" target="_blank">164</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>estimate of Leighton by, ii. <a href="#PageV2_242">242 <i>note</i> [64]</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Prange, Mr., i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_4" target="_blank">4</a></li> + +<li>Pre-Raphaelites— + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Burne-Jones distinguished from, ii. <a href="#PageV2_25">25</a>;</li> + <li>Leighton's estimate of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_289" target="_blank">289</a>;</li> + <li>his relations with, ii. <a href="#PageV2_52">52</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Pullen, Miss (Dorothy Dene), ii. <a href="#PageV2_267">267-274</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_404" id="PageV2_404">[404]</a></span></li> + +<li>Pullen, Lina, ii. <a href="#PageV2_268">268</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Quilter, Sir Cuthbert, ii. <a href="#PageV2_258">258 <i>note</i> [70]</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Rafaello, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_162" target="_blank">162 <i>and note</i> [31]</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_163" target="_blank">163</a></li> + +<li>Ravaschieri, Duchessa, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_167" target="_blank">167</a></li> + +<li>Rawnsley, Canon, ii. <a href="#PageV2_372">372</a></li> + +<li>Redesdale, Lord, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_121" target="_blank">121</a></li> + +<li>Reeves, Sims, ii. <a href="#PageV2_44">44</a></li> + +<li>Reston, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_268" target="_blank">268</a></li> + +<li>Rhapsodist performance, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_303" target="_blank">303-304</a></li> + +<li>Rhoden, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_133" target="_blank">133</a></li> + +<li>Rhodes Island, ii. <a href="#PageV2_129">129-130</a>, <a href="#PageV2_148">148</a></li> + +<li>Rhys, Ernest, cited, ii. <a href="#PageV2_232">232 <i>note</i> [61]</a></li> + +<li>Ricardo, Puliza, ii. <a href="#PageV2_46">46</a></li> + +<li>Richmond, George, ii. <a href="#PageV2_255">255</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>letter from, <a href="#PageV2_312">312</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Richmond, Sir Wm. B., i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_186" target="_blank">186</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_220" target="_blank">220</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_55">55</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>estimate of Leighton by, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_209" target="_blank">209</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_1">1-6</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Ristori, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_242" target="_blank">242-243</a></li> + +<li>Ritchie, Miss, ii. <a href="#PageV2_217">217</a></li> + +<li>Ritchie, Mrs. Richard, quoted, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_194" target="_blank">194 <i>note</i> [36]</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_43">43 <i>note</i> [13]</a></li> + +<li>Rivière, Briton, estimate of Leighton by, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_5" target="_blank">5</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_129" target="_blank">129</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_207" target="_blank">207</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_250" target="_blank">250</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_21">21-22</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>quoted, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_216" target="_blank">216</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_233">233-234</a>, <a href="#PageV2_317">317</a>;</li> + <li>letter from, ii. <a href="#PageV2_230">230</a>;</li> + <li>letters to, ii. <a href="#PageV2_318">318</a>, <a href="#PageV2_324">324</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Roberts, Dr., ii. <a href="#PageV2_241">241</a>, <a href="#PageV2_315">315</a>, <a href="#PageV2_316">316</a>, <a href="#PageV2_329">329</a></li> + +<li>Roman Catholic faith, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_66" target="_blank">66</a></li> + +<li>Rome— + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Art, influence on, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_147" target="_blank">147</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_188" target="_blank">188</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_191" target="_blank">191</a></li> + <li>Café Greco, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_162" target="_blank">162 <i>note</i> [31]</a></li> + <li>Leighton's early studies in, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_37" target="_blank">37</a></li> + <li>Steinle's estimate of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_280" target="_blank">280-281</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li><i>Romola</i>, Leighton's illustrations for, ii. <a href="#PageV2_95">95-102</a>, <a href="#PageV2_121">121</a></li> + +<li>Rosebery, Lord, ii. <a href="#PageV2_372">372</a></li> + +<li>Ross, Mr., ii. <a href="#PageV2_132">132</a></li> + +<li>Ross, Mrs., ii. <a href="#PageV2_8">8</a></li> + +<li>Rossetti, D.G., i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_278" target="_blank">278</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_118">118</a>, <a href="#PageV2_288">288</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>quoted, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_187" target="_blank">187 <i>note</i> [34]</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_60">60 <i>note</i> [19]</a>, <a href="#PageV2_191">191</a>, <a href="#PageV2_368">368</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Rossetti, Wm., ii. <a href="#PageV2_45">45-46</a>, <a href="#PageV2_58">58</a></li> + +<li>Rossini, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_166" target="_blank">166-167</a></li> + +<li>Royal Academy— + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Attacks on, ii. <a href="#PageV2_8">8</a></li> + <li>Chantry Bequest, terms of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_251">251-253</a></li> + <li>Codification Committee, ii. <a href="#PageV2_254">254-255</a></li> + <li>Constitution of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_248">248-251 <i>note</i> [67]</a></li> + <li>Exhibitions of— + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>Burlington House, at, ii. <a href="#PageV2_201">201</a></li> + <li>Colour, as test of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_88">88</a></li> + <li>Winter, of Old Masters, ii. <a href="#PageV2_214">214</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Leighton an Associate of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_118">118</a>; + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>member, <a href="#PageV2_123">123</a>, <a href="#PageV2_188">188</a>;</li> + <li>President, ii. <a href="#PageV2_223">223</a>;</li> + <li>his speeches at banquets of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_241">241-243 <i>and notes</i> [64 and 65]</a>;</li> + <li>his bequest to, ii. <a href="#PageV2_333">333</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Pension question, ii. <a href="#PageV2_252">252-253</a>, <a href="#PageV2_255">255</a></li> + <li>Presidency of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_231">231 <i>note</i> [61]</a></li> + <li>Treasurership of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_248">249 <i>note</i> [67]</a></li> + <li>Tresham case, ii. <a href="#PageV2_248">248-250 <i>note</i> [67]</a></li> + <li>Women, question of admission of, to membership, ii. <a href="#PageV2_247">247-248 <i>and note</i> [67]</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Ruskin, John, estimate by, of "Cimabue's Madonna," i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_186" target="_blank">186 <i>note</i> [34]</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_367">367</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>of Leighton, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_212" target="_blank">212</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_373">373</a>;</li> + <li>on "A Lemon Tree," ii. <a href="#PageV2_41">41</a>;</li> + <li>on the Lyndhurst fresco, ii. <a href="#PageV2_112">112</a>;</li> + <li>letters from, ii. <a href="#PageV2_42">42</a>, <a href="#PageV2_120">120-121</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_201" target="_blank">201 <i>note</i> [42]</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_220" target="_blank">220</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_234" target="_blank">234</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_245" target="_blank">245</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_247" target="_blank">247</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_257" target="_blank">257</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_59">59</a>, <a href="#PageV2_377">377</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Russell, Odo (Lord Ampthill), ii. <a href="#PageV2_38">38</a>, <a href="#PageV2_40">40</a>, <a href="#PageV2_52">52</a></li> + +<li>Russell, Lady William, letters from, ii. <a href="#PageV2_215">215</a>, <a href="#PageV2_216">216</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>S. Francis of Assisi, quoted, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_22" target="_blank">22 <i>note</i> [10]</a></li> + +<li>Salisbury, ii. <a href="#PageV2_67">67</a></li> + +<li>Salisbury, Lord, ii. <a href="#PageV2_338">338</a></li> + +<li>Samuelson, Right Hon. Sir Bernard, ii. <a href="#PageV2_189">190 <i>note</i> [42]</a></li> + +<li>Sandbach, Mrs., ii. <a href="#PageV2_54">54 <i>and note</i> [15]</a>, <a href="#PageV2_56">56</a></li> + +<li>Sartoris, Hon. Mrs. Alfred, letter from, ii. <a href="#PageV2_88">88 <i>and note</i> [25]</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>quoted, <a href="#PageV2_104">104</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Sartoris, Edward, Leighton's friendship with, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_124" target="_blank">124</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_126" target="_blank">126</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>illness of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_263" target="_blank">263</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_266" target="_blank">266</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_267" target="_blank">267</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_28" target="_blank">28</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_147" target="_blank">147</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_240" target="_blank">240</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_241" target="_blank">241</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_245" target="_blank">245</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_257" target="_blank">257</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_310" target="_blank">310</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_46">46</a>, <a href="#PageV2_52">52</a>, <a href="#PageV2_66">66</a>, <a href="#PageV2_68">68</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Sartoris, Mrs. (Adelaide Kemble), Leighton's friendship with, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_27" target="_blank">27-28</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_124" target="_blank">124</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_126" target="_blank">126-128</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_149" target="_blank">149</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_166" target="_blank">166</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_168" target="_blank">168</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_176" target="_blank">176</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_181" target="_blank">181</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_183" target="_blank">183</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_194" target="_blank">194</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_250" target="_blank">250</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_289" target="_blank">289</a>;<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_405" id="PageV2_405">[405]</a></span> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>estimates of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_126" target="_blank">126-128</a>;</li> + <li>portrait of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_172" target="_blank">172</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_184" target="_blank">184</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_232" target="_blank">232</a>;</li> + <li>intimates of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_183" target="_blank">183</a>;</li> + <li>personal appearance of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_183" target="_blank">183</a>;</li> + <li>Mrs. Ritchie's account of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_194" target="_blank">194 <i>note</i> [36]</a>;</li> + <li>extract from early diary of, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_195" target="_blank">195-196 <i>note</i> [36]</a>;</li> + <li>Leighton's family's appreciation of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_232" target="_blank">232-233</a>;</li> + <li>"A Week in a French Country House" by, ii. <a href="#PageV2_103">103</a>;</li> + <li>illness of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_191">191-192</a>;</li> + <li>letter from, to Greville, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_266" target="_blank">266</a>; + <ul class="nest2"> + <li>to Mrs. Leighton, ii. <a href="#PageV2_61">61</a>;</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_146" target="_blank">146</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_147" target="_blank">147</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_182" target="_blank">182</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_234" target="_blank">234</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_240" target="_blank">240-245</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_247" target="_blank">247</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_251" target="_blank">251 <i>note</i> [56]</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_258" target="_blank">258</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_260" target="_blank">260-265</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_278" target="_blank">278</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_43">43 <i>and note</i> [13]</a>, <a href="#PageV2_52">52</a>, <a href="#PageV2_57">57</a>, <a href="#PageV2_66">66</a>, <a href="#PageV2_68">68</a>, <a href="#PageV2_81">81</a>, <a href="#PageV2_217">217</a>, <a href="#PageV2_218">218</a>, <a href="#PageV2_238">239 <i>note</i> [62]</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Saunders, Mr. Bailey, letter to, ii. <a href="#PageV2_305">305</a></li> + +<li>Scarborough Borough Council, messages from, ii. <a href="#PageV2_225">225</a>, <a href="#PageV2_331">331</a></li> + +<li>Schäffer, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_116" target="_blank">116</a></li> + +<li>Scheffer, Ary, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_245" target="_blank">245 <i>and note</i> [55]</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_249" target="_blank">249</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_46">46</a></li> + +<li>Schlemmer, Dr., i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_56" target="_blank">56</a></li> + +<li>Schlosser, Frau Rath, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_64" target="_blank">64</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_190" target="_blank">190</a></li> + +<li>Schwind, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_293" target="_blank">293</a></li> + +<li>Scottish rivers and scenery, ii. <a href="#PageV2_261">261-262</a>, <a href="#PageV2_308">308-309</a></li> + +<li>Sculpture, Leighton's view on, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_6" target="_blank">6</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_69" target="_blank">69</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_88" target="_blank">88-89</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>his work in, ii. <a href="#PageV2_198">198-200</a>, <a href="#PageV2_259">259-260</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Selim, Sheykh, ii. <a href="#PageV2_141">141-143</a>, <a href="#PageV2_179">179</a></li> + +<li>Sermoneta, Duke, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_169" target="_blank">169</a></li> + +<li>Servolini, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_38" target="_blank">38</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_39" target="_blank">39</a></li> + +<li>Seville, ii. <a href="#PageV2_210">210</a></li> + +<li>Shakespear, illustration of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_113">113</a></li> + +<li>Shaw, Norman, letter from, ii. <a href="#PageV2_239">239</a></li> + +<li>Sheik Boran Bukh, letter to, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_306" target="_blank">306</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>letter from, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_307" target="_blank">307</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Shelley, ii. <a href="#PageV2_307">307</a></li> + +<li>Shields, Frederick, ii. <a href="#PageV2_299">299</a></li> + +<li>Si Achmet, Syed, ii. <a href="#PageV2_173">173</a>, <a href="#PageV2_174">174</a>, <a href="#PageV2_176">176</a>, <a href="#PageV2_177">177</a></li> + +<li>Siddons, Mrs., i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_268" target="_blank">268</a></li> + +<li>Siena, Leighton at the Duomo fire in, ii. <a href="#PageV2_242">242 <i>note</i> [64]</a></li> + +<li>Simon, John, ii. <a href="#PageV2_42">42</a></li> + +<li>Smith, George, ii. <a href="#PageV2_364">364</a></li> + +<li>Society, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_166" target="_blank">166</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_222" target="_blank">222-223</a></li> + +<li>Sohag, ii. <a href="#PageV2_140">140</a>, <a href="#PageV2_159">159</a></li> + +<li>Somers, Lord, ii. <a href="#PageV2_213">213</a></li> + +<li>"Souls," the, ii. <a href="#PageV2_25">25</a></li> + +<li>South London Fine Art Gallery, ii. <a href="#PageV2_8">8</a></li> + +<li>Spain, Leighton's visit to (1866), ii. <a href="#PageV2_128">128</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>(1887), ii. <a href="#PageV2_209">209</a>;</li> + <li>(1889), <a href="#PageV2_238">238 <i>note</i> [62]</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Spanish language, Leighton's mastery of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_238">238 <i>note</i> [62]</a></li> + +<li>Speke, ii. <a href="#PageV2_172">172</a></li> + +<li>Spencer, Lord and Lady, ii. <a href="#PageV2_92">92</a></li> + +<li>Sphinx, ii. <a href="#PageV2_146">146</a></li> + +<li>Spielmann, M., letter to, ii. <a href="#PageV2_12">12</a></li> + +<li>Spottiswoode, Wm., letter from, ii. <a href="#PageV2_216">216 <i>note</i> [54]</a></li> + +<li>Stanton, Col., ii. <a href="#PageV2_131">131-132</a></li> + +<li>Statuary, <i>see</i> Sculpture</li> + +<li>Steinle, Eduard von, influence of, on Leighton, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_27" target="_blank">27</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_92" target="_blank">92</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_215" target="_blank">215</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_250" target="_blank">250</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_303">303</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Leighton's tribute to, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_61" target="_blank">61</a>;</li> + <li>list of Florentine paintings recommended by, for study, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_225" target="_blank">225-226</a>;</li> + <li>with Leighton (1856), i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_281" target="_blank">281-282</a>;</li> + <li>water-colour by, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_291" target="_blank">291 <i>note</i> [69]</a>;</li> + <li>portrait of (<i>Der Winter</i>), ii. <a href="#PageV2_303">303-304</a>;</li> + <li>estimate of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_40" target="_blank">40-42</a>;</li> + <li>death of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_303">303</a>;</li> + <li>letters to, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_22" target="_blank">22 <i>note</i> [9]</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_87" target="_blank">87</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_118" target="_blank">118</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_119" target="_blank">119</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_130" target="_blank">130</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_134" target="_blank">134</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_150" target="_blank">150</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_154" target="_blank">154</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_157" target="_blank">157</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_172" target="_blank">172</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_187" target="_blank">187</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_190" target="_blank">190</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_193" target="_blank">193</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_215" target="_blank">215</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_233" target="_blank">233</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_237" target="_blank">237</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_238" target="_blank">238</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_279" target="_blank">279</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_284" target="_blank">284</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_291" target="_blank">291-296</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_304" target="_blank">304</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_305" target="_blank">305</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_11">11</a>, <a href="#PageV2_49">49</a>, <a href="#PageV2_50">50</a>, <a href="#PageV2_53">53</a>, <a href="#PageV2_63">63</a>, <a href="#PageV2_64">64</a>, <a href="#PageV2_91">91</a>, <a href="#PageV2_105">105</a>, <a href="#PageV2_106">106</a>, <a href="#PageV2_112">112</a>, <a href="#PageV2_188">188</a>, <a href="#PageV2_201">201</a>;</li> + <li>letters from, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_116" target="_blank">116</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_120" target="_blank">120</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_151" target="_blank">151</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_189" target="_blank">189</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_280" target="_blank">280</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_127">127</a>, <a href="#PageV2_224">224</a>, <a href="#PageV2_302">302</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_24" target="_blank">24</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_56" target="_blank">56</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_64" target="_blank">64-65</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_86" target="_blank">86</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_113" target="_blank">113</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_129" target="_blank">129</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_136" target="_blank">136</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Stephens, ii. <a href="#PageV2_59">59</a>, <a href="#PageV2_87">87</a></li> + +<li>Sterlings, ii. <a href="#PageV2_133">133</a>, <a href="#PageV2_135">135</a>, <a href="#PageV2_182">182</a></li> + +<li>Stevens, Alfred, Wellington monument by, ii. <a href="#PageV2_286">286-287</a></li> + +<li>Storey, W.W., ii. <a href="#PageV2_7">7</a></li> + +<li>Strafford, Alice, Countess of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_251" target="_blank">251 <i>note</i> [56]</a></li> + +<li>Strangford, Lady, ii. <a href="#PageV2_222">222 <i>note</i> [57]</a></li> + +<li>Stratford de Redcliffe, Lady, ii. <a href="#PageV2_40">40</a></li> + +<li>Strauch, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_238" target="_blank">238</a></li> + +<li>Stretton, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_34" target="_blank">34</a></li> + +<li>Style, ii. <a href="#PageV2_4">4</a>, <a href="#PageV2_376">376</a></li> + +<li>Sunrise, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_79" target="_blank">79</a></li> + +<li>Sunset, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_170" target="_blank">170</a></li> + +<li>Swinburne, A.C., letter from, ii. <a href="#PageV2_307">307</a>;<span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_406" id="PageV2_406">[406]</a></span> + <ul class="nest"> + <li>tribute of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_339">339</a>;</li> + <li>quoted, ii. <a href="#PageV2_218">218 <i>note</i> [56]</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Symons, Arthur, quoted, ii. <a href="#PageV2_23">23-24</a></li> + +<li>Syoot, ii. <a href="#PageV2_137">137-140</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Tadema, Alma, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_220" target="_blank">220</a></li> + +<li>Talfourd, ii. <a href="#PageV2_55">55</a></li> + +<li>Tangiers, ii. <a href="#PageV2_209">209-210</a></li> + +<li>Tate, Sir Henry, ii. <a href="#PageV2_259">259</a></li> + +<li>Tate Gallery, founding of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_284">284-286</a></li> + +<li>Taylor, Tom, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_300" target="_blank">300</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_58">58</a></li> + +<li>Temple, A.G., ii. <a href="#PageV2_364">364</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>quoted, <a href="#PageV2_366">366</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Tennyson, ii. <a href="#PageV2_66">66</a></li> + +<li>Terry, Ellen, ii. <a href="#PageV2_271">271 <i>note</i> [77]</a></li> + +<li>Thackeray, Miss, ii. <a href="#PageV2_43">43</a>, <a href="#PageV2_92">92</a></li> + +<li>Thackeray, W.M., i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_176" target="_blank">176</a></li> + +<li>Thompson, Sir E., ii. <a href="#PageV2_338">338</a></li> + +<li>Thorley, Mrs. Anne, quoted, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_36" target="_blank">36</a></li> + +<li>Thornycroft, Hamo, ii. <a href="#PageV2_376">376</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>estimate of Leighton by, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_5" target="_blank">5-6</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_13" target="_blank">13-14</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Titian, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_225" target="_blank">225</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_11">11</a></li> + +<li>Tintoretto, ii. <a href="#PageV2_26">26</a></li> + +<li>Tree, Beerbohm, ii. <a href="#PageV2_271">271</a></li> + +<li>Troyon, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_245" target="_blank">245</a></li> + +<li>Turkish children, ii. <a href="#PageV2_168">168</a></li> + +<li>Tunnicliffe, Dr., ii. <a href="#PageV2_319">319</a></li> + +<li>Tupper, Martin F., letters from, ii. <a href="#PageV2_125">125 <i>note</i> [39]</a></li> + +<li>Turner, ii. <a href="#PageV2_121">121</a></li> + +<li>Tyrolese scenery and peasantry, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_66" target="_blank">66-69</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_71" target="_blank">71</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_198" target="_blank">198</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Ulm, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_65" target="_blank">65</a></li> + +<li>Underhill, Mr., quoted, ii. <a href="#PageV2_231">231 <i>note</i> [61]</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Valletort, Lady Katharine, ii. <a href="#PageV2_92">92</a></li> + +<li>Valletort, Lord, ii. <a href="#PageV2_92">92</a></li> + +<li>Van Eycke, ii. <a href="#PageV2_32">32</a></li> + +<li>Van Haanen, cited, ii. <a href="#PageV2_301">301</a></li> + +<li>Vandyke, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_54" target="_blank">54</a></li> + +<li>Vaughan, Kate, ii. <a href="#PageV2_25">25</a></li> + +<li>Velasquez, ii. <a href="#PageV2_235">235-238</a></li> + +<li>Venetians, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_82" target="_blank">82-83</a></li> + +<li>Venice (1852), i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_77" target="_blank">77-82</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_88" target="_blank">88</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>(1856), <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_283" target="_blank">283</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_285" target="_blank">285</a>;</li> + <li>after Athens, ii. <a href="#PageV2_131">131</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Verdi, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_268" target="_blank">268</a></li> + +<li>Verona, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_72" target="_blank">72</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_73" target="_blank">73</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_75" target="_blank">75</a></li> + +<li>Viardot, Madame, ii. <a href="#PageV2_52">52-53 <i>and note</i> [14]</a>, <a href="#PageV2_217">217</a></li> + +<li>Vibert, ii. <a href="#PageV2_301">301</a>, <a href="#PageV2_302">302</a></li> + +<li>Vichy, ii. <a href="#PageV2_218">218 <i>note</i> [56]</a></li> + +<li>Victoria, Queen, "Cimabue's Madonna" bought by, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_187" target="_blank">187 <i>note</i> [34]</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_193" target="_blank">193</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_195" target="_blank">195</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_222" target="_blank">222</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>on Prince Consort's death, ii. <a href="#PageV2_85">85</a>, <a href="#PageV2_86">86</a>;</li> + <li>medallion for Jubilee of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_288">288</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_261" target="_blank">261</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_263" target="_blank">263</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_265" target="_blank">265</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_276" target="_blank">276</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Victoria and Albert Museum— + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Decoration of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_202">202-204</a>;</li> + <li>Leighton examiner at, ii. <a href="#PageV2_212">212</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Volunteering, Leighton's activities in, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_11" target="_blank">11-14</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_86">86</a>, <a href="#PageV2_107">107</a>, <a href="#PageV2_111">111</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>his retirement (1883), ii. <a href="#PageV2_243">243-245</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Vyner, Mr. Clare, ii. <a href="#PageV2_92">92</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Walker, John Hanson ("Johnny"), Leighton's friendship with, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_251" target="_blank">251 <i>and note</i> [57]</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>paintings from, ii. <a href="#PageV2_85">85 <i>and note</i> [22]</a>;</li> + <li>letters to, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_269" target="_blank">269-277</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Walker, Mrs. J.H., portrait of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_251" target="_blank">251 <i>note</i> [57]</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_273" target="_blank">273 <i>and note</i> [66]</a></li> + +<li>Wall-painting, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_296" target="_blank">296-297</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_305" target="_blank">305</a></li> + +<li>Walpole, Mr. and Mrs. Henry, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_115" target="_blank">115</a></li> + +<li>Walton, Frank, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_4" target="_blank">4</a></li> + +<li>Wantage, Lady, ii. <a href="#PageV2_18">18 <i>note</i> [4]</a></li> + +<li>Ward, J., cited, ii. <a href="#PageV2_201">201 <i>note</i> [52]</a></li> + +<li>Waterhouse, A., ii. <a href="#PageV2_366">366</a></li> + +<li>Watney, Mrs. James, ii. <a href="#PageV2_364">364</a></li> + +<li>Watson, Wm., letters from, ii. <a href="#PageV2_321">321</a></li> + +<li>Watts, G.F., estimate of Leighton by, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_4" target="_blank">4</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_7" target="_blank">7</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_210" target="_blank">210</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_22">22</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Leighton's estimate of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_18">18</a>;</li> + <li>views on the province of art, <a href="#PageV2_23">23-24</a>;</li> + <li>theory on rendering of truth, <a href="#PageV2_31">31</a>;</li> + <li>Leighton's friendship with, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_224" target="_blank">224 <i>and note</i> [48]</a>;</li> + <li>compared with Leighton, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_230" target="_blank">230-231</a>;</li> + <li>portraits of "Dorothy Dene," ii. <a href="#PageV2_269">269 <i>note</i> [75]</a>;</li> + <li>Hollyer's photographs from, <a href="#PageV2_288">288</a>;</li> + <li>baronetcy declined by, <a href="#PageV2_289">289</a>;</li> + <li>picture presented by, to Leighton House, <a href="#PageV2_366">366</a>;</li> + <li>letter from, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_231" target="_blank">231</a>;</li> + <li>quoted, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_208" target="_blank">208</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_198">198 <i>note</i> [49]</a>, <a href="#PageV2_259">259</a>, <a href="#PageV2_366">366</a>;</li> + <li>cited, ii. <a href="#PageV2_192">192</a>, <a href="#PageV2_194">194 <i>note</i> [45]</a>;</li> + <li>otherwise mentioned, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_144" target="_blank">144</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_258" target="_blank">258</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_260" target="_blank">260-262</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_57">57</a>, <a href="#PageV2_119">119</a>, <a href="#PageV2_258">258-259</a>, <a href="#PageV2_264">264</a>, <a href="#PageV2_298">298</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="PageV2_407" id="PageV2_407">[407]</a></span></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Wellington, Duke of, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_168" target="_blank">168-169</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>Stevens' monument of, ii. <a href="#PageV2_286">286-287</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Wells, Henry, letters from, ii. <a href="#PageV2_248">248 <i>note</i> [67]</a>, <a href="#PageV2_250">250 <i>note</i> [67]</a>; + <ul class="nest"> + <li>letters to, <a href="#PageV2_249">249-255 <i>and note</i> [67]</a>, <a href="#PageV2_286">286</a>, <a href="#PageV2_287">287</a>, <a href="#PageV2_318">318</a>, <a href="#PageV2_322">322</a>, <a href="#PageV2_329">329</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li>Westbury, ii. <a href="#PageV2_74">74</a></li> + +<li>Westminster, architecture in, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_87" target="_blank">87</a></li> + +<li>Whistler, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_241" target="_blank">241</a>; ii. <a href="#PageV2_32">32</a></li> + +<li>Wilkinson, Gardiner, cited, ii. <a href="#PageV2_160">160</a></li> + +<li>Willig, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_291" target="_blank">291</a></li> + +<li>Wilson, Herbert, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_237" target="_blank">237</a>, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_240" target="_blank">240</a></li> + +<li>Wonista, Mrs., ii. <a href="#PageV2_181">181</a></li> + +<li>Woolfe, Henry, ii. <a href="#PageV2_114">114</a></li> + +<li>Wöredle, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_295" target="_blank">295</a></li> + +<li>Wright, Dr. William, quoted, ii. <a href="#PageV2_206">206</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li>Yeames' "Arthur and Hubert," ii. <a href="#PageV2_283">283</a></li> + + +<li>Zanetti, i. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35934/35934-h/35934-h.htm#PageV1_39" target="_blank">39</a></li> + +<li>Zermatt, ii. <a href="#PageV2_315">315</a></li> +</ul> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h4>THE END</h4> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h4>Printed by <span class="sc">Ballantyne, Hanson & Co.</span><br /> +Edinburgh & London</h4> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="ERRATA" id="ERRATA"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<h3>ERRATA</h3> +<br /> + +<p class="noin" style="margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%;">Page 41, note 2, <i>for</i> "sœür," <i>read</i> "sœur."<br /> +Page 148, line 21, <i>for</i> "Lindas," <i>read</i> "Lindos."<br /> +Page 260, line 16, <i>for</i> "Rispah," <i>read</i> "Rizpah."<br /> +Page 316, line 1, <i>for</i> "altmodish," <i>read</i> "altmodisch."<br /> +Page 320, line 34, <i>for</i> "men-schlich," <i>read</i> "mensch-lich."<br /> +Page 301, line 10, <i>for</i> "Gambia Parry," <i>read</i> "Gambier Parry."</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<div class="tr"> +<p class="cen"><a name="TN" id="TN"></a>Typographical errors corrected in text:</p> +<br /> +Page 14: "This arrangement, if effected" replaced with "This arrangement, is effected"<br /> +Page 46: "ą quarelle" replaced with "aquarelle"<br /> +Page 69: Rivere House replaced with Revere House<br /> +Page 69: Mr. Caleot replaced with Mr. Cabot<br /> +Page 129: Mr. Bileith replaced with Mr. Biliotti<br /> +Page 131: 1878 replaced with 1868. (Grant and Colfax, mentioned later in the diary, were elected in 1868, not 1878.)<br /> +Page 133: 1878 replaced with 1868. (see above)<br /> +Page 145: Koorveh replaced with Koorneh<br /> +Page 183: fastastic replaced with fantastic<br /> +Page 192: "Cleaboulos Instructing his Daughter Cleabouline" replaced with "Cleoboulos Instructing his Daughter Cleobouline"<br /> +Page 194: Cleabouline replaced with Cleobouline<br /> +Page 197: Cleabouline replaced with Cleobouline<br /> +Page 201: Cleabouline replaced with Cleobouline<br /> +Page 207: delighful replaced with delightful<br /> +Page 209: aficimado replaced with aficionado<br /> +Page 233: spontanteous replaced with spontaneous<br /> +Page 236: sociel replaced with social<br /> +Page 241: Gussey replaced with Gussy<br /> +Page 294: 'Are there differents kinds' replaced with 'Are there different kinds'<br /> +Page 320: mensch-lich replaced with menschlich (the errata includes the hyphen because it spans two lines)<br /> +Page 345: heirarchy replaced with hierarchy<br /> +Page 347: "a vivid scene of abstract beauty" replaced with "a vivid sense of abstract beauty"<br /> +Page 382: Keat's replaced with Keats'<br /> +Page 384: Œthra replaced with Æthra<br /> +Page 385: Longsor replaced with Lougsor<br /> +Page 386: 1886. *The Daphnephoria. changed to 1876. *The Daphnephoria.<br /> +Page 387: 1889. Catarina. replaced with 1879. Catarina.<br /> +Page 389: Hichins replaced with Hichens<br /> +Page 391: Mont replaced with Monte<br /> +Page 396: 'Garcia, Senor' replaced with 'Garcia, Señor'<br /> +Page 402: Phylae replaced with Phylæ<br /> +<br /> + +<p class="noin">Note that the date "Friday, 28th" on page 147 is out of +order. By checking the dates it clearly should be the 23rd, +which is confirmed with the date Wednesday, 28th on page +153. This has been corrected to "Friday, 23rd" in the text.<br /> +"Friday Evening" on page 152 has been corrected to "Tuesday Evening" +by the same logic.</p> + +<br /> + +<p class="cen">Words that are not errors:</p> + +Page 9: distrest.<br /> +Page 27: subtile.<br /> +Page 31: scumble.<br /> +Page 32: subtilty.<br /> +Page 47: the phrase 'tol-lol!' is 19th century slang for pretty good.<br /> +Page 198: trés<br /> +Page 236: euphuism.<br /> +Page 320: fribbled.<br /> +Page 347: shapliness.<br /> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> +<br /> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life, Letters and Work of Frederic +Leighton, by Mrs. Russell Barrington + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE, LETTERS OF FREDERICK LEIGHTON *** + +***** This file should be named 35935-h.htm or 35935-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/9/3/35935/ + +Produced by Jeannie Howse, Jonathan Ingram and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Life, Letters and Work of Frederic Leighton + Volume II + +Author: Mrs. Russell Barrington + +Release Date: May 20, 2011 [EBook #35935] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE, LETTERS OF FREDERICK LEIGHTON *** + + + + +Produced by Jeannie Howse, Jonathan Ingram and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + * * * * * + + + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original | + | document has been preserved. | + | | + | The Errata at the end of the book have been incorporated | + | into this e-book. | + | | + | Index entries referring to footnotes have been renamed | + | to match footnote numbers in this document. | + | | + | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. For | + | a complete list, please see the end of this document. | + | | + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + + [Illustration] + + + + + The Life, Letters and Work of + Frederic Baron Leighton + Of Stretton + + VOL. II + + + + + "_I am a workman first, and an official after._" + --FRED. LEIGHTON, 1888. + + "_Es bildet ein Talent sich in der Stille, + Doch ein Character in dem Strom der Welt._" + --GOETHE. + + + + + The Life, Letters and + Work of + + Frederic Leighton + + BY + MRS. RUSSELL BARRINGTON + AUTHOR OF "REMINISCENCES OF G.F. WATTS," ETC. ETC. + + + IN TWO VOLUMES + + VOL. II + + + LONDON + GEORGE ALLEN, RUSKIN HOUSE + 1906 + + [All rights reserved] + + + + + Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. + At the Ballantyne Press + + [Illustration: LORD LEIGHTON + From the portrait by G.F. Watts] + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + INTRODUCTION 1 + + CHAPTER I + FIRST STUDIO IN LONDON, 1859-1863 36 + + CHAPTER II + ILLUSTRATIONS FOR _CORNHILL MAGAZINE_--FRESCO FOR LYNDHURST + CHURCH--ASSOCIATE OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY--MRS. LEIGHTON'S + DEATH, 1863-1865 91 + + CHAPTER III + JOURNEYS TO THE EAST--CONSTANTINOPLE--SMYRNA--ATHENS--DIARY + "UP THE NILE TO PHYLAE," 1866-1869 128 + + CHAPTER IV + ROYAL ACADEMICIAN--MUSIC--ARAB HALL, 1869-1878 188 + + CHAPTER V + LEIGHTON AS PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY, 1878-1896 223 + + CHAPTER VI + LIFE WANING--DEATH, 1887-1896 312 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +VOLUME II + + 1. PORTRAIT OF LORD LEIGHTON (_Photogravure_) To face Dedication + By G.F. WATTS. + + 2. HEAD OF YOUNG GIRL (_Colour_) To face page 1 + A wedding gift to H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES, who + graciously gave permission for the painting to be + reproduced in this book. + + 3. "EUCHARIS," 1863 (_Colour_) 9 + By kind permission of Mrs. STEPHENSON CLARKE. + + 4. "A NOBLE LADY OF VENICE," 1866 (_Photogravure_) 10 + By kind permission of Lord ARMSTRONG. + + 5. "GREEK GIRLS PICKING UP SHELLS BY THE SEASHORE," 1871 18 + (_Photogravure_) + By kind permission of the Rt. Hon. JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN. + + 6. PORTRAIT OF MRS. SUTHERLAND ORR, 1861 57 + + 7. PENCIL SKETCH FOR "MICHAEL ANGELO NURSING HIS DYING + SERVANT," 1862 93 + Leighton House Collection. + + 8. ORIGINAL SKETCH FOR "SAMSON WRESTLING WITH THE LION" 94 + Designed as an illustration for Dalziel's Bible. Leighton + House Collection. + + 9. ORIGINAL DRAWING FOR THE GREAT GOD PAN, ILLUSTRATING MRS. + BROWNING'S POEM, "MUSICAL INSTRUMENT" 102 + In "_Cornhill Magazine_," July 1861. + Leighton House Collection. + + 10. "AN EVENING IN A FRENCH COUNTRY HOUSE," ILLUSTRATING MRS. + ADELAIDE SARTORIS' STORY, "A WEEK IN A FRENCH COUNTRY + HOUSE," PUBLISHED IN THE _Cornhill Magazine_, 1867 103 + By kind permission of Messrs. SMITH, ELDER, & CO. + + 11. "DRIFTING." SECOND ILLUSTRATION FOR SAME 104 + + 12. LORD LEIGHTON 107 + Photograph taken at Lyndhurst, 1863. + + 13. FRESCO FOR LYNDHURST CHURCH--"THE WISE AND FOOLISH + VIRGINS," 1864 111 + + 14. "GREEK GIRL DANCING," 1867 125 + By kind permission of Mr. PHILLIPSON. + + 15. SKETCH FOR A "PASTORAL," 1866 125 + Leighton House Collection. + + 16. SKETCH IN OILS--"EGYPT" (_Colour_) 131 + + 17. "S. JEROME." DIPLOMA WORK, 1869 188 + Gallery in Burlington House. + + 18. "ELECTRA AT THE TOMB OF AGAMEMNON" 189 + + 19. "HERACLES WRESTLING WITH DEATH FOR THE BODY OF ALCESTIS," + 1871 190 + By kind permission of the FINE ART SOCIETY. + + 20. "SUMMER MOON," 1872 193 + By kind permission of Messrs. P. & D. COLNAGHI. + + 21. "A CONDOTTIERE," 1872 193 + The Walker Fine Art Gallery, Birmingham. + + 22. STUDY FOR FIGURE IN FRIEZE, "MUSIC," 1886 193 + Leighton House Collection. + + 23. STUDY OF MAN'S FIGURE FOR THE "ARTS OF WAR," 1872 193 + Leighton House Collection. + + 24. STUDY OF MAN'S FIGURE FOR THE "ARTS OF WAR" 193 + Leighton House Collection. + + 25. STUDY OF MAN'S FIGURE FOR THE "ARTS OF WAR," 1872 193 + Leighton House Collection. + + 26. "ANTIQUE JUGGLING GIRL," 1874 (_Photogravure_) 194 + By kind permission of Mr. HODGES. + + 27. "CLYTEMNESTRA FROM THE BATTLEMENT OF ARGOS WATCHES FOR + THE BEACON FIRES WHICH ARE TO ANNOUNCE THE RETURN OF + AGAMEMNON," 1874 (_Photogravure_) 194 + Leighton House Collection. + + 28. STUDY FOR "CLYTEMNESTRA" 194 + Leighton House Collection. + + 29. STUDY FOR "SUMMER MOON" (_Colour_) 194 + Executed by moonlight in Rome. Given by the late A. + WATERHOUSE, R.A., to the Leighton House Collection. + + 30. "THE DAPHNEPHORIA," 1876 197 + By kind permission of the FINE ART SOCIETY. + + 31. "AT A READING-DESK," 1877 197 + By kind permission of Messrs. L.H. LEFEVRE & SON. + + 32. ORIGINAL STUDY FOR "AN ATHLETE STRUGGLING WITH A PYTHON," + 1876 199 + Given by the late G.F. WATTS to the Leighton House + Collection. + + 33. "NAUSICAA," 1878 201 + + 34. STUDY FOR GROUP IN THE "ARTS OF PEACE," 1873 202 + Leighton House Collection. + + 35. STUDY FOR THE FIGURE OF CIMABUE, CARRIED OUT IN MOSAIC IN + THE SOUTH COURT OF THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, 1868 203 + Leighton House Collection. + + 36. STUDY FOR THE FIGURE OF NICCOLA PISANO, CARRIED OUT IN + MOSAIC IN THE SOUTH COURT OF THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT + MUSEUM, 1868 203 + Leighton House Collection. + + 37. SKETCH OF THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS OF WALES, ATTENDED BY + LORD LEIGHTON, WHEN PRESENT AT A MONDAY POPULAR CONCERT + IN ST. JAMES'S HALL 216 + Drawn at the time by Mr. Theodore Blake Wirgman. + + 38. PORTRAIT OF SIR RICHARD FRANCIS BURTON, K.C.M.G., 1876 218 + + 39. VIEW OF ARAB HALL, 1906 221 + Leighton House Collection. + + 40. PORTRAIT OF PROFESSOR GIOVANNI COSTA 222 + Executed at Lerici in 1878. + + 41. "ELIJAH IN THE WILDERNESS," 1879 255 + + 42. STUDY FOR THE FIGURE OF "ELIJAH" 255 + Leighton House Collection. + + 43. "NERUCCIA," 1879 (_Photogravure_) 255 + By kind permission of Mrs. C.E. LEES. + + 44. "THE BATH OF PSYCHE," 1890 (_Photogravure_) 255 + The Tate Gallery. + + 45. "THE LIGHT OF THE HAREM," 1880 256 + By kind permission of the LEICESTER GALLERY. + + 46. DRAWING OF COMPLETE DESIGN FOR "AND THE SEA GAVE UP THE + DEAD THAT WERE IN IT," 1892 256 + + 47. STUDY FOR "MUSIC." A FRIEZE, 1886 256 + Leighton House Collection. + + 48. STUDY FOR "ANDROMEDA," 1890 256 + Leighton House Collection. + + 49. STUDY FROM CLAY MODEL FOR "PERSEUS," 1891 256 + Leighton House Collection. + + 50. STUDY FOR "PHOENICIANS BARTERING WITH BRITONS" 256 + Leighton House Collection. + + 51. "CYMON AND IPHIGENIA," 1884 (_Photogravure_) 256 + The Corporation of Leeds. + + 52. SKETCH IN OILS FOR "CYMON AND IPHIGENIA" (_Colour_) 256 + By kind permission of Mrs. STEWART HODGSON. + + 53. STUDY FOR SLEEPING GROUP IN "CYMON AND IPHIGENIA" 256 + Presented to the Leighton House Collection by G.F. WATTS. + + 54. FROM BRONZE FROM SMALL MODEL IN CLAY BY LORD LEIGHTON OF + "A SLUGGARD," 1886 258 + Leighton House Collection. + + 55. "NEEDLESS ALARMS," FROM BRONZE STATUETTE, 1886 258 + Leighton House Collection. + + 56. "THE LAST WATCH OF HERO," 1887 259 + Corporation of Manchester. + + 57. SKETCH IN OILS FOR "TRAGIC POETESS," 1890 (_Colour_) 259 + By kind permission of Mrs. STEWART HODGSON. + + 58. "ATALANTA," 1893 261 + By kind permission of the BERLIN PHOTOGRAPHIC CO. + + 59. "FLAMING JUNE," 1895 261 + By kind permission of Mrs. WATNEY. + + 60. STUDY FOR "FLAMING JUNE" 261 + Leighton House Collection. + + 61. "FATIDICA," 1894 261 + By kind permission of Messrs. T. AGNEW & SONS. + + 62. STUDIES FOR "FATIDICA" 261 + Leighton House Collection. + + 63. "MEMORIES," 1883 266 + By kind permission of Messrs. P. & D. COLNAGHI. + + 64. "THE JEALOUSY OF SIMOETHA THE SORCERESS," 1887 266 + + 65. "LETTY," 1884 (_Colour_) 266 + By kind permission of Mrs. HENRY JOACHIM. + + 66. STUDIES FROM DOROTHY DENE FOR "CLYTIE," 1895 268 + Leighton House Collection. + + 67. SKETCH IN OILS FOR "GREEK GIRLS PLAYING AT BALL," 1889 + (_In Colour_) 274 + By kind permission of Mrs. STEWART HODGSON. + + 68. "BACCHANTE," 1892 (_Photogravure_) 287 + By kind permission of Messrs. HENRY GRAVES & CO. + + 69. SKETCH IN OILS FOR "BACCHANTE" (_Colour_) 287 + By kind permission of Mrs. STEWART HODGSON. + + 70. "_Der Winter_" 304 + Drawing by EDUARD VON STEINLE. + + 71. SKETCH IN OILS FOR "SOLITUDE" (_Colour_) 310 + By kind permission of Mrs. STEWART HODGSON. + + 72. "SUMMER SLUMBER," 1894 (_Photogravure_) 316 + By kind permission of Mr. PHILLIPSON. + + 73. SKETCH FOR "SUMMER SLUMBER" 316 + Presented to the Leighton House Collection by + H.M. THE KING. + + 74. "THE FAIR PERSIAN," 1896 324 + By kind permission of Sir ELLIOTT LEES. + + 75. "THE SPIRIT OF THE SUMMIT," 1894 334 + + 76. STUDY FOR "LACHRYMAE," 1895 335 + Leighton House Collection. + + 77. "CLYTIE," 1896 336 + By kind permission of the FINE ART SOCIETY. + + 78. MEMORIAL MONUMENT IN ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL TO FREDERIC BARON + LEIGHTON OF STRETTON 340 + + 79. VIEW OF HALL AND STAIRCASE OF LEIGHTON HOUSE, GIVEN BY LORD + LEIGHTON'S SISTERS TO THE PUBLIC AS A MEMORIAL TO THEIR + BROTHER 340 + By kind permission of Mr. J. HARRIS STONE. + + + [Illustration: HEAD OF YOUNG GIRL + Wedding present from Lord Leighton to H.R.H. the Prince of + Wales, who has graciously allowed the painting to be reproduced + in this book] + + + + +THE LIFE OF LORD LEIGHTON + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +SIR WILLIAM RICHMOND, R.A., and Mr. Walter Crane have kindly +contributed the following notes:-- + + It was in 1860 that I first knew Leighton. We met over affairs + connected with the Artist Rifle Corps at Burlington House, and + afterwards at the studios of various artists, where discussions + took place regarding the formation and means of conduct of the + Corps. On several occasions I walked home with Leighton to his + house in Orme Square. + + I don't think I have ever known a man who grew more steadily + than Leighton did. The effort of his artistic life was to remove + the effects of a certain mannerism and over-education in his + early artistic life. His knowledge was wonderful, his powers of + design without immediate consultation with Nature were + phenomenal; he feared the facility in himself and went always to + Nature, that out of her manifold gifts he should be inspired + directly by them. And this constant study had its drawbacks as + well as its merits, because in one sense it stood in the way of + the development of an abstract power of invention. If ever an + artist made the most of his conscious abilities, Leighton did. + His character was so curiously simple on the one hand, and so + complicated on the other, that a balance between a very + emotional and extremely accurate temperament had to be found, + and it was found. How far a certain charm of spontaneity was + obscured a little, perhaps by erudition and a sort of + Aristotelian preciseness, it is not for me to say. There is in + all things a balance which, when once obtained, reduces the + weight in both scales. But we must take a life as it has been + made by circumstances, by early training and after influences; + and probably most men who are in earnest,--and Leighton was + pre-eminently in earnest,--find their proper issue finally. That + the best of Leighton's work will live, I am convinced; that it + will hold its own when a great deal of other work praised, + admired, even worshipped during the life of his contemporaries + shall be dead, I feel quite assured; and one may very justly be + asked--Why? The simple answer is that it was thorough, definite, + sincere, accomplished. Leighton never put out his hand towards + the limbo of vulgarity or fashion. Like Virgil, like + Mendelssohn, Leighton was a stylist, and his life's work showed + a perfection of attainment upon the lines which he drew out for + his progress almost to my thinking unrivalled in the work of any + of his contemporaries. Here and there he struck a deep note of + poetry, here and there he was like a Greek for his simplicity, + here and there his work shows the luxury of the Venetians, the + restraint of the Florentines, but never perhaps the majesty of + M. Angelo or the strong charm of Raphael. His art was eclectic; + still it was Leighton, and could have been done only as the + result of great natural gifts, assiduous study, force of + character, and, withal, independence of vision. His love of + beauty was his own personal love, not learnt, hardly perhaps + inherited, but spontaneous and lasting. This devotion to beauty + may have sometimes led his emotions away from character, which + sometimes is very nearly ugly as well as very nearly allied to + the highest beauty, which Bacon says has always something of + strangeness in it. The pursuit of beauty, _per se_, may be + purchased at the expense of character. + + But Leighton was always pulling himself up; and when he found + himself too facile, too ornate, he resolutely set his mind to + correct any tendency in that direction by fidelity to Nature, + sometimes even to her ugly movements. Excess was not in his + nature, which was curiously logical; his mind was swift, + far-seeing; in debate he was admirable, always seeing the weak + point of an argument at once, and "partie pris" was his + abomination. A man so gifted in the essence and laws of form, so + learned in the construction of the human frame, so deeply + sensitive to line and movement as well as to structure, surely + would have given to the world great works of sculpture. Indeed + he did, but not enough! One regrets that--still one must accept + the fact that form is but little cared for in this country, and + Leighton sinned by reason of his love of form; by many he was + called not a painter because he did not smear, did not trust to + accidents, did not leave works half done--because he was sincere + to his conviction that a work of art must be, to last, complete + "ad unguem." The present craze for incompleteness, for sketches + instead of pictures, for unripe instead of ripe fruit, must die + as all false notions die; the best, the rightest will live; and + when the present ephemeral fashion has worked itself out, the + nobility of Leighton's works, his best, are certain to take + their place in the estimation of those that know as surely as + that they are good. + + How many out of the multitude really, if we could test them, + care one jot for the Elgin Marbles, for the Demeter of Knidos, + for the vault of the Sistine Chapel?--very few. Really great + things never can be accepted by the commonplace. How should they + be? for to understand the highest in music, in architecture, + sculpture, or painting, the observer or listener must have a + spark in his constitution which is a portion of the flame that + burned white heat in the soul of the conceiver. How can such an + attitude of intimate sympathy belong to the many? It never has, + and probably never will. Great men are rare, and those who are + mentally or organically made to comprehend them are rare also. + The great can afford to wait because they are immortal. In all + one's dealings with Leighton what did one find? a noble nature, + restrained, charitable, in earnest; and if in many discussions + as to the desirability of certain events, certain compromises, + certain acts of conformity, one did not agree with Leighton, one + knew "au fond" that the attitude was quite logical, not hastily + arrived at, and the position taken up was to be strenuously + held: and it was that power of consistency which made Leighton + so trustworthy. He was fearless when his principles were + touched, he was loyal to his associates in the Academy even if + he did not see eye to eye with them, and he was loyal to his art + and to his friends. If Leighton had chosen politics for his + career he would probably have been Prime Minister, just as + Burne-Jones might have been Archbishop of Canterbury had he + continued his early and very remarkable theological studies. All + really great men have endless possibilities. It is more or less + chance which decides the direction of ability, which, once + discovered, forcibly, dominantly present, must find + opportunities for its highest development and achievement in the + tenure of the goal. It was ability and natural gifts that made + Leighton great, industry that nourished his greatness, and + stability to principle which made it lasting in his lifetime, + and must for all time stamp his work. The thing that really + engages one's interest about a great man is not so much his + "technique" as his general disposition and character, which + forms for itself a suitable "technique" by which his + achievements have been manifested. Should any one by-and-by + describe the "technique" of Joachim, the supreme violinist, he + would probably interest a few, but in reality he would say + nothing really valuable, excepting inasmuch as he touched upon + first principles. The "modus operandi" of an artist's life is + moulded by his personal aims, the means are those by which he + found his own way of stating them; and one doubts very much if, + after all, the points which differentiate one man's work from + another's are not those which have obliterated the conscious + efforts, preserving just the touches which genius gives beyond + and above all laws that may be learnt. Verse no doubt is much + dependent for its beauty on the system of the arrangement of + syllables, and the music they make when harmoniously handled + upon the final perfection which they reach, and so become + rule-making instead of being the result of rule-following. Hence + lies that unaccountable beauty which is the inexplicable result + of the ego--that taste, that selection, that special word which + creates an impression immediately, and which seems inimitable + even, and obviously the only one which could have been used; + that is style--the very essence of the ego which cannot be + copied, or indeed again brought into relation with the idea. And + isn't that the reason why the copy of a picture can never be + really like an original? even if the "technique" is identical, + it lacks that last touch, that last word which transcends + tradition, almost transcends thought, for it is just the thought + which has been summed up in a moment of inspiration, + uncalculated, spontaneous. Leighton was far too wise a man to + believe in the constant recurrence of inspirations: he knew that + the moment when the whole spirit is ready to act is involuntary; + he knew that to reach the supremacy of that moment, labour was + necessary; that in labour is the foundation of the building for + that moment of inspiration. One may question if the first vision + in Leighton was very strong--strong as Blake's, strong as many + artists whose powers of attainment were much less than + Leighton's, but whose vision was clearer at the outset. Rougher + minds than Leighton's have produced more epic effects, and a + ruder, less accomplished "technique" has borne with it more + original, more trenchant ideas. Leighton was not a mystic; he + dealt with thoughts which he embodied in forms that he saw, but + which he also made his own in their application; that was his + genius of originality. The rugged verse of AEschylus had no place + in his temperament, much as he admired it; the polished diction + of Virgil bore more similitude to Leighton's inspiration. + Sometimes one missed in his work just the touch of the rugged + which would have given more grace by comparison, by contrast. + His grace of diction, his oratory, his writing, was sometimes + over-refined, and missed its mark by over-elaboration. The very + speciality of Leighton was completeness. One has seen pictures + in his study only half finished, which had a charm of freshness + that vanished as each portion became worked into equal value. + But that fastidiousness was his characteristic, it was part of + him; and therefore we must not deplore it. His originality was + exemplified by his power of taking pains, his power of will to + do his very best according to his guiding spirit of + thoroughness. Temperaments are so different. Whistler could not + be Leighton. Because we admire the one, it is not necessary to + decry the other; that is weak criticism, or rather none at all. + The spirit which inspires the impressionist is not the spirit of + design, but a limited observation in a very restricted area. We + can have the Academic as well as the Impressionist: both are + useful as foils to each other, and it is just as narrow of the + Impressionists to want all men to see nature and art as they see + them, as it has been for the Academics to see "nothing" in the + newer if more limited system. I believe that Leighton's real + love was early Italian art; all that came to him after was the + result of growth. His enthusiasm for Mino da Fiesole, for the + earlier Raphaels, for Duccio of Siena, for Lorenzetti, was + evident and absorbing; other enthusiasms were more branches from + the stem than its roots. He loved line; he found it there: he + loved restraint of action, pure sensuous beauty; he found it in + early Italian Art. The reserve of emotions touched him in Greek + Art--its suavity, its almost geometrical precision, the + tunefulness and melody of its rhythmical concords. His love of + music was on the same lines: Wagner never appealed to him as + Mozart did; it was too strenuous, too busy in changes of key, + too incomplete in the finish and development of phrases. It was + not that he liked dulness--not a bit; he was emotional, often + gay, often depressed--excitable even; but to him Art was an + intellectual more than a purely emotional system, and he liked + it to be finished, consistent, perfect--and those qualities he + strove for, without a doubt he obtained in a high measure. It + will be long before we see again the like of Frederic Leighton, + a man complete in himself. + + W.B. RICHMOND. + _June 1906._ + + * * * * * + + I first met Leighton about 1869 or '70, I think. I went to one + of his receptions at the Studio in Holland Park Road, at the + time he was showing his pictures for the Academy. I think his + principal work of that year was "Alcestis," or "Heracles + Wrestling with Death." About the same time Browning's poem of + "Balaustion's Adventure" appeared, in which he alludes to + Leighton and this very picture in the lines beginning: + + "I know a great Kaunian painter" + + (if I remember rightly). + + I availed myself of a friend's introduction, and presented + myself. One recalls the courteous and princely way in which he + received his guests on these occasions, and the crushes he had + at his studio--Holland Park Road blocked with carriages, and all + the great ones of the London world flocking to see the artist's + work. + + About this time, or shortly before, he had done me the honour to + purchase two landscape studies I had made in Wales from among a + number in a book, which was shown him by my early friend George + Howard (now Earl of Carlisle), and I remember his kind words in + sending me what he deemed "the very modest price" I had asked + for them. + + His kindness to students and young artists was well known. He + would take trouble to go and see their work, and he was always + an admirable and helpful critic. + + I remember, on my first visit to Rome in the autumn of 1871 (on + our marriage tour), going into Piali's Library one evening to + look at the English papers. No one was there, but presently + Leighton came in. He did not remember me at first, but I + recalled myself to him. He was very kind, in his princely way, + and gave me introductions to W.W. Storey, the sculptor, and his + great friend, Giov. Costa, and he called at our rooms to see my + work, in which he showed much interest. In a letter I had, dated + March 1st, 1872, written from the Athenaeum Club, he speaks of + some drawings I had sent to the Dudley Gallery, one he had seen + on my easel in Rome, and he says: "I have seen your drawings, + all three--one was an old friend; of the other two, the 'Grotto + of Egeria,' with its 'sacrum numes,' most attracted me through + its refined and sober harmony. _The quality of your light_ is + always particularly agreeable to me, and not less than usual in + these drawings"; he goes on to say he is glad to hear I have + "made friends with my excellent Costa, who as an artist is one + in hundreds, and as a man one in thousands"; he adds, "Have you + sketched in the 'Valley of Poussin'? It strikes me that old + castle would take you by storm." + + I saw Leighton again in Rome in 1873, meeting him on the + Palatine, among the ruins of the Palace of the Caesars. He was + with a lady who, I believe, was the author of the story + published in _The Cornhill_, "A Week in a French Country House," + for which Leighton made an illustration. (His black and white + work was always very fine, and I recall seeing some of his + drawings on the wood for Dalziel's Bible and "Romola.") + + Later, he came to see us when we settled in London, in Wood + Lane. + + I had further relations with him about the time he was building + the Arab Hall, when (through George Aitcheson, his architect) I + designed the mosaic frieze. On some sketches I made for this he + writes: "Cleave to the Sphinx and Eagle, they are + _delightful_--I don't like the duck-women." With regard to these + Arab Hall mosaics, he said that he hoped to have more, and + eventually "to let us loose (Burne-Jones and myself) on the + dome." + + After this, I saw something of Leighton on the committee of the + South London Fine Art Gallery, Peckham, in its earlier days, + when he was chairman, and helped to pilot the institution from + the somewhat exacting proprietorship of its founder towards its + ultimate position as a public institution. + + From the aristocratic point of view, he certainly had a keen + sense of public duty, and probably laid the motto "Noblesse + oblige" to heart. + + I met him again at the Art Conference at Liverpool, when a + trainful of artists of all ranks went down together, and some + notable attacks were made on the Royal Academy. Leighton was + tremendously loyal to that institution, which I notice is always + stoutly defended by its members, whatever opinions they may have + expressed while outsiders. + + I suppose we differed profoundly on most questions, but he was + always most courteous, and, whatever our public opinions, we + always maintained friendly personal relations; and I may say I + always entertained the highest admiration for Leighton's + qualities, both as an artist and as a man. + + At the time when the election for the presidency of the Academy + was in view (after the death of Sir Francis Grant), it was said + that Leighton was the _only_ man, and that if they did not elect + him the institution would go to pieces; but probably as + president he had less power of initiative than before. + + I remember, after one of our committees at his studio, he drove + me home to Holland Street in his victoria; and as he set me down + at my door, he pointed to a little copper lantern I had put up + over the steps, and said, "Is that Arts and Crafts?" + + His fondness for Italy was well known, and I think he went every + autumn. I recall meeting him at Florence in 1890, while staying + at the delightful villa of Mrs. Ross (Poggio Gherardo), when he + came to luncheon. + + In death he was as princely as in life; and on the day of his + burial at St. Paul's I was moved to write the following as a + tribute to his memory, which will always be vivid in the hearts + of those who had the privilege of his friendship:-- + + Beneath great London's dome to his last rest + The princely painter have ye borne away, + Who still in death upholds his sumptuous sway; + Who strove in life with learned skill to wrest + Art's priceless secret hid in Beauty's breast + With alchemy of colour and of clay, + To recreate a fairer human day, + Touched by no shadow of our time distrest. + + What rank or privilege needs art supreme-- + Immortal child of buried states and powers-- + Who can for us the golden age renew? + Let worth and work bear witness when life's hours + Are numbered: honour due, when, as we deem, + To his ideal was the artist true. + + WALTER CRANE. + + [Illustration: "EUCHARIS." 1863 + By permission of Mrs. Stephenson Clarke] + + * * * * * + +Having settled in England in 1860, Leighton found that there, contrary +to his expectations, his sense of colour became developed; and with +this his individuality as a _painter_ asserted itself. Between the +years 1863 and 1866 he painted pictures which proved that, as a +distinct artificer in painting, he had found himself, and was no +longer under the controlling influences of German or Italian Art, +though, unfortunately, hints of German methods in the actual +manipulation of his brush clung more or less to his painting to the +end. From boyhood Leighton's power of designing, his sense of beauty +in line and form and of dramatic feeling, his extraordinary facility +in drawing with the point, proved his genius as an artist; but it was +not till the early sixties that his pictures proved him to be +possessed of individual distinction as a painter, probably because the +method of handling the brush associated with the teaching which, in +other respects, commanded his reverence and admiration, were alien to +his finest artistic sense. No later works are to be found more notable +in luminous quality of painting than "Eucharis," 1863, and "Golden +Hours," 1864; none in strength and solidity of texture, or in beauty +of distinguished handling, than "A Noble Lady of Venice," about 1865; +none in richness of arrangement combined with the fair aerial +atmosphere appropriate to a Grecian scene, for which Leighton had so +native a sympathy, than "A Syracusan Bride Leading Wild Beasts in +Procession to the Altar of Diana," 1866.[1] Later works may claim a +greater public prominence among his achievements, but for actual +individuality and feeling for the beauty which appealed most strongly +to Leighton in colour as in form, none he painted after evinced any +fresh departure. + + [Illustration: "A NOBLE LADY OF VENICE." 1866 + By permission of Lord Armstrong] + +As early as 1852, at the age of twenty-one, Leighton wrote to Steinle +from Venice: "I must candidly confess that great as my admiration for +Titian (& Co.) was, yet the well-known art treasures here have seized +me and entranced me anew. You, dear master, are so familiar with all +these things that there is nothing I can write you about them; but on +one point I am fairly clear, namely, that the admirers and imitators +of Titian (particularly the latest) seek his charms quite in the wrong +place, and I am convinced that the impressiveness of his painting lies +far less in the ardour of his colouring than in the stupendous +accuracy and execution of the modelling." In another letter to Steinle +he refers to the necessity of mastering the capacities of the brush in +order to render form in a complete manner independently of the +function of the brush to render colour. + + "Those who place the brush behind the pencil, under the pretence + that _form_ is before all things, make a very great mistake. + Form _is certainly all important_; one cannot study it enough; + _but_ the greater part of _form_ falls within the province of + the tabooed _brush_. The everlasting hobby of _contour_ (which + belongs to the drawing material) is first the _place_ where the + _form_ comes in; what, however, reveals true knowledge of form, + is a powerful, organic, refined finish of modelling, full of + feeling and knowledge--and that is the affair of the brush + (_Pinsel_)." + +In January 1860 Leighton wrote to Steinle: "You will perhaps be +surprised, but, in spite of my fanatic preference for colour I +promised myself to be a draughtsman before I became a colourist," and +in fact Leighton was fighting, throughout his whole career, against +allowing the sensuous qualities in his art to override those which the +teaching of Steinle had proved to his nature to be the most truly +elevating and ennobling. Up to the age of thirty he had been +overshadowed by the influence of others in the matter of actual +technique in painting. From the time he settled in London he freed +himself from the tutelage of all masters. As we have read in his +letters, his intention was to do so in 1856 when he painted "The +Triumph of Music;" but at that time he failed in finding his real self +in his painting of that picture, and fully realised that he must +_reculer pour mieux sauter_, returning in the autumn of that year to +Rome to be fed by the greatest art of the past, and to study again, +"face to face with Nature--to follow it, to watch it, and to copy, +closely, faithfully, ingenuously--as Ruskin suggests, choosing nothing +and rejecting nothing." The studies of a Pumpkin Flower (Meran), +Branch of Vine (Bellosquardo), Cyclamen (Tivoli), reproduced in +Chapter III., and others, were made during this autumn of 1856. + +In a letter written to Mr. M. Spielmann, a few years before his death, +Leighton describes the procedure he pursued in accomplishing a serious +work. + + "In my pictures,--which are above all decorations in the real + sense of the word,--the design is a pattern in which every line + has its place and its proper relation to other lines, so that + the disturbing of one of them, outside certain limits, would + throw the whole out of gear. Having thus determined my picture + in my mind's eye, in the majority of cases I make a sketch in + black and white chalk upon brown paper to fix it. In the first + sketch the care with which the folds have been broadly arranged + will be evident, and if it be compared with the finished + picture, the very slight degree in which the general scheme has + been departed from will convince the spectator of the almost + scientific precision of my line of action. But there is a good + reason for this determining of the draperies before the model is + called in; and it is this. The nude model, no matter how + practised he or she may be never moves or stands or sits, in + these degenerate days, with exactly the same freedom as when + draped; action or pose is always different--not so much from a + sense of mental constraint as from the unusual liberty + experienced by the limbs to which the muscular action invariably + responds when the body is released from the discipline and + confinement of clothing. + + "The picture having been thus determined, the model is called + in, and is posed as nearly as possible in the attitude desired. + As nearly as possible, I say; for, as no two faces are exactly + alike, so no two models ever entirely resemble one another in + body or muscular action, and cannot, therefore, pose in such a + manner as exactly to correspond with either another model or + another figure--no matter how correctly the latter may be drawn. + From the model make the careful outline on brown paper, a true + transcript from life, which may entail some slight corrections + of the original design in the direction of modifying the + attitude and general appearance of the figure. This would be + rendered necessary probably by the bulk and material of the + drapery. So far, of course, my attention is engaged exclusively + by 'form,' colour being always treated more or less ideally. The + figure is now placed in its surroundings, and established in + exact relation to the canvas. The result is the first true + sketch of the entire design, figure, and background, and is + built up of the two previous ones. It must be absolutely + accurate in the distribution of spaces, for it has subsequently + to be 'squared off' on to the canvas, which is ordered to the + exact scale of the sketch. At this moment, the design being + finally determined, the sketch in oil colours is made. It has + been deferred till now, because the placing of the colours is, + of course, of as much importance as the harmony. This done, the + canvas is for the first time produced, and thereon I enlarge the + design, re-draw the outline--and never departing a + hair's-breadth from the outlines and forms already obtained--and + then highly finishing the whole figure in warm monochrome from + the life. Every muscle, every joint, every crease is there, + although all this careful painting is shortly to be hidden with + the draperies; such, however, is the only method of insuring + absolute correctness of drawing. The fourth stage completed, I + return once more to my brown paper, re-copy the outline + accurately from the picture, on a larger scale than before, and + resume my studies of draperies in greater detail and with still + greater precision, dealing with them in sections, as parts of a + homogeneous whole. The draperies are now laid with infinite care + on to the living model, and are made to approximate as closely + as possible to the arrangement given in the first sketch, which, + as it was not haphazard, but most carefully worked out, must of + necessity be adhered to. They have often to be drawn piecemeal, + as a model cannot by any means always retain the attitude + sufficiently long for the design to be wholly carried out at one + cast.[2] This arrangement, is effected with special reference to + painting--that is to say, giving not only form and light and + shade, but also the relation and 'values' of tones. The + draperies are drawn over, and made to conform exactly to the + forms copied from the nudes of the underpainted picture. This is + a cardinal point, because in carrying out the picture the folds + are found fitting mathematically on to the nude, or nudes, first + established on the canvas. The next step then is to transfer the + draperies to the canvas on which the design has been squared + off, and this is done with flowing colour in the same monochrome + as before over the nudes, to which they are intelligently + applied, and which nudes must never--mentally at least--be lost + sight of. The canvas has been prepared with a grey tone, lighter + or darker, according to the subject in hand, and the effect to + be produced. The background and accessories being now added, the + whole picture presents a more or less completed + aspect--resembling that, say, of a print of any warm tone. In + the case of draperies of very vigorous tone, a rich flat local + colour is probably rubbed over them, the modelling underneath + being, though thin, so sharp and definite as to assert itself + through this wash. Certain portions of the picture might + probably be prepared with a wash of flat tinting of a colour + the opposite of that which it is eventually to receive. A blue + sky, for instance, would possibly have a soft, ruddy tone spread + over the canvas--the sky, which is a very definite and important + part of my compositions, being as completely drawn in monochrome + as any other of the design; or, for rich blue mountains a strong + orange wash or tint might be used as a bed. The structure of the + picture being thus absolutely complete, and the effect + distinctly determined by a sketch which it is my aim to equal in + the big work, I have nothing to think of but colour, and with + that I now proceed deliberately, but rapidly." + +So far Leighton explained the conscious processes he went through in +creating his pictures; but does this explanation record truly the real +agencies which brought about the result we see in his finest +achievements? I should say no,--most emphatically no. Where we can +trace the sign of these processes, there the picture fails in the +power of convincing. No such process produced "Eucharis" nor the +"Syracusan Bride." The process may have been gone through in painting +the procession, but it is obliterated by touches instinct with a true +painter's inspiration. All _teachable_ qualities Leighton could +_teach_ on the lines of soundest principles. His extreme modesty left +others to find out that where his preaching left off the real work +began in his own pictures. No one knew better than Leighton that no +theoretic knowledge ever made an artist; no teachable processes ever +made a beautiful picture; no one knew better that head without heart +never produced any work that was truly cared for. + +"God forgive me if I am intolerant," he wrote to Steinle, "but +according to my view an artist must produce his art out of his own +heart; or he is none." + + "The chord that wakes in kindred hearts a tone, + Must first be tuned and vibrate in your own" + +were the words with which he ended his first address to the students +of the Royal Academy. + +In the world's estimate of things and people, classification plays at +times a pernicious part. Classification in art matters may be tolerated +as useful only in the education of the non-artistic. Invariably the +most convincing touches escape the possibility of being reduced to so +dull a process of reckoning. Art marked by individual spontaneity, +emanating from the ego of the artificer, refuses to be levelled down +into a class. Critics seem at times to be strongly tempted to fit an +artist's achievements into certain classes, because they have +previously made up their minds as to the class the work belongs to. +Hence the perversion often of even an intelligent critic's estimate: +certain squarenesses exist which will not fit into round holes, so, for +the sake of classification, the corners must be shaved off. Surely no +artist ever existed who evaded being comfortably fitted into either a +square or a round hole more completely than did Leighton. Every serious +work he undertook was an entirely separate performance from any +previous invention--a new venture throughout--and, once decided on, +carried through with absolute conformity to the original conception. +Therefore any classification, beyond his mere method of working, is +more sterile in producing a just estimate of Leighton's art than of +those workers who are in the habit of painting pictures in which the +same motive recurs. Essentially original in his conceptions as in his +aims, and vibrating with receptiveness, he sounded nevertheless every +impression he received by unchanging principles adhered to as implicit +guides. He had within him at once the steadiest rock as a foundation, +and the most fertile of serial growths on the surface. Abiding rock and +surface flora alike had had their earliest nurture, it must be +remembered, in foreign parts, under other skies than that of our veiled +English light--under other influences of nature and of art than that of +our English climate and schooling--and it is partly owing to this fact +that it is not realised by those who have never seen nature under the +aspects which most delighted him, that Leighton's conceptions were +directly and invariably inspired by nature. Those who are conversant +with Italy and other Southern countries will possess the key to much +that is misjudged by others in Leighton's work. Scenes which entranced +his sensibilities as a boy, and, lingering ever in his fancy, gave +subjects for his paintings when his art was mature, may appear to one +without special knowledge of the South as mere echoes of classic art. +When he was thirty-one Leighton exhibited the picture "Lieder ohne +Worte."[3] It is no record, probably, of any particular place, nor of +any particular fountain; but when strolling on a road in or near a +southern town or village in Italy, a view which might originally have +inspired the motive may be seen at any moment. Encased in a wall near +Albano is a fountain which certainly recalled to me the picture as, in +the bright light of a May morning, the song of nightingales in the +grand foliage of overhanging magnolia trees echoed the sound of the +water springing from the glistening lip, and flowing over the clean +curve of the marble basin into the trough below. There was the same +lion's head which served as spout, the same arrangement of ornament +encircling it; also a finely shaped pitcher placed below to catch the +water, and--more recalling than any detail--was the echo of the real +motive of the picture--the dream-like poetry of the sunlit scene, with +the musical accompaniment of trickling water. Had Leighton painted a +Discobolus, it would probably never have occurred to most English +critics that nature and living action had inspired the work. Above the +lake of Albano is a road--"the Upper Gallery"--where every day are to +be met men playing the game. Any one watching it may see repeated over +and over again the action in the well-known statue. Nature inspired the +creations of the great ancients, and it was also invariably first-hand +impressions from nature that inspired Leighton's creations, whatever +superstructure of learning he added in the course of their development. +Living in Italy when his feelings were most sensitive to impressions, +the origin of the suggestions he imbibed is to be found in her +atmosphere, colouring, and the scenes which surrounded him when his +imagination was most free and fertile. Later, when he lived in England, +his travels in Italy and Greece supplied him with the subjects for the +most beautiful sketches he made direct from nature. No one, I believe, +has ever painted the luminous quality of white, as it is seen under +heated sunlight in the South, with the same charm as Leighton. The +sketches he made of buildings in Capri[4] are quite marvellously true +in their rendering of such effects. He made equally beautiful studies +of mountains and sea, under the rarefied atmosphere of Greece. He +seemed always happiest, I think, when the key of his pictures and +sketches was light and sunlit; in such pictures, for instance, as +"Winding the Skein," "Greek Girls Picking up Shells by the Seashore," +"Bath of Psyche," "Invocation," and others remarkable for their +fairness and their light, pure tone. + +Leighton's sympathies were adverse to the more sensuous qualities in +painting. Often, in discussing the works by Watts, he would strongly +discourage those who were, he considered, unduly influenced by the +charm of the great painter's quality and texture, from endeavouring to +aim at it in their own work. Such a treatment, Leighton maintained, +might be legitimate as the natural expression of the intuitive genius +of one gifted individual, but was not the treatment to copy by the +student on account of any intrinsic merit. He had almost an aversion +to any process which obtained effects through roughness and inequality +of surface. His genuine youthful predilection, which he retained +consistently throughout his life, was for the early Italian art and +Italian method of painting _al fresco_. "To see the old Florentine +school again is a thing which always enchants me anew, for one can +never be sated with seeing the noble sweetness, the child-like +simplicity, allied with high manly feeling, which breathes in it. But +I speak to you of plain things which you know far better than +I."--(Letter to Steinle from Florence, 1857.) + + [Illustration: GREEK GIRLS PICKING UP SHELLS BY THE SEASHORE. 1871 + By permission of The Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain] + +After Leighton became President of the Royal Academy he made Perugia +his halting-place for some weeks during his autumn travels, while he +wrote his biennial discourses for the students. He invariably stayed +at the well-known Brufani Hotel,--Mrs. Brufani, with whom he made +great friends, always reserving the same two rooms for him, from the +windows of which he could watch the sun set behind the glorious piles +of Umbrian mountains to the west of Perugia. From these windows he +also made sketches in silver point of the distant ranges, each form +modelled with exquisite delicacy and perfection, though in faintest +tones. Other inmates of the Brufani supposed he lived in his two +rooms, as he was seldom seen elsewhere in the hotel; but Leighton had +found a restaurant which, like his old quarters in Rome--the _Cafe +Greco_--was the resort of the artists living in Perugia. There he +would lunch, and then repair to the Sala del Cambio. Sitting on the +raised seat near the window, he would, day after day, spend an hour or +more revelling in the beauty of the frescoes by Perugino. Then he +would mount to the Pinacoteca and take a deep draught of enjoyment +from the tempera paintings of Perugino's master, Benedetto Bonfiglio, +Leighton's favourite of favourites ("They are all my _Bonfigli_!" he +would exclaim), whose angels' aureoles rest on wreaths of roses, and +whose lovely work Perugia seems to have monopolised. The old paintings +of Martino, Gentile da Fabiano, Pietro da Foligno, and their +followers Leighton also loved, likewise the later work of Bernardino +Pinturicchio and Lo Spagna, pupils with Raphael of Perugino. Among his +greatest favourites were the painted banners--the _Gonfalone_--which +are peculiar to the Umbrian cities. He loved the freshness of their +quality--the result of a first painting never retouched--the masterly +ease of the workmanship, full of tender, gracious beauty. These days +were Leighton's real holidays, where, in rapturous admiration of the +art he loved so profoundly, he put behind him for the time the weight +of official responsibility, and the no less exhausting social duties +of his life. + +Had Leighton been able to devote himself to the method of painting in +fresco, and to work in a warm, dry climate, which admits of painting +into the wet surface of plaster without danger of the wall retaining +the moisture, he would, undoubtedly, have felt a freer impulse to work +rapidly and more spontaneously than when his touch was controlled by +the complicated procedures in oil painting. In the process of painting +_al fresco_, colour, in a sense, models itself--its absorption into the +wet plaster softening the edges of one touch into another; hence, over +a first painting no half obliteration is necessary, and any elaborate +finish is avoided. Being obliged to complete before the plaster was +dry, Leighton could not have yielded to the temptation to over-refine +his surface; and his splendid power as a draughtsman, allied to his +sense of beauty, would have found a perfectly spontaneous, happy +utterance. As a boy he had imbibed one great principle, and from this +principle he never deviated. He wrote, "The thoroughness of all the +great masters is so pervading a quality that I look upon them all as +forming one aristocracy." In his sketches alone did Leighton relax from +the strain which absolute thoroughness involves; and then, in all the +fervour of aesthetic inspiration, colour would fly on canvas, chalk or +paper, with a charm of quality and exquisite grace of line and form +which, as Mr. Briton Riviere remarks, is the very best that can be +obtained from a great artist thoroughly trained, but which condition +Leighton would never admit into what he considered his serious work. He +writes to his father from Rome, January 1853: "I was deeply impressed +with the glorious works of art I saw in Venice and Florence, and was +particularly struck with the exquisitely _elaborate_ finish of most of +the leading works by _whatever_ master; the highest possible finish +combined with the greatest possible breadth and grandeur of disposition +in the principal masses. Art with the old masters was full of love, +refined,--sterling." Leighton formed his standard from these old +masters, and never for a moment allowed his standard to be replaced by +another. In certain types of Englishmen chivalric loyalty develops at +times into obstinacy. Leighton, with all his passion for Italy, his +artistic sensitiveness, his excitability, his finely wrought nervous +temperament, and his intense power of sympathy, had also in his blood +something of the old English Tory, which made him adhere and remain +loyal to the strongest impressions of his youth. Catholic and generous +as he always proved himself to be when it was a question of considering +the work of others, when he was considering his own he ever maintained +absolute consistency with the tenets of his early illuminations. +Speaking of his extraordinary sense of duty and the consequent tension +involved, Mr. Briton Riviere writes:-- + + "No doubt the constant wear and tear occasioned by the perpetual + strain of mental and physical watchfulness did much to shorten + his life; I think it sometimes injured his own work as an + artist, because, though a great artist can never be evolved + except by years of patient work and strenuous effort to do his + very best always, yet, on the other hand, it is often the happy, + easy work and absolutely spontaneous effort of the moment by + such a hand which is his very best. Such happy, easy work + probably Leighton would seldom allow himself to do, and never + would leave at the right moment, but would still strive to make + better and more complete. He must still elaborate it and try to + make it more perfect; and this it was that made his enthusiastic + admirer Watts sometimes say, 'How much finer Leighton's work + would be if he would admit the accidental into it.'" + +A fact, little suspected by the public, certainly affected the element +of strength in some of Leighton's works. Besides often suffering from +a positive want of health, his normal physical condition was far from +robust; and, as appears in his letters, he suffered much through +weakness and irritation in the eyes from the time he was a boy. He did +not wear his physical (or any other) distress on his sleeve, and +experienced many hindrances in his work never dreamt of, even by his +intimate acquaintances. These might not have been so serious had he +been willing to sacrifice all other duties in life to his own special +vocation; but though he realised that Art, the language of beauty, was +his main passion, his conscience would not allow him to make this +passion an excuse for avoiding help to his generation on other lines, +if he distinctly felt he could do so. In the happiest of surroundings, +with his life unburdened by public responsibilities, he painted +"Cimabue's Madonna"; and, for pure vigour in the manipulation, this +painting has a robust quality which is scarcely to be found in any +other of the larger works which followed, though these may possess +many other virtues, and evince a more definite individuality, than +does the early work. + +Leighton's art appeals to the artists (comparatively few in England) +possessed of cosmopolitan culture--also to many who love beauty, a +sense of refined distinction in feeling and in form and in the +arrangement of line. Beyond these it appeals also to the great public +outside the radius of specialists, a public which is impressed by a +sense of beauty and achievement without possessing the knowledge of +experts. It is not much cared for by the disciples of either of the +latest schools in England, and in France, which have governed fashion +in the matter of taste for the last twenty years. In the first place, +it appeals but little to those to whom the highest province of art +appears to consist in conveying didactic sentiments and poetic ideas +through a language of form and colour--to suggest thought to the brain +rather than beauty to the eye. Respecting this theory of the province +of art, Leighton expresses himself clearly in his second address to +the Royal Academy students in December 1881:-- + + "Now the language of Art is not the appointed vehicle of ethic + truths; of these, as of all knowledge as distinct from emotion, + though not necessarily separated from it, the obvious and only + fitted vehicle is speech, written or spoken--words, the symbols + of ideas. The simplest spoken homily, if sincere in spirit and + lofty in tone, will have more direct didactic efficacy than all + the works of all the most pious painters and sculptors from + Giotto to Michael Angelo; more than the Passion music of Bach, + more than a Requiem by Cherubini, more than an Oratorio of + Handel. + + "It is not, then, it cannot be the foremost duty of Art to seek + to embody that which it cannot adequately present, and to enter + into a competition in which it is doomed to inevitable defeat." + +That so great a painter as Watts should have taken a contrary view, +and preached this contrary view as that which inspired his own +_conscious_ aims, was quite sufficient to secure to it many adherents. +He preached his doctrine, moreover, with a most convincing argument, +but one which cannot logically be used in favour of it, namely, his +own great genius as a _painter_. Watts was essentially a +_painter_--one who at his best ranks with the best painters of all +times. + +Mr. Arthur Symons, writing on "The Psychology of Watts,"[5] quotes a +popular preacher who affirmed that "Critics who approach his (Watts') +work from the side of technical excellence do not interest him at all. +His endeavour has been to make his pictures as good as works of art as +was possible to him, for fear that they should fail altogether in +their appeal; but, beyond that, their excellence as mere pictures is +nothing to him." "Now," writes Mr. Symons, "it is quite possible that +Watts may have really said or written something of the kind; he may +even, when he set himself down to think, have thought it. The +conscious mental processes of an artist have often little enough +relation with his work as art; by no means is every artist a critic as +well as an artist. But to take a great painter at his word, if he +assures you that the excellence of his pictures 'as mere pictures' is +nothing to him; to suppose seriously that at the root of his painting +was not the desire to paint; to believe for a moment that great +pictorial work has ever been done except by those who were painters +first, and everything else afterwards, is to confuse the elementary +notions of things, hopelessly and finally. And so, when we are told +that the technical excellence of Watts' pictures is of little +consequence, we can but answer that to the 'painter of earnest +truths,' as to all painters, nothing can be of more consequence; for +it is only through this technical excellence that 'Hope,' or 'The +Happy Warrior,' or 'Love and Life,' is to be preferred to the picture +leaflet which the district missionary distributes on his way through +the streets." + +All who knew Watts intimately and watched him working day by day can +testify that he spared no labour, time, or patience, in working over +and over on a picture in order to attain the finest quality in the +actual surface which his material--paint--could possibly produce. + +Neither the disciples of the original brotherhood of the +pre-Raphaelites nor those of Burne-Jones care, as a rule, for +Leighton's art. Though starting as one with the pre-Raphaelites, +Burne-Jones, possessing a remarkably fine intellect, a subtle fancy, a +rich inventiveness in the detail of design, an exquisite sense of +grace, and great genius as a colourist, developed so distinct an +individuality that his followers cannot be precisely identified with +those of the pre-Raphaelites. Leighton fully appreciated the genius of +Burne-Jones, and did all in his power to secure his adherence to the +Academy; but he had no sympathy for that feeling in art evinced by +Burne-Jones' followers, which is so essentially rooted in purely +personal moods that even distortion of the human frame is condoned, so +long as prominence is given to the suggestion of such moods. + +Imbued with a rare, peculiar refinement all its own, a kind of +aesthetic creed sprang up in the later days of the nineteenth century +apart from the arid soil of commonplace respectability and tasteless +materialism. Burne-Jones painted it, Kate Vaughan danced it, +Maeterlinck wrote it, the "Souls" (rather unsuccessfully) attempted to +live it, the humourists caricatured it, the Philistines denounced it +as morbid and unwholesome. Leighton was tolerant and amused, but could +not be very solemn over it. And, assuredly, already this creed has +been whisked away into the past by fashions diametrically opposed to +it in character. Its text may be found in Melisande's reiterated +refrain, "I am not happy"--though the unhappiness does not seem ever +to have been of the nature of the iron which entered into the soul, +but rather the shadow of sadness, adopted with the idea that such a +condition betokens a more rare and tender grace than the radiance of +joy can give. Every mood of the subjective has been lately in fashion +in aesthetic circles, and is still rampant in much of the up-to-date +(or down-to-date, as it may be) conditions of the present taste. This +is probably consequent on the leadership of those artists who +possessed not only genius and sense of beauty, but a peculiar charm of +texture in their work which seems a native adjunct to certain +temperaments. It is a purely personal manner, and crops up without +reference apparently to any special school of art. In Sodoma we find +it allied to a development of the splendid completeness of Italian +Art; again in the Celt, Watts, to a lofty imagination and to a +Pheidian sensibility for noble form; it appears in the work of the +Jew, Simeon Solomon; and is an element in Burne-Jones' lovely quality +of painting especially noticeable in his water-colour drawings--and, +on a smaller scale of workmanship, in the pictures by Pinwell. It is +more a matter of quality than of colour, and yet it is only colourists +who have possessed it--most obviously, however, where the key of +colour is restrained almost to monochrome. A hint of it can be found +in Tintoretto's paintings, where few positive tints are prominent, as +in some of the ceiling paintings in the Ducal Palace at Venice. There +is a something which this special handling suggests which possesses a +very subtle charm, the charm of dreamland,--less tangible, less real +than direct appeals from nature. A slight mystery seems to veil the +vision like a reflection swayed by the surface of the water. It is +less explicit than any real object, and only suggests completion +without quite achieving it; there is something left out from the +aspect of nature, something added from the ego of the artist. There +are those to whom such a treatment suggests a deeper truth than can +any wholly explicit expression, because they feel forcibly that +mystery is the soul of all earthly conditions--"we see through a glass +darkly." There are others--and Leighton was among these--who are so +strongly imbued with a sense of the wonderful and marvellous in actual +creation that they need no art, no veiled suggestion of the hidden, +in order to realise that our lives are wrapped in mystery from the +cradle to the grave. This quality in painting alluded to, fits in with +that taste in literature which prefers hints to assertions--that +insistency on the value of what is, after all, but a _fugitive_ phase +in special temperaments--that setting most value on the principle of +suggestion rather than of definition, of which we hear so much. The +devotees of Maeterlinck delight in the shadow of a thought rather than +the thought _arrete_; they feel that a further stage of refined +culture is reached in worshipping a style you have to get somehow +behind, rather than one in which thoughts are fully and frankly +expressed. Doubtless it requires a more subtile weapon to catch the +fleeting aroma, the hint of a thought trembling in the brain and +giving it permanent existence in Art, than to carve the expression of +a complete idea explicitly with cameo-like precision, be it in the +form of words or a visual impression--the wise sayings of a Solomon or +a Bacon, the sculpture of a Pheidias or the painting of a Leonardo da +Vinci. The actual visible facts in the aspects of nature, which were +of such entrancing interest to Leighton, become of less and less +interest to the wide public as the human intelligence is trained more +and more through books, less and less through the eye; our modern +conditions making the world we live in, more and more ugly and +uninspiring to the echoing tune of nature within us. Even if we recede +into the depths of the country, we find the signs all round us of the +sense of beauty being deadened, the revulsion against ugliness having +ceased--corrugated iron supplanting thatched roofing, and the +loveliest, most rural spots in England year after year newly deprived +of some special charm they have possessed for centuries. Those who +seek for beauty have been led to find it in the unreal--the things +which might be, but are not. We cannot help it, but we certainly +become more artificial as our civilisation becomes more complicated, +and everything we see around us grows uglier. It is because the +general public has so little genuine interest in Art or love of +beauty, however great may be its professions, that the tendency has +developed to care for the art which appeals rather to the mind and the +aesthetic sensibilities generally, than to the actual vision. + +This reign of the subjective has brought in its train the undue +monopolising of the world's most ardent interest in one passion. +French novels of great literary power secured to it the monopoly in +France, and magnates in aesthetic culture have grafted it on to our +English taste. This strongest and most beautiful feeling in human +nature has been so monotonously forced upon us in literature _a tort +et a travers_--the assumption that this is the only feeling worth +serious consideration has been dwelt on with such a tiresome +pertinacity--it has been so often caricatured, so often debased in +books and pictures, that even the real thing itself runs a danger of +palling. This human passion may be the greatest, but it is not the +only great feeling with which the lives of men and women are enriched; +and surely the absorbing prominence which has been given to it +latterly in literature is out of proportion with its real position in +healthy lives. Little sympathy seems left for other deep and stirring +emotions. In Leighton's art we find no monopoly of this kind either +recorded or suggested. He painted the passion of lovers in the "Paolo +and Francesca," but with no more sincere interest than he did other +feelings; than, for instance, his fervent and reverent worship of art +in "Cimabue's Madonna," or in the ecstasy of joy in the child flying +into the embrace of her mother in "The Return of Persephone," or in +the exquisite tender feeling of Elisha breathing renewed life into the +Shunammite's son, or in that sense of rest and peace after struggle in +the lovely figure of "Ariadne" when Death releases her from her pain; +or in the yearning for that peace in the "King David": "Oh that I had +wings like a dove! for then would I fly away and be at rest." + +As the climax of nature's loveliest creations Leighton treated the +human form with a courageous purity. In his undraped figures there is +the same total absence of the mark of the degenerate as there is in +everything he did and was; no remote hint of any _double-entendre_ +veiled by aesthetic refinement, any more than there is in the Bible, +the _Iliad_, or in the sculpture of Pheidias. + +To quote lines that were written about Leighton very shortly before +his death:-- + + "There is truly to be traced in the feeling of his art that + 'seal on a man's work of what is most inward and peculiar in his + moods'; the sign of individual intimate preferences and of the + moving power which certain aspects of beauty have had upon the + artist's innermost susceptibilities, though these may be + somewhat veiled and distanced by being translated through the + reserved form of a classic garb. Perhaps it is this reserve + which invests Sir Frederic Leighton's art with the special aroma + of poetry which Robert Browning found in it to a greater extent + than in any other work of his time.[6] Whether in his larger + compositions, in the complicated grouping of many figures, such + as the Cimabue picture being led in procession through the + streets of Florence, the 'Daphnephoria,' 'Heracles struggling + with Death,' the 'Andromache,' the 'Cymon and Iphigenia,' and + others; or those simpler compositions, such as the 'Summer + Moon,' 'Wedded,' 'The Mountain Summit,' 'The Music Lesson,' + 'Sister's Kiss,' in all can be traced the sentiment of a poet + inspiring the touch; not overriding by any assertiveness of + sentiment the complete scheme of the picture, but lingering here + and there with a wistful loveliness which has to be sought for + within the barriers of the formal classic design. And it is this + reticence in the expression of individual sentiment, this + subduing it to the larger conditions of a more abstract style + of art which, though it will never make Sir Frederic Leighton's + work directly popular, gives to it a quality of distinction. In + such reticence is an element of greatness which probably will + only be duly appreciated when the more transient moods of + thought in the present generation have passed. His work lacks + altogether the sentimental, brooding-over-self quality, which, + when allied to genius, is contagious, and gives an interest of a + subtle, but perhaps not altogether wholesome kind to some of the + best work of this era." + +And again after his death:-- + + "Beauty of every kind played on a very sensitive instrument, + when it made an appeal to his nature, giving him very positive + joy: no complication of subtle interest beyond the actual + influence being required before a responding echo was sounded, + because so pure and innocent was this joy he had in the charm of + beauty;--so also attendant on his personal influence, there was + no power of mesmerism, nor of the black arts. In every direction + it was healthy and bracing. Even a Nordau could have discovered + no remotest taint of the degenerate!" + +It is the emotions which art suggests outside itself which have been +viewed by one school as more interesting than art itself, and it is +the sensuous qualities in painting--colour and texture--which are the +visible agents, and convey more readily these suggestions of emotions +in our northern temperaments than do beautiful lines and forms. Our +northern temperaments also love symbolism and mysticism, therefore are +apt to favour the art that meets a veiled condition of things; and the +perfection of complete finish in nature's form is no longer held up as +a standard for the student to aim at. Leighton had no sympathy with +the artificial, neither had he any with the shadow put in the place of +the substance. The actual was ever sufficient for him, for in nature +herself he never failed to find sufficient inspiration. The mind of +the Creator in matter is what the ingenuous artist temperament +searches for and is inspired to record; whereas it is, on the one +hand, phases of human moods, selections from human passions, good, +bad, and indifferent, which are made to saturate the feeling in much +of our modern art, or, on the other hand, aspects of nature's moods +given without the framework of her structure, and without the detail +of her perfection. + +It may be argued, however, that there are among the most beautiful +effects in nature those which are not fully distinct to the sight--the +shimmering iridescence on a shell, where one colour is seen sparkling +against another through a film, or the waving branches of a willow, +the liquid shifting of a flowing stream, or the endless effects of +cloud and mist in a northern sky. To express this in paint requires an +appropriate treatment in the manipulation of the pigment itself. +Watts' theory was that you have to unfinish the record of certain +facts in order to render the truth of the whole fact (see also +Steinle's criticism on Leighton's head of "Vincenzo," 1854). He would, +therefore, film his painting over with a scumble of white, and only +partially repaint the surface, in order to get at that whole truth +which includes the bloom of atmosphere and the veil of northern mists. +Leighton is thought at times to have erred on the side of +explicitness, and the texture of his surface is apt undoubtedly to +lack the vibrating quality which carries with it a beauty of its own. +This is partly accounted for by the fact that he had imbibed the +rudiments of his teaching in a school whose followers were not +sensitive to the finest qualities in oil painting, but also probably +from his extreme desire to give expression to his sense of the intense +finish in nature. + +Doctrinaires of the very latest fashion in art insist that nothing +comes legitimately within the province of the pictorial, except the +impression of nature transmitted to the physical organ detached from +memory, experience, and mind. By this faction the eye is treated +solely as a machine. Sound as may be the doctrine that art has +nothing to do with what the eye cannot see, or with those facts which +experience alone teaches us are there, it is also no less true that +the human eye sees, according to its intuitive power of transmitting +to the brain, the different component parts of the actual object of +its vision. It was no knowledge of anatomy which enabled Pheidias to +see every subtilty of form in the human figure with consummate +insight--any more than it was a knowledge of the laws of the flow and +ebb of the tides, which enabled Whistler to give an actual sense of +the swaying surface of the waves in "Valparaiso Bay"; again, it was no +knowledge of botany which enabled Leighton and Millais to reproduce +the structure of plants so perfectly, that they evoked unmitigated +admiration as botanical studies from so high an authority on botany as +Sir W.C. Thistleton Dyer. We may be told that what we really see is +only the relation of tone, of light and shadow; but the fact that the +architecture of the whole visible world, the meaning-full construction +of all things that nature builds, is being constantly realised by our +sight, makes the truth of this theory at least doubtful. That our eye +cannot discern these natural objects without light goes without +saying; further, that light and shadow shape the forms to be rendered +by the brush is also true: but the assertion that what we see is only +light and shade playing upon form, is shutting the door on another +equally obvious truth. The eye, gifted with a natural sense of form, +records ingenuously to the brain the sense of projecting and receding +planes, the foreshortening of masses, the straightness, slant, or +curve in a surface or in a line. A complete and exhaustive result may +be achieved in a painting through this sense of form, as in the work +of Van Eycke and of Leonardo da Vinci; or a shorthand record may be +made, as in that of Phil May's sketches. But we feel that in both the +sense of the whole form has been felt. However, volumes would not +exhaust the arguments for and against the so-called impressionist's +view of art; so-called--but surely a term unfortunate and misleading, +and in nowise explanatory. Every touch a true artist ever puts upon +canvas is a record of an impression--whether that impression comprises +the structure, light and shade, true colour and tone, all +combined,--or only certain surface qualities extracted from its +entirety and enforced so that the most obvious appearances start into +relief, giving doubtless a sense of vitality to a work, but remaining +nevertheless only a partial record of the object. Needless to say, +Leighton sought to record his impressions of nature in their entirety, +and this necessitated a balancing of their component attributes. The +startling element is never found in his art. + +He viewed the influence of art as one which should perfect the life of +every class; should purify in all directions the debasing elements of +materialism and self-interest; should put zest and gratitude into the +hearts of all men and women who can see and feel, by awakening a sense +of the perfection and beauty of nature, art forming an explanatory and +illuminating link between her and mankind--a translation of her +perfection transmitted with all reverence by the artificer;--a +perfecting beautiful pinnacle in the erection and development of a +noble human being. + +No words could better describe Leighton's high endeavour in training +his own mind and those whom he tried to influence, than the following, +written by Lord Acton and quoted by his friend, Sir M. Grant Duff.[7] +"If I had the power," writes Sir M. Grant Duff, "I would place upon +his monument the words which he wrote as a preface to a list of +ninety-eight books he drew up, and about which he still hoped to read +a paper at Cambridge when he wrote to me on the subject last autumn. +'This list is submitted with a view to assisting an English youth, +whose education is finished, who knows common things, and is not +training for a profession, to perfect his mind and open windows in +every direction; to raise him to the level of his age, so that he may +know the forces that have made the world what it is, and still reign +over it; to guard against surprises and against the constant sources +of errors within; to supply him both with the strongest stimulants and +the surest guides; to give force and fulness, and clearness and +sincerity, independence and elevation, generosity and serenity to his +mind, that he may know the method and lay of the process by which +error is conquered and truth is won, discerning knowledge from +probability and prejudice from belief; that he may learn to master +what he rejects as fully as what he adopts; that he may understand the +origin as well as the strength and vitality of systems, and the better +motives of men who are wrong; to steel him against the charm of +literary beauty and talent, so that each book, thoroughly taken in, +shall be the beginning of a new life, and shall make a new man of +him.'" In a like spirit Leighton sought to arrive at viewing art; and +what Lord Acton sought to effect by the general culture of men's minds +and natures through reading, Leighton sought to effect in his special +vocation by inducing other artists to study all that was greatest in +Art from a wide and unprejudiced point of view--making it their own, +so to speak, by thoroughly realising and appreciating the qualities in +it which make it great. Each true masterpiece in Art, he urged, should +be thoroughly taken in, and should be the beginning of a new effort. +On the other hand, he sought to make the student "learn to master what +he rejects as fully as what he adopts, that he may understand the +origin as well as the strength and vitality of systems, and the better +motives of men who are wrong." His desire was to guide art into the +current of the world's best interests--the current in which good +literature is so forcible an agent--on the highest, broadest, most +catholic lines. He endeavoured to do so by his example as a working +artist, by his Discourses, by his labours for the public in every +direction where the Art of his country was concerned, and more +directly by his influence on those with whom he personally came in +contact. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] This picture has, I believe, unfortunately left the country. It was +suggested by a passage in the second Idyll of Theocritus: "And for her, +then many other wild beasts were going in procession round about, and +among them a lioness." Sketches for portions of the picture and the +squared tracing for the complete design can be seen in the Leighton +House Collection. The full-length portrait of Mrs. James Guthrie was +exhibited the same year as this second processional picture, which +appeared on the walls of the Academy eleven years after the "Cimabue's +Madonna." The head of the central figure, the Bride, Leighton painted +from Mrs. Guthrie. The following charming letter from Mrs. Norton, the +most notable of Sheridan's three beautiful daughters, refers to this +picture:-- + + 3 CHESTERFIELD STREET, + _April 9_. + + DEAR MR. LEIGHTON,--I was so amused by the little grandson's + observation on the picture that I cannot help writing about him. + I asked him "what he thought of it"? He said, "Oh! it was + _beautiful_! but you told me it would be beautiful--_Mr. + Leighton_ was like a _man in a story_! you did not look so much + at him as Carlotta and I did, but I suppose you have seen him + before, and you did not seem to _pity the little panther_! There + was, in the picture, a little young _puppy_ panther, and one of + the young brides was coaxing it so tenderly, and looking down at + its head; and she was one of the prettiest and kindest looking + of all the brides (it was the side of the picture furthest from + the screen); and I could not help thinking, 'Ah, my poor little + panther! you little know when the brides get into that temple, + and she gets married, how she'll forget all about you, and get + coaxing other things, her husband and her children'; and I felt + quite sorry for the panther." So spoke my grandson (just as I + felt sorry for the cripple beggar). + + Now, as I am quite sure no one else will take this view of what + is the principal interest in your glorious procession of youth + and hope, I thought it as well to let you know, that you might + give that little panther his due importance (a little leopard, I + think he is), and not suppose him a subordinate accessory! That + whole procession was tinged with mournfulness in Richard + Norton's eyes for that little leopard's sake. I shall see that + "Dream of Fair Women" again in the Exhibition, and admire it, as + I did to-day, in a crowd of other admirers, I know. I do not + mind the crowd. I see over them and under them, and through + them, when there is anything so worth being eager + about.--Believe me meanwhile, yours very truly, + + CAROLINE NORTON. + +[2] In a letter from Leighton to his mother, the following sentence +occurs:--"Will you please explain to him" (his father) "that I am not +going to model the _drapery_ of my figures, but the _figures +themselves_ to lay the drapery on, as my models could not fly +sufficiently long for me to draw them in the act; it is of course a +very great delay, but the result will amply make up for the extra +trouble, I hope." + +[3] The picture has left the country, but sketches of the complete +design are among those in the Leighton House Collection. + +[4] Lent by Lady Wantage to the Exhibition, in Leighton House, of the +smaller works and sketches in 1903. + +[5] _Outlook_, July 15th, 1905. + +[6] When standing with me before Leighton's picture "Wedded" in the +studio Robert Browning exclaimed, "I find a poetry in that man's work I +can find in no other." + +[7] "The Late Lord Acton." _The Spectator_, July 5, 1902. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +FIRST STUDIO IN LONDON + +1859-1863 + + +In 1858 Leighton was represented on the Royal Academy walls by two +pictures, "The Fisherman and the Syren"--a subject from Goethe's +ballad, + + "Half drew she him, + Half sunk he in, + And never more was seen"-- + +and by a scene from "Romeo and Juliet," both small canvases painted in +Rome and in Paris.[8] + +Leighton at this time received an encouraging letter from Robert +Fleury, from whom he had learned much:-- + + Que parlez vous de reconnaissance, mon cher Monsieur Leighton? + de l'amitie je le veux bien, et je recois, a ce titre seulement, + le dessin que vous m'avez envoye. Ne me suis je pas fait plaisir + en vous reconnaissant du talent et en vous rendant la justice + qui vous est due? si vous m'avez donne l'occasion de vous faire + part de ma vieille esperance n'est ce pas une preuve de l'estime + que vous faites de mes conseils? Puisque vous m'offrez + genereusement votre amitie, je l'accepte de bien bon coeur, et + votre petit dessin me restera comme un gracieux souvenir de + vous. + + ROBERT FLEURY. + PARIS, _le 18 Mars 1858_. + +In the autumn of 1858 Leighton was back in Rome, and it was at that +time the King, then Prince of Wales, first visited his studio. "I +myself had the advantage of knowing him (Leighton) for a great number +of years--ever since I was a boy--and I need hardly say how deeply I +deplore the fact that he can be no more in our midst," were the words +spoken by the King--thirty-nine years after this first meeting--at the +Royal Academy banquet, which took place after Leighton's death, 1st +May 1897. + +He worked in Rome till his pictures were finished for exhibition in +the spring, 1859. + +He wrote to his mother:-- + + It is my particular object and study to go to no parties, in the + which I have succeeded admirably. I go often to Cartwright's in + the evening, that don't count; now and then to Browning, now and + then to the play, see a good deal of Lady Hoare; and that + reminds me that Hoare sent you some game the other day, which, + however, was returned, as you were not forthcoming. By-the-bye, + when I say I have made no acquaintances of interest, that is not + true; Odo Russell, son and brother of my friends, Lady William + and Arthur Russell, and our diplomatic agent here, is a great + friend of mine, and particularly sympathetic. I see him often at + Cartwright's, who is his _alter ego_; also I know and like Miss + Ogle, who wrote that (I hear) exceedingly remarkable novel, "A + Lost Love." She is a country clergyman's daughter in a remote + corner of Yorkshire, and wrote this book when she had, I + believe, never lived out of a circle of "kettles." She is not + young, but agreeable and quaint. + + I am just finishing the largish studies of a very handsome model + here, and am about to send them off for exhibition. They seem + very popular with all who see them, and are, I think, my best + things. + + + 1859. + + DEAREST MAMMY,--I find to my annoyance that I have mislaid your + kind letter, so that I must answer as best I can from memory. + + That the French and Austrians have been formally requested by + the Pope to withdraw their troops from the States of the Church + is, I have ascertained from good authority, true, though how on + earth you can have known in Florence so long ago a thing which + has only just happened, and which is still in great measure a + secret here, is what I can't make out; but, dear Mamma, I trust + this won't prevent your coming to Rome in April, as there is no + chance of the evacuation being carried into effect by that time. + There will be particularly (indeed exclusively) on the side of + Austria a great demur and _pourparler_, inasmuch as the + consequences of this step will probably be most serious to her; + so that for the next few months we need fear nothing. I trust + you will come; however, of course I dread the responsibility of + insisting too much. You will see how matters look in a few + weeks. I am just about to despatch to the Royal Academy some + studies from a very handsome model, "La Nanna." I have shown + them to a good many people, artists and "Philistines," and they + seem to be universally admired. Let us hope they will be well + hung in the Exhibition. Talking of exhibitions, you will be + rather amused to hear that my "Samson" has been _refused_ at the + British Institution, which this year is particularly weak and + insignificant. It is gone in to the Suffolk Street now, unless + too late. Neither I nor anybody else has the least idea what is + the cause of this strongish measure. I have sent my "Negroes" to + Paris, and if it is not too late the "Juliet" and "Paris" will + go there also. I think they will be well hung, as they are + godfathered by Mr. Montfort, my kind and valuable friend. This + afternoon the Prince of Wales came to my studio, with Colonel + and Mrs. Bruce, Gibson, &c. &c. Gibson spoke in the very highest + terms of my pictures, so of course all the others were + delighted! + + + _Tuesday Morning._ + + I have not been able to answer your letter till now, and indeed + even now I am interrupting my work to do it; I will answer all + your questions categorically. First, about the brigands--I have + made inquiries, and have heard of nothing new since these two + cases about five weeks back, and am told that now the roads may + be considered safe; indeed, no time is generally so good for + travelling as just after an accident of that kind, as the + authorities are on the look out: if you go by _vetturino_, there + will in all probability be other _vetturini_ on the road, and + you will start together and arrive together from and to the + different stations on the road. You quite misunderstood the + sense of my letter, dear Mamma, if you imagined that I knew + nothing of rumours of war, &c. &c.--so far from not knowing what + is going on, I live in a hot-bed of politics, what with + Cartwright and what with Odo Russell. I expressed my surprise + that you should speak with confidence of the withdrawal of the + French troops when the official news of the Pope's _formal + request_ to that effect could not yet have reached Florence, for + the reason that it had not taken place; with the Florentine + politicians the wish must have been father to the thought. What + really will happen is impossible to say; they won't withdraw + till the Austrians do--that is pretty certain; the French, I + think, like to mislead people about it. A French general told a + friend of mine that in _six weeks_ they would all be gone, but + _Antonelli_, who ought to be the best authority, told Odo + Russell they would not go for six _months_, though the + occupation has already ceased (as the _Moniteur_ expresses it) + "en principe." You see, dear Mamma, that it is entirely + impossible for me to give you any _definite_ information at a + moment when nobody seems to know what is coming next. I should + be very much disappointed if you could not come; if you settle + to come, let me know in time to look for rooms at an Hotel, and + tell me what you expect to give. My work would not allow me to + go to Florence. My pictures for the R.A. this year are three + portraits in different sizes and attitudes from the same model, + all _dressed_--one a small half-length, the other a kit-cat, the + third a small head the size of my hand--this I have sold to Lady + Hoare for forty guineas. It has been much coveted--Lady + Stratford de Redcliffe wanted a repetition (I never do + repetitions), and Mrs. Phipps seemed quite distressed it was + sold. The Prince and his party told O. Russell they liked my + studio better than any they had seen in Rome. My "Pan" and + "Venus" are stowed away in London. + +Besides the three portraits of a model mentioned in his letter, +exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1859, Leighton sent "Samson and +Delilah" to Suffolk Street. For studies of this picture, see Leighton +House Collection. + +Later, from Naples, he wrote:-- + + _Wednesday Morning, 1859._ + + I scribble two lines in haste before starting to Capri to + announce my safe arrival here in the middle of the day on + Monday. I found here several letters from England; but, as I + had presumed, that report about the sale of all my pictures was + a _canard_. Lord Lansdowne wishes very much for a repetition of + my small profile of Nanna, but as I refused to make one for Lady + Stratford, I of course can't for him. George de Monbrison has + very kindly consented to give up his Nanna to the Prince,[9] but + is evidently sadly disappointed--so much so, that I have written + to offer to do what I could not under any other circumstances, + _i.e._ copy it for him. + + This place is in great beauty. I have been received with the + greatest hospitality by the Hollands, with whom I have dined and + supped both days. + + Yesterday I breakfasted with Augustus Craven,[10] who + photographed me. He is a great adept at this art, and devotes + much time to it. He has a most lovely house here, looking out on + to the sea. + + I have nothing to add for the present, and I will write again + from Capri. + +This visit to Capri produced the famous drawing of the Lemon Tree.[11] +Mr. Ruskin wrote: "Two perfect early drawings are of 'A Lemon Tree' +and of a 'Byzantine Well'" (see List of Illustrations), "which +determine for you without appeal the question respecting necessity of +delineation as the first skill of a painter. Of all our present +masters, Sir Frederic Leighton delights most in softly-blended +colours, and his ideal of beauty is more nearly that of Correggio than +any since Correggio's time. But you see by what precision of terminal +outline he at first restrained and exalted his gift of beautiful +_vaghezza_." In letters to Leighton, Ruskin refers to these +drawings:-- + + 1860. + + DEAR LEIGHTON,--Unless I write again I shall hope to breakfast + with you on Friday, and see and know evermore how a lemon + differs from an orange leaf. In cases of doubtful temper, might + the former more gracefully and appropriately be used for bridal + chaplet?--Most truly yours, + + J. RUSKIN. + + + _15th December 1882._ + + DEAR LEIGHTON,--Of course I want the lemon-tree! but surely you + didn't offer it me before? May I come on Tuesday afternoon for + both? and I hope to bring "Golden Water," but I hear there's + some confusion between the Academy and the Burlington Club. + "Golden Water" is perhaps too small a drawing for the + Academy--but you'll see. + + I wish the lecture on sculpture you gave that jury the other day + had been to a larger audience, and I one of them.--Ever + affectionately yours, + + J. RUSKIN. + + + _17th November._ + + DEAR LEIGHTON,--I brought up the "Byzantine Well,"[12] but was + forced to trust my friend, John Simon, to bring it across the + Park to you, and then forbid him till I wrote you this note, + asking you to spare a moment to show him the "Damascus Glass and + Arab Fountain." He is, as you know, a man of great eminence, + with a weakness for _painting_, which greatly hinders him in his + science.--Ever your loving, + + J.R. + + I can't get lectures printed yet. + +With reference to differences of opinion which had arisen between them +on certain art questions, Ruskin wrote in 1879: "I expected so much +help from you after those orange (lemon) trees of yours!" Later (1883) +he wrote: "The Pre-Raphaelite schism, and most of all, Turner's death, +broke my relations with the Royal Academy. I hope they may in future +be kinder; its President (Leighton) has just sent me two lovely +drawings (the 'Lemon Tree' and the 'Byzantine Well') for the Oxford +Schools, and, I think, feels with me as to all the main principles of +Art education." + +After his visit to Capri Leighton returned to London. He stayed with +Mr. Henry Greville, and while there wrote to his mother the following +letters:-- + + 19 QUEEN STREET, + _Wednesday Morning, 1859_. + + I have so far altered my plans that I stay on until Saturday + morning instead of going to-morrow with Mrs. Sartoris as I had + intended. I have still a call or two to make, and, besides, am + going to dine to-morrow with Mario and spend the evening of + Friday at Lord Lansdowne's, whose invitation I got though I had + not called on him. I suppose that a card was sent me because my + name was on the old list. I have since met him (at Henry's + party), and he made himself very amiable, renewing the + invitation by word of mouth. I have just been spending two or + three days at Old Windsor with Miss Thackeray, who has been + kindness itself as usual; the weather was divine, and we took + exquisite drives. Chorley[13] also has been a kind friend to me; + he took me twice to the Handel Festival, seating me, conveying + me, breakfasting me, and, but that I was engaged, would have + dined me. The Festival was, as you have no doubt read in the + papers, most successful, the choruses, considering the enormous + difficulty of training such masses of people (2000!) were + excellent; the quantity of sound produced was, of course, + enormous, still there was no _din_, nothing stunning, only an + exceedingly dense and close-textured quality of sound. The solo + singers varied in excellence. Clara Novello shone by the quality + of her voice, which carries any distance, and by the correctness + of her singing, but to me she is entirely without charm, and + left me as cold after the great song of the Nativity in the + "Messiah" as if she had not sung at all. Miss Dolby sang well + throughout; she was remarkable for the excessive decorum and + simplicity of her singing. She finishes a phrase with great + breadth; her voice, to some people disagreeable, is to me very + _simpatica_, and she gave me altogether the greatest pleasure. + Sims Reeves, whom but a few days back I heard sing so badly at + Liverpool, astounded me here by the remarkable care and study he + brought to bear on his solos. He sang in the "Messiah," + beginning with "Behold and see if there be any sorrow," &c. He + sang exquisitely; and in the "Israel" he sang "The enemy said" + (a very ungrateful song) as well as possible. He was + vociferously encored, and well deserved it. ---- was simply + abominable, without a redeeming point. ----, though less + aggressively bad, was too insignificant to say much about at + all. Of course, altogether, the solos, especially the more + vigorous ones, were too weak for the choruses; that could not be + otherwise short of having four pair of Lablache lungs. Costa led + to perfection; it was a sight to see him. + + + _Friday_, PARIS. + + DEAREST MAMMA,--I write you a few lines just to announce my safe + return to Paris. You have no doubt by this time got the box back + again. Henry was, as always, very kind to me, and I spent three + days very simply at his house. I had intended, when I left this, + to stay only two days in London, but those days being Saturday + and Sunday, I remembered that all the Galleries were shut, and + therefore, being most anxious to see the new Veronese, I stayed + over Monday. I was delighted with the pictures in the National + Gallery and also at Marlborough House, but the annual exhibition + at the British Institution is _deplorable_. I have decided, on + the advice of Buckner, Colnaghi, and others, to send my + "Niggers" ("A Negro Dance"--water-colour--from sketch made in + Algiers) to the Suffolk Street Exhibition (where I shall be well + hung through Buckner's intervention) _if_ I get done in time: it + will be a hard race, as the Exhibition opens a month sooner than + the R.A. + + I reached home Tuesday evening at 10-1/2 o'clock, after a good + passage; I was, however, suffering from a shocking indigestion, + and, to crown all, was kept awake till four in the morning by a + ball immediately under my bed. Next morning I had to paint away + at Gallatti (my model) willy nilly (particularly nilly), + feeling seedy and frightfully cross. However, my "Gehazi" is now + as near as possible finished, and to-morrow I go in for the + "Niggers." I hope, dear Mamma, you will let me hear at once what + Lina or Suth. write; I am most anxious to hear more. + + Good-bye, dear Mamma. Best love to all from your most + affectionate + + FRED. + + + _Friday, 26th._ + + I am happy to say I have just done my "Niggers," and though too + late for the ordinary mode of conveyance on account of an + accident in the papers, I am saved by the exceeding kindness of + a secretary of the Sardinian Embassy, a great friend of mine; it + will be taken over on Monday night by a messenger under the + seals of the Embassy, and will just arrive in time. On Sunday I + hope to show it to Monfort, Fleury, and Scheffer. I will let you + know their verdict. + + From America I have good and bad news. The bad is that my "Pan" + and "Venus" are _not being exhibited at all_ on account of their + nudity, and are stowed away in a cupboard where F. Kemble with + the most friendly and untiring perseverance contrived to + discover them. This is a great nuisance. I have sent for them + back at once; they know best whether or no it is advisable to + exhibit such pictures in America, but they certainly should have + let me know. I have written to Rossetti about it to-day, + expressing my regret and desires, and have added "my pictures + have been exposed to the wear and tear of several long journeys + _not only_ entirely for no purpose, but, being shut out from the + light, they are even suffering an injury; meanwhile I am + neglecting the opportunity of showing and disposing of them in + England, a possibility which I might willingly forego for the + sake of supporting an enterprise in which I am interested, but + not to adorn a hidden closet in the United States." Fanny Kemble + was charmed with the pictures, went often and pluckily to the + forbidden cupboard, and said she only wished she could afford to + buy them. + + + _Friday._ + + Since I last wrote I have had a note from Rossetti, the + Secretary of the American Exhibition, giving me a piece of + information about my "Romeo" which can't fail to gratify you. He + said that, had my picture not been bought by Mr. Harrison, a + public subscription would have been opened to procure it for the + Academy of Arts at Philadelphia. Rossetti answers me (as indeed + I did not doubt) that he had not the remotest notion of the fate + of "Pan" and "Venus." He has written on my request to beg they + may be sent back at once to Europe. By Henry Greville's urgent + advice I have given notice that I shall send the "Orpheus," as + they have applied for more pictures; things were selling so + satisfactorily that there was scarcely anything left to exhibit + in Boston. I am glad to be able to reassure you about the + "Niggers." Sartoris _did_ like them exceedingly even before they + were anything like as good as they are now. Cartwright, who is + not _gene_ to dislike, is enchanted with them, and says if they + are not sold at once people are fools, for he has not for some + time seen anything he likes so much. Puliza Ricardo and other + "publics" like it extremely. Robert Fleury considered it highly + original, and said that if he only saw one little head in it he + would say, "c'est d'un coloriste." R. Fleury, you know, blames + very roundly what he does not like. Montfort, my most candid + adviser, was delighted, and said of a particular bit "je vous + assure c'est tout a fait comme Decamps." This is unconditional + praise. Again I consulted him about its chances of success in + the gallery of water-colours. He said, "_Comme aquarelle_ je + vous promets qu'il n'y en a pas beaucoup qui font comme + cela;"--about water colour being _infra. dig._, showing myself + competent in _two_ materials can only raise me. Poor Scheffer + was unwell and could not come. You see, dear Mammy, you need not + be so uneasy. I fully appreciate your and Papa's anxiety about + my pictures; but it has too great a hold on you when it makes + you think that I am entirely reckless and foolish, and that + rather than give in I should tell a lie and say it was too late + to withdraw a picture when it might still be done. Many thanks + for the extract about Sutherland which, however, I had already + seen, Henry Grev. having sent it me a week ago. My "Niggers" + arrived in time by great luck. Buckner godfathers them. + + In haste with very best love, your affectionate boy, + + FRED. + + + 19 QUEEN STREET, 1859. + + I have got, through the kindness of Elmore (R.A.), a sort of + studio at the other end of the world; I believe I told you this + in my last note; I suppose my things will come over in a week or + less. I am in great doubt about being able to paint in that + studio, and about its having been any use to come over to London + without the possibility of a really good _locale_: however, here + I am. I shall brush up my acquaintances and see a good deal of + my friends. Don't reckon on my _selling_ anything--_I_ don't at + all. My picture is hung so that it is virtually _impossible_ to + see it. I went to look at my "Niggers" in Suffolk Street, and am + confirmed in the idea (that also of my friends) that it is my + best work. I have as yet nothing worth writing about, so + good-bye, dearest Mamma, best love to all. + + + 2 ORME SQUARE, _Sunday, 1859_. + + Having got on Monday last into my studio and been very busy ever + since, this is absolutely the first moment I have found to sit + down and write to you. + + You will wish to know some particulars about my studio. Of + course after Paris and Rome it is a sad falling off--narrow and + dark, though I believe, for London, very fair; when I _live_ + here I must have a much larger light or I shall go + blind--however, I must not look a gift horse in the mouth. I + have had to furnish--this costs me about nine or ten shillings a + week; I keep a servant (a stupid, pompous, verbose, dirty, + willing, honest scrub) to run my errands and clean my brushes, + &c. &c., at half-a-crown a day; models are five shillings a + sitting here--ruination!--men with good heads there are + none--women, tol-lol!--a lay figure, twenty-five shillings a + month; in short, historical painting here is not for nothing; I + am working at my "Samson" picture; God knows how I shall finish + it in so short a time! Dearest Mammy, I shall have but a very + short peep at you this year, I am very sorry to say--I lost a + full month waiting for this wretched studio. I don't see my way + through my work before the middle or even end of the second week + in August, and I cannot well give up going to Scotland though + only for a very few days, as I have accepted so long ago. I am + to go there on the 20th; after that I must rush back post-haste + to Stourhead to finish Lady Hoare; all this will make me very + late for Italy, as I am anxious to revisit the north of that + country and study the Correggios a little at Parma before going + south. I shall be obliged to scamper across the country. I + _must_ be in Rome or the neighbourhood in October; I am going to + finish my Cervara landscape on the spot. + + I am in very fair health, London decidedly agrees with me, and I + don't suffer as much as I expected from the obligato spleen of + blue devildom. I need not say this is a source of immense + congratulation to me. + +When the picture "Nanna" returned from the Royal Academy, where it was +exhibited in 1859, Leighton sent it to Bath, writing to his mother to +announce its arrival. + + LONDON, 1859. + + DEAREST MAMMY,--I scribble a word in haste to announce to you + that I have sent "Nanna" off to Bath for you to see, she wants + varnish very badly as you see, but is not dry enough for that + yet. You must mind and put her in the right light, the window + must be on the left of the spectator--the more to the _left_ of + the picture you stand yourself the less you will see the want of + varnish. If you stand to the _right_ of the painting you won't + see it at all. Please send "Nanna" back when you have shown to + whom you wish, as she is overdue at Paris. + + + _Saturday Morning, 1859._ + + I returned yesterday from the Highlands, and have at last time + to write you a little word. My stay in the North has been most + satisfactory, I have enjoyed myself thoroughly, and have felt + particularly well in the keen bracing air of the mountains. My + time has been spent exclusively in walks, rides, and drives, for + the weather was great part of the time too uncertain to allow of + sitting out to paint (even had there been time), whereas no + amount of showers prevented our going out, and indeed to those + showers I owe seeing some of the most superb effects of colour, + light and shade, that I ever beheld. We used sometimes to have + three or four duckings in one ride, drying again in the sun, or + not as the case might be, and never catching even the phantom of + a cold, so healthy and invigorating is the breath of those + healthy hills. I said I painted nothing and bring home an empty + portfolio (all but a flower I drew one _very_ wet morning), but + I have studied a great deal with my eyes and memory, and come + back a better landscape painter than I went. On my road home, at + Dunkeld, where I lingered a day (exquisite spot), I jotted down + in oils two reminiscences of effects observed at Kinrara with + which I am rather well pleased--one is a stormy Scandinavian bit + of cloud and hill, the other a hot sunny expanse of golden corn + and purple heather, which looks for all the world like a bit of + Italy. Mind, they are the merest little sketches, but accurate + in the _impression of the effect_. + + I go on Monday morning to Stourhead, where I stay till Saturday, + and start Monday week for the Continent. Please send me a line + to Stourhead. How are you, darling? and Lina and Gus? and Papa? + Have you had any more drives?--Your loving boy, + + FRED. + +On returning to England Leighton took up his abode in his first studio +in England. Hitherto he had paid visits to London,--Rome, and +subsequently Paris, being his real home, for an artist's true home is +in his studio. In the autumn of 1859 he settled in 2 Orme Square, and +from that time to his death London became his headquarters. + +After having settled into his studio in Orme Square in the winter of +1859, he wrote to Steinle and to Robert Browning the following +letters:-- + + _Translation._] + 2 ORME SQUARE, BAYSWATER, LONDON, + _December 5, 1859_. + + MY DEAR FRIEND AND MASTER,--What a long time it is since I heard + from you! my last letter, despatched from Rome, has had no + answer. + + I enclose a photograph of a memorial tablet which I executed in + Rome last winter for my poor widowed sister. The monument is of + white marble with black mosaic decoration; the four dark circles + are bronze nails, which secure the marble tablet to the wall. + + When I had finished work in Rome, I went south and spent five + weeks in Capri. You would hardly believe, dear Friend, how this + wonderful island delighted me. I made vigorous use of my visit + and executed a fairly large number of conscientious studies. I + also took the opportunity to visit Paestum for the first time. I + may say that the _Temple of Neptune_ gave me the most exalted + architectonic impression that I have ever received; I shall + never forget that morning. The two neighbouring temples, + however, are not worth looking at, except from a painter's point + of view. + + Meanwhile, the season being advanced, I was obliged, with real + regret, to give up my plan of going to Frankfurt, and to hurry + back to England. Here I am now permanently established. I + confess that I did not pitch my tent here without some anxiety; + I had not spent _a single winter_ in England since my earliest + childhood, and I had good reason to fear that to me, with my + love of sunshine, it would prove a little harsh. I also feared + the climate for my bodily health. However, "native air" appears + to be not altogether an empty phrase, but I find myself, + notwithstanding the fog, well and in good spirits. Man must + indeed carry the sun in his heart--if he is to have it. Of work + in particular, I have nothing much to say. Later, in the course + of the winter, I will report more at length. + + Meanwhile, dear Master, write to me very soon. Tell me whether + you still think of your pupil, and especially tell me about your + certainly numerous works.--Your grateful pupil, + + LEIGHTON. + + + _Translation._] + 2 ORME SQUARE, BAYSWATER, + LONDON, _January 12, 1860_. + + I spoke little in my last letter of my present work, partly + perhaps because of the feeling I have already described, but + partly also because I intend to send you a photograph directly + the picture is finished, which will not be till spring. It is a + commission, and the subject is religious. There is only a single + figure, and I would describe it to you now, but that I fear you + would imagine the picture much more beautiful than I can paint + it, and you would consequently suffer a disappointment later on + in my work which would be painful to me. For the rest, I am + striving as hard as I can to make it fine and simple. You will + perhaps be surprised, but, in spite of my fanatic preference for + colour, I promised myself to be a draughtsman before I became a + colourist. + + And now adieu, my dear Friend. Directly I can show you anything + in "black and white" you shall hear from me again, and I shall + expect from you, as my old master, the most unsparing criticism; + that is the greatest proof of love you can give me. + + FRED LEIGHTON. + + + 2 ORME SQUARE, BAYSWATER, + _January 29, '60_. + + DEAR BROWNING,--It is not till the other day that I at last + received from Cartwright your Rome address, or I should have + written to you some time ago; before it was too late to wish you + a merry Xmas and health, happiness, and all prosperity for + yourself and Mrs. Browning in the present year. I don't know + that I have anything worth telling you to write about, for all + the little incidents which have their importance for the space + of a day, all appear too trivial to write about after a lapse of + a week or two. Still I write to assure you I keep up my most + affectionate remembrance of you, and to beg that you won't + entirely forget me. I received your kind letter at the beginning + of the winter, and was truly concerned to hear that Mrs. + Browning had been so alarmingly unwell; I trust that the air of + Rome, which once before was so beneficial to her, will have + strengthened and recruited her again this time. Dear old Rome! + how I wish I could fly over and spend a week or so with you all + in my old haunts. I suppose I shall never be entirely weaned of + that yearning affection I entertain for Italy, and particularly + for Rome and the "Comarea." You must have it all to yourselves + this year. What a delight it must be to see neither Brown, + Jones, nor Robinson. + + I suppose Cartwright, Pantaleone, and Odo Russell are the staple + of your convivial circle; and, by-the-bye, how much more freely + Mrs. Browning must breathe this winter without certain daily + visitations which I remember last year. I wonder whether you + will write to me and tell me what you are doing, socially and + artistically; everything about you will interest me. + + As for myself, you would not believe it, in spite of my old + habits of continental life and sunshine, I take very kindly to + England; _it agrees_ with me capitally, really better than Rome. + I am fattening _vue d'oeil_. The light is certainly not + irreproachable, still I can work, and don't find that my ideas + get particularly rusty. On the contrary, for colour, certainly + my sense seems to be sharpened in this atmosphere. + + I am soldiering too. I drill three times a week, and make as bad + a soldier as anybody else. The Sartoris, you know, are no longer + in London--a great loss to all their friends--but I go pretty + often to see them in the country, and have spent many a happy + day there in the course of the winter. By-the-bye, do you hear + or know anything of those two drawings I did of you and Mrs. + Browning? If so, will you give the one of you to Hookes that he + may send with some other things he has? And now, dear Browning, + "_vi levero l'incomodo_," and will bring this very tedious + epistle to a close. Remember me most kindly to Mrs. Browning, to + Cartwright and his wife, to Odo Russell, B----, Pantaleone with + better half, Storeys, and last, but not least, dear little + Hatty! Love to Cerinni; tell me about him. Good-bye.--Believe + me, very affectionately yours, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + + I am hand-and-glove with all my enemies the pre-Raphaelites. + Woolner sends his affectionate remembrances. + +Leighton writes to his sister in Italy:-- + + 2 ORME SQUARE, BAYSWATER, + _March 12_. + + MY DEAR GUSSYKINS,--You may have heard from Mamma that I went to + Paris to hear Madame Viardot in "Orphee." What wonderful + singing! what style! what breadth! what pathos! You would have + been enchanted, I am sure. Do you know the music? It is + wonderfully fine and pathetic, the first chorus particularly is + quite harrowing for the accent of grief about it. Madame + Viardot's _acting_, too, is superb--so perfectly simple and + grand, it is really antique. And when you consider all she has + to overcome--a bad, harsh voice, an ugly face, an ungainly + person; and yet she contrives to look almost handsome. She + enters heart and soul into her work; she said it was the only + thing she ever did that (after fifty performances) had not given + her a moment's _ennui_. I am afraid there is no chance of her + singing it in England this year, if at all; I don't believe the + Covent Garden audience would sit through it.[14] + + I also saw Gounod's new opera, "Philemon et Baucis," and was + disappointed. Nothing but the care and distinction of the + workmanship redeems it from being a bore; the subject is ill + adapted for the stage, and is dragged through three acts with + portentous efforts. Striking melodies there are few, charming + accompaniments many; all the pretty music (or nearly) is in the + orchestra--_c'est la sauce qui fait avaler le poisson_. The + introductions to the first and second acts, but particularly the + latter (a little _motif_ on the oboe), are charming; there is + also a capital chorus. All this, however, is an impression after + one hearing; I might alter my mind on hearing it oftener, but I + think not. + +In the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1860 Leighton sent one picture +only, "Sunrise--Capri." + + _Translation._] + 2 ORME SQUARE, _September 15, 1860_. + + MY VERY DEAR FRIEND,--I was almost afraid that you would think + that I had entirely forgotten you, but this would be a very + undeserved interpretation of my long silence. No, my dear + Master, you still live in my constant memory, in my most + grateful recollection. + + When I last wrote, I promised to send you a photograph of my + large picture. This work has taken up my time far beyond my + expectations, and I always put off writing in order not to send + you an empty letter. At last it is thus far, and I enclose both + the large photograph and some little ones, in the hope that you, + dear Master, will be interested also in the unimportant works of + your old pupil. + + Have I already told you the subject of my religious picture? I + think not. At the turning-point of a very critical illness, the + lady who commissioned my picture dreamt that she, as a + disembodied spirit, soared up heavenwards in the night.[15] + Suddenly she was aware of a point of light in the far vault of + heaven. This light grew, developed, and soon she saw coming + forth from the night the shining form of the Saviour. Full of + confidence she approached the holy apparition. Jesus, however, + raised His hands and, gently repulsing her, enjoined her to + return to earth, and during her life to make herself worthier to + enter the company of the blessed. She awoke, recovered, and + ordered the picture. + + You will be able to imagine, my dear Friend, how little + contented I am with my work; however, I am accustomed to show + you my weaknesses, and I therefore send you also this + unsatisfactory work. As regards the photograph, it is in certain + respects successful, although it makes the whole picture _four + times too dark_. + + I send also a portrait of my sister; a head of an English + soldier, who lost an arm at Balaclava, and recently died of + consumption; and finally a photograph after a drawing on wood, + which I drew for a book, but which has been _incredibly_ + disfigured by the engraver. Fortunately I had the drawing + (although bad) photographed before I sent it to be engraved. + + But enough of me and my affairs. + + And you, dear Master, what are you working at? Are your + cartoons all finished? Shall you soon begin your frescoes? What + other beautiful things have you composed? + + Do not punish my long silence, but send me a couple of lines to + tell me what interests me so deeply. So soon as I have finished + anything new (and I have many pictures in prospect) I will send + you another specimen of my handiwork. + + Meantime I beg you will remember me most cordially to your wife + and daughters, and to my other friends in Frankfurt. And + yourself do not altogether forget, your loving pupil, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + +It was in 1860 Leighton joined the Artist Rifle Corps. It was also +then he first made the acquaintance of Sir William B. Richmond (now +Chairman of the Leighton House Committee). + + _December 12, 1860._ + + DEAREST MAMMY,--I have deferred until now answering your kind + letter that I might be able to announce to you a little + circumstance which took place yesterday, and which, though not + of any real importance, may give you and Papa pleasure. I was + yesterday raised to the rank of Captain; I command the 3rd + Company--Lewis was at the same time made Captain of the 2nd--his + election of course came before mine; he has done three times + more for the Corps than I have or could have done--he lives very + near and goes _every day_--as a man of business, and a very + clever one, he has entirely organised the bookkeeping + department, and in fact has been altogether the vital principle + of the Corps. I was chosen next for having shown some zeal in + this service and some little capability for teaching. The vacant + lieutenancies go to Nicholson (the musician) and Talfourd. One + of the ensigncies has been given to Perugini, contingent on its + being lawful for him to hold such commission; another to old + Palmer. So much for our volunteering. I wish we had a commander. + The next question in your letter I thought I had answered in my + last--however, though Ruskin stayed about three hours and was + altogether very pleasant, he did not say anything that I could + quote about my paintings. He was _immensely_ struck by my + drawing of a lemon-tree, and was generally complimentary, or + rather, _respectful_, that is more his _genre_. I don't think, + however, that he cared for Sandbach's picture--which leads me to + the third point in your letter. Neither of the S.'s have seen + their picture; last time they were in London, having made no + definite appointment, I missed them. He wrote to say that when + he came up to town again, he would fix a day to call on me. + Gibson, the old traitor, never turned up at all. By-the-bye, I + see you ask whether I shoot much--no, not often; I am an + ordinary, average shot--my unsteady hand prevents my shooting + well. My general health is pretty fair. Many thanks, dearest + Mammy, for your kind wishes and congratulations on that + melancholy occasion, my birthday--it is a day I always + hate--fancy my being _thirty_!!! About marrying, dear Mamma, you + must not forget it requires two to play at that game. I would + not insult a girl I did not love by asking her to tie her + existence to mine, and I have not yet found one that I felt the + slightest wish to marry; it is no doubt ludicrous to place this + ideal so high, but it is not my fault--theoretically I should + like to be married very well. + +In another letter to his mother Leighton writes on the subject of +marriage: "If I don't marry, the reason has been that I have never +seen a girl to whom I felt the least desire to be united for life. I +should certainly never marry for the sake of doing so." The same +subject is again alluded to in a letter written in 1863, from +Leighton's mother to her younger daughter who was in Italy. The letter +begins by referring to a servant who was dismissed by Leighton. + + "He has such an effect on him by his profound stupidity and + intense conceit he can't keep him, for if he did, the irritation + would render him wicked if he indulged it, and ill if he + repressed the same--at least that's Fred's feeling just now. He + means to take an Italian servant if he can find one. + + "Fred has received an invitation to Sandringham (the Prince of + Wales). If he has not found a suitable servant we are to lend + him ours--Ellen's husband, a very superior person. I must not + forget to tell you that we saw ----'s new baby, a very dear + little thing. Freddy was enchanted with it. He noticed him more + than ----, who is a delightful little chap, and after caressing + it several times with exceeding tenderness, he suddenly grew red + in the face, and said, 'I must nurse him,' which he did for a + long time, to the wonder and admiration of Miss ---- and the + nurse. For my part, it gave me actual pain to see that proof of + his strong love for children, believing that he will never have + any of his own. He declares he has never seen a girl he could + marry. Of course this shows he is unreasonably fastidious; + more's the pity!" + + [Illustration: PORTRAIT OF MRS. SUTHERLAND ORR. 1861] + + + 2 ORME SQUARE, _April 10, 1861_. + + DEAREST MAMMY,--I have deferred writing until now that I might + be able to tell you the result of my little "private view," now + over. I am happy to say I have a great success. The "Vision" + pleased many people much, but was altogether, as I expected, the + least popular; the subject, though very interesting, was less + attractive to the many, and besides I have progressed in + painting since the date of that picture. My little girl at the + fountain, christened for me by one of my visitors, "Lieder ohne + Worte," has perhaps had the greatest number of votes.[16] The + "Francesca,"[17] on the other hand, has had, I think, the + advantage in the _quality_ of its admirers. Watts, for instance, + and Mrs. Sartoris think it by far my best daub. + + By-the-bye, you will be particularly pleased to hear that Lina's + portrait has had an immense success, and indeed, on second + thoughts, perhaps it was more admired than anything else. The + "Capri" and the "Aslett" were also much liked. Mind, dear Mamma, + this letter is "strictly confidential," because although, of + course, you want to know what people say of my pictures, anybody + else seeing this letter would (or might) suppose I was devoured + with vanity. + + I have just made an unexpected acquaintance in the Gladstones, + who sent me, I don't know why, a card for two parties. It was + very polite of them, and of course I went. This is a very + egotistical letter, dear Mamma, but I know that is what you + want. + + I am very sufficiently well, not strong, but never ill. I + marched to Wimbledon with the Volunteers last Monday, and got + wet several times but did not catch cold.[18] + + + LONDON. 1861. + + DEAR PAPA,--If the _Public_ receives my pictures as favourably + as the _Private_ has done, I shall have no cause to complain; as + far, at least, as the maintenance and increase of my reputation + is concerned. I should, however, have liked the "market" to be a + little more "brisk." + + Tom Taylor and Rossetti (Wm.), the only critics that came (as + far as I know) besides Stephens, were, as far as I can judge, + both of them much pleased with what they saw. I know at least + that both spoke well of my pictures behind my back. + + As for Ruskin, he was in one of his queer moods when he came to + breakfast with me--he spent his time looking at my portfolio and + praised my drawings most lavishly--_he did not even look at the + pictures_. However, nothing could be more cordial than he is to + me. + + I bolted out into the passage after you when you left the other + day to tell you that one of the gentlemen you saw come in was + Sir Edwin Landseer, but you had disappeared. + + + PARIS. _Monday_. + + DEAREST MOTHER,--I must wind up with bad news, which I hope you + will bear well: my pictures are badly hung, ill lighted, and + almost entirely ignored by the press.[19] Of course this is _au + fond_, a bitter disappointment to a man of my temperament, + especially after all the praise my work got before the + Exhibition. However, I shall wear a brave face, and who knows + but that some good may arise to me out of this? My little + energies will be sharpened up and my tenacity roused. I trust in + some future day, as long as hope lives. God bless you, Mammy; + best love to dear Gussy. From your affectionate son, + + FRED. + + + _May 1, 1861._ + + DEAREST MAMMY,--Life being a pump handle, first up then down, + you won't be too much surprised to hear that after the real + success my pictures had on "private view" they are with one + exception (the landscape) badly hung, "The Vision" over a door, + the others above the line, which will make it impossible to see + the finish or delicacy of execution which is an important + feature in them. I have not seen them myself, but am told this + by those who have. Don't take on, dear Mammy, nor let Papa worry + himself about it. Things come right in the end, and I know that + many people will be much annoyed at this treatment of me. + _Millais_, like a good fellow that he is, spoke up for me like a + man, though he himself feels so differently on art from what I + do. My good friend Aide is furious. After all perhaps, though + badly hung, the pictures may still be seen well enough to be + judged, that is all I really want, then perhaps some of the + papers will speak up for me. I am glad I let so many people see + them at the studio, those at least know what the pictures are + like. Of one thing be sure: if my works have real value, public + opinion will in the _long run_ force the Academy to hang me--but + enough of this subject. + + The Prince of Wales saw a photo-portrait of me in Valletort's + book the other day and begged him to ask me for one. I have had + some new ones done, and mean at the same time to send H.R.H. a + photograph of each of my larger pictures, "The Vision," the + "Francesca," and "The Listener," which, by-the-bye, I have + christened on the suggestion of a lady friend of mine (a sister + of Cockerell's) "Lieder ohne Worte." + + Landseer said nothing that was worth repeating, though he gave + me one or two useful practical hints. He is eminently a + practical man, and I suspect in his heart sneers at style. He + was, however, I believe, pleased with my things. + + + 9 PARK PLACE, ST. JAMES'S, + _Sunday, May 5, 1861_. + + DEAR MRS. LEIGHTON,--I know that the news of the bad hanging of + your son's pictures has reached you (unpleasant tidings + generally travel fast) and I hasten to tell you, what I hope may + a little mitigate the annoyance you must have felt about it, + that they are spoken of in terms of great eulogium by both the + _Times_ and _Athenaeum_. I was afraid that their unfortunate + placing might have prevented the possibility of any justice + being done them by the public critics, but after all the _Times_ + and _Athenaeum_ are the most influential and leading of all our + public journals. Mrs. Orr's portrait is consistently praised by + all the papers, even by those which review the others less + favourably. Fortunately, the pictures were well seen in the + studio by numbers of people of all classes before they went to + the Academy, and excited very general admiration in those who + felt no particular interest either in art or in your son; while + his friends, and those who _know_, were delighted not only with + the works themselves, but at the visible indications in them of + increased power in all ways. They have been thought by all whose + opinion is of value a great advance upon what he has hitherto + done. All this will, I hope, be pleasant to you; what will be so + most of all will be to know that he took the exceeding trial and + vexation of the abominable hanging of his pictures with the most + perfect temper, and an admirable desire to be just about those + who were doing him this ill turn. You will care for this, as I + do, more than for any worldly success his talent could have + brought him. I think he is looking well, although he complains a + little of feeling tired. I daresay it is nothing but the + weariness that must make itself a little felt after a great and + all-engrossing exertion. His volunteering occupation is quite + invaluable to him, giving him the exercise he never would + otherwise get. I think he seems to like his life in London, + where he has many friends, so many that if you were here you + would no longer feel as jealous about me as you once owned to + feeling--do you remember? I do not apologise for writing all + this to you, for although excess of zeal may be a sin in the + eyes of others, and even indeed of those whom one would die to + serve, a mother will hardly count it as such when her child is + in question. With best remembrances to Mr. Leighton and your + daughters, I am, ever faithfully yours, + + ADELAIDE SARTORIS. + +To his father Leighton wrote:-- + + 1861. + + As to the article in _Macmillan_, I don't in the least deny its + value as far as it goes and _quo ad_ the public; it is in that + sense very gratifying to be spoken of in such flattering terms + in a periodical of some standing, but I can't individually feel + much elated at the praise of a critic who in other parts of his + article shows he is not _au fond_ a judge; as for what he says + in _interpretation_ (I am not now alluding to the _praise_), it + is so verbatim what I said myself to those who visited my + studio, that I suspect he must have been of that number. I + remember, it is true, telling you _before_ I began to paint + "Lieder ohne Worte" that I intended to make it _realistic_, but + from the first moment I began I felt the mistake, and made it + professedly and pointedly the reverse. I don't think, however, + that we understand the word realistic alike; the Fisherman and + Syren which you quote was as little naturalistic as anything + could be, and, while you urge me to take up some subject + possessing that quality, I would point out that the Michael + Angelo and the Peacock Girl both fulfil that condition--to _my_ + mind _to a fault_. I have sent in (or am about to) a formula + which I received to fill up, stating what I would contribute to + the Great Exhibition of 1862 (International). I have offered the + Cimabue, four "Nannas," the "Lieder ohne Worte," "Francesca," + and the "Syren." I have obtained permission for all. + + + _Translation._] + 2 ORME SQUARE, BAYSWATER, + _30th April 1861_. + + MY DEAR FRIEND AND MASTER,--When I last wrote you I promised in + the spring to send you photographs of my pictures for the + exhibition. I have just received some prints and hasten to + enclose them. + + One of them (the girl by the fountain) gives, as is so often the + case, an entirely false impression of the picture, in that the + drapery of the principal figure should be much darker, and that + of the retreating figure much lighter. I have called this + picture "Lieder ohne Worte." It represents a girl, who is + resting by a fountain, and listening to the ripple of the water + and the song of a bird. This subject is, of course, quite + incomplete without colour, as I have endeavoured, both by colour + and by flowing delicate forms, to translate to the eye of the + spectator something of the pleasure which the child receives + through her ears. This idea lies at the base of the whole thing, + and is conveyed to the best of my ability in every detail, so + that in the dead photograph one loses exactly half, also the + dulling of the eyes, which are dark blue in the picture, gives a + look of weakness in the photograph that is not quite pleasant. + + The second subject is, as you will know well, the old, ever-new + motive of Paolo and Francesca. I endeavoured to put in as much + glow and passion as possible without causing the least offence; + this picture also would, perhaps, have pleased you in colour. + How I should like to show it to you, my dear master! However, + you will no doubt send me your candid opinion of the photographs + in a few lines, and not spare criticism. + + I am exceedingly curious to know how _your_ work is getting on. + What are you working at just now? When is the fresco to be + begun? What easel pictures have you undertaken? I want to know + all that. I also hope with all my heart, my dear master, that + your health keeps good, that your wife and children are all + well. Please remember me most kindly to your family and all in + Frankfurt who remember me. And yourself, my dear friend, keep in + remembrance.--Your grateful pupil, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + + + _Translation._] + 2 ORME SQUARE, BAYSWATER, LONDON, + _June 30, 1861_. + + MY DEAR FRIEND,--Forgive my not having thanked you sooner for + your kind note. The same thing has happened to me as to you: + work has left me but little leisure for writing. Now, however, + my hearty thanks for the open sincerity with which you have + spoken of my latest work, I am only sorry that you have not gone + into it even more closely. I shall endeavour in my present works + to diminish the excessive mannerism of the lines, which will be + all the easier for me as I am now painting principally from + nature; in my last picture the subject permitted that but + little. In any case I hope, dear master, that you will always + speak to me with the same candour; it is the best proof to me + that I still possess your friendship. + + I am extremely eager to see how far your works have got on. + Amongst them, however, my dear friend, keep in remembrance your + grateful pupil, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + + _P.S._--I notice with regret that already I do not write a + German letter with my former fluency. + +In a letter to his sister, Mrs. Matthews, January 24, 1860, Leighton +wrote: "I am horrified to hear the account you give of Mrs. Browning. +I knew she was a confirmed invalid, but had no idea that one of her +lungs was already gone! What will poor Browning do if she dies? He +adores her, you know." + + LONDON, _July 1861_. + + DEAREST MAMMY,--Thanks for your kind letter, which I have been + unable to answer till now. I had heard of poor Browning's + bereavement; we were all very much shocked at it, knowing, as we + do, how entirely irreparable his loss is. I wrote a few lines to + him that he might know how sincerely I grieved with him; I don't + at all know what were the circumstances of her death, we have no + particulars. + +Leighton undertook to design the monument over Mrs. Browning's grave +in the English Cemetery at Florence. The work appealed to him in +every sense, and remains as a permanent memorial of those friendships +which made the years spent in Italy so full, so rich, so entrancing. +With reference to the monument Browning writes:-- + + CHEZ M. LARAISON, + STE. MARIE, PRES PORNIC, LOIRE INFERIEURE, + _August 30, 1863_. + + MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--Don't fret; you will do everything like + yourself in the end, I know; wait till the end of October, as + you propose. I cannot return before the beginning of it, though + I would do so were it necessary, but it is not, for I have only + this morning received the notification of which I told you, that + "the marble is in the sculptor's studio." We shall therefore be + in full time. + + The portrait you saw was the autotype which I lent to Mr. + Richmond, and concerning which I wrote to him before leaving + London, directing that it should be sent to you. He engaged to + let you have it whenever you desired. I therefore enclose (oh, + fresh attack on your envelopes and postage stamps!) a note which + I presume he will attend to, and which you will of course burn + should he have sent the portraits meanwhile. I have also two + others nearly like that portrait, taken the same day with it, + which I was unable to find, but which shall be found on my + return. + + Dear Leighton, I can only repeat, with entire truth, that you + will satisfy me wholly. I don't think, however, you can make me + more than I am now--Yours gratefully and lovingly, + + ROBERT BROWNING. + +Continuation of letter to his mother:-- + + I am glad to hear Papa reported favourably of my work, and that + you like the photographs of my pictures now in the Exhibition. I + am very glad also that Gussy liked the _receding figure_ in the + "Lieder ohne Worte," as it was a favourite also with me, the + _tallness_ of said figure was inseparable from the sentiment of + it in my mind. I have a photograph of that picture still + remaining; I will give it to Gus when she comes through, I can + get myself another some future day. I am getting on tol-lol with + my pictures, but am rather anxious just now about the extreme + difficulty of getting a peacock. I want to _buy_ one to have the + skin prepared, and if I don't get one soon they will all lose + their tails; and there I shall be--in a fix! A friend of mine + has written to Norfolk, and hopes to get me one. The season, + even in the extremely moderate form in which I take it, is a + fatiguing affair. I get up late and never feel fresh and + vigorous. I have serious thoughts of entirely giving it up next + year. I will go now and then to stay at people's houses, but not + to their parties--_le jeu ne vaut pas la chandelle_. _A propos_ + of country houses, I am going to spend a few days with Lady + Cowper at Wrest Park towards the end of this month; there are to + be theatricals and great hilarity. And now about Bath, I hope, + dearest Mammy, you won't be hurt if I propose to come at the end + of the _first_ week in September instead of the _last_ week in + August. The fact is I have a great "giro" I want to make, and if + I could take Bath in the regular progress it would be both a + great convenience and a saving of expense. I mean to stay three + weeks in Bath and have thoughts of painting a _pot-boiler_ of + little Walker if he is still handsome. I wish Papa would look + after him, and let me know what he is doing and how he is + looking. These are my plans: I want, whilst the summer is still + hot and green, to visit South Hampshire, New Forest, Isle of + Wight, South Devon, North Devon, and so work my way round to + Bath, whence to Stourhead for a few days; then to Mason in + Staffordshire, and then back to London. My pictures will be done + long before the Exhibition next opening, so I can manage all + this. I shall visit the following people: Sartoris, Aides, + perhaps Morants, I hope _Tennyson_, Lady E. Bulteel, and look in + at Mount Edgcombe--the rest of the journey will be purely + artistic. + + + CLOVELLY, _Sunday_. + + DEAREST MAMMY,--I could not find time to answer your note (for + which best thanks) before I left Ventnor. I am now in one of the + most picturesque spots on the north coast of Devon--the + _rendezvous_ of painters and tourists, the _pays de cocagne_ of + Hook and one of the chief lions of my trip. + + The places I have visited so far are Salisbury, Exeter, and + Bideford; with the latter I was much disappointed, and think it + far below its reputation; not so Salisbury, which is a most + interesting town, full of quaintness and character beyond my + expectations; it has, however, a look of decay and depopulation + about it which makes me feel awfully low-spirited. The + Cathedral, perhaps, _altogether_ rather disappointed me--though + of course much about it is very beautiful; then, too, its + general (internal) aspect is entirely marred by a brutal coat of + whitewash laid on in the last century, covering up the marble + columns and killing out all life and colour. Unfortunately, it + would cost very many thousands to restore the church and its + ancient glories. + + To-morrow I start for Ilfracombe--the next day for Lynton. + +Again, later:-- + + Many thanks for your letter just received and for all the kind + wishes therein contained, which I most warmly return for you + all--a double portion to dear Taily in honour of her birthday. + + I will come on the 8th if I possibly can, and bring some little + sketches to show you. + + I shall exhibit this year IF I get done in time, but I can't + hurry--it is entirely immaterial whether I exhibit or not--I + would rather, of course. + + We have begun drilling, but it will be many weeks before we get + to rifle-shooting--this is the sort of thing we are doing now. + Our uniform is plainness itself, all grey, and the cheapest in + London. + + I weather the cold so-so--I have a gas-stove beside my + fireplace, but am still tolerably cold when it comes very sharp. + + My dinner with Millais was put off till Monday next--I think + Millais _charming_ and _so_ handsome. + + I am exceedingly sorry, dear Mamma, you have reckoned on me for + cotillon figures--with the exception of the one I led at Bath + once, _I have not seen one for years_, and have not the faintest + notion what is done--I will, however, _back_ anybody else with + great zeal. + + I was indeed truly sorry to hear of Lord Holland's death--I had + expected it for some time; nothing could exceed their kindness + to me, and the House is an irreparable loss to me. + + I hope to have a very merry Christmas Day. I am running down to + Westbury (the Sartoris); there is to be a tree; I come up again + of course Monday morning. + + I am never _ill_. I take my human frailty out in never being + very well--never equal to much fatigue. + + + LONDON, 1861. + + My dinner at Millais' yesterday was very pleasant. I like him + extremely, and his wife appears an agreeable person. I met there + John Leech, the man who does all those admirable caricatures in + _Punch_--he is a very pleasant and gentleman-like person. + + I don't feel sure whether I told you that I am about shortly to + send my "Paris and Juliet" with the "Samson" to America on spec. + Mrs. Kemble will do all she can to godmother them; I got a very + kind letter from her from Boston the other day--she has asked me + to send her a little sketch of Westbury with the pictures--of + course I shall. + +The following letters from Mrs. Fanny Kemble reveal the interest which +this friend took in Leighton and his pictures, also the genius of the +writer in penning delightful epistles:-- + + REVERE HOUSE, BOSTON, + _Friday, December 9, 1861_. + + DEAR MR. LEIGHTON,--It was very kind and amiable of you to write + to me of Westbury and my sister; you cannot imagine the + forlornness one feels when, to the loss of the sight of those + one loves, is added that bitter silence which leaves one almost + ignorant, as death does, of all the conditions in which our + friends remain. God knows, written words are a poor substitute + for the sound of a voice and the look of living eyes; still, + when they are all that can reach us of those towards whom our + hearts yearn, it is miserable not to be able to obtain them. The + friends with whom I constantly correspond see and know little or + nothing of her, and so no one of them can in any degree supply + me with the news that I most desire from across the sea--how it + is faring with my sister; so I am very grateful to you for your + intelligence, which was just what I would give anything for + (though not in itself, perhaps, very satisfactory) out here, + where I think you have none of you an idea how _banished_ I + feel. Now, my dear Mr. Leighton, to your business, about which + I began my inquiries almost immediately after my return to this + country, but only received the last of these communications last + night, and you perceive the other was incomplete without it. You + must command me entirely in any and every thing that I can do to + forward your aims, and I will promise to be _severe_ in my + obedience to any instructions you may like to give me. New York + is undoubtedly a better market for pictures, and therefore a + better place to exhibit them than this, but I do not know + anybody whom I trust there. Mr. Ordway, however, seems inclined + to take charge of your pictures if they are exhibited there. + + Good-bye. Do not fail to employ me in this matter to the fullest + extent that I can be of the least use to you; it will be a great + pleasure to me to help you in any way that I possibly + can.--Yours very truly, + + FANNY KEMBLE. + + I wish you would send me out some sketch of Westbury with your + pictures, if they come. I wish for one very much. I wish you + could see the world here just now--a sky as pure and brilliant + as it is possible to conceive, and every bough, branch, blade of + grass and withered leaf coated with clear crystal and _blazing_ + with prismatic colours. There are, every now and then, + _sentiments_ in this sky that I have seen in none other. There + are certain points of view in which Boston, rising beyond broad + sheets of water that repeat them still more tenderly, seems to + me worthy of a great painter. But do not come out and try unless + you are quite sure of going back, or you will break your heart. + + + REVERE HOUSE, BOSTON, + _Friday, February 7_. + + I feel terrified, when you speak of my determining what is to be + done with your pictures when they arrive in Boston, for + assuredly I am utterly incompetent to any such decision, and can + only refer myself to the judgment of my friend Mr. Cabot, who + will certainly advise for the best in the matter, but who, + nevertheless, is not infallible. I should think it rather late + in the season for exhibiting them here, but again would not take + upon myself to say. I do not know what the percentage on sale + here is, but presume it is not higher than in London. But here + people exhibit their pictures at a shilling a head, _i.e._ put + them in a room hung round with black calico, light up a flare of + gas above them, and take a quarter of a dollar from every sinner + who sees them. Two of Churche's pictures (he is a great American + artist, though you may never have heard of him) have been, or + rather are, at this moment so exhibiting--his "Falls of + Niagara," and a very beautiful landscape called the "Heart of + the Andes." Both these pictures were exhibited in London, I know + not with what success; they have both considerable merit, but + the latter I admire extremely. Page had a "Venus" here the other + day, exhibited by gas-light in a black room; but indeed, dear + Mr. Leighton, it sometimes seems to me as if you never could + imagine or would consent to the gross charlatanry which is + practised--how necessarily I do not know--here about all such + matters. Certainly your gold medal should be trumpeted--and your + profession of art and your confession of faith, and anything + most private and particular that you would not wish known, had + better be published in several versions in all the newspapers of + the United States. Your pictures must be placarded over all the + walls in all the sizes of type conceivable, and all the colours + of the rainbow. If you will write me your personal history, and + rampant puffs of your own performances, I will copy them and + send them to those sources of public instruction, the + enlightened public press. Moreover, I will go and sit before + them daily and utter exclamations of admiration on every note in + my voice, and if anything else remains to be done I will do it; + but you must not make me in any way responsible for the result, + because it is not in the least likely that you will write + yourself up to the mark of puffing as practised here. Basta--I + will take the very best advice and do the very best I can about + the pictures, and rejoice in my heart to see them myself, that I + can assuredly promise you. By-the-bye, I gave your address only + a few days ago, to be sent to a person now in Europe negotiating + with French and English artists for pictures to exhibit. I + wonder if he will find you and enlighten your mind about art in + America. Thank you for the account of Westbury and its Christmas + festivities, and thank you, thank you for the sketch of the home + you are so very kind as to promise me; it will be a blessed + treasure to see, for you cannot conceive the dreary + heart-sickness that utterly overcomes me here sometimes. To-day + I was singing the quartette in "Faust" that we used to sing, and + was obliged to stop for crying. I wished extremely to have a + photograph of the house, and, if I could only have afforded it, + should have asked you to sell me every sketch you took about the + place. The skies here are beautiful, wonderful in their + transparent purity. They seem to me of a different _texture_ + from any other I ever saw, more diaphanous, and there is a + colour in them when they are quite free from clouds that + surpasses in delicacy all other skies I have seen. It is like + the complexion of the young girls here, a miracle of evanescent + brilliant softness. My winter is wearing along pretty tolerably. + My Christmas was passed entirely alone, but I am quite used to + that. I am beginning to be much occupied about the plans and + drawings for a house, which I am thinking of building on some + land I own in Massachusetts. It is a great undertaking, and + really at fifty years old seems hardly worth while, and yet, + till I am ready for my coffin, I must have some place in which + to rest my head. Perhaps some fine day--who knows?--you will + come to see me there. That would be a very pretty plot, and I + think I need not say how welcome you would be, dear Mr. + Leighton, to yours very truly, + + FANNY KEMBLE. + + + LENOX, _Tuesday_. + + A thousand thanks, my dear Mr. Leighton, for the minute account + of Westbury--as I cannot know anything about my sister, it is + something to know how her house is settled and decorated, and + how the place where she lives looks. The red velvet drawing-room + sounds gorgeous, and it must be very becoming to the pictures. + Of your pictures that have "wandered west" you may be sure I + should have written you, if I had had the good news to give you + that either of them was sold, but I am sorry to say this is not + the case. The New York Exhibition is now closed, and the + pictures have been sent back to Boston, where they are at + present hanging in the Athenaeum under the care of Mr. Ordway, + who wishes, but does not much hope, to be able to sell them. It + seems that one or two people asked the price of the pictures in + New York, but considered it, when they received the + information, "rather a tall price." I am a little consoled at + the ill success of this venture of yours, by Henry Greville's + writing me that your hands are full of orders, for which you are + to be well paid. Your small acquaintance, Fanny, who left me + this morning after a visit of a month, propounded to me the + expediency of desiring the purchaser of the reconciliation of + old Capulet and Montague to buy as its pendant the "Paris and + Juliet"; and though she has no personal acquaintance with the + lover of art in question, she said, when she got to Philadelphia + she should set about intriguing to that effect; and she had my + full permission to try and to succeed. I wish I could tell you + anything pleasant in return for your description of the rooms at + Westbury, but I have nothing very cheerful to impart. I have + been quite unwell, and am still very far from flourishing; my + spirits are much depressed, and the life I lead, of incessant + worry and discomfort with servants and all one's domestic + arrangements, is something quite too tedious to relate--and that + indeed it would be impossible to _realise_, as the Yankees say, + unless you witnessed it. I saw Hetty Hosmer three days after her + arrival in Boston. Her father is a hopeless invalid, and she + will certainly not leave him while he lives; but I suspect that + he is likely to die before this year ends, and then she will + return to live in Italy. The State of Missouri has voted two + thousand pounds for a statue of Colonel Benton, one of its + "great men," to be erected by her, which, of course, is a whole + plume of feathers in her cap. + + Good-bye, dear Mr. Leighton; believe me always yours most truly, + + FANNY KEMBLE. + + You must not fail to write to me any directions that you wish + observed about your pictures, while they remain here. I am only + too glad to try to serve you. + + + LENOX, BERKSHIRE, MASSACHUSETTS, + _Monday, March 12_. + + Pictures of very high pretensions are exhibited, like the scenes + in a theatre, by gas-light, and advertised in coloured _posters_ + all over the streets like theatrical exhibitions. However, it is + no use vexing your soul with what neither of us can help. I + cannot and will not accept the responsibility of disposing of + your pictures; but I will get the best advice I can about them + and follow it, and spare no personal pains to have them + advantageously dealt with; only, I hope it will not be very long + before they arrive, because my own stay in Boston is now drawing + to a close, and after the end of the present month I shall be at + Lenox, a remote village in a lonely hill district one hundred + miles from Boston, or rather I should say seven hours distant + from the nearest railroad station, which is six miles away again + from Lenox. When once I come here--for I write at this moment + from this snowy wilderness--it will be to remain for the next + nine or ten months, so you see I must make all arrangements + about your pictures before taking my leave of civilised + communities. I came up to this place from Boston yesterday to + look at a house that I think of hiring for a year, and shall + return to the city next week. I have left your pictures (should + they arrive during my absence) to the charge of a friend of mine + who is one of the directors of the Athenaeum, and will see that + they are properly received. Thank you a thousand times for the + promised likeness of Westbury, which will be a treasure to me. + What a contrast is my recollection of that charming place, to + the abomination of desolation of the dreary savage winter + landscape of low black hills, bristling with wintry woods and + wide, bare, snow-covered valleys, that stretch before me here at + this moment. I am well, but much worn out with my last course of + public readings, which I had just ended in Boston. My daughters + are well, and write to me tolerably frequently; the eldest seems + happy and contented in her marriage; your small acquaintance, + Fanny, writes to me from Savannah of sitting with the doors and + windows wide open, and wiping the perspiration from her face in + the meantime; and here everything is buried in snow. I shall + wait till I return to Boston to finish this, as I shall hope to + send you then news of the arrival of your pictures. + + + _Wednesday, March 14._ + + Your pictures are arrived, my dear Mr. Leighton; they reached + Boston last week while I was absent at Lenox. I only returned + yesterday evening, and found a letter from Mr. Cabot announcing + that they were at the Athenaeum; thither I went this morning, and + spent a most delightful half-hour in looking at them. I like + the "Samson" very much indeed; I think it is beautiful, and am + charmed with the treatment of the subject, though you have + chosen a different moment for illustration from the one I had + imagined. This evening I have been having a long conversation + with Mr. Ordway about the future destinations of the pictures. I + am little sanguine, I regret to say, about their being bought + here, for the only rich picture purchaser that I know here has a + predilection for French works of art, small _tableaux de genre_, + and Troyon's landscapes. However, it must be tried. Mr. Ordway + says he will exhibit your pictures in the Athenaeum, which + (should they be sold while there) will save you your commission, + because, being an artist himself, he will not charge you any. If + after due experiment they do not seem likely to sell here, we + will send them to New York, and then to Philadelphia; in short, + the best that can be done for them shall, as far as my agency is + concerned, you may be sure. + + + BOSTON, _Thursday, March 15_. + + I have this moment received your letter of the 25th February, + for which I thank you very much. It does not require any further + answer with regard to your pictures, of the safe arrival of + which I wrote you word last night. I did not tell you, + by-the-bye, that they are both slightly _streaked_ across from + side to side with what Mr. Ordway thinks must have been small + infiltrations of sea-water; he says the pictures are not injured + by them, nor do they indeed appear to be so in the least, and + that he can wipe off the stains with no damage whatever to them. + Thank you for all you tell me of my sister; it is not much, + indeed, nor very cheerful, but it is more than reaches me + through any other channel, and far better than the miserable + conjectures of absolute ignorance. Dear Mr. Leighton, thank you + a thousand times for the _portrait_ of Westbury--it is exactly + what I wished for--but, oh, why could there not be the lovely + upland beyond, and the sheep slowly rolling up and down the + slopes, and the tinkle of the bell, and you and she and they and + all of us. Oh dear, if you could conceive what it is to me to be + _here_, you would know a thousand times better than I can tell + you how precious such a memento of _there_ is to me. Thank you, + too, for the good inspiration of telling me about the change of + place of the pictures at Westbury; it is wonderful how much one + small particular has power to bring the whole of what surrounds + it, back to the mind, and what vividness it gives to the picture + that, in spite of the distinctness with which it was stamped + upon the memory, becomes so soon, and yet so unconsciously, + obliterated in the minor parts that give it charm and vitality. + I spent a long hour to-day again looking at your pictures and + wishing most heartily that I could afford to buy them both. + Good-bye, dear Mr. Leighton; I shall leave this open till + to-morrow, in case I should hear anything more about them before + I go. I enclose the receipts for what I have paid. I suppose it + is all right, but it seems a most monstrous price for mere + conveyance, and indeed reminds us that our humorous forefathers + called _stealing_ _conveying_. + + + LENOX, BERKSHIRE, MASSACHUSETTS, + _Friday, April 27_. + + Your pictures are at present in the New York Exhibition. Mr. + Ordway tells me that it is extremely rare for pictures to sell + without the intervention of dealers. In this country they cry + down and undervalue all pictures that are not expressly + committed to them, and the ignorance of the rich shopkeepers who + purchase works of Art, is so excessive that they do not feel + safe in making any acquisition without the advice and permission + of some charlatan of a dealer, to whom these wiseacres come + saying (verbatim, so Mr. Ordway informed me), "I want some + pictures; can't you recommend any to me?" and then, of course, + the picture-dealer recommends what brings him the highest + percentage; and the man who buys pictures exactly like + looking-glasses, window-curtains, or any other _furniture_ for a + new house, departs satisfied that he possesses a work of Art. + The things that are bought and sold here in the shape of + pictures, and the things that are said about them, _vous + feraient pouffer de rire_, if you did not live in this country. + If you did, they would be like many other proofs of the + semi-civilisation of the people, that would be rather doleful + than otherwise to you. Thank you for all you tell about my + sister and her children. I feel very much both for my sister and + Anne in their separation. I have just parted with my maid Marie, + who has lived with me fifteen years, and who leaves me now + because her health is so much broken down that her physician + tells her, she must go to some other climate or she will die. + So she is gone, and here I remain absolutely alone, looking, not + for the "wrath to come," but what may be supposed no bad + instalment of it--the advent of four new servants with whom I am + to begin housekeeping in my small cottage next week. Just before + leaving Boston I saw Hetty Hosmer. She has come home to her poor + old paralytic father, who, I suppose, is not likely to live very + long. Whenever the event of his death happens, Hetty will gather + up her substance, and depart hence for the rest of her natural + or artistic life. She is very little changed in appearance, and + only a little in manner. She seemed very glad to see me, and so + was I to see her, for she represented to my memory a whole world + of things and places and people that I am fond of. I have not + seen Lord Lyon, and do not expect to do so, as I understand he + does not mean to stir from Washington all the summer, and + thither I shall assuredly not go, though I would go a good way + to see him. I'm told he lives in dread of being married by some + fair American, and it is not always a thing that a man can + escape; but he is too good for that, and I trust will not + succumb to these intrepid little flirts. Good-bye, dear Mr. + Leighton; I have a settled nostalgia, which is the saddest thing + in the world. Your sketch of Westbury is always before me, and + your letters are the most kindly return you could possibly make, + for any service that you could require of me. I wish with all my + heart I might have the great pleasure of writing you, now that + one of your pictures was sold. + + Addio. + + + LENOX, _Friday, June 7_. + + Thank you, dear Frederic Leighton, for your letter and the + photographs, by means of which, and your description, I have a + sort of vision (not quite what the Yankees call a "realising + sense") of your pictures. The girl at the fountain is + charming,[20] the other beautiful and terrible, as it should + be.[21] I can well imagine the beautiful effect the sentiment of + the picture must receive from that regretful return, as it were, + of the daylight that has set upon the poor people for ever. In + the English newspapers that are sent to me I looked eagerly + among the notices of the Exhibition for your name, and read the + meagre little bit allotted to each picture. I was especially + delighted with the critic who thinks your "Paolo and Francesca" + too _earthly_ in the intensity of their passions. The gentleman + apparently forgets that it was not in Heaven that Dante met + these poor things. With regard to your other pictures, dear Mr. + Leighton, I think you are right to withdraw them from America. I + wish with all my heart that I could have presented myself with + one of those pictures; however, that is one of the vainest of + all human desires. My income is already docked of two hundred + pounds this year by the disastrous state of public affairs; but, + of course, if one is in the midst of a falling house, one can + hardly hope to avoid bruises and broken bones. The attitude of + England is highly unsatisfactory to the North, who now choose to + consider the whole action of the Government a crusade against + slavery--which it is not, and was not, and will not be except in + the New England state where the Abolitionist party has always + been strongest, and where the character of the people is more of + the nature to make fighters for abstract principles. The + Southerners hate the Yankees, and _vice versa_, for this very + reason; and if the crisis comes really to anything like + fighting, the New England, especially the Massachusetts men, + will probably fight very maliciously as against slaveholders, + and the slaveholders against them as Abolitionists, which _they_ + now are, pretty much to a man. A huge volunteer force is levying + and being prepared for action; but in spite of the very + unanimous feeling of the North and North-West, and the warlike + attitude of the South, I shall not believe in anything deserving + the name of war till I see it. The South is without resources + that can avail for a six months' struggle. The North has a huge, + unarmed, undisciplined force of men at its command; but the + Southerners do not want to fight, and neither do the + Northerners; _but_ if any combination of circumstances (and of + course matters cannot stand still, especially with the border + states all _au pied en l'air_) should occasion any collision + accompanied with considerable effusions of blood, I believe the + North would pour itself upon the Southern States and annihilate + the secessionist party. It is extremely difficult to foresee the + probable course of events, but I believe eventually the Southern + States will be obliged to return to their allegiance, and + _then_ I believe the North will, once for all, legislate for the + future limiting of the curse of slavery to those states where it + _now_ exists, and where, of course, under such circumstances, it + would very soon cease to exist, as if it cannot extend itself it + must die. In one sense slavery is undoubtedly the cause of the + present disastrous crisis--and in the profoundest sense, for the + character of the Southerners is the immediate result of these + infernal "institutions"; and but for Southern slavery Southern + "Chivalry," that arrogant, insolent, ignorant, ferocious and + lawless race of men, would never have existed. + + Oh, how thankful I shall be to be at home once more! Farewell, + dear Mr. Leighton; pray, if there is anything special to be done + about your pictures, write to me and let me have the pleasure of + doing something for you. Oh, I am so enraged that I could not + get them sold; and yet though you may not think it, I should + have thought it a pity for them to have to live the rest of + their lives here. Thank you again for the photographs; I look at + them constantly. All _such things_ are like being lifted into + another atmosphere from that which surrounds and stifles one + here. Believe me always your obliged and sincere friend, + + FANNY KEMBLE. + + Emil Devrient's was the best Hamlet I ever saw. It would not + have been if my father's had not been too smooth and harmonious. + I hope I shall see Fechter's. + + + LENOX, _Thursday, October 11_. + + How good an inspiration it was that made you send that beautiful + photograph to me! It came to me really like a special + providence, on the day when I had parted from my children for an + indefinite time, and with more than usual sadness and anxiety; + for my eldest child's health has failed completely since her + confinement, and she came to me for a visit of ten days only, + looking like the doomed, wan image of some woman whose enemies + were wasting her by witchcraft. My small comfortless home was + intolerably lonely to me, and towards sunset I went out to find + some fortitude under the open sky. I wandered into a copse of + beech trees that clothe the steep sides of a miniature ravine + with a brook at the bottom, and here gathered a handful of the + beautiful blue fringed gentian (do you know that exquisite + flower that grows wild in the woods here?). The little glen with + its clusters of mysterious blue blossoms was all but dark, but, + emerging from it, I stood where I saw a wide valley flooded with + the evening light, and hills beyond rising in waves of amber and + smoke colour and dark purple; it was so beautiful that it cannot + be imagined. The autumn has turned all the trees into gold and + jewels, like the enchanted growth of fairy-land, and the whole + world, as I saw it from the entrance of that shadowy dell, + looked as if it was made of precious metals and precious stones. + I was very sad, and stood thinking of our Saviour and the widow + of Nain, and how pitiful He was to sorrowful human creatures, + and with some sparks of comfort in my heart I returned home, + where I found your letter waiting for me. I have told you all + this of my previous state of mind and feeling, because--without + knowing that--you could not conceive how like an express message + of consolation your work appeared to me. May it be blessed to + many hearts for admonition and for consolation as it was to + mine, dear Mr. Leighton. It is no wonder that it seemed to me + beautiful, and I do not think I shall ever sufficiently + disconnect it with this first impression, to be able to judge of + its merit as a work of art; it was, as I said before, a special + Providence to me. I long to have it framed and hung where I can + see it constantly. I have within the last few days moved into a + house which I have hired for the next two years. It is all but + in the village of Lenox, and yet so situated that it commands + from the windows of every room a most beautiful prospect. The + whole landscape is a harmonious confusion of small valleys and + hills, rolling and falling within and around and beyond each + other, like folds of rich and majestic drapery. Oh, what lights + and shadows roam and rest over these hill-sides and in the + hollows between them! The country is very thickly wooded, and + the woods are literally of every colour in the rainbow, all + mixed together under a sky, the peculiar characteristic of which + is not so much softness or brightness, as a transparent purity + that seems as if there was _no_ atmosphere betwixt oneself and + the various objects one sees. I expect this would make it + difficult to paint these beautiful aspects of nature here; but, + oh, how I _do_ wish you could see it, for, in the matter of + American autumnal colouring, seeing alone is believing. The + house itself is very tolerably comfortable, but hideous to + behold both within and without; and I have begun my residence in + it under rather depressing circumstances, _i.e._ without _being + able_ to obtain the necessary servants for the decent comfort of + my daily existence. Ever since the beginning of May I have been + endeavouring, in vain, to procure and keep together a decent + household. Not for one _single week_ have I had my proper + complement of people in the house, and I have done every species + of house-work myself, from cleaning the cellar and kitchen to + washing the tea-cups; it is a state of things as incredible as + the colour of the autumn woods, and as peculiar, thank God, to + America. I am now making my last experiment by trying coloured + servants. Their manners and deportment are generally much better + than those of either the Irish or American, and they seem + capable of personal attachment to their employers, which neither + of the other races are. The incessant worry, discomfort, and + positive fatigue that I have undergone during the whole summer + has completely shaken my nerves, so that I have been in a sort + of hysterical condition of constant weeping for some time past. + I trust, however, it will not be so wretched now, for I am at + any rate close to the village inn, and if I am left without + servants, can go there and get some food; it is a state of + existence _qu'on ne s'imagine pas_. You will not wonder, after + all this, to hear that I declined a ticket to the Prince's ball + at New York, to which the whole population of the United States + are struggling to get admittance; but at the best of times "I am + not gamesome," and feel as if I had swept my own rooms quite too + recently to be fit company for my Queen's son. Thank you, dear + Mr. Leighton, for all you tell me about my sister and the + children; she never writes, you know, and so I am thirsty all + the time for some tidings of her. It is very sad to be so far + away and hear so seldom from those one loves. Good-bye, God + bless you; and thank you once more for the "Vision." I am sorry + I cannot tell you of the sale of either of your pictures; they + are in the Boston Athenaeum, very safe, and highly ornamental to + it, but not, I regret to say, sold. If you wish me to do + anything more about them, you must write me your directions, + which I will fulfil with every attention and accuracy of which I + am capable. + + + LENOX, _Sunday, November 11_. + + I trust before long you will receive your children safe and + sound. I wish the two hundred pounds I have lost this year had + been invested in one of those pictures instead of in St. Louis. + Thank you for your account of Adelaide and her children; it is + not much, but it is all that much better than nothing. The state + of the country is very sad, and any probable termination of the + war quite out of calculable distance. England, no doubt, will + maintain her absolute neutrality in spite of secession, cotton, + and anti-slavery sympathies; it is her only part. Good-bye, dear + Mr. Leighton. + + I beg you will not scruple to write me now if there is anything + more that I can do, either in the matter of the pictures or any + other by which I can be of use to you here. + + + NEW YORK, + _Sunday, March 10_. + + I am sure you have not forgotten the charming farmhouse at West + Mion, to which you and your sketch-book were the means of + introducing us, ---- farm: well, his brother is one of the + richest shopkeepers in New York--and, upon the strength of my + visit to the paternal acres in Hampshire, his wife, a funny + little specimen of vivacious vulgarity, called upon me, and I, + of course, upon her. I was shown into a drawing-room at least + thirty feet long, with two massive white marble chimney-pieces, + green silk brocade curtains and furniture to match, magnificent + carpets, mirrors, gildings, hideous _works_ in marble on + scagliola pillars--in short, the most marvellous palace of + shopkeepers' _beaux ideaux_ that you can conceive; through this + to a beautifully fitted-up library; through this to a picture + gallery, noble _seigneur_, _pensez y bien_! Oh, my dear Frederic + Leighton, it was enough to make one fall down and foam at the + mouth, to see such a hideous collection of daubs and to think of + the money hanging on those walls; and then I thought of your + pictures, and why the wretched man couldn't have procured them + for some of his foolish money; and then I begged your pardon + internally for the desecration of imagining your pictures in + such company; and then I gazed amusedly about me, and at length + gave tongue: "Mr. ----," said I, "this is a vastly different + residence from the old homestead in Hampshire." The worthy man + could not see in my heart which way the balance of preference + inclined, and answered with benignant self-satisfaction: "Ah, + well, you see, ma'am, they've been going on there for the last I + don't know how many hundred years, just about in the same social + position; they haven't a notion of the rapidity of our progress + here." I hate to advise you to have your pictures back, for + there really does seem to me to be a _greedy desire for + pictures_ (I cannot qualify in any other way the taste which + covets and buys such things) here; but I suppose pictures, at + any rate, must be what these people want, and will not buy dear + and good ones, when cheap and nasty do as well. I think, while I + am here in New York, I shall take the liberty of making some + further inquiry as to whether the great print and picture seller + here does not think they could be seen to selling advantage in + his shop; in short, it throws me into a melancholy rage to think + what pictures are bought while yours are not. The state of this + country is curious--strange and deplorable beyond precedent in + history, it seems to me; and it is absolutely _impossible_ to + foresee to what issue things are tending. The opinions one hears + are all coloured by the particular bias of the speaker, and the + confusion is so great in the general excitement of sectional + partisanship that even one of the members--and a very + influential one--of the peace convention sent to Washington for + the purpose of proposing terms of conciliation--which should + not, however, compromise the Northern principles--said that + nothing had been done, that all was "sound and fury, and + signifying nothing"--or if anything at present, the confirmed + secession of the Southern, the disruption from the North of the + Northern slave States, and, not impossibly, civil war. Of + course, the more time elapses in palavering before the first + fatal blow is struck, the less probability there is of its being + struck at all; but, on the other hand, the longer the present + state of things continues, the more accustomed people become to + the idea of the dismemberment of the Union, and therefore, + though the clangour of an appeal to arms diminishes, so I think + does the prospect of anything like "making up" the family + quarrel--indeed, if it were patched, and soldered to the very + best, I do not believe that it will ever "hold water again"; but + it is impossible to foresee from day to day what may be the turn + of events. + + If I live till a year from this summer I will be in England in + July, and if I live till the November after that I will be in + Rome, and you and Edward and Adelaide have my full permission to + come too. + + Good-bye, dear Mr. Leighton. Your letters are a great comfort as + well as pleasure to me; I am extremely obliged to you for them. + + I showed my daughter the photograph of your "Vision," and she + was enchanted with it. She has not a cultivated or educated + taste in matters of art--this country affords no means for such + a thing--but she is a person of very fine natural perceptions + and great imagination and sensibility, and she was so charmed + with it that I hope you will not think it foolish or impertinent + in me to tell you of it. + + The last political news I have is that the border or Northern + slave States will probably not join the cotton states, in which + case the latter will, of hard necessity, very soon be compelled + to abandon their absurd and infinitely perilous position; but + one does not see the end of it all, for if they _do_ come back + into the Union, it will be under a burning sense of humiliation + which will hardly facilitate their future intercourse with the + North, for humiliation and humility are difficult things, and + the cotton Lucifer under coercion will not be a pleasant devil + to deal with. + + + LENOX, _Saturday, September 7_. + + You owe me nothing, and you will owe me nothing, dear Mr. + Leighton, for expediting your pictures to England. When I wrote + to Mr. Ordway about them desiring him to send them back to you, + and to let me know the amount of any expenses he incurred in + doing so, his reply was that the mere cost of packing and + putting them on board ship would not be worth charging you with, + and that the possession of your pictures in his gallery was well + worth the small outlay of merely despatching them to you. I + hope they will reach you safely. I am sorry, _sorry_ they have + not remained here; but latterly, as you will easily believe, + people's minds have been little inclined to the peaceful arts or + any influences of beauty and grace; moreover, the pockets of the + wealthiest amateurs are affected, as those of their poorer + neighbours are, by the public disasters. My own loss this year + is two hundred pounds of my income. What it may be next year, or + how far my capital itself is safe, is more than anybody can + tell. We are to be taxed moreover beyond all precedent in this + country hitherto, and as it is already nearly the dearest place + in the world to live in, what with onerous imports and the + failure of interest from one's investments it will be simply + ruinous. Thank you for all you tell me of my sister and her + children. I am beginning to _see them again_, as the time when I + may really hope to do so draws nearer. I am sorry for what you + and all my friends tell me about Harry's strong dramatic + propensities. Of course, if he is fit for nothing else, or + fitter for that than anything else, he had better become an + actor, and his being so in England need not prevent his being a + worthy fellow and respectable and respected member of society. I + am, however, much reconciled to what at first disappointed me + extremely--my not being able to bring him out to this country; + for if he should eventually take to the stage, here that is + simply in most instances equivalent to taking to the gutter. My + daughters are both with me just now, and Fanny desires me to + remember her very kindly to you. The incidents of the war which + reach the other side of the water no doubt strike you as amazing + enough; but anything more grotesque than the daily details in + the midst of which we live, you cannot conceive. A young + gentleman, a friend of ours who has just returned from his share + in the campaign in a three months' volunteer regiment (he has + entered the regular army, as a very large proportion of the + volunteers did as soon as their three months' amateur service + expired), described to us a volunteer corps which happened to be + encamped in the neighbourhood of his company. He said they were + one of the finest bodies of men he ever saw. Lumberers, that is, + wood-fellers from the forests of Maine and New Hampshire, + perfectly brave and reckless and daring--perfectly undisciplined + too, to the tune of replying to their officers when ordered to + turn out on guard, "No, I'll be damned if I do," with the most + cheerful good humour. Thereupon the discomfited "superior" + simply turns to some one else and says, "Oh, well--you're so and + so--go." Good-bye; I shall rejoice to see you again, and be once + more at home among people who know how to behave + themselves.--Believe me, always yours most sincerely, + + FANNY KEMBLE. + +After the Prince Consort's death in 1861 Leighton wrote the following +letter to his younger sister, who was in Italy: + + I have just returned from a fortnight in Bath, where I have at + last finished the Johnnies,[22] I believe, and hope you will + like them; they are at all events much improved. I am glad for + the poor lad that the _corvee_ of settling is over; he was dying + to get back to his work. If zeal and enthusiasm can make an + artist, he ought to become one. + + I don't attempt to give you home news, as you are amply supplied + with that article by Mamma. Everybody here is in great sorrow + for the poor Queen. She bears up under her overwhelming grief + with admirable fortitude, and expresses her anxious desire to do + _her duty as he_ would have wished it, but she speaks of all + earthly happiness as at an end. The tender sympathy manifested + by the whole nation is touching, but deserved. + + Whether there will be war or not, the beginning of the year will + show; it is, I think, more than probable; there is no + probability of the Americans giving up Mason and Slidell. If we + do fight, it will be agreeable to feel that we are supported by + the sympathy and approval of _all Europe_; that we are entirely + in the right is _universally_ recognised, even by those who have + no love for us. Sooner or later, a war with America was, I fear, + unavoidable. There is a limit to what even we can overlook. All + this need not prevent your coming to England that I can see; it + won't stop the Exhibition, nor make any perceptible difference + in anybody's doings, except perhaps the picture buyers.--Your + very affect. brother, + + FRED. + + + _Sunday, 1862._ + + Arrived here safe and sound on Thursday night, and began my work + on Friday. I am making studies[23] for the "Eastern King" which + I shall begin to paint shortly after New Year. I found the frame + for the large "Johnny" on my return. It improves the picture + very much, and looks very handsome. I also found a letter from + Henry Greville waiting for me. He says the Queen bears up + admirably, because, she says, _he_ would have wished it, but + that she always talks of her earthly career as at an end. The + equerries, &c., will remain attached to the court. + +In 1862 Leighton sent eight pictures to the Royal Academy, and six +were accepted. Before the sending in he writes to his father:-- + + 1862. + + DEAR PAPA,--I am afraid I don't take exercise _very_ regularly, + still, I walk a _little_ nearly every day. + + With regard to the volunteering, the zeal for the matter is + necessarily not what it was when every third man really expected + to be called to defend the country. Nevertheless, the movement + is not dead, but has found a level on which I fancy it will + remain; the _shooting_ will keep it together a good deal. We + (the artists) shall join the great business at Brighton on + Easter Monday. + + Had I thought you would have taken my remark about the M. Angelo + and the Johnnies so much to heart, I should have thought twice + before I made it. Against what I said you must set the paragraph + in the _Athenaeum_ two or three weeks back--my doubt is not + whether they will be admired--I think they will be _that_--my + only question is whether they will be _cared_ for. Mrs. Austin + admires and likes the M.A. beyond anything, and if she could + afford it would, I believe, buy it at once. + + You will perhaps be surprised to hear that the pictures from + which I expect most are the three which you have not seen--the + "Eastern King" and the two others I mentioned in my last. One of + them is Pocock's smaller order, a girl with a _swan_ (not with + _peacocks_ as the _Athen._ says)--the other is a kitcat of a + girl listening to a shell. Both these are very luminous, and are + in that respect the best things I have done. + +And later:-- + + LONDON, 1862. + + DEAR PAPA,--I think I may confirm the report made to you of the + success of my pictures, particularly the "Odalisque" and + "Echoes" (by-the-bye, I have just received a letter from + somebody who wants to know if they are sold). What the papers + say, you have seen. You will be glad to hear that I have + received congratulations on all sides, which gives me the idea + of being tolerably secure; at all events, I got no such last + year, nor indeed at all since the "Cimabue." That two of my + pictures should not have been accepted does not indeed surprise + me, and least of all would it do so if they were rejected on the + score of _number_, but I have reason to suspect that they were + _not_ liked; in fact I _know_ it. I have put my name down as a + candidate for associateship. + + I don't think I have anything of interest to communicate; nobody + has as yet asked the price of the "Eastern King" or the "Michael + Angelo." There is no mistake now about what people in this + country like to buying point; whether I shall conform to their + taste is another question. + + Pocock liked the "Michael Ang." much, but did not seem to wish + to have it. The same remark applies to the Johnnies. + + Millais has been, and liked the yellow woman[24] extremely. I + think he liked them all _of their kind_, but the yellow woman + was his favourite by far. Stephens has also seen my pictures. He + seemed altogether much pleased, but most especially with the + design for the "Eastern King," which is also Fred Cockerell's + favourite. + +To his mother he wrote:-- + + 1862. + + I have deferred answering your letter till now, that I might be + able to inform you definitely of my fate as regards the Royal + Academy. I have just been there; I must tell you at once the + least pleasant part of my news--they have rejected the large + "Johnny" and "Lord Cowper." On the other hand, the other + pictures are well hung; two (the "Odalisque" and the yellow + woman), _very_ well, being on _the line_ in the _East Room_. The + "Michael Angelo," the "E. King," and the shell girl are just + above the line and well seen--the small "Johnny" just below the + line. I think the pictures all look well, though not so luminous + as in the studio. I am confirmed in my opinion that the Academy + Exhibition is a false test of colour; what looks sufficiently + _silvery there_ is _chalky_ out of it. The "Odalisque" looks + best from general aspects. Lady Cowper wrote me a very nice note + about the rejection of her son's portrait, and said she was + delighted to get it so soon. I am sorry about the large + "Johnny," because my chance of selling it is much diminished. + +That Leighton received great encouragement from personal friends there +can be no doubt. The following is one of very many letters he received +which expressed warm appreciation. + + 64 RUTLAND GATE. + + MY DEAR MR. LEIGHTON,--I do not know how to express my thanks to + you. I have this moment come home and found your beautiful + drawing, and can hardly hold my pen, I am in such a state of + delight at possessing such a reminiscence of my favourite + picture. You really _do_ not know what pleasure you have given + me, and I think it _too kind_ of you to have parted with this to + give to me. One thing you may be quite sure of, that the + "Eastern King" will receive the greatest homage to the end of + days from his devoted admirer and your sincere friend, + + MARY SARTORIS.[25] + _Past Midnight, Tuesday._ + +Among Leighton's friends was Charles Dickens. The following notes, +written in 1863, have turned up in a packet of miscellaneous +correspondence:-- + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND," + NO. 26 WELLINGTON STREET, STRAND, LONDON, W.C., + _Thursday, April 9, 1863_. + + MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--I owe you many thanks for your kind reminder. + It would have given me real pleasure to have profited by it had + such profit been possible, but a hasty summons to attend upon a + sick friend at a distance so threw me out on Friday and Saturday + in obliging me to prepare for a rush across the Channel, that I + saw no pictures and had no holiday. I was blown back here only + last night, and believe that I shall deliver your message to + Mrs. Collins to-day; that is to say, I am going home this + afternoon and expect to find her there. + + When the summer weather comes on, I shall try to persuade you to + come and see us on the top of Falstaff's Hill. A hop country is + not to be despised by an artist's eyes.--Faithfully yours + always, + + CHARLES DICKENS. + + + GAD'S HILL PLACE, + HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, + _Saturday, July 18, 1863_. + + MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--Shall I confess it? I never went out to + breakfast in my life, except once to Rogers'. But what I might + have done under this temptation is a question forestalled by my + having engaged to go down to Bulwer Lytton's in Hertfordshire on + Monday, to stay a few days.--Cordially yours, + + CHARLES DICKENS. + +It was in 1863 that Leighton paid the notable visit to his friend of +the Roman days, George Mason, to whom the world's Art owes so much. +Assuredly, without Leighton's encouragement and help, those lovely +idylls which stand with the most precious treasures of the English +school of painting would never have been created. Mason had returned +to England in 1856; he married and settled in his own manor-house, +Wetley Abbey. Children were born and expenses increased, and little or +nothing was there with which to meet them. After Rome England seemed a +hopeless place to work in, and Mason's surroundings were quite dumb to +his artistic sense. Leighton, when he heard of his depression and +poverty, sought him out in his rural retreat, beamed mental sunshine +on his spirits, made him walk with him, pointing out the pictorial +beauties of Mason's own native country, and ended by taking him a tour +through the Black Country. Mason's poetic sense was again awakened; an +artistic purpose was again inspired; and, feeling the despair of +hopeless poverty removed (Leighton was ever ready with substantial +aid), he painted the pictures for which the world has so much reason +to be grateful. When in 1872--nine years after this visit--George +Mason died, Leighton arranged for a sale of his pictures and property, +from the proceeds of which his wife and children obtained an income of +L600 a year. Leighton wrote to Mrs. Matthews at the time of Mason's +death: "Poor Mason's death has been a great shock to me, though indeed +I should have been prepared for it at any time. His loss is quite +irreparable for English Art, for he stood entirely alone in his +especial charm, and he was one of the most lovable of men besides." + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[8] The critics, judging from the following extracts, were amiably +inclined towards him that year:--"Among the pictures familiar to London +loungers of 1858, is Mr. F. Leighton's scene from 'Romeo and Juliet,' a +work lost and, it may be submitted, undervalued, owing to the +disadvantageous place given it in Trafalgar Square. The depth and +richness of its colour, the picturesque manner in which the story is +told, the contrast in some of the heads, that, for instance, of Friar +Lawrence, hopeful in the consciousness of knowledge of Juliet's secret, +with that of the entrancing maiden of Verona, or again with that of the +weeping nurse, whose grief is a trifle too _accentue_. The truthful +conception and careful labour of this picture have now a chance of +being appreciated, and but that Pre-Raphaelitism is resolute not to +give in, might fairly have entitled it to the prize bestowed +elsewhere."--_Athenaeum_, 1858. + +"We will take the second-named gentleman first, and come at once to his +'Fisherman and Syren.' The picture is not of any commanding size, nor +does it relate any very exciting legend. The story is of the mystic +Undine tinge, and with a shadowy semblance in it to that strange +legend, current among the peasants of Southern Russia, of the 'White +Lady' with the long hair, who, with loving and languishing gestures, +decoys the unwary into her fantastic skiff, then, pressing her baleful +lips to theirs, folds them to her fell embrace, and drags them +shrieking beneath the engulfing waves. The 'Fisherman and Syren' of Mr. +Leighton has something of this unreal, legendary fatality pervading it +throughout. There is irresistible seductiveness on the one side, +pusillanimous fondness on the other. That it is all over with the +fisherman, and that the syren will have her wicked will of him to his +destruction, is palpable. But it is not alone for the admirable manner +in which the story is told that we commend this picture; the drawing is +eruditely correct, most graceful, and most symmetrical. The syren is a +model of form in its most charming undulations. The fisherman is a type +of manly elegance. That Mr. Leighton understands, to its remotest +substructure, the vital principle of the line of beauty, is pleasurably +manifest. But there is evidence here even more pleasing that the +painter, in the gift of a glowing imagination, and a refined ideality, +in his mastery of the nobler parts of pictorial manipulation, is worthy +to be reckoned among the glorious brotherhood of disciples of the +Italian masters--of the grand old men whose pictures, faded and +time-worn as they are, in the National Gallery hard by, laugh to scorn +the futile fripperies that depend for half their sheen on gilt frames +and copal varnish. This young artist is one of Langis' and Nasasi's +men. He has plainly drunk long and eagerly at the painter's Castaly. +The fount of beauty and of grace that assuaged the thirst of those who +painted the 'Monna Lisa' and the 'Belle Jardiniere'; who modelled the +'Horned Moses' and the 'Slave'; who designed Peter's great Basilica, +and the Ghiberti Gates at Florence."--_Daily Telegraph_, 3rd May 1858. + +[9] The Prince of Wales, who lent the picture to the exhibition of +Leighton's works at Burlington House, 1897. + +[10] Mr. Augustus Craven's wife, _nee_ Pauline la Ferronnay, was the +authoress of the famous book, _Le Recit d'une soeur_, in which several +of the most charming scenes took place at Naples. + +[11] Mr. George Aitchison wrote: "In 1859, while at Capri, he drew the +celebrated Lemon Tree, working from daylight to dusk for a week or two, +and giving large details in the margin of the snails on the tree." + +[12] The drawing had been lent to Ruskin at the time he was lecturing +at Oxford. + +[13] Leighton knew Mr. Chorley through Mrs. Sartoris. He accompanied +the great _cantatrice_ when she made a tour abroad. "Mrs. Kemble's +children and their nurse are with them, and Mary Anne Thackeray, a +life-long friend, and Mr. Chorley, and the great Liszt, who +subsequently joined them in Germany."--Preface by Mrs. R. Ritchie to "A +Week in a French Country House," by Mrs. Adelaide Sartoris. + +[14] Leighton was perfectly right. "Orphee" was produced at Covent +Garden, and the great artist, Madame Viardot, sang in it superbly. The +opera was given after one or two acts of a well-known work, and I can +vouch for the fact, having been one of the audience, that the house was +very nearly empty at the close of "Orphee," Lord Dudley and a very few +true lovers of music only remaining in the stalls to the end. + +[15] The lady was Mrs. Sandbach, a _Hollandaise_, who was Maid of +Honour to the Queen of Holland. In after years, on an occasion when she +and I paid a visit together to Leighton's studio in Holland Park Road, +she recounted the incident above related by Leighton, which happened in +the palace at the Hague when she was in waiting. She also added that +from her description Leighton painted what she had seen in her dream to +perfection; but that he subsequently added two _amorini_, which in her +opinion did much to mar the otherwise true feeling of the picture. + +[16] See sketches in the Leighton House Collection. The picture itself +is, I believe, in America. + +[17] _Ibid._ + +[18] A visitor to Leighton's "private view" wrote him the following +suggestions:-- + + 13 CHESTER TERRACE, N.W., _Easter Monday_. + + DEAR MR. LEIGHTON,--Pardon intrusion. I thought much of your + beautiful pictures after my yesterday's visit, and I anticipated + a struggle with the difficulty you mentioned of worthily naming + them. + + Don't think me impertinent for volunteering the result. It + seemed impossible without verbal description to explain the + sacred subject to the profane imagination, while a prose + translation of its sentiment must be heavy and subversive of + romance. + + I think, were I fortunate enough to own the picture, I would + call it "Not Yet," and I would put some little lines in the + catalogue, which, for aught any one knows, might have come from + some volume of rhyme, and which should explain that it is a + story of a dream, and that the rejection is not final: something + in this spirit, only better:-- + + "Not yet--not yet-- + Still there is trial for thee, still the lot + To bear (the Father wills it) strife and care, + With this sweet consciousness in balance set + Against the world, to soothe thy suffering there. + Thy Lord rejects thee not." + Such tender words awoke me, hopeful, shriven, + To life on earth again from dream of heaven. + + For the beauty at the fountain I once thought the best title + might be some couplet like the following:-- + + "So tranced and still half-dreamed she, and half-heard + The splash of fountain and the song of bird." + + But my wife, from my description of the picture, suggested a + name better suited to the "suggestiveness" of the work:-- + + "Lieder ohne Worte": don't you think it rather pretty? + + In the multitude of counsellors some one says there's wisdom, + and this liberty we take with you may beget some thought that + had not struck you. + + I have Mr. Cockerell's commands to express to you the + gratification his visit afforded him and his sense of your + kindness and attentions.--I am, faithfully yours, + + RALPH A. BENSON. + +Another friend wrote of "Lieder ohne Worte," adding a poem suggested by +the "Francesca":-- + + TRINITY HOUSE, E.C., _8th April 1861_. + + MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--If you did not paint better than I write you + would not be the man of abounding promise that you are. + + What I meant to say was that Law and Restraint are healthy life + and the infraction of them ghostly death and dissolution, and + that meaning is in your picture, whether you know it or not. + Your "daemon" may have put it there, but then you can trust + _your_ daemon. + + Still, best love to the little girl at the fountain, who knows + that though Speech may be silver, Silence is Golden.--Ever + yours, with many thanks, + + ROBIN ALLEN. + FRED. LEIGHTON, Esq. + + LEIGHTON'S "FRANCESCA DI RIMINI." + + "That day they read no more." Virtue grows faint, + One hand lies powerless, the wife's sweet face + Is half-convulsed by loss of self-restraint. + Outstretched to resist, remaining to embrace, + The extended arm will clasp her guilty lover, + And all the bright, pure world beyond for her be over. + + Their very forms grow blurred and change their colour + Into dim snaky wreaths of purple pallor, + Fading away with Honour's fading Law + Into the pale sad ghosts that Dante saw; + Which we too see, crowned with departing glory, + When Leighton's genius deepens Dante's Story. + + R.A. + _6th April 1861._ + +[19] D.G. Rossetti, in a letter to William Allingham, May 10, 1861, +writes: "Leighton might, as you say, have made a burst had not his +pictures been ill-placed mostly--indeed one of them (the only very good +one, _Lieder ohne Worte_) is the only instance of very striking +unfairness in the place." + +[20] "_Lieder ohne Worte._" + +[21] "Paolo and Francesca." + +[22] These two pictures were painted from John Hanson Walker. Leighton +sent both to the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1862 with the titles +"Duet" and "Rustic Music." The first only was accepted. + +[23] See water-colour and chalk drawings: Leighton House Collection. + +[24] "Sea Echoes." + +[25] The Hon. Mrs. Alfred Sartoris, sister-in-law of Leighton's friend, +Mr. Edward Sartoris. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +ILLUSTRATIONS FOR _CORNHILL MAGAZINE_--FRESCO FOR LYNDHURST +CHURCH--ASSOCIATE OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY--MRS. LEIGHTON'S DEATH + +1863-1865 + + +In 1860 Leighton drew his first illustration for the _Cornhill +Magazine_:-- + + _Translation._] + _Friday, 30th November 1860._ + + MY DEAR FRIEND AND MASTER,--Best thanks for your dear letter of + the 7th, thanks also especially, because in your kind praise you + do not spare criticism also; you could give me no better proof + that you still esteem and love your old pupil. I feel the + justice of your remarks about the drapery of the Saviour very + much, and can only say in my excuse that I have treated this + kind of subject very little, for I am only really a profane + fellow; but should I at some future time again treat such a + theme, I should endeavour to avoid similar faults. I send you + this time, for fun, a proof impression of a woodcut after a + drawing I made for one of our good monthly periodicals (_The + Cornhill Magazine_). It seems to me to be not bad for wood. It + illustrates a poem, and represents Ariadne kneeling on an + eminence, looking out for Theseus. This as a preliminary; I hope + to send you something in April. + + + DEAREST MAMMY,--My wretched picture is causing more delays! I am + very sorry to say I shan't be able to get to Bath before + Wednesday evening. I am due at Stourhead the 27th; this I cannot + defer any more, as I must be on duty with the Rifle Corps at the + beginning of September, and can't do all I have to do in less + than a week--this will, however, still leave me three weeks, all + but two days, at Bath. + + I enjoyed myself at Panshanger very much--did I write to tell + you who our party was? In case I did not, it was as follows: + Henry Greville, Lord and Lady Katherine Valletort, Lord and Lady + Spencer, Mrs. Leslie, Lord Listowel, Mr. Clare Vyner, and Mr. E. + Lascelles--all young people; so that it was very pleasant. + + There are, as you know, most beautiful pictures at Panshanger--a + magnificent Vandyke, a splendid Rembrandt, Correggio, Andrea del + Sarto, and two beautiful Raphaels. + + G. Smith sent me a kind note and a cheque to fill up for drawing + in the _Cornhill_ ("Ariadne"). I put ten guineas, telling him + that I could not, as a general rule, interrupt my work for that + sum, but that I would not take more because the cut had turned + out so extremely bad. + + I am going to expend the money, adding a few pounds, on a cup, + to be shot for in the spring by our Rifle Corps. Arthur Lewis + has already given one, and another of our men has promised a + second prize to go with my cup. My picture will be _finished_ by + the time I go to Bath. My eye is too accustomed to it to know + whether it is successful; I shall know better when I return from + the country. + + I have no news, so good-bye, dear Mammy. Best love to all.--From + your very affectionate boy, + + FRED. + + I go to Windsor (to Miss Thackeray) for two days next week; that + also is an old invitation; I have no time for it, but must go. I + keep my parties going tolerably, but shall give that up with a + few exceptions when I settle here; it makes work impossible from + unavoidably late hours, and produces a general deterioration of + mind and body, mostly the former; the Hollands I shall always + keep up--they are most kind; I dine there frequently and meet + interesting and remarkable people. + +Very remarkable drawings in pencil on other lines followed the +celebrated "Lemon Tree"--surpassing in dramatic truth of expression +any Leighton had executed since the early design he drew of the +"Plague in Florence in 1850."[26] + + [Illustration: SKETCH FOR "MICHAEL ANGELO NURSING HIS DYING + SERVANT." 1862 + Leighton House Collection] + +The group of drawings for "Michael Angelo Nursing his Dying Servant" +are among those preserved in the Leighton House collection, but were +not seen by the public before Leighton's death. Though slight, they +are among the most admirable he ever achieved in subtle tenderness of +feeling and expressive truth of drawing. The feeble twitching clutch +of the hands of the old man--announcing the speedy approach of +Death--is a convincing proof of imaginative realism of a high order. +This group of sketches, however, exemplify the curious artistic +discrepancy which at times existed, especially before and about the +time when the Michael Angelo was painted, between Leighton's pictures +and the studies he made for them--a discrepancy which had no reference +to his feeling for colour, but simply arose from an absence of +sensitiveness for texture. In turning from the drawings to the +painting, we find the noble feeling and conception, the lines and +forms of the design much the same in all; but the heavy and yet +insufficient texture of the actual surface mars the full conveying, +even in the completed painting, of the feeling of the motive--so +imperative is a simultaneous union of the idea with a happy echo of it +in the touch of the human hand, if a work of art is fully to convey +its message. Leighton's genius for using the point is referred to in a +letter from Mrs. Browning, on the subject of a drawing he had made of +her husband:-- + + _Copy._] + + DEAR MR. LEIGHTON,--The portrait is beautiful, and would satisfy + me entirely except for a want of strength about the brow, which + I must write of, because I can't trust Robert himself with the + message. I think the brow is feeble, less massive than his, + with less fulness about the temples. In fact, your temple is + _hollow_, instead of full. Will you look at it by the original? + The eyes and mouth are exquisite. _Your pencil has the + expressiveness of another's brush._ + + How much I thank you for having put so much of my husband on + paper is proved by the very insolence of my criticisms.--Most + truly yours, + + ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING. + _April 1._ + +In the same category as the Michael Angelo studies may be placed the +first sketch of "Samson Wrestling with the Lion," designed as an +illustration for Dalziel's Bible. This drawing is also in the Leighton +House Collection, also the original drawings for "The Spies' Escape" +and "Samson at the Mill." The following was written with regard to it: +"An animal model never 'sits.' The artist must catch the action he +wants from fleeting suggestions. His imagination alone can guide his +pencil when he depicts such action with realistic power. It is in a +pencil drawing of a lion that we find the work that evinces, more +distinctly perhaps than does any other of Leighton's utterances in +art, the highest kind of imagination in the drawing of form in action, +namely in the sketch of 'Samson Wrestling with the Lion' for the +illustrations in Dalziel's Bible. Where, indeed, for vigour of +invention, can we find a drawing to surpass these few pencil lines? +The sinews in the legs and claws of the animal are drawn up, clenching +the vacant air with a quivering grip; the tail straightened stiffly +through the strain of the wrestling; the whole animal convulsed with +the force of the struggle. This is treatment of form no model could +suggest, no knowledge evolve, no labour or industry produce. A true +imagination alone can inspire such vivid realism." The other subjects +Leighton illustrated were "Death of Abel," "Moses Viewing the Promised +Land," "Samson Carrying the Gates," "Abraham and the Angel," +"Eliezer and Rebecca at the Well," "The Slaying of the First-born." + + [Illustration: ORIGINAL DRAWING FOR "SAMSON AND THE LION" IN + DALZIEL'S BIBLE + Leighton House Collection] + + * * * * * + +In 1862 Leighton illustrated George Eliot's great novel "Romola." He +writes to his father:-- + + _Tuesday._ + + DEAR PAPA,--Though I am not able, I am sorry to say, to report + the sale of any more of my pictures, you will be glad to hear of + a commission just given me by G. Smith of the _Cornhill_ which + is very acceptable to me. I am to illustrate (by-the-bye this is + "_strictly confidential_") a novel about to appear in the + _Cornhill_ from the hand of _Adam Bede_. It is an Italian story, + the scene and period are Florence and the fifteenth century, + nothing could "_ganter_" me better. It is to continue through + _twelve_ numbers, in each of which are to be _two_ + illustrations. + + I am to have for each _number_ L40; for the whole novel, + therefore, L480. I have conferred with the authoress to-day, and + am to get the first-proof sheets this week. The first number + will be published in July. Miss Evans (or Mrs. Lewes) has a very + striking countenance. Her face is large, her eyes deep set, her + nose aquiline, her mouth large, the under jaw projecting, rather + like Charles Quint; her voice and manner are grave, simple, and + gentle. There is a curious mixture in her look; she either is or + seems very short-sighted. Lewes is clever. Both were extremely + polite to me; her I shall like much. + + I have no other news; no one asks about my pictures, though + their success is decidedly great; hard times! Are you writing to + Gussy? if so will you tell her that I mean to give her some + lessons with Halle when she comes to London? she shall have + _three_ a week for a month. Tell Lina with my love not to be + jealous, it will be her turn next. How is she? and how is Mamma? + Give them my best love, and believe me, your affectionate boy, + + FRED. + +That George Eliot should write a Florentine story at a time when +Leighton was available to illustrate it, was certainly a most +fortunate coincidence. Each scene which he represents is impregnated +with a feeling which records the strong hold Italy had on his artistic +resources. With a few exceptions, these illustrations for "Romola" are +the last examples of his art, when a dramatic or a humorous treatment +was a prominent feature of the designs. The last picture exhibited at +the Royal Academy in 1897--the passionate, despairing figure of +"Clytie"--was notably one of these exceptions. Unfortunately +Leighton's letters to George Eliot respecting the "Romola" drawings +cannot be found, and were probably destroyed before the author's +death. The following were preserved by Leighton:-- + + 16 BLANDFORD SQUARE, N.W., + _Friday_. + + DEAR MR. LEIGHTON,--Thanks for the sight of the Vignettes. They + are satisfactory. + + Your delicious drawing was with me all day yesterday and made + the opera more delightful to me in the evening. I never saw + anything comparable to the scene in Nello's shop as an + illustration. There could not be a better beginning. + + I should very much like to have a little conversation with you, + and will arrange to see you at any hour that will best suit you, + in the evening if you like, any time after the morning working + hours, which last till two o'clock. I know your time is very + precious to you just now, but I think we shall both benefit by a + little talk together after you have read the second + proof.--Yours very truly, + + M.E. LEWES. + F. LEIGHTON, Esq. + + + 16 BLANDFORD SQUARE, N.W., + _Wednesday_. + + DEAR MR. LEIGHTON,--I feel for you as well as myself in this + inevitable difficulty--nay, impossibility of producing perfect + correspondence between my intention and the illustrations. + + I think your sketch is charming, considered in itself, and I + feel now with regret that if we had seen each other and talked a + little together after you had read the proof, the only important + discrepancy might have been prevented. It is too late for + alterations now. If it had not been, I should have wished + Bardo's head to be raised with the chin thrust forward a + little--the usual attitude of the blind head, I think--and + turned a little towards Romola, "as if he were looking at her." + + Romola's attitude is perfect, and the composition is altogether + such as gives me a very cheering prospect for the future, when + we have more time for preparation. Her face and hair, though + deliciously beautiful, are not just the thing--how could they + be? Do not make yourself uneasy if alteration is impossible, but + I meant the hair to fall forward from behind the ears over the + neck, and the dress to be without ornament. + + I shall inevitably be detestable to you, but believe that I am + + (Unfinished) + + + 16 BLANDFORD SQUARE, N.W., + _Thursday_. + + DEAR MR. LEIGHTON,--Unmitigated delight! Nello is better than my + Nello. I see the love and care with which the drawings are done. + + After I had sent away my yesterday's note, written in such haste + that I was afterwards uncomfortable lest I had misrepresented my + feelings, the very considerations you suggest had occurred to me + and I had talked them over with Mr. Lewes--namely, that the + exigencies of your art must forbid perfect correspondence + between the text and the illustration; and I came to the + conclusion that it was these exigencies which had determined you + as to the position of Bardo's head and the fall of Romola's + hair. You have given her attitude transcendently well, and the + attitude is more important than the mere head-dress. I am glad + you chose Nello's shop; it makes so good a variety with Bardo + and Romola. In a day or two you will have the second part, and I + think you will find there a scene for Tessa "under the Plane + Tree." But perhaps we shall see each other before you begin the + next drawings.--Ever yours truly, + + M.E. LEWES. + + + 16 BLANDFORD SQUARE, N.W., + _Monday_. + + DEAR MR. LEIGHTON,--Your letter comforts me particularly. I am + so glad to think you find subjects to your mind. I have no + especial desire for the view from S. Miniato, and indeed a plan + we started in conversation with Mr. Smith this morning, namely, + to have moderately sized initial letters--the opening one being + an old Florentine in his _Lucco_ and generally the subjects + being bits of landscape or Florentine building--seems to do away + with any reason for having the landscape to begin with. The idea + of having Tessa and the mules, or Nello's sanctum, smiles upon + me, so pray feel free to choose the impression that urges itself + most strongly. Your observation about the "che, che" is just the + aid I besought from you. With that exception, I have confined + myself, I believe, to such interjections as I find in the + writers of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and in them, + curiously enough, this exclamation now said to be so constant + and "to mean everything" (according to our authority) does not + seem to occur. + + Thank you. Pray let me have as many criticisms of that kind as + you can. I am more gratified, I think, by your liking these + opening chapters than I have yet been by anything in these + nervous anxious weeks of decision about publication.--Very truly + yours, + + M.E. LEWES. + F. LEIGHTON, Esq. + + + 16 BLANDFORD SQUARE, N.W., + _Tuesday Evening_. + + DEAR MR. LEIGHTON,--I am enchanted! purely delighted! which + shall I begin with, to tell you that I delight in Baby's toes or + that exquisite poetry in the scene where Romola is standing? Is + it not a pleasant change to have that opening made through the + walls of the city, so as to see the sky and the mountains? In + the scene with Baldassarre and Tessa, also, the distant view is + charming. Tessa and her Babkin are perfect--Baldassarre's is, as + you say, an impossible face to draw, but you have seized the + framework of the face well, both in this illustration and the + previous one. + + I want to tell you that a man of some eminence in art was + speaking of your drawings to a third person the other day as + "remarkable" in a tone of genuine admiration. I don't know + whether you care about that, but it is good to know that there + is any genuine admiration in one's neighbours. + + I am glad to have the drawings left. I shall go now and have a + long look at them. The February number will soon be out of my + hands, but you will have it when it pleases the pigs--or + printers.--Ever yours truly, + + M.E. LEWES. + + + PARK HOTEL, LITTLE HAMPTON, + SUSSEX, _September 10, '62_. + + DEAR MR. LEIGHTON,--Thanks for your letter, which I have + received this morning. + + My copy of Vasari has a profile of Piero di Cosimo, but it is of + no value, a man with a short beard and eyes nearly closed. The + old felt hat on his head has more character in it than the + features, but the hat you can't use. + + Of Niccolo Caparra it is not likely that any portrait exists, so + that you may feel easy in letting your imagination interpret my + suggestions in the First and the Fifth Parts of Romola. There is + probably a portrait of Piero di Cosimo in the portrait room of + Uffizi, but in the absence of any decent catalogue of that + collection it was a bewildering and headachy business to assure + oneself of the presence or absence of any particular personage. + + If you feel any doubt about the _new_ Romola, I think it will be + better for you to keep to the original representation, the type + given in the first illustration, which some accomplished people + told me they thought very charming. It will be much better to + continue what is intrinsically pretty than to fail in an effort + after something indistinctly seen. If you prefer the action of + _taking out_ the crucifix, instead of the merely contemplative + attitude, you can choose that with safety. In the scene with + Piero di Cosimo, I thought you might make the figures + subordinate to those other details which you render so + charmingly, and I chose it for that reason. + + But I am quite convinced that illustrations can only form a sort + of overture to the text. The artist who uses the pencil must + otherwise be tormented to misery by the deficiencies or + requirements of the one who uses the pen, and the writer, on the + other hand, must die of impossible expectations. _Apropos_ of + all that, I want to assure you again of what I had said in that + letter, which your naughty servant sent down the wind, that I + appreciate very highly the advantage of having your hand and + mind to work with me rather than those of any other artist of + whom I know. Please do not take that as an impertinent + expression of opinion, but rather as an honest expression of + feeling by which you must interpret any apparent criticism. + + The initial letter of the December part will be W. I forgot to + tell you how pleased I was with the initial letter of Part V. + + I am very much obliged to you for your critical doubts. I will + put out the questionable "Ecco!" in deference to your knowledge. + I have a tremulous sense of my liability to error in such + things. + + I don't wonder at your difficulty about the modification of + _com_ into _ciom_. The writers of the fifteenth century, + speaking of the insurrection of the _Ciompi_ which occurred in + the previous century, say that the word was a corruption of the + French _compere_, the same word of course as _compare_, + constantly on the lips of the numerous French who were present + in Florence during the dictatorship of the Duke of Athens. The + likelihood of the derivation lies in the analysis of transition + in the meaning of words _compere_ and _compare_, like the + English "gossip," beginning with the meaning of godfather and + ending with, or rather proceeding to that of companion. Our + "gossip" has at least parted with its secondary meaning as well + as its primary one. + + The unlikelihood of the derivation lies in the modification of + the sounds, and I felt that unlikelihood as you have done. But + in the absence of a Max Mueller to assure me of a law to the + contrary, I thought the statement of Tuscan writers a better + authority than inferences. I ought to have written "is stated by + the old historians." + + I am really comforted by the thought that you will mention + doubts to me when they occur to you. My misery is the certainty + that I must be often in error. + + Mr. Lewes shares my admiration of the two last + illustrations.--Ever yours truly, + + MARIAN E. LEWES. + F. LEIGHTON, Esq. + + + 16 BLANDFORD SQUARE, N.W., + _Tuesday_. + + DEAR MR. LEIGHTON,--Since I saw you I have confirmed by renewed + reference my conclusion that _gamurra_ was the equivalent of + our _gown_, _i.e._ the constant outer garb of femininity, + varying in length and cut according to rank and age. The poets + and novelists give it alike to the peasant and the "city woman," + and speak of the _girdle_ around it. Perhaps it would have been + better to call Tessa's gown a _gamurrina_, the word sometimes + used and indicating, I imagine, just that abbreviation of + petticoat that active work demands. + + If you are going to see Ghirlandajo's frescoes--the engravings + of them I mean--in the choir of Santa Maria Novella, I wish you + would especially notice if the women in his groups have not that + plain piece of opaque drapery over the head which haunts my + memory. We were only allowed to see those frescoes once, because + of repairs going on; but I am strongly impressed with a + belief--which, _au reste_, may be quite false--in the presence + of my "white hood" there. As to the garb of the luxurious + classes at that time, a point which may turn up in our progress, + I think the painters can hardly be believed to have represented + it fully, since we know, on strong evidence, that it ran into + extravagances, which are even in contrast with the general + impression conveyed not only by the large fresco compositions + but by the portraits. You must have had sufficient experience of + the _eclecticism_ in costume which the artist's feeling forces + upon him in the presence of hideous or extreme fashion. We have + in Varchi a sufficiently fit and clear description of the + ordinary male costume of dignified Florentines in my time; but + for the corresponding feminine costume the best authority I have + seen is the very incomplete one of a certain Ginevra's + _trousseau_ in the Ricordi of the Rinuccini family of rather an + earlier period, but marking even there the rage for embroidery + and pearls which grew instead of diminishing. + + I imagine that the woman's _berretta_, frequently of velvet + embroidered with pearls, and apparently almost as prevalent as + our bonnet, must have been that close-fitting cap, square at the + ears, of which we spoke yesterday. I trouble you with this + note--which pray do not think it necessary to answer--in order + to indicate to you the very slight satisfaction my anxiety on + this subject can meet with, and the obligation I shall be under + to you if you will ever give me a positive or negative hint or + correction. + + Approximative truth is the only truth attainable, but at least + one must strive for that, and not wade off into arbitrary + falsehood.--Ever, dear Mr. Leighton, yours very truly, + + MARIAN E. LEWES. + +Leighton preserved the records of a friendship with Mr. Robin +Allen,[27] established and for most part continued through a +correspondence which lasted for many years from the early 'sixties. +The letter sent with the following poem refers to Leighton's +illustration to Mrs. Browning's poem, "Musical Instrument," of which +the original drawing is reproduced. (See List of Illustrations.) + + TRINITY HOUSE, E.C. + + MY DEAR SIR,--If I send this to the author of a lovely + illustration to a lovely poem, it is not for its worth, but to + give me an excuse for saying that I go out of town for a month + next Wednesday, and hope that I may call on you on my return, + perhaps get leave to show you over Loughton Woods in the + autumn.--Believe me, my dear sir, yours truly, + + ROBIN ALLEN. + F. LEIGHTON, Esq. + + SEQUITUR TO MRS. BROWNING'S "MUSICAL INSTRUMENT" IN THE + "CORNHILL MAGAZINE" OF JULY 1860. + + A greater God than the great god Pan + Planted the reed in the river, + And he is the only God who can + Break through its heart without killing the reed, + And make of its very life indeed + An organ, to utter His psalm as the Giver. + + This greater God than the beast-god Pan, + As He watches the reeds in Time's river, + Counts for best poet that perfect Man + Who holds lightly his song, at its loftiest strain, + So he live a man's life!--and at all cost and pain + _Is_ a reed among reeds in the river. + + R.A. + + [Illustration: "THE GREAT GOD PAN" + Original Sketch for Illustration to Mrs. Browning's Poem in the + _Cornhill Magazine_, 1861] + + [Illustration: "AN EVENING IN A FRENCH COUNTRY HOUSE" + Illustration for Mrs. Adelaide Sartoris's story, "A Week in a + French Country House," published in the _Cornhill Magazine_, 1867 + By permission of Messrs. Smith, Elder, & Co.] + +In a letter to his mother Leighton expresses a warm admiration for +these lines by Mr. Robin Allen. + +In the autumn of 1863 the following letter to his mother mentions a +notable visit to Compiegne. The charming story Mrs. Edward Sartoris +wrote, which appeared some years later in the _Cornhill Magazine_, "A +Week in a French Country House," owes its local colour to this home at +Compiegne to which Leighton refers. It belonged to Mr. Edward +Sartoris' brother-in-law, the Marquis de l'Aigle. For this story +Leighton made two admirable illustrations--"An Evening in a French +Country House" and "Drifting." Leighton is supposed to have suggested +the character of Monsieur Kiowski, the Polish artist in the story; and +the figure in the boat holding the rudder in "Drifting" he certainly +meant to represent himself, while the figure singing is Adelaide +Sartoris--drawn, as shown by the head-dress, from the sketch Leighton +made in 1856. (See List of Illustrations.) + + _Commencement of letter missing._] + 1862. + + I have a fit of the blues instead. + + I hope for the sake of my pictures that I shall soon get over + them (the blues, not the pictures). I believe if I could find + models I should recover at once; but I foresee that I shall have + no such luck. + + I had a delightful time at Compiegne--the place is charming, the + house comfortable in the extreme, and the life the perfection of + unconstraint (if that is English); I have told you already how + hospitable and kind my host and hostess were. I have, of course, + no news to give you yet, except, by-the-bye, that the bailiffs + were in the house the other day because Mr. and Mrs. Gedy had + not paid L3, 5s. 6d. taxes; they stayed two days in the house, + and if the money had not come, would have walked off with some + of _my_ furniture. I wish I had a house; they are beginning a + house on Campden Hill, and would build it for an artist after + his own designs. + +Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Sartoris, the admirer of "Eastern King," were also +among the visitors during this week in a French country house, and +write the following anecdote:-- + + "Those who knew Lord Leighton require no record of his kindness + and unselfishness. For those who had not that privilege the + following little anecdote may be interesting. In the late autumn + of 1863 we were all staying with my sister-in-law, the Marquise + de l'Aigle, at Francport, near Compiegne. Mrs. Sartoris was also + there and Mr. Leighton. There was to be a service on the Sunday + in a little neighbouring village church for some children who + had made their first communion, and it occurred to Mme. de + l'Aigle to have some special music on the occasion, and profit + by the glorious voice of Mrs. Sartoris, who kindly offered to + sing. Mr. Leighton also volunteered to take the tenor part in + various sacred pieces. We were all to help in the concerted + music, and the old cure was in the seventh heaven of delight at + the prospect of such a grand service. Our dismay can be imagined + when three days before the service Mr. Leighton announced that + he must leave us as business required his presence in London. + 'Oh!' we all exclaimed, 'what shall we do? the tenor pieces must + be given up; the cure will die of grief,' &c. ... 'No, no,' said + Mr. L., in his cheery way, 'don't change anything; I shall be + back all right on Sunday morning in time to sing;' and so, sure + enough, he did return, having travelled two nights to London and + back. He never would tell us why he had gone; and it was not + till long afterwards that it transpired that he had made the + hurried double journey to help a struggling artist, whose work + he wished to bring forward and introduce to some influential + person. He attained his object, and thought nothing of the time + and trouble involved, only glad to have been a help to one who + needed assistance, and also to keep his promise by singing in + the little village church." + + [Illustration: "DRIFTING" + Illustration for Mrs. Adelaide Sartoris's story, "A Week in a + French Country House," published in the _Cornhill Magazine_, 1867 + By permission of Messrs. Smith, Elder, & Co.] + +In 1863 Leighton began painting the fresco of "The Wise and Foolish +Virgins," which he presented to the Church at Lyndhurst. It was +painted on the plaster wall above the altar at the east end. While +at work on it, he stayed with his old friend Mr. Hamilton Aide, who +formed one of the happy company of _intimes_ of the Roman and Lucca +days. Several visits to this charming home in the New Forest were made +before the work was finished. + +In the following letter to Steinle he mentions his first experiment in +Mr. Gambier Parry's medium for painting in fresco. + + _Translation._] + 2 ORME SQUARE, BAYSWATER. + + MY VERY DEAR FRIEND,--When I last wrote I asked you when the + German exhibition of which you spoke was to take place, and + whether it was to be held in Cologne itself; but as I received + no answer I supposed that this exhibition either had not come to + anything (as I have seen nothing about it in the newspapers), or + that it did not seem sufficiently important to you for me to go + specially to Germany for it. Nevertheless, I would have gone to + Cologne, if it had been in any way feasible, exclusively on + account of you and your works, which I am very anxious to see; + unfortunately, however, I could not arrange it, and must content + myself with learning from a letter (if you will write me one) + how your work succeeds, and how far you have got with it. Two + walls are already finished, are they not? + + As for myself, I am fairly industrious. Amongst other things, I + am painting at present the composition which you have already + seen, of Michael Angelo and his old servant Urbino. I have + endeavoured to keep the action of the figures simpler and + smoother than in the first sketch; and, in fact, I think the + picture will please you better than the drawing. For the rest, I + am sick of painting small pictures, and would like to undertake + something large; but it is not very agreeable to paint pictures + which will probably remain always hanging round one's neck. + + I think I shall very soon test the public again in this + respect--but _what_ I shall paint I do not know. A friend of + mine (Mr. Gambier Parry), a great art devotee and first-rate + amateur, has discovered a medium to replace fresco painting in + our damp climate. I have seen his experiments, and have myself + painted a head under his rules,[28] and to my complete + satisfaction. The result is scarcely to be distinguished from + fresco, and is quite as easy, indeed even easier to achieve. At + the same time this method has advantages which _buon_ fresco + does not possess; it dries exactly as one lays it on (and is + then flat), it has no deposit (_Ansaetze_), and one can go over + it as often as one likes. The wall (a granular lime wall) is + saturated with the same preparation as you paint with. This + preparation, which is _stone hard_ against water, can always + dissolve _itself_ with moisture, so that one can retouch it + perpetually, at the same time the _whole_ of one's palette is + available. My friend is going to publish his system; I will + then, if you like, tell you exactly about it. + + And now, farewell, dear Master. Remember me most kindly to your + wife and children, and keep in remembrance your friend and + pupil, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + +He wrote to Steinle in 1862 that he was making studies for the +Lyndhurst fresco, and expected to finish it that summer; but it was +apparently only begun in August 1863. + + _Translation._] + 2 ORME SQUARE, BAYSWATER, + _April 22, 1862_. + + MY VERY DEAR FRIEND,--When I last wrote to you, I promised and + hoped that this time I should be able to send you some + photographs of my latest works, but unfortunately at the last + moment time ran short. My pictures are only just ready for + exhibition, and I must send them off unphotographed. In order + that you may not think I have been idle, I write these lines; + also because I am unwilling, my dear Master, to fade entirely + from your memory. I am exhibiting _eight_ pictures this year, an + unusually large number. But the case is not so bad as it looks + at the first glance. Two only of these pictures are important in + size and subject. One of them you already know from a former + composition. It represents Michael Angelo with his dying servant + Urbino. In the principal idea I have not deviated much from the + first sketch, but have endeavoured to treat the whole with more + unity and the details with more simplicity than in the + drawing which you saw, and the faults of which you pointed out + to me. This picture is life-size, and extends down to the knees. + + The other is of a somewhat fanciful description. I have imagined + one of the three holy kings, when he sees the Star in the East + from the battlements of his palace. The picture is curious and + open to much fault-finding, but I think it will please you by a + certain poetry in the conception. The shape is long and narrow. + The king, half life-size, almost turns his back upon the + spectator, and is, in the midst of the dark night, only lit by + the mystic rays of the Star. In contrast to this pure light one + sees, quite at the bottom, through an arch, into the hot + lamp-light, which illuminates a gay orgy. I have allowed myself + a certain amount of pictorial licence, which may well surprise + the general spectator at first glance, but which to me heightens + the poetical impression of the whole. + + Five other pictures are smaller, and three of the subjects are + idyllic or fanciful (_e.g._ a shepherd playing on a flute, an + Oriental girl with a swan, &c. &c.), all carried out with great + love, and certainly my best works. + + At present I am busy making studies for a large wall painting + (the "Wise and Foolish Virgins"), which I am giving to a church. + I shall execute it this summer, and tell you more about it. + + Now, my dear Friend, I have given you a long and full report of + myself; I hope you also will tell me what you are doing. I am + very anxious to know how the Cologne frescoes get on. How I + should like to see them! PERHAPS I may manage it this autumn. In + the meantime, however, write to me, and believe me to be, your + devoted pupil, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + + [Illustration: PORTRAIT FROM A PHOTOGRAPH OF LORD LEIGHTON TAKEN + IN 1863] + + + _April 1863, Saturday._ + + DEAREST MAMMA,--You have seen in the papers that the Review at + Brighton went off capitally. I enjoyed my day very much, and + though I was a _little_ tired and _very_ sleepy for two days + after, was altogether the better for it. It was a stiff day's + work too--nine or ten hours without sitting down, and with the + additional responsibility of having the command of the Artists' + Company. I was sure you would be pleased at the reception of my + "Fruit Girl"[29] by my brother artists--you must understand, + though, that this applies chiefly to the younger men (and not to + _all_ of _them_), for there are several of the older painters + who strongly object to my style of painting and are bent on + suppressing it. + + Will you thank Papa for his hint about the _Athenaeum_--I am + pretty sure he is mistaken about it, but I shall take measures + about it--indeed I _have_. + + I spoke to _Charles_ Greville (Henry's brother) and told him I + thought I should be coming on before very long; he very kindly + overhauled the lists and said he thought I might be up by the + end of the summer, and, what was still more kind, seeing me + unseconded, he put his name down as seconder. + + + FOREST BANK, LYNDHURST, + _Thursday, August 6, 1863_. + + If I was not more explicit about being with Aide, it was because + I made sure you knew it. You will be pleased to hear that when + after many _peripeties_ I did begin my fresco I got on + capitally; I have now finished the task for this year, having + painted _three_ life-size figures, with a good bit of + background, in _four_ days. I worked hard for it, and am rather + tired--head and eyes; otherwise flourishing. + + I am delighted with my new fresco material (Parry's)--the effect + is excellent--nearly as fine as real fresco. Everybody seems + much pleased with what I have done, particularly the parson. I + like it myself; I enjoy working at it immensely; it is my real + element. I find it (for mere _manipulation bien entendu_) + absurdly easy. + +The following letter from Mr. Gambier Parry explains the "fresco +material" Leighton used. + + HIGHNAM, GLOUCESTER, + _August 3, 1863_. + + MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--In reply to your last note about the use of + the wall itself rather than of canvas, there can be no doubt on + the subject, if only the plaster is _good_ and _well put on_. + You speak of two or three months to get it dry. I assure you + that that is _not near enough_. When the surface feels dry to + your hand you must not suppose that it is all dry inside, and if + the _wall_ is new, I doubt a year being enough to dry it. The + water must evaporate somewhere--it is drawn _to the_ surface of + _interiors_ because they are the warmest. + + You ask whether the rough cast on the wall must be scraped off + before you wash the wall for painting. If by the _rough cast_ + you mean rough plaster, which is a totally different thing to + rough cast, certainly use it as it is. The coarser the plaster + the better, because it is all the more porous, so long only that + it is of the best materials (viz. perfectly _washed_ sand, and + good lime), and well put on a good wall. _Nothing in the world + could equal it for painting upon_, except a surface of _coarse + clean_ Bath stone, with _all its pores open_. If you have such + plaster as I have just described, and both it and the wall + thoroughly dry, nothing could be better. The smooth surface, + with what granulated texture you please, can be got according to + the directions in my paper--viz. after two or three washes of + pure diluted medium, give another or two more of the same, with + dry whiting and a little white-lead, then go ahead _while it is + all fresh_, viz. _two or three days_ after the process of + preparation has been completed. + + Take care in painting not to rub it up too much, for fear of + _drawing up the glossy resins to the surface_ away from the wax. + Paint right _into_ your prepared surface _solidly_ and with + _decision_ in the way of fresco painting, not as oil. Keep the + brush clean, and the volatile oil in the dipper clean, and then, + oh! how shall I envy you your power to use them all![30] + + At the _Ely ceiling_, which is of hard wood _not_ porous, but + prepared with three coats of oil white-lead, I am painting with + + Liquid Measure. + Pale drying oil 2 + Japan gold size 2 + Turpentine 2 + Artist copal 1 + + well shaken up every time it is used. The colours are all ground + up in it, and then painting is done as in water-colour, using + _pure spirits of turpentine_ as a vehicle. Colours dry extremely + rapidly and with a dead surface. The stuff looks horribly black, + but the colours are not materially affected by it. Of course it + is not to be compared with my former medium, because there is + that bane of the palette oil in it, but I used it because of its + great facility (used transparent like _water-colour on a white + ground_), and because the surface was hard, so that wax might + (in great heat) shrink or play tricks on it, as it has done in + Murillo's pictures and many others.--Ever most sincerely yours, + + T. GAMBIER PARRY. + + If I can do anything for you, command me; we go to Scotland on + the 14th. + + + LONDON, _April 26, 1863_. + + DEAREST MAMMA,--You were no doubt surprised to see a sock arrive + in Bath in solitary grandeur, unaccompanied by any sort of note. + The fact is, for some days past I have been working at a rate + which made me altogether unfit for correspondence. I have just + returned from Lyndhurst, where I have been doing a bit more + fresco--and very stiff work it was--up and at work at seven, and + at it best part of the day, perched generally on an + uncomfortably narrow ladder, and with my head almost blown off + by the agreeable but overpowering smell of the vehicle with + which I painted. The result is as far as it goes tolerably + satisfactory--everybody there is delighted, and though that, of + course, does not prove much, it is at all events agreeable to me + that they derive so much pleasure from my work. The + stained-glass window, too, which has been executed at my desire + from Jones' designs, gives great satisfaction--is a lovely piece + of colour, and (which was, to me, of paramount importance) does + not hurt my fresco, though, of course, in the nature of things, + it outshines tenfold in point of brilliancy; hence the folly, to + my mind, of ever putting glass and wall painting in immediate + juxtaposition. I shall go and paint another slice in June, after + which Aide leaves, so I may not be able to finish my work till + he returns in autumn. On my road to Lyndhurst, I paid a visit + to Lady Dorothy Neville (Lady Pollington's sister) at + Dangstein--a very beautiful place near Petersfield. + + On Monday week the Royal Academy opens--I shall be curious to + see what pictures they have taken; my work at present will be a + woodcut for Dalziel--then that for the _Cornhill_--then a + drawing for Cundall's Bible--Mrs. Magniac's portrait--the + cartoon for the remainder of the Lyndhurst fresco--then perhaps + a new picture. I wish some one would buy the old ones! + + Have you read "Sylvia's Lovers"? Don't read "Salammbo"--it is + hideous. + + + DEAREST MAMMA,--My chair has arrived safe and sound; once more, + my very best thanks for it. + + Aide _is_ one of the most _excellent_ men that ever lived--I + like him extremely. + + By-the-bye, I am made one of the ensigns in our Rifle Corps, so + that when you come to town you have a chance of seeing me + strutting about with a sword. + + I write in haste. Good-bye, best love to all.--From your very + affectionate boy, + + FRED. + + [Illustration: THE FRESCO PRESENTED BY LORD LEIGHTON TO + LYNDHURST CHURCH--"THE WISE AND FOOLISH VIRGINS." Completed 1864] + +In a letter to his father dated 1864 Leighton announced the completion +of the fresco, "The Wise and Foolish Virgins." The design of the whole +and the lines of the draperies in each figure are all admirable, and +the work is one which proves Leighton's powers of achieving rapidly, +and under great difficulties, a complete work and one in which his +great sense of beauty is very salient. There is also sufficient +dramatic feeling in the gestures and expressions of the faces. Perhaps +the most interesting (because the most spontaneous) attitude in the +figures of the wise virgins is that which is kneeling, profile-wise, +under the figure of the angel, who is indicating to her the presence +of her Saviour. She seems dazed with awe and rapture. Her arm is +caught up with a sudden unstudied angularity of movement which, though +not so beautiful intrinsically as are most of those in Leighton's +work, is very expressive, and produces a happy effect amid the more +obviously arranged lines in the rest of the design. Among the many +drawings preserved in the Leighton House Collection made for this +fresco there is a slight but very sensitive sketch for this figure, +also a finished pencil drawing for the head of Christ. The model who +sat for this head was the Italian whom Leighton painted in "Golden +Hours," and whom Watts used for the picture he (many years after its +execution) entitled "A Prodigal." The type of this model may be felt +by some to have been an unfortunate one to choose for the central +imposing figure in the design of the fresco. It is, perhaps, weak--too +good-looking in a commonplace style for such a subject. + +Ruskin, on seeing the photograph of this work, wrote to Leighton (a +postscript to a letter): "I was much struck--seriously--by the +photograph from your fresco; it is wonderfully fine in action." + +Leighton wrote to Steinle on receipt of his criticisms on the +Lyndhurst fresco:-- + + _Translation._] + _3rd December._ + + MY DEAR FRIEND,--Just now returned from a long journey (to + Constantinople and Athens), I find two very welcome letters from + you, by which I see with great pleasure that your old pupil may + still reckon upon your invaluable friendship and sympathy, and I + see it all the more certainly because you enclose a kind but + pertinent criticism of the photographs I sent you.[31] I agree + entirely, and can only pretend in my defence that it was + difficult, with the long space (all having to be filled) and the + altar standing in the middle of it, not to fall into rather a + panic. That, after all, is but a lame excuse, and I hope that + you will always rap me over the knuckles with the same friendly + sincerity. + + My dear Friend, the idea of appearing as a collaborator beside + you, my master, would be in the very highest degree delightful + and flattering to me. It is therefore only after mature + deliberation, and in the firm confidence that you will at least + appreciate the sincerity of your Leighton, that I have to + decline with real regret Herr Bruckmann's flattering invitation. + _You_, more than any one else, will agree with me that an artist + can execute no first-rate work, indeed dare undertake no work, + that is not a genuine expression alike of his feelings and his + convictions. I must candidly confess I cannot agree about a + complete illustration of the Shakespearian plays, those + masterpieces already in existence as _exhaustively finished_ + works of art; it seems to me that in literature only those + subjects lend themselves to pictorial representation which stand + in the written word more as _suggestion_. Subjects perhaps which + are provided in the Bible or in mythology and tradition in great + variety, or are not already generally in possession of the minds + of the spectators of living plays (_e.g._ the Greek Tragedies). + It is for the most part a struggle with the incomparable, + already existing _complete_--which is quite intimidating to my + capabilities. Do not take this ill, my dear Friend, and do not + consider it too great a presumption that I, your pupil, declare + so plainly against you where you think so differently. To go + back over one detail, I must also confess that _to me_ a + _coloured cartoon_ is not a natural mode of expression; a + _drawn_, or a _grey in grey_ (grau in grau) painted + cartoon--well enough. A size five feet high is to me, for a + _suggestion_ of colour, at least five times too large; just as + little could I give a suggestion of form in this size. Colour is + not necessary; but if one should use it in half life-size, it is + too noble and poetic, I think, for one to venture, so to speak, + to clarify it. Will you forgive me for all this, dear master? + However, I shall see with deep interest the progress of the + beautiful work which you will certainly execute. + + I have heard with some sorrow of the burning of the venerable + Dome, and am just writing to Otto Cornhill in respect to a + lottery which is to be arranged for the re-erection of the + tower. + + I have read what you tell me of your dear family with great + pleasure; please remember me most kindly to your wife and + children; also to my old comrades V. Mueller, Wecker, and the + rest. I am very glad to hear that G. Wecker, the apostate, has + returned to art. He was, undoubtedly still is, a very gifted + man, but had to guard somewhat, had he not? against the + _ornamental_. + + But my letter is becoming too long. + + Farewell, my dear Master; take nothing amiss from your grateful, + devoted pupil, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + + + _Friday 10, 1864._ + + DEAR PAPA,--You will be disappointed, after waiting so long, to + receive no paper after all, and a skimpy note instead. I am + amused at the studied ill-nature of the _Spectator_; I wonder + who _V._ is. The author of an article on sensation pictures in + the _Realm_, in which I am flatteringly quoted, is by Mrs. + Norton. _En somme_ I think my "_Golden Hours_" is the most + successful of my pictures (perhaps more than anything since + "Cimabue") and the "Orpheus" (deservedly) the least. I am about + to begin two new pictures. Mrs. Guthrie's portrait--a full + length--is postponed for her health till the winter. + + + 1864. + + I should not leave the place I am in except to build; a mended + house would be most unsatisfactory and _temporary_. I feel sure + I shall nowhere get standing room for a house for less than L28, + still less room for a house and _large garden_. If I find the + terms exactly as I expect and my lawyer (Nettleship) satisfied + with the title I shall, I think, close the bargain, the more so + that another painter (I don't know who) is after it.[32] I am + staying for a day or two at Dangstein (Lady Dorothy Neville's). + I met here last night Mr. Henry Woolfe, who very kindly offered + me introductions to one or two charming Venetian families + (Mocenigo) which will be very pleasant for me, as I want to see + a Venetian interior. Gambart has paid the L1050 for "Dante." The + "Honeymoon" was bought by a Cornhill dealer yclept Moreby. + + I will let you know how all goes off on Saturday at the Council, + meanwhile best love to Mamma.--From your affectionate son, + + FRED. + + + _August 23, 1864._ + + I found your letter on returning from Lyndhurst this morning. I + may as well tell you at once that I have finished my fresco, + retouching a great deal of what was already painted, and I think + I may add, greatly improving it--so much for that. + + With regard to the draft, my assent was only general and + preliminary (besides being subject to the approval in the + details of my solicitor) and bound me to nothing. My surveyor + and solicitor have conferred together and with Lady H.'s agent, + and though the agreement is not yet signed, the matter is + virtually settled. I have several minor clauses altered which + had been inserted originally in the general draft to meet cases + different from my own. With regard to the title, I was surprised + and vexed to hear that it was stipulated that _no title should_ + be called for. My lawyer told me that this was frequently the + case--that he would go to Doctors' Commons to see the Will to + ascertain the truth of the statement that the property was Lady + H.'s in fee simple (as it is). Even this he said did not + _legally_ exhaust the matter, as there might be encumbrances not + alluded to in the Will. He said, however, that many other leases + had been granted on that property on precisely the same terms, + that the matter turned on the character of the landlord, and + that, _en somme_, I ran but little risk. _Since then_ I have + seen him, and he tells me that he has fortunately been able to + ascertain through a very respectable firm of solicitors, who + _have_ seen the titles, that _it is all right_; he has therefore + not thought it desirable to put me to the expense of + investigating the Will--so far so good. As to the possible + expense of the house, my dear Papa, you have taken, I assure + you, false alarm. I shall indeed devote more to the + architectural part of the building than _you_ would care to do; + but in the first place architecture and much _ornament_ are not + inseparable, and besides, whatever I do I shall undertake + _nothing without an estimate_. + + You need never fear that I shall take otherwise than it is + meant the advice that your experience and interest in me suggest + to you. You will also, I am sure, allow for the difference of + feeling between yourself and an artist who lives by his eyes. + + A line will find me at Venice, _poste restante_, all September. + I am just off. + + Best love to Mammy.--From your affectionate son, + + FRED. + + I knew neither _Poole_ nor _Jones_. Grant said he thought it + probable I should be an R.A. before long. + + + VENICE, _September 20, '64_. + + MY DEAR PAPA,--Many thanks for your letter, which reached me + safely a few days ago. I do indeed contemplate building my house + so as to be enlarged at a future day. I find, however, that I + shall probably be obliged to build at once rather more than I + absolutely require for practical building reasons, but I need + not therefore furnish more than I require. About the well I am + now entirely in the dark. It would never have occurred to me to + ask myself the question, Are there not _pipes_ or something? + With regard to the Will, if the perusal of it only cost a + guinea, it might have been worth while to look at it, though + Palmer and Nettleship thought it superfluous; but then P. and N. + tell me it would cost L20! to have it gone over, and as my + expenses with Browne (Lady H.'s agent) are already very + great--he makes a preposterous charge, _which I can't dispute_, + for the agreement--I don't think I shall care to add to them. + + My architect is Aitchison, an old friend. + + I wrote to the Academicians (Poole, Grant, and Jones) almost + immediately on hearing from them, and expressed a hope, vague + but polite, that we might meet on my return. _Poole_ I should + like to know; he is a man of poetic mind. I need scarcely tell + you that the idea of my being elected President (!!!) for many + years to come is simply _ludicrous_, even if there is a chance + of my ever having the offer of that dignity. + + I am quite aware that people do talk of it _laughingly_, but I + don't think it goes beyond "chaff" yet. No doubt many other + young artists are chaffed in the same way with imaginary + dignities. I am delighted that Mamma is better; I should have + said this before but that I have answered your letter + systematically. I trust the improvement will be lasting. + + I congratulate you on Colenso's visit, and shall be very anxious + to hear from you how it went off. + + As for myself, I am very snugly ensconced in a little mezzanino + on the Grand Canal, with a sort of passage which I use as a + studio and a bath-room, inasmuch as it opens straight on the + water, and enables me to take a very jolly swim every day. I am + not attempting a picture, but am making a sketch for one which I + shall probably paint on the spot next autumn, staying here a + couple of months or so. Meanwhile I have got several heads in + hand--_studies_, _not_ for _sale_, for use--and a few sketches in + Saint Mark's, which I think promise well. _Et voila._ + + I stay here a fortnight longer, so that a letter written on + receipt of this would still catch me; after that _Rome_ is the + safest address. I shall be there from the 20th to the 28th of + October. + + Best love to Mamma, and believe me, your affectionate son, + + FRED. + +In the preceding letters mention is made of the final arrangements for +the building of Leighton's house in Holland Park Road. Mr. George +Aitchison, R.A., his old friend, undertook to be the architect. It was +begun in 1865, and first occupied by Leighton in 1866. + +Referring to opinions expressed regarding Florentine Art, past and +present, Leighton wrote to his younger sister: "----'s remark about +----, if I remember it, was utter bosh and pedantry. The Florentines +of the end of the fifteenth century were _emphatically_ realists, +though their realism was animated by a higher genius and a deeper +humanity than the modern Italians exhibit, though _they_, by-the-bye, +are mostly not _realists_ but mannerists. The chief characteristic of +English Art is (I speak of course of the better men) originality and +humanity on the one hand, and on the other, absence of acquired +knowledge and guiding taste. Some day I will write you a lot more +about it." + +Fully launched into the English art world, deeply interested in every +phase of sincere work produced by contemporary brother artists, +Leighton nevertheless adhered in his own practice to the views and +principles which he held from the time he became Steinle's devoted +pupil. To a question which referred to his art development, asked by +Mrs. Mark Pattison when she was about to write an account of his life +in 1879, Leighton answered, "I can only speak of what is not a +_change_ but virtually a growth, the passage from Gothicism to +Classicism (for want of better words) _i.e._ a growth from +multiplicity to simplicity. Artists' manners are not changed by +books!" "As regards English artists," he writes in the same letter, "I +can only of course speak with great reserve. Elmore treated me with +marked kindness, lending me a studio. Millais, Rossetti, Hunt were +most cordial and friendly, though I openly told them I was wholly +opposed to their views; but, indeed, few men have more cause to speak +well of their brethren." + +The artistic events of the years 1862, 1863, and 1864 culminated in +Leighton being elected an Associate of the Royal Academy. His old +friend, Mr. George Aitchison, wrote at the time of Leighton's death: +"In 1860 he took a studio at Orme Square, Bayswater. It was during +this time that his conversation was so brilliant and so free from +restraint. I remember a summer afternoon I spent with him, Mason, and +Murch on the terrace at the Crystal Palace, when he gave vent to the +freest criticism on books, artists, philosophy, science, and the +methods of teaching, and deplored the waste of time to students of +making large chalk studies, when everything that was wanted could be +shown on a sheet of smooth paper, seven inches high, with a hard +pencil. He was a great admirer of Boxall and his delicate painting, of +Mr. Watts' and Sir E. Burne-Jones' work, and persuaded the last two to +join the Royal Academy. In 1864 he was made an A.R.A., and after this +he became very cautious of expressing any but the most general +opinions on contemporary English art, as his remarks generally got +into the papers." + +"Eucharis," 1863; "Dante at Verona," and "Golden Hours," 1864, are +three works which might be placed in the first rank of Leighton's +achievements. In the following letters references are made to the +pictures:-- + + _April 29, 1863._ + + DEAR MAMMY,--I have just been to the R.A., having been invited + to the "Varnishing Day." _Four_ pictures are hung--"Elijah," + _high_, of course, but in a centre place; it looks well, but + _much_ darker than in the studio. "Peacock Girl,"[33] very well + hung, exactly where "The Vision" was a few years ago; it looks + well. "The Crossbowman" and "The Girl with the Fruit"[34] are + fairly hung, but look, to me, less well than in the studio. The + "Salome"[35] is the one not taken. Altogether I am well treated. + +In the following letters from Ruskin his interest is expressed in the +pictures exhibited in the Academy of 1863, and for the "Romola" +illustrations:-- + + MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--I've only just had time to look in, + yesterday, at R. Ac., and your pictures are the only ones that + interest me in it; and the two pretty ones, peacocks and basket, + interest me much. Ahab I don't much like. You know you, like all + people good for anything in this age and country (as far as + Palmerston), are still a boy--and a boy can't paint Elijah. But + the pretty girls are very nice--very _nearly_ beautiful. I can't + say more, can I? If once they _were_ beautiful, they would be + immortal too. But if I don't pitch into you when I get hold of + you again for not drawing your Canephora's basket as well as her + head and hair! You got out of the scrape about the circle of it + by saying you wanted it hung out of sight (which _I_ don't). But + the meshes are all wrong--_inelegantly_ wrong--which is + unpardonable. I believe a Japanese would have done it better. + Thanks for nice book on Japan with my name Japanned. _It_ is + very nice too. I wish the woodcuts were bigger. I should like it + so much better in a little octavo with big woodcuts on every + other page. But I never do anything but grumble.--Faithfully + yours, + + J. RUSKIN. + + + MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--The public voice respecting the lecture you + are calumniously charged with, is as wise as usual. The lecture + is an excellent and most interesting one, and I am very sorry it + is not yours. + + I am also very sorry the basket _is_ yours, in spite of the very + pretty theory of accessories. It is proper that an accessory be + slightly--sometimes even, in a measure, badly--painted, but not + that it should be out of perspective; and in the greatest men, + their enjoyment and power animated the very dust under the feet + of their figures--much more the baskets on their heads: above + all things, what comes near a head should be studied in every + line. + + There is nothing more notable to my mind in the minor tricks of + the great Venetians than the exquisite perspective of bandeaux, + braids, garlands, jewels, flowers, or anything else which aids + the _roundings_ of their heads. + + It is my turn to claim Browning for you, though I know what your + morning time is to you. I must have you over here one of these + summer mornings, if it be but to look at some dashes in sepia by + Reynolds, and a couple of mackerel by Turner--which, being + principals instead of accessories, I hope you will permit to be + well done, though they're not as pretty as peacocks. + + I have been watching the "Romola" plates with interest. The one + of the mad old man with dagger seemed to me a marvellous study + (of its kind), and I feel the advancing power in all. + + Will you tell me any day you could come--any hour--and I'll try + for Browning.--Ever faithfully yours, + + J. RUSKIN. + + I'm always wickeder in the morning than at night, because I'm + fresh; so I'll try, this morning, to relieve your mind about the + peacocks. To my sorrow, I know more of peacocks than girls, as + you know more of girls than peacocks--and I assure you solemnly + the fowls are quite as unsatisfactory to me as the girl can + possibly be to you; so unsatisfactory, that if I could have + painted them as well as you could, and _had_ painted them as + ill, I should have painted them out.[36] + + + _Monday._ + + DEAR LEIGHTON,--I saw Browning last night; and he said he + couldn't come till Thursday week: but do you think it would put + you quite off your work if you came out here early on Friday and + I drove you into Kensington as soon as you liked? We have enough + to say and look at, surely, for two mornings--one by ourselves? + + I want, seriously, for one thing to quit you of one impression + respecting me. You are quite right--"ten times right"--in saying + I never focus criticism. Was there ever criticism worth + adjustment? The light is so ugly, it deserves no lens, and I + never use one. But you never, on the other hand, have observed + sufficiently that in such rough focussing as I give it, I + measure faults not by their greatness, but their avoidableness. + A man's great faults are natural to him--inevitable; if _very_ + great--undemonstrable, deep in the innermost of things. I never + or rarely speak of them. They must be forgiven, or the picture + left. But a common fault in perspective is not to be so passed + by. You may not tell your friend, but with deepest reserve, your + thoughts of the conduct of his life, but you tell him, if he has + an ugly coat, to change his tailor, without fear of his + answering that you don't focus your criticism. Now it so happens + that I am in deep puzzlement and thought about some conditions + of your work and its way, which, owing to my ignorance of many + things in figure painting, are not likely to come to any good or + speakable conclusion. But it would be partly presumptuous and + partly vain to talk of these; hence that silence you spoke of + when I saw you last. I wish I had kept it all my life, and + learned, in place, to do the little I could have done, and enjoy + the much I might have enjoyed.--Ever faithfully yours, + + J. RUSKIN. + + Send me a line saying if you will give me the Friday morning, + and fix your own hour for breakfast to be ready; and never mind + if you are late, for I can't give you pretty things that spoil + for waiting, anyhow. + +Leighton writes to his mother:-- + + I had a kind note this morning from Ruskin, in which, after + criticising two or three things, he speaks very warmly of other + points in my work and of the development of what he calls + "enormous power and sense of beauty." I quote this for what it + is worth, because I know it will give you pleasure, but I have + NOT and _never shall have_ "enormous power," though I have some + "sense of beauty." The "Orpheus" and "Golden Hours" are not in + the _great_ room but in the next to it. I have not seen Gambart + lately, and do not, therefore, know whether he has got rid of + any more of my pictures (by-the-bye, I have sent the + "duet"--"Johnny"--to America to an Exhibition for the Sanitary + Commission, on the request of Mrs. Kemble's daughter). He will, + _I think_, engrave the "Honeymoon," but probably only photograph + the others; by-the-bye (again), Mammy, tell Gussy with my love + that I shall present her with a copy of each and shall not + "_think her greedy_," having no thoughts for her but + affectionate ones. With regard to the money paid me by Gambart, + I invested as soon as I got it L1000 in Eastern Counties Railway + _debentures_, at par, 4-1/2 per cent., this on the advance of + Coutts' stock clerk. Lord Ashburton's portrait was scarcely + begun.[37] I have offered to try to finish _tant bien que mal_ + from photographs, and to _give_ it to Lady A. She is very + grateful. The child's picture also goes to the wall, as she + won't be able to sit for some time, and would then be _changed_. + Lady A. wanted to pay the price of the sketch as it stood; this + I of course refused. She has commissioned me to paint her a + fancy picture for L300. + +Leighton was for five years an Associate before being elected a full +member of the Royal Academy in 1869. During these years the number of +important pictures he exhibited each season notably increased. In at +least twelve of these works the many-sided Leighton is worthily +represented--"Dante at Verona,"[38] "Golden Hours," "David," +"Syracusan Bride" (exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1866 and in the +Paris International Exhibition in 1868), "Helen of Troy,"[39] +"Greek Girl Dancing," "Venus Disrobing from the Bath," "Ariadne +Abandoned by Theseus, Ariadne Watches for his Return, Artemis Releases +Her by Death," "Actaea, the Nymph of the Shore," "Daedalus and Icarus," +"Electra at the Tomb of Agamemnon," "Helios and Rhodos." The extreme +variety from every point of view which exists in this group of twelve +pictures, chosen from the twenty-six paintings and the numerous +sketches executed in these five years, would be a proof in itself, if +one were needed, of Leighton's extraordinary versatility as regards +the _motives_ of his pictures. + + [Illustration: "GREEK GIRL DANCING." 1867 + By permission of Mr. Phillipson] + + [Illustration: DRAWING FOR THE PAINTING "A PASTORAL." 1866 + Leighton House Collection] + +In the spring of 1865, after years of delicate health, Mrs. Leighton +at the last died suddenly, at her home in Bath. At the time Leighton +was staying at Sandringham where he received a telegram announcing her +death, and on the same day he joined his family at Bath. It has been +said that, as long as a man is blessed by possessing a mother, he +still retains the blessing of being--in the eyes of one person at +least--a child. To Leighton's tender-hearted nature this blessing was +a very real one, as is testified by his correspondence with his +mother.[40] The first chapter of Leighton's life seems, in a sense, +only to end with this great sorrow. + + _Translation._] + FRANKFURT AM MAIN, + _April 30, 1865_. + + DEAREST FRIEND,--As your last friendly lines of 14th March did + not bring your address, I grasp the opportunity offered me by + Mr. Tobie Andre to express to you my heartfelt sympathy on the + loss of your dear mother. I remember that you often spoke to me + of this mother with true filial affection, and I have secretly + blessed you for it; I know now also that you will treasure her + memory!--Always, your truly devoted, + + STEINLE. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[26] See Appendix, "Lord Leighton's Sketches." + +[27] See page 59, vol. ii., poem, Leighton's "Francesca di Rimini," by +R.A. + +[28] Head painted on the wall of the Vestry of Highnam Church--since +destroyed. + +[29] "Eucharis." + +[30] Sir Hubert Parry writes: "I remember Leighton made a practical +test of my father's medium by painting a fine dashing sketch of a head +on the wall of the Vestry at Highnam Church. I used to admire it +greatly. Unfortunately that Vestry was pulled down; and though efforts +were made to preserve the sketch by cutting a great piece of plaster +out of the wall, I understand that during the many years when I was +hardly ever at Highnam, the plaster crumbled and collapsed." See letter +to Steinle. + +[31] Photographs of the Lyndhurst fresco. + +[32] The ground on which Leighton built his house, 2 Holland Park Road, +now preserved for the public. + +[33] "Girl feeding Peacocks" (see sketches in Leighton House +Collection). Leighton painted a small and exquisite water-colour on +ivory of the picture, which was sold at Christie's after his death. + +[34] "Eucharis." + +[35] See List of Illustrations: reproduction from sketch in Leighton +House. + +Mr. Frith, R.A., wrote the following respecting the rejection of +"Salome":-- + + 10 PEMBRIDGE VILLAS, BAYSWATER, W., + _April 29, 1863_. + + MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--We have been unable to hang one of your best + pictures--not because it was an excellent work, as the profane + world would say--but because we had already placed so many of + your pictures that the space due to Leighton was more than + exhausted. M.C. Mortlake called us over the coals dreadfully on + your behalf, but I, for one, resisted his arguments, and I + believe you have to blame me for your picture being returned to + you. I should have said nothing about the matter, but for the + fear that I might be thought so stupid as not to see the merit + of your work. Pray believe that my motive was a good one, and + that I have tried to do what is right to you and to the + rest.--Ever, dear Leighton, faithfully yours, + + W.P. FRITH. + +[36] Ruskin would not, I believe, have spoken thus of the peacocks in +the exquisite water-colour on ivory--presumably a sketch in colour for +the picture. + +[37] Refers to Lord Ashburton's death. + +[38] This picture illustrates the verses in the _Paradiso_:-- + + "Thou shalt prove + How salt the savour is of others' bread; + How hard the passage, to descend and climb + By others' stairs. But that shall gall thee most + Will be the worthless and vile company + With whom thou must be thrown into the straits, + For all ungrateful, impious all and mad + Shall turn against thee." + +"Dante, in fulfilment of this prophecy, is seen descending the palace +stairs of the Can Grande, at Verona, during his exile. He is dressed in +sober grey and drab clothes, and contrasts strongly in his ascetic and +suffering aspect with the gay revellers about him. The people are +preparing for a festival, and splendidly and fantastically robed, some +bringing wreaths of flowers. Bowing with mock reverence, a jester gibes +at Dante. An indolent sentinel is seated at the porch, and looks on +unconcernedly, his spear lying across his breast. A young man, probably +acquainted with the writings of Dante, sympathises with him. In the +centre and just before the feet of Dante, is a beautiful child, +brilliantly dressed and crowned with flowers, and dragging along the +floor a garland of bay leaves and flowers, while looking earnestly and +innocently in the poet's face. Next come a pair of lovers, the lady +looking at Dante with attention, the man heedless. The last wears a +vest embroidered with eyes like those in a peacock's tail. A priest and +a noble descend the stairs behind, jeering at Dante."--_Athenaeum_, +April 1864. + +The following expresses the admiration of a brother artist, Richard +Doyle, for the exiled "Dante":-- + + 54 CLIFTON GARDENS, MAIDA HILL, + _April 5, 1864_. + + MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--I feel so awkward whenever I attempt to + praise a man's works to his face, and I felt that you, + yesterday, were so likely to be bored with the repetition of + similar speeches from your large influx of visitors, that at the + moment of my going I could not bring myself to say what I wished + to say--how much I liked your pictures. To-day, however, when + "Dante" and "Orpheus," and the music and drawing parties are + before my mind as vividly as they were yesterday before my eyes + in your studio, I cannot resist sending you a few lines to say + what pleasure my visit gave me, although I was "without words." + + The "Dante" seemed to me a very impressive picture, and I think + one of the most important as well as most successful of your + works, historical in a higher sense than the mere representation + of an event--an illustration of the man and the time. I could + mention many of the figures that especially pleased me, but, for + beauty, can only single out that most delightful little child in + the foreground, toddling at the feet of Dante, laden with + flowers, the childhood and innocence of whose whole figure and + face, although we do not see the face, contrasts so beautifully + with the worn, ascetic, melancholy Poet. I think these two are a + poem in themselves. + + The lady in the "drawing lesson" struck me as a charming figure, + so graceful, and the painting of her dress as a perfect piece of + work. The lady leaning over the instrument in the "music" + ("Golden Hours") subject is also a great favourite of mine. + + The "Orpheus," although there is a great deal to admire in it, I + don't think I liked so well as the others. Perhaps it is that + the classic subject does not come home to me, but I say this + doubtingly, feeling that it is a picture that would very likely + grow upon me. + + Anyhow, I end by offering you my most hearty + congratulations.--Most sincerely yours, + + RICHARD DOYLE. + +[39] Referring to Leighton's painting of "Helen of Troy," exhibited in +1865, Mr. Martin Tupper wrote:-- + + ALBURY HOUSE, NR. GUILFORD, + _May 23, 1865_. + + DEAR SIR,--It is just possible that the following few words of + comment upon your wonderfully spiritualised "Helen of Troy" may + be acceptable to you from the undersigned. + + The "Helen" of Euripides is very little read amongst us, and yet + it is as strangely sensational as "The Woman in White": there + being two Helens in the play, the real substantial wife + remaining faithful to Menelaus in the island of Pharos, while + Juno gives to Paris--out of jealous rage at him for his + "judgment" in favour of Venus--"an image composed of ether" in + the likeness of Helen. + + This Ethereal Presence you have so exquisitely portrayed that it + is probable you know the play! only that I think you would then + have quoted from it in the R.A. catalogue, in explanation of + what confuses some of your ignorant reviewers as to this + embodied spirit. + + The counterfeit Helen was of "unsubstantial air," a figure + marvellously rendered in your picture, and which I can fully + appreciate: and you quote a very apposite passage from Lord + Derby's "Homer," as that which you illustrate; but if there are + reprints of the catalogue, I would suggest the addition of a + line from Euripides, as thus:-- + + "Juno to Paris gave me--yet not me, + But in my semblance formed a living image + Composed of ether." + WODHALL'S _Eur. Hel._ + + If haply you do not know the book, inquire at Longman's for the + fifth volume of the Greek Tragic Theatre (in English); or, + should you prefer it, of course it is extant in the Greek. If + not easily attainable in London, I shall be happy to lend you + the volume by post. Congratulating you on your difficult and + exquisite achievement--I am, dear sir, truly yours, + + MARTIN F. TUPPER. + F. LEIGHTON, Esq. + +[40] + + WARNFORD COTTAGE, + BISHOP'S WALTHAM. + + MY DEAR MR. LEIGHTON,--I was very sorry indeed when I returned + to Park Place on Sunday evening and found that you had been so + kind as to call upon me. + + I have not ventured to intrude upon you in your late affliction + with the expression of a sympathy which cannot have much value + for you, but had I seen you when you called I should hardly have + refrained from telling you how sincerely I feel for your + sorrow.--Pray believe me, yours always most truly, + + FANNY KEMBLE. + WARNFORD, _Thursday, 2nd_. + + + FOREST BANK, + LYNDHURST. + + MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--I cannot let the post go out without offering + you my sincere sympathy on your loss. I know how deeply attached + you were to your mother, and am very sure the bereavement is a + heavy grief to you. You are right in saying that to me your + sorrow comes especially home. My mother sends you her + affectionate love, and we both beg you to remember that, + whenever you have a few spare days and want quiet, you must + consider this home as a temporary home.--Believe me always, in + all affection, yours, + + HAMILTON AIDE. + + + MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--I must write to you to express the grief both + myself and my wife felt on hearing of the loss which has + befallen you. I am well aware that no words can afford + consolation against such afflictions, but I should be sorry if + you had construed silence into want of sympathy. If you have + time I should be glad to hear from you, and to know how may be + your father, from whom I have received on every occasion so much + kindness. You have much distress to go through, for death has + recently touched you in many ways by striking your own family, + your friends, and imperilling others to a degree that must have + inspired every pain it can produce. + + Good-bye, my dear Leighton; remember me to your father, and + express to him my deep sympathy with him in his + misfortune.--Yours ever affectionately, + + W.C. CARTWRIGHT. + PALAZZI GIORGI, ROME, + _January 31_. + + + 13 EATON PLACE (WEST), + _Tuesday, January 17, 1865_. + + MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--I heard at the Marqs', on Sunday, of your + late bereavement; and, as perhaps the one of all your many + friends whose mind the most habitually dwells among thoughts of + loss and deprivation, I can assure you of thought of it with + sincere concern and sympathy, and just write a line to say so. + There is nothing to be said, I well know, which is of any + immediate good or alleviation, and time only strengthens + affectionate recollection: but after a time, among gentler + thoughts which will come, I hope you will, as you may justly, + find comfort in thinking that your mother's life was spared so + as to permit her to be cheered by the certainty of your success. + This is much--especially to a woman's heart.--Faithfully and + sincerely yours, + + HENRY J. CHORLEY. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +JOURNEYS TO THE EAST--CONSTANTINOPLE--SMYRNA--ATHENS--DIARY "UP THE +NILE TO PHYLAE" + +1866-1869 + + +Leighton visited Spain in 1866. There exists apparently no letters or +written record of this journey, but he made many sketches remarkable +for strong and characteristic colouring. + +The letter written to Mrs. Mark Pattison in 1879, already quoted, +contains an amusing endeavour on Leighton's part to date the various +journeys he had made in answer to questions she had asked. + + "I am sorely perplexed to answer this; I can only approach an + answer by a sort of _memoria technica_. I made studies in + Algiers for 'Samson Agonistes'; that will give you roughly the + period. This visit made a deep impression on me; I have loved + 'the East,' as it is called, ever since. By-the-bye, I drew here + my (almost) only large water-colour drawing, 'A Negro Festival' + [the picture Leighton alluded to as 'The Niggers'], which was + thought very well of by my friends. To Spain (into which I had + made a raid of a few days on a previous occasion when visiting + the South of France for architecture, to which I am much + devoted) I went the year of the cholera. I remember this because + I was going to Constantinople, but was dissuaded by a friend + there because of the ravages of that epidemic. The following + year I _did_ go: Vienna, Danube, Varna, Constantinople, Broussa, + Smyrna, Rhodes, Athens (the greatest architectural emotion of my + life, by far), &c. This was the year _before_ those poor young + Englishmen were murdered on Pentelicus, up which I had been + with _the same_ guide. My visit to Egypt, and up the Nile on a + steamer, given me by the Khedive, was a year before the opening + of the Suez Canal; I rode over the Salt Lakes with Mons. de + Lesseps and a party of his friends. Damascus a year before I + exhibited the 'Jew's House,' I _think_. Spain, revisited, and + Morocco, the year before last. This is a roundabout way of + getting about dates, but, contrary to my expectation, I think I + have contrived to fix all the chief journeys approximately." + +In 1867 Leighton wrote to his father:-- + + LLOYD STEAMER "ADRIATIC," + _November 28, 1867_. + + MY DEAR PAPA,--As I am likely to be busy during my very short + stay in Venice, where I hope to find a letter from you, I take + advantage of the leisure which I find in excess on board this + steamer to begin an epistle which, however, I shall not close + till I have seen yours, in case anything in the latter should + require an answer. Of course my getting to the end of even this + first page depends upon the state of my feelings--physical, not + moral, for I am a poor sailor at best. I told you, I believe, in + my last how much I had enjoyed and, as I hope, profited by my + stay in Rhodes and Lindos. I am uncertain whether I added that I + had received great kindness and attention from our consul and + his brothers, and also from one or two other gentlemen with whom + I became acquainted. Through the assistance of Mr. Biliotti (our + consul) I had an opportunity, which could never present itself + again, of buying a number of beautiful specimens of old Persian + _faience_ (Lindos ware), chiefly plates, which will make a + delightful addition to my collection of Eastern china and + pottery. I know that you, personally, care little for such + things, and have small sympathy with purchases of that nature; + you will, therefore, be glad to hear that though I spent a + considerable sum, knowing that such a chance would never again + be given me, I could, _any day_, part with the whole lot for at + least double--probably treble--what I gave. + + The weather, which was very beautiful at the beginning--indeed + during the greater part of my stay in the Island--was not + faithful to me to the end; it broke up a few days before my + departure, and, to my very great regret, prevented my painting + certain studies which I was very anxious to take home: on the + other hand, I had opportunities of studying effects of a + different nature, so that I can hardly call myself much the + loser as far as my work in Rhodes was concerned. In Athens, + however, the effect of the absolute instability of the weather + (an instability of which I have never seen the like anywhere) + was that I left that place almost empty-handed, although I + stayed there a week longer than I had originally intended. If, + however, I got through little or no work, I had infinite + enjoyment in the frequent and unvaried study and contemplation + of the ruins on the Acropolis. Familiar as I was, from casts and + photographs, with the sculptures and some part of the + architecture which I found there, my expectations were very + highly wrought, but it is impossible to anticipate, nor shall I + attempt to describe, the impression which these magnificent + works produce when seen together and under their own sky. + Indeed, it is quite strange how one seems to read with new eyes + things which one conceived oneself to have understood thoroughly + before. The scenery about Athens, depending a good deal on + effects of light, only rarely displayed its full beauty during + my stay; sufficiently often, however, for me to see that it is + of exquisite beauty, and that that part of it described by Byron + in certain favourite lines of yours does not receive full + justice at his hands. I had letters, as you probably knew, to + Mr. Erskine, our Minister, and to Mr. Finlay, the historian; + both of them received me with the greatest cordiality and + kindness, as did also two or three other persons with whom I + became acquainted, so that my stay was socially agreeable as + well as artistically delightful; but herewith ends my journey, + for heavy weather, rain, sleet, fog and the rest prevented my + seeing any of the scenery of the Gulf of Lepanto, which I might + as well not have visited, and although I passed Zante, + Cephalonia, and Corfu under rather more favourable skies, I did + not see them to advantage--_ce sera pour une autrefois_. Your + letter, which I have found on my arrival, and for which thanks, + does not call for any particular reply beyond that I have + painted _no_ figures, though I might have been tempted by + several fine heads I saw, but time only sufficed for my + landscape studies, which in this journey were my chief care. The + extract from the _Saturday Review_, which is highly flattering, + was shown me by Mr. Finlay in Athens. + + Of Venice I have nothing to say, except that my first impression + of the Gallery, coming as I did straight from the Parthenon, was + that everything but the very _finest_ pictures was wanting in + dignity and beauty, and was _artificial_. I was much surprised + myself, as the Venetian school always exercises a great + fascination over me. You may infer from that what an impression + of beauty Athenian Art has left on me. I was incessantly + reminded, in looking both at the sculpture and architecture of + the Acropolis, of the admirable words which Thucydides puts into + the mouth of Pericles: those are the beginning and the end of + the Greek artistic nature. + + I shall be in London by the 10th, and right glad to get home + again--meanwhile, with best love to Taily.--I remain, your + affectionate son, + + FRED. + VENICE, HOTEL DE L'EUROPE. + + [Illustration: SKETCH WITH DONKEY. EGYPT. 1868] + +Respecting the knowledge Leighton possessed of the Greek language, he +wrote in a letter to a friend, "In Greek I never got beyond Homer and +Anacreon. I have just retained this, that, having read a passage in a +translation (I generally read Homer in _German_ or _Latin_), I am able +to feel, on referring to the original, its superiority to the foreign +rendering." + +In 1868 the great desire which Leighton for many years had felt to see +Egypt was gratified. In October of that year he wrote to his father +from Cairo:-- + + _Beginning of letter missing._] + + I find that the Prince (the Prince of Wales) asked him in the + said letter to introduce me as a personal friend of his to the + Viceroy, adding that he would be obliged by anything he (Col. + Stanton) could do for me. This was more than I had expected + from what Col. Tait also had written me. Well, to make a long + story short, I communicated to Col. S. the ambitious desires + that Smart had stirred up in me, assuring him, however, that I + should never have dreamt of entertaining them of my own accord. + He took my case in hand at once, by asking for an audience, + which the Viceroy granted as soon as he should have returned to + Cairo; he was too busy to see me at Alexandria. Meanwhile Col. + Stanton hinted to the secretary of H.H. what my wish was, but + nothing was said to the Viceroy himself. Wednesday being fixed + for my reception, I went to his palace of Abbassia with Col. S., + and was there received in a pavilion in the open air, which + overlooked a tract of country covered with tents in which some + 5000 men were quartered. Round His Highness' pavilion were the + tents of his chief ministers in attendance. It was rather a + picturesque sight. The Viceroy was alone, and, having received + us very courteously, and asked after the health of the P. and + Pcess. of Wales, made us sit down. He then clapped his hands, + and on a word from him long _tchibouques_ were brought, of which + the amber mouthpieces were enriched with enormous diamonds and + emeralds. A little conversation on general matters then followed + between him and Col. S., after which he questioned me about my + projects; and after asking whether he could assist me, and Col. + S. throwing out a little hint about a steam tug to get me on + quicker, he said, "Would you not rather have a steamer to go in? + it is the same to me, and you will be more comfortable." Here + Col. Stanton, very judiciously and promptly, said he was sure + the P. of Wales would be much gratified by this mark of favour + to me; so that I have only to name the day, and the vessel will + be at my orders, and I shall do all I wish in _half the time_, + or less, it would otherwise have taken me. I bowed myself out + with my best thanks, and went home much pleased at my good + fortune and at everybody's kindness. I should not forget to say + also that Mr. Ross (Lady Duff Gordon's son-in-law, you know) was + full of _empressement_ and kindness to me, and Lady D.G. lent me + a gun for the Nile. I start in ten days or thereabouts, and hope + before that to hear from you, for no letters will follow me and + I shall lose sight of everybody for nearly two months. I will + write again before I start; meanwhile, when you write which it + will be no use your doing till _November_, address, please New + Hotel, Cairo, Egypt. + + And believe me, meanwhile, with best love to Taily, your affte. + son, + + FRED. + +Happily, while Leighton lost sight "of everybody for nearly two +months," he kept the following diary:-- + + _Wednesday, October 14, 1868._--Went on board, dined and slept. + + _Thursday, 15th._--Started at about 7 A.M. There had been a + storm in the night, and the east was still heavy with clouds; + but the western sky was pure and soft. + + At about ten caught up the Sterlings, becalmed in their + dahabyeh; their crew was making a futile attempt to tow them + against the current. I let out a rope and tugged them as far as + Benisoef, which, owing to the additional weight, I did not reach + till Friday morning (16th). + + The first day's journey up the Nile is enchanting, and I enjoyed + it thoroughly. The sky was bright, but tempered by a glimmering + haze which produced the loveliest effects; those of the early + morning were the most striking. The course of the river being + nearly due north, the western bank was glowing in varied sunny + lights; the other seemed made up of shadowy veils of gauze + fainting gradually towards the horizon. The boats that passed on + the left, dark in the blaze of light, looked, with their + outspread wings, like large moths of dusky brown; those on the + right shone against the violet sky like gilded ivory. The + keynote of this landscape is a soft, variant, fawn-coloured + brown, than which nothing could take more gratefully the warm + glow of sunlight or the cool purple mystery of shadow; the + latter perhaps especially, deep and powerful near the eye (the + local brown slightly overruling the violet), but fading as it + receded into tints exquisitely vague, and so faint that they + seem rather to belong to the sky than to the earth. At this time + of year the broad coffee-coloured sweep of the river is bordered + on either side by a fillet of green of the most extraordinary + vivacity, but redeemed from any hint of crudity by the golden + light which inundates it. The brightest green is that of the + Indian corn--the softest and most luminous that of an exquisite + grass, tall as pampas (perhaps it _is_ a kind of pampas, I have + not seen it close yet), and like it crowned with a beautiful + plume-like blossom of the most delicate hue; seen against a dark + shady bank, and with the sun shining through it, it shimmers + with the sheen of gossamer. + + Frequent villages animate the river's edge; they are built of + unbaked bricks coated with mud, and have a most striking effect. + The simplicity and variety of the shapes of the houses, with + their slightly sloping sides and flat roofs, give them a certain + dignity in their picturesqueness which delights me; the colour, + too, is particularly agreeable, and is the most beautiful foil + to the bronze-brown of the naked, or nearly naked, fellaheen and + the indigo of the robes of their wives; to the sparkling white + of the doves that swarm in the gardens, and to the cinder-colour + of the buffaloes that wink and snooze along the bank. Every + village nestles in a dense grove of date-palms, and one cannot + conceive a lovelier harmony than that which is made by the + combination of the browns below with the sea-green of the + sweeping branches and the flame-like orange of the fruit. The + acacia (here a large, massive tree, with a vigorous dark green + foliage) is frequent in the villages. + + The shape of the hills and mountains is very peculiar and + striking. It gives the idea of a choppy sea of sand thrown up + into abrupt peaks and then uniformly truncated by a sweep of a + vast scythe, sweeping everything from horizon to horizon. Here + and there a little peak, too low to be embraced in the general + decapitation, raises its head amongst innumerable table-lands + and gives great value and relief to the general outline. + + Meanwhile an occasional train and not infrequent lines of + telegraph poles don't add to the poetry of the scene. + + Nor the flies to one's comfort! What a curse they are! they + _infest_ one's face. I wonder what the epiderm of Egyptian + children is made of; you see babies with a dozen flies settled, + no, stuck, embedded in and round each of their eyes, and as many + in and about their noses and mouths; and they make no attempt to + remove them--seem absolutely unconscious of them. + + Scenery this afternoon less interesting--river wider--banks more + monotonous. + + Opposite a place called Magaga, some fine mountains on the east + bank, scored with innumerable horizontal lines marking the + monotonous parallel strata of which they are composed; a + characteristic peculiarity in all the Egyptian hills I have seen + as yet. (The finest in outline are the Quarries opposite + Sakkara, on the right bank, and like those behind the Citadel at + Cairo.) + + Spent the night at a village called Kolosana, not having made + Minyeh owing to delay at Benisoef, where we coaled, and took + leave of the Sterlings, with whom I breakfasted. The sunset + before reaching Kolosana was magnificent, like a sunset at sea; + almost as grand in its simplicity. Between the broad flaming sky + and the broad flaming river there was only a long narrow strip + of dark bronze-green bank, that seemed to burst into flame where + the almost white hot sun sank scowling behind it. The after-glow + was also very fine, though less grand than I should have + expected. The sky was of a deep violet, and the distant rolling + sand-tracks wore the most mysterious tints, faint, glimmering, + uncanny, vague fawn colours, pale dun browns, and ghostly pinks. + + _Saturday, 17th._--Started at dawn, and arrived at Minyeh about + eight o'clock. + + Stayed two hours and coaled. + + Obeying the custom of the country, I have presented the crew + with a sheep--great satisfaction. + + Took a stroll in the Bazaars, which are rather picturesque. + Minyeh is a largish place (chef lieu), and, like every second + village on the Nile, disfigured by the tall chimneys of sugar + factories. + + There is a striking line of hills opposite Minyeh, quaintly + jagged in outline and curiously regular in the marking of its + strata. + + Passed Beni Hassan, where I shall stop on my return. + + It is curious to see the incessant toiling of the natives at + irrigation. The poor people literally _make_ their country every + year, and it is marvellous to see how a narrow fillet of water + will, as by enchantment, conjure up in a few weeks an oasis out + of an arid desert. The land of Egypt is born afresh out of the + Nile every returning year. + + I observe, with pleasure, in this part of the country those + little white-domed tombs of Sheykhs which make such a pretty + feature in the landscape of Algeria. + + At Minyeh there is one, close to the riverside, in which rests + the "Sheykh of the Crocodiles" whose holy dust prevents those + man-eating ornaments of the Upper Nile from going any further + towards Cairo--below this tomb they never venture. + + Not having reached Manfalut by sunset, we have drawn up for the + night by the bank of the river, nowhere in particular. This + entire freedom in our movements (I should say _mine_, for the + steamer stops exactly where, when, and as often as I choose) is + very agreeable. Less pleasant is the storm of flies and insects + of every kind, that rush in literally by myriads as soon as + candles are lighted within reach of shore; my tablecloth is + darkened with thousands of little flies no larger, wings and + all, than a moderate flea; the nuisance is intolerable. + + A wonderful sunset again this evening. The western bank like + yesterday was low and brown and green, but, unlike yesterday, it + was alive with the sweet clamour of many birds. On the eastern + side the long wall of rock which seems to enclose the whole + length of the valley of the Nile came flush, or almost flush, to + the water's edge; and with what an intense glory it glowed! The + great hills seemed clad in burnished armour of gold fringed and + girt below with green and dark purple; but the smooth face of + the water was like copper, burnished and inlaid with sapphire. + + I sat in the long gloaming enjoying the soft, warm, supple air, + and watching the tints gradually change and die round the sweep + of the horizon, and across the immense mirror of the Nile as + broad as a lake. It was enchanting to watch the subtle + gradations by which the tawny orange trees that glowed like + embers in the west, passed through strange golden browns to + uncertain gloomy violet, and finally to the hot indigo of the + eastern sky where some lingering after-glow still flushed the + dusky hills; and still more enchanting to watch the same tones + on the unruffled expanse of the water, slightly tempered by its + colour and subdued to greater mystery. A solemn peace was over + everything. Occasionally a boat drifted slowly past with + outspread wings, in colour like an opal or lapis lazuli, and + then vanished. It was a thing to remember. + + I hear an altercation between Ottilio (my Italian waiter) and a + stoker who has put down his grease can on one of the Pasha's + smartest plates. "O--(adjective)--Madonna! se si puo vedere una + carogua simile! e se me la rompi pas? costa piu di te--sa!" + + My young dragoman having fastened a hook to a bit of string, and + the bit of string to the stern of the steamer, has been waiting + some hours for a fish. After the first hour he reasoned with + himself, and said: "Brabs (perhaps?) he know!"--then, dolefully, + "He come touch the 'ook, and then he go run away!"--_cela c'est + vu._ To-morrow to Asyoot. 10-1/2 P.M. Just been on deck again. + Dragoman still fishing! He says, "I tink he _won't_." I incline + to agree with him. + + _Sunday, 18th._--Started about six. Reached Syoot, or rather El + Hamza for Syoot, which is a mile inland, at eleven. Between + Manfalut and Syoot the Nile takes an immense sweep west, and + assumes altogether a tortuous course; the plain opens out, the + eastern mountains recede, and for the first time an important + chain closes in on the west. Game is already beginning to be + abundant. I saw a sandbank full of pelicans and geese just below + this place. I wish I could get at the names of the small birds I + see here, which are mostly new to me; an Arab invariably answers + your questions on this subject by the word "asfoor," _i.e._ a + bird--thankee! The peasants here all wear a loose dark brown + robe like that of a Franciscan monk; and as they squat fishing + on the brown bank of the river with their skull-caps and black + beards, I fancy I see the monks of the Thebaid coming, as in old + days, to get their daily meat out of the Nile. + + Irrigation seems to go on more actively even than lower down; I + saw to-day no less than twenty-four shadoofs all in a row, and + in full play. The men that worked them, mostly naked, were of + every colour between a new halfpenny and an old shoe, and the + effect of them all toiling away and surrounded by groups of + squatting onlookers was very striking. + + Hosseyn, my servant, the angler, is having his head shaved on + deck; when he has done I shall visit the town. + + Meanwhile I have had a visit from the government doctor, a + rather intelligent man who made his studies in Pisa. + + Pipes and coffee as usual. + + Here comes Hosseyn clean-shaven. He is a nice boy, eager and + willing--but wants varnish; he can never address me without + scratching his spine at its lowest extremity; Audrey herself + could not have done it in a manner more naively unconventional. + Though only twenty, he has had two wives; not liking the first, + who snubbed his relations, he gave her three months' wages and + dismissed her. To avoid further unpleasantness he then married + his cousin: "She good woman--very quiet--good tongue." + + The village at which we have landed is very picturesque. The mud + and brick architecture is here carried out with some care and is + entirely delightful. The walls are mostly crowned with an + openwork finish made by a simple arrangement of the bricks which + is most effective. Sometimes, as, for instance, in the cemetery, + they are surmounted by crenulations like those we see in the old + Assyrian monuments; the heads of the doorways are decorated with + a charming sort of diapered ornament, capable of great variety + and produced entirely by the arrangement in patterns of the + bricks; the patterns being painted black and the ground filled + in with white. The woodwork in the windows is also very pretty, + and altogether the general aspect of the houses most novel and + striking. + + Beyond the village I wandered into a delightful garden; a half + cultivated wilderness of palm and gum trees in which one came on + unexpected pergolas, and lovely garden trees all pouring out + their most intoxicating scents under the fiercest sun I ever + walked beneath. I saw oleanders, the flowers of which were as + thick as roses and smelt like a quintessence of nectarines; + there were also some beautiful olive trees with weeping + branches--a thing I had never seen before--and with berries as + large as plums. Overhead, amongst the yellow dates, sat doves + the colour of pale violets. + + Syoot itself is beautifully situated amongst groves and gardens; + except in that it is brown and not white, it reminded me much of + an Algerine town; it is very unlike Cairo. The rock-cut tombs in + the mountain above the town are so mutilated and disfigured that + little can be made of them; but they have that stamp of + vastness which is so characteristic of all the ancient monuments + of this country. + + The view from the height is very fine. The river has barely + begun to fall yet, so that everything is reflected in the great + sheets of water that cover the land. At evening I saw the sunset + through the tall palm trees, with the domes of Syoot dark + against its flaming light. + + For a fine showy assertion that looks very original and + striking, but is not calculated for pedantic verification, + commend me to a Frenchman. The other day, at Boulay, Mariette + Bey, the creator and the curator of the Museum of that ilk, and + a man of high standing as an Egyptologist, told me that the Nile + was turned into its actual course by a great chain of hills at + Syoot which, serving as a rampart, alone prevented it from + following its obvious tendency to flow into the Red Sea. "Il + allait _evidemment_ se jeter dans la Mer Rouge;" in fact, but + for this hill, there would have been no Lower Egypt, that + country being literally the child of the Nile which alone + prevents the sands of the central deserts from ruling over the + whole breadth of the land. Here was a dramatic revelation of + coincidences! Here was a startling suggestion of contingencies! + + It fairly took your breath away! without that hill no Nile north + of Syoot! half Egypt would not have been! No Memphis! Memphis + with its wisdom! No Alexandria with its schools! No Cairo with + its four thousand mosques! No Pharaohs! No Moses! (The poor + devil of a sculptor who drowned himself in his own fountain + because he found he had made _his_ Moses too short might have + died in his bed.) No Cleopatra! (turn in your grave, noble dust + of Antony!)--"forty centuries" would have had no Pyramids from + which to look down on the conquering arms of Buonaparte. Mr. + Albert Smith's popular entertainment would have been shorn of + half its glories! Let me breathe! To what fantastic proportions + did that hill grow as one thought of it! + + Alas! then, for prosaic fact; and oh! for unimaginative maps! On + consulting the latter I observed that, by the time it reached + Syoot, the Nile had been flowing for nearly two hundred miles in + a _north-westerly_ direction, away from the Red Sea rather than + towards it; and on visiting the spot I saw, oh confusion! that + the hills which bore the responsibility (according to Mariette) + of making the history of the world what it is, were on the + _western_ bank of the river!--there, at least, or nowhere, for a + vast plain closes in on the east. + + This evening more visitors on board--lemonade and cigars--_pour + changer_; Consuls, &c. &c.--tedious. + + _Monday, 19th._--Left Syoot at six, and arrived at Sohag before + three. Suffered a good deal in the morning from spasms of some + sort, and was not in a frame of mind to appreciate the scenery. + Was, moreover, driven near the verge of exasperation by the + steersman (Reis Ali), who droned select passages from the Koran, + _sotto voce_, within two yards of my ears from 8 A.M. till 2 P. + ditto; the same four bars over and over, for ever and for ever + in one unceasing guttural strain. I trust the pious exercise did + more for his soul than for my temper. Hosseyn informs me that he + is about to buy a lamb, and "make him big sheep." It appears + that, during a serious illness three years ago, he vowed a + votive sheep to Sitteh Zehneb--the granddaughter of the + Prophet--on condition that he should recover. Since then he has + put her off (oh, humanity!) with candles and occasional prayer; + now, at last, he is going to fulfil his vow. Admire thrift + combined with piety, and observe the economy on the _lamb_. + + Habit is a strange thing! Hosseyn, whose manners have been + corrupted by evil communication with Europeans, occasionally + attempts to use a _fork_ in the bosom of his + family--particularly when salad is put before him. On these + occasions his elder brother invariably asks him with grim + sarcasm whether he has no fingers. Hosseyn desists at + once--"Brabs he beat me!--he big!" + + This evening I went out shooting amongst the palms and gum + trees. It was very delightful, though ferociously hot. The + village is charmingly situated; the ground prettily tumbled + about, and trees and houses group themselves in the most + picturesque manner. (I noticed some new mouldings over the + doorways that had a very artistic effect.) I can't shoot at all; + but the birds are so plentiful that something is sure to cross + your gun if you only fire. I got a hawk, some doves, a dozen + little birds nameless for me, and two little green birds of a + kind that I have not seen before; they are quite lovely; must + ascertain what they are called. The sun had set when I reached + the boat, and all the dark plumes of the palm trees stood clear + over the black outlines of the village; above, the new moon, a + keen, golden sickle. + + Hosseyn has given up fishing. "Oh, oh! nasty fish! he to laugh + me!" + + Was much amused this morning by the device and trade-mark on a + tin of jam. (Jam, if you please, of Messrs. Barnes & Co. of + Little Bush Lane _and_ Tooley Street.) The device was "Non sine + labore"--and the trade-mark?--a beehive?--no!--the Pyramid of + Cheops! _Excusez._ + + Some twenty miles above Syoot, or, say, fifteen, the eastern + chain of mountains makes a bend towards the river, and for some + distance ranges near it; the stream, in its usual tortuous + course, sometimes flowing for a few hundred yards towards them + and then for a few hundred yards in the opposite direction. I + wonder whether one of these bends served as a foundation, or + rather as a blind, for Mariette's astounding assertion that the + Nile "allait evidemment se jeter dans la Mer Rouge." Did he "to + laugh me," as the fish did by Hosseyn? Or did he merely mean to + say that, if the Valley of the Nile had not turned north-west + between Keneh and Manfaloot, it might have turned north-east? If + so, joke for joke, I prefer the great Pyramid on the jam-pot of + Mr. Barnes of Little Bush Lane and Tooley Street. + + _Tuesday, 20th._--Started at about half-past five, and reached + Disneh in the evening. There was a dead calm in the morning, and + I congratulated myself, not for the first time, on my steamer; + in a dahabieh I might have taken a week, and more, over the + stretch of river I have just covered in a day; and the scenery + just here, though fine, is monotonous. I am sorry for the + Sterlings, who will, I fear, be unusually long getting up. This + afternoon I saw Sheykh Selim, a sort of St. Simeon Stylites + without the column. This holy man's peculiar form of piety + consists in sitting stark naked on the bank of the river and + exacting presents in money and kind from all passers-by. + + Hosseyn had spoken to me at great length of his wisdom and + piety, and assured me that when the crocodiles, which are + numerous about here, presented themselves before the eyes of + the Sheykh, he merely waved his hand and said "Biz, biz!" + whereat they fled, rebuked. He informed me also that no boat + refusing him tribute could expect to get on--it would infallibly + be becalmed until his holiness was propitiated. To my surprise I + found that my captain, a sensible old gentleman in other + respects, believed this just as firmly, though he expressed his + faith more vaguely. When I asked him whether the Sheykh's power + extended also to steamers, which did not wait on the wind, he + said: "Well, Allah was great, and though, certainly, a _steamer_ + might, no doubt--so well appointed a steamer particularly--might, + no doubt, get past--yet who should say? Allah was great!" In + fact he believed with the best; so, of course, I said, by all + means let the Sheykh be propitiated. Accordingly when we hove in + sight of the little mound where he sits, and has sat for God + knows how many years, we turned the steamer (a vessel of + seventy-five horse-power) and ran straight in for the bank at + considerable risk, it struck me, of not getting off again. The + whole crew then went ashore in great excitement, headed by the + captain, and surrounded the Saint, kissing his hand and + salaaming. As I did not wish to hurt the old gentleman's + feelings by not kissing his hand, I stayed on board and looked + on. Sheykh Selim is a very vigorous-looking old fellow of the + colour of a very dusky mahogany table; his hair and beard are + woolly and of a dirty white; his countenance, as far as I could + judge from a little distance, good-humoured and sagacious. He + squats on the ground with his knees up and his arms folded + across them. He inspects his presents, and asks for more. After + the levee was over, and when our crew were about to come on + board, he called after them and asked for roast meat, and then + again a second time for oil wherewith to anoint himself. + "There," said Hosseyn triumphantly, "he know everything! he know + we have roast meat--how he know that?" + + I was amused at the intellectual superiority of Ottilio, the + Italian waiter. "Quanto sono stupidi questi Arabi!" For my part + I don't see much more difficulty in swallowing Sheykh Selim than + a stigmatised nun or a winking picture--I told him so. + + We should have reached Keneh to-day, but the coals were bad, and + we had to stop at Dishulh, three hours this side of that place. + Where was thy favouring grace, O Sheykh? It appears that, like + the gods of ancient Greece, the Sheykhs of Egypt have their + little misunderstandings; I am told that on one occasion Selim, + having a few words with another holy man thirty-five miles up + the river, by name Sheykh Fadl, and waxing wroth, threw a stone + at him (what are thirty or forty miles to a saint?) and blinded + him of one eye; whereon Sheykh Fadl returned the amenity by + throwing "some fire" at Sheykh Selim, thereby sorely burning + him. "I have seen the scar," my coxswain informs me. + + Killed another fatted sheep for the crew. + + _Wednesday, 21st._--Arrived at Lougsor (El Uker) about three. It + was too hot for sightseeing, so I waited till evening and went + out shooting in a boat; at least I went out with the idea of + shooting--if possible a pelican or a crane--but the birds were + too shy--I could not get within fair shooting distance; wounded + a pelican, but could not get after him in the deep mud. Got + belated on the river, and the crew had to pull hard for an hour + and a half to reach the steamer; fortunately there was a moon. + Anything more good-humoured or more ineffective than the way in + which the sailors pulled and shoved, I never saw; they hopped in + and out of the boat in the shallows, up to their hips in the + water--pushed, tugged, rowed and sang _die era im piacus_; they + can do nothing without the accompaniment of some rhythmic, + droning refrain, which they can keep up for an indefinite time. + Anything will do; my fellows pulled on this occasion to the + following words-- + + "Min Min_yeh_ + fi Beniso_ef_," + + which is as who should say-- + + "From Hen_lee_ + to Cookham _Reach_," + + giving the stroke and the emphasis on the last syllable. + + In the evening was visited by Mustafa Aga, H.B.M. Consular + Agent, one of his sons, the Turkish Governor (Hassan Effendi), + and the local doctor. Mustafa is a very courteous old gentleman, + with half a nose, and much respected by all who know him; I + observed that Said, his son, would not smoke in his father's + presence, in accordance with an Arab custom, which did not much + remind me of the manner in which "the gov'nor" is treated in + England. + + On Thursday morning, 22nd, I started to see the tombs of the + kings, leaving the eastern bank and Karnak for my return. It was + a lovely morning, and I crossed the Nile before the air had had + time to get thoroughly heated. On the other side I found horses, + kindly lent me by Mustafa (whose son accompanied me), and + donkeys for the rest of the party. There were a good many of us, + and we made a very absurd-looking procession--_en tete_, a + couple of fine brawny Arabs, one of whom has been the guide to + these ruins since Champollion; then Said and I on our + horses--mine a good-looking chestnut, caparisoned with scarlet + finery; behind us, on their respective donkeys, the captain in + full uniform holding a large umbrella over his head, Hosseyn in + his Arab dress, the French cook in his official white jacket and + cap, the Italian waiter with a large handkerchief over his head, + and the engineer; further behind, lesser menials and the hamper. + I forgot the Turkish Cawass in uniform and armed to the teeth. + Hovering round, brandishing water-bottles, was a swarm of Arab + boys and girls, in sizes, and of various qualities of chocolate; + they were dressed in the most fantastically tattered remnants of + dark brown shirts that I ever saw; there was one little monkey + of a dull ebony colour turned up with pale blue, whose form was + revealed rather than covered by a few incoherent brown shreds of + garment, and who was inexpressibly droll from the way in which + he cocked his little head demurely on one side with a + half-consciousness of insufficient drapery. + + The ride to the tombs, which takes about an hour, and the latter + half of which lies through an arid valley, is very striking from + the form and colour of the mountains. Nothing announces that one + is approaching the city of the dead, and it is not till you + stand before them that you become aware of the plain square + openings which lead down to these magnificent last + resting-places of the kings. It was a right royal idea this, of + the old rulers of Egypt, to plunge these shafts into the bowels + of the rock, and give themselves a mountain for a tombstone over + the palace which was their grave. The design of these houses of + the dead is simple and apparently always much the same: a long + corridor, sometimes with lateral galleries, sometimes with + recesses or small chambers on each side, leads downwards by a + not very rapid incline to a great hall, in the centre of which + is the sarcophagus which contained the mummy of the king in its + magnificent case; these cases have of course been all removed. + All these lateral chambers were also originally filled with + mummies--those, I believe, of the relations of the sovereign. + The walls of these subterranean palaces and the ceilings are + adorned throughout with coloured hieroglyphs and flat sculptured + "graven images" representing mostly sacred and mystical scenes, + but often, also, illustrating the different trades and crafts + practised by the Egyptians. These paintings are of high interest + from an ethnographic point of view--Poynter would have a fit + over them. In the innermost places scores of bats dart about in + intense alarm. The effect of the scanty light from the candles + on these painted walls and on the dark bony forms of the Arabs + is extremely fine--what your literary tourist would call "worthy + of the pencil of Rembrandt." + + After lunching in a shady spot we took an anything but shady + ride to the temple-palace of Koorneh, and from thence to the + Memnonium. Both are very interesting, but the latter by far the + finest; there is about it a breadth and a vastness, together + with much elegance and variety, that are very impressive. + Nothing that I have seen is comparable to the monuments of + Egypt, for the expression of gigantic thoughts and limitless + command of material and labour; withal there is about them + something stolid and oppressive that is unsatisfactory; and as I + looked at these vast ruins, vivid memories of Athens and its + Acropolis invaded me, and the Parthenon in all its serene + splendour rose before my mind; mighty, too, in its measured + sobriety, stately in the noble rhythm of its forms; infinitely + precious in the added glory of its sculptures; lovable as a + living thing; and then more, perhaps, than ever before, I felt + what a divine breath informed that marvellous Attic people, and + what an ineffaceable debt of gratitude is due to them from us, + blind fumblers in their footsteps. + + I was less struck than I had expected to be by the two colossal + statues, of one of which it was poetically fabled by the + ancients that a mysterious clang rose from it as the first rays + of the rising sun smote its forehead. The myth is more striking + than the statues, though their size and isolation give them + something impressive. I had expected them, too, I don't know + why, to be in a desert, and they are in a field. How infinitely + grander is the great Sphinx, with its strange, far-gazing, + haunting eyes, fixed, for ever, on the East, as if expecting the + dawn of a day that never comes; immovable, unchanging, without + shadow of sorrow, or light of gladness, whilst the gladness of + men has turned to sorrow and their thoughts to ashes before + them, through three times a thousand years! Century by century + the desert has been gathering and growing round it--the feet are + buried, the body, the breast are hidden. How soon will the + sealing sands give rest at last to those steadfast, expectant + eyes? + + In the evening Hosseyn had a great "fantasia" and fulfilled his + vow--and spent all his money. He killed his sheep and roasted + it, bought some rice and boiled it, some flour and had it made + into bread; then mixing the whole, he distributed it in six very + large trays; three were put before the crew, one he had placed + on the wayside for all comers (and they all came); the other two + were sent to the nearest mosque for the same purpose, and with + similar results; then, being unable to read himself, he paid + five men to recite from the Koran at night, in the mosque, and + invited thereto the captain, Mustafa Aga, and his son and + several others; he, the while, sitting outside and offering + coffee to whoever passed by. When it was all over he came to me + radiant: "El Hamdul illah," he said, throwing up his hands, + "this is good! I am happy, everybody to be satisfied! this is + rich day! El Hamdul illah! my money is all gone! why shall I + mind? I spend it for God! brabs something good happen for me, el + Hamdul illah!" His delight at the performance of his vow and his + absolute faith were the prettiest thing one could see. Talking + of faith, I am much struck by the dignified simplicity with + which Mahometans practise the observances of their religion; + praying at the appointed times without concealment, wherever + they happen to be, and as a matter of course. + + _Friday, 23rd._--Started early and coaled, first at Erment and + then again at Esne, after which, being stopped by the night and + shallow water, we anchored off a bank nowhere in particular. + Heavens, what a hot day! this is indeed "the fire that quickens + Nilus' slime," but has a vastly different effect on me. + Sketching will be quite out of the question unless it gets + rapidly cooler. + + At Esne I was visited by the chief magistrate, and by the + governor of the province; the former a jolly old _bonhomme_ who + offered me snuff, the other a very refined old gentleman with + most charming manners. Both were Turks; and as they spoke no + Christian tongue our conversation was carried on entirely + through a dragoman; I was, however, pleased to find that I + recognised several words that I learnt last year at + Constantinople; I was glad, too, to hear again that fine + vigorous language, the sound of which is extremely agreeable to + me. Eastern manners are certainly very pleasing, and the + frequent salutations, which consist in laying the hand first on + the breast and then on the forehead, making at the same time a + slight inclination, are graceful without servility. When an + Egyptian wishes to express great respect he first lowers his + hands to the level of his knees, exactly as in the days of + Herodotus. + + Talking of Herodotus, here is a first-rate subject for Gerome + suggested by that author; it is ethnographical and ghastly. The + scene is laid in the establishment of an ancient Egyptian + embalmer and undertaker, fitted up with all the implements and + appliances of the trade; in the background, but not so far as to + exclude detail, groups of assistants should be shown busied over + a number of corpses and illustrating all the different stages of + preparation, embalsamation, swathing, &c. &c. In the centre a + bereaved family have brought their lamented relative, and are + selecting, from specimens submitted to them by the master + undertaker, a style of treatment suited to their taste and + means, and expressive of their particular shade of grief. A + large assortment of mummy-cases would form appropriate + accessories and give great scope for the display of knowledge + and the use of a fine brush. It seems to me that so pleasing a + mixture of corpses and archaeology, impartially treated by that + polite and accomplished hand, could not fail to create + considerable sensation. + + Took a stroll through Esne whilst the ship was coaling. The + darker tints of skin are beginning to preponderate more and + more; mummy colour is in the ascendant here, together with a + fine Brunswick black. The _men_, I observe, spin in this + country. The children are quite fascinating; they have nothing + on but a little tuft of hair on the top of their shaven heads; + those dazzling little teeth of theirs are wonderful to see, and + funny--like a handful of rice in a coal-scuttle. Fine sunset + again; the hills, ranged in an amphitheatre from east to west, + showed a most wonderful gradation from extreme dark on one side + to glowing light on the other. I make the profound reflection + that no two sunsets are alike; this remark, however, does not + extend to _descriptions_ of sunsets--_verb. sap._ + + When I saw Holman Hunt's "Isabel," his pot of basil puzzled me + sorely; I had seen a great deal of basil, and have an especial + love for it; but I had never seen it except with a very small + leaf. I was sure, however, knowing his great accuracy, that Hunt + had sufficient foundation for the large leaf he gave the plant + in his picture; the very fellow of it is now before me in a + nosegay of flowers, very kindly sent me by the old governor of + Esne. As I smell it I am assailed by pleasant memories of + Lindos--"Lindos the beautiful"--and Rhodes, and that marvellous + blue coast across the seas, that looks as if it could enclose + nothing behind its crested rocks but the Gardens of the + Hesperides; and I remember those gentle, courteous Greeks of the + island (so unlike their swaggering kinsfolk--if they are their + kinsfolk--of the mainland), and the little nosegay, a red + carnation and a fragrant sprig of basil, with which they always + dismiss a guest. + + As we lay anchored by the shore in the evening, the dahabiehs + came sweeping past in the moonlight; and the faint glimmering of + the shell-like sails, and the flutter of the water against the + swift, cutting keels, and the silence of the huddled groups, and + the dark watchful figure of the helmsman at the helm, were + strangely fantastic and beautiful. + + _Saturday, 24th._--Started at half-past five--passed Edfou + (which I leave for my return) at half-past seven. Shall we reach + Assouan to-day? Hosseyn's pious orgies have, I fear, turned his + head, for I observed yesterday that he has taken to fishing + again. "Brabs!--Insha Allah!" His interpretation of dreams is + worthy of the ancient oracle-mongers; on the night before his + sacrifice he dreamt that he had bought a slave, and then + released it: "Wull! the slave is my sheep--is it not my slave? + Wull, have I not buy it? Wull, I give it to the beebles--go!--I + release it!" Whether the sheep, personally, considered itself + released is problematic. + + _Saturday Evening._--Reached Assouan this afternoon at four, + and, after the usual visit from the governor, took a stroll. I + don't yet know whether I am disappointed in the place or not. At + all events it is quite unlike my expectations of it. I had + imagined, I suppose from descriptions, a narrower gorge and + higher rocks; in point of fact there is no gorge at all, but the + river is narrowed, or, rather, split by several islands and some + fine granite boulders cropping up here and there to fret the + river, and announcing the rapids; otherwise the country is open + enough, and original and striking in aspect; I shall know better + to-morrow what I think of it all. I saw during my evening + stroll, and for the first time in my life, a group of slaves, + mostly girls. If I had seen them subjected to any ill-treatment + I should have felt very indignant; but I am bound to own that, + seeing them squatting round a fire like any other children, + showing no mark of slavery, and occupied in cooking their food, + scratching themselves (as well, no doubt, they might!) and + looking otherwise very like monkeys, I found it difficult to + realise to myself the hardship of their position, however much + it may revolt one in the abstract. They were black, and uglier + than young negroes generally are; their hair was arranged in an + infinity of minute, highly-greased plaits all round their heads; + the elder ones were draped; the youngest wore a fringe _pour + tout potage_. This is a noisy night; there is a "moolid" going + on on the high bank to which we have made fast, and which + borders the public square. A double row of howling dervishes are + squatting and rocking and howling after their kind, almost over + my head. In the brief lulls during which they take breath for + further efforts, I hear from the other side of the river the + mournful, weary, incessant creak of the water-wheel (with its + blindfold cow or camel plodding round and round and round, + apparently for ever), which in this region almost entirely + supersedes the hand-worked bucket. The contrast is very curious. + + I have just returned the governor's visit. I found him sitting + on a sofa in the piazza opposite the Government House, with + half-a-dozen hand lanterns brought by the guests in front of + him, and on each side a long row of benches (forming an avenue + up to his seat) on which squatted and smoked numbers of + picturesque folk, who looked to great advantage by the + flickering glimmer of the lamps and under the soft warm light of + an African moon. I sat in the place of honour, smoked my + conventional _tchibouque_, drank my inevitable cup of coffee, + conveyed through my dragoman the usual traveller's remarks and + questions (cardboard questions, so to speak, of which I knew the + answers) to my host, who, like all the Turkish officials that I + have seen, has the manners of a perfect gentleman and much + natural dignity. + + _Sunday, 25th._--Started for Phylae at half-past seven; arrived + there at nine o'clock. The road leads through a broad tract of + yellow sand (where, I believe, an arm of the Nile is supposed to + have flowed in remote antiquity) along which on either side crop + up, in wild, irregular fashion, bumps and hillocks and hills of + dark red granite, covered over with innumerable fragments of the + same stone, scattered in the most incredible confusion, and + having rather a ludicrous appearance of having been _left about_ + and forgotten. You could get an excellent notion of the thing in + miniature, by hastily spilling a coal-scuttle on a gravel walk + and running away. + + Above Assouan we are fairly in Nubia, and of course none but the + darkest complexions are to be seen; but so large a number of + negroes make their way here from the Soudan (the Nubians are not + _black_, but of a beautiful dark cairngorm brown), that the + whole place has an air of negro-land which is disagreeable to + me. The young men, indeed, both black and brown, are sometimes + extremely fine fellows (bar the legs, which are never good), but + the girls, as far as one can see them, are tolerably + ill-favoured, and the old women, of an ugliness which passes all + belief. They are _far_ worse than apes. The ladies in this part + of the country gladden the hearts of their admirers by anointing + their bodies with castor oil, so that the atmosphere of their + villages, however full of sweet suggestion to a native, is much + the reverse to a traveller with a nose not attuned to these + perfumes; the smell that greets you through an open door is a + mixture of the bouquet just named, and a penetrating flavour of + accumulated stuffed beasts, and naturally interferes much with + my enjoyment. + + At Mahatter we left our donkeys and took a boat to Phylae, a + quarter of a mile, which takes half an hour owing to the + rapidity of the current just above the cataract. The scenery + about Phylae has been spoken of as Paradise; I never saw anything + less like my notion of Paradise, and so far, therefore, I am + disappointed. Original and strange it is, in a high degree. It + is in fact exactly like the valley of which I spoke a little + further back, only that the hills are four times as high, and + water takes the place of the sand; the same breaking up of the + rocks into a myriad of fragments, putting all grandeur and + massiveness of form out of the question--and, with the exception + of a few palm trees and a sycamore or two, the same barrenness. + Looking up in the direction of Wady Halfa, the mountains appear + to grow finer in outline, and a tract of very yellow sand + amongst their highest crests is striking and original--gold dust + in a cup of lapis lazuli. With the island itself and its + beautiful group of temples it is impossible not to be delighted. + Nothing could be more fantastic or more stately than the manner + in which it rises out of the bosom of the river like a vast + ship, surrounded as it is on all sides by a high wall sheer from + the water to the level on which the temples stand. One hall in + the main temple, and one only, shows still a sufficient amount + of colour to give a very good idea of what the effect must have + been originally; the green and blue capitals must have been very + lovely. It is needless to say that here, as elsewhere, + travellers have left by hundreds lasting memorials of their + brutality, in the shape of names and dates drawn, painted, + scratched, and cut on every wall and column, so that the eye + finds no rest from them. This strange and ineffably vulgar mania + is as old as the world, and the tombs of the kings at Thebes are + scrawled over with inscriptions left there by ancient Greek and + Roman visitors. I shall return to Phylae shortly to make a sketch + or two--_Insha Allah._ + + Here, at last, I have found that absolutely clear crystalline + atmosphere of which I had so often heard; I own it is not + pleasing to me; a sky of burnished steel over a land of burning + granite would no doubt be grand if the outlines of the granite + were fine--but they are not. Meanwhile, perspective is + abolished--everything is equally and obtrusively near, and I + sadly miss the soft mysterious veils and pleasant doubts of + distance that enchant one in other lands. I think it very likely + that in winter one has great compensation from the exhilarating + purity of the air; but just now the heat, which is simply + infernal, is too trying for me to do justice to these + advantages; no doubt the air is light and dry, but I feel + unfortunately so very heavy and wet, that I am not in a position + fully to appreciate it. Returning to Assouan in the evening, saw + a dahabieh that had just got through the jaws of the cataracts, + always rather a nervous matter; at least so they say; "to be + very dyinger" (dangerous?), according to Hosseyn; the men were + chanting a monotonous strain that had little of triumph in it, + but rather conveyed a feeling of an always impending calamity + escaped _this_ time; it was melancholy and very striking, I + thought, in the silence of the gloaming; very likely pure fancy + on my part, for I doubt whether more than a couple of boats are + lost in a season, and the sailors of the Nile must be well + accustomed to the dangers of these rapids; but the impression on + me at the time was very strong. + + _Monday, 26th._--The dragoman of the ship having a swelling of + some sort on his arm, an Arab doctor was sent for, and forthwith + informed him that his arm was possessed of the devil!! Went to + see the island of Elephantina opposite Assouan, but saw nothing + to suggest its ancient magnificence. Gave a silver farthing to a + funny little child, which (the farthing) being perforated, his + mother immediately tied into one of his little oily locks--an + ingenious substitute for a pocket. I observed several little + boys simply attired in a piece of string tied round their + loins--there, Diogenes! + + _Tuesday, 27th._--Began sketching, but am out of form from the + heat. I am working chiefly because I am weary of idleness. I + don't much care for the two sketches I have begun; they will + therefore probably turn out badly. Going to try another + presently. + + Tuesday Evening._--Have begun a sketch which interests me more + than the others; it is taken amongst the tombs and shrines on + the hills south of the town towards Phylae. As my evening's work + was drawing to a close, I heard a shuffling of feet a little + behind me, and, turning round, saw, in the full fire of sunset, + what appeared to me at first to be a procession of golden apes + with dark blue robes, light blue lips, and nose-rings; on closer + inspection they turned out to be Nubian women going home to + their village. Hosseyn, _qui a le mot pour rire_, apparently, + engaged in conversation with them, and convulsed them with + laughter; the flashes of teeth were very funny to see. At last + he gave them a few halfpence, and desired them to sing; whereon + they set up a series of the most uncouth howls I ever heard; one + baboon in particular got up and, using a flat date basket as a + tambourine, accompanied her vocal performance with hops and + jumps that would have done honour to any inmate of the + monkey-house in the Zoological Gardens. + + The twilight, walking home, was lovely. The earth was in colour + like a lion's skin; the sky of a tremulous violet, fading in the + zenith to a mysterious sapphire tint. "Dolce color d'oriental + zaffiro." + + Slew another sheep--"Allah hou akbar!" (without which formula in + the killing a good Muslim must not touch the meat): this sheep + is no empty formality, for the unfortunate sailors would never + see meat without it; they live on bread and occasional beans. + This is the fourth night of the moolid, which is to last the + whole week! At this very moment the tambourines of the dervishes + are driving me nearly wild with their diabolic din. + + _Wednesday, 28th._--Got on indifferently with my sketches; only + one of them interests me much. The morning was almost cool and + really delightful, but the heat was as great as ever in the + daytime. I have always been unable to see the extraordinary + difference which is said to exist between the length of the + twilight in the north, and in southern countries; I could have + read large print to-night three-quarters of an hour after + sunset. Habit is everything, no doubt, as we are reminded by + Herodotus, _a propos_ of a certain people who ate their dead + relatives instead of burning them; but I wonder whether I should + ever get accustomed to the aching, straining, creaking complaint + of the water-wheel far and near, morning, noon and night, + morning, noon and night; I can _just_ fancy its becoming + attaching as the clacking of a mill. + + I have often wondered why, contrary to all analogy, the + Spaniards call oil _azedo_, which at first sight appears to be + the same word as the Italian _aceto_. I find that the word is + Arabic: _zeyd_. Mem.: Look up the etymology of the English word + _cough_, to which no European word that I remember has any + affinity, and which rather appears to be onomatopoeic. The Arabs + say _kokh_ (guttural ending); is this a mere coincidence, and + does the word date beyond the Crusades? I find a good many words + that have a curious likeness to English. My endeavours to pick + up a little Arabic are almost entirely frustrated by Hosseyn's + utter inability to pull a sentence to pieces for me. In an + Arabic sentence of two words (_e.g._ _azekan tareed_--if you + please) he could not tell me which word was the verb! literally; + I had to find out as best I could. I never saw anything to + approach his obtuseness in the matter, except perhaps that of + Georgi, my dragoman in Turkey. As I was sketching this evening a + Nubian passed me, very grandly draped and erect, and followed by + two green monkeys that were fastened by leading-strings to his + belt. They toddled very snugly after their stately master and + made a queer group. + + _Sunday, November 1._--I am in a state of appreciative enjoyment + of the comforts and civilised cleanliness of my steamer, having + just returned from three or four days' roughing in the ruins of + Phylae. "Roughing" is a relative term, and my trials were of a + very mild description, for though I slept _a la belle etoile_ + (or rather tried to sleep), at all events I had a bed to rest + in, and the air at night was delightful; moreover, the + commissariat was very satisfactorily managed, so that food and + drink were abundant; nevertheless, I must maintain that living + in an open ruin is not comfortable. I made two or three + sketches, and should probably have enjoyed myself, but that on + the second day I was entirely thrown off the rails by the heat + whilst sketching; I thought I should get a _coup de soleil_; I + was very indisposed in the evening, and utterly unable to work + the next morning, so that I took the place _en grippe_, and + could see nothing but the ugliness of the rocks and the wearing + monotony of the hieroglyphs. Picked up in the evening, and + liked the place better; made some original and striking + reflections about the desirability of health. + + Having heard much of the beauty of the full moon at Phylae, timed + my visit to see it, and was entirely delighted. The light was so + brilliant that one could read with ease, but at the same time so + soft, so rich, and so mellow that one seemed not to see the + night, but to be dreaming of the day. The Arabs say of a fine + night, "it is a night like milk," but there is more of amber + than of milk in the nights of Phylae. The rising of the moon last + night was the first thing of the sort I ever saw; the disc was + perfectly golden, not as in a mist, but set sharp and clear in + the sky, and exactly like the sun, except that you could look at + it without pain to the eyes. The effect of this effulgent light + on the shoulder of the hill was magical. The last hour of the + afternoon I spent in strolling about the villages, which are + picturesque. The cottages are four brown, roofless walls, built + of the usual unburnt brick, and coated with mud; but the + doorways are always highly decorated with painted geometrical + devices which, in the mass of plain, sober brown, have a very + cheerful and artistic effect. The people, too, amuse me; a + pleasant, gentle, grinning folk these Nubians seem; I like their + jargon--after the guttural Arabic it sounds so soft and round, + and the women have funny, cooing inflections of voice (pretty + voices, often) that are pleasing. Some of the girls are + good-looking; chiefly through the brightness of their eyes and + the milky whiteness of their teeth. The coiffure of the children + is too funny; it consists in tufts of hair of various shapes and + patterns left on an otherwise shaven head; often a crest all + down the middle and a tuft on each side, exactly like the + clown's wig in a pantomime; it is irresistibly droll. + + A grand sight is to see the villagers keeping the birds from + their crops; they all serve in their turn, men, women, and + children; they stand each on a rude sort of scaffold which rises + about two feet clear of the corn; they are armed with slings + from which they hurl lumps of clay at the birds, uttering loud + cries at the same time. Their movements are full of grandeur and + character. I wonder Gerome has never treated a subject so well + suited to him. Why, too, has he never painted mine enemy the + sakkea, which is even more emphatically in his way, for, besides + the scope for fine and quaint forms both in the men and the + animals that work it, the accessories are abundant and + interesting, and there are ropes in great abundance. + + _Is_ the sakkea my friend or my enemy? Its chant is so incessant + that I should have to make up my mind if I stayed longer in the + country; it would either fascinate me or drive me mad. As I + listen in the silence of the evening, the rise and fall, the + shifting and swaying of the wind bring its complaint from across + the gurgling river in such a fitful way that it has the + strangest and most unexpected effects: sometimes I fancy I hear + deep, drowsy tones of a distant organ, sometimes the shrill + quavering of a bagpipe; sometimes it is like a snatch of a song, + sometimes like a whole chorus of voices singing a solemn strain + in the sad, empty night; sometimes, alas! too often, like a + snarling, creaking door-post. + + Phylae being above the cataracts, my steamer stopped at Assouan, + and I went there by donkey as before; returning, I chartered a + dahabieh to see the said cataracts, of which for some days I had + heard so much; amongst other things, that a ship was wrecked + there three weeks ago (I saw it stuck on its rock to-day). The + cowardice of the people here, at least in this particular + matter, is very funny; too naif to inspire disgust: my captain, + an old sailor, and the nicest old gentleman possible, told + Hosseyn that nothing would induce him to go down them; I thought + I observed a shade of respectful interest in his reception of me + on my return from an exploit which most English _women_ would + consider good fun. I make no doubt that when the water is much + lower, and your dahabieh shoots a good six or eight feet drop, + and goes half into the water besides, considerable excitement + may be got out of it; but now that the drop is not or does not + look more than about a yard, and that the whole affair consists + in a few plunges and shipping a little water, the emotion is + very mild, and I own to considerable disappointment, though as + far as it went it was pleasant. Nevertheless I did not for a + moment regret coming if only on account of the amusement I got + out of the sailors and pilots; the latter were men of years; the + former, fine, jolly-looking lads as one could wish to see; but + their demeanour throughout was infinitely droll; they rested + their feet (according to custom here) on inclined planks, up + which they ran three steps with their arms well forward to fetch + the stroke, getting back into the sitting position as they + pulled through the water (and wonderfully fine the action looks + in a large crew all pulling well together); but the contortions + in which they indulged, the gnashing and grinding of teeth, the + throwing back of agonised heads, the frowns, the setting of + jaws, the straining of veins, the rolling of eyes, the groans, + and, absurdest of all, the coming down on one another's laps and + the cutting of crabs, were ineffably grotesque, and would have + convulsed me with laughter if I had not controlled myself + manfully. Meanwhile the pilots were howling at one another and + them with all the vehemence of a violent altercation, and for no + discernible reason. When they were not shrieking at one another, + the crew took up the usual Arab boatmen's chant (I know no + better word); one man gives out a short sentence, or name, or + form of prayer (not exceeding four syllables) in a quavering + treble, and the rest then repeat it in chorus in a graver + key--the effect is very original. As we got within sight of the + big cataract and the stranded ship, Hosseyn loudly exhorted the + crew to pray to the Prophet, and all the saints who have their + shrines on the heights of Assouan, to see them safely through + the danger; the invitation was loudly responded to, and + everybody who had not an oar to pull held up his hands and + prayed with great fervour--which was very pretty, and done with + the dignified simplicity which always accompanies an Arab's + devotions; but it was certainly disproportionate to the + emergency. When we had danced up and down (or rather down and + up) three or four times, I had the curiosity to look about for + the _sailor_ and waiter I had brought with me from the steamer; + they were respectively green and yellow in their unfeigned + terror. Then there was a nominal _small_ cataract (the first one + is called the _great_ cataract), and indeed I believe there was + a _third_ little commotion; then Hosseyn, throwing up his arms, + exclaimed, "El Hamdul illah!! finish!!" and it was, as he said, + "finish." I am utterly ignorant of the mysteries of navigation, + but one figure we executed between the cataracts and Assouan + struck me as novel: it consisted in turning entirely round in a + wide circle to take (as it were) a fresh start; this manoeuvre + we performed with much gravity and success two successive times. + An elaborate salute from the guns of the dragoman and engineer, + responded to with appropriate solemnity by Hosseyn, announced my + return to my steamer--and, oh joy! my tub. + + In the evening governor of course. + + _Monday, 2nd._--Resumed work; painted for a couple of + hours--badly--in a high wind at an ugly study of a view I don't + like. I consider it a sort of discipline. The wind to-day is + tremendously high; the dahabiehs will come flying up now. I saw + my friend the captain just now sitting on the bank in the midst + of an interested circle having his fortune told. There is a + blessing for them that wait. Hosseyn has caught a fish! two + fishes, to-day! his glee is unlimited, he is radiant; when that + boy is at the near end of his fishing rope, he is so absorbed I + can't get him to attend to me or to answer a question. His + brilliant piscatorial success is an opportune set-off against a + chagrin the poor boy had this morning; he was taking a dip + somewhere under the paddle-box, and lost, in putting away his + clothes (_he_ thinks by a black but improbable theft), a Koran + with which he travels and to which he attributes much luck; he + was greatly cut up, and after telling me how much he valued the + book, proceeded to inform me that it contained a little piece of + wood from Abyssinia with something written on it, "some, what + you call, scription," which, when worn round the neck, + infallibly cured the bite of the scorpion; seeing that this + announcement did not impress me as much as he had expected, he + asked me with some warmth how I supposed, pray, that the + snake-charmers prevented the snakes from biting them if it was + not by saying something out of the Bible. + + Another sheep to-day; there was some hitch about the manner of + the killing which caused a little excitement; his throat was not + turned to the sun (or the East?) whilst he was being + slaughtered; an important matter. I observe that Turkish + officials are not expected to be able to write; my captain can, + but I remarked that when his secretary, a poor, wizened little + thing, whose nose and trousers are far too short, but whose + mouth and ears offer ample compensation through their length, + brought him to-day the ship's accounts, he stamped his signature + at the foot of the page instead of writing it, although he + happened to have a pen in his hand; I was giving him his English + lesson. Talking of accounts, the Arabs have a curious way of + singing or rather intoning their sums, rocking all the while + backwards and forwards like so many Dervishes. I have seen a + large house of business (at Sohag) where _all_ the clerks were + doing it at once; it was like a madhouse. Oh, Lombard Street, + and oh, Mark Lane! what would you have felt at the sight? + + _Tuesday, 3rd._--My last day at Assouan. Finished my sketches, + took leave of the governor, and had a final stroll about the + streets of the town, which seemed to me unusually picturesque. I + remark that I invariably like a place best the day I leave it; + if I am sorry to go, my regret casts a halo over it; if I am + glad, my gladness makes everything brighter. How picturesque the + people are! their flowing, flying draperies are wonderfully + grand. I hope I may carry away with me some general impressions, + but the immense multitude and rapid succession of striking + things drive individual memories fatally out of the field. + Sketching figures is out of the question--the effects are all + too fugitive. This was also the last day of the moolid, and high + time too; I met in the morning, in a narrow street, a procession + of sailors carrying a boat, which they were about to deposit in + the tomb of the sheykh in whose honour the moolid is held, and + whose name they were loudly invoking. In front, drums and flags, + and cawasses firing guns; behind, in front, everywhere, a host + of most paintable ragamuffins enjoying the fun; above, over the + brown house-tops, dark blue figures of women huddled peering at + the procession; over them a blue sky with a minaret standing + against it, a palm tree; some doves--there was the picture, it + was charming. The children as usual called out, "Baksheesh + howaga;" the so-called begging of the people has been + ludicrously exaggerated; in the first place, only the children + ask for baksheesh (I mean, of course, without the pretext of a + service rendered), and in the next, they treat the whole thing + as an excellent joke, and evidently have seldom the slightest + expectation that they are to get anything. When you approach a + village, every child, from as far as it sees you, whether from a + window, or a doorway, or half-way up a palm tree, or the middle + of the road, holloas out lustily, "Baksheesh, baksheesh," + generally with much laughter, and frequently with a universal + scamper in every direction except towards you. What I call + begging is that importunate whining that clings to you, and + harasses you wherever you turn in the south of Italy or Spain, + and with which this clamorous performance has nothing in common. + I have remarked, with regard to grown-up Arabs, that though they + wrangle vehemently with the dragoman on the subject of payment, + they invariably show the master a pleasant and satisfied face. I + speak, of course, only of my own experience. As strange a thing + as a satisfied man is a _barking_ fish; the fish that Hosseyn + has caught of late--for Fortune is his handmaid now--all utter a + sound which I can only describe as a faint bark; perhaps + everybody knows that some fishes do this, but I did not, and my + surprise was extreme. They are nasty-looking objects, all fins + and teeth (a thick row of little bristle-like teeth). They are + fat and shiny and most insipid eating. + + _Wednesday, 4th._--Started at six down stream; my face is turned + towards bonny old England again, and I feel as if I had wings. + At Kom Ombo (the first halt to-day) there are some ruins on a + rock which crops up abruptly by the riverside in the midst of a + flat country. The morning was divine, and the view from the + temple, looking north, surpassingly lovely in colour. The form + was nothing much; a vast sandy plain (tigered here and there + with stripes of green), and in the distance a long low nest of + mountain peaks; but the colour!--the gradation from the + fawn-coloured glimmering sands in the foreground to the faint + horizon with its hem of amethyst and sapphire was as enchanting + a thing, in the sweet morning light, as I have ever seen. The + temple is fine though heavy, and less delicate in detail than + Phylae. On the under surface of the architrave, between the + columns, are some most curious and interesting unfinished + decorations, on squares marked out in red, and showing (slight + sketch) such as for instance a figure tried two ways on the same + spot. The outlines are drawn out, in red also, with + extraordinary firmness and freedom. Speaking of the squares, + Gardiner Wilkinson--in his, I am told, most erudite, and, I am + certain, most dry and heavy, guide-book--says that they were + used (in the manner in which "squaring off" is practised in the + present day) for the purpose of transferring a design. In this, + however, he is obviously mistaken, because the squares are + adapted not to the pictures but to the space to be decorated; + the hieroglyphs and the figures being adapted to the squares, + not the squares to them: that these squares, once made the + _basis_ of the decoration and fixing its proportions and + distribution, may then have been used also for enlarging a small + design, or even, instead of tracing, for transferring one of the + same size, is probable enough; but that was not their original + function. In corroboration of this view, compare the frets and + ornaments painted on the _back_ of the architrave of the + Parthenon, which I have examined closely; they are painted in + squares marked out with a sharp instrument, and determining the + space to be decorated exactly as at Kom Ombo. The case is so + entirely parallel as to suggest the idea that the Greeks learnt + the practice in Egypt. The great temple of Edfou, where we + stopped next, far surpasses anything I have yet seen in Egypt; + not so much, perhaps, for any especial beauty of + detail--although the sculptures are extremely fine--as for its + general aspect, which is superb, and its wonderful state of + preservation; many parts of it look as if they had been finished + yesterday. The gigantic Propylaea, and the no less gigantic wall + which encloses the whole of this fortress-temple, are almost + entirely intact, and make it unlike any other ruin I know. The + great court, a giant cloister into which one first enters, + discloses the temple itself, blocked out in vast masses of light + and gulfs of shade, and tunnelled through by a corridor which + reaches to its extremest end; the absence of some portions of + the roof, by letting the light play fantastically into the inner + spaces, only adds to the mysterious grandeur of the effect. A + broad, open peribolus runs round the temple, dividing it from + the towering _mur d'enceinte_ which encloses the whole building. + The western part of the temple is as full of staircases, secret + passages, and dark chambers as any Gothic castle. Every square + inch of the whole immense fabric is covered with sculptures and + hieroglyphs. + + I forgot to say that I stopped between Kom Ombo and Edfou at the + ancient quarries of Gebel Silsily, from which the material of + the sandstone temples was mostly quarried. They are extremely + striking, and have a grandeur of their own. It was curious to + compare them mentally with the marble quarries of Pentelicus + from which Ictinus carved the Parthenon and Pheidias the Fates. + + In a tomb at El Kab are some most amusing and interesting + sculptures (with the colour almost intact on them) representing + the various occupations of Egyptian life, agricultural, &c. The + reaping of the corn and durrah is pretty--a vintage and + wine-treading pleased me vastly. Had they wine in this district? + + Coming upon a magnificent view, stopped the steamer for the + night; want to see it by sunrise. The absurd spurious importance + my steamer confers on me in the eyes of the natives is too + funny. At Edfou I found the whole place _en emoi_; horses + handsomely caparisoned, a most polite governor, sheykhs, and a + general profusion of salaams. It appears that the viceroy had + the authorities in the different places telegraphed to be civil + to me; and God knows they are. I was struck with the + magnificence of the population here, the men at least; they are + most stately fellows. I should like immensely to paint some of + them, but for that there is no time; I can only hope that + something will stick to me from this dazzling multitude of fine + things. We are now again in the region of doves, whose presence + in large numbers affects the architecture of the villages in a + most curious manner. Every house has, or rather, _is_, a + dovecot, the chief _corps de batiment_ being a tower, or several + towers, of which the whole upper part is exclusively affected to + the doves. Their sides are inclined like the sides of the + propylaea of the temples, with which they harmonise amazingly + well; they are divided horizontally by bands of colour which + have an excellent effect, recalling strongly the marked parallel + strata of the mountains. (There is no more curious study than + the concord which constantly manifests itself between national + (and notably domestic) architecture, and the nature in the midst + of which it grows up.) The construction of these towers is both + peculiar and ingenious; they are built up entirely with earthen + jars, sometimes placed topsy-turvy, but most often on their + sides, and tier above tier like bottles in a cellar. The + exterior is then filled in with mud, and the interior presents + the appearance of a honeycomb, the cells being formed by the + hollow jars; in these jars the doves have their abode. It is + easy to see that by turning a few of the jars _outwards_ a very + simple but pretty decoration may be obtained; a crest is added + at the top by placing jars upside down at certain intervals; the + bands of colour are generally divided by a string-course of + bricks something after this fashion, but with much variety; and + each of these string-courses is garnished with a perfect hedge + of branches and twigs projecting horizontally a yard or more, + and forming resting places for thousands of doves. Many houses + have two towers, and the wealthier people have towers of great + size subdivided again into small turrets; but in all cases the + height of these edifices is the same, or nearly so, so that the + villages received from them a very monumental look. The large + towers are divided after the manner shown in the sketch. The + natives also make to themselves curious pillar cupboards of mud + (about man high), which from a distance have the oddest + appearance; they look like raised pies on pedestals. + + _Thursday, 5th._--Made a little sketch from the paddle-box + before starting. Then to Esne to return the visit of my amiable + friend, the governor; him of the flowers. There is a temple + here; a heavy-looking portico of the Roman period, coarsely + executed, but with a grand, cavernous look, buried as it is in + the ground which rises all round it to half the height of the + columns, so that you have to descend a considerable flight of + steps to get at it. At Arnout, or at least within three miles of + it, are a few fragments of the Caesarium. The portraits of + Cleopatra and Caesarion (he is always seated on her lap), which + occur here several times, would be of the greatest interest if + they were not utterly conventional, and exactly like everybody + else in every temple of the date. Got to Lougsor at sunset, and + found no letters, no Sterlings, no Lady Duff Gordon. I trust the + letters may still turn up before I go, for, if not, I shall + probably lose them entirely, through my desire to get them a + little earlier. In the evening dined with Mustafa Aga, and met + there the American Consul-General, Mr. Hale, who had run up from + Alexandria to show the Nile to a friend of his; both are + agreeable men (Mr. Hale earned my warmest blessings by lending + me a pile of English newspapers); there was also the Consul from + Syoot with a friend of his. After dinner the dancing girls were + asked in, and, presently, a buffoon who stripped to his waist + and performed various antics; he was clever and a good mimic, + but became terribly tedious after a short time. His performance + was of the most Aristophanic coarseness. With the girls, of + whom I had heard so much, I was decidedly disappointed; in the + first place they were mostly ugly, one or two only were + tolerably good-looking--_et encore!_ Then they were clumsily + built, and their dress was quite ludicrous: it consisted in a + body fitting tight to the figure and four inches too long in the + waist, tight sleeves, a petticoat, in shape exactly like a + pen-wiper, and very full, loose trowsers (bags) down to the + feet; the whole of printed calico. In front of their waists hung + a sort of _breloque_, or chain, looped up at intervals in + festoons, the object of which was to jingle as they moved, and + to add to the effect of certain little brass _castagnette_ + cymbals which they held on the middle finger and thumb of either + hand. A profusion of ornaments hung round their necks. Their + dancing is very inferior to that of the Andalusian dancers of + the same class, whose performance is full of a quaint grace and + even dignity--inferior, too, to the Algerine dancing, to which + that of the south of Spain more nearly approaches in character; + it is monotonous in the extreme--very ugly for the most part, + and remarkable only as a gymnastic feat; sleight of loins, so to + speak. These are, however, no doubt, unfavourable specimens; I + shall see the best of the kind in Keneh at the house of the + Consul, who has come all the way here from that place to invite + me thereto. + + _Friday, 6th._--Went to the palace and temples of Medinet Haboo, + with which I was delighted beyond my expectation. What pleased + me most, and was an entire surprise to me, was a bit of purely + secular architecture--the remains of a royal residence, with its + towers flanking the great entrance, its windows of various + shapes, balconies, semicircular crenelations, outer wall; in + fact, identically such a building as one sees occasionally in + Egyptian sculptures, and, curiously enough, as if it were a + portrait of it, on the walls of the very temple to which this + palace leads. The temple, too (the large one), interested me + extremely from the wonderful preservation of the coloured + decoration in parts of it; one really gathers an excellent idea + of the original effect, and a most brilliant and magnificent + (though barbarous) effect it must have been. The columns in the + great hall here are of what, for want of a better word, I shall + call the "ninepin" pattern; and I think on the whole I prefer it + to the bell-capped pattern; because, besides its character and + massive strength, there is no suggestion in it (as in the other) + of the Doric order, with which comparison is obviously + dangerous. As far as I can observe, there is no trace of colour + on any of the propylaea, but the pylon is always richly decorated + and highly coloured. This decorative importance given to the + door must have had a very striking effect, and reminds me of the + same peculiarity in the dwellings of Upper Egypt. + + Visited a private tomb near Medinet Haboo, which is full of the + most curious paintings, many of them in excellent preservation, + and representing every sort of domestic and professional + occupation. They are very superior in execution and character to + those of El Kab. In the evening had a dinner on board: Mr. Hale + and friend, Mustafa Aga and the Syoot Consuls (one of whom does + not speak a word of anything but Arabic). I had also invited + Mustafa's younger son, but find that he may not sit down with + his father. (He accompanied me this morning, and insisted on + lunching with the servants; on the other hand, my servant is + addressed as Hosseyn _Effendi_, if you please! and conversed + with as a gentleman. Service appears to be looked upon in an + entirely patriarchal light.) The entertainment went off + successfully, and Ottilio, the Italian waiter, covered himself + with glory by his excellent waiting. After dinner Mr. Hale + received a telegram to the effect that General Grant had been + elected President of the United States, with Mr. Colfax as Vice. + He was in great excitement and delight; we had a recrudescence + of champagne, and gave the new President three cheers in British + fashion. The news had come in _three days_ from Washington to + Thebes! it is marvellous. + + _Saturday, 7th._--Went to Karnak. Wilkinson advises the + traveller to see this group of temples last; and wisely, for it + is indeed the crowning glory of all, and must satisfy, if it + does not surpass, the most sanguine expectations. The vast + unfinished propylaea of the large temple prepare one by their + colossal dimensions for the gigantic grandeur of the great + central hall, in which one is at a loss what most to admire--the + originality of the general design, combining, as it does in a + surprising degree, freedom and variety with the gravest + simplicity--the massive and reposeful breadth of the forms or + the exquisite subtlety of the colour. The latter has of course + gained very much from the blending hand of time, and is now of a + most delightful mellowness, but, judging from the better + preserved portions, it must have been at all times of singular + beauty. It seems strange at first that a decoration consisting + entirely of small blots of vivid colour on a white ground, like + butterflies on a wall, can have a _large_ architectural effect; + but, in fact, the _repetition_ over large surfaces of wall and + column restores, through its monotony, the balance of breadth. + The design of this hall is very curious: the great central nave, + flanked on each side by two aisles of the same height as itself, + but of less breadth (diminishing, roughly, in a proportion of + 10, 7, 5), runs, as in a Gothic cathedral, perpendicular to the + main entrance; beyond the second aisle, however, on either side, + the lintels or architraves which connect the columns run at + _right angles_ to the nave; the effect of this arrangement must + have been peculiar and striking. (Too little remains now, except + the columns, to enable one to form a distinct idea.) The central + nave, with the aisles immediately adjoining, rises in a + clerestory thirty or forty feet above the rest of the building, + and was lighted by massive square windows filled with slabs of + stone (sketch), perforated vertically, and of a severe and very + fine (sketch) effect. These windows fill the space between the + entablature of the lateral columns and of the roof of the + clerestory, and must be some twenty to twenty-five feet high. I + find it difficult to reconcile my eye to the far-fetched + "asymetria" in the arrangement of the columns, the lesser ones + standing in no definite relationship, on the plan, to the two + central rows, neither immediately behind them nor half-way + between them. How differently the Greeks managed these things! + The inner row of columns at the east and west ends of the + Parthenon differs also in size, height, and level from the outer + row, and also stands back; but it is only _one row_ at each end; + so that variety and play of form are obtained without a repeated + jar on the eye; and an otherwise uniform rectangular plan is not + gratuitously distorted. In a very ancient temple beyond and + behind that of the great hall are some curious polygonal columns + that have a very Doric look about them, though they are very + rude and undeveloped. + + The walls of Karnak are of course defaced and disfigured by the + usual amount of inscriptions; one commemorative tablet, + however, like a similar one at Phylae, inspires a different + feeling. Both are memorials of the French Campaign in Egypt; the + one at Phylae, dated "an VIII. de la Republique Francaise," + alludes with simple dignity to the victorious march of the + French army to the first cataract, giving the names of the + generals who were fighting "sous les ordres de Bonaparte"; the + other, under the same date, is a simple scientific memorandum + giving the latitude and longitude of the chief towns on the + Nile. It is impossible to read the first of these inscriptions + without emotion: how remote from us, already, seems that stern, + invincible French Republic, tracing its proud name with an + undoubting finger here in the grave-dust of an empire that stood + more centuries than this young giant completed years! How + thickly, already, does the dust lie now on the grave of this + thing of yesterday! + + In writing about Phylae, I forgot to notice the henna tree, which + grows in great quantities round the skirts of the temple, and + has a delicious scent. In this wilderness of granite and most + unsavoury haunt of bats, its perfume wafted unexpectedly on the + air is infinitely delightful. + + _Sunday, 8th._--Sketched. + + _Monday, 9th._--Ditto. In the evening went out to shoot, but + could not get near the pelicans and crows--they see you half a + mile off. Returning, against stream, Hosseyn, anxious to be + useful, took a _punting pole_ and _rowed_ away with an air of + conviction which was worthy of the fly on the coach-wheel in the + fable. + + The heat, though still considerable (greater than with us at + midsummer), has diminished within the last few days, and does + not inconvenience me as much as it did in sketching. Towards + evening, soft autumnal veils of mist rise from the smooth, swift + river, and shroud everything in their mysterious folds; to-night + the effect was especially striking; a pale golden sun hung in a + pale golden mist, tempered so that one could look at it + undazzled, and so shorn of its fires that the eastern bank, + instead of burning orange, showed only a faint violet flush over + its dark-brown ridges. On a dahabieh alongside me an Arab is + singing endless strophes of some poem of love and war, + accompanied by the thud and jingle of a tambourine; the melody, + a wandering, nasal strain, full of turns and runs and triplets, + appears to be entirely improvised, and is full of character and + melancholy. At the end of each strophe I hear a prolonged, deep + groan of approval uttered in a chorus by the audience, rising in + pitch after a particularly happy effort of the rhapsodist, whose + song begins again and again in mournful gusts like the song of + the wind. It is dark; I only hear--don't see--the singer and his + listeners. + + _Tuesday, 10th._--Sketched. A frequent companion in my work is + my friend, little Fatma, a sweet, small child of about five, + with a bright face and two rows of the whitest teeth ever seen. + She squats down snugly by my side, sometimes looking at the + picture, sometimes at the painter, most often at the paint-box, + at which she twiddles silently; sometimes she pensively draws a + pattern with a little brown finger on my dusty boots. I remember + at Rhodes, last year, a knot of little girls used to watch me + sketching in the Street of the Knights; but the little Turks + were not so nice as Fatma, the little Arab; some used to giggle, + and some used to frown at the Djiaour; but one very chatty young + lady of about six with the manners and graces of sixteen would + exclaim in a little fluty voice, "Mash Allah! Mash Allah! + beautiful indeed! nobody here can write like you!" (Turk., if my + memory helps me: _Guzel! guzel! Bir khimse burda senci zhibi + yazamas!_) I had a visit on board the other day from Mustafa + Aga's youngest son, bonny and rosy as an apple. He wore a + flowing robe of linen, _a ramages_, buttoned summarily and once + for all at the neck, but entirely open from the neck downwards; + over this an enormous embroidered jacket with anticipatory + sleeves turned up at the wrists, and on, or rather about, his + feet, a pair of his papa's shoes; he was irresistibly funny and + pretty; an _amorino_, dressed up as the Dog Toby. He was very + chatty; not so his playfellow, "Genani," the son of Abdallah, + the servant of Mustafa, a putto by Raphael modelled in + chocolate; a wild, black-eyed, trembling, romping, dusty, + stark-naked little imp (I used to call him Afreet), and the + finest child I ever saw. The nearest approach to social + intercourse I could get out of him was a sudden plunge at a + proffered cake; after which he would dart off with affected + dismay, and frown at me through an ill-suppressed grin from + behind the nearest place of safety. + + _Wednesday, 11th._--Got on with my sketches. Have begun two or + three rough small studies of heads. Hate sketching heads + rapidly; it is unavoidably and odiously free and easy, and + nearly all that is worth escapes. But I have no time for more, + and, I suppose, the sketches will be useful. One man, with a + face like a camel, whom I drew in profile, was annoyed (though + in a general way complimentary) at seeing only one eye in the + picture. This struck me as quaint; for he was _blind_ of the + other; he had not been defrauded of much. My delight, in the + evening, is to watch the processions of women and girls coming + down to the Nile to fetch water. The brown figures, clad in + brown, coming, in long rows, along the brown bank in all the + glow and glory of sunset, look very grand; very grand, too, + returning up the steep bank, along the violet sky, with their + long, flowing folds and the full pitchers now erect on their + heads (when empty they carry them horizontally). They are + neither handsome individually nor particularly well made, but + their movements are good, and the repetition of the same + "motive" many times in succession makes the whole scene + impressive and stately. There is no more fruitful source of + effect in Nature or Art than iteration. + + The suppleness of the limbs of the children here is + extraordinary. I have seen little girls squatting like + grasshoppers in the Nile drinking, _a meme_, the water in which + they were standing little more than ankle deep. + + An hour after nightfall the dahabieh, my neighbour, slipped her + cables and began to drift down the river; but not till the + rhapsodist had chanted his ditty to the approving murmurs of his + little circle as on the preceding night. His singing has a great + charm for me; I shall miss it. It reminds me much of Andalusian + singing and moonlight nights in the Bay of Cadiz--there is about + it a strangeness and a wayward melancholy that attach and charm + me. It was a love song (I am told, for I could not hear the + words, and should have understood very few if I had). + + "Ya leyl! ya leyl! ya leyl!"--the eternal refrain of Arab songs. + "Oh night! oh night! oh night! you have left a fire in my heart, + oh my beloved! Oh my beloved, do not forget me!" &c. &c. &c. + + A day or two ago I heard a youth calling the faithful to noonday + prayer, from the gallery of a minaret, with one of the finest + voices I have ever heard; he was tearing his notes from the + inmost depths of his chest with that eagerness of yet + unconscious passion that I have often noticed in southern + children, and which to me is singularly pathetic; he retained + his last notes as long as his breath allowed it, and they + vibrated in distinct waves like a sonorous metal set in motion: + from a little distance the effect was _saisissant_. I could not + see him, and the air seemed to throb with sound as well as with + heat in the sultry noon. + + The departure of the dahabieh was celebrated with the usual Arab + waste of powder, and all the echoes of the valley of the tombs + across the river were aroused by the popping of many guns. All + the consuls fired officially, everybody else fired unofficially. + Hosseyn fired officiously--chuckling and nearly tumbling over; + and the dahabieh itself, having opened the ball, fired again at + intervals from a long distance as if it had forgotten + somebody--they are too funny. + + _Thursday, 12th._--More sketching. The weather, which is a + little too canicular at noon, is deliciously fresh and cool for + an hour after sunrise; the Arabs, however, look much aggrieved + at the severity of the cold; they sit huddled in muffled groups + with a pinched look that would become a British December day. + + I observe that half the men in middle life have no forefinger to + their right hand. They all of them mutilated themselves to avoid + conscription under Said Pasha, who, however, having found them + out, enlisted them all the same. A curious equality prevails + here: whilst sketching two of Mustafa Aga's servants this + morning, I learnt from his son that they were both his + relations. One of them appears to be a particularly nice fellow, + and is a perfect gentleman in his manners. + + _Friday, 13th._--My last day in Thebes. When I arrived here and + found neither friends nor letters, I thought, caring little for + the place apart from the ruins, that I should stay four or five + days; to-morrow when I leave I shall have been here _nine_, and + shall go with regret. Work has exercised its usual attaching + influence. + + I have drawn in pencil a few heads that will be of use and + interest to me. The subject of one of my studies (Mustafa's + gardener) on receiving from Hosseyn two shillings for one hour's + sitting, accused him, to his infinite disgust and anger, of + having suppressed the _remaining_ eighteen shillings out of a + putative pound which he conceived to be destined for him. + _Excusez!_ + + _Saturday, 14th._--Got up early to finish a couple of sketches, + and started at half-past eleven amidst salutes and salaams. To + my great relief, the letters which I very rashly sent for from + Cairo three weeks ago have just turned up at the last + moment--fewer than I had expected, but a great delight: the + first and only news I have received since leaving home--such are + Egyptian posts! + + Weather divine: the Nile like an opal mirror, reflecting without + a break the faint, sleeping, sultry hills on the horizon: a + lovely, drowsy scene. Arrived shortly after three at the village + at which one lands for Keneh; a very cheery town about a mile + inland. It is generally separated from the landing place on the + river during the floods by a vast sheet of water; this year, + however, owing to the calamitous lowness of the Nile, a narrow, + shallow strip of water, only, intercepts the road, and a large + tract of country remains untilled and unfruitful from the want + of the quickening flood. Keneh is a very pretty sample of an + Egyptian town; it is animated and full of colour, has some + pretty minarets, some charming gardens, and more than the usual + allowance of ornamental doorways: the effect of the mosaic of + black and white bricks is most satisfactory, and has the charm + which always accompanies a considerable result produced by very + sober and simple means. Great relief is frequently obtained by a + band or frieze of carved wood, running across the decorated + surface at the springing of the arch; this band is generally + carved in circles enclosing patterns and picked out with green + and red. In the jambs of the door of one of the mosques, a very + beautiful effect was produced by alternate bands of brickwork + and minutely carved wood, _not_ coloured (three courses of brick + to one band of wood). + + Visited a pottery, and for the first time in my life saw a + pattern-wheel and the artist at work--a most fascinating sight: + the bottles and jugs flow into the most graceful forms as if by + magic, and look incomparably prettier than when they are baked. + I could hardly get away. A little boy scratches a pattern on + them as they leave the wheel. + + The Consul's white donkey, on which I ride about here, is as + fleet as the wind and as oily in his movements as a two-oared + gondola. + + _A propos_ of consuls, Mustafa at Thebes showed me his + travellers' book--in it I saw an entry of the names of Speke and + Grant, with the numbers of their regiments, and the dates of + their departure from Zanzibar and their arrival at Khartoum and + Thebes. A simple conventional travellers' entry, as if they had + returned from an ordinary journey--nothing to hint at the great + achievement which brought them such honour and lasting fame. + + _Sunday, 15th._--Made a sketch, a little after sunrise, of the + chain of hills on the west bank of the Nile, then crossed the + river to see the ruins of Denderah. Horses were waiting on the + other side, and would have been most enjoyable if the weather + had been cool; but, under a fierce sun, absolutely incessant + prancing and waltzing ("he make 'fantasia,'" quoth Hosseyn) was + fatiguing after a bit. Was so much struck with the beauties of + the mountains, as seen from the left bank, that I resolved to + stay a couple of days to paint them. The temple is extremely + fine, and in parts unusually well preserved--_the sculpture_, + that is, for the colour is almost entirely lost. These + sculptures, being of a late period (Roman), are clumsy enough; + on the other hand the general scheme of decoration is more + artistic, more varied in distribution and rhythm than in most of + the temples. On the external wall I remarked here, as at Edfou + and at Medinet Haboo, massive and very handsome gargoyles--half + a lion, couchant, on a large bracket, the water flowing from a + spout between the paws--a more important feature in the + architectural aspect of the wall than in northern countries, and + calculated for five months' rain rather than for five minutes', + which is the average annual fall here, I believe. This temple + boasts a portrait of Cleopatra on a large scale, but, like those + of Armout and Karnak, it is absolutely conventional, and any + pretence of detecting an individuality is mere humbug. One + fancies at first one has discovered some peculiarity in the + features, but on a candid examination one must own that the same + peculiarities occur in other faces on the same wall, or that + they are owing to the mutilation to which two-thirds of the + figures in all Egyptian temples has been assiduously subjected. + In a lateral chamber of the temple, on the ceiling, is a most + striking mystical design, representing the firmament and the sun + fecundating the land of Egypt. It is fantastic and poetic in the + extreme; it would delight Rossetti. In the evening made another + sketch, and then rode to Keneh to dine with the Consul--a most + interesting glimpse into a real old-fashioned Muslim interior. + Si Syed Achmet (forty-five years British Agent in this town and + at Khossayr) is a very wealthy old gentleman with large property + in this part of the world. He is of the blood of the Prophet, a + good and pious Muslim, tolerant and full of kindliness. A son, + three nephews and a daughter form his immediate family circle, + living with him in the house to which I was bidden--a bald, + uninteresting place enough. It is entered from a narrow, + irregular triangular court, ornamented on one side with some + good brick and wood work, but ugly and plain on the others, and + disfigured by something between a ladder and a staircase which + leads to the clean but singularly naked room in which we were to + spend the evening. This room was whitewashed, but so roughly + bedaubed that the plain deal cupboards, the doors of which + formed the only embellishment (?) of the walls, were all + besmeared with ragged edges of white. Three windows, innocent of + glass, and protected by a close, plain trellis-work of ordinary + white wood, lighted the room, which boasted in the way of + furniture the usual ugly divans, three red muslin curtains, a + small deal table, two lanterns and two candles in candlesticks. + Shortly after my arrival and most kindly reception by the old + gentleman, who had come up from the country expressly _ad hoc_, + dinner was served. The son, as the eldest, sat at table; the + nephews waited on us; we squatted, I on a cushion, they on the + floor, round a very low table on which was a large, round, brass + tray, containing four plates, some wooden spoons, and a great + many small loaves of bread arranged round it in a circle; a soup + tureen, into which, after washing of hands, everybody plunged + his spoon, was the central feature. After the soup, came in + rapid succession several dishes containing savoury messes which + were really very good, though perhaps too rich, but which I was + entirely unable to enjoy in the sight of a number of hands, + shining with gravy, mopping in succession at the dishes with + crusts of bread, or fetching out a coveted morsel with fingers + too recently licked. It is a delicate and hospitable attention + to put a bit with your own hand on to your guest's plate--an + attention of which I was the frequent but unworthy recipient. + After the made dishes had been done justice to, half a + sheep--head and all--was put on the table and _clawed_ asunder + by Hosseyn. The roast being disposed of, the sweets appeared, + and were eaten out of the common dish with spoons, like the + soup: I was not sorry when it was over, for I had gone through + all the sensations of a sea voyage. I observe that Arabs make a + point of eating with as much noise and smacking of lips as + possible; it is as if they were endeavouring to convey a sort of + oblique expression of thanks to Providence by manifesting their + relish of the blessings vouchsafed. When dinner was over, and a + by no means superfluous washing of hands had been gone through, + we had pipes and coffee. Hosseyn having gone to dine, I was now + thrown on my own extremely limited stock of Arabic for + conversation; and as I had about exhausted that during my ride + to Keneh with one of the nephews, I was hard put to it. However, + I just managed to get through a few broken sentences, to the + great satisfaction of Achmet, who informed me that he had been + for forty years the servant of the English, of whom he thought + very highly, chiefly because, as he expressed it, they have "one + word"--a satisfactory character to leave behind. In the evening + the governor (Mudir) came to see me with a tail of employes and, + if you please, a pocket-handkerchief, of which he was not a + little conscious, holding it in his hand rolled into a neat + tube, which he occasionally drew with dignity across the basis + of the official nose. The Consul for France and Prussia also + came and made his salaam. My borrowed and temporary plumes have + been of real use to somebody here, for the Mudir, hearing that + an Englishman (whom he erroneously supposed to be somebody) was + on board a viceroy's steamer, immediately gave the crew two + months' pay--an alacrity not sufficiently often displayed in + this country, if I am not much misinformed. The dancing-girls + who came to entertain us in the evening were no doubt better + than those of Lougsor, though, with one exception, at least as + ugly; but some of them were gorgeously attired (from the + dancing-dog point of view), and all were a mass of gold + necklaces and coins and glittering headgear, which produced at a + certain distance and in the doubtful light a prodigiously fine + effect of colour. The dancing was a little more varied than that + of the Lougsor women, chiefly, no doubt, because they got more + to drink; but, _en somme_, I am confirmed in my first impression + that it is an eminently ugly performance, though a very + remarkable gymnastic feat. Of course a graceful and good-looking + girl may do a good deal to redeem it by personal charm, and this + was in some degree the case with Zehneb, who is a noted dancer + and the _fine fleur_ of the profession. She is pretty though + coarse in feature, and not without grace; but has a + semi-European smack about her dress and ways that spoils her in + my eyes--hers, by-the-bye, are splendid. Just as the "fantasia" + was at its height, a ragged, dust-soiled, old beggar came, + chattering and grinning, into the room, and at once installed + himself, uninvited but unhindered, on the divan, from which + comfortable post he proceeded to witness the performance and + apparently thoroughly to enjoy his evening. The contrast between + his beggar's garb and the scrupulously cleanly attire of his + neighbours was very curious. He is a fakeer, as I am told; + everybody feeds him, no doors are closed to him; he is not, I + believe, exactly an idiot, but is certainly in his second + childhood--"rimbambito," as the Italians say. On one side of him + squatted a sweet little brown girl, Achmet's daughter, of about + five or six, in a pink cotton shift and with anklets hanging + about her little naked feet. On the other side, a little further + off, was an umber-coloured dancing-girl, with bright bold eyes + painted round with black, covered with a mass of gold coins on + her head, in her hair, on her ears, and round her neck, and + wearing a blue silk dress all bespangled with gold. He looked + like a dust-heap between them. It was a queer picture, taken out + of the "Thousand and One Nights"; from which work also, I + presume, the numerous one-eyed people that I see everywhere in + Egypt, are copied. (I prefer this view to that of unimaginative + pedants who, attaching undue importance to facts, inform me that + this blindness is self-inflicted, to avoid conscription.) My + ride home was a fitting close to such an evening; a fantastic + procession we made, headed by a handful of torch and lantern + bearers, brandishing enormous staves; after which "Meine + Wenigkeit" on a sumptuously caparisoned steed, the consul's + nephew, the captain, Hosseyn, a cawass, all of them on horses, + others on donkeys, and odd men bustling about amongst us and + dispersing the few stragglers that were to be found at that late + hour in the streets. The fitful flare of the torches, dressing + in fugitive, fantastic lights the gateways and dim walls of the + slumbering town, had a very fine effect. More curious still was + our ride _through_ a quarter of a mile of _dourah_ that stood at + least ten or twelve feet high all round us; the train of light + and shower of sparks in the tall graceful corn was of a + surprising aspect. Except that nothing took fire, it was as if + Samson's foxes had been let loose in front of us. + + _Monday, 16th._--Sketched. In the evening, yielding, I own, with + some reluctance, to a pressing invitation, returned to Keneh to + dine with Si Achmet. Had, except the roast, exactly the same + dinner as on the previous day, which leads me to conjecture that + the _repertoire_ of Arab cookery is limited. After dinner we + rode out to see the moolid, which is just beginning here. It is + _the_ great moolid of Central Egypt, and to it, but only towards + the end, flock people from all parts of the country till the + concourse is enormous. It must be an interesting sight when in + full swing, but as yet there is little or nothing worth seeing + except the tomb of the sheykh in whose honour the moolid is held + (Sheykh Abd-er-Rahim, the "Genani") to which I was taken by my + host. The building was like most others of the same class in + Egypt: a square chamber with a dome, and windows through which + the coffin, placed conspicuously in the centre, can be seen by + the pious crowds outside. On entering, I was conducted, after + taking off my boots, to a post of honour, on the ground of + course, in the midst of a grave circle of worthies who were + squatting in the _ruelle_ between one side of the coffin and the + wall. On my right was one of the civic functionaries, on my left + the priest attached to the tomb. The spectacle before me was + wonderful both in colour and form, though composed in great part + of the simplest elements. It was like the finest Delacroix in + aspect and tone, but with a gravity and stateliness of form very + foreign to that brilliant but epileptic genius. To the left of + me, covered with a showy embroidered cloth, stood behind a + railing the sarcophagus of the saint, illuminated from above by + various lanterns hung from the ceiling (the central one, and the + handsomest, the gift of Lady Duff Gordon) and from the corners + by gigantic candles, standing in candlesticks of proportionate + dimensions; at the same corners stood great banners of sober but + rich tone, which added much to the general colour. On each side + of the carpet at the head of which I squatted, squatted, in far + more picturesque attire, some of the notables of Keneh, half + hidden in the shadow, their large turbans cast on the rich + carpet they sat on. At the further end stood and stared, with + the solemnity of a chorus in an opera, a motley, dazzling group + of lesser folk; magnificent, too, in the flow of their + draperies, the grace of the half untwisted turbans wreathed + round their necks or hanging from their shoulders, the + stateliness of their forms, and the fiery glow of colour in + which they burnt under the clustered lanterns. Unfortunately, I + could not gaze with attention as undivided as I could have + wished, because the gentleman on my right insisted on making + conversation, the very meagrest form of which exercise absorbed + for the time my powers of attention. Hosseyn, who is very pious, + bled me of an enormous baksheesh for the shrine of the saint. + + _Tuesday, 17th._--Completed my sketches in the morning. In the + evening, Si Achmet, his son, and three nephews, one of whom I + neither knew nor had invited (this is entirely Arabic--I might, + also, have taken any one with me to dine with them) came to dine + on board. It was a very droll ceremony--the Arabs had, with one + exception, probably never sat at a table on a chair before, but + they were so entirely simple as not to be (also, by-the-bye, + with one exception) at all ridiculous. Ottilio had, perhaps with + a little malice, arranged the napkins in a most artistic and + intricate fashion; these edifices so impressed my friends that + they did not sit down opposite to their plates but on one side + of them. I set them at once comparatively at their ease by + requesting them, through Hosseyn, to consider themselves at home + and eat with their fingers, forgiving me if I followed the + custom of my country; the proposal was received with great + satisfaction by the old gentleman and his son, who fell to in + their own way, the father muttering his appreciation of the + dishes in low, sonorous ejaculations: "Allah!"--"Mash + Allah!"--"Ou Allah!"--"Ameer! Ameer!" &c. &c. &c. The son, a man + of about forty, with a broken nose and a very strong squint, and + whose movements carried a general impression of contemplative + dreaminess, always verging on surprise, ate with his usual + deliberation and spent his odd moments in contemplating a + shining bunch of fingers, which he periodically and slowly + licked with the utmost impartiality; he did not mix in the + conversation. Of the three cousins on my left, two made a very + fair attempt at using the knife and fork, though it must have + been a virgin effort; the third, who had been a great deal with + English people when he was consul at Khossayr, ate his dinner + and put down his wine like the best European; I suspect, in + fact, that he was brought as a show man. Achmet, in a climax of + gratification, exclaimed towards the end of dinner, "By Allah! + if the Ameer comes to my house another year, he shall be served + after the Frankish custom." Arabs appear to be much devoted to + _limonade gazeuse_--without being the forbidden fruit of wine + itself, it dwells in bottles, and has a sort of air of crime + about it which no doubt pleases them; my left-hand neighbour + took off at least two bottles during dinner. + + Hosseyn, whose father was a great friend of Si Achmet, proved + invaluable; he hopped about like a delighted child, filling the + glasses, cutting the meat of the two digitarians, and generally + making conversation--a great relief to me. In the evening one of + the nephews asked for some tea to take home, which I gave him; + another pocketed all the tobacco that was brought them to make + cigarettes. Arabs are hospitable and generous, and I like them + much, but they are indiscreet in the extreme. "Arabs," says + Hosseyn, "have no face; they never take shame." I have seen + instances of this which I won't put down; one only, for it is + very droll: my squinting friend with the pensive look asked Lady + Ely last year if she would just procure for him from the Queen a + title, or an order, as a mark of her regard. I am the bearer of + a letter to her from him now, which I have no doubt is a + reminder. Slew a sheep again. + + _Wednesday, 18th._--Left Keneh early, and with regret; the + place, the people and the scenery have left many pleasing + pictures in my memory. I little expected at starting the + annoyance that awaited me! As we approached the spot where + Sheykh Selim receives his devout visitors, I sent word to the + captain that I did not wish to lose any time in landing, but + that the bag of money which had been collected for the saint was + to be delivered, and we were to go on. I had scarcely uttered + this almost sacrilegious order, when the steamer, which had been + judiciously steered within ten yards of a flat, shelving bank, + ran hard and fast into the mud, with the apparent intention of + sticking there permanently, the engine being utterly powerless + to get her out. Nobody on board doubted for an instant but that + Sheykh Selim had stopped us in his resentment; the captain + instantly dispatched sailors with money to propitiate him, and + after a few futile attempts on the part of five or six of the + crew (to loud cries of "Help us, O Prophet! help us, O Sheykh + Selim!") to heave out a vessel that was four or five feet in the + mud, jumped himself into a boat, and hurried, of course + accompanied by Hosseyn, and leaving his vessel to take care of + herself, to beseech the sheykh to get us off. Their conversation + was afterwards reported to me by one who was present. "What is + this, O Sheykh, that thou hast done to us? in what have we been + wanting towards thee? did I not give thee a shirt when we last + came by? and the tobacco, was it not good? was the roast meat + not sufficient? why are we thus punished?"--to whom the sheykh: + "Don't be a fool! why do you come to me about your boat? am I a + sailor? how do you expect me to get her off--or on? Allah got + her on the sand, not I, who am a man like yourselves." The + captain: "Allah is indeed great, but if he ran us aground it was + on thy instigation--thou knowest it, O Sheykh!" &c. &c. In this + strain the conversation lasted at least twenty minutes, during + which time and for the rest of the day I was literally sick with + disgust and anger at the lot of them. Everything that ought not + to be done under the circumstances, including losing the anchor + (which is still at the bottom of the river), was done before + evening; everything that should have been done was left undone. + + Next morning (Thursday, 19th) we obtained (by force, after the + fashion of this country) through the governor of the + neighbouring town a gang of two hundred Arabs, magnificent + fellows some of them, who, at last, by heaving and tugging, + contrived to get her off--not without the most unearthly + _charivari_ I ever heard. In the morning I made a sketch; + reached Bellianeh in the evening, appeased, at last, and rather + amused at the abject condition of the captain, to whom I had + conveyed my mind (he had never seen me angry before), and who + swore that in future one hundred sheykhs should not take him out + of his course. My misadventure will benefit my successors in the + good ship _Sheberkheyt_--_a quelque chose malheur est bon._ + + _Friday, 20th._--Started at seven on horseback to see Abydos, + and had a delightful morning. The weather was fresh and clear, + and the canter of six or seven miles across a fine open plain to + the foot of the mountains where the ruins lie was most + enjoyable. The temples, very strikingly situated on a slope + which sweeps down from a grand amphitheatre of bastion-like + rocks, have a great advantage over all those that I have yet + seen, viz. that their sculptures have almost entirely escaped + mutilation, and are in admirable preservation. This is the more + fortunate, that they are of a very fine period, and most + delicate in workmanship; the type of the faces has considerable + beauty and refinement. The colours, notably in the more recently + excavated temple of Osiris, are often extremely well preserved, + and I am confirmed in my conjecture, that they must have been + much less beautiful in their freshness than now that time has + toned and tuned them. In the larger temple are some very + beautiful wagon-head vaults _cut in the thickness of two layers + of stone_, the upper ones laid on end to get more thickness of + material. They are charmingly decorated with cartouches and + stars on a blue ground, and divided by a band of hieroglyphs + running like a ridge-rib along the head of the vault. The stars + on Egyptian ceilings are always pentagonal, and placed very near + together. At the temple I was joined by the obligato governor, a + puffy Turk with a tight, shiny face that had a look of having + been stung all over by a wasp; he was heavy and stupid, and I + left him in the hands of Hosseyn, galloping ahead myself with + the mounted cawass, a very picturesque Arnout on a very good + horse. _N.B._--Never come to the East again without an English + saddle; the back-board of a Turkish saddle is in the long run an + intolerable nuisance, as are also, though in a less degree, the + shovel-stirrups in which one's feet are imprisoned. In the + afternoon reached Sohag, a sail, or rather a steam, of three or + four hours, in time for a most pleasant evening's walk. + + _Saturday, 21st._--Got to Syoot in the afternoon, and was very + glad to catch Lady Duff Gordon on her way up the river. Was + received with great hospitality by the American and Spanish + consuls, wealthy Copts of this town who kindly put their + carriages at my disposal and, better still, their + donkeys--splendid Arabian donkeys, looking, in their trappings, + like cardinals' mules. Nothing is more pleasant than the swift + amble of a good donkey from the Hejaz. Dined in the evening with + Mr. Wonista, the consul for Spain, quite "a la Franca" with + knives and forks and the whole thing. A curious house, and the + rooms small but of enormous height, so that they looked as if + they had been set _on end_ by mistake. The walls were bare + whitewash, but the furniture was of the most gorgeous brocade, + as were also the curtains; there was a European carpet all over + the floor and as many candles on the walls (in glass bells) as + in a _cafe chantant_. I met there a Scotch clergyman belonging + to the American Mission (Episcopalian) which is very active in + Egypt. After dinner the singer from Lady Duff Gordon's boat was + sent for, and in a short time arrived with some of the crew who + acted as chorus; it is this chorus, I find, that gives the + approving murmur after each strophe. He sang well, but his + performance of course lost three-fourths of its charm by not + being heard in its proper place and surroundings. I remember + once in the Sabine hills hearing unexpectedly at a distance, in + the silent dimness of night, the droning song of a _piffera_; + nothing could be more strangely pathetic than this voice rising + in the utter silence from out of the heart of the valley + below--yet those same sounds heard close in the broad daylight + would have seemed uncouth and strident. Arab singing has a + similar quality, and is equally dependent on time and place for + its full effect. Whilst the performance was at its height, and + the minstrel was tuning his note to the most ambitious + _fioriture_, I heard in the room overhead some European + part-singing of a melancholy order, and was informed that the + Scotch minister had been invited by a few proselytes to retire + upstairs "to worship and explain an obscure passage in the + Gospel." On the invitation of the master of the house, I went up + and joined the congregation, who thought it right to favour me + with another psalm. The clergyman then read in Arabic, and + expounded in the same language a chapter from the Bible, and I + must say did it (I speak of his manner only, for Koran and Bible + Arabic is so different from the current idiom, here at all + events, that I did not understand four words in the whole + sermon) in a very simple and impressive way. He had, too, an + admirable accent. He tells me that in spite of vehement + opposition from the Coptic prelates he finds a good deal of + sympathy amongst the people. + + _Sunday, 22nd._--Lovely day. Strolled about with a gun. This + place is full of "sparrows of paradise," a little bird of an + exquisite golden green. Since I was here last, the aspect of the + country has changed very much and for the better. Where I saw, a + few weeks back, nothing but pools and mud, is now a vast expanse + of clover and grass of an intense green, sunny and brilliant to + a wonderful degree. The plain looks like one immense jewel, and + contrasts deliciously with the tawny sand-rock which walls it in + on the west, behind the gleaming white domes of the cemetery. + Dined with the other consul in the evening. Same sort of house, + but much larger. No Scotch clergyman this time, but an + Anglo-Arab who teaches in the Coptic school, and, embracing + Coptic views, inveighs bitterly against the converts to + Protestantism. At sunset, to my agreeable surprise, the + Sterlings turned up, _musique en tete_, the singer in the bows + quavering a jubilant strain, and the vessel magnificent with + fresh paint. + + _Monday, 23rd._--Killed a sheep. Sketched. Had the consuls and + the Scotch missionary to dine with me. The latter brought me + some newspapers, which I read greedily. + + _Tuesday, 24th._--Sketched. At last an evening to myself!--these + festive gatherings are an ineffable bore, if the truth were + told. + + _Wednesday, 25th._--Completed my sketches with one exception--a + study of my beautiful grey (_hechtgrau_) donkey. Unless I make a + study at Sakkara, which is just possible, this will be the end + of my work on the Nile. In twenty-two skies which I have painted + there is not a vestige of a cloud, such has been the divinely + serene weather I have had all along. This evening, indeed, + faint, shining flakes of vapour were drawn across the sky, + breaking and tempering the last rays of the sun; but by a + curious piece of luck they did not appear till I was just giving + the last touches to my day's work. Saw a beautiful and original + effect at sunset. Just as the sun was about to sink behind the + hills, a dahabieh drifted past with its sails spread, and + reaching up into the region where the light was still golden, + whilst the face of the water was darkened, and the long, low + banks were already shadowy and grey, the burning sail was + reflected in the night of the river, and looked astonishingly + beautiful. It was like the mellow splendour of the rising moon. + + I delight in seeing the sailors climbing the tall, oblique yards + of the Nile boats. Sometimes five or six of them perch on one + yard at the same time, looking at a distance like great birds. + + _Thursday, 26th._--Finished my donkey and started; as I get + further north, the weather is much cooler--the mornings and + evenings are quite fresh, though not so cold but that I can + sketch in the shade an hour after sunrise in summer clothes. The + natives, however, seem to take a severe view of the temperature, + and leave nothing unmuffled but their mouths, with which they + occasionally blow their fingers in the most approved winter + fashion. Was more struck than before with Gebel Aboofada--the + infinite and strongly marked strata of which it is made up + writhe and heave in a very grand and fantastic manner. Some of + the Egyptian mountains are ruled like a copy book from head to + foot, and are very monotonous. + + At the foot of Aboofada, I saw, for an instant, my first and + last crocodile; a small one. They are very seldom seen from a + steamer below the cataracts, as the noise frightens away the few + there are. I had looked forward to getting a shot at one, and + was a good deal disappointed at finding none up the river. It is + curious how rapidly time lends its perspective to the past. + Every now and then a boat from the cataracts laden with dates + comes floating down the river, and the melancholy chant of the + Nubian sailors, as they strain at the oars, already falls on my + ear as a sudden memory of an almost distant past--not a month + old. + + Arrived at Roda this evening. I have been reading, amongst other + things, a book everybody else read thirty years ago, "Les + Natchez," and am greatly disappointed with it. I am especially + struck with the extraordinary contrast between the masterful + sobriety and simplicity of the style, and the far-fetched + affectation of the ideas which are, more often than not, + distorted, tawdry and inflated, sometimes disgusting and not + seldom maudlin in the extreme. This singular discrepancy between + form and matter is especially French, and may frequently be + traced in the works of their painters and sculptors. No living + people has so sensitive a perception of form or so artistic an + epiderm, but an ineradicable self-consciousness develops in them + a theatrical attitude of mind which too often betrays itself in + their artistic and literary conceptions. It is the absolute + consent between conception and execution which constitutes one + of the chief sources of delight in the art of the Greeks, to + whom they are fond, too rashly, of comparing themselves.[41] + + I notice in the Natchez a peculiar use of comparisons. That mode + of adding light and colour to an idea which consists in + suggesting analogies, has always been the delight of poets; but + Chateaubriand (whose analogies, by the way, are often singularly + far fetched and unfortunate) occasionally, in a morbid endeavour + to be original, seeks his effects in a suggestion of + dissimilarities; I remember an instance: he has been describing + with minute and gratuitously sickening detail a mangled heap of + dead and dying warriors after a ferocious encounter. "How + different," he exclaims, but in more flowery terms, "is a + haycock in a field with girls rolling down it!" Few will be + disposed to contradict him. His exorbitant personal vanity which + continues to peep through everywhere, and makes even his + unbounded praise of his country seem an oblique tribute to + himself, is droll and nauseating at the same time. + + Took a stroll in the evening, and met an English baby! pink and + delicate like a flower; with cape and cockade complete--a pretty + sight. + + Thick folds of rose and violet-coloured cloud hung along the + horizon at sunset, and looked autumnal. I have left eternal + summer behind me. + + _Friday, 27th._--Such a morning as the evening of yesterday + foreboded; rather chilly and misty, and as near an approach to + winter as Upper Egypt may be expected to afford. The sky was + veiled on all sides with soft grey clouds, wrinkled and fretted + like the grey sands when the sea has left them. It was a fitting + background to the desolate tombs of Beni Hassan, which I visited + an hour or two after sunrise. The range of hills on the face of + which these tombs are excavated is not unlike Gebel Aboofada in + its configuration, except that the strata with which it is + scored are more level and regular. This monotony is, however, + relieved by the sky-line, which is extremely fine. Along the + foot of these hills runs a level strip of barren land, broken + abruptly in its whole length by a steep bank which rises like a + ruined wall from the plain below, and which is, when the Nile is + exceptionally high, the bank of the river itself. Standing, as + it now does, nearly a mile inland, and crested with two deserted + villages, it has a grand but uncanny aspect. I had long been + eager to see the tombs, which show what is considered by many to + be the first rudiment of the Doric order. The similarity, more + striking even than I expected, is so great that, taken with our + knowledge of the early and frequent intercourse of the Greeks + with Egypt and of the assimilating power of their genius, it + certainly offers a strong _prima facie_ presumption in favour of + this view. It may be objected that the echinus, the conical form + of the shaft and its entasis, all three inseparable features and + especial beauties of the Greek order, are wanting here, though + they are present in the earliest specimen of the style preserved + in Greece, the temple of Corinth. This argument would deserve + more consideration if it could be conceived that the order as + seen at Corinth was a spontaneous conception, and not a + development of some more elementary form which, whether native + or imported at a remote period, has not been handed down to us. + In point of fact, the chamfering of a simple stone pier into an + octagon and then further to a polygon of sixteen, or more, + sides (specimens of the two forms are seen side by side in two + of the tombs of Beni Hassan) is so elementary an effort of + architecture and one so obvious, that its independent and + spontaneous adoption by two different nations would be matter + for no surprise. On the other hand, it is to be remarked that + these tombs and the early temple at Karnak already mentioned are + the only instances of this style known in Africa--that not only + are they isolated in themselves, but they form a step to no + further developments--a link in no chain; that in character and + conception they have nothing in common with any of the great + monuments of Egypt, to which indeed they are antagonistic in + feeling; that they stand side by side with other monuments of + the _same_ date (about 2000 B.C.?) of a developed and absolutely + different type--a type certainly indigenous and based on the + imitation of natural forms which is especially characteristic of + Egyptian architecture; and lastly, that the tombs of Beni Hassan + show certain dissonances, such as one might expect to find in + the case of an unintelligent and unperceptive manipulation of a + foreign style. In the face of these considerations, I find it + difficult to resist a suspicion that the view generally received + exactly reverses the truth of the case, and that these tombs are + not indeed the prototypes of the Doric temple, but rather the + results, themselves, of contact at some remote period between + the Egyptians and that branch of the great Aryan family which, + at long intervals, and in successive waves, covered the shores + of the Egean Sea, and one of the latest offshoots of which + poured down into Greece from the heights of Thessaly under the + name of Dorians. I believe the earliest Egyptian _record_ of the + pressure of Greeks in this country goes no further back than + 1500 B.C.; but a peaceful intercourse between the two races may + have existed over a long period, without necessarily finding a + place in public records. + + The (quasi) Doric tombs are divided into a nave and aisles by + two rows of piers, carrying an architrave and disposed at right + angles to the portico, agreeably carrying out the likeness of a + Greek temple. The circles which intersect the extremity of the + other group of tombs are _parallel_ to the portico, and have a + deplorable effect, much heightened by the shape of the ceiling, + which is that of a very flat pediment. The architrave follows + the line of the roof, but at a still more open angle. It would + be difficult to conceive anything more hideous. Nearly all the + tombs are decorated with frescoes of a rude kind, but displaying + frequently an amount of freedom unusual in Egyptian art. + + Our guide was a splendid fellow, looking, in his flowing robes, + like a figure from the "School of Athens" on the "Disputa." The + longer I live, the more I am struck by the identity of Raphael's + frescoes with the noblest aspects of Nature. + + To Benisoef in the evening. Passed some travellers; nothing + looks so gay and pretty as a dahabieh with its colours flying + and its sails spread. + + _Saturday, 28th._--Lovely morning once again. Reached Sakkara + early, but found that the road to the Pyramids was obstructed by + water, so moved on at once to Ghizeh, opposite to Old Cairo, + where I shall remain till to-morrow morning; meanwhile I have + sent on Hosseyn to secure a room at the inn, and to fetch the + means of leaving a pleasant memory of me on board the + _Sheberkheyt_. + + I have stripped the walls of my cabin of the paintings I had + hung round them, and they look desolate and like the coffin of + my now past journey. A most enjoyable journey it has been, full + of pleasant things to remember; full, too, I hope, of artistic + profit and teaching. I have been indeed fortunate, for, as I now + see more clearly than ever, in a dahabieh I could not have + achieved a third of the journey, and in a passenger steamer I + could not have done a stroke of work. Every study I take home I + owe entirely to the viceroy's munificent kindness. + + _Sunday, 29th._--Left for Boulay, my destination--gave a parting + sheep to the crew, distributed _largesse_, shook hands all + round, and drove off to the hotel. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[41] See Chap. IV. p. 239. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +ROYAL ACADEMICIAN--MUSIC--ARAB HALL + +1869-1878 + + +In 1869, the year after his journeyings in Egypt, Leighton was elected +a Royal Academician. The picture which he chose as his Diploma work to +be deposited in the Academy on his election was the "S. Jerome," one +of those few works which reflected the side of his nature about which +he was profoundly reserved. Another work of which the same might be +said is "Elijah in the Wilderness," painted in 1879. Leighton told a +friend he had put more of himself into that picture than into any +other he had ever invented. Three paintings which are among Leighton's +very best appeared on the walls of the Academy in 1869--"Daedalus and +Icarus," "Electra at the Tomb of Agamemnon," and "Helios and Rhodos." +In no work did Leighton indulge his passion for colour so successfully +as in the last-named picture. He wrote to his master, Steinle, in +1860: "You will perhaps be surprised, but, in spite of my fanatic +preference for colour, I promised myself to be a draughtsman before I +became a colourist." Again, in a letter to a friend in 1879 he wrote: +"Colour was supposed to be my _forte_ (_par parenthese_, though I am +not a colourist, albeit passionately fond of colour, I have always +been, and am, a great _cuisinier_; I have tried quite innumerable +methods and vehicles)." Some of Leighton's appreciators cannot help +feeling jealous of this obstinate determination to struggle with those +gifts for which nature had not given him the preference, many +considering his artistic error to have been that of putting the screw +too tightly on his preconceived determinations. Had he _sometimes_, at +all events, allowed his "fanatic preference" to have free play, more +of his works might have glowed with the revelry in rich colour we find +on the canvas of "Helios and Rhodos." + + [Illustration: ST. JEROME. 1869. DIPLOMA WORK + Deposited in the Academy on Lord Leighton's election as an + Academician] + + [Illustration: "ELECTRA AT THE TOMB OF AGAMEMNON"] + +No complete work evinces more conclusively the force of Leighton's +dramatic gift than "Electra"; and--further--masterly and beautiful as +are all Leighton's arrangements of drapery, those in this design +strike me as specially expressive. They are truly superb. The balance +of the masses, and the sweeping lines from the feet up to the shoulder +and over the chest, are grandly conceived--the arrangement of the +folds notably adding to the suggestion of tragic feeling in the +attitude of the figure. + +"Icarus," in the picture of the inventive father and the aspiring son, +is a beautiful figure of a youth. The conception, design, and +colouring of the picture are worthy of Leighton at his best. + +Though Egypt had made a deep impression on Leighton's aesthetic +emotions, as is obvious from his Diary, his visit there apparently did +not actually suggest any pictures except "A Nile Woman"--the only work +exhibited at the Academy in 1870--and "Egyptian Slinger Scaring Birds +in Harvest-time: Moonrise," exhibited in 1875. A subject suggested by +an event, which had occurred some years previously, appears to have +been engrossing his mind, before he found expression for it, in the +painting "Heracles Wrestling with Death for the Body of Alcestis," +exhibited 1871. Many persons admired this work more than any that had +previously appeared.[42] It evoked the lines from Browning:-- + + "I know, too, a great Kaunian painter, strong + As Hercules, though rosy with a robe + Of Grace that softens down the sinewy strength: + And he has made a picture of it all. + There lies Alcestis dead, beneath the sun + She longed to look her last upon, beside + The sea, which somehow tempts the life in us + To come trip over its white waste of waves, + And try escape from earth, and fleet as free. + Behind the body I suppose there bends + Old Pheres in his hoary impotence; + And women-wailers, in a corner crouch + --Four, beautiful as you four,--yes, indeed! + Close, each to other, agonising all, + As fastened, in fear's rhythmic sympathy, + To two contending opposite. There strains + The might o' the hero 'gainst his more than match, + --Death, dreadful not in thew and bone, but like + The envenomed substance that exudes some dew, + Whereby the merely honest flesh and blood + Will fester up and run to ruin straight, + Ere they can close with, clasp and overcome, + The poisonous impalpability + That simulates a form beneath the flow + Of those grey garments; I pronounce that piece + Worthy to set up in our Poikile!" + +Leighton had taken the lines from Euripides as his text:-- + + "There slept a silent palace in the sun, + With plains adjacent and Thessalian peace." + + "....Yea, I will go and lie in wait for Death, the king of souls + departed, with the dusky robes, and methinks I shall find him + hard by the grave drinking the sacrificial wine. And if I can + seize him by this ambush, springing from my lair, and throw my + arms in circle round him, none shall snatch his panting body + from my grasp till he give back the woman to me." + + [Illustration: "HERACLES STRUGGLING WITH DEATH FOR THE BODY OF + ALCESTIS." 1871 + By permission of the Fine Art Society, the owners of the + Copyright] + +This work made a landmark in Leighton's career. "Dante at Verona" had +combined a complicated design of many figures with a dramatic feeling; +"Cimabue's Madonna" and the "Syracusan Bride" had proved Leighton's +"great power of rich arrangement," to quote D.G. Rossetti's words +respecting "Cimabue's Madonna"; but in the "Heracles Wrestling with +Death" there was felt to be a more profound tragedy; indeed, the +objective treatment had in this instance ceded to one more subjective, +in so far that the subject had appealed to him through a personal +experience, though the feeling was, as in nearly all Leighton's +greatest works, veiled in a classic garb. In a letter to his mother, +dated November 13, 1864, he wrote:-- + + _November 13, 1864._ + + I returned so suddenly on account of a grave and terrible + anxiety, _now quite removed_, about my dear friend Mrs. + Sartoris. + + I must tell you that for some time past she has been looking + dreadfully ill, getting daily worse, haggard and thin. I, in + common with all her friends, had been growing very anxious, and + conjectured that some day or other a crisis must come in which + only the surgeon could avail her. I little thought how near at + hand the moment was! She on her part had borne up with an amount + of moral and physical courage which everybody says was quite + incredible. Her nearest relations have not known from her that + she was in so dangerous a state. A week ago I arrived at + Francport, the chateau of the Marquis de l'Aigle, where I + expected to find Mr. and Mrs. Sartoris and their children. I + found instead Mme. de l'Aigle in the deepest anxiety and + commotion, having received a letter saying that on that very day + poor Mrs. S. was undergoing an operation of which the event was + very doubtful! I need hardly say that I instantly hurried off to + England in the greatest alarm, and in fear and trembling lest + she should have succumbed. You may judge of my relief, next + morning, on hearing from the servant in Park Place that she was + doing well. I hurried off to the doctor, a friend of mine, and + heard that for six hours her life had been in jeopardy, but + that, thank God, she was doing amazingly well, that for a week + there could be no _certainty_ of her recovery, but that the + possible chances doubled every day. Since then, thank God, she + has progressed so _astoundingly_ owing to her immense roots of + vitality and health, that one may be almost _certain_ + (_unberufen_) of her complete recovery, in which event she will + enjoy life more than she has done for several years. Her family + and friends have escaped an entirely irreparable loss. + +The very beautiful picture, "Greek Girls Picking up Pebbles by the +Shore of the Sea," was also exhibited in the Academy in 1871, likewise +a smaller work, "Cleoboulos Instructing his Daughter Cleobouline." +This is one of several which proves Leighton's gift for catching the +grace and singular refinement of childhood. "Lord Leighton's drawings +and paintings of children show the protecting, caressing tenderness he +felt towards them. He loved little things, little children, +kittens--'caressing littleness, that littleness in which there is much +of the whole woeful heart of things'--everything lovely that had in it +the unconscious grace of helplessness seemed especially to touch him." + +In 1872 "Summer Moon" was exhibited--the picture Watts told me he +thought he preferred to all of Leighton's paintings. I believe the +cause of this preference arose from the fact that the quality and +texture in "Summer Moon" is looser and more vibrating, and gives a +greater sense of atmosphere than is suggested by Leighton's works as a +rule. Moonlight mystifies the tints of purple and blue, and creeps +over and into every fold of the beautiful drapery--glistening on the +white garment of the recumbent figure. In every line and touch in the +exquisite design of the figures and drapery lurks the poetry of +moonlight; the song of a nightingale perched on the branch of a +pomegranate tree enhancing the sense of deep restfulness in the +scene.[43] + + [Illustration: "SUMMER MOON." 1872 + By permission of Messrs. P. & D. Colnaghi, the owners of the + Copyright] + + [Illustration: "A CONDOTTIERE." 1872] + + [Illustration: STUDY FOR FIGURE IN FRIEZE. "MUSIC." 1886 + Leighton House Collection] + + [Illustration: STUDY FOR FIGURE IN "THE ARTS OF WAR," + Victoria and Albert Museum. 1872 + Leighton House Collection] + + [Illustration: STUDY FOR FIGURE IN "THE ARTS OF WAR," + Victoria and Albert Museum. 1872 + Leighton House Collection] + + [Illustration: STUDY FOR FIGURE IN "THE ARTS OF WAR," + Victoria and Albert Museum. 1872 + Leighton House Collection] + +It is thought by some that the design would have carried out the +feeling of absolute repose better had the lower curves of the round +aperture behind the figures been absent--these lines rather suggesting +horns springing up on either side of the group. The end of the foot of +the sitting figure being cut off by the bottom line of the picture has +also a somewhat uncomfortable effect. The same thing occurs in the +picture "Greek Girl Dancing," producing the feeling that the canvas +has run short. These criticisms, however, only refer to minor matters. +"Summer Moon" is an exquisitely beautiful picture, one which will ever +sustain the great reputation of its creator. "A Condottiere" and the +monochrome version of "The Industrial Arts of War" (76 x 177 in.), +exhibited at the South Kensington International Exhibition the same +year, strikingly contrast in character with "Summer Moon." If the one +is notable for gentle, womanly grace and a sense of relaxation induced +by slumber, "A Condottiere" is full of verve and virile power,[44] and +in the design for "The Industrial Arts of War" all is action and +movement. Leighton made many studies for all his principal pictures, +but the finest group of sketches are certainly those made for mural +decorations. Being executed under more difficult conditions than the +easel pictures, doubtless he felt more preparation for frescoes was +required. The studies in Leighton House for the "Arts of War," "Arts +of Peace," two friezes, "Music," "The Dance," "And the Sea gave up the +Dead that were in it," the painted decoration for the ceiling of a +music room, "Phoenicians Bartering with Britons," are the most +completely worked out and powerful studies in the collection. In the +following year, 1873, the companion lunette in monochrome, "The +Industrial Arts of Peace," was exhibited at the Royal Academy. This +design is more comfortably fitted into its space than that of the +"Arts of War," as the whole is lifted up from the bottom line of the +lunette, and no part of the figures is cut off (as in the case of the +men's feet and the drapery of the otherwise most beautiful group of +women on the left hand in the "Arts of War"). "Weaving the Wreath," a +small picture of lovely colour and subtle technique, appeared in 1873, +and in 1874 three of the most remarkable of Leighton's pictures of +single figures. "In a Moorish Garden: a Dream of Granada" the charming +child "Cleobouline" reappears in an Eastern turban and drapery, +holding a copper vessel and followed by two peacocks, walking across a +square canvas filled in by a background of the delightful garden at +Generalife at Granada. "The Antique Juggling Girl" is one of the best +examples in Leighton's work of his "ardent passion for colour," and +his perfect mastery in painting the beauty of an undraped figure. The +form of the torso recalls the exquisite fragment from the Naples +Museum.[45] The actual painting, however, exemplifies the truth of +Leighton's very notable words written to Steinle, "What reveals true +knowledge of form is a powerful, organic, refined finish of modelling +full of feeling and knowledge--and that is the affair of the brush." +The principal scheme of colour is effectively carried throughout the +picture--in the golden flesh tint against the ivory-white of the +parchment banner hung as a screen background, the crown of dark ivy +leaves and the golden balls telling out as notes of a deeper tone; the +crinkled folds of white drapery resting on the darker mass, the full +tawny browns and yellows of the leopard skins on which the figure +stands making a dark, luminous basis, the metal jar and the +dense foliage of deep verdant green enriched by the orange of the +fruit springing up and continuing the dark framework of the central +design. This picture is a very original work, and should, I think, be +placed very high in the rank of Leighton's achievements. "Clytemnestra +from the battlements of Argos watches for the beacon fires which are +to announce the return of Agamemnon" is, in every sense, a contrast to +the "Antique Juggling Girl." The figure is powerful and heavily +draped, the drapery being superb, and the limbs those which might +truly overpower even Agamemnon.[46] + + [Illustration: "ANTIQUE JUGGLING GIRL." 1874 + By permission of Mr. George Hodges] + + [Illustration: "CLYTEMNESTRA WATCHES FROM THE BATTLEMENTS OF + ARGOS FOR THE BEACON FIRES WHICH ARE TO ANNOUNCE THE RETURN OF + AGAMEMNON." 1874 + Leighton House Collection] + + [Illustration: STUDY FOR "CLYTEMNESTRA." 1874 + Leighton House Collection] + + [Illustration: STUDY FOR "SUMMER MOON" + From Oil Sketch painted by Moonlight in Rome + Given by the late A. Waterhouse, R.A., to the Leighton House + Collection] + +The bar of red, which strikes a warm note among the cool lights and +shadows of moonlight, adding immensely to the value of these tones, +was suggested by the coral necklace, worn by the model from whom +Leighton painted the study by moonlight for "Summer Moon" in Rome. +"Egyptian Slinger" was Leighton's principal work exhibited in 1875, +"The Daphnephoria" already engrossing most of his time and thought. +This picture (89 x 204 inches), "a triumphal procession held every +ninth year at Thebes in honour of Apollo and to commemorate a victory +of the Thebans over the Aeolians of Arne" (see Proclus, "Chrestomath," +p. 11), and the very fine portrait of Sir Richard Burton were +exhibited in 1876. From some points of view "The Daphnephoria" is +Leighton's greatest achievement. The difficulties he surmounted +successfully in the work were of a character with which few English +artists could cope at all. The size of the canvas alone would +certainly have insisted on ten years' devotion to it from most modern +artist-workmen. The extreme breadth of the arrangement of the masses, +united with great beauty of line and form in the detail; the sense of +the moving of a procession swinging along to the rhythmic phrases of +chanted music; the brilliant light of Greece, striking on the fine +surface of the marble platform along which the procession is moving +and on the town below, which it has left behind, contrasting with the +deep shadowed cypress grove rising as background to the figures;--all +this is more than masterly: it is convincing. It is probably quite +unlike what took place at Thebes every ninth year;--but Art is not +Archaeology. The written account of what took place fired Leighton's +imagination to create a scene in which he treated the Greek function +as the text; the wonderful light and the fineness of Greek atmosphere +as the tone; the processional majesty and grace of movement as the +action. The element of beauty which the record suggested to him was +the truth of the scene to Leighton, and he has recorded the essence of +it in an extraordinarily original work. + +It was after Leighton's death that the picture first "struck home" to +me. The last day of the exhibition of a wonderful man's life-work had +come to an end one Saturday afternoon in the spring of 1897. It had +been a record day at Burlington House; crowds had filled the galleries +from morning till the light had begun to wane. Only a very few +stragglers remained, but the keeper, Mr. Calderon, R.A., was there. +One of the porters in his red gown came up to him, and petitioned for +a half-hour more before the final closing of the doors on the +message which Leighton had left to the world. Both men, the keeper and +the porter, looked grave and sad. The great President had been beloved +by all. The porter's request was granted, and it was during that short +half-hour that I seemed for the first time fully to realise the great +qualities of "The Daphnephoria"; the room being empty, it could be +seen from the right distance, and the conception of the work and its +completion spoke out very plainly and convincingly. + + [Illustration: "THE DAPHNEPHORIA"--A TRIUMPHAL PROCESSION HELD + AT THEBES IN HONOUR OF APOLLO. 1876 + By permission of the Fine Art Society, the owners of the + Copyright] + + [Illustration: "AT A READING-DESK." 1877 + By permission of Messrs. L.H. Lefevre & Son, the owners of the + Copyright] + +Different as a picture could be was the exquisite "Music Lesson" of +1877. Again we have the lovely little Cleobouline, her delicate +fingers learning to make music on a mandoline. The grouping and grace +in the attitude of the teacher and the pupil, the ease and pleasant +arrangement of the draperies, the texture and fine distinction in the +feeling and technique of the work, can only be suggested by a +reproduction; whereas to appreciate in any way the delicate brightness +and charm of the colour is impossible without seeing the original. +This is the one of all Leighton's paintings which--perhaps more than +any other--conclusively contradicts the statement made, that "the +inspiration stage was practically passed when he took the crayon in +his hand." Another Cleobouline also appeared in the same Academy +Exhibition--as fascinating as the little lady learning music; "Study" +it was called--a child in a delightfully painted glistening pink silk +dressing-gown, sitting cross-kneed on an Eastern carpet before an +inlaid prayer-desk. Very characteristic of Leighton's bewitching +painting of children's feet are the little toes of the child peeping +out between the folds of pink drapery. The finest woman's portrait +Leighton ever painted appeared the same year as a "Music Lesson." This +was Miss Mabel Mills.[47] The breadth and delicacy in the modelling of +the cheek and throat rivals the work of Greek sculpture. The most +serious work exhibited in 1877 was the bronze version of Leighton's +"Athlete Strangling a Python,"[48] the small sketch of which was made +in 1874. This statue showed to the world his power as a sculptor. +Every work he modelled evinced in an equal degree his consummate +ability as such, though the more flexible treatment--in the modelled +sketches for the "Python," the sleeping group in "Cymon and +Iphigenia,"[49] and the "Perseus and Andromeda"--may carry with it a +greater charm than is found in the completed statues. The following +letters from the French sculptor Dalou, the painter George Boughton, +and Sir Edgar Boehm are testimonies to the effect which the "Python" +in bronze, and the sketch, produced on artists at the time they were +executed:-- + + 217A GLEBE PLACE, CHELSEA, S.W., + _2 Mai 1877_. + + MON CHER LEIGHTON,--Si mes humbles felicitations peuvent vous + toucher j'en serais tres heureux. + + J'esperais vous voir lundi dernier a l'Academy et vous + complimenter comme vous le meritez pour votre belle statue. A + quoi sert de gratter toute sa vie un morceau de terre, quand + pres de soi on voit tout a coup surgir un chef d'oeuvre d'une + main a qui la sculpture etait jusque la restee etrangere? + + Si j'etais envieux ce serait une belle occasion pour moi, mais + loin de la j'ai ete tres heureux d'admirer votre oeuvre, et tres + flatte de l'honneur qu'on a fait a ma pauvre terre cuite, en la + placant en pendant avec votre bronze; c'est encore un bon + souvenir de plus qui me viens de l'Academy et de vous, mon + cher Leighton, car je sais toute la part que vous avez prise au + deplacement dont ma figure a ete l'objet. + + Aussi croyez que je suis heureux de pouvoir me dire votre + sincere admirateur et tres reconnaissant ami, + + J. DALOU. + + [Illustration: "AN ATHLETE STRANGLING A PYTHON" + From small sketch, 1876] + + + GROVE LODGE, + PALACE GARDENS TERRACE, KENSINGTON, W., + _December 11, 1874_. + + DEAR MR. LEIGHTON,--I fear that the note which I sent with the + bronze did not explain itself sufficiently. I _meant_ to ask you + to _accept_ it--"to have and to hold for yourself your heirs and + assigns for ever," to speak legally. + + I can in no way express the pleasure I felt when I saw your + small study for the man battling with the serpent. I hope the + report in the _Academy_ that it is to be done life-size in + bronze is true. It will be worthy to go with the best of the + antiques. The other study for the singing maidens was + delightful[50] as the other was grand. To put it in the + picturesque parlance of the Far West, "I was knocked over and + sat on." It will be a slight relief to give my words a little + form and weight; as I am unfortunately not a Roman Emperor and + have not a golden crown of laurel about me, pray do me the + favour to accept the only thing I have worth sending.--Believe + me, yours very sincerely, + + GEO. H. BOUGHTON. + + + GROVE LODGE, + PALACE GARDENS TERRACE, KENSINGTON, + _December 14, 1874_. + + DEAR MR. LEIGHTON,--I don't know which to admire most--the + "sketch," as _you_ call it (it seems "heroic" in size even now), + or your great kindness in sending it to me. Now that I may enjoy + it at my leisure--and I take my leisure very often--it seems + finer even than I thought it was. Not merely the _spirit_ of the + antique, but the antique _itself_, and the "antique" I mean is + the everlasting, the best mortal may ever hope to make. + + This is, as far as my capacity for judging is worth, _sincere_. + I know how perilous it is to say warmly what one feels, how it + is put down as "gush" and "bad form"; but when in this very + London fog of Art one sees a spark of pure light, there is some + excuse for shouting with joy. + + I should reproach myself with taking up overmuch of your time in + this matter, but I know that you are very good-natured; besides + you might have taken my poor little bronze tribute in as few + words as I sent it, and there it might have ended--though for + myself I am glad you did not, and shall be ever selfishly + thankful that you acted as kindly as you did. + + Pray don't bother to reply to this, I am too much your debtor + already.--Yours very sincerely, + + GEO. H. BOUGHTON. + + + 78 CORNWALL GARDENS, + QUEEN'S GATE, _May 11, 1877_. + + DEAR LEIGHTON,--I follow my instinct and sincere desire in + congratulating you on your magnificent statue in the Academy, + which I have just seen. It is superb. I think it the best statue + of modern days. I was riveted with admiration and astonishment; + and whatever you may think of my judgment, pray take this as my + humble and heartfelt tribute to a work of genius, which to my + mind ranks nearer "zur Antiken" than anything I have seen, + during my career, produced in any school or country. + + Believe me, with sincere admiration, yours, + + J.E. BOEHM. + +In 1890 Leighton made a replica of the statue in marble for the +Glyptothek in Copenhagen. It was exhibited in the Royal Academy +Exhibition in 1891. + +Many were the voices heard exclaiming that Leighton ought to give +himself entirely to sculpture. His masterly power in understanding +form, and giving expression to it in Art, was readily understood and +appreciated when he worked in the round, whereas it had been but +scantily appreciated in his painting; the fact being, that the public +is unaccustomed to find that power developed in modern pictures, +whereas in sculpture it is the principal and obvious aim in any +statue. However, whatever the public thought or expressed, Leighton +went on painting. In 1878 "Nausicaa" and "Winding the Skein" were +exhibited, both among Leighton's happiest works. A reticent grace in +the attitude of the figure, and a tender yearning sadness in the face, +makes this rendering of "Nausicaa" very attractive. "Winding the +Skein" is the best example of those fair pictures which Leighton +painted, and evidently delighted in painting, as records of +Southern--and more particularly--Greek light and atmosphere. For the +special charm in the tone and colouring to be understood, the picture +itself must be seen; but the design and delightful feeling in the +movement of the figures can be rendered in the reproduction. Again in +this work the fascinating little figure of Cleobouline appears and +also the teacher in the "Music Lesson." In all, Leighton painted +thirty-six important pictures, twenty-six slighter works,[51] and +executed his first statue, "Athlete Strangling a Python," in the ten +years between 1869 and 1879. + + [Illustration: "NAUSICAA." 1878] + +During these years the Royal Academy Exhibition took place in +Burlington House, it having previously been held in a suite of rooms +at the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. + +Leighton sent photographs of the cartoons for the "Industrial Arts of +War" and of "Peace"[52] to Steinle, who wrote his criticisms on the +designs. The following is Leighton's answer:-- + + _Translation._] + _February 3, 1874._ + + MY VERY DEAR FRIEND,--Your very welcome lines arrived + auspiciously a few days ago. I need not say how delighted I am + that you are not displeased with the two compositions of your + old pupil, and that you recognise in them a not unworthy effort. + I am especially grateful to you that while giving your + approbation you have enclosed a criticism, and only regret that + you have blamed but one thing, where there are unfortunately so + many faults. I shall endeavour, if these cartoons ever come to + be carried out, as far as possible to repress the faults which + you remark in "Peace"; for, as I am by all means passionate for + the true _Hellenic_ art, and am touched beyond everything by its + noble simplicity and its unaffected directness, so the _Roman_ + or Napoleonic at its highest is antipathetic to me--I had almost + said disgusting. The two compositions are intended for a large + court (where there are objects from all parts of the world and + of all epochs); they will not, however, stand _near_, but + opposite to one another. The figures will be life-size, the + foremost ones almost colossal. The "Arts of Peace" I transported + to Greece, partly out of sympathy, and partly on account of the + special beauty of the Greek ceramic and jewel work; the conduct + of arms seemed to me to find its highest expression in mediaeval + Italy, and I gladly seized this opportunity to tread the old + path again in which my feet now so seldom wander. + + If you really believe that my old friends in Frankfurt will be + interested in these works, I shall be extremely pleased if you + will put them in the Gallery; I wish only one thing, namely, + that it may be made quite clear to the spectator that they are + merely _cartoons_; their entire lack of effect would otherwise + be surprising. + + But the Pinta, of which you write, haunts my mind! If I had only + time to run over myself!--but it is impossible. + + Once more heartiest greetings, from your devoted pupil, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + +The Prince Consort, I believe, first conceived the idea of decorating +spaces on the walls of the Victoria and Albert Museum with frescoes, +as a memorial of the nation's gratitude on the close of the Crimean +War, and mentioned the subject to Leighton. It was not, however, till +1868 that Sir Henry Cole approached him officially on the subject in +the following letter:-- + + _July 14, 1868._ + + SIR,--The Lords of the Committee of Council on Education having + had under their consideration the subject of the permanent + decoration of the lunettes at the ends of the South Court of the + South Kensington Museum, have directed me to inquire if it would + be agreeable to you to undertake to execute a picture for one of + these lunettes, for which lunette their Lordships would be + prepared to authorise a payment of L1000, it being understood + that all rights of copying the work belong to the Department. + + When the court is completed, there will be four lunettes of a + similar size. At the present time, however, there are only two + spaces actually ready; and should you be willing to accept the + commission now offered to you, your picture would be placed in + one of these two finished lunettes. Mr. Watts, R.A., has been + asked to execute a similar commission for the second lunette; + and, in order that the works may have a certain symmetry in + respect of the scale of the figures, &c., it would be desirable + that you should place yourself into communication with him.--I + am, Sir, your obedient servant, + + HENRY COLE. + + [Illustration: STUDY FOR GROUP IN "THE ARTS OF PEACE," + Victoria and Albert Museum. 1873 + Leighton House Collection] + + [Illustration: FIRST SKETCH FOR FIGURE OF CIMABUE + Carried out in Mosaic in the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1868] + + [Illustration: ORIGINAL SKETCH FOR THE FIGURE OF NICCOLA PISANO + Carried out in Mosaic in the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1868] + +Watts was not prepared to accept the commission to execute one of the +frescoes, being already immersed in work which absorbed his whole time +and attention. He did, however, accept the commission to make a +cartoon for the figure of Titian to be worked in mosaic in one of the +spaces which form a kind of frieze along the side of the Southern +Court. Leighton, besides agreeing finally to paint frescoes on the +lunettes at each end of the court, made cartoons in 1868 for two of +these side spaces, one of the figure of Cimabue, the other of Niccolo +Pisano. Sketches for these are in the Leighton House Collection. (See +List of Illustrations.) + +A controversy took place between Leighton and Sir Henry Cole +respecting the question whether these figures were to be treated +pictorially or decoratively, whether the background was to be of plain +gold mosaic or whether there were to be objects depicted in +perspective behind the figures. The following part of a letter from +Leighton concluded the agreement. + + I submit that I have given reasons _why_ the figures under + discussion should not be pictures, and that you, on the other + hand, have not put forward a single reason why, a single + principle on which they _should_ be pictures. You have contented + yourself with adducing some precedents; as the question, + however, is entirely one of principles, precedent alone means + nothing, one way or another; if it were not so, I should have + opposed to you cases in which the, to my mind, sounder principle + is observed. + + Raphael's ceiling in the Vatican, for instance--an example you + will scarcely cavil at. There is not in the whole range of art a + single aberration that cannot be endorsed with some good name. + To glance once more at the principle: whether the gold behind + the figures be in effect the background of flat, or whether it + be, as you hold, "essentially something round"; whether or not + it be this, as I certainly assert, the wall throughout the + decoration, it is unanswerably a conventional _abstraction_, it + represents no concrete object, and as an _abstraction_ is + incompatible with any perspective representations of solid + objects, which presuppose space and distance--everything that is + on the _same_ plane as the figure is submitted to the same + conditions, hence any accessory on the pedestal is admissible; + everything _beyond_ the pedestal is part of the background, + which may be abstract or concrete, as you please, but _cannot_ + logically be _both_. + + I am the first to admit and admire the intimate connection which + existed formerly between architecture and painting: to say + "architecture and pictures," is to beg the whole question. In + condemning the loose practice of modern times, you cannot + propose upholding for admiration the mere fact that in old times + picture and wall were sometimes one, but no doubt allude with + just admiration to the harmony existing between them, in the + best examples, and to the wise adaptation of the one to the + other. You, I submit, are attacking and attempting to subvert + the very principles on which this harmony rests; my sole desire + is to assert and defend them, and I earnestly desire that, + actuated, as I am entirely convinced you are, more by the desire + to forward the truth than to triumph in argument, the views I + have put before you may eventually commend themselves to you, + and deter you from further encouraging a practice which may be + supported by precedent, but cannot be made tenable in theory. + +In the autumn of 1873 Leighton visited Damascus, where he made studies +for the picture exhibited in the 1874 Academy, "Old Damascus--Jews' +Quarter,"[53] and a fine sketch of the interior of the Grand Mosque +which he enlarged into a picture 62 x 49 inches, and exhibited in +1875. He also made a remarkable moonlight study preserved in the +Leighton House Collection. + + "One afternoon, late in the autumn of 1872," wrote Dr. William + Wright, "I was on the roof of my house trying to cool after a + long ride in the sun, when there came a loud knock at my door; + the latch was lifted, and presently a resplendent kavass mounted + to my platform. He explained to me that a noble Englishman was + coming up to see me, and with that Frederic Leighton skipped + gaily up the steps. After a courteous greeting and apology, he + sat down and became silent, absolutely wrapped up in the + pageantry of the sky. When I excused myself for the lapse of the + time, he looked at me, and said quietly, 'No artist ever wasted + time in accurately observing natural phenomena,' and added, + 'That sunset will mix with my paint, and will tint your ink as + long as either of us lives. It will never be over, it has dyed + our spirits in colours which can never be washed out.'" + +To his father he wrote:-- + + DAMASCUS, _October 18, 1873_. + + DEAR PAPA,--I find that I am not as completely cut off from the + western world here as I have been led to believe I was, and that + boats leave Damascus for Alexandria weekly, and not fortnightly, + as I told you in my hasty line of the other day; although, + therefore, you are no longer uneasy about my health, I will not + defer till the later boat thanking you for your welcome letter + which reached me two or three days ago. I am much shocked and + concerned to hear of the death of my poor friend Benson, for + which I was in no way prepared, the last accounts I had received + before leaving England being of a decidedly hopeful nature. A + kinder heart never beat than his, and I felt really attached to + him; he is a great loss to me. And now to tell you about myself. + Three tedious days on board a Russian boat which tossed and + rolled like a cork over a sea on which a P. and O. would have + been motionless, brought me to Beyrout, a cheery, picturesque, + sunny port at the foot of Lebanon; gay and glad I was to land, + and Andrea's cool, clean inn overlooking the sea was a + delightful haven of rest, and my first meal at a steady table + (or a real chair) was ambrosial. Being in a hurry to get to the + end of my journey, I did not stay more than half a day, but + started by diligence for Damascus, a journey of some thirteen + hours, first over Lebanon itself (which is fine, but by no means + grand as I had hoped), then across the Valley of Coelesyria, and + lastly over Antilebanon, at the foot of which the town lies. At + the last relay I found waiting for me a horse and dragoman, for + which and whom I had telegraphed in order that I might get the + famous view of Damascus about which travellers have told wonders + from time immemorial, and which is only to be seen from a bridle + path over the hill above the suburb of Sala'aijeh; unfortunately + the days are getting short, and I did not reach the proper spot + till just after sunset; not too late, however, to enjoy the + marvellous prospect before me, and to feel that it is worthy of + all that has been said in its praise. It is impossible to + conceive anything more startling than the suddenness with which, + emerging from a narrow and absolutely barren cleft in the rock, + you see spread before your eyes and at your feet a dense mass of + exuberant trees spreading for miles on to the plain which looks + towards Palmyra, and, rising white in the midst of it, the + Damascus of the thousand and one nights. It is a great and a + rare thing for an old traveller not to be disappointed, and I am + grateful that it has been so with me this time. About the town + _itself_--as seen, I mean, _from within_--I have a mixed + feeling. In some respects it equals all my hopes, or at least in + one respect; in others it falls short of them. I have remarked + that to be prepared for disappointment never in the slightest + degree deadens the blow, and, accordingly, although I have both + read and been told to my heart's content that I should find the + streets unpicturesque and without character, relatively of + course (relatively say, to Cairo, not to Baker Street), I was, + nevertheless, depressed and in a way surprised to find them so. + Of course, there are, as in every Eastern town, numberless + delightful bits, and those ennobled as regularly as the day + comes by a right royal sun and canopy of blue, yet in the main, + Cairo and, in a very different way, Algiers, are far more + brilliant, and by-the-bye although you see here an extraordinary + variety of costumes from the remotest corners of the East (I + have met Indians in the streets), a group of Algerine Bedouins + in their stately white robes is worth a whole bazaar full of the + peasants and pilgrims that throng Damascus. Then in + architecture, Damascus falls far behind Cairo, both for + abundance and beauty of its specimens. Its background, too, + Antilebanon, is unsatisfactory, humpy and without power of + character or beauty of line, such as makes the Red Mountains on + the skirt of the Cairene desert so delightful. Here then are the + shortcomings; but I have my compensation in the houses, the old + houses of which some few are standing, though grey and + perishing, and which are still lovely to enchantment. I can't + hope to convey to you in writing any idea of this loveliness, + and it is not within the scope of sketching (though I am doing + one or two little corners), but I am having three or four + photographs made (for there are none!) from which you will be + able to gather something of their charm. They cannot, however, + give you the splendour of the light, and the fanciful delicacy + of the colour in the open courts, or the intense and fantastic + gorgeousness of the interior. Indeed I shall probably not + attempt the latter, and though you will see lemon and myrtle + trees rising tall and slim out of the marble floors and bending + over tanks of running water, you will miss the vivid sparkling + of the leaves, and you will not hear the unceasing song of the + bubbling fountains. I wish I could report that I am doing much + work. I am doing some, and think I see my way to one or two + pot-boilers (the fatal, inevitable pot-boilers!); but distances + here are great, and so is the heat, and there is not much that + is within the compass of _sketching_, though there is endless + paintable material. I am doing a bit in the great mosque, which + is very delightful to me, in colour, and, if I can render it, + may strike others in the same way. I am having the spot + photographed in case I try to make a picture of it. The second + p.-b. would probably be some unambitious corner of a court with + a figure or two, _et voila_. It is late and I am sleepy, so + good-night and good-bye. I wish you gave me a brighter account + of Lina; give her too my best love. It was hardly worth while, + by-the-bye, to have my letters forwarded. I shall only get them, + if at all, just before leaving Damascus next week! I fear I + can't get back to England till end of third week in + November.--Your affectionate son, + + FRED. + +In the autumn of 1877 Leighton revisited Spain. A letter dated +September 21, 1877, Madrid, in which Leighton answers certain +questions asked by Mrs. Mark Pattison concerning art galleries and +dealers, ends with the following sentence:-- + + Thank you for what you tell me about Puvis de Chavannes' work. I + admire the designs for Ste. Genevieve hugely, and am altogether + an _aficionado_ of that odd, incomplete, but refined and poetic + painter; but for emptiness of modelling he seeks his peer in + vain. I am seeing Velasquez again for the third time; this is + the place in which to see him in all his splendour, and in all + his nakedness--but that would be a chapter, and not a hasty + note.--Very truly yours, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + +From Spain Leighton crossed to Tangiers, whence he wrote:-- + + TANGIERS, _October 4, 1877_. + + MY DEAR PAPA,--You are probably not a little surprised at the + superscription of this letter; so am I. It was a sudden and a + happy thought that brought me here. I reflected that, whilst I + had long wished to see Tangiers, I should not very probably come + to Spain again, and should therefore not have another chance of + visiting Morocco without a journey made on purpose. The run from + Gibraltar is only four hours, and I wonder the trip did not form + part of my original scheme. It will have one drawback for me, + that I shall get to Granada a few days later, and be by so much + the longer in getting news from England; but my journey will not + be prolonged on the whole, as I shall endeavour to cut off at + the end what I put on now. I the more owe myself what enjoyment + I can get here, that as I told you--did I not?--in my last, my + journey has been hitherto rather a dismal failure. I told you + how vile the weather was in Madrid, so that all technical study + of the pictures was out of the question. Well this is, since + then, the first perfectly fine afternoon we have had. Observe, I + only say afternoon, for it poured in the morning, and the + phenomenon of a wholly bright day has still to come. I am also + still further in arrears of enjoyment from the fact that I got + rather out of order, God knows why, the day I went to Toledo, to + the utter spoiling of what should have been one of my most + delightful trips, and am only now pulling round again, having + called in AEsculapius (at 2 dollars a consultation), whilst at + Gibraltar. An attack of this nature is simply fatal to any real + pleasure on one's journey, and, coming on the top of dark + weather and the contretemps just as the closing of the Alcazar + in Seville (one of the things I especially wanted to see) made + rather an absurd failure of the whole thing. At Seville I was + fool enough to go again to a bull-fight, and was so disgusted + that I got up and went away when the performance was only half + over. Meanwhile the aspect of the arena itself, with the + Cathedral and its marvellous tower rising just above into the + sky, is a very striking sight, and one I should regret to have + missed. The processional entry, too, of the whole of the + performers--picadors, capeodors, espadas, &c. &c.--is very + picturesque and stately. It is when the goring and torturing + begins that the sight is revolting; and the enormous popularity + of this form of sport with a nation, not, that I am aware of, + exceptionally cruel, only shows how easily our worst instincts + stifle our better nature, such as it is. + + This is a prodigiously picturesque place, and I enjoy more than + I can say watching the Arabs swarming up the streets and + markets, stately and grand in their picturesqueness beyond any + population that I know, and particularly instructive and + valuable to an artist from the sculpturesque _definiteness_ of + their forms. The Jewish women here are said (by Ford) to be + prodigiously handsome. I have seen no Rebeccas amongst them yet. + I have not yet opened my box, and shall at best do little or + nothing; I have no time. Next week I shall be in Granada, from + where I hope to have to acknowledge a letter dated in Kensington + Park Gardens. Meanwhile I am, with best love to Lina and + yourself,--Yours affectionately, + + FRED. + + + GRANADA, _October 19, 1877_. + + MY DEAR PAPA,--To-morrow is my last day in Granada. On Sunday I + turn my face Londonward, and my holiday will be pretty nearly at + an end, as I have, from want of time, given up my original + intention of seeing Valencia, Alicante, Tarragona, &c. &c. + Travelling in Spain is so infinitely slower than I had + remembered it, and so ideally inconvenient in regard to hours of + starting and arriving, that my programme has altogether + undergone considerable modifications. I reached this place a + good week later than I expected, and I did not get your letter + till some days later yet, owing, I suppose, to the difficulty + experienced by the postal authorities in the art of reading. + This will account to you for the time that will have elapsed + between your receipt of my two epistles. I am truly sorry to + hear that poor Lina is below par; tell her so, with my love. As + you do not speak of yourself, I presume that you are in good + form, and am glad to hear it. There is one passage in your + letter which suggests to me a strong protest. I think it + preposterous that the ambulant spinsters, or otherwise, with + whom you foregather on your journeys, should expect _you_ to + furnish them with photos of your "celebrated son." I like + enthusiasm; but _genuine_ enthusiasm does not halt at a + shilling, which is the sum for which my effigy is obtainable in + the public market; _verb. sap._ I will not describe to you + Toledo, Cordova, Seville, Granada, &c. (under which heads see + Murray's guide-book). I have done so before (probably), and they + have altered less than I, with the exception, perhaps, of + Granada, or rather the Alhambra, which, alas! is changed indeed, + thanks to the restoring mania, and is now all but brand new. I + ought, perhaps, to remark that the changes in _me_ are not + precisely in that direction. Taking a bird's-eye view of my + holiday, I don't think I should call it altogether a success, + though I have had many very delightful moments, and have seen + many very beautiful things; but, in the first place, I have + failed to fulfil one of the special objects of my trip, that, + namely, of making a few sketches of sky effects, particularly + seaside skies, which I sorely want for my picture of the girls + and the skein of worsted. I have not done so, because I have not + _once_ seen anything even resembling the skies I mean, and which + are generally forthcoming at this season. The weather has indeed + of late been fine, often if not always, and here even, at + times, superb; but it is the before the rains, and not, as it + should be, the clear, keen, autumn weather, after the air has + been well swept and purged by the equinoctial broom and pail, + which I had a right to demand of a Mediterranean October. This + is a great disappointment. I did not want to _work_, and God + knows I have not (five little sketches in all!); but just this + document I did peremptorily require. In the second place, I have + been rather seedy (am all right now), not very, but enough to + poison my pleasure; and just so much that, after two or three + little amateur attempts (local apothecary, fellow-travellers, + &c. &c.), I thought it right (at Gibraltar) to see a doctor, not + _because_ I was ill, but _lest_ I should get worse and develop + more serious symptoms, as internal disturbance occasionally does + in hot countries. In a few days (and two large bottles of + physic) I was much better, and am now, I repeat, quite "myself" + again. + + But I perceive that this uninteresting twaddle has filled my + paper, and barely left me space to tell that I have been to + Africa, and shall be home on the 28th (evening). Yes, to Africa; + Tangiers in four hours' steam from Gibraltar, and a most + picturesque spot, of which more when we meet. On my way home I + shall spend part of a day in Madrid, in the hopes of seeing the + pictures this time. On my road through France I shall make a + short break at Poitiers. _A bientot._--Affectionate son, + + FRED. + +During the nine years that Leighton was a Royal Academician he worked +most energetically in many directions towards establishing the +principles which he considered sound and essential to the growth of +the best Art instincts in England. He was one of the Professional +Examiners in Art from 1866 to 1875 at the Victoria and Albert Museum. +In 1884 he became one of the Art Referees for the Museum, and was +consulted by Sir Henry Cole to a considerable extent. He aided, as far +as lay in his power, all Art Societies to expand and to grow on the +lines of Catholicity. He was a member of the Committee of the Society +of Dilettanti, for the purpose of obtaining information as to the +probable success of renewed search for monuments of Greek Art. The +following extract from a report proves what an active part he took in +the business of the society:-- + + "In the autumn of the same year two hundred cases of + inscriptions and sculptures from Priene were transported from + Priene to Smyrna, and thence conveyed to England in H.M.S. + _Antelope_. In March 1870 the society presented these marbles to + the trustees of the British Museum. In May 1870 the committee, + then consisting of Earl Somers, Lord Houghton, Mr. Watkiss + Lloyd, Mr. Penrose, Mr. Cartwright, Mr. Leighton, and Mr. + Newton, held several meetings. The committee at their meetings + went carefully over all the drawings and details obtained by the + society of the Temple of Bacchus at Teos, Apollo Smintheus, and + Minerva Polias at Priene; they were of opinion that they would + form an interesting and valuable publication, and should be + proceeded with as soon as possible, and executed in a style + worthy of the former productions of the society. Mr. Leighton + offered to redraw the sculpture on some of the friezes, and Lord + Somers to prepare the landscape illustrations." + +In 1871 the President of the Artist Benevolent Fund, Mr. J.K. Kempton +Hope, wrote to Leighton: "I am peculiarly proud that the first act +which I have to perform in my new character is to say how honoured and +grateful we all should be if you would kindly consent to accept the +position of Vice-President." + +The following letter to his father announces that Leighton had been +elected President of the International Jury of Painting, Paris +Exhibition, 1878:-- + + HOTEL WESTMINSTER, 1878, + _Friday_. + + DEAR PAPA,--I have been waiting to write till I should have + something to say beyond the fact that the weather is odious, and + shows no signs of relenting. On Saturday afternoon we had our + meeting of the Royal Commissioners, which had for its object the + hearing of an address from the Prince of Wales. On Monday + morning the _whole_ International Jury (some six hundred or + seven hundred members) met at the Ministere de Commerce, and was + little more than formal. _To-day_ the group of sections which + are concerned with Art held its first meeting under the + presidency of Signor Tullio Massarani, an Italian, with + Meissonier as Vice-President, the chief object of the meeting + being to inform the various sections of the groups whom the + Minister had appointed as their respective presidents. My + section, composed of forty members, is _Paintings and Drawings_; + there are twenty Frenchmen--nearly all the first artists of the + country, in fact--and you will be surprised and very much + gratified to learn that I was named president of this section--a + very high honour, of course, and one of which I am extremely + sensible, but which we must not misinterpret; it is, of course, + only by an act of international courtesy that the French placed + a foreigner at the head of their section, and amongst the other + foreign artists there were few names of much weight or standing; + still, it is a courtesy which will, I am sure, give you + pleasure. Our section being thus constituted, we then appointed + our own _vice_-president, reporter, and secretary; they were + unanimously elected; the first was my old friend, Robert Fleury; + the second was Emile de Savelege, the Belgian writer whom you + know of; and the third an old and kind friend of mine, Maurice + Cottier, a man much mixed up in the official artistic world and + possessing a magnificent picture gallery. To-morrow we begin our + labours at the Exhibition, and in the afternoon I shall go to + the _seance_ of the _Institut_, which always takes place on + Saturdays. This is my budget. + +Perhaps the most important work inside the Academy which Leighton +effected during this time was that of establishing the winter +exhibitions of Old Masters at Burlington House. No one exemplified +practically better than did Leighton the value of the motto, "What is +worth having is worth sharing." He had been fed from early youth from +the fountain-heads of Art, and one of his first objects after being +elected a member of the Royal Academy was to endeavour to secure the +same inspiring stimulus for students which he had himself imbibed from +the work of the greatest men. He told me also that his chief object in +making conscientious studies in colour when he travelled, was to +endeavour to convey to students who were not able to go abroad some +idea of the varieties in the aspects of nature found in different +countries. Leighton was much appreciated in London society, but the +_intimes_ of the old Roman days remained still the nucleus of his +friendships; also every year he tried to find himself in his beloved +Italy, and he generally succeeded. From his old friend Lady William +Russell, mother of Odo Russell (afterwards Lord Ampthill and +Leighton's ally in Rome), and Arthur Russell--the notable lady whose +charm attracted to her _salon_ all that was most interesting among the +magnates of Europe--two notes record her affection for Leighton and +the death of Henry Greville in 1872, the severest blow which Leighton +had sustained since the death of his mother. + + I was in hopes of seeing you, to thank you _viva voce_ for the + _ambrosia_ you sent me from Italy. I did _not_ write during your + pictorial tour, not exactly knowing _where_ you might be. It + was, _and is_, for I have some still, _excellent_; Paolo + Veronese did not eat any better, nor Titian, nor any of your + _Brethren in Apollo_. + + _Guido_ you _are_--the English Guido--but _not_ "da Polenta"; I + will _not_ accept that "terre a terre" denomination. I now thank + you most gratefully--it was one of the seven works of mercy, for + I really could not eat and was _starving_. The Indian cornflour + was a _renovation_. If ever you can make up your mind to pay a + visit to una povera vealisa--zoppa--sorda--brutta and seccante, + and forget "_Aurora_," I shall be charmed. But I know that your + time is better employed; so a million of thanks, and as many + regrets not to be able to see your _marvels_ of which I + hear.--Believe me, most sincerely your obliged Serva and Amica, + + E.A.R. + 2 AUDLEY SQUARE MAYFAIR, W. + _Sunday, 26th November 1871_. + + + DEAR GUIDO (but _not_ of Polenta),--I have been quite + _mortified_ at your neglect of me, and invoked the muses in + vain! and call'd on the ghosts of Titian and Raffael, but they + did not heed my sighs! I am always glad to see you, and wish I + could _see your works_! All my cotemporaries and comrades are + dying off, and I _cannot_ last long--so come to my "Evenings at + Home" when you dine in my "Quartier" and are going to your club. + + Alas! for dear Henry Greville! I knew him from his most early + youth. _Both_ his parents were my _early_ friends from _my_ + youth, and his elder brother my cotemporary. + + Come! Benvenuto Cellini--venite! + + _Monday, February 1873._ + +Leighton's passion for music led him to encourage all that was best in +instrumental as well as in vocal performance. The Monday Popular +Concerts were started by Messrs. Chappell in 1859, the first being +given on the 3rd January. From their commencement Leighton was a +subscriber, and very rarely missed being present. + +It was in the 'seventies that Leighton instituted those yearly feasts +of music, which were among the real treats of the year.[54] His dear +friend Joachim was to the end the _piece de resistance_ of these +gatherings. Never did the Great Master seem so inspired as when he +played in that studio. Leighton wrote to his sister, Mrs. Matthews, +April 1871:-- + + DEAREST GUSSY,--You heard, no doubt, that I gave a party the + other day, and that it went off well. To me perhaps the most + striking thing of the evening was Joachim's playing of Bach's + "Chacone" up in my gallery. I was at the other end of the room, + and the effect from the distance of the dark figure in the + uncertain light up there, and barely relieved from the gold + background and dark recess, struck me as one of the most poetic + and fascinating things that I remember. At the opposite end of + the room in the apse was a blazing crimson rhododendron tree, + which looked glorious where it reached up into the golden + semi-dome. Madame Viardot sang the "Divinites du Styx," from the + "Alcestis," quite magnificently, and then, later in the evening, + a composition of her own in which I delight--a Spanish-Arab + ditty, with a sort of intermittent mandoline scraping + accompaniment. It is the complaint of some forsaken woman, and + wanders and quavers in a doleful sort of way that calls up to me + in a startling manner visions and memories of Cadiz and Cordova, + and sunny distant lands that smell of jasmine. A little Miss + Brandes, a pupil of Madame Schumann, played too. She is full of + talent and promise, and has had an immense success. Mme. Joachim + sang "Mignon" (Beethoven) excellently. + + [Illustration: Sketch executed on the spot by Mr. Theodore Blake + Wirgman of their Majesties the King and Queen attending a + Popular Concert in St. James's Hall, Lord Leighton being one of + the Royal party. About 1893.] + +Mrs. Watts Hughes writes the following notes relating to those years +of the 'seventies:-- + + I remember the incident you refer to at Eton College. The + _Orfeo_ performance was given by the Eton boys, who had formed a + society among themselves with the view of making acquaintance + with the music of the great masters. I took the part of _Orfeo_, + and a niece of Darwin's, Miss Wedgwood, who is now Lady Farrer, + sang Euridice's part. I believe Lord Leighton sang in some of + the quartettes and choruses. I often met Lord Leighton at Mrs. + Sartoris' musical gatherings at her house in Park Place, St. + James', when he would sing very heartily the tenor parts of the + old madrigals, in which also Mrs. Douglas Freshfield, Miss + Ritchie, and others took part with Mrs. Sartoris, who on some + occasions would sing one of her great operatic _Arias_ which + brought her so much fame in her former years. + +In 1877 Leighton began to build the famous Arab Hall.[55] + +The following letters from Sir Richard Burton refer to the collecting +and sending of one instalment of the precious tiles:-- + + DAMASCUS, _March 22, 1871_. + + DEAR MR. LEIGHTON,--I have just returned from a pilgrimage to + Jerusalem, or yours of April 14th, 1871, would not have remained + so long unanswered. And now to business. I am quite as willing + to have a house pulled down for you now as when at Vichy,[56] + but the difficulty is to find a house with tiles. The + _bric-a-brac_ sellers have quite learned their value, and demand + extravagant sums for poor articles. Of course you want good old + specimens, and these are waxing very rare. My friends, Drake and + Palmer, were lucky enough, when at Jerusalem, to nobble a score + or so from the so-called Mosque of Omar. Large stores are + there found, but unhappily under charge of the Wakf, and I fancy + that long payments would be required. However, I shall send your + letter to my colleague, Moore, who will do what he can for you. + The fact is, it is a work of patience. My wife and I will keep a + sharp look-out for you, and buy up as many as we can find which + seem to answer your description. If native inscriptions--white + or blue, for instance--are to be had, I shall secure them, but + not if imperfect. Some clearing away of rubbish is expected at + Damascus; the Englishman who superintends is a friend of mine, + and I shall not neglect to get from him as much as possible. + + We met Holman Hunt at Jerusalem; he was looking a little worn, + like a veritable denizen of the Holy City. I hope that you have + quite recovered health. Swinburne, the papers say, has been + sick; his "Songs before Sunrise" show even more genius than + "Poems and Ballads." What has become of Mrs. Sartoris? I saw her + son's appointment in the papers. Poor Vichy must be quite + ruined--veritably it was a Cockney hole. Syria is a poor Chili; + the Libanus is a mole-hill compared with the Andes--do you + remember? I am planning a realistic book which has no Holy Land + on the brain, and the public will curse her like our army in + Flanders. Pilgrims see everything through a peculiar medium, and + tourists shake hands (like madmen) when they sight the Plain of + Esdraelon or Sharon, as the case may be. + + _N.B._--Both plains are like the poorer parts of our midland + counties. My wife joins in kind remembrances.--Ever yours + sincerely, + + RICHARD F. BURTON. + + [Illustration: PORTRAIT OF SIR RICHARD BURTON, K.C.M.G. 1876] + + + TRIESTE, _July 13, 1876_. + + MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--One word to say that the tiles are packed, + and will be sent by the first London steamer--opportunities are + rare here. Some are perfect, many are broken; but they will make + a bit of mosaic after a little trimming, and illustrate the + difference between Syriac and Sindi. They are taken from the + tomb (Moslem) of Sakhar, on the Indus. I can give you analysis + of glaze if you want it; but I fancy you don't care for + analyses. The yellow colour is by far the rarest and least + durable apparently. The blues are the favourites and the best. + + Here we are living in a typhoon of lies. I am losing patience, + and shall probably bolt to Belgrade in search of truth. Austria + is behaving in her usual currish manner, allowing her policy to + be managed by a minority of light-headed, Paddy-whack Magyars + and pudding-headed, beer-brained Austro-Germans. How all Europe + funks the Slavs, and how well the latter are beginning to know + it. + + Very grand of _la grande Bretagne_ to propose occupying Egypt + without any army to speak of. Sorry that you don't understand + the force of the expression, the "world generally," but will try + some time or other to make it clear. United best regards and + wishes. Why don't you take a holiday to Turkey?--Ever yours, + + R.F. BURTON. + + _P.S._--I hear that W. Wright has subsided into an Irish + conventicle, and that Green doesn't like prospect of returning + to Dan! + +The construction of this thing of beauty, the Arab Hall, is a visible +and permanent proof of the side in Leighton's artistic endowments +which are so rarely found in northern, or indeed any modern nations, +and the want of which are gradually leading our world into being very +ugly--namely, the sense of the appropriate, of balance, of proportion, +and of harmony in the construction and decoration of buildings. As an +adherent of the pre-Raphaelites, William Morris had been battling with +this tasteless condition of things for some years--strenuously working +to counteract the unmeaning adaptations of foreign designs of all +times and of all countries into English work, and the general +muddledom into which the decoration in the surroundings of domestic +life had fallen, by starting afresh on the lines of simple good +designs of English pre-Puritan days. Leighton's taste had been +inspired, in the first instance, by the crafts as well as by the art +of Italy. Subsequently, the East had fascinated him. He admired +greatly the frank, courageous beauty in the colouring of the +decorations of her buildings; but, having an acute sense of the +appropriate, he felt that they would not harmonise successfully with +the necessary surroundings of English domestic life. He was +therefore inspired to erect a special shrine for his collection of +enamels. It has been truly said that the Arab Hall is as notable a +creation in Art as any of Leighton's pictures or statues. The beauty +of its effect is greatly enhanced by the arrangement of light and +shade which leads on to the wonderfully beautiful casket of treasures. +Monsieur Choisy, the distinguished French architect, wrote as follows +in the _Times_ of April 27, 1896, when advocating the preservation of +this house for the public: "Nowhere have I found in an architectural +monument a happier gradation of effects, nor a more complete knowledge +of the play of light. The entrance to the house is by a plain hall +that leads to a '_patio_' lit from the sky, where enamels shine +brilliantly in the full light; from this 'patio' one passes into a +twilight corridor, where enamel and gold detach themselves from an +architectural ground of richness somewhat severe; it is a transition +which prepares the eye for a jewel of Oriental Art, where the most +brilliant productions of the Persian potter are set in architectural +frame inspired by Arab Art, but treated freely; the harmony is so +perfect that one asks oneself if the architecture has been conceived +for the enamels, or the enamels for the hall. This gradation, perhaps +unique in contemporary architecture, was Leighton's idea; and the +illustrious painter found in his old friend Mr. G. Aitchison, who +built his house, a worthy interpreter of his fine conception. This +hall, where colour is triumphant, was dear to Leighton, and even forms +the background to some of his pictures. Towards the end of his life he +still meant to embellish it by substituting marble for that small part +that was only painted. The generous employment of his fortune alone +prevented him from realising his intention. + +"England has at all times given the example of honouring great men; +she will, I am sure, find the means of preserving for Art a monument +of which she has such reason to be proud."[57] + + [Illustration: VIEW OF ARAB HALL. 1906] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[42] In the Leighton House Collection is a splendid study for the +wrestling figure of Heracles, also for the recumbent Alcestis, and the +drapery for the phantom figure of Death. The figure of Heracles, fine +as it is in the picture, lacks somewhat of the ardent quality in the +action of the sketch. Owing to the public-spirited generosity of its +owner, the late Right Hon. Sir Bernhard Samuelson, this picture has +travelled all over the world for exhibition. It was also lent to +Leighton House for more than a year in 1901. + +[43] In the Leighton House Collection is a head in oils (presented by +the late Alfred Waterhouse, R.A.) which Leighton painted actually by +moonlight in Rome, as a study for one of the figures in "Summer Moon." +See List of Illustrations. + +[44] See study for picture in Leighton House Collection. + +[45] Leighton had a cast made of this, and his copy is still in the +collection in his house. Another copy he gave to Watts, who admired it +beyond measure. Watts recounted to me that so preciously did he value +it, that, not daring to expose it to the danger of housemaids' dusting, +he carefully wrapped it up in handkerchiefs and put it in a drawer. One +day, alas! forgetting it was there, in a hurry, he pulled the bundle of +handkerchiefs out; it fell to the floor and was smashed. + +[46] _The Athenaeum_ described the work when it appeared. "There is the +grandeur of Greek tragedy in Mr. Leighton's 'Clytemnestra watching for +the signal of her husband's return from Troy.' The time is deep in the +fateful night, while the city sleeps; moonlight floods the walls, the +roofs, the gates, and the towers with a ghastly glare, which seems +presageful, and casts shadows as dark as they are mysterious and +terrible. The dense blue of the sky is dim, sad, and ominous. But the +most ominous and impressive element of the picture is a grim +figure--the tall woman on the palace roof before us, who looks Titanic +in her stateliness, and huge beyond humanity in the voluminous white +drapery that wraps her limbs and bosom. Her hands are clenched and her +arms thrust down straight and rigidly, each finger locked as in a +struggle to strangle its fellow; the muscles swell on the bulky limbs. +Drawn erect and with set features, which are so pale that the moonlight +could not make them paler, the queen stares fixedly and yet eagerly +into the distance, as if she had the will to look over the very edge of +the world for the light to come." + +[47] The Hon. Mrs. Grenfell. + +[48] Purchased by the trustees of the Chantrey Bequest and placed in +the Tate Gallery. + +[49] Leighton gave this group to Watts, who expressed to me an +unbounded admiration for it. "Nothing more beautiful has ever been +done! Pheidias never did anything better. I believe it was better even +than Pheidias!" were the words Watts used when deploring the fact that +he had lent it to a sculptor to be cast--something had gone wrong in +the process of casting, and it had been destroyed. When giving me the +modelled sketch for the "Python," Watts said, "I am giving you the most +beautiful thing I have in my place." + +[50] The group of singing girls modelled as a study for "The +Daphnephoria." + +[51] See complete list in Appendix. + +[52] The "Arts of War" lunette was commenced in 1870 and finished in +1880. The "Arts of Peace," begun in 1881, was completed in 1886. An +account of these two frescoes appeared in the _Magazine of Art_ written +by Mr. J. Ward, the master of the Macclesfield School of Art, who +assisted Leighton in the work. + +[53] In a letter from Mr. J.G. Hodgson, A.R.A., praises are bestowed on +this picture and the "Moorish Garden" at the expense of "Clytemnestra" +and the "Antique Juggling Girl." The letter is a good example of the +criticisms which Leighton's serious work often received--that work in +which, nevertheless, he was most true to himself. The ordinary English +eye neither longed for nor appreciated Leighton's native Hellenic +strain. + + 5 HILL ROAD, + _Friday, April 4, 1874_. + + MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--I was immensely delighted with your two + pictures of the Jew's house and the Alhambra ("Moorish Garden: A + Dream of Granada"). I was at the opera last night, but thought + much less of Crispin and his Comara than of them; they are quite + charming, and excite me with the desire of emulation, at that + safe distance which is inherent in the nature of things. For + your "Clytemnestra" and the other ("Antique Juggling Girl"), I, + being a Philister, care nothing at all. From those to turn to + these, seems like leaving a garden fragrant with roses and + citron blossoms, where I hear the murmur of cooling streams, + Abanah and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, to enter a museum filled + with dusty plaster casts. + + After all, the woes of the house of Atreus are now of very + little importance to mankind, or interest either. The most of + the latter they possess, is that they serve as themes for some + good Greek play, which had better have been burnt, as they have + hampered the genius of modern Europe and taught us nothing. Had + only Homer and the lyrics survived, we should have done better. + At all events, if a man must illustrate, why does he not + illustrate Shakespeare, a bigger man head and shoulders than any + of the Greek tragedists? But it appears to me you are made for a + much better and more intellectual purpose than illustrating + anybody. You have the eye to see and power to represent what you + see. You have special gifts and faculties highly trained. The + aspect of nature, as it appears to such a mind, would be of the + highest intellectual value to us, and would lead to progress. I + don't think modern art differs from that of any other day. It + has always been the effort to represent what is seen every day, + bringing to bear upon the representation the greatest possible + amount of culture, _i.e._ of reflection and selection. The women + and that dear little girl in the courtyard of your Jew's house + will outlive all the "Clytemnestras," &c.; they live with blood + in their veins, the others are but galvanised corpses. There I + have had it out; you must not complain, because you have had to + apologise for slashing into me, and now it is my turn. In the + prologue to Goethe's "Faust," if you remember, the poet, a + stubborn fellow, has his notions of the high aim of his art. He + will do nothing but what is extremely sublime, &c. The clown + quite agrees that such things may possibly do for the future, + but who, says he, is to amuse the present? I am that sort of + clown, I suppose. Don't be riled, and believe me,--Very much + your admiring friend, + + J.G. HODGSON. + +[54] Mr. William Spottiswoode wrote of one of these:-- + + "DEAR LEIGHTON,--Best of thanks from Mrs. Spottiswoode and + myself for another of the happiest day-dreams of the year, viz. + your afternoons at home." + +[55] Mr. Aitchison, R.A., wrote: "During his visits to Rhodes, to +Cairo, and Damascus, he made a large collection of lovely Saracenic +tiles, and had besides bought two inscriptions, one of the most +delicate colour and beautiful design, and the other sixteen feet long +and strikingly magnificent, besides getting some panels, stained glass, +and lattice-work from Damascus afterwards; these were fitted into an +Arab Hall, something like La Zira at Palermo, in 1877." + +The Arab Hall was begun November 1877, virtually completed by the end +of 1879, but some small matters not till 1881. Materials--Bastard +statuary, _i.e._ the marble columns in the angle recesses. These caps +are of alabaster, designed by George Aitchison, R.A., and modelled by +Sir E. Boehm. The large columns are of Caserta marble, caps of stone, +birds modelled by Caldecott; column niches lined with Devonshire spar; +dado, Irish black; string, Irish green, and bases of small columns. +Those of the large columns are of Genoa green and Belgian blue; the +marble lining behind big columns is of Pyrennean green, and the panel +overhead; the lintel of Irish red. The marble work was done by White & +Son, Vauxhall Bridge Road. Mosaic floor, designed by George Aitchison, +R.A.; executed by Messrs. Burke & Co., who replaced fountain of white +marble with the single slab of Belgian black. Chandelier, designed by +G.A. Aitchison, R.A., executed by Forrest & Son, now extinct. The +lattices to the lower part of the gallery designed by George Aitchison, +R.A. + +Sir Caspar P. Clarke wrote: "I was commissioned in 1876, by the +authorities at South Kensington, to proceed to the East to buy artistic +objects for the Museum. Before I started Leighton asked me, if I went +to Damascus, to go to certain houses and try to effect the purchase of +certain tiles. I had no difficulty in finding my market, for Leighton, +with his customary precision, had accurately indicated every point +about the dwellings concerned, and their treasures. I returned with a +precious load, and in it some large family tiles, the two finest of +which are built into the sides of the alcove of the Arab Hall. Leighton +made no difficulty about the price, and insisted upon paying double +what I had given. He never spoke of picking things up cheap, and +scouted the idea of 'bargains in Art objects.'" + +[56] Leighton, Sir Richard Burton, Algernon Swinburne, and Adelaide +Sartoris passed some weeks together at Vichy in September 1869. +Swinburne wrote in 1875: "We all owe so much to Leighton for the +selection and intention of his subjects--always noble, always +beautiful--and these are always worthy of a great and grave +art."--"Essays and Studies," A.C. Swinburne. + +[57] Letters from Lord and Lady Strangford to Leighton exist on matters +concerning the East, on which both were great authorities. + +"Will you accept," Lady Strangford wrote, "as a token of my admiration +of your house, a piece of ancient Persian needlework? It is really old, +and it is said that they no longer do anything of the kind in Persia, +and that these pieces are valuable. I do not know if this is true or +not, but _if_ you _like_ the thing, please use it among the many +treasures you have already accumulated. It is to my eyes a nice bit of +harmonious colouring. Let it say to you how much, how very much, I +enjoyed your sketches.--Yours very truly, + + E.A. STRANGFORD. + +"_P.S._--I bought the work from a Persian at Antioch." + +To Professor Church Mr. Aitchison wrote after Leighton's death: "I +cannot urge the preservation of his home and surroundings, as I built +the house, for there are always too many to attribute low motives to +everybody, and it would be called personal advertisement; though when +one's work is done it becomes almost impersonal, and if it did not, the +fact remains the same, that here he (Leighton) lived and drew part of +his culture and inspiration from his surroundings. As a mere matter of +reverence, how many would come from all parts of the civilised world to +see his abode!" + + [Illustration: PROFESSOR GIOVANNI COSTA + Painted at Lerici, October 1878] + + + + +CHAPTER V + +LEIGHTON AS PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY + +1878-1896 + + +Leighton was at Lerici in the autumn of 1878, visiting his dear old +friend Giovanni Costa ("an artist in a hundred--a man in ten +thousand," were Leighton's words describing him), when he received a +telegram stating that Sir Francis Grant was dead. "The President is +dead! Long live the President!" exclaimed Costa. Leighton remained in +Italy, sketching landscapes and painting heads--one, the portrait of +Costa--till his holiday was over, the end of October. On the 18th of +November he was elected President of the Royal Academy. Thirty-five +Academicians voted for Leighton, five for Mr. Horsley. + +Leighton wrote to his younger sister:-- + + 1878. + + DEAREST GUSSY,--You perhaps have heard from Lina that I had an + overwhelming majority, and that the outer world beyond artistic + has warmly received my election, which is of course infinitely + gratifying, but fills me with a dread of disappointing + everybody. Monday I go to Windsor to be knighted. Yes, I got a + first-class gold medal for my statue[58]--at least, it was + awarded, and I shall get it some time. I also don't mind telling + you in _strict confidence_--because it is not yet a _fait + accompli_--that I am, I believe, to have the "ruban" of an + Officier de la Legion d'Honneur. I am so glad, dear, your wrists + are better--may they keep so. Love to old Joseph (Joseph + Joachim) when you see him. + +Most treasured of all congratulations were doubtless these lines from +his beloved master, Steinle:-- + + _Translation._] + FRANKFURT AM MAIN, + _December 1, 1878_. + + DEAR AND HONOURED FRIEND,--To-day I have read in the paper that + the choice of President of the Royal Academy has fallen upon + you, and since I am convinced that this distinguished position + is both appropriate to your services to art, and also certainly + well merited, you must permit an old friend, who remains bound + to you in love only, to offer you his dearest and warmest good + wishes upon this honour. I pray God, that your position may + provide you with great power in your country for good so as to + enable you to encourage the noblest things in art. I am + convinced that you, dear friend, will make a right and fruitful + use of it. I often set my pupils to make enlarged drawings of + single groups from your medieval Equipment for the Defence of + the Town,[59] and rejoice in the admirable studies which you + made for that cartoon. I, dear friend, am in my old age still + active and industrious, and would gladly go on learning. Should + God grant life, I shall next year complete my work on the + Strassburg master, which will demand all my love and strength. + Here we have now built a new gallery, on the other side of the + river Main, and a new studio. The collections are good, and more + suitably accommodated than heretofore, and there is no want of + space for future additions. Perhaps one of your journeys will + bring you again to the old Main town, and so to the arms of your + old friend. My dear President, I repeat my good wishes, and + remain with all my heart, your truly devoted, + + EDW. STEINLE. + +From his birthplace Leighton received the following announcement:-- + + BOROUGH OF SCARBOROUGH. + + At a meeting of the Council of the Borough of Scarborough, in + the County of York, held in the Town Hall in the said Borough, + on Monday the ninth day of December, 1878,-- + + Present,-- + THE MAYOR (W.C. LAND, Esq.) in the chair,-- + + It was moved by the Mayor, seconded by Alderman Woodall, and + resolved unanimously: "That this Council learns with peculiar + satisfaction and pleasure of the election of a native of + Scarborough, in the person of SIR FREDERIC LEIGHTON, to the + Presidency of the Royal Academy, and respectfully offers to Sir + Frederic its warm congratulations, and records its conviction + that his great talents as an artist, his attainments as a + scholar, and his many striking qualifications, eminently fit him + to adorn the high position to which he has been called." + + W.C. LAND, Mayor. + +Robert Browning wrote:-- + + 19 WARWICK CRESCENT, W., + _November 14, 1878_. + + DEAR LEIGHTON,--I wish you joy with all my heart, and + congratulate us all on your election. There ought to have been + no sort of doubt as to the result, but the best of us are + misconceived sometimes, though in your case never was a right + more incontestable. All I hope is that your new duties will in + no way interfere with the practice of your Art. I only venture + to write, now, as one who, so many a year ago, saw your + beginning with "Cimabue," and from that time to this remained + confident what your career would be. But you know all this, and + it requires no answer, being rather a spurt of satisfaction at + my own original discernment than any assurance which I can fancy + you need from,--Yours very truly, + + ROBERT BROWNING. + + Pen's letter to me, two days since, contained his earnest wishes + for what has just happened, and he will be delighted + accordingly. + +From Matthew Arnold:-- + + ATHENAEUM CLUB, PALL MALL, S.W., + _November 15_. + + MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--One line (which you need not answer) to say + how delighted I am to see what an excellent choice the Royal + Academy has made. + + I only hope poor O'Conor may not take advantage of the occasion + to plant an ode and a letter.--Ever sincerely yours, + + MATTHEW ARNOLD. + +From Hubert Herkomer:-- + + _November 27, 1878._ + + MY DEAR SIR FREDERIC LEIGHTON,--I am just recovering from an + attack of brain fever, and although I am not allowed yet to + write, I can no longer wait without dictating a letter to + express my own individual pleasure at your being the new + President. + + Three years ago you wrote me a letter after seeing my "Chelsea + Pensioners." Perhaps you little dreamt of the tears of joy that + that letter caused in a young painter, who will always feel that + he owes you a debt of gratitude; and now he glories in your + being the chief of that body which attracts to it all the + principal art of the country. All England feels that you, from + your new position, will give new life to it. Perhaps you will + allow me, when I am sufficiently recovered, to come and see you. + + In the meantime believe me to be, with most heartfelt + congratulations,--Sincerely yours, + + A.H., _pro_ HUBERT HERKOMER. + SIR FREDERIC LEIGHTON, P.R.A. + +A friend writes:-- + + _November 15._ + + DEAR MR. LEIGHTON,--I have tried to keep silence, telling myself + that it cannot matter what I think or feel on the subject (and + that it may seem to you a very unnecessary proceeding!); but I + _cannot_ resist the temptation to tell you how warmly I rejoice, + and how earnestly I congratulate _myself_ and all other + hungerers after wholesome beauty of colour and form, and high + ideals of greatness and purity, on your acceptance of a position + that one may hope will, nay must, influence the Art of this time + for good in every sense. One takes a great breath of relief as + one thinks of it! + + Were I to describe to you the effect your works produce on me, + and the feeling of real reverence I have for them, I should + appear to exaggerate, and should certainly bore you, so I will + say no more! and I am not given to that sort of thing. + + My beloved Lady Waterford was much disappointed that you could + not come and meet her; I need not say, so were we: it was a + great enjoyment to have her, she is like no one else; and I yet + hope you may come and meet here some day. Pray do not answer + this; of course you are overwhelmed with business, and it would + hurt me to have it considered and acknowledged as a + complimentary civility! whereas it is nothing but an involuntary + overflowing to relieve my mind. + +From Lord Coleridge:-- + + 1 SUSSEX SQUARE, W., + _November 24, 1878_. + + MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--Let me add one voice more, small but true, to + the great chorus of applause with which your election has been + greeted. It might seem left-handed praise to say that your + election was the only possible one; but it is very true praise + to say it was the only possible one if the highest interests of + English Art, and of the Academy itself, were the sole object of + the electors. + + It would have pleased and touched you to hear old Boxall speak + of it. I dined with him alone on Friday, and he was just and + generous, as he always is, in his appreciation of you, and + looked forward to your reign as likely to be one of high aims + and noble motives. It is a small thing to say, but I venture to + agree with him.--Ever sincerely yours, + + COLERIDGE. + +These are a few among many hundred congratulatory letters Leighton +received on his election. One from Mrs. Fanny Kemble he answered in +the following March, when already he was beset by requests to use his +influence to get friends' friends' work hung on the walls of the +Academy:-- + + _March 20, 1879._ + + DEAR MRS. KEMBLE,--Many thanks for your very amiable words of + congratulations on the honour done me by the Royal Academy. The + kind sympathy shown towards me by my friends had added very + greatly indeed to the pleasure my election gave me. The belief + entertained by Miss ---- that the admission of works to an + exhibition is a simple matter of personal favour, is shared by + all foreigners--and I fear by many English people--and places me + at this time of year in much and often painful embarrassment. So + robust is this belief, that those who, having applied to me, + fail to find their works on our walls ascribe their absence to + personal unfriendliness or discourtesy on my part, or, to say + the least, to lukewarmness. As a matter of fact each work of art + is admitted or rejected by a separate vote of the Council, and + that in complete ignorance (except where authorship _saute aux + yeux_) of the artist's name. This applies equally to English + painters and foreign artists who reside here. In regard, + however, to foreigners sending _from abroad_, whilst the vote is + taken in the same way, admission is much more difficult. We have + so many Anglo-foreign painters who live amongst us that, our + Exhibition not being international, we can only admit a very + limited number of really prize works. These works are therefore + brought before us separately, and a small number of them + selected, according to the space we have to deal with; I myself + as a rule dissuade my foreign friends from sending except in + cases where their merit is really very great; this may be Miss + ---- case; you will best know. I am quite sure, my dear Mrs. + Kemble, that you do not doubt the pleasure it would give me to + serve you in the person of your friend, and will not + misinterpret these lengthy explanations. + + And now I have a favour to ask of you. On Wednesday the 26th, at + 3 o'clock in the afternoon, Joe will, I hope, play at my studio, + and with him Miss Janotha and Piatti; Henschel will, I hope, + sing. Will you give me the great pleasure of seeing you amongst + my friends on that occasion?--Believe me always, yours very + truly, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + +On December 10, 1879, Leighton delivered his first address to the +students of the Royal Academy--one of the finest of the many fine +achievements of Leighton's life. "Purely practical and technical +matters" he put aside to look into a wider and deeper question, that +of the position of Art in its relation to the world at large in the +present and in the past time, in order to gather something of its +prospects in the future. If the question why Leighton held +indisputably the great position he did were asked me by one who for a +first time had heard his name, I should be inclined to answer, +"Because he contained within him the combined powers to execute +completely the art which he created, and to think out and feel such +profound, sympathetic, and wise truths as those to be found in this +address."[60] + +Among the large number of appreciative letters Leighton received were +the following. + +Millais wrote:-- + + 2 PALACE GATE, KENSINGTON, + _December 11, 1879_. + + DEAR LEIGHTON,--I was suffering all yesterday with tooth-ache, + otherwise I would have attended the distribution last night. The + ceremony is always most interesting to me, awakening as it does + many anxious and happy recollections. My object in writing to + you is to say I have read your address, which I think so + beautiful, true, and _useful_ that I cannot but obey an impulse + of congratulating you upon it. For some time past I have been + putting down notes on Art which some day may be put into form, + and I find we are thinking precisely in the same way. I have + used identical words in what I have written to those you + delivered yesterday. + + The exponents of Art surround it in such a cloud of mystery + that it is a real gain when a practical authority is able to say + something definite and clear the way.--Yours sincerely, + + J.E. MILLAIS. + +His poet-friend wrote:-- + + WOODBERRIE, LOUGHTON, ESSEX, + _December 11, 1883_. + + MY DEAR SIR FREDERIC,--Have any of the multitude of men who love + you ever called you Chrysostom? It seems so natural after + reading yesterday's address. Will it be published by itself and + obtainable in some handier form than the broadsheet of the + _Times_? I want it as part of the education of my daughter, who + now, at sixteen, is beginning to take a new interest in + whatsoever things are lovely and of good report, and I want it + for myself, for in its lovely suggestiveness and exquisite + English I could often find refreshment when I wanted (and + needed) to "travel in the realms of gold," and forget my own + invalided personality under the magic of such guidance. + + My wife desires me to say a word of gracious remembrance to you, + and I am ever, faithfully yours, + + ROBIN ALLEN. + +Mr. Briton Riviere: + + FLAXLEY, 82 FINCHLEY ROAD, N.W., + _December 11, 1879_. + + DEAR SIR FREDERIC,--After hearing your admirable address last + night, I came home in despair, for what little basis of thought + is contained in my lectures (more especially in the second one) + is built chiefly upon two or three of the lines of argument that + you have already expressed so beautifully: Sincerity in the + student--The effect of his own time upon him--That time in its + relation to the time of the Old Masters, and the temper of mind + in which the Old Masters should be studied; on these points my + lectures are but a feeble echo of what I heard last night. + + My first thought was to change my whole line of battle, and + re-write them, but the extreme limitation of my powers of work + would make this too great a sacrifice. To throw them up + altogether, which I should much like, is impossible, for I am + pledged to the Academy to do my best. + + Clearly, I must go on, but I shall do so more easily now that I + have explained my position, so that if any one who hears me + should tell you that my lectures were only a parody of what you + had already said so well, you will believe that it has been the + misfortune and not the fault of yours very truly, + + BRITON RIVIERE. + + Don't trouble to answer this. + +Matthew Arnold:-- + + ATHENAEUM CLUB, PALL MALL, + _April 19, 1880_. + + MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--You have been _better_ than your word, for I + see you have made me the actual possessor of your "address." + From the glance I have already taken at it, I see that I shall + both like it and you with it; but of this I might have been sure + beforehand. A thousand thanks, and believe me, always sincerely + yours, + + MATTHEW ARNOLD. + +The scheme Leighton formed, when first considering the duty among all +others he undertook,[61] of addressing the students at the biennial +meetings, was begun and continued in the nine addresses he gave, but +unfortunately it could not be completed, a fact he sorely regretted +when discussing the question with me three months before his death. On +December 10, 1879, "The position of Art in the World" was the subject. +In 1881, "Relation of Art to Time, Place, and Racial Conditions; +Underlying Mystery of its Growth and Decay." In 1885, "Summary of +Foregoing Lecture." In 1887, "Art in Mediaeval and Modern Italy." In +1889, "Relation of Artistic Production to Surrounding Conditions +considered in reference to Spain." In 1891, "The Art of France: its +uninterrupted development; its wide field; eminent achievement in +Architecture; the Gothic style." In 1893, "The Art of Germany: its +high qualities; deficient AEsthetic Inspiration." The tenth was to have +consisted, Leighton told me, in a summing up of the nine former +addresses, in order to prove how they had affected the past and +present condition of Art in England. To any thoughtful artist these +utterances, delivered by so great and accomplished an authority, +cannot fail to prove profoundly interesting and invaluable as +references, on account of the sound knowledge and the absolutely +reliable quality of the facts given; but it may be doubted whether the +more informative matter, contained in the six later lectures, suited +Leighton's style of oratory so happily as did the more abstract +quality of the three first. There appeared to be too many names +crowded into the comparatively short time which Leighton allotted to +himself for the delivery of these discourses, for the normal taking-in +power of an audience; the very finished rhetoric, moreover, in which +the enormous amount of information contained in each was disclosed, +did not seem quite appropriate to their condensed form. In +conversation I have heard Leighton far more convincing, on the same +subjects as those he treated in the last six discourses. The same +intense sense of the duty he felt to do the thing as completely as it +was possible, which he evinced in painting, cropped up again in his +oratory, no less than the intense modesty--which would not recognise +how great he could be if he relaxed all effort, and was simply +himself. + +Mr. Briton Riviere, in the notes he furnishes for this book, writes:-- + + "Those perhaps sometimes too perfectly built-up sentences, of + which his admirable addresses and speeches were formed, were the + outcome of this same quality of mind. One of his most intimate + friends, when we were talking about the mental strain occasioned + by these, once said to me: 'Leighton would never get over a + slight lapse of grammar,' and I can believe it. The accidental + was hateful to him when considered in reference to his own work + of any kind, though probably no one knew better than he did its + value in a work of art; but, as Watts deplored, he never would + use it or admit it into his own pictures. This quality and its + strain upon him was illustrated by an accident which occurred at + his last R.A. Banquet speech, the last he ever made, and which + gained immensely from the fact that in one place he forgot for a + moment the next sentence, and came to a pause (as he told me + afterwards), in fear that he had broken down altogether; but his + suspense, painful as it must have been to him, looked perfectly + natural and spontaneous, and gave to his speech that touch of + something which his better remembered periods did not express so + well. This system of speaking entirely from memory added much to + the constant strain of his Academy work. He had what he called a + 'topical memory,' viz. he remembered the place of each word in + his written speech and used to read it off in the air with + never-failing accuracy, but did so always with the belief that a + forgotten sentence would shipwreck the whole. If he would have + been content now and then to lapse from this high pitch of the + accuracy he aimed at in all his work, few could have reached a + safer or higher standard spontaneously, as he proved in the + Royal Academy, General Assembly, and Council meetings, when he + never failed to speak admirably on the spur of the moment; and + his summing up of a debate there on any subject was invariably + marked by the same elegance and cleverness as his prepared + speeches, but with more vitality and flexibility, which, + however, never led him into anything that was not almost + fastidiously exact and precise. I have always felt that no one + who had heard only his elaborately prepared speeches knew his + real power as a speaker." + +There rang out perhaps, at times, just a note reminding one of the +German pedant in these discourses--a note singularly discordant when +sounding together with an ornate diction; but this was only heard when +Leighton was not deeply moved by his subject; when, on the other hand, +the not over-tutored, bigger instinctive self had full sway, as, in +the subjects he chose for the first three discourses, the glowing +style harmonised most rightly as the appropriate language for the +earnest and lofty feeling in the thought. If, as suggested above, it +is only facts and information of an historical character which words +have to convey, much eloquence and an ornate style seems +inappropriate. Each mood is obviously best expressed when the style is +adjusted to it by an intuitive instinct. Leighton, though possessing +abnormally flexible and subtle aesthetic instincts when he allowed +himself to be his natural self, seemed at times to force himself into +a theoretic rigidity when he was at his lessons. And all his official +duties he viewed as lessons, which, after he left his easel, it was +his first duty in life to learn to perform as correctly as he could. +But whatever criticisms may be made on the style of the later +discourses, students desiring to possess something more than a merely +provincial knowledge of the special power of the magnates in whose +work culminates the great Art of the world, should surely not neglect +to possess themselves of the wisdom to be acquired from these +discourses. + +Throughout their pages are to be found most suggestive passages, +inspiring new thoughts and, to any but experts, new facts on vitally +interesting art matters. For instance, take the description of +Velasquez:-- + + "For a long period Italian painting did not cease to enjoy the + favour of the Court; it ceased, however, towards the beginning + of the seventeenth century to exercise that paralysing influence + which had marked its first advent, and the ground was cleared + for a new impulse from within. At this conjuncture a man of + commanding genius and fearless initiative was given to Spain in + the person of Diego Velasquez. It may perhaps have surprised you + that with such a name before my mind I should have spoken of + Zurbaran, a man so vastly his inferior in the painter's gift, as + perhaps the most representative of Spanish artists. I have done + so because beyond any other artist he sums up in himself, as I + have pointed out to you, all the complex elements of the Spanish + genius. In Velasquez, Spanish as he is to the finger-tips, this + comprehensiveness is not found. Of Velasquez all was Spanish, + but Zurbaran was all Spain. + + "Viewed simply as a painter, the great Sevillian was, as I have + just said, vastly the superior of the Estremeno. He was in more + intimate touch with Nature, and none, perhaps, have equalled the + swift magic of his brush. On the other hand, depth of feeling, + poetry, imagination were refused to him. The painter of the + 'Lanzas,' the 'Hilanderas,' the 'Meninas'--works in their kind + unapproached in Art by any other man--painted also, be it + remembered, the 'Coronation of the Virgin' and the 'Mars' of the + Madrid Gallery--types of prosaic treatment. In one work, indeed, + Religion seems for a moment to have winged his pencil; but + striking and pathetic as is his famous 'Crucifixion,' it does + not equal in poignancy and imaginative grasp the presentment of + the same subject by Zurbaran in Seville. But if we miss in + Velasquez the higher gifts of the imagination, we find him also + free from all those blemishes of extravagance which we have so + often noted in this land of powerful impulses unrestrained by + tact. Whatever gifts may have been refused to Velasquez, in his + grave simplicity he is unsurpassed. If fancy seldom lifts him + above the level of intimate daily things, neither does she + obstruct for him with purple wings the white light of sober + truth. In days in which the young Herrera could find favour; in + a country in which Churriguera was possible, and euphuism was + applauded, he never overstepped the modesty of Nature, nor + forgot in Art the value of reticent control. I have not here to + follow his career, nor the evolution of his unique and dazzling + genius. Still less need I, before young artists of the present + day, dwell on the wizardry and the luscious fascination of the + brush of this most modern of the old masters. I will only, in + conclusion, touch briefly on one or two points that are of + interest, and one that is, perhaps, of warning. + + "First, I would notice the purity and decorum of his art; a + decorum not, I think, due to the characteristically Spanish laws + under which the Inquisition visited with heavy penalties every + semblance even of impurity in a work of art, but to a spirit + dwelling in the people itself, of which those laws were but the + somewhat exaggerated expression. It may be worth while also to + note that yet another virtue of the Spaniards is, in one of his + works, reflected in an unexpected manner, namely, their + sobriety. It is a curious thing that in a certain class of + Spanish literature a peculiar relish is shown for the portraying + of moral squalor and the grovelling criminality of social + outcasts. In Spanish Art, on the other hand, the picturesqueness + alone of low life seems to have sought expression. You know what + gentle Murillo made of his melon-eating beggar boys. Again, you + saw not long ago upon these walls, in the 'Water-Carrier of + Seville,' how at the outset of his career Velasquez turned his + thoughts to subjects drawn from humble life, and you know how to + the end he dwelt with peculiar gusto on the fantastic + physiognomy of the privileged buffoons, dwarfs, and _hombres de + placer_ who haunted the Palace in his day. You know further that + one of the most powerful works painted by him before reality of + atmospheric effect had become his chief preoccupation, and when + he sought exclusively after truth of character, a picture known + as 'Los Borrachos,' represents a group of drunkards doing homage + to Bacchus. It is a work of the most naked realism. Bacchus + (Dionysos!), showing his repulsive vulgarity (what a blank to + Velasquez was the poetic side of classic myths), is surrounded + by a circle of kneeling rascals, rude and ragged enough, and + supposed, no doubt, to be carousing; but here is the strange + peculiarity of this work--in spite of all the accessories of a + revel, and the flash of grinning teeth, we are unable to + persuade ourselves that any one of the disreputable crew could + ever be _drunk_. Imagine the subject treated by a Fleming. + + "And now, though I am loth to touch one leaf of the laurels of + so dazzling and so great an artist, I cannot pass in silence a + circumstance which must be weighed in estimating Velasquez as a + man, and which is not without bearing on his art. The virtues of + his race, as we have seen, purified his work and gave it + dignity; a Spanish foible, though it could not dim his genius, + cramped, no doubt, and curtailed its production--namely, a + tendency to subordinate everything to the pursuit of royal + favour. I said a Spanish foible; for a superstitious rendering + up of will and conscience to the sovereign, such as is, I + believe, without example, had long been a growing characteristic + of the Spaniard. On a memorable occasion Gonzalo de Cordoba + himself, one of the noblest figures recorded in Spanish + history--a man of a mind so fearless that he was bold to rebuke + Pope Borgia himself face to face in the Vatican for the scandals + of his life--did not scruple to break, in deference to what he + considered this higher duty of obedience to his king, his solemn + pledge and oath to the unfortunate young Duke of Calabria. So + all but divine did majesty appear to the Spaniards, that + divinity and majesty became almost as one in their eyes, and + they spoke, in all solemnity, as 'Su Majestad,' not only of the + Divine persons of the Trinity, but also of the sacrificial + wafer. The prevalence of this feeling must plead to some extent + in mitigation of the tenacity with which Velasquez + canvassed--with success, alas!--to obtain at Court a post of an + onerous and wholly prosaic character--the office of 'Aposentador + Mayor,' a sort of purveyor and quartermaster, who, when his + Majesty moved from one place to another, had to convey, to + house, to feed, not the sovereign only, but all his suite. A + post demanding all his attention, says Polomino, who goes on to + deplore that this exalted office (which he has just told us any + one could fill) should have deprived the world of so many + samples of the painter's genius. We shall agree with our + sententious friend, not, perhaps, in the satisfaction he derived + from the honour conferred, as he imagines, on his calling, but + in his sorrow over the loss we have sustained! And in the sight + of canvases in which the execution of a sketch is carried out on + the full scale of life we shall at once bow before the product + of a splendid genius, and regret the signs of haste, the + evidence of too scanty leisure, by which its expression has been + marred. Truly it has been said, 'Art requires the whole + man.'"[62] + +Again, the seventh discourse is replete with inspiring suggestions +about French architecture,[63] and in the last discourse the +description of Albert Duerer is one which, in a few lines, gives a +complete and vividly interesting setting to the great name. + + "Albert Duerer may be regarded as _par excellence_ the typical + German artist--far more so than his great contemporary Holbein. + He was a man of a strong and upright nature, bent on pure and + high ideals; a man ever seeking, if I may use his own + characteristic expression, to make known through his work the + mysterious treasure that was laid up in his heart; he was a + thinker, a theorist, and, as you know, a writer; like many of + the great artists of the Renaissance, he was steeped also in the + love of science. His work was in his own image; it was, like + nearly all German art, primarily ethic in its complexion; like + all German art it bore traces of foreign influence--drawn, in + his case, first from Flanders and later from Italy. In his work, + as in all German art, the national character asserted itself + above every trammel of external influence. Superbly + inexhaustible as a designer, as a draughtsman he was powerful, + thorough, and minute to a marvel, but never without a certain + almost caligraphic mannerism of hand, wanting in spontaneous + simplicity--never broadly serene. In his colour he was rich and + vivid, not always unerring as to his harmonies, not alluring in + his execution--withal a giant." + +When the last addresses were given Leighton was getting very tired. +The wheels were running down--vitality was waning. The great mental +machine had begun to work more mechanically. We trace this in the +manner in which he tackled his last discourse. While writing it at +Perugia he wrote to his elder sister:-- + + PERUGIA, _Thursday, October 12, 1893_. + + You have misconstrued my knee; I have no _pain_ in it, at most + occasionally a dull ache in the muscles and a slight soreness in + the joint; but it is an incapacitating and depressing nuisance, + and it won't move on. (I am writing near a window opening on to + a clear, star-bright sky; far below, in the _paese_, I hear the + tinkle of a wandering, nocturnal mandoline--how I like it!) You + do me the honour to appreciate my having, during my recent + precipitate odyssey, visited thirty towns in thirty days, noting + things of which I had already accurate knowledge _d'avance_; but + I can "go one better" than that: _ten_ of the towns were + _absolutely new_ to me, and of the whole subject on which I am + preaching, I knew as good as nothing when you last saw me. I + suspect that, in spite of a lack of memory which _baffles + belief_, I have a certain "uptaking" knack. My preachment will + bore you, but you will (if you read it) detect an _ensemble_; + but, for goodness' sake, _zitti!_ They'll think, when they hear + the P.R.A., that, Lor' bless him! he'd known it all his life. + Nevertheless, enough for the day, &c. Best love to + Gussy.--Affect. bro., + + FRED. + +I remember--when my husband and I were sitting with him one afternoon +after his return home that autumn--his saying, "I feel distinctly I +have dropped one step down off of the ladder," and it was truly about +that time that his doctor, Doctor Roberts, discerned the beginning of +the disease which proved fatal. Already in 1888 he wrote:-- + + "The reasons which have now for a good many years impelled me to + decline any 'public utterances' outside Burlington House have + increased in weight and force as life and strength wanes, and as + demands on me grow in every direction. I am sometimes asked to + speak in public, not only in London, but all over the country, + and in all cases the demand is grounded on strong claims in so + far as I am an 'official' artist. Assent once is assent + always--assent in half the cases would mean the _gravest_ injury + to my _work_, and I am a workman first and an official + afterwards. Things have their humorous side, for those who press + me most are sometimes those who on other occasions most + earnestly assure me that I '_do too much_.' How tired I am of + hearing it." + +The speeches at the yearly banquets of the Royal Academy were +extraordinary _tours de force_. Wherever Leighton took the lead--and +he was seldom anywhere when he did not take the lead,[64]--he raised +the tone of the proceedings, and convinced the outside world, no less +than those taking a part in them, that the matter in hand was +important and essentially worth doing. Personally I have always felt +that the finished form of Leighton's diction tended rather to hide +than to explain the real nature of the power which had this +vitalising, elevating influence. This influence emanated, I believe, +from the greatness of his "magnificent intellect" (to use Watts' +words) being united with extraordinary will-force invariably employed +in the service of the principles in which he had a profound faith. It +was his persistent loyalty to these principles--backed by this +abnormal will-force, giving it extra weight--which lifted Leighton's +work in all directions on to so distinguished a level--and not--in the +case of his speeches--his rounded periods, or his power over words, or +his gift of facility in grasping a subject, though the Banquet +speeches are also remarkable on account of the versatility he +displayed in grasping many subjects from the point of view of the +expert. Whether it was the Army, the Navy, Politics, Music--whatever, +in fact, was the affair of the moment, he proposed the toast from what +might be called the inside of the question, not merely treating his +text as a matter of form.[65] + +On asking Gladstone to the Banquet of 1880, Leighton received the +following characteristic answer:-- + + MY DEAR PRESIDENT,--I have received your letter with mixed + feelings. You do me great honour, and I must obey you. But I + long for the return of the good old times, lying within the long + range of my memory, when the dinners of the Academy did not + suffer the contamination of political toasts, and kept us all + for three precious hours in purer air. Can you tell me when the + practice was changed? I am not, I think, under the dominion of a + pleasant delusion.--Yours most faithfully, + + W.E. GLADSTONE. + +In 1883 Leighton found it impossible to continue his duties as +Lieutenant-Colonel of the 20th Middlesex (Artists) Volunteers, which +post he had held since 1876, and he therefore resigned. He was then +made Hon. Colonel and holder of the Volunteer Decoration.[66] + +A few years later he made the following speech at a dinner given by +his Corps, in response to a toast proposed to himself:-- + + We live in times so hustling and breathless, times in which so + much happens in so short a space, that a few years seem to + divide men and habits like a deep gulf, and I feel that in the + eyes of many of you the toast that your C.O. has invited you in + such friendly terms to drink is one possessing an almost + antiquarian flavour interest; the more grateful therefore am I + for the cordial response with which, not, I hope, solely in a + spirit of discipline, but from a more human point of view, you + have given to the call of Colonel Edis. + + The sight of the old uniform recalls to me, in a vivid manner, a + period when not only my years, but my circumferencial inches, + were fewer, during which it was my pride, first in one grade, + then successively in others, from the ranks to the command, to + take my share in the doings of and the life of what I hope I may + call, without egotism, one of the finest corps in the Volunteer + service. I have now for some years laid by the coat, to be + furbished up only for these annual gatherings, not without + misgivings as to my power of getting into it; but I have not + laid by, nor shall I lay by while I have life, my deep interest + and my high respect for that great defensive force of which it + is the sign, and which, having sprung into existence in a + moment of emergency and national excitement, has shown through + over more than a quarter of a century that it requires no + excitement to sustain it, and is fed by no transitory fires. + + But whilst I watch this great sign of national vitality with + unchanging interest, there is of course an inmost corner of my + heart in which that national movement appears to me clad in grey + and silver, and the old corps still sits in the warmest place; + praise of its performance is always to me the most grateful + praise; strictures on its shortcomings, if like other human + things it has any, will always find me sensitive, and the + account which your excellent Colonel furnishes on these + occasions of your year's growth, comes home to me more than + other like utterances. Gentlemen, I have named your energetic + and efficient commanding officer; there is this year a special + reason why his name should be on my lips; he is about shortly to + acquire by length of service the full colonelcy of which his + long devotion to the cause makes him so worthy a recipient; and + I should wish before sitting down to offer him an old comrade's + hearty congratulation, and the expression of my confident hope + that his advanced rank will only confirm him in his loyal and + faithful efforts to promote the honour of the corps to which he, + more fortunate than I, is still privileged to belong as an + active member. + +In 1894, on the occasion of feting his friend Joseph Joachim and +presenting the gift to the great master of a Stradivarius violin and +bow from his friends, in recognition of the fiftieth anniversary of +his first performance in London, Leighton made the following speech:-- + + 1894. + + LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,--It was necessary that the motives and + feelings which have drawn us together to-night should find brief + expression on somebody's lips; and, in obedience to a command + which has been laid on me by this Committee, I have to ask you + to accept me, for a few moments, as your mouthpiece. Of the + varied duties which life lays on us, there are some which we + perform in simple discharge of conscience and with little joy; + some, if few, into the discharge of which we can pour all our + hearts; and such a duty is this which I have risen to perform. + + I have said that I shall only ask your attention for a few + moments, and you will feel with me the fitness of brevity; for + besides that, in every case, taste imposes restraint in praise + of those who are present before us, long drawn and redundant + eulogy would clash strangely with that rare simplicity which is + one of the qualities by which Joachim, the Man, compels the + esteem of all whose fortune it is to know him. But there would + be in it, I think, also a further deeper-lying incongruity, for + we know that Joachim, the Artist, has risen to the heights he + occupies, perhaps alone, by fixing his constant gaze on high + ideals, and lifting and sustaining his mind in a region above + the shifting fickle atmosphere of praise or blame. Well, it is + now fifty years since he took his first step along the upward + path, which he has trodden in wholeness of heart and singleness + of purpose from earliest boyhood to mellow middle age. During + these fifty years he has not only ripened to the full his + splendid gifts as an interpreter, ever interpreting the noblest + works in the noblest manner, leading his hearers to their better + comprehension; not only marked his place in the front ranks of + living composers by works instinct with fire and imagination; + but shown us also, as a man, how much high gifts are enhanced by + modesty, and how good a thing to see is the life of an Artist + who has never paltered with the dignity of his Art. + + Deep appreciation of these titles to respect and admiration has, + as you know, led in Germany, the country of his adoption and his + home, to an enthusiastic celebration of this, the fiftieth year + of his artistic career; and we, his English friends, living in a + country which we hope, nay, believe, is, after his own, not the + least dear to him, have felt strongly impelled to express to him + also in some form our gratitude, our sympathy, and our esteem. + It has seemed to your Committee that these sentiments could not + take a more fitting outward shape than that of the instrument + over which he is lord: such an instrument, signed with the + famous name of Stradivarius, and, as I am told, not unworthy of + his fame, flanked with a bow the work of Tourte, and once the + property of Kiesenwetter--such a fiddle and such a bow I now + offer to him in your name. Its sensitive and well-seasoned + shell will acknowledge and respond to the hand of the master, + and the souls of many great musicians will, we hope, often speak + through it to spellbound hearers. But we nourish another + hope--the hope that, through the great waves of melody that + shall roll forth from it under his compelling bow, a still small + voice may now and again be interfused which, reaching his heart + through his ears, shall speak to it of the many friends who, in + spirit or in the body, are gathered round him affectionately + to-night. + +In 1888 Leighton delivered the superb Address at the Art Congress held +at Liverpool on December 3 (see Appendix). No Life of this great man +would be complete were his utterances on this occasion not given in +full, for therein is found his creed on Art, and the records of those +principles on which it was founded, expounded with clear force, fine +analysis, and, above all, with supreme courage. The subject, moreover, +as touching England's condition respecting Art, is one directly +affecting English readers. + +A matter of interest to the general Art world came under discussion at +the Council meetings of the Academy in the winter of 1879 and 1880, +namely, whether women were to be admitted as members of their body. A +correspondence took place between Leighton and the late Mr. Henry +Wells, R.A., on the subject. Leighton's personal inclination was +certainly for admitting women into the body of the elect, as I know +from conversations he had with me on the subject. He invariably sought +to extend all art privileges to those who were, as artists, worthy to +receive them. He told me, however, that the majority of votes against +the inroad of women would be given as having regard to a question of +convenience rather than to one of principle, namely, the difficulty +the Academicians foresaw in admitting only one or two lady artist +Academicians to the yearly Banquets, and the greater difficulty of +extending invitations to lady guests.[67] + +The following letters from Leighton to Mr. Wells give an insight into +the kind of work which his office of President entailed, and of the +characteristically thorough manner in which Leighton fulfilled them. + + _Thursday Evening, 1879 or 1880._ + + DEAR WELLS,--I have noticed during my last two sittings at your + studio, that, whenever the deeply interesting subject of our + Academy appeared on the tapis, it stood in the way of your work, + and I have therefore purposely abstained, as you no doubt + remarked, from going beyond the merest surface in the + discussion of any of the points on which we have touched. I felt + that the sittings I gave you being so few and so scantily + measured out, the least I could do was not, wittingly, to make + you lose your time. That is to say, I did not _tell_ you to-day + orally what I now _write_, namely, my impression on your + proposed question concerning the Chantrey purchases. The + characteristic straightforwardness and loyalty with which you + wished me to be informed on the point beforehand will not permit + me to be silent in regard to your view. I have looked with the + greatest care into the extract from the will which we all have, + and have given the matter that thought which is due to your + earnest conscientiousness, and I have satisfied myself that the + General Assembly is wholly without a _locus standi_ in claiming + to control the expenditure of the Chantrey trust moneys in any + way whatever; those moneys never pass into its hands or come + under its cognisance; they are paid into the hands of the + president and treasurer, against their receipt, and are dealt + with solely by the president and council for the time being. An + attempt, therefore, on the part of the General Assembly to + assume control in this matter is in my view _out of order_, and + it would therefore be out of order to ask or answer a question + based, as yours is, on that assumption. I think you will find + this view in harmony with the opinion of the body; if it is + largely challenged, I shall postpone the answer till I have + taken a legal opinion, as the point is very important. Here are + my cards on the table.--In haste, yours sincerely, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + + + _Private._] + _Monday._ + + DEAR WELLS,--The usual stress of business has prevented me till + now from thanking you for your note and valuable information; I + shall, with great interest, turn to the passages you allude to + as soon as I get a good opportunity, and what I read will have + the greatest weight with me when I vote again on a purchase. It + would not, however, touch my point in regard to the _General + Assembly_, which can only interfere with a past purchase if it + can be shown to be illegal; this can, of course, only be + established by legal authority, and I am, myself, sorry that + your first resolution does not run thus: That the President be + requested to consult high legal authority as to whether such and + such purchases are barred by the will of Sir F. Ch. If your + misgivings on that head are shared by a majority the thing would + pass immediately and undiscussed, almost. + + As concerns your motion on the pension resolution, I own to much + misgiving; _I should not dream of alluding to this had you not + yourself taken me aside about it the other day._ I am so far at + one with you in principle that I feel, I can't say how deeply, + that it is our paramount duty to interpret in the largest and + most elevated sense our duty to the art of the country that we + may be worthy in the eyes of the enlightened portion of the + community of our high place, and that it is equally incumbent on + us to keep our personal interests vigilantly in sub-ordination. + I think that one of the present resolutions militates against + this last view, and I need not conceal from you that it has not + my sympathy. I am, however, very strongly of opinion that the + form of your opposition to it will not be supported, and that in + your desire for a logical comprehensiveness, you will fail of + your end, which by simple direct opposition to the particular + measure on the principle you have already enunciated and + explained, you might _very probably_, I believe, achieve. I need + not, I think, assure you, my dear Wells, that nothing is further + from my thoughts than any _interference_ with a member's + freedom; indeed, on that head my views are known to you; but I + can't refrain from saying thus much to give you an opportunity + of quietly thinking matters over (_don't answer this_) before + Wednesday. After all, you want primarily to get rid of paragraph + 6, not to ensure a dialectical triumph. If the alternative is + between your Committee and the resolution as it stands, I feel + absolutely convinced that you will be left in a very cold + minority; but if you point out that paragraph 6 takes our + bounties off the ground of necessity, our only tenable ground, + in fact commutes a _bounty_ into an unconditional _claim_ (of a + formidable pecuniary nature, too), you will march in, I can't + help thinking, with flying colours. + + Don't, I repeat, be at the trouble to answer this expression of + the opinion of,--Yours sincerely, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + + + _Monday, February 1, (?) 1881._ + + DEAR WELLS,--Since receiving your letter I have been so + absolutely engrossed with business and work that I have not had + time till now to answer it. I am sincerely glad you have asked + for a little modification in the terms of the Lucy petition; + meanwhile I have written to Gladstone, and my letter has been + acknowledged with a promise to note its contents. + + In regard to your Chantrey resolution, I feel that, after the + manner of very busy men, I have written in haste and not made + myself quite clear. I should like, first, to remove one + apprehension which you seem to have entertained; however + strongly I may be convinced of the correctness of my own view on + the matter under discussion, I cannot too emphatically say that + as long as the points at issue were still _sub judice_ I should + not countenance a purchase which should assume my view to be the + right one; but no such postponement as would lead to this + dilemma is to be feared; what I propose is this: as soon as ever + we have closed the discussion on the schools, and whilst they + are being printed in their amended form for final consideration, + therefore, on Friday next, if we get through on Wednesday, or + failing that on the 22nd or 23rd of February, the resolutions of + Council will be put on the table in their rotation; as, however, + the next step in the Chantrey affair is to merely _hear_ my + answer to your memorandum, and as I understand that discussion + on it will not be expected till members shall have had it to + consider at their leisure, I will read it and lay it on the + table _before_ I take up the resolutions of Council which stand + on the paper before it, so that when it comes up for final + discussion, presumably in the first days of March, it can be + discussed and voted on with full mastery of the subject. It is + on the agenda paper of THAT _meeting_ that your affirmative + motion will stand; it does not come into force till then, since + it is contingent on the effect produced on your mind by my + answer of Friday (or of the next meeting after). + + With respect to Redgrave's motion, it may lead to a technical + "censure" of the Council; but there are censures and censures, + and nobody will suppose, certainly I never dreamt, that you + meant to imply moral obliquity to us in regard to what we have + done. I have not a word to object to what you advance about the + right of complaint, but it does not exactly cover the case: if + you caught us, say, taking our friends to the Exhibition (or + ourselves) on Sunday, a matter on which no two opinions are + admissible, then "a complaint" would be in its place; but in the + matter of payment to Treasurer, two opinions may and do exist, + and they can only be measured against one another by a vote, and + a vote can only be taken on a motion. + + Lastly, as to the new codification committee, I think with you, + _in strictest confidence_, that ---- was not a good choice; but + he was chosen in the usual manner by a majority of votes: that + your labours were not remunerated in the usual manner is an + oversight, which, of course, must and shall be set right. There + seems altogether, and your letter corroborates that impression, + to have been much vagueness about the doings of the Committee + _as a Committee_, though, as usual, much zealous work on your + part. I do not gather that attendances were entered in a book, + which is the machinery by which payment is generally regulated, + and the Committee having lapsed without reporting to the Council + on its labours (being a _sub-committee_ of the Council of 1878, + it lapsed by a natural death with that Council), the whole thing + had fallen out of notice. I hope that the old sub-committee will + put in their claims, which will very certainly be satisfied. The + codification has frequently been in my mind, for I consider it + of very great importance, but as it is my impression that I am + considered to drive the work of the Academy full hard as + it is, I have hesitated to impose more labours on my colleagues, + even though I am always ready to share them.--Sincerely yours, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + + [Illustration: "ELIJAH IN THE WILDERNESS." 1879] + + [Illustration: SKETCH FOR "ELIJAH IN THE WILDERNESS." 1879 + Leighton House Collection] + + [Illustration: "NERUCCIA." 1879 + By permission of Mrs. Lees] + + [Illustration: "THE BATH OF PSYCHE." 1890 + National Gallery of British Art (Tate Gallery)] + + + _Tuesday Morning_, + 2 HOLLAND PARK ROAD, KENSINGTON, W., + _March 18, 1884_. + + DEAR WELLS,--Thank you for your letter received yesterday, which + only lack of time prevented me from answering at once. I am + happy to say that Richmond cheerfully acceded to my wish in + regard to clauses 6 and 7. I do not think with Calderon, who has + written to me, that the words of a man so high-minded as + Richmond will indispose members in this matter, and, though I + feel the importance of raising no prejudice against the proposal + as keenly as ever, still wish him to initiate it. It is, I agree + with you, a pity that the question of the retiring pensions must + come off first; but that is, I fear, quite unavoidable, and it + connects itself with the very first resolution. I assure you, my + dear Wells, that I _see_ the bearing of all you say on this head + as plainly as possible, and have done so all along; but it does + not prevail with me, because it does not cover the whole ground, + and because I do not anticipate the dangers for which you think + it might be used as a precedent. + + In view of my own personal painful position in this matter, I + shall _ask_ the Assembly _not_ to ratify the clause which + affects _me_.--In great haste, yours sincerely, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + +Leighton's official life, as understood and carried out by him, +entailed infinitely more strain and occupation than can be described +in these pages, but, notwithstanding, unless the call away from his +easel was imperative, he kept certain hours in the day sacred to his +art. These were from 9 A.M. till noon, and from 1 P.M. till 4. It was +only in the off hours that he got through his other labours, which he +performed, nevertheless, with most assiduous conscientiousness. + +Among his duties outside the Academy were those at the British Museum. +Mr. H.A. Grueber, Keeper of the Coins and Medals, writes: "Sir +Frederic Leighton was elected a Trustee of the British Museum on May +14, 1881. He was an active member of the Standing Committee, who +practically manage the affairs of the Museum, and he took great +interest in the place. He was also a member of the Sub-committees on +Buildings, on Antiquities, Prints and Drawings, also of those on Coins +and Medals." + +In the first R.A. Exhibition after his election, three pictures of the +eight Leighton sent have, I think, a special interest--"Elijah in the +Wilderness" (the picture into which he said he put more of himself +than into any other he had painted up to that time); the portrait of +his very dear friend Professor Costa, painted in the previous autumn +at Lerici, and the head "Neruccia." Leighton with Costa studied the +methods used in painting by the Venetians and Correggio, and Costa +wrote the following with reference to them:-- + + The result of these studies and of the experience of years was + that Leighton and I definitely adopted the following method. + Take a canvas or panel with the whitest possible preparation and + non-absorbent--the drawing of the subject to be done with + precision and indelible. On this seek to model in monochrome so + strongly that it will bear the local colours painted with + exaggeration, and then the grey, which is to be the ground of + all the future half-tones; on this paint the lights, for which + use only white, red, and black, avoiding yellow, and, stabbing + (botteggiando) with the brush while the colour is wet, make the + half-tints tell out from the grey beneath, which should be + thoroughly dry. When all is dry, finish the picture with + scumbles (spegazzi), adding yellow to complete the colour. + + Leighton formed his method of painting from these general + maxims, and he painted my portrait at Lerici on these principles + as an experiment, and then in 1878 we adopted the system + definitely. For this portrait he had four sittings--one for the + drawing and the monochrome chiaroscuro, one for the local + colours; then, having covered all with grey, he painted the + lights with red, white, and black, making use of the thoroughly + dried grey beneath for his half-tints. With scumbles + he completed the colour and the modelling. + + [Illustration: "THE LIGHT OF THE HAREM." 1880 + By kind permission of the Directors of the Leicester Gallery] + + [Illustration: "AND THE SEA GAVE UP THE DEAD WHICH WERE IN IT" + Sketch for Complete Design, 1892] + + [Illustration: STUDY FOR FIGURE IN FRIEZE, "MUSIC." 1886 + Leighton House Collection] + + [Illustration: STUDY FOR "ANDROMEDA." 1890 + Leighton House Collection] + + [Illustration: FROM SKETCH IN CLAY FOR PERSEUS, IN THE PICTURE + "PERSEUS AND ANDROMEDA." 1891] + + [Illustration: STUDY FOR FIGURE IN PANEL IN ROYAL + EXCHANGE--"PHOENICIANS BARTERING WITH BRITONS" + Leighton House Collection] + + [Illustration: "CYMON AND IPHIGENIA." 1884 + The Corporation of Leeds] + + [Illustration: STUDY IN COLOUR FOR "CYMON AND IPHIGENIA." 1884 + By permission of Mrs. Stewart Hodgson] + + [Illustration: STUDY FOR SLEEPING GROUP FOR "CYMON AND + IPHIGENIA" + Given by Lord Leighton to G.F. Watts, O.M., and given by the + latter to the Collection in Leighton House, 1883] + +As the exquisite fragments in pencil of cyclamen, bramble and vine +branch,[68] explain most intimately Leighton's genius as a +draughtsman, so this head of Neruccia appears to me, together with one +other work, to explain most explicitly his genius as a painter--a +modeller with the brush. In 1890 Leighton painted "The Bath of +Psyche."[69] The modelling in the torso of this figure, and in the +head of Neruccia, reach the zenith as exemplifying Leighton's +individuality as a painter. They might truly earn for him the +title--Praxiteles of the brush. + +It would be tedious for writer and reader alike to describe too +minutely the special characteristics of even the most notable pictures +painted during the seventeen years when Leighton occupied the position +of President of the Royal Academy. Words are but poor interpreters of +painting such as his. Eighty canvases, two statues, and two +designs--the reverse of the Jubilee Medallion, "And the sea gave up +its dead which were in it"--were exhibited at the Royal Academy; +eighteen slighter works at the Suffolk Street, and twenty-three at the +Grosvenor Galleries. On referring to the list in the Appendix it will +be realised how great was the amount of labour involved in the +achievement of many of these works, considering their size, the +complication of their designs, and also the completeness of their +finish. It must also be remembered that Leighton made many hundreds of +studies for his pictures. More especially numerous were these for the +designs "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it," "The Dance, +Decorative Frieze"; "Cymon and Iphigenia"; "Music, a Frieze"; "Design +for the reverse of the Jubilee Medallion," "Captive Andromache," +"Perseus and Andromeda," "Return of Persephone," "The Garden of the +Hesperides," "Rizpah," "Summer Slumbers," "The Spirit of the Summit," +"Flaming June," "Phoenicians Bartering with Britons," and "Clytie." +When all these achievements are taken into account it will be realised +that Leighton, to the end, however important his duties outside his +studios, was true to his vocation, and proved himself the "workman +first and the official after." + +As a work combining poetic feeling, power of design, and great beauty +in the arrangement of line, while at the same time expressing most +explicitly Leighton's creed of creeds--namely, the ennobling and +elevating influence of beauty in the lives of men and women--"Cymon +and Iphigenia" is perhaps the picture he himself would have chosen as +the most representative among these later works. He chose it as the +one he wished sent to the Berlin Exhibition in 1885. When beginning it +he described to me the moment of the day he wished to catch for the +scene--"the most mysteriously beautiful in the whole twenty-four +hours, when the _merest lip_ of the moon has risen from behind the sea +horizon, and the air is haunted still with the flush of the after-glow +from the sun already hidden in the west."[70] + +The study for the group of sleeping figures reproduced here is almost +identical in design with the sketch in plaster from the clay, so +lamentably destroyed when Watts lent it to be cast in bronze +after Leighton's death. Leighton also gave the drawing of this group +to his fellow artist, so enthusiastically did Watts admire it. He, in +his turn, gave it to the Leighton House Collection in the year 1897, +together with the fine painting which Leighton exchanged for his own +portrait, painted about 1863, and which greeted friends as they +mounted the staircase in Leighton House during all the years he lived +in Holland Park Road (see frontispiece to Vol. I.). The study for +"Cymon and Iphigenia" is particularly valuable now as an example of +Leighton's rapid sketches where every touch reflects a mine of +knowledge, because it was put under glass before any of the crispness +of the touch was blurred by rubbing.[71] + + [Illustration: "THE SLUGGARD" + From the Bronze Statuette--a direct reproduction from Lord + Leighton's small sketch, 1886. Leighton House Collection] + + [Illustration: "NEEDLESS ALARMS" + From Bronze Statuette, 1886. Leighton House Collection] + + [Illustration: "THE LAST WATCH OF HERO." 1887] + + [Illustration: STUDY IN COLOUR FOR "TRAGIC POETESS." 1890 + By permission of Mrs. Stewart Hodgson] + +In a letter dated 1886 Watts wrote: "Leighton will carry off all the +honours this year with his ceiling[72] and his two statues." + +"An Athlete Awakening from Sleep" (given to the Tate Gallery by Sir +Henry Tate) is generally known as "The Sluggard," a name bestowed on +it by Leighton himself. The victor's garland lies at the feet of the +athlete, a garland which does not preserve the owner from a sad +weariness. Mr. Brock, R.A., in whose studio "An Athlete" was +modelled, executed the fine bust of Leighton which was deposited in +the Academy as Mr. Brock's diploma work.[73] + +Sir John Millais admired greatly the other work alluded to in Watts' +letter, "Needless Alarms." Leighton gave him this statuette, and +Millais, desiring to show his gratitude in a tangible form, painted +the picture "Shelling Peas" for Leighton. + +In at least fourteen of the eighty pictures shown at the Academy +during the last seventeen years of Leighton's life, there can be +traced an earnest sentiment beyond the "sincerity of emotion" for +beauty which all evince. This feeling is, however, always guarded by a +marked reticence from sentimentalism. "Elijah in the Wilderness," +"Elisha Raising the Son of the Shunammite," "The Jealousy of Simoetha, +the Sorceress," "The Last Watch of Hero," "Captive Andromache," +"Return of Persephone," "Rizpah," "Tragic Poetess," "Sibyl," +"Farewell," "The Spirit of the Summit," "Fatidica," "Lachrymae," and +the last passionate figure of "Clytie." The most popular pictures +Leighton painted during these years appear to be "Sister's Kiss," "The +Light of the Harem" (developed into a picture from the design of a +group in the fresco, "The Industrial Arts of Peace"), "Idyll," +"Whispers," "Wedded" (now in Australia), "Memories," "Letty," +"Invocation," "Solitude," "The Bath of Psyche," "Bacchante," "Corinna +of Tanagra," "The Bracelet," "Summer Slumber," "Atalanta," "Flaming +June," and "The Fair Persian" (unfinished). Two sketches in the +Leighton House Collection record effects which greatly fascinated +Leighton in Scotland--"A Pool, Findhorn River," deep tortoiseshell +brown; and "Rocks in the Findhorn," pink and grey enriched by lichen, +and it was in Scotland that the Lynn of Dee inspired the +subject of "Solitude." Leighton described to me the deep impression +this Lynn of Dee had made on him. "It is the veriest note of solitude! +a wonderful spot, full of poetic inspiration." In order to transmit a +vivid record of this sentiment to his canvas, he took a second journey +to the place.[74] + + [Illustration: "ATALANTA." 1893 + By permission of the Berlin Photographic Co., the owners of the + Copyright] + + [Illustration: "FLAMING JUNE." 1895 + By permission of Mrs. Watney] + + [Illustration: STUDY FOR "FLAMING JUNE." 1895] + + [Illustration: "FATIDICA." 1894 + By permission of Messrs. T. Agnew & Son, the owners of the + Copyright] + + [Illustration: STUDIES FOR "FATIDICA." 1894 + Leighton House Collection] + +Leighton wrote the following letter to his father when first visiting +Forres, in which he described the "craze" he had for these "dark brown +Scotch rivers":-- + + ROYAL STATION HOTEL, + FORRES, N.B. + + I drove over to Dunkeld (twelve and a half miles) to lunch at + the Millais'; I think the drive one of the most enchanting + things I know, and I was favoured, moreover, by a few of those + divine glimpses of blue and silver sky of which Scotland has the + monopoly (a monopoly which she uses, perhaps, just a trifle too + modestly). This is Forres, as the paper shows you; if Macbeth's + witches really did live in this neighbourhood, it is just as + well they had their hands pretty full, for they would have found + the place uncommonly dull otherwise, especially on the + "Sawbath." On the other hand, the drive to and the walk along + the banks of the Findhorn--the excursion for which one comes + here--is quite delightful, and indeed surpassed my expectations. + I must tell you that I have nothing short of a craze for your + dark brown Scotch (and Irish) rivers, as dark as treacle, and as + clear as a cairngorm. This particular stream contrives to rush + part of the way through fantastic rocks of pink granite--you may + imagine the effect. Here again from the heights over the river I + _ought_ to have seen the sea and the coast of Sutherlandshire; + but the weather was sulky and I had to draw on my imagination + for the view. + + In the forenoon I went over by train to Elgin, to see the ruined + cathedral, which is fine, but, like all Scotch architecture that + I have seen, crude and barbaric. As I stood on the platform + before starting, I heard a gruff, good-humoured voice hailing me + from a train on the other side; it was the voice which goes so + well with the rubicund face of the Duke of Cambridge. I was + going by the same train, so he made me get into his compartment; + he was going to Balmoral or Aberfeldie. He was very comic about + B---- and his article in the _Nineteenth Century_--"A fellow who + fouls his own nest is always a d----d bad lot--a d----d bad + lot," with which sentiment I close a d----d long letter.--From + your affectionate son, + + FRED. + +"Atalanta" may be noted, perhaps, as the strongest work achieved by +Leighton. Here _is_ "enormous power," though shown on a comparatively +small canvas. For noble beauty of the Pheidian type in the grand and +simple pose and modelling of the throat and shoulder, it would be +difficult to find its peer in Modern Art, and yet it was only the +worthy record of the beauty of an English girl. "Flaming June" (a +design first made to decorate as a bas-relief the marble bath on which +the figure in "Summer Slumber" reposes), is equally perfect in the +fine fulness of the modelling, but it lacks the direct simplicity +which gives such a distinguished strength to the "Atalanta." In the +sketch for "Flaming June" reproduced in these pages the pose is better +explained than in the completed picture, the foreshortened line of the +back and shoulder being confused somewhat by the drapery in the +painting. + +At the age of twenty-five, in the wing-like petals of a cyclamen, +Leighton had succeeded in securing with the pencil the quality towards +which he aimed from the beginning to the end of his studies--and these +only ended with his life--namely, absolute completeness as far as +human eye and hand can reach completeness in rendering the perfection +of nature's forms. Notably in "Neruccia" and in "Psyche" he reached +that aim with the brush, but in "Atalanta," and in such studies as +those for "Flaming June," "Fatidica," and--imbued with a yet further +interest of dramatic feeling--for "Clytie," his aim was reached with +more freedom and power of touch. The quality of beauty in these works +was no invention of his--only, as has been noted before, a discernment +and echo in the artist's apprehension of nobler truths in nature than +are discovered by the many. They are nobler, because possessing the +germ of life and movement. In all nature's forms, beauty and style +result from the spring and moving on--the development of growth, +whether it requires aeons to develop the form as in mountains, years as +in trees, or only days as in flowers. In the human limbs there is the +further power of varied movement, and in the countenance of varied +expressions. The greatest art stamps a suggestion of this power of +growth and movement into the form and line expressing the facts it +records; and, making it harmonise graciously with perfect structure in +nature, the great artist evolves a thing of beauty. In our northern +climes, and in our modern civilisation, beauty of form and line excite +little genuine emotion. That is reserved for colour, tone, texture, +and, in these very latter days, for the cleverness of the executant. +The greatest opposer Leighton's teaching has had is laziness. +Students will not take the trouble to go through irksome labour to +secure knowledge, therefore they only aim at those qualities which are +made comparatively easy by an emotional preference; and such emotional +preference is rarely excited by form. There are exceptions, such as +Watts, whose greatest artistic emotion was excited when he seized the +beauty and style in Pheidias. He felt also the same enthusiastic +excitement over Leighton's studies, stamped with a like Pheidian +quality of style. Because the modern eye is so often blind to these +qualities, therefore Leighton's work has been disposed of by many as +merely academical and the result solely of taking inordinate pains! +Surely those desirous of any true culture might learn one lesson at +all events of Leighton: the value of Catholicity through learning "to +master what they reject as fully as what they adopt ... the better +motives of men" with whom they are not in sympathy. Catholicity is the +outcome of the best natures, the best understandings, the best +educations. It overrides those subtle egoisms and commercial interests +which so often guide while distorting a true judgment in art matters, +keeping the preferences of the public wriggling about without any +definite instinct or principal on a never truly-convincing dead level. +The mainspring of catholicity in art is a fervent reverence for +nature. All works in which such fervent reverence is found, in +whatever direction it is displayed, are worthy to be admitted into the +fold, whether it be form, colour, or tone in nature's aspect--whether +it be the stirring whirls of northern tempests, the rural peace of +English glades, or the fineness of rarefied atmosphere in the south, +as in Greek isles and sea. Whichever mood of nature appeals to a true +artist and inspires in him the sacred fire, and consequently the +expression in his touch, should find a place in the heart of the true +lover of art. Because the aesthetic pores of a music-lover are open to +the rapturous tumult of the wildly whirling Schumann symphony in A +minor, is he, therefore, incapable of being entranced by the rare +refinement of Palestrina's cameo-like phrases? Because he feels a +rapturous excitement as the curtain falls at the end of the first act +of "Lohengrin," can he not also feel a soul-satisfaction in the +elevated serenity of Bach's "Christmas Oratorio"? Does it not rather +denote a want of elasticity in the aesthetic perceptions, a want of +flexibility in the sensibilities flavouring somewhat of the +Philistine, to be touched by a limited range of emotions? Because +Leighton is not Whistler, or Watts is not Sargent, why must the one be +admired at the expense of the other? With Leighton's rare intellectual +acumen he knew well that these limitations in viewing various outlooks +on art arose chiefly from a want of wide culture and experience. In +the great galleries of Europe, among the treasures in the churches of +Italy, his own vision had been enlarged, and he had felt how +nourishing to his own best instincts such enlargement had proved. +Hence his earnest endeavours when first entering the Academy to +establish the Winter Exhibitions of Old Masters, and later, when +President, to give as many facilities as possible for students to +travel abroad. Probably, it never will be fully realised how greatly +Leighton's initiations in starting new ventures for young students and +artists have helped the real progress of English art. His great +modesty and rare tact prevented this initiation from being fully +appreciated even at the time. When such an one as Leighton is working +on great lines, the last thing he thinks of is, Who is really +achieving the work? The aim has to be accomplished; it matters little +who is used as the tool to achieve the work. The real satisfaction to +such a nature is the fact that the work _has_ been achieved. + +Perhaps of all the ways in which Leighton helped to forward the +condition of art in England, the most valuable was his industry in +searching out unknown work, discovering what merit existed in it, +hunting up the artist, and, by becoming personally acquainted with +him, encouraging in every manner his onward progress. What he effected +in Mason's case with such a rich harvest to the world as the result, +he did in many other cases when the artist was a perfect stranger to +him. Mr. Alfred East, the President of the Royal Society of British +Artists, writes: "Lord Leighton was a man of broad sympathies in his +appreciation of Art, an earnest worker with a lofty purpose and a high +ideal. He liked to see these qualities in others, and spoke of the +dignity and privilege of being an artist, and lived up to it in his +own house. To those who knew him well he was singularly modest about +his work, soliciting criticism with a frankness which was as +unaffected as it was sincere. He never posed, but was a fellow-worker +and a comrade. Such were the characteristics of the artist at home. I +owe more to his encouragement than to any other influence of my life. +Our acquaintanceship grew into friendship; he helped me to speak to +him as I could speak to no other, of my own aims and ideals. This is +the great artist as I knew him." + +Singularly chary of accepting favours or putting himself under any +obligation where he did not feel certain he could requite it by any +feeling or action of his own, the response Leighton's nature made when +any person, thing, or place gave him delight was that of a +spontaneous, unstinting gratitude. Never did any one enjoy more fully +the best of blessings--a grateful heart. Moreover, once the tender +spot of pity touched, a self-ignoring energy of helpfulness and desire +to benefit arose, which was at once the most beautiful and the least +fully understood trait in his character. It is difficult for many to +understand a _passion_ for unselfishness. "We bear with +resignation the sorrows of others," is one of the good sayings of +Walter Bagehot. No rule without an exception--Leighton did not bear +with resignation the sorrows of his friends, nor of those he pitied as +overweighted and in any need of help which he could give. No better +proof exists of the fineness, the distinction of a nature, or the +reverse, than the effect which misfortune or suffering produces on it. +Pity with Leighton was ever allied with profound respect. He gave help +as one indulging himself in a privilege rather than as one conferring +a benefit. A beautiful story, for which I happen to be the best +authority, is interwoven with the last years of his life. + + [Illustration: "MEMORIES." 1883 + By permission of Messrs. P. & D. Colnaghi, the owners of the + Copyright] + + [Illustration: "THE JEALOUSY OF SIMOETHA, THE SORCERESS." 1887] + + [Illustration: "LETTY." 1884 + By permission of Mrs. Henry Joachim] + +One day, somewhere in the winter of 1879, on opening a gate which +leads from our garden to the Holland Park Studios, I saw standing at +one of the studio doors a figure which I described to Leighton as a +"vision of beauty"--a young girl with a lovely white face, dressed in +deepest black, evidently a model. Needless to say, Leighton, ever +eager to procure good models, obtained her name from the artist to +whom she was sitting when I first saw her, and engaged her as a model +for the head. Shortly after she began to sit to Leighton, he wrote to +me saying the young girl was in sad circumstances, and he would be +very glad if I could help her by making some studies from her. I +agreed, and he arranged with her to give me sittings. She told me that +she had recently lost her mother, her father had deserted his family +of five girls and two boys, and she with her elder brother were left +to support them. She was endeavouring to act the part of mother to her +younger sisters and brother. As Leighton and I grew to know her better +we found her very intelligent and conscientious in acting this part, +and she enlisted our sympathies entirely. She confided to me, while +sitting one day, that she longed greatly to find something to do more +interesting and remunerative than spending her days as a model. She +thought she could act. I consulted Leighton. His first exclamation +was, "_Impossible!_ with _that_ voice! How _could_ she go on the +stage?" I thought the voice, which had a singularly unpleasant Cockney +twang in it, might be trained, as I had observed how very eager she +was to learn to speak in a more educated manner, quite realising her +own shortcomings. Leighton came round to my opinion; and, once having +made up his mind that she was bent on educating herself for the stage, +showed himself as ever the most unselfish and untiring befriender. +Meanwhile four of these beautiful children became useful to him as +models. From the second daughter, who afterwards married an artist, +Leighton painted "Memories," reproduced here; from the third, Hetty, +he painted "Simoetha the Sorceress" and "Farewell"; but it was the +youngest, Lina, quite a small child, who delighted him most, and who +had a rare, refined charm which must have captivated any child-lover. +She took the place of little Connie Gilchrist of the "Cleobouline," +the "Music Lesson," and other of the earlier paintings, in the later +pictures. She sat for "Sister's Kiss," "The Light of the Harem," +"Letty," the sleeping group in "Cymon and Iphigenia," "Kittens," in +the friezes "The Dance" and "Music," and "A little girl with golden +hair and pale blue eyes"-- + + "Yellow and pale as ripened corn + Which Autumn's kiss frees--grain from sheath + Such was her hair, while her eyes beneath, + Showed Spring's faint violets freshly born." + + ROBERT BROWNING. + +--also the child in "Captive Andromache." Of the sister-mother of this +little family, beautiful as she was, Leighton declared he never could +paint a successful likeness, notwithstanding his attempts in +"Viola,"[75] "Bianca," "Serenely wandering in a trance of sober +thought," and "Miss Dene." Her very beautiful throat, however, was +reproduced worthily in many of his subject-pictures, and the true +dramatic instinct she undoubtedly possessed enabled her to be of help +in such pictures as "Antigone," "Return of Persephone," and the last +picture, the passionate "Clytie." But however useful she proved as a +model, Leighton never for a moment thought of his own interests before +the serious welfare of the young girl's life. He realised that if she +was to make a successful actress, it involved serious and concentrated +study. One morning I received the following note:-- + + DEAR MRS. BARRINGTON,--Miss Pullen will be very happy to sit to + you on Monday, and will talk over the rest when you meet. You + are very kind about it all, as is, indeed, your wont. + + _P.S._--You see my harassed old head does sometimes remember + what I promise. + + [Illustration: STUDIES FROM DOROTHY DENE FOR "CLYTIE." 1895 + Leighton House Collection] + +And later:-- + + 2 HOLLAND PARK ROAD, + KENSINGTON, W. + + DEAR MRS. BARRINGTON,--I want you to help me in a little + conspiracy against (?) our young tragic friend. Mrs. Glyn + frequently urges that she ought, at all events for a time, to + give her _whole_ mind and being to the study of her art. I need + not say I share that opinion, and I have at last, after infinite + trouble and persistence (my _nose_, you know)[76] induced her to + leave off sitting for a _month_, in the hope, if you will all + help, of making it a _quarter_. This would, I am confident, be + of the greatest value to her, giving her time also to read a + little and concentrate her thoughts. I am quite prepared to give + up painting from her for three months; but she is in mortal + dread lest her other friends should think her unkind and + ungrateful for their sympathy. I have told her I believe no such + thing, and that I feel sure that Schmaltz and you (who work most + from her) will, as willingly as I, postpone your studies in + order to aid her in so important a matter. She is going to call + on you to-day; if you agree with me, _be very firm_--have a + _nose_! _Refuse_ to paint from her for three months. + +We succeeded in making the little girl work exclusively at her acting, +and Leighton, Watts, and I frequently visited the school where she was +being trained under Mrs. Glyn, to hear her and her fellow-students +perform the pieces they had studied. Eventually she appeared in London +and in the provinces, and quickly communicated all her successes and +failures to Leighton and to me. Constant notes passed between us as we +each received news from our young _protegee_, or when we thought some +fresh step might be taken for her advantage. For instance, one of +these notes runs as follows:-- + + DEAR MRS. BARRINGTON,--It has occurred to me that I perhaps + seemed this morning what I certainly did not mean to seem, + churlish in regard to that letter from Irving.[77] _If Miss + Pullen is now ripe for him to hear her_--this is the most + important point (for to go to him _too soon_ would be the most + unwise thing possible in view of her getting a good + engagement)--and if, having declined a letter on a previous + occasion, she has any unnecessary scruple about now asking for + one, it will be quite enough for you to tell me from her that + she wishes for one, and I will at once write it. _Kemp will + always be able to tell you where to get at me._ I can write as + easily from Vienna or Constantinople as from here. + +From Exeter Dorothy Dene wrote to Leighton after recounting an +unwonted success:-- + + "Don't be frightened that I shall let all this praise turn my + head. I know how much better it could be done, and after every + scene a great weight falls on my heart that I have done no + better. But I like you to warn me; it is good for me, so don't + leave off, please. I am sorry that your friend, Lord + Mount-Edgcumbe, will not see me, and that you had the bother of + writing for nothing. Please do not fash yourself about finding + out any one else. I must leave off now, as it is time to go to + the theatre, and you will not get this any sooner if it were + posted to-night than to-morrow. + + _Sunday, 24th._ + + "To continue, our lodgings are very comfortable, and nearly + opposite the theatre; the food is good, and very fairly cooked, + but I am very pleased with the tuck parcel; we had one of the + birds when we arrived, the other things we have hardly touched. + I thought it better to save them for places where the food may + be bad. Please send me Mr. B. Tree's letter. I thought as you + think about its advice. Thank you so much for _your_ kind advice + and gentle reminders, I shall try so hard to remember all you + have said to me at different times; and if I do become anything + in the future, I shall owe all the best part of it to you." + +An engagement for two matinees was made for her debut in London. + +"Dear Mrs. Barrington, 'Dorothy' acts at the _Globe_ on Monday and +Tuesday afternoons," wrote Leighton; "I mean to go on Monday." I took +a party of eight to see her, including the late Lord Lytton, who took +much interest in the stage. After the performance Leighton wrote to +me, "Poor Dorothy was paralysed with terror yesterday--but I hope +intelligent people will have seen _through_ that." Again, later, "she +is adding, as she deserves, to the number of her friends, several of +whom treat her with really maternal kindness." I can indeed very truly +endorse Leighton's good opinion. Dorothy and three of her sisters were +worthy of all the interest shown in them. They were entirely +self-respecting, conscientious children, most affectionately devoted +to one another, and striving their utmost to improve in every sense, +and make themselves worthy of the help they received. Naturally they +adored their chief benefactor, Leighton. Unfortunately, Dorothy, +notwithstanding dramatic gifts, great perseverance and intelligence, +lacked charm on the stage. Her very beautiful face and throat were not +seen to advantage, as they were hardly in proportion with her figure, +which was short and too stiffly set to move gracefully on the stage. +Leighton in fun always called her "the little tee-to-tum," or when she +wore a large hat, "the mushroom." As he felt vitality waning and +mental effort a greater strain, the little family of Pullens had to +Leighton somewhat the same resting charm that Italy had in early days, +when he turned from the German austerity in study to the relaxation of +the _dolce far niente_ of Italian national life. "I go to see them," +he used to say, "when I want to let my back hair down and get off the +stilts." When Leighton was dying, his sister, Mrs. Sutherland Orr, +took Dorothy into his room. He was too ill to speak, but only smiled +to her in answer to her saying, "If I have or ever will do anything +worth doing, I owe it all to you--everything I owe to you." It is +almost unnecessary, as it is distasteful, to mention that this +beautiful paternal attitude Leighton displayed towards these orphans +was made the subject of ugly gossip--for are there not always the +_miserables_ of the world who seek the ugly rather than the beautiful? +misinterpreting the beautiful so that it should come within the range +of their scandalous arrows, more especially when the darts attack a +man in the high position Leighton held. Some of these offshoots of +envy and jealousy came within earshot of Leighton's sisters, who +thought it well to warn him in a letter that such malice was in the +air. He wrote a lengthy answer, ending with the following sentence: +"But let me turn away from the whole thing, it has pained me more than +enough. I implore you not to reopen it. On the only thing that +matters, you are _absolutely assured, if you believe in my honour_. If +you hear these rumours again, meet them with a flat, ungarnished +denial. Let that suffice--it does for me." To a lady friend he wrote +still more explicitly, in order, as he said, that there should exist +in his own handwriting an implicit and unmitigated denial of the +malicious falsehood. Leighton never knew under whose auspices this +scandal was conducted. As is the case invariably, it was impossible to +put the finger exactly on the culprit--for these fulsome things have +to be propagated under the rose, in order that they should get a firm +root before an authoritative denial can be given. However, after +Leighton's death, the lie was stated more boldly--even directly to his +two sisters. It is necessary, therefore, to include in the account of +his life the full and truthful version of the kind and fatherly +protection Leighton gave to this family. + +The interests of the Kyrle Society were another cause which I had in +common with Leighton. He spoke at the first public meeting that was +held in the Kensington Town Hall on January 27, 1881, and I possess an +interesting correspondence with him on the subject, which space will +not allow me to quote. The important matter contained in it appears in +the following correspondence between Mr. T.C. Horsfall, the chief +mover in establishing the Art Museum and Galleries in Manchester, and +Leighton, together with a discussion on other vital points connected +with Art:-- + + _April 7, about 1880._ + + DEAR SIR,--I am probably too late to be of any use, but have + nevertheless much pleasure in assuring you once again of the + sympathy with which I view your endeavours to bring the refining + influences of Art in all its forms, and, so to speak, in + co-operation on the masses in the vast industrial centre from + which you write. I believe that in seeking to elicit and to + cultivate their sense of what is beautiful you are opening up to + them a deep source of enjoyment, and by opposing good to bad + influences, rendering them great and lasting service.--Yours + very faithfully, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + + * * * * * + + _February 17, 1881._ + + I have carefully read over the programme of your enterprise, and + there is much in it with which I can warmly sympathise. I desire + nothing more deeply than to see the love and knowledge of Art + penetrate into the masses of the people in this country--there + is no end which I would more willingly serve; but there is in + your programme a paragraph which I cannot too emphatically + repudiate--that, namely, which excludes from Art, as far as the + public is concerned, that which is the root of the finest Art as + Art, the human form, the noblest of visible things. That you + should sternly and stringently exclude all work which reveals + an offensive aim or prurient mind is what I should be the + first to claim, but that you should lay down as a corner-stone + of your scheme an enactment which would exclude by implication + more than half the loftiest work we owe to Art--_nearly all + Michael Angelo_, much of Raphael's best, Sebastiano del Piomba's + "Raising of Lazarus," Titian's "Bacchus and Ariadne," + Botticelli's "Birth of Venus"--this is indeed a measure from + which I must most distinctly dissociate myself, and which makes + it impossible for me to connect my name with an enterprise which + would else command my sympathy. + + [Illustration: STUDY IN COLOUR FOR "GREEK GIRLS PLAYING AT + BALL." 1889 + By permission of Mrs. Stewart Hodgson] + + _From the "Manchester Courier," August 30, 1890._ + + SIR FREDERIC LEIGHTON ON THE MANAGEMENT OF ART GALLERIES. + + To the Editor of the _Manchester Courier_. + + SIR,--On the 4th and 6th inst. I published two long letters on + the management of art galleries, of some part of which this is a + summary:--No one can intelligently and fully enjoy any picture + or statue unless he has some measure of three kinds of + knowledge. (1) He must know something about the subject + represented, or he cannot enjoy the expression by the work of + the artist's feeling and thought; (2) he must know something of + the processes of the art in which the artist has worked, or he + cannot know what effects the artist sought or might have sought; + (3) he must know something of the history of the art, or he + cannot understand what elements in the work are due to the + artist himself and what to his time and place; or enjoy at all + some of the finest works ever produced. For the giving of the + second and third of these three kinds of knowledge there ought + to be subsidiary collections in our Manchester galleries, kept + distinct from the principal collection, and for the giving of + the first kind there ought to be several distinct subsidiary + collections, of which some should be for the purpose of giving + knowledge of flowers, birds, trees, and the other beautiful + objects which are "elements of landscape." As a very large + proportion of the people of all large towns are ignorant of all + that is interesting in nature, and of all that is noblest and + most interesting in history and in contemporary life, and as + pictures can very effectively give some knowledge both of nature + and of the deeds of men while fulfilling their special function, + which is to give certain kinds of aesthetic pleasure, the + principal collections in our galleries ought to be used for the + purpose of giving knowledge of nature and of noble human nature. + A gallery of good pictures of the kind would, by reason of the + interest of the subjects represented, attract so much attention + that the public would to a far larger extent than now feel the + influence of the artistic qualities of pictures. In order to + obtain pictures of suitable subjects, the directors of art + galleries, instead of only buying pictures in exhibitions and + studios as they now do, should, as a rule, revert to the custom + which prevailed in the ages when art influenced life deeply, and + should ask artists to paint pictures of prescribed subjects. I + believe that they would get thus better pictures and at lower + prices. Many artists certainly would be at their best when they + knew they were working to enlighten a great community, and would + gladly accept a moderate price for a picture ordered for a + public gallery. + + I sent a copy of my letters to Sir Frederic Leighton, and asked + him if he would let me have his opinion respecting the principal + suggestions contained in them. With the great kindness which + distinguishes him, Sir Frederic Leighton has written me the + following letter, which contains advice so valuable that I am + sure every person in Manchester who cares for art will be glad + to have an opportunity of reading it:-- + + "DEAR MR. HORSFALL,--I must apologise for my very long + delay in answering your letter--a delay due in great part + to lack of time, but in part also to the fact that your + questions could not be answered hastily, or without due + consideration. I may say at the outset that I very warmly + appreciate the depth of your interest in the subject of + art, and the constancy of your efforts to spread its + influence in Manchester; and I am glad to be able to add + that on not a few points, I find myself in harmony with + your views. + + "It is evidently not possible for me to touch, within the + compass of a letter, upon more than one or two of the + matters with which you deal in your two long communications + to the Manchester press; and, indeed, the question on which + you mainly dilate, and in regard to which I am not wholly at + one with you, would require to be dealt with at far greater + length than is possible to me here. I must content myself + with saying what little seems to me sufficient to indicate + the grounds of my dissent from you. But first I should like + to say a word in passing on the vexed subject of _copies_. + + "There can be no doubt that it would be an immense advantage + to those who cannot travel--that is to say, to the enormous + majority of men--to bring before their eyes, through + reproductions--if these reproductions were absolutely + faithful--the masterpieces to which distance deprives them + of access. This is, in the case of sculpture and + architectural detail, in a large measure achieved by the + means of plaster casts, though it is needless to point out + that the capacity of the material robs the reproduction of + much of the life and light of the original. With pictures + the case is different. The subtle and infinite charm which + resides in the _handiwork_ of a master, and in the absence + of which half the personality of his work is lost, can + hardly ever be rendered by a copyist. For this reason the + overwhelming majority of even reasonable copies is to my + mind worse than useless. Such copies can kindle no + enthusiasm, and they virtually misinform the student. It has + always seemed to me that the best way to acquaint young + people with pictures which they are not able to see is to + put before them photographs of the originals, which, besides + giving design, form, and light and shade, with absolute + fidelity, render, in a wonderful way, the executive + physiognomy of the work; and by the side of these + photographs free, but faithful, coloured sketches of the + pictures should hang, giving the scheme, harmony, and tone + of the colour, but not, like finished copies, professing an + identity with the original, which is never achieved. + + "Turning now to what you say on the subject of the + acquisition of works for a public gallery, I should at once + dissuade you from any idea of giving definite commissions--I + mean commission to paint specially selected subjects. I have + always felt very strongly that artistic work, to be of real + value, must be the outcome of entirely spontaneous impulse + in an artist. I believe that in the immense majority of + cases work done under any other conditions lacks vitality + and sincerity, and will not show the worker at his best. A + subject which does not impose itself unbidden on the artist + will never elicit his full powers. I have myself on that + ground for many years past invariably declined to paint + under any kind of restriction. + + "Neither does your idea of--practically--refusing + encouragement to any work which does not commemorate a noble + deed, and, if possible, the noble deed of a well-known + personage, commend itself to me. It seems to me, on the + contrary, to be a harmful one, inasmuch as it misdirects the + mind of a people, already little open to pure artistic + emotion, as to the special function of Art. This can, of + course, only be the doing of something which it _alone_ can + achieve. Now, direct ethical teaching is specially the + province of the written and the spoken word. A page or two + from the pen of a great and nobly-inspired moralist--a + Newman, say, or a Liddon, or a Martineau--can fire us more + potently and definitely for good than a whole gallery of + paintings. This does not, of course, mean that a moral + lesson may not indirectly be conveyed by a work of art, and + thereby enhance its purely moral value. _But it cannot be + the highest function of any form of expression to convey + that which can be more forcibly, more clearly, and more + certainly brought home through another channel._ You may no + more make this direct _explicit_ ethical teaching a test of + worth in a painted work than you may do so in the case of + instrumental music; indeed by doing so you will turn the + attention of those before whom you place it from the true + character of its excellence--you will, so to speak, + mis-focus their emotional sensibility. It is only by + concentrating his attention on essentially artistic + attributes that you can hope to intensify in the spectator + that perception of what is beautiful in the highest, widest, + and fullest sense of the word, through which he may enrich + his life by the multiplication of precious moments akin to + those which the noblest and most entrancing music may bestow + on him through different forms of aesthetic emotion. It is in + the power to lift us out of ourselves into regions of such + pure and penetrating enjoyment that the privilege and + greatness of art reside. If, in a fine painting, a further + wholly human source of emotion is present, and if that + emotion is more vividly kindled in the spectator by the fact + that he is attuned to receive it by the excitement of + aesthetic perception through the beauty of the work of art as + such, that work will gain no doubt in interest and in width + of appeal. But it will not therefore be of a loftier order + than a great work in architecture or music--than the + Parthenon, for instance, or a symphony of Beethoven, neither + of which preaches a direct moral lesson. + + "But I am being led away into undue length without the + possibility, after all, of doing more than roughly indicate + the grounds of my dissent from a rather vital article of + your creed--a dissent which will, I am afraid, jar on you in + proportion to the great sincerity with which you hold your + faith. I may say, by the way, that I dwelt at rather greater + length on this very subject in my first presidential address + to the Royal Academy, delivered on 16th December 1879.--And, + herewith, I remain, dear Mr. Horsfall, yours very truly, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + "2 HOLLAND PARK ROAD, KENSINGTON, + "_August 18, 1890_." + + Examples of the kind of copies which Sir F. Leighton recommends + can be seen in the Art Museum in No. 1 Room. We have there a + photograph of the "Adoration of the Magi" of Paul Veronese, with + a series of studies by Mr. F. Shields of the composition, the + light and shade, and the arrangement of colour in the picture. + These copies suffice to prove that such a collection as Sir F. + Leighton recommends would be of the greatest value and interest. + May I say with regard to two points in the letter, that my + proposal to use some parts of the collections in our galleries + for the purpose of revealing the beauty of nature and the + greatness of human nature, does not involve any belief that the + giving of ethical teaching ought to be one of the functions of + pictures, and that the proposal is made partly for the purpose + of increasing the width of appeal of works of art. While trying + to make that appeal reach a large part of the community, we may + usefully teach, by means of other parts of the collections, that + the excellence of paintings has no relation to ethical + teaching. + + With regard to the influence on the artist of the choice by + others of his subjects, I think that Sir F. Leighton is misled + by his own great gifts. A man of remarkably wide culture, and of + great poetical power, he has been enabled, by the great range + and strength of his imagination, to choose subjects giving ample + scope for the exercise of the qualities peculiar to the painter, + and yet appealing strongly to the powers of thought and feeling + of all fairly educated people. To such a man, and to such a man + only, spontaneous impulse can now be a sufficient guide in the + choice of his subject; and to such a man, and only to such a + man, the choice of his subject by other persons of intelligence + would be a harmful restriction. In every picture gallery it is + but too obvious that the majority of even able painters, though + unrestricted by the will of any committee, are impeded by more + hampering restrictions than any intelligent committee would + impose, and are unable to find subjects interesting both to + themselves and to others. For many able painters the intelligent + choice by others of subjects for their work would remove, and + not impose, restrictions. It must be remembered that the + subjects of the works of Pheidias, of Cimabue, of Giotto, and + indeed those of most of the works which have been much cared + for, were chosen for, and not by, the artists.--Yours, &c., + + T.C. HORSFALL. + +The following letter is Mr. Horsfall's answer to the one published in +the _Manchester Courier_, August 30, 1890:-- + + SWANSCOE PARK, NEAR MACCLESFIELD, + _August 20, 1890_. + + DEAR SIR FREDERIC LEIGHTON,--It is most kind of you to answer my + letter so fully. I shall show my gratitude by doing my best to + make your counsel as useful as possible to Manchester. + + The system which you suggest for giving some idea of + masterpieces which are too distant to be visited seems to me to + be admirable, and I cannot but believe that it will be adopted + in one of our Manchester Galleries. + + With regard to the advisableness of choosing for public + galleries chiefly pictures of noble subjects respecting which + most people have, when they see the pictures, or can be expected + to gain, some knowledge, though I feel the great weight of your + argument, I am still of the same opinion. I may say this without + presumption, because the great question which we are discussing: + "How can Art be made most useful to England?" involves the two + other questions: "What are the best conditions under which + artists can work?" and "How can the best work of artists be made + to influence the rest of the community?" In considering the + second of these questions an artist is, I think, impeded by his + special gifts, while I, not an artist, aided by the _qualites de + mes defauts_, and by the results of several years of experiment + in the use of pictures, believe myself to have gained much + trustworthy knowledge! Speaking from the standpoint which I have + thus reached, I should say that whilst the artist is most + conscious of the analogy which exists between painting and + instrumental music, there is really a much closer analogy + between painting and poetry, or between painting and song, and + that it is this closer analogy which should guide the action of + the directors of public galleries. Painting deals, while + instrumental music does not, with subjects respecting which we + think and feel, and it must accept the results for good and evil + of this; its products cannot be, as instrumental music is, + without definite relation to our feeling and thought, and a + simply neutral relation being impossible, the relation must be + ennobling or debasing in some degree. I think that my analysis + of the conditions which must be fulfilled if the relations is to + be an ennobling one was sound. + + In asking that painters shall choose subjects pure and lovely + "and of good report," I am not asking that painting shall leave + its special function--shall cease to do that which it can do + better than any other art; but only that it shall recognise that + its function differs from that of instrumental music, and is the + creation in us of a symphony of feeling or emotional thought and + enjoyment of form and colour, and human skill, and love of + beauty.--With very many thanks, I am, dear Sir Frederic + Leighton, yours sincerely, + + T.C. HORSFALL. + + + 2 HOLLAND PARK ROAD, KENSINGTON, W., + _August 22, 1890_. + + DEAR MR. HORSFALL,--I have to thank you for your kind and + interesting letter of the 20th. + + Knowing of old the views you entertain, and the radical + divergence which exists between them and my own, I had fully + anticipated the spirit of your answer; in fact, it almost seemed + to me when I wrote at some length the other day that I ought to + explain that it was out of deference to your wish and in high + appreciation of the long and earnest thought which you have + given to a grave subject that I did so, rather than in the hope + that my views would carry conviction or commend themselves to + you. + + The divergence between us is, as I said, at the root of things, + and is one on which I do not think experience either qualifies + or disqualifies us to judge. The question is not what effect + pictures may have had on certain people, but what the _proper_ + function of Art is. The question is theoretic rather than + practical. _If_ the primary function of Art is definitely + didactic, _if_ its first duty is to inculcate a specific moral + truth, then, indeed, there is, as you very rightly say, no + neutral ground. Either the teaching is wholesome or it is + mischievous. + + Meanwhile, our brief correspondence only throws into stronger + light the impossibility to which I believe I alluded in my first + letter, of dealing with such a subject within the compass of a + letter, and in broad and sweeping outlines. So, for instance, + when I used instrumental music as a parallel, I did not for a + moment mean to describe its province as being identical with + that of painting. Neither, on the other hand, would you, I + presume, in instancing song on your side wish to be taken too + literally; for you would have, according to your theory, to + excommunicate, let us say, for instance, Schubert, the king of + song-writers, who has played on more varied chords of feeling + and imagination than any other musician of his kind, and of whom + I am not aware that he ever inculcated (I feel pretty certain + that he never meant to inculcate) a definite moral lesson. + + But I am beginning again. Let me at once draw rein, and + abandoning a barren, however interesting controversy, remain, + dear Mr. Horsfall, yours sincerely, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + + + 2 HOLLAND PARK ROAD, KENSINGTON, W., + _August 28, 1890_. + + DEAR MR. HORSFALL,--Before starting for my holiday, of which I + stand in much need, I write one line to acknowledge and thank + you for your amiable and interesting letter, which shows me, I + am very glad to see, that we are much less divided in opinion + than I should have gathered from what you had previously + written, and indeed printed. + + Judgments given as absolute in your letters to the Manchester + press are shown by the commentary which your last letter + furnishes to be in a manner conditional, and without that + commentary your words were rather misleading. I was not + unnaturally a little startled--I, who do not think a "subject" + in the ordinary sense of the word imperative at all--to find you + condemn the purchase of Yeames's "Arthur and Hubert" (which, for + the element of human emotion, certainly satisfies the + Aristotelian demand in reference to tragedy), because the + emotion does not turn on an heroic act; and I may say, in + passing, that I am unable to see how a scene in which deep pity + for the helpless is aroused, can be justly described as a + "horror which it is foolish to try to realise." + + Meanwhile, I fully feel the practical difficulty which your last + letter describes. It is a difficulty of the most perplexing + kind. For it must be evident that whilst with a people of strong + moral fibre and an almost entire absence of aesthetic + sensibility--at all events, on the side of form--you may + indirectly insinuate some perception of the beautiful--of that + essence which lifts us out of ourselves--under the cover and + pretext of a _moral_ emotion--we cannot ignore the danger of + producing the exactly opposite effect of confirming the + dully-strung spectator in the belief that the stirring of that + moral emotion is in fact the _raison d'etre_ of the work. One + is, of course, glad, as the world goes, that the doors of + righteousness should be opened, even by the wrong key; but one + would still more desire that the door which yields only to that + key should not itself remain closed. + + Pray do not take the trouble to acknowledge these parting words: + but believe me, very truly yours, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + +With regard to Leighton's acute artistic sense of fitness when it was +a matter of chosing a site for buildings or monuments, so that such +placing should give them their full value of effect, I remember, after +a site had been decided on for Cleopatra's Needle in London, Leighton +vehemently denouncing the idea of placing it where it now stands. The +conversation we had respecting it was recalled by finding the +following letter:-- + + DEAR SIR,--It is a source of regret to me that I am unable to be + present as a listener at the discussion to-morrow. Meanwhile the + question of the base, though a very important one, is in my mind + very secondary to that of the site, and the (in my poor opinion) + radical wrongness of the present selection much mars my interest + in the whole affair. A monument which, intended to be + conspicuous, is not the _focus_ of the avenues that lead to it, + I think against the most primary perceptions of effect. Two + magnificent avenues give access to Cleopatra's Needle, the + finest river and the finest embankment in Europe; _both of these + run past it_ as if they had forgotten it. I may add that what + would only have been feeble is rendered worse than feeble by the + (of course accidental) semblance of matching with the short + tower over the way. + + Pray excuse the great haste in which I write and the consequent + abruptness of my expressions, and believe me, yours very truly, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + +Mr. J. Goodall, in his Reminiscences, says: "Many years before it was +removed from Egypt I used to see it lying on the seashore near +Alexandria. I agree with Lord Leighton's opinion that it was not +erected on a suitable site. It is a pity it was not put up in front of +the British Museum." + +Leighton, needless to say, took infinite interest in Sir Henry Tate's +splendid scheme for memorialising the success of a commercial life, by +presenting to his nation a gallery in which the best British works of +art might find a home, and, moreover, by the gift to the public of +the nucleus of such a collection. It was truly amazing to see the +amount of time and trouble which Leighton devoted to this scheme, +considering how full to overflowing his life already appeared to be. +But, whether it was a question of a splendid enterprise, or a +struggling artist of whom the world had never heard, or even an +earnest amateur, once his sense aroused that he could be of help, +Leighton manufactured time somehow to give that help.[78] But the +high-minded, public-spirited view Sir Henry Tate took of the +responsibilities of wealth specially enlisted Leighton's sympathies, +and he evinced an intense interest in helping to work out the great +idea. + +Another matter which concerned him very seriously was the fact that a +work by the greatest sculptor England can claim--Alfred +Stevens--purporting to memorialise our great warrior, the Duke of +Wellington, was allowed to remain unfinished and shunted away in a +side chapel of St. Paul's Cathedral, instead of being completed and +placed in the position for which it was designed. The following +letters to Mr. Henry Wells show that in 1888 Leighton had induced +others to view the matter in the same light:-- + + 2 HOLLAND PARK ROAD, + _August 12, 1888_. + + DEAR WELLS,--The list for the Memorial Committee is practically + complete, and though it is not in every particular the list + which you or I might have drawn up, it is a good one, and as I + told you I think in a previous note, I have not liked to + interfere too much, as Agnew has so zealously taken the work on + himself. I meant to send you the list, but have cleverly come + away from home (I am writing at the Senior United Service Club) + without it. I have of course asked Agnew to add his own name; + for the Academy I have proposed to him the four Trustees--not as + Trustees, but because they offer a ready-made group in a body + where none is afore or after--Sir J. Gilbert, Linton, and Coutts + Lindsay will complete the artistic section for the present. The + next step, as I have suggested to Agnew, is to get at the Dean + of St. Paul's--this I have offered to do. A chairman will have + to be appointed; I should suggest, or rather have suggested, the + D. of Cleveland--if he joins; I believe his answer has not yet + come in. And there must be a banker: then a letter from the + Committee should appear in the _Times_ inviting adhesions and + subscriptions, to be published from time to time: is all this in + harmony with your own view? Are you not afraid that the moment + when "everybody" (for _our_ purposes it _is_ everybody) is + leaving town or has left it--I go myself in a few days--is a + very bad one? Many people lose sight of their _Times_, or would + not write from the country or foreign parts. How would it strike + you to wait a month or two, having now laid the foundation? It + is a nice point. There are pros, but there are also cons. With + all good wishes, yours sincerely, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + + You have seen no doubt in your _Times_ that we mean to exhibit + our lamented friend's work in a worthy manner. + + _P.P.S._--By-the-bye, _S. Kensington_ ought to be represented. I + will ask Agnew to write to T. Armstrong. + + [Illustration: "BACCHANTE." 1892 + By permission of Messrs. Henry Graves & Co., the owners of the + Copyright] + + [Illustration: STUDY IN OILS FOR "BACCHANTE." 1892 + By permission of Mrs. Stewart Hodgson] + + + 2 HOLLAND PARK ROAD, KENSINGTON, W., + _November 2, 1892_. + + DEAR WELLS,--Best thanks for your cheque and kind note. You will + be glad to hear that the removal is going on capitally. I did + not wait for the full money-promise; I had _determined_ to do + the thing, and I set it going on my personal guarantee when we + were L300 short of the full sum. _Now_ we have the money, young + Lehmann munificently sending a cheque _for that amount_. + +The great monument having been moved to its right position, the next +question was to raise funds for the completion of the work. This was +perplexing Leighton during the last weeks of his life. Having written +a letter to the _Times_ in 1895, and the donations having come in but +scantily, he was puzzled to know what further steps to take. + +Leighton himself, so distinguished a sculptor, took a special interest +in all efforts to promote the knowledge and love of plastic art. When, +therefore, his old friend Mr. Walter Copland Perry called a meeting at +Grosvenor House--at which the late Duke of Westminster presided--to +lay before it his scheme for the formation of a gallery of casts from +all the best Greek and Roman statues, Leighton was one of the most +zealous and active promoters of the scheme.[79] + +Leighton was commissioned by the Government to execute the medallion +for Queen Victoria's Jubilee in 1887. M. Edouard Lanteri, now +Professor of Modelling at the South Kensington schools, assisted him +in carrying out the design, and became an ardent admirer of the +President. M. Lanteri described to me how certain difficulties +occurred in the casting. Leighton said they must work on till these +were set right--and they _did_ work eighteen hours on end. + +All to whom the work of Watts, Burne-Jones, and Rossetti has appealed, +owe Leighton a debt of gratitude. Before the Grosvenor Gallery +Exhibition of his work took place in 1882, Watts, in talking to me of +the unpopularity of the pictures he felt most inspired to paint, would +often give as a proof of this that, with one exception, no one had +ever cared to engrave his pictures; and truly, without Mr. Fred +Hollyer's photographs the general public would have known little of +the special value of this work, nor of the art of Rossetti and +Burne-Jones. Mr. Hollyer's photographs are not merely copies--they +have as art an atmosphere of charm in themselves; they render what may +be called the _soul_ of a picture. He writes:-- + + "About 1875 I received a letter from Baroness ----, requesting + me to call upon her in order to arrange to photograph the + collection of works of art in her country house. She had + employed other photographers, but the results had not been + satisfactory. I carried the matter through, and not only + received a considerable amount in remuneration, but was given + great encouragement to persevere with my work at a time when I + had nearly decided on going to America. The Baroness never + mentioned who it was that had recommended me, and though I had + been constantly working for him during many years, it was not + till six months after his death that I discovered it was Lord + Leighton who had been my good friend. I should be glad to bear + testimony to his great heart and loving kindness, and do regret + not having been able to thank him myself." + +Leighton was made a Baronet in 1886. The following letter from +Gladstone, written in 1885, refers to Leighton having submitted to him +the names of Millais and Watts as artists worthy to receive the +honour, at the same time begging him earnestly not to include his +own:-- + + _Private._] + 10 DOWNING STREET, WHITEHALL, + _June 17, 1885_. + + MY DEAR SIR F. LEIGHTON,--Your letter has given me much + pleasure. I can assure you that I in return highly appreciate + the generous spirit you have shown, and I value the advice you + kindly tendered in this matter of Art Honours. I am reporting + rather fully to Her Majesty on our conversation of Monday, and + on the personal abnegation on your own part, which commands my + cordial respect.--I remain always, very faithfully yours, + + W.E. GLADSTONE. + +On Watts declining the honour, Leighton was at first much vexed; but +Watts, having explained to him the reason which made it inadvisable +for him to accept a baronetcy, Leighton fully, as he told my husband +and myself, saw the necessity of his declining. + +Since the first years when Leighton settled in London he had been +favoured by the personal friendship of many members of the Royal +family, who very greatly esteemed him. He not only attended the State +banquets and entertainments to which he was summoned, but was +frequently the guest at receptions of a private and a more intimate +character at Marlborough House and elsewhere. + +In these pages there is only space to note a few, among the very many +directions in which he served the Art interests of his country. In +foreign lands, and in the Colonies no less than in England, he +extended the knowledge and appreciation of the best English Art by his +unwearying exertions; and yet it must always be remembered he ever +remained "a workman first, an official after." + +Professor Church, appointed in 1879 to the Professorship of Chemistry +in the Royal Academy of Arts in London, has preserved letters and +notes from Leighton on the subject of pigments.[80] It is almost +incredible that his mind could have penetrated with such accuracy into +all the details of his craft as fresh questions arose as to the value +of new vehicles and colours, considering his endless labours connected +with the wider interests of Art, and the absorbing nature of his own +work. But there exist over sixty letters, and more than twenty cards, +dating from 1880 to November 1895, two months before his death, in +which he proves his insistency to master thoroughly every detail of +his craft. He wrote: "It is, I feel, rather a duty in me to ascertain +about these various new vehicles." + +The following extracts may prove of interest and value to +painters.[81] + + _8th._ + + DEAR PROF. CHURCH,--I write to acknowledge your letter of the + 6th, the information in which (Jaune de Naples) is to me of + very great importance indeed. I believe Hills to be really + anxious to help us in the matter of medium. I should be + peculiarly glad if we could send forth a thoroughly trustworthy, + hard-drying, supple, and not yellowing vehicle. Let us consider + it. I find myself using a mixture, roughly, of equal parts of + amber varnish (Roberson's) and oil of spike; and, say, a sixth + of the whole of poppy oil (Roberson's): that is, 3/7 amber, 3/7 + spike, 1/7 poppy; but I vary according to the work; and again I + don't know what Roberson's amber varnish is, it does not seem + _very_ drying. Of course one would want a good middle drying + power, to which, _mixing the ingredients_, one might add any one + at will. I think that "Siccatif de Haarlem" has about that + middle quality, if I remember it rightly. It is, I think, copal, + poppy oil, and turps.; but it seemed to me to yellow a little, + why, I don't know; poppy should not darken. Chromophile is + delightful up to a certain point, and then the work sinks + extraordinarily blind and tallowy; and as you want something in + the way of varnish at the end, it seems desirable to carry that + or _some_ varnish in a moderate degree right through. Chromoph. + becomes a little _milky_ in a bottle with spir. of turp., and + turns bright green when left in a dipper. + + Your proposal to _report_ to us annually is very valuable, and + could be worked to the _general_ advantage. + + * * * * * + + I am delighted to find that you are in co-operation with my + friend Mr. Hills, who has a warm and genuine desire to serve Art + and his friends the artists. I find his poppy oil _clarified + with charcoal_ very delightful stuff. Am I wrong in thinking the + action of the charcoal on it has been to render it more + _drying_? I think that a vehicle made with that oil, amber + varnish, and oil of spike will be a very satisfactory vehicle + indeed; particularly if you can, between you, _bleach_ the oil + yet more. Chromophile is quite colourless. The mastic varnish + _that won't bloom_ will be a great triumph. _Pace_ our + detractors, it shall, I hope, be seen in time that the R.A. is + not unmindful of the needs of artists even in the matter of + material appliances. + + * * * * * + + I observe that you speak in your valuable manual of Aureolin as + a _very slow-drying_ colour when ground with oil; finding, in + use, that _Roberson's_ Aureolin dries, on the contrary, + extremely quick--it is always absolutely dry the next day, and I + use no vehicle but Bell's Medium, _i.e._ linseed and oil of + spike and turps.--I wrote to ask him what he grinds the colour + in. He answers "_pure linseed oil without the addition of any + drier._" This puzzles me. Where is the solution? Are there + different kinds of Aureolin? When you have a leisure moment send + me a post-card. + + * * * * * + + Among the madders in your handbook _scarlet_ madder does not + appear; I hope it is not a treacherous colour; I use it freely, + but only mixture with other _dark_ colours, to give them + richness. I also use cadmium _red_; is that wrong? A line on a + post-card will greatly oblige. + + _P.S._--Of course I only use cadmium red when I want a _very_ + deep orange in drapery or sky--nothing could replace it. + + * * * * * + + _Feb. 2, 1885._ + + Here is a little problem: I thought all _burnt_ colours were + _ipso facto_ sound. Roberson tells me that burnt white + (Chremnitz do.), a lovely colour _like ivory_, plays most + amazing tricks, darkens and lightens again in rapid succession. + WHY? When you are in Long Acre make him show you his samples. + + * * * * * + + Thanks for your letter. I don't use any particular colours other + than those you mentioned in your lectures, although I thought of + trying deep yellow madder again; I used to like it very much. I + suppose you have the list--it is a very long one--of Edouard's + colours. Smith is his agent here (14 Charles Street, Middlesex + Hospital). I use one or two colours (Tadema I think _all_) from + Mommen's in Brussels; his burnt sienna is _superb_. Asphaltum + would reward study; it was _universally_ used by the Venetians, + and seems never to have cracked with them. I am very glad that + you are steadily pursuing your collection of specimens and + experiments, which I hope will by degrees become an exhaustive + one, and of infinite value to the profession. _Grounds_, too, + will deserve much attention. + + * * * * * + + Kindly tell me whether there is any harm in putting a _thin_ + coat of mastic, softened perhaps with a drop or two of oil, over + works _finished quite recently_ but _begun_ a year or more ago? + If I understand rightly, cracking is caused by atmospheric + action through the _back_ of the canvas, by _distension_ of + underlying partially soft paint and, consequent disruption of + the upper, harder layer of varnish. If the first painting is a + year old, is it not tough enough to resist the atmosphere, and + is it not _anyhow_ pretty safe when the canvas is _backed_? + + I suppose "Mutrie yellow" is quite safe alone and mixed with + other pigments? + + * * * * * + + Thanks for your note. Yes, I do like the white oil, but I add + copal to it if I want it to be very drying, or mix copal on the + palette with a slow-drying colour, say a lake. This, I suppose, + is all right; if so, don't trouble to acknowledge this. The oil + of orange is delightful on account of its smell, but dries less + quickly than turpentine (rectfd. spirit). Is it not _always_ + better to have _some_ resin in a picture _throughout_ since it + has to be varnished at the end? + + * * * * * + + _April 21, 1888._ + + I am so much enamoured with the method, so far as vehicle is + concerned, which I have used during the last year, that I should + like to feel quite certain that it is _absolutely safe_. I use a + "single-primed" canvas, and underpaint with "Bell's medium" and + rect. spir. turps., which, under your advice, I have in _small_ + bottles, so that using it freely a bottle lasts a very short + time, and the stuff is therefore always fresh. The mixture I + _use up to the end_ (except when I now and then use the pigment + _alone_), and letting the turps. rather _preponderate_ as I + advance. I have found to my amazement that this mixture dries + even in winter weather excellently, and that I can use with it + even scarlet madder and aureolin, which, at least the former, + hitherto I never attempted to use except stiffened with amber + or copal; and I further find that this mixture, though of course + it "sinks" to some extent (and especially with the blues), in + the main bears up very fairly, incomparably better than I should + have expected, and in fact quite enough. Before beginning to + paint I rub over the part each time with Bell's medium and + saliva nearly equal parts, or say five oil to four saliva beaten + up with the knife on the palette to a white mucilage. This, if + left alone, makes a good varnish, and is delightful to paint + into. So far, so good; at least I suppose so. (Do you see any + elements of danger? cracking? darkening?) But at the end + something must go over it all, if only to lock it up (I + suppose), certainly to get uniform gloss and strength. I propose + in the Academy to put Roberson's medium over the whole of my + large one and to retouch with the same. A portrait on to which I + _don't_ intend to work I should cover with mastic and _a little + poppy oil_; there is no harm in this, I suppose, and the small + quantity of mastic is not likely to yellow, is it? I know this + mixture _won't come off_, but why should it? + + * * * * * + + _May 30, 1889._ + + Messrs. Reeves send me a colour in which I delight, but which I + have hitherto always avoided as being unsafe, to wit, indigo. I + suppose one ought not to use it, ought one? although my old + friend, and in some ways my master, Robert Fleury, employed it + extensively in _underpainting_ blue draperies. + + * * * * * + + _December 23, 1889._ + + I have got a recipe--a very simple one--from a friend of mine in + Italy, who paints a good deal in distemper, and who in technical + matters is quite the most leery person I ever came across. In + this recipe he mentions what he calls "Gum Damar," which he, in + his characteristic ignorance of spelling (for Italians are not + very strong in orthography), writes with an apostrophe, D'Amar. + Now I presume he means "Gum Dammar" (I believe there is such a + thing, is there not?), but I should like to feel sure. Perhaps + you will kindly enlighten me on a post-card. + + The distemper itself is the simplest thing in the world. It is + only a proportion of water and yolk of egg (he deprecates the + use of vinegar), to which he adds a certain number of drops (I + have not the recipe by me) of this gum. Of course it would be + important not to use the wrong gum. Hence the trouble I am + giving you. + + * * * * * + + _January 27, 1890._ + + I have just received from Perugia the enclosed sample of Gum + Dammar, which you were kind enough to say that you would report + upon to me. A few drops of this (by-the-bye, I do not know how + it is to be dissolved) and the yolk of an egg stirred in water, + form the distemper used by my friend Mariani. + + I don't know whether I told you that he is rather an interesting + fellow. He is one of those extremely dexterous Italian + workmen-artists who know and can work in every material, and + whose forgeries of sixteenth century bric-a-brac, cassoni, + reliefs in pastiglia, &c. &c., have, I am afraid, not + infrequently been purchased as original by very crafty persons. + + Several friends of mine who use distemper, and he amongst the + number, tell me that by putting a preparatory coating of + distemper over thoroughly dry oil, you can with perfect safety + interpose a layer of _painting_ in distemper between two + paintings in oil--an extremely valuable thing for us _for + recovering quality_. + + * * * * * + + _January 31, 1890._ + + Many thanks for your valuable letter. I have had the information + entered in a little book, where I keep the outpourings of your + wisdom on matters chemical. + + Thanks also for the card, in which you give me a somewhat long + name for my Gomme Dammar. I suppose in an appeal to a chemist + the _first_ portion would suffice. + + * * * * * + + _February 14, 1890._ + + Many thanks for your valuable note. I may say in passing that + the specimen of "Ruby Madder" sent by Mr. Laurie appears to me + to be inferior in brilliancy to both the Rose Madder and the + Madder Carmine furnished by Messrs. Roberson; and I have no + reason to doubt that the latter colours are perfectly + trustworthy. + + It will give me great pleasure to receive the dedication of your + book, which I look forward to seeing with pleasure, and using + with profit. + + * * * * * + + _May 19, 1890._ + + Many thanks for your note, which seems to open up an interesting + point. I gather from what you say that the mode of _manufacture_ + of a colour may affect its drying properties over a range + extending from drying very slowly to drying very rapidly; and I + shall be much interested in hearing what your experiments lead + to under this head. + + * * * * * + + _January 30, 1891._ + + Many thanks for your letter. I see that I had better wait for a + final opinion until the few months have expired which you still + require as tests of permanence. Meanwhile, I am a little unhappy + to see in the case of colour after colour the expression + "semi-permanent." I do not quite know what that means. Let me + know _at your leisure_ whether it means permanent under certain + conditions, and, if so, what; or merely in a general way that + the pigment stands, but only pretty well. The Rosso Saturno I + quite understand is to be set aside. + + Another perplexity is in regard to the Burnt Madder. If the + madders are in themselves sound colours, as I have always + understood them to be, how do they lose their permanence by + burning? I should like to use the Gialetto, and I rather gather + from what you say that I may do so. I hear with interest what + you tell me of your new varnish. As for myself, I have got to + dislike the use of any resins in my work to such an extent that + I have completely set them aside. Of course when a picture is + finished it requires some gum, not only to protect it, but to + bring up the colour to its full value. Will you let me know--but + this will do at your leisure, for the time has not come + yet--whether a picture being painted as I paint mine, + exclusively with Bell's medium and turpentine from first to + last, and, I may add, worked on up to the last moment of sending + in, _i.e._ a fortnight later, may on the walls of the Academy be + safely varnished with this new material of yours, either alone + or diluted with a little poppy oil? I look forward with interest + to Heyl's Madder Green. + + * * * * * + + _December 5, 1891._ + + I shall certainly try the Heyl's Madder Green, which I hear of + through you for the first time. Laurie's daffodil cadmium is + very pretty. I have got some; but my new delight now is yellow + cobalt, which you have found to be absolutely safe, and which is + absolutely delightful as a colour. + + * * * * * + + My tempera is come from Italy, and I am told that it is made of + the tails (feelers?) of the cuttle-fish (sepia). Would you like + to look at it again from curiosity? I understand that with the + reservation that it darkens, I may use it with impunity in, + under, and with the oil--that is enough for _my_ purpose. + + * * * * * + + _October 16, 1894._ + + Will you kindly advise me on the tempera, of which I send a + tube? It is used by my friend, Prof. Costa, who gave it me; he + likes it vastly. It coalesces _with oil_; he uses it also by + itself _between_ two paintings in oil. I have often longed for + something to keep down the _greasiness_ and _slipperiness_ of + oil paint when correcting or going over a surface often, oil and + water _do_ coalesce sufficiently. The most luminous thing I ever + painted (and it has stood like a rock) was painted (or certainly + _thickly under_painted) with a vehicle made of _starch and oil_. + What _this_ medium is, I don't know. Please advise. + + * * * * * + + _March 7, 1894._ + + Forgive secretary again. + + I am much obliged by your note, and read with great satisfaction + what you say about Newman's golden ochre. I shall now, until I + hear from you further, adopt the motto "Ex uno disce omnes," and + assume that the _yellow_ ochre is equally sound and serviceable; + although the colour is so much finer than any yellow ochre of my + acquaintance that I cannot quite close my mind to a lurking + suspicion that it is stimulated or refreshed by some foreign + ingredient. + + * * * * * + + _March 13, 1894._ + + Many thanks. You send me good tidings. The yellow ochre is by + far the finest I have ever seen. + + * * * * * + + I enclose, because we think (Watts and I) that it will interest + you, a specimen of purple _lake_ (_not madder_), such as Watts + has used _all his life_, which has been baking in the sun for + _two_ years; it is slightly browner, but more beautiful than + ever, and has, you see, retained its full _body_; this is + remarkable. + + * * * * * + + _June 22, 1894._ + + Very many thanks for your interesting and exhaustive + investigations on the French lakes. I observe that in several + cases you mention lakes having _cracked_. I presume, however, + there is no reason to suppose they would do this when embodied + with other colours, and that _if_ otherwise safe they might + therefore be used. The purple lake used by our friend Watts is + furnished to him, I have always understood, by Messrs. Newton of + Rathbone Place. I am glad to hear so good an account of the pale + boiled linseed oil from May & Baker, Ltd., of Battersea. I do + not, however, gather from what you say that there can be any + reason for substituting it for Bell's medium, to which I am much + attached, and which, as you know, is, with the admixture of + one-third rectified essence of turpentine, the only vehicle I + use. This note, of course, requires no acknowledgment--anything + you may have to say on these various points will abundantly keep + until I get a further account of your investigations on the + purple lake. + + * * * * * + + Many thanks for your valuable caution. Amongst the lakes you + tried, did you include the garance _nuance brun_ and do. _brun + fonce_? Both are superb colours, and it would be nice to think + one might use them. It is very comfortable to feel that one has + a _conscience_ one can tune at Shelsley. + + * * * * * + + _April 19, 1894._ + + I am about now to take up a large decorative painting for the + Exchange, a work which cannot be done on the spot on account, + _inter alia_, of the darkness of the place, and will, therefore, + be carried out here at the studio on _canvas_, and then + "maroufle" on the wall. Macbeth (A.R.A.), who is also doing one, + is using _Parris's_ "Marble medium," in which, a thousand years + ago, I painted two figures for mosaic at South Kensington; great + brilliancy is obtainable, but I rather fear a certain tendency + to look waxy and almost shiny. I myself incline to use Gambier + _Parry's_ material, which I have used on the _wall_ at South + Kensington and greatly like. But now the question arises, ought + the canvas to be _prepared_? and on this I shall be grateful for + your opinion, as the matter is very important. G. Parry told me + that canvas either _could_ or _should_ be prepared for his + medium, I don't remember which. Roberson's man tells me that + Madox Brown and Fredk. Shields (I think) both had canvases + prepared for a similar purpose. I shall postpone ordering mine + till I have your instructions; till when, and always, I am, in + much haste. + + * * * * * + + _April 23, 1894._ + + Many thanks for your letter. I shall, of course, obey your + instructions punctually, and substitute paraffin wax for the + ordinary Brecknell and Turner beeswax, as prescribed by Parry + himself. I will see Roberson immediately, for I should not think + it right, as he ground the colours and prepared the medium + throughout for my two large frescoes at South Kensington, to + abandon him in favour of Laurie, or anybody else. + + You suggest that I should make a little experiment on a small + canvas. Do you think that would be necessary? I presume that the + material will work exactly as it did before, and that the + surface will be--bar the granulation--very much the same as on a + wall. I ask this question, because I ought to get to work + immediately, and I gather from a reference to your work that it + will take several weeks before the process of preparation is + complete. + + I wish I could throw light for you on the verb "maroufler," and + should like to know what subterranean connection there is, or + can be, between it and the word "maroufle" which is, as you say, + being interpreted, a "rascal." + + At all events, when the moment comes for the operation, I must + endeavour to obtain information from France, where the process + is in very frequent use. + + * * * * * + + _February 27, 1895._ + + A contretemps has occurred of which I think I ought to inform + you, as it relates to the very interesting subject of grounds + and pigments. + + Robersons, when they came to roll up my fresco to transport it + to the Exchange, found that either the ground or the + pigment--probably both, as they are of the same substance--was + extremely brittle and cracked right across, cracking at a rather + abrupt tangent from the circumference of the circle; so that + they immediately struck work, and declined to go any further. + + As far as the painting itself is concerned, I do not believe + that any serious damage is done, because on re-straining it + flat, the cracks are barely perceptible, and probably would not + be at all perceptible in _situ_. + + Meanwhile, if any question arises as to the ground, it has + occurred to me, and it is on this point I wish to consult you, + that the cause may be the substitution of paraffin wax for the + ordinary wax hitherto used in Gambier Parry's material, which, + though perhaps not absolutely so durable as paraffin, is + sufficiently so, and very malleable. One does not see what else + could have cracked in that abrupt and sharp manner--certainly + not the copal, which has oil in it and is further made supple by + the oil of spike. If it turned out that the paraffin was the + peccant element, I should be, _entre nous_, rather glad, because + it diminished the facility of the work. + + * * * * * + +With reference to the cracking of this work Professor Church writes:-- + + This unrolling was begun in very cold weather; if the + temperature had been a little higher, nothing of this kind would + have taken place. The picture now shows no sign of defect or + injury, and is in perfect condition. By substituting _ceresin_, + a paraffin obtained from ozokerite or earthwax, for crystalline + paraffin, the chance of cracking is obviated. The ceresin, which + should have a melting-point of 150 deg. or 160 deg. Fahrenheit, + constitutes a safe substitute for the beeswax commonly employed + in Gambier Parry's Spirit Fresco Medium. + + + FOGGIA, _October 15, 1895_. + + You will be surprised to get a letter from me with an Italian + superscription; I am writing thus early before my return to save + time. When I was in Venice the other day, Van Haanen spoke to + me, _with approval_, of a certain vehicle, of which I had + already heard before vaguely, the invention of the French + painter, Vibert. You probably know of it, as the subject of + media has occupied you. There are, it appears, three forms of + this medium: the vehicle for painting, the medium for painting + _into_ in retouching, and the final _varnish_. As far as I + understood Van Haanen in a hurried conversation--he was a little + vague--the painting medium contains no gum, only, he seemed to + think, petroleum and oil; I assume that in the final "vernis" + there _is_ gum of some kind. + + I am perfectly satisfied with Bell's medium and fresh turpentine + for the very little use I make of vehicle in painting; but there + is always the difficulty of the _final_ varnish in the Academy. + I don't like risking mastic or copal _so soon_ on work which + contains _nothing_ but oil (and if I ever do use a little, I put + poppy oil with it), and the result is that I generally varnish + with Roberson's medium, which is safe, but I fear a little + inclined to _yellow_ in time. + + Now what I want you kindly to tell me, my dear Church, is the + exact composition of the _three_ Vibert media, and your opinion + about the safety of using _all three_ in the prescribed order; + and this I should like to know on my return at the _beginning_ + of November (hence my haste in writing), and also whether I can + safely use these vehicles on work _begun in my usual medium_. + + It is just possible you may not have heard of the Vibert + vehicles; if so, I would ask you to be so kind as to obtain (of + course at _my_ expense) a bottle of each of the mixtures and to + test them carefully. + + A line to say this has reached you would find me at the Hotel + Royal Mazzeri, Via 20 Settembre, _Rome_. + + With kind regards and anticipated thanks. + + * * * * * + + HOTEL ROYAL MAZZERI, ROME, + _October 22, 1895_. + + Many thanks for your prompt and amiable answer. I shall be + interested to hear on my return the upshot of your analysis; but + I _hate vernis_ in painting, as Bocchini tells us the Venetians + did, _comme la peste_. + + I am very glad you are getting on so satisfactorily with your + work on the frescoes. + + In haste (for I have many letters before me). + + _P.S._--No; I am sorry to say I am no better of my special + ailment though my _general_ condition is good. + + * * * * * + + 2 HOLLAND PARK ROAD, KENSINGTON, W., + _November 8, 1895_. + + Excuse the hand of my secretary. + + Many thanks for your note about Vibert's varnishes, which I + shall accordingly dismiss from my mind--the varnishes, I mean, + not your note. + +One chapter in which is revealed Leighton's serious inner life closed +during the years he was President. The last letter which has been +preserved from his beloved master, Steinle, is dated 22nd November +1883, Frankfurt:-- + + DEAR FRIEND,--Yesterday evening I received your letter from + Florence, and answer at once, partly to tell you how delighted I + am at the result of the consultation with Quarfe, as also at + your comfort and well-being, and partly because this part of + your letter has greatly roused my curiosity for a second, which + shall also tell me something about Vienna, Verona, and Florence. + At the same time, however, I want to make use of a pause in my + work to tell you that the first three coloured contours are + completed. To the painting I dedicated all my small skill, and + would have died in order to secure that the drawing and + composition should produce a life-like effect; I believe also + that these pictures will look like frescoes in their + surroundings. + +Some time after this Leighton wrote to Mrs. Pattison the following +letter, which proves that to the end he retained his great affection +for Eduard von Steinle. This friend and master died in 1886, but +whether Leighton made this inquiry before or after that date I do not +know, as his letter is not dated:-- + + DEAR MRS. PATTISON,--I saw a paragraph not long ago in the + _Academy_ which concerned me deeply; it did not _say_, but it + implied that my dear old friend and master, Ed. Steinle + (professor at Frankfurt a/M) is dead. Did you by chance write + the note? and do you know when or how he died, if he be indeed + dead? His wife has not written to me. I am anxious to have some + certainty in the matter. + +(Influenced) "--for good far beyond all others by Steinle, a +noble-minded, single-hearted artist, _s'il en fut_ ... Steinle's is +the indelible seal." In making any estimate of Leighton's character +these words should ever be remembered. They prove how deeply rooted +were those feelings on which his principles were grafted. These words +were no mere outlet for youthful enthusiasm and affection, but were +noted with reference to an account of his life about to be written for +publication; therefore we may consider them to be a deliberate +statement made for a purpose, when he had reached the zenith of his +fame and was already President of the Academy. The design by Steinle +here produced, called _Der Winter_, in which the artist has drawn his +own portrait when old, throws a light on the mind and nature of +Leighton's master, whose influence on him for good was greater "far +beyond all others." + +Written on the drawing are these lines, penned by Steinle:-- + + Giunto e gia 'l corso della vita mia, + Che tempestoso mar per fragil barca + Al comun porto ov 'a render si varca + Giunto ragion d'ogni opera trista e pia. + Indi l'affettuosa fantasia + Che l'arte si fece idola e monarca + Conosco ben quant 'era d'error carca + Ch' errore e cio che l'uom quaggiu desia. + + . . . . . . + + I pensier miei gia de' miei danni lieti + Che fian se s'a due morti m'avvicino + L'una m' e certa, l'altra mi minaccia? + + . . . . . . + + Ne pinger ne scolpir fin piu che queti + L'anima volta a quell' amor divino + Ch'aperse a prender noi in croce le braccia. + + [Illustration: "DER WINTER" + Drawing by Eduard von Steinle] + +No other member of Leighton's family was ever known to have been an +artist, and neither his parents nor his sisters pretended to any +knowledge of painting; but respecting literature he had an interest in +common with both his sisters, also a very strong sympathy existed +between Mrs. Matthews and Leighton in their love for music. In answer +to a letter from Mrs. Orr relating to Mr. Augustine Birrell's +well-known book, Leighton wrote, "I have read 'Obiter Dicta,' and am +much charmed with its delicate humour and ease of its style. I thought +'Truth Seekers' charmingly written." With reference, however, to the +Browning chapter he continues:-- + + Browning's obscurity hides a shorthand of which he keeps the key + in _his_ pocket. A matter of form, _not_ of matter, as "O.D." + hath it. Browning is not abstruse; he is a _deep_ thinker, who + _therefore_ (_vide_ "O.D.") requires obscure language; he is a + most ingenious dialectician and a subtle analyst; but he is not + a great poet on _that_ account--he is a great poet because of + his magnificent central heat, and the surface of interests over + which he sheds it. All this is rather late in the day to remark, + and one would not be exasperated by his friends if one had not a + sort of feeling that they _have_ done something to mar him. You + say he would not be obscure if he _knew_ it?--_distinguons_. His + obscurity is not intentional--of course--it is inherent in a + style which is strongly personal, and therefore sincere--but is + it in no degree _wilful_?--does he _not_ accept, virtually, some + such (absolutely false) view of his obscurity as "O.D.'s"? A + pity it certainly is; Browning is the last man who in his heart + _wishes_ to touch only the few--nobody knows better than he does + that that is not the characteristic of the greatest poets, and + that not for that is a poet's soul kindled to a white heat. + Meanwhile, here _is_ the fact that men of average culture and + average brains (I claim both, for an example), and _desirous_ of + _understanding_, as well as full of admiration for his powers, + often get at his meaning only by considerable effort, and + sometimes not at all, and that not because the thought is + obscure, but because it is wilfully written in cypher. + +The following letter to a friend of his sister's contains a criticism +of Leighton's on Goethe's _Sprueche_ under the head of "Kunst":-- + + _Private._] + 2 HOLLAND PARK ROAD, KENSINGTON, W., + 17/8/91. + + DEAR MR. BAILEY SAUNDERS,--Complying with your wish, expressed + through my sister, Mrs. Orr, I have gone carefully through the + _Sprueche_ under the head "Kunst," and have marked certain + passages. I have, however, deferred writing till the last moment + (I am starting presently for the Continent), partly because I + have been overwhelmingly busy, and partly because I am a good + deal "exercised" on the whole matter. To speak with entire + frankness, I cannot feel sympathy with the idea of the + publication, and feel that the connection of my name with it + would imply an adhesion which does not exist. On re-reading more + than once the maxims and sayings in question, which I had not + seen for many years, I find myself confirmed in my earlier + impression of them, that their value is in no way commensurate + to the authority of Goethe's great name. Some of them are, in my + opinion, wholly misleading and some obscure; some commonplace, + some irrelevant to the subject. Again, my markings do not by any + means always mean assent; and, on the other hand, the + discrimination between the value of a marked paragraph is often + a nice one, and is not represented by the difference between + selection and omission, which, _on the face of it_, seems assent + and dissent. In sum, I ask myself what the outcome is--what _is_ + the selection? it does not give to the world an important or + instructive intellectual possession; it _seems_ to express the + selection of the best by a particular individual (who does not + spontaneously desire to make such selections), and in _reality_ + does _not_ represent anything that he assents to throughout. + + But why a selection at all? I cannot refrain from asking myself. + The interest of these particular _Sprueche_ lies in the fact that + _they are utterances of Goethe's_ (and he gave them with a + context)--but then what is the meaning of a selection? + + You see I speak very bluntly in the matter, but also sincerely; + and I have at all events shown my good will.--In much haste, + yours faithfully, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + + I am, as I said, just off, but if you wished especially to + communicate with me, a line sent _here_ would reach me after + some delay. + +Though Leighton persisted in affirming that he hardly ever read, the +number of letters, and answers to letters from scholars, referring to +poems and general literature, which exist in the correspondence he +preserved, prove that if he did not read he nevertheless somehow got a +knowledge of the inside of books. To a question having reference to +the Nine Muses (he was then painting his frieze "Music") which he +asked Swinburne, he received the answer:-- + + THE PINES, PUTNEY HILL, S.W., + _August 21, 1885_. + + DEAR LEIGHTON,--I doubt very much whether Shelley himself could + have answered your question to your satisfaction. His + scholarship was that of a clever but idle boy in the upper forms + of a public school. His translation from Plato, as Mr. Jowett + tells me, and his translation from Euripides, as I know by + personal experiment, having carefully collated it with the + original text, absolutely swarm with blunders, sometimes, + certainly, resulting in sheer nonsense. I fancy he may have been + thinking of Aphrodite Urania, and perhaps confounding (as indeed + it seems to me that a Greek poet might possibly and pardonably + have done) the goddess of divine love with the Muse who was + _not_ the Muse of astronomy when she first made her appearance + in the Theogony of Hesiod, but simply the "heavenly one" in a + general way, as I gather from a reference to the lexicon. I + should have thought Calliope or Euterpe a fitter head mourner + for Keats: but probably Shelley wished to introduce the most + distinguished in the rank of the Muses in that capacity, on such + an occasion. And if Urania was in a certain sense the chief of + the Nine, she would naturally be most musical of mourners.--Ever + yours sincerely, + + A.C. SWINBURNE. + +As years went on, Leighton became more and more enamoured of the +beauty to be found in our own islands, and longed, as can be traced in +his letters, that his sisters should share with him his intense love +of nature. + +To his elder sister, who was in Yorkshire, he wrote in 1887:-- + + "A broad shoulder of moor, lifted against a great field of sky, + is one of the grandest and most pathetic things in nature (see + Leopardi). The beauty of moorland is that it has a particular + poetry and impressiveness for _every_ condition of atmosphere + and weather." + +Again:-- + + "I am very glad you like Ilkley so much--moors have an immense + fascination for me, but all English scenery of whatever kind has + charm for me. It has two immense virtues: first, being entirely + of its own _kind_, it never suggests a, to itself, disparaging + comparison with the scenery of any other country, and secondly, + it is steeped, every fold and nook of it, in English poetry, and + is haunted with the murmur of the prettiest of peace-suggesting + words: _home_. I wonder whether you both feel as I do the + endearing quality in our old green-brown country." + +It became his habit, in these later years, to visit Scotland in +September before flying off to his second home. More and more did he +realise the marvellous beauty of the scenery there. He told me, +shortly before he died, that the most beautiful vision he had ever +beheld on earth was the one he saw when approaching Skye by sea from +the south, when the sun was setting and illuminating the range of the +Cuillin Hills with magic light and colour. He wrote to his father +from:-- + + THE HIGHLAND RAILWAY COMPANY'S STATION HOTEL, + INVERNESS. + + Accurately the _charmingness_ of Scotland, it is the + starting-point for everything. But I observe that at the rate of + writing I should fill a volume before I had given you the + hastiest account of my journey, so I will e'en cut it short and + simply say that, taking it altogether, my too brief stay in the + Highlands has been a source of very great enjoyment to me, if + not of any particular benefit to my health, for which indeed it + has been too short. I have had more than the usual proportion of + fine weather, and am corroborated in my old opinion that for + beauty of colouring nothing north of the Alps will compare with + this most lovely country, and that the wealth and variety of + effects of light and shade is altogether unrivalled. + Unfortunately, working here is very difficult, all the effects + are so bafflingly fugitive; nevertheless, I have made three + little sketches which, though hasty, will be of value if only + to revive my recollections of the effects they very feebly + render; they were all done in one day; and no one day since I + did them has been such as to make sketching possible--except + this the last and one of the most enchanting, which I have spent + delightfully but fruitlessly on the top of a coach. + +From Gressoney, St. Jean, September 1, 1891, he wrote to Mrs. +Matthews:-- + + Many thanks for your letter received last night; as it crossed + one from me to the Dad, which I hope he could read (it was writ + large), I should not write again at once (having, of course, + nothing to say--except that it is, _pour changer_, a splendid + afternoon, and I ought to be out of doors) but that I want you + at once to tell the poor old Dad how concerned and sorry I am to + hear that he has been so ailing, and ailing so long, and how I + wonder at his superb power of recuperation. I don't ask in + _this_ letter how the Dad is, because I am sure he will send me + a line in answer to my note to him. But I have another reason + for writing at once; I want you, please, to thank Lina with best + love, for her nice long letter (_she does not want a letter + written from here_), and tell her, before it is too late, that I + hope she won't give up her Ballater without _a very full trial_, + because I know that it takes many people a considerable time to + get acclimatised to that bracing air. Tell her also that I was + myself going to suggest an _Ausflug_ to Braemar; if she goes to + the Invercauld Arms let her use my name, and she will be well + treated. I should _peculiarly_ like her to see the Lynn of + Dee--she will only have to scramble five or six yards off the + main road to look down into the stream from under some of the + grandest old Scotch firs in Scotland; and I verily believe that + the watching for a silent bit of those dark, dark, seemingly + bottomless, noiselessly swirling pools, _tiny_ as they are under + the hollow grey craig, will, somehow, whisper a big peace and a + strange wondering fascination into her being; the whole thing is + not bigger than an expensive toy, but it lays a never-failing + grip on _me_.[82]--Affectionate brother, + + FRED. + +To Mrs. Orr when in Scotland:-- + + _August 22, 1891._ + + If you can manage it go to a favourite haunt of mine, the Lynn + of Dee, quite a tiny tumble of green waters in fantastically + scooped grey rocks, no higher than a cottage, under astounding + old Scotch firs (by-the-bye the grandest tree in the world to my + thinking), where I have sat interminably long looking down into + the dark deep pools, from which now and then a salmon leaps. To + me no spot about there is so fascinating. + + + GRAND HOTEL, BRUFANI, PERUGIA, + _October 3, 1891_. + + DEAR LINA,--Well, I am glad you got to the Lynn of Dee, though + sorry that you could not be there in solitude and see it without + sitting in a pool of water. I am glad, too, that you saw the + salmon leap; I did not mention that most exciting spectacle + because it is not by any means _always_ on view--you were in + luck; but what you must make for another time is the bit three + or four yards _below_ the fall where the vehemence of the winter + torrent has scooped and worn pools so deep that as your eye is + drawn down past half-hidden submerged rocky shapes you come at + last to absolute dark brown night, and whilst you are conscious + of a rapid, swirling current, no _sound_, no faintest gurgle + even, reaches your ear; the silent mystery of it all absolutely + invades and possesses you; that is what I faintly tried to put + into my "Solitude," of which a photogravure embellishes your + staircase. I am vexed that you had so much rain; however, you + had a few fine glimpses, and if a rainy day in Scotland is like + the Scotch Sawbath, a fine one throws you the gates of Heaven. + It is curious how much clearer the air is (_when clear_) than we + get it south of the Tweed. + + I am glad that the Dad has rallied so satisfactorily; tell him, + with my love, that I have heard from the gentleman in Copenhagen + for whom I carved the marble "Athlete." He is benighted enough + to say that in his opinion it is one of the most important + statues of modern times; and he wants my bust, if there is one, + for his collection of portraits. + + [Illustration: STUDY IN COLOUR FOR "SOLITUDE." 1890 + By permission of Mrs. Stewart Hodgson] + +Leighton also particularly desired that his sister should see +Malinmore, County Donegal, when visiting Ireland. He wrote from +Kensington, "I am bent on your seeing Malinmore." + +And again, from Scotland:-- + + INVERNESS, _September 13_. + + DEAR LINA,--I can't help feeling a good deal of responsibility + about the melancholy, treeless wilds to which I have sent you, + because I happen to like them vastly; and I particularly feel + that _everything_ will turn on your seeing, not indeed all or + nearly all _I_ saw--that is impossible--but as much as your + strength will allow; take your courage, therefore, in one hand, + your goloshes in another, and your umbrella in a third, and + _from_ the car--_abseits_--see the _whole coast-line close_ to + the rocks overlooking the sea; there is not an inch that won't + reward you. There is a bit not more than half a mile from + Malinmore (_to'ards_ Malinhead), that is, though _small_, quite + Dantesque in its grim blackness (a few wet feet _im Nothfall_ + won't hurt you). Of course, to do this well you must be in cars + _every_ day to take you in all directions to the point _from_ + which to make your _Abstecher_--sometimes towards Glencolumskill + and the Hog's Back beyond (magnificent), sometimes towards + Malinhead, where you must see every little bay, including the + Silver Strand. + + At first sight the breaking up of the weather is a bore, _mit + Seitenblick auf Ihnen_--but is not as bad as it seems; bad + (dirty) weather suits these parts, and the day will not dawn in + which I shall have forgotten certain dramatic sunsets and the + swooping of certain storm-clouds like the flight of huge fiery + birds of prey, more than once witnessed and deposed to on canvas + by me, over this treeless tract of moor. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[58] "Athlete Strangling a Python," exhibited in the International +Exhibition, Paris, 1878. + +[59] "The Arts of War." + +[60] "Addresses delivered to the Students of the Royal Academy by the +late Lord Leighton." Publishers: Kegan Paul, Trench, Truebner & Co. +1897. + +[61] "Not everybody," wrote the late Mr. Underhill, who for some time, +as private secretary to Sir Frederic Leighton, had special +opportunities of knowing, "is aware of the tax upon a man's time and +energy that is involved in the acceptance of the office in question. +The post is a peculiar one, and requires a combination of talents not +frequently to be found, inasmuch as it demands an established standing +as a painter, together with great urbanity and considerable social +position. The inroads which the occupancy of the office makes upon an +artist's time are very considerable. There is, on the average, at least +one Council meeting for every three weeks throughout the whole year. +There are, from time to time, general assemblies for the election of +new members and for other purposes, over which the President is bound, +of course, to preside. For ten days or a fortnight in every April he +has to be in attendance with the Council daily at Burlington House, for +the purpose of selecting the pictures which are to be hung in the +Spring Exhibition. He has to preside over the banquet which yearly +precedes the opening of the Academy, and he has to act as host at the +annual conversazione. Finally, it is his duty every other year to +deliver a long, elaborate, and carefully prepared 'Discourse' upon +matters connected with art, to the students who are for that purpose +assembled. It is a post of much honour and small profit." "To +administer the affairs of the Academy, to fulfil a round of social +semi-public and public engagements, and to paint pictures which +invariably reach a high level of excellence, would, of course, be +impossible--even to Sir Frederic Leighton--were it not for the fact +that he makes the very most of the time at his disposal. 'That's the +secret,' remarked a distinguished member of the Academy to the present +writer some little time before the President's death; 'Sir Frederic +knows exactly how long it will take to do a certain thing, and he +apportions his time accordingly.'"--"Frederic, Lord Leighton, P.R.A.: +His Life and Works." By Ernest Rhys. + +[62] While writing this discourse Leighton wrote to his father:-- + + PERUGIA, _October 5, 1889_. + + DEAR DAD,--You will be surprised to hear that your letter (for + which best thanks) only came to my hands _yesterday_ on my + arrival here; it had apparently, after enjoying a junket through + Spain, returned to England before its final despatch here. The + envelope, which I enclose, will amuse you; Ulysses himself did + not visit more cities of men! I am glad my Spanish tour is at an + end; the insufferable heat, the long journeys, the frequent + _night_ travelling, have conspired to make it rather trying to + me physically. I have never been thoroughly well the whole time. + Here it is absolutely cold, and I shall probably soon begin + firing; it rains also, and I fear the weather is altogether + unpromising; but the air is magnificent, and I am very fond of + the place, and I shall enjoy my stay as much as the necessity of + writing my (adjective) Address will allow. + + My journey through Spain, though fatiguing, was extremely + interesting and very profitable to me for the matter in hand. My + stay in Madrid was made more enjoyable by the extreme amiability + of my very old friend our ambassador, who brought me into + contact with two or three interesting people, from whom I + gathered valuable information in regard to things Spanish; to + say nothing of getting compartments reserved for me in trains, + &c. &c. It is rather fortunate that our diplomatic + representatives abroad are mostly personal friends of mine. Post + is just going, so good-bye for the present.--Your affectionate + son, + + FRED. + +Leighton mastered the Spanish language completely in the course of the +few weeks he spent in Spain in 1866. A friend who was present gives an +amusing account of an incident which occurred when Leighton dined with +Mrs. Adelaide Sartoris after his return. He was sitting next Senor +Garcia (only now just dead at the age of 102); the conversation was +being carried on in Spanish. Mrs. Sartoris, in astonishment and +admiration at the fluent manner in which Leighton was talking the +language of which he did not know a word a few weeks before, exclaimed, +"But, Senor Garcia, _do_ say he makes some little mistakes!" "But he +_doesn't_," replied Garcia; "he hasn't made one!" + +[63] Mr. Norman Shaw wrote the following letter the day after he heard +this address in 1891:-- + + 6 ELLERDALE ROAD, HAMPSTEAD, N.W., + _December 11, 1891_. + + DEAR SIR FREDERIC,--I was so sorry I missed you last night. + After the election I went into the galleries to find my people, + and when I came out you had gone--and quite right too, for you + must have been very tired. + + I thank you very sincerely for your most admirable address. I + had heard that it was to be on the subject of French Art, but I + had not realised that it was to be entirely about Architecture! + and as an architect I naturally feel very deeply its great and + permanent value. It is altogether a new sensation to have a + Presidential address devoted to the Mother of the Arts! and I am + sure its influence will be wide, deep, and lasting. + + Amongst the many regrettable phases of modern art, there is none + that I feel more than the isolation that the three great + branches of art exist under in this country (for in France I am + sure it is quite different), and I cannot help feeling that your + address is a tremendous step in the right direction; but, alas! + I don't believe one in twenty of our colleagues understood what + you were so clearly explaining, and I fear not one in fifty + cared! But it is absurd to suppose that with the advancement of + knowledge this state of things can last, so it is intensely + satisfactory to have it on record that not merely have we had a + President that knew all that is to be known about the art, but + who also cared and loved it! + + I thought your remarks on the French apse quite delightful. I + have always felt this strongly, and though as an Englishman + (Scotchman!) I like our square east ends, still I am bound to + admit that there is a logical completeness about a chevet that + the square end cannot claim. But I shall only weary you if I go + on in this prosy way! so thanking you again most heartily for + your grand contribution, believe me to remain,--Yours very + sincerely, + + R. NORMAN SHAW. + SIR FREDERIC LEIGHTON, BART. + +[64] From a boy, without any effort or thought on his part, he +exercised an unquestioned domination over others. Speaking of the days +when he, as a boy of seventeen, first made friends with Leighton in +Rome, Sir E. Poynter said, "He knew he was clever, but he hadn't a +particle of conceit. I never saw him cast down, he was always jolly and +noble; none ever thought of refusing him obedience." Again, Sir E. +Poynter refers to these early days in his Dedication to Leighton of +"Ten Lectures on Art": "I came to-day from the 'Varnishing Day' at the +Royal Academy Exhibition with a pleasant conviction that there is, on +all sides, a more decided tendency towards a higher standard in Art, +both as regards treatment of subject and execution, than I have before +noticed; and I have no hesitation in attributing this sudden +improvement, in the main, to the stimulus given us all by the election +of our new President, and to the influence of the energy, thoroughness, +and nobility of aim which he displays in everything he undertakes. I +was probably the first, when we were both young, and in Rome together, +to whom he had the opportunity of showing the disinterested kindness +which he has invariably extended to beginners; and to him, as the +friend and master who first directed my ambition, and whose precepts I +never fail to recall when at work (as many another will recall them), I +venture to dedicate this book with affection and respect." Signor +Giovanni Costa wrote: "I remember once in Siena there was an unemployed +half-hour in our programme. Leighton happening to go to the window of +the hotel, exclaimed, 'The Cupola of the Duomo is on fire!' and as he +said it he rushed downstairs to go there. I, being lame, could not keep +pace with him, but followed, and on arriving in the Piazza attempted to +enter the Duomo past a line of soldiers who were keeping the ground; +but they would not allow me to. Seeing them carrying wooden hoardings +into the cathedral, I shouted. 'You are taking fuel to the fire! Let me +in--I am an artist and a custodian of artistic treasures.' The word +'custodian' moved them, and they let me pass. When I got inside the +Duomo I found Leighton commanding in the midst. He was saying, 'You are +bringing fuel to the fire.' There was a major of infantry with his +company, who cried out, 'Open the windows!' Leighton exclaimed, 'My +dear sir, you are fanning the flames; you must shut the windows.' He +had placed himself at the head of everybody, and the windows were shut. +From the cupola into the church fell melting flakes of fire ('cadean di +fuoco dilatate falde'--_Dante_) from the burning and liquefied lead, +which would certainly have ignited the boards with which they had +intended to cover the _graffitte_ by Beccafumi on the marble pavement. +Our half-hour was over. Leighton looked at his watch and said, 'In any +case the cupola is burnt; let us be off to the Opera del Duomo; Duccio +Buoninsegna is waiting for us!'" + +[65] Sir George Grove wrote after the banquet in 1882: "Dear +Leighton,--Let me say a word of most hearty congratulations on the +brilliant way in which you got through your _Herculean_ task on +Saturday. You are really a prodigy! Your last speech reads just as +fresh and gay and unembarrassed as the first, and every one of the nine +is as neat, as pointed, as perfectly _a propos_ as if there were +nothing else to be said! Thank you especially for the reference to the +music business." + +[66] The following is one of many letters of regret expressed when +Leighton resigned:-- + + 19 QUEEN STREET, MAYFAIR, W., + _June 24_. + + DEAR SIR FREDERIC,--I trust you will allow me to express to you + the sincere regret I feel at your being compelled to give up + your command of the "Artists." To myself volunteering has always + been so inseparably connected with your command, that I cannot + at present realise the extent of the blank which your + resignation will create. I shall ever remember with pride that + it was under your auspices that I rose through the ranks and + obtained my commission.--Believe me, dear Sir Frederic, very + truly yours, + + W. PASTEUR. + SIR FREDERIC LEIGHTON, P.R.A. + +[67] The following correspondence took place between Leighton and Mr. +Henry Wells, R.A. + + To Sir FREDERIC LEIGHTON, P.R.A. + _January 27, (?) 1880._ + + I will avail myself of this opportunity to remark upon the + statement you made in your summing up, viz. that if women were + made members under the existing law they would not have the + right to sit on Council. + + If you can establish this, if you can show us that any one + elected a "member" under our law can be debarred on the score of + sex from taking a seat on the Council, then I will instantly + allow that our laws do provide for the election of women, and + that the very ground of our argument is proved to be a + quicksand. When you endorsed the statement that came so + naturally from Millais, Calderon, and Leslie, I felt the matter + was serious, for I saw at once that you could not do justice to + our argument in the summing up because its very foundation was + misapprehended by you. Although the question is now disposed of, + I beg of you to look closely into the matter and assure yourself + of it. I only wish I had known beforehand where your doubts were + centered, for I would have done my best to remove them. I know + you will find, beyond all doubt and controversy, that any one + made a "member" by election can make good a claim to a seat on + the Council, just as Mr. Tresham made good his claim; and it is + because our laws provide for only one kind of members--a + Council-sitting kind--that we felt the necessity of providing + for the election of a non-Council-sitting kind. + + In making this distinction we follow the example of George the + Third and the founders of the Academy (who presumably knew + something of the understanding upon which the two ladies became + connected with the Society), for their decision, when they + _administered_ the law in the Tresham case, excluded women from + a privilege which could not be denied to a "member" elected + under the law. Of course their and our interpretation is open to + dispute; but this much is beyond dispute, that if the law is + interpreted as providing for women being "members," then it also + places them (against the intention, as we see, of the founders) + upon the Council; and as the great majority of the present + Academicians have made up their minds that women shall not sit + on Council, legislation would be necessary on either reading of + the law. + + The schedule of privileges to be given on the one hypothesis, + would on the other give place to a subtraction of privileges, + and either schedule would be determined according to the varying + shades of opinions of the members. + + There would remain only this difference in the result; one + schedule would be based upon a law that is open to varying + interpretations, whereas according to our method the schedule + was based upon a positive resolution providing for the election + of women, thus removing the question from all future discussion + and doubt. + + H.T.W. + + + From Sir FREDERIC LEIGHTON, P.R.A. + _January 30, 1880._ + + "In regard to the women question, I perfectly _saw_ your + contention and the logical cohesion of your view, and I was + familiar with the Tresham episode, only I dissent from your + view; I maintain that there were from the first + non-Council-sitting members--for 'members' the women certainly + were. 'It is the King's pleasure that the following forty + persons be the original _members_ of the Society,' and they did + not serve on Council, as the roster shows, _though all members_ + were supposed to have sat; of course the laws were for the + original as well as the elected members, and if the privilege + could be refused to an original member whose name stands on the + paper that says that all members shall serve in Council, it can + and must on the same grounds be refused to elected female + members after the custom is consecrated by Royal sanction." + + + _January 31, 1880._ + + "DEAR WELLS,--I should much like to hear what you wish to say + about the office of Treasurer--there are several points + connected directly or indirectly with the office which it will + be well to consider before I ask the Queen to appoint, and I + have called a Council for _Thursday_ (the funeral is not till + Tuesday), at which these matters may be considered. It would + seem advisable and convenient that the Treasurer's work be done + at the Academy, and not away from it. I think also that the + wording of the clause appointing a Surveyor might be made + clearer; it ought not to be _possible_ for any one to + misunderstand or misinterpret its bearing. Unfortunately I have + an appointment to-morrow afternoon at 4.30, and my work in the + day is so urgent, having to be handed over on a fixed day, that + I cannot leave it--would _Tuesday_ at _five_ do? say at the + Athenaeum, or here a little later? we should still be forty-eight + hours in advance of the Council. In regard to the women + question, I perfectly _saw_ your contention and the logical + cohesion of your view, and I was familiar with the Tresham + episode, only I dissent from your view; I maintain that there + were from the first 'non-Council-sitting' members--for 'members' + the women certainly were: 'It is Her Majesty's pleasure that the + following forty persons be the original _members_ of the + Society,' and they did not serve on Council as the roster shows, + though _all members_ were supposed to have sat. Of course the + laws were for the 'original' as well as for the 'elected' + members, and if the privilege could be refused to an original + member whose name stands on the paper, that says that all + members shall serve on Council, it can and must on the same + grounds be refused to 'elected' female members after the custom + is consecrated by Royal sanction.--In haste, yours very truly, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + + "I have said nothing in this letter about poor Barry, but you + may imagine whether the tragic event has moved and haunts me." + + + To Sir FREDERIC LEIGHTON, P.R.A. + _February 1, 1880._ + + I am very glad indeed to have the statement of your views which + you have given me on the women question. Everything is now + clear, side matters are disposed of, and only a single point + remains on which we have to join issue. On my part I hold that + our laws are in a definite and unequivocal form. That their + foundation is in the "Instrument" and that every addition to, or + modification, or annulment of the provisions in that document + has been made in the manner prescribed, viz. by "resolutions" + passed by the General Assembly and afterwards sanctioned by the + Sovereign. These acts of legislation are all drawn up in a + special way (as to size and pattern), to receive the sign manual + of the Sovereign; and the tablets arranged in the order of their + dates constitute our Statute-Book. I hold that no law can be + changed or privilege taken away except by a subsequent act of + legislation done in the prescribed manner. + + On your part you hold that laws can be changed and privileges + taken away by a "custom consecrated by Royal sanction." Thus the + issue raised is very clear and distinct indeed. + + I will point out that the question as to women sitting on + Council was only on one occasion, and then only incidentally, + before the Academy. Until the Tresham case arose the ballot had + been used in forming the Council, and consequently no question + of rights could appear while that process remained unchallenged. + But whether we are discussing a single act of adjudication, or + such a succession of acts as may be called a "custom," is really + immaterial, because the sole question before us is this--can any + act or acts other than those of legislation override and + supplant the enactments of our law? + + If it could be established that our laws must give way to the + class of acts you point to, it would then be the first duty of + the Academy to have our records minutely searched to ascertain + what other laws have been supplanted by administrative actions + sanctioned by the Sovereign; and the historical method so much + discountenanced at our last Assembly would in truth rise into + paramount importance. Many cases would most probably be found. + We have one in suspense before us at this moment--the case of + the engravers. + + The laws of the Academy distinctly provide (but not more + distinctly than that without discrimination "members" shall sit + on Council) that a vacancy in the case of R.A. engravers shall + not be filled up until the assent of the General Assembly has + been taken by vote. Since the making of that law only two + vacancies have occurred. They were both filled up without a + preliminary permission, and the Sovereign sanctioned the + election. On your contention, therefore, the custom consecrated + by these sanctions must override the law itself, and nothing at + this time stands between Barlow and the Queen's signature to his + Diploma. + + The Constitutional question you have raised is certainly one of + the highest importance, and I shall watch its development with + great interest. It is a matter of little moment what the view of + an ordinary member like myself may be, but not so with the + President, and I offer no apology for endeavouring to throw + light upon the subject. + + H.T.W. + +[68] See Chapter III. + +[69] Now in the Tate Gallery, purchased under the terms of the Chantrey +Bequest. + +[70] The owners of Leighton's pictures must feel satisfaction, not only +in the fact that in all cases the beauty of the forms and arrangements +of line grow on the eye more and more the longer they are studied, but +also that the work itself improves by keeping. I noticed this to be the +case very decidedly in "Cymon and Iphigenia." I had seen it when +completed, the day before it left the studio in 1884; and when it +returned there in 1901 (the owner, Sir Cuthbert Quilter, having kindly +lent it for exhibition), and was placed in precisely the same light, I +was surprised to see how much it had improved in tone during those +seventeen years; it had gained so very greatly in those qualities which +suggest the feeling Leighton wished it to inspire. + +[71] Leighton kept these precious studies he made for his pictures in a +drawer where I was often invited, rather apologetically, to turn them +over as if they were absolutely of no importance. I protested against +the cursory treatment they received at the hand of their creator; and +on seeing one superlatively beautiful study of drapery pinned on his +easel one day, I implored him to have it glazed and framed before it +ran any danger of being rubbed. He did so, and always alluded to it +after as "that sketch you lost for me," because, being framed, he lent +it to some one--he did not remember to whom--and it never came back. +Periodically I asked if it had returned; "No--some one, I suppose, has +taken a fancy to it," Leighton would reply. The pace at which he had to +live in order to fulfil the work he had set himself, enforced great +carelessness about his own interests in such matters. Unfortunately, +after Leighton's death, the sketches were exposed to much defacement, a +natural consequence of their being moved before being secured under +glass. + +[72] Ceiling for a music room, painted for Mr. Marquand, New York. + +[73] Mr. Brock gave a replica of this bust to the Leighton House +Collection in 1897. It is from some points of view the most +characteristic portrait of Leighton in existence. + +[74] Miss Emily Hickey, the poetess, was inspired by Leighton's picture +to write the following lines:-- + + SOLITUDE + + O'er the grey rocks, like monarchs robed and crowned, + High tower the firs in swart magnificence, + Where, winter after winter, vehemence + Of the wild torrent's rush, unstayed, unbound, + Hath scooped and worn the rocks till so profound + The deep pool's depth that all the gazer's sense + Fills with the absolute, dark-brown night intense. + The rapid current swirls, but never a sound. + + By the high grandeur of the silence wooed + Into its bond of comradeship, the maid + Sits with the quiet on her bosom laid; + Not on the great unknowable to brood; + Only to wait a while till, unafraid, + She see the spirit of the solitude. + + E.H. HICKEY. + _Oct. 26, '91._ + +[75] As portraits, the two heads Watts painted from "Dorothy Dene" were +superior to those Leighton painted. + +[76] This referred to a joke we had had with reference to a photograph +Mrs. Cameron had taken of my brother-in-law, Mr. W.R. Greg. Mrs. +Cameron had insisted that all character, will-force, and superiority in +general, evinced themselves through the size of the nose and the height +of the bridge. The result was, in trying to accentuate this feature in +my brother-in-law's photograph, she had made it almost _all_ nose! + +[77] Among Leighton's correspondence is the following interesting +letter from Irving, who was an ardent admirer of Leighton's, and was +among the first to join the committee formed to preserve his house for +the public. + + 15A GRAFTON STREET, BOND STREET, W., + _January 1, 1889_. + + DEAR SIR FREDERIC,--I am glad that you are coming to "Macbeth," + and I wish you had been with us on Saturday. + + The seats you wish for I enclose, though I should ever look upon + it as a great privilege to welcome you myself. + + Ellen Terry's performance is remarkable, and perfectly + delightful after the soulless and insipid imitations of Sarah + Siddons to which we have been accustomed. + + You will find the cobwebs of half a century brushed away. + + There is an amusing article in to-day's _Standard_, which + overshoots the mark, and clearly shows how offensive it is to + some minds to be earnest and conscientious in one's work. But I + need not point this out to you.--Remaining, my dear Sir + Frederic, yours sincerely, + + H. IRVING. + +[78] Needless to say that time was invariably forthcoming to welcome +and entertain the friends he loved. The following letter from Costa +gives a picture of his delight in so doing:-- + + "LONDON, _Dec. 10, 1888_, + "2 HOLLAND PARK ROAD. + + "DEAREST TONINA,--A thousand thanks for the twelve letters which + I have found awaiting me here. + + "I have just arrived from the station, where I found the + President, who was shedding light all round him, all radiant + with his white beard. Note that the train arrived at a quarter + past five, and there was an hour's drive from the station to his + house, and then he had to dine, and at half-past seven he was + due at the Academy for a distribution of prizes to the students, + where I, too, was to have accompanied him. However, in London + there was one of those fogs which put a stop to all traffic, and + it took us an hour and three-quarters to reach home. + + "The cabman had to get down and lead the horse; with one hand he + guided the animal, which was slipping on the ice, and with the + other he held a lantern. What darkness,--the gloom of hell + itself! Boys holding torches and shouting, showed us the way; + foot passengers called out, 'Hi there! look where you're going + to!' but, in spite of everything, the cabman with his lantern + banged into a railing. + + "At last we arrived at our destination, having discussed all the + way along the speech which Leighton made at Liverpool. The + dinner was ready, and eaten hurriedly, with the obligatory + champagne. I had eaten nothing since the morning. Whilst dining, + I got off accompanying him to the Academy, pleading my rheumatic + pains, and I ate like a famished and attentive dog. But the + President, spite of the hurry he was in, never once ceased from + tracing the iron line along which I am to run as long as I am + with him, and so he has set me down for a trip on Saturday. + + "Good-night; I am going to bed, as I am deadly sleepy. Did you + receive a letter of mine from Castle Howard? + + "Thank for me the kind writers of the twelve little letters; in + the midst of these fogs they have been twelve stars to me. A + kiss to dear Tonachino. Frederic was much amused by Georgia's + letter, and embraces you all. + + "Love to all, from Ninaccio, who has the greatest possible + desire to repass the Channel."--(See "Giovanni Costa: His Life, + Work, and Times," by Olivia Rossetti Agresti.) + +[79] It may interest his friends to know that the valuable collection +of casts which Mr. Copland Perry spent four years in forming, after +visits to all the collections of ancient sculptures in Europe, has been +ceded to the British Museum, and will be transferred from the South +Kensington Museum, where it has long been hidden away in a dark +corridor, to suitable courts in the new buildings of the British +Museum. + +[80] Professor Church's Lectures were given to the outer world beyond +the Academy in the form of a book, published in 1891, and dedicated by +permission to Leighton. + +[81] The questions raised in these letters have been very fully +answered in the third edition of Professor Church's "Chemistry of +Paints and Painting" (see Index), published in 1901. + +[82] This spot inspired the picture "Solitude." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +LIFE WANING--DEATH + +1887-1896 + + +Already in 1887 his friends noticed that Leighton showed at times that +he was overtaxing his strength. On retiring from the Academy as an +active member, Mr. George Richmond wrote:-- + + 20 YORK STREET, PORTMAN SQUARE, W., + _January 13, 1887_. + + MY DEAR SIR FREDERIC,--I have just received your most kind and + generous note, and thank you and the Council for so promptly + complying with my request to retire from the R. Academy as an + active member. + + To do it was much worse than making a will; but, having done it, + I am greatly relieved. + + Had it been earlier it would have been wiser; but as delay has + not forfeited the esteem of my dear President and others, I am + thankful and content. + + But one word of parting advice I crave to offer, which my + admiration of your rule and guidance in your high office + constrains me to make. + + Many of us have remarked that you draw upon your strength too + severely; my parting words then are, and please accept, follow, + and forgive them:-- + + Spare yourself when you can, that you may long be spared to give + yourself, when you ought. + + And now farewell, from your loyal and affectionate old friend, + + GEO. RICHMOND. + +From San Martino, 20th September 1889, Leighton wrote to his +father:-- + + SAN MARTINO, _September 20 (1889)_. + + DEAR DAD,--I received your letter two or three days ago, but + have deferred answering till I could say something one way or + another about my health, for of course I have nothing else to + tell of in these high latitudes. Well, I am in fairly good trim, + and as well as I am likely to be till I leave, for San Martino + will be shorn of my presence on Friday next as ever is (my + address for the first fortnight in October will be Hotel + Brufani, _Perugia_). On the other hand, if you were to ask me + whether I am "as fit as a fiddle" or a "flea," or "as a strong + man requiring to run a race," or "a giant refreshed," or "a + bridegroom coming forth from his chamber," or whatever simile + you like, I am obliged to own that I am not. I am aware that the + air is superb, and when I get on to an exposed slope and open my + mouth like a carp I am further aware at (and for) the time--so + to speak, "for this once only"--of very gratifying symptoms; + then they are fugitive, and my _average_ condition is perhaps a + little less satisfactory than on Hampstead Heath. On the other + hand, of course, such air _must_ in some occult way be + benefiting my tissues, and I shall no doubt, as the stock phrase + is, "feel _so_ much better _afterwards_." Meanwhile, I undergo + much humiliation; whilst _ladies_ make with comfort and ease + delightful ascents to neighbouring peaks, I humbly pant up an + anthill or two, resting at every third yard--puffy, helpless, + effete. And lest I should console myself with inexpensive + commonplace about my years, &c. &c., I have before me two + acquaintances, _not_ climbers by trade, one 65 and the other + (most charming of men, Sir James Paget) 73, who put in their + twelve, sixteen, or even at a pinch eighteen or twenty miles to + my one, and back again without turning a hair or having a + vestige of fatigue! Ugh!! + + I am most truly sorry that your strength did not enable you to + see Manchester; but it is _wonderful_ that you do what you do on + the doorstep of 89!--Your affectionate son, + + FRED. + +From Tours, October 30, he wrote to Mrs. Matthews:-- + + TOURS, _October 30, 1890_. + + I hope, when I get back next week, that I shall find the old dad + fairly well. More can't be expected; and especially I hope to + find Lina drawing within sight of the end of her anxious + toil.[83] I am delighted to hear that she means to leave town + again for a bit--a _good_ bit, I hope. Tell her with my love + that she is to make herself _very_ comfortable, and _not to look + at the money_, but _send for a cheque whenever convenient_. She + _must_, in justice to herself, do her work under the most + favourable circumstances she can command. + + I have, of course, no particular news; I have been visiting + _till now_. (I am going to-morrow to Blois and Chambord.) + Nothing but old familiar scenes with the old familiar enjoyment, + in the more serious sense of the word, but not of course with + the old buoyancy of spirit--_that_ must necessarily fade with + every year now, and I must be content with an occasional little + flicker of the waning candle. I have, however, been better in + health during the second than during the first half of my + holiday. In Rome I was the whole time with old Nino,[84] whom I + further took on a _Giro_ to Siena and Florence. I also gave him + a commission: very few things could give him so much pleasure + (_inside_--he is not demonstrative!), and _nothing_ is now so + needful to him. His lameness is not as bad as I had feared; but + he had a bad attack of his enemy, rheumatism, at Florence, and + had to bolt back to his people. Of course, too, his anxiety + about Georgina, my god-daughter, who has only just pulled + through a terrible illness, has put a heavy strain on him in + every way. + + Weather has broken up; of late _bitter_ cold, to-day cold _plus_ + rain, worthy of London. + +On January 24, 1892, Doctor Leighton died at the age of ninety-two, at +11 Kensington Park Gardens, where for many years, every Sunday when in +London, Leighton invariably went to see his father and his two sisters +at five o'clock, remaining to the last minute before dinner. This +regular habit he continued after Doctor Leighton's death; Mrs. +Sutherland Orr living on in the same house and Mrs. Matthews in the +close vicinity. In the autumn of 1893 Leighton was advised to go to +the Hotel Riffel Alp, Zermatt. "What a stupendous view this is from my +window," he wrote. "Weather in the main superb; it is finest for this +scenery when it is not fine. Knee still rather troublesome--nuisance! +Am seeing a doctor." In the October of the same year he wrote to Mrs. +Matthews:-- + + VERONA (Italy again!), + _October 2, 1893_. + + DEAR GUSSY,--I hope you are not very savage with me for not + writing sooner. I've had a tremendous "Hetztour" through + Germany--_thirty_ towns in thirty days; a Yankee might be proud + of it; and over an area contained between _Luebeck_ (N.), if you + please, and Berne (S.), Vienna (E.), and Colmar (W.), and I have + made notes everywhere, _and_ I have a game knee, with the result + (not so much of the game knee as of the hurried travelling) that + I have had little time for writing anything beyond notes of + immediate necessity. But you _will_ be savage at hearing that I + never received your Munich letter (alluded to in Lina's last), + either at the hotel or "Postlagernd"--can you remember at what + _date_ you wrote it? I would _try_ to recover it--I hate losing + letters, don't you? Thank Lina for her letter, and say that I am + concerned at the very poor and shabby account given of her. She + was going to send for the doctor; I hope he was able to help her + (though I don't know on what plea one expects that of a doctor). + By this time you may have recovered from your cure. What a + rickety lot we are! At Perugia, where I shall be on Wednesday, I + am going under physic for my knee, which, though hardly more + than an inconvenience, is a very depressing prospect. I have + written to Roberts, who has sent me prescriptions which I shall + have made up (to-morrow) by his namesake in Florence. My journey + has been, I am bound to say, in a high degree interesting and + sometimes delightful. (I wonder whether you were ever at + Hildesheim--its amazing picturesqueness, Renaissance houses, + carved and painted, are enough to make your hair curl for the + rest of your natural life.) But I have not bought a single + German novel, after all the trouble you took twice over, except + _Soll und Haben_, which I have just begun; how amazingly + _altmodisch_ and stodgy it is, but evidently very clever. I have + grown very indolent about reading in trains. Wednesday I reach + Perugia--Thursday I shall take a holiday--Friday I shall--but + enough! In Berlin I saw dear old Joe (Dr. Joachim)--(the only + person I did see, except Malet, the Ambassador, a very old + friend of mine--very snug and _good_ little bachelor dinner + there--"just as you are"). He (Joe) seemed very fit after "les + eaux" somewhere, and sent you kind messages. He was pleased at + my calling, and came next day to see me off at the station. + +In August 1894 he took his sister, Mrs. Matthews, to Bayreuth. On his +rapidly returning to London he completed the panel he presented to the +Royal Exchange. He worked hard at this for three weeks. He then went +to Scotland, and finished his holiday, as usual, in Italy. On his +return, after attending the first Monday Popular concert at St. James' +Hall, when walking to the Athenaeum he was seized by his first attack +of angina pectoris. Dr. Roberts, to whom Leighton was attached, and in +whose judgment and skill he had had great confidence for years, +writes, "I attended Lord Leighton for over twenty years. I was +constantly seeing and watching him. He never was a robust man; but all +his organs kept in health till two years before his death, when I +discovered the commencement of the trouble that ultimately proved +fatal. I never told him of this condition, as I felt its progress +would be slow.... He once told me he considered my fees to him were +too small, and asked me to increase them." Some years previous to this +first attack Leighton would say, "I always see Dr. Roberts every +Sunday for him to tell me I am not ill." In November 1894 Sir Lauder +Brunton was called in for consultation, and he and Dr. Roberts +prescribed a course of Swedish massage; and to this Leighton devoted +the later hours of his afternoons for several months that winter. Work +continued as vigorously as ever. The pictures--"Lachrymae," "'Twixt +Hope and Fear," "Flaming June," "Listener," "Clytie," "Candida," "The +Vestal," "A Bacchante," "The Fair Persian," were the fruit of the last +year's labours, besides the sketches which he painted on his last +journeys to Algiers, Ireland, and Italy. + + [Illustration: "SUMMER SLUMBER." 1894 + By permission of Mr. Phillipson] + + [Illustration: SKETCH FOR "SUMMER SLUMBER." 1894 + Presented by H.M. the King to the Leighton House Collection] + +Very characteristic was the manner in which Leighton faced his +condition. Absolutely natural as he invariably was, without +nervousness, and considerate to the last degree in not making his +state a burden on others, he never, even at this juncture, +concentrated his thoughts on himself. Once when a friend implored him +to draw in and not expend his strength unnecessarily, he answered, +with almost impatience, "But that would not be life to me! I must go +on, thinking about it as little as possible." There was something of +the boy about Leighton up to the very end, and in those last months +much of the pathos of the boy who is known to be doomed, but who plays +his game with just as much eager verve up to the end. + +Mr. Briton Riviere, the comrade whose nature was so worthily tuned to +Leighton, writes:-- + + One of the last times that I met him actively employed was at a + committee meeting of the Athenaeum. He had some pain and + difficulty in climbing the stairs to the committee-room, and + evident pain in speaking; but because he felt that the candidate + he proposed ought to be elected, and that no one else would + propose him with more earnest conviction than he could (and he + was the best proposer of a candidate I have ever heard), he came + there at all risks to himself and _would_ have done so against + all opposition and all disadvantages, simply because he thought + it his particular duty to do so. This is only a type of the + manner in which he treated all his official work during those + last years of physical suffering which he fought so bravely. + Watching him, it was then I recognised that he was on the same + plane as the seaman who never strikes his flag, and at the last + goes down practically unvanquished. + +Every day that grey pallor increased, and that sunken, indescribable +look of waning life in the face. Nevertheless Leighton lived much as +before, never making illness an excuse for avoiding any duty. As +matters grew more serious his doctors enforced a rest--a voyage--an +absence from the May Academy Banquet. At this juncture Leighton +tendered his resignation as President of the Academy. It was not +accepted. + +To Mr. Briton Riviere he wrote:-- + + DEAR RIVIERE,--Many thanks for your most kind words. I have been + deeply touched by the generous, and, I must almost say, + affectionate attitude of my brother members in this painful + conjuncture. How much I value _your_ friendship, you, I am sure, + know.--Sincerely yours always, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + +He decided on leaving England for two months, and fixed on Algiers as +a dry climate likely to suit his health. It had lived in his memory +also ever since the first visit in 1857, as a country singularly +fascinating to him. Before leaving he fulfilled his duties as +President in choosing the pictures for that year's Exhibition. These +duties he had often described as the most wearing of the whole year. +His intense sense of duty, and desire to judge in every case the +interests of the individual artist together with those of art, fairly +and adequately, inflicted a strain and entailed an indescribable +fatigue, he said, even when he was well. During those days in 1895 he +suffered acutely. + +From Hotel Continental, Tangiers, 18th April 1895, Leighton wrote:-- + + DEAR WELLS,--Although letters do not leave these wilds daily and + take an unconscionable time, as I now find, on the way, I trust + this will reach you in time for the first varnishing day, on + which I believe you hold the general meeting; it carries with + it warm and grateful--and _envious_ greetings to you all. These + you will, I know, deliver to my brother members at lunch, for + then only is the _whole_ body gathered together. They, knowing + me, will understand my humiliation at not being under arms and + at my post at this season. I wish I could ask you to tell them + that I see much sign of betterment in my condition: the slowness + of my cure--if cure it be--is, of course, depressing; but I + shall comfort myself on Thursday with the thought that perhaps, + at some time between one and two, you are wishing well to one + who claims to be a faithful friend to you all. I look forward + keenly to what will, I feel sure, be the admirable performance + of our dear old Millais. Unfortunately, I have not the remotest + notion of where I shall be when the news might reach me--in + Africa or in Europe--but reach me it will in time. You perhaps + think of me as basking in the sun between blue skies and blue + seas. How different are the facts! Blustering winds, + occasionally rain, chilly atmosphere, everything murky and + without colour! A change _should_ not be far off, for this sort + of thing has prevailed for a month and more. I did not bargain + for it. + + I hope, my dear Wells--and indeed I do not doubt--that you are + getting on well and comfortably with your vice-regency, and am + always yours sincerely, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + + + TANGIERS, _April 25, 1895_. + + DEAR LINA,--The day before yesterday I received your nice long + letter--you had not yet got mine from Gib.--and yesterday one + came from poor Gussy, and I am going, as you will both believe + when this reaches you, to kill two birds with one epistolary + stone. First, let me say that I am grieved--I dare hardly say, + _surprised_, for it is, alas! a wicked way you both have--to + hear that neither of you has derived any benefit, to speak of, + by your outing, and you indeed, poor dear, appear to be a little + worse. The fact is that at our ages, _con rispetto_, when one + happens to have pretty homes, one _does_ miss them under the + discomforts and shortcomings of lodgings or inns. As for me, + though I am fairly comfortable here, I have whiffs of a certain + "House Beautiful" in Kensington which are very tantalising. How + am I? Well, I think I may at last claim a _little_ improvement, + of course I give myself every chance, and am superlatively, + disgracefully lazy, _and put myself to no tests_; but I notice + this, that though I have my regulation three attacks (when not + more) a day, they are milder, I think, and I _know_ that I can + get rid of them almost immediately by certain respiratory + exercises my Swede taught me. This I assume is again _no more + capsules_, we shall see. + + Yes, I do perfectly remember the old home in St. Katherine's at + Bath, and should hugely like to see it. I hope when the old + inhabitant goes off, it will fall into reverent hands. + + No, I have not yet tackled Nordau. I am looking forward to him + much, but have so far, except some Pater (Greek studies), mostly + fribbled; two or three Spanish novels; a few short tales by + Hardy, clever, but his figures are talking dolls, taught out of + a book; _L'Innocente_, dull, but not so _coarse_ as I had + understood. "Tales of Mean Streets"--now there, if you like, is + powerful stuff. For pithy terseness and absolute sobriety of + means, for subtle and humorous observation and scathing + directness, they are unrivalled; but oh! what a picture! what a + state of things, and who shall ever let the light into the + tenebrous and foul depths? But how funny too, and grim; the old + woman who pockets the ten shillings given for port, in order + that she may have mutes at the funeral! Have also read + "Keynotes." Clever, one or two even powerful, but other than I + expected. Who is the woman? half Norse? half Irish? The writing + is bad; intentionally, apparently; a cross between an + interviewer and Ibsen for scrappy abruptness. _Her_ keynote is + belief in the _immeasurable_ (but not explained) superiority of + women, whom no man can _understand_; well, certainly, _I_ don't + know _wo sie hinaus will_. + + I have had more kind notes, this is a kind world _tout de meme_. + When stodgy, elderly Englishmen talk to me of the number of + people who _love_ me, I feel quite a lump in my throat. Of + another kind, but pretty, is the enclosed from W. Watson, the + poet, whom I admire, you know; nice also the telegram. I wrote a + _menschlich_ letter when her husband died (_I_ have known them + nearly forty years), and again a pretty letter t'other day about + the wedding. + + But I _must_ finish this scribble. I shall be gone when you get + this, write _Algiers_ (poste restante), I shall get it _some_ + time or other, but am still vague. + + Love to poor Gussy.--Afft. bro., + + FRED. + +Leighton enclosed the following from William Watson, and the telegram +from the Comtesse de Paris:-- + + 66 CHERITON ROAD, FOLKESTONE, + _April 18, 1895_. + + DEAR SIR FREDERIC LEIGHTON,--May I venture to say, somewhat + superfluously, what a delight it was to be made free of your + Palace of Art on a recent Sunday, and how highly I valued the + privilege. Mr. Wilfrid Meynell had already made me happy by + reporting the generous things you had said about my verses. I + wish the great pleasure thus given me were not alloyed by the + news of your temporarily impaired health. But in common with the + rest of the world I hope those sunnier regions to which you + perhaps feel more spiritually akin than to our own may quickly + renew your full energies. + + Pray forgive anything which may be intrusive or otherwise + unwarrantable in this letter, and believe me, dear Sir + Frederick, with very grateful sense of your kindness, and pride + in your good opinion, yours sincerely, + + WILLIAM WATSON. + SIR FREDERIC LEIGHTON, Bart., P.R.A. + + + _Telegram._] + _April 16, 1895._ + TO SIR FREDERIC LEIGHTON, + 2 HOLLAND PARK ROAD, + KENSINGTON, LONDON. + + Profondement touchee de votre si bonne lettre et aimables voeux + pour ma fille, je vous en remercie de tout mon coeur, y voyant + une nouvelle preuve de votre amitie. Je regrette vivement pas + avoir le plaisir de vous revoir avant longtemps, mais suis sure + penserez a moi. + + COMTESSE PARIS. + BUCKINGHAM. + +On arriving at Alger, Leighton wrote:-- + + HOTEL D'EUROPE, ALGER, + _May 9, 1895_. + + DEAR WELLS,--I got your first kind letter three days ago at + Tlencen, and this morning, on passing through this place, your + very interesting account of the Banquet. I know you will not + resent a _very_ brief acknowledgment; I have _one_ day here + only, and a large pile of letters, with a good many of which I + must deal, however laconically, at once. I need not assure you + that your most kind words, like so many manifestations of + friendship that I have received, touch me to the quick and will + not be forgotten. That my dear old friend Millais could carry + away his audience by his earnest and intense personality, I was + quite certain. I rejoice in my heart at his success, apart from + what I feel about his affectionate and warm expressions. It is + worth while to break down, to be treated with such infinite + kindness as I have met with everywhere amongst my colleagues and + friends. I know you will like to hear that I am at last very + decidedly better; in another month--for I don't mean to come + home sooner--I really expect to be externally quite patched + up--of course, the warning and the constant threat will remain + by me, but I shall try to be careful, and hope yet for long to + be the devoted servant of my brother members in the Academy. + Meanwhile, believe me, always sincerely yours, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + + _P.S._--I trust you have not suffered in your throat, which is a + frequent anxiety to you from the necessity of much speaking. _I_ + know how trying that is. + + + HOTEL D'EUROPE, ALGER, + _May 21, 1895_. + + DEAR LINA,--In an hour or two I leave for Europe, and in three + weeks I shall be home again in comfortable Kensington. + + I am grieved that you should have been worried--as well you + might--by that idiotic report that I should not return to + society or my profession (I wonder who invented it!), but you + were fortunately soon relieved; I think I told you about the + trouble Reuter and Hardy took in the matter. By-the-bye, you + were right in supposing that the "long walk" was also a figment + of the correspondents. + + I am very glad to hear that you and Gussy are both at all events + a little better at last. My bulletin is chequered, but certain + things are satisfactory; in the first place, I see that fine + weather and sun and pure air and the rest of it have nothing + whatever to do with my condition; this, as I can't choose my + climate, is distinctly reassuring; also, the fact of my having + been much better shows that I may hope distinctly for much + improvement: in the other, a certain relapse which is now upon + me shows how needful caution is, only it is disappointing to + have had to go back to capsules. I have had in the main a most + enjoyable time; have been very fortunate in the weather, + inasmuch as the heat has not yet been intolerable, and I have + done some work which will be useful perhaps and certainly + delightful as a reminiscence and suggestion. A variety of + untoward things, one on the top of the other, no doubt quite + account for my, I hope not durable, relapse, and I have no doubt + when I write again I shall be able to report fresh improvement. + The odd thing is, the bad effects _last_ so curiously. I + understand hot railway journeys, bad food, &c. &c., telling on + me, but I have been now two whole days and a bit in Algiers in + _utter_ idleness, and a great deal on my back, and yet this + morning I got an attack _lying in bed_! but don't let this + disturb you--for several weeks I was much better and required + _no_ capsules at all. This short little note will reach you, I + suppose, on Friday morning; a line on that day or on Saturday or + Sunday, just to say that it has reached you would catch me at + the Hotel Continental, Rue Castiglione, _Paris_. Please tell me, + on the altogether improbable chance of my "looking in" on the + Channel Islands, what the _best_ hotels are--I _must_ be + comfortable. Best love to Gussy.--From your affectionate old + brother, + + FRED. + + _P.S._--I wrote to the P. of W.'s secretary, asking him to say + how much H.R.H.'s kind words had gratified me--I enclose the + answer, which is nice, I think. + +On Leighton's return to London he resumed his duties as President. He +tried to believe what Sir Lauder Brunton hoped, but found it somewhat +difficult to do so in the face of _facts_, he used to say. He, +however, assumed that he was mending. On 19th July 1895 he wrote:-- + + DEAR BRITON RIVIERE,--Very many thanks for your kind and + thoughtful note. Do not think of postponing your motion; I have + already been the innocent cause of the postponement of two very + contentious motions in Council; I could not think of standing + further in the way--pray, therefore, proceed with it. I had a + nasty attack at that meeting but have felt no after effects, and + am no doubt slowly mending. In haste, yours ever sincerely, + + FRED LEIGHTON. + + [Illustration: "THE FAIR PERSIAN" + (Unfinished at the time of Lord Leighton's death.) 1896 + By permission of Sir Elliott Lees] + +From his account to his friends after his return, his health had +varied while abroad in an unaccountable manner, except in one instance +where, as my husband and I knew from personal experience, the +conditions were normally unhealthy. This evidently was the cause for +his having had specially violent attacks at Morlaix in Brittany, which +he visited on his journey home--and where, some years previously, our +whole party had become more or less ill, owing, it was thought, to the +unhealthiness of the place. His condition was much the same as when he +left England. He worked steadily in his studio, and received the +guests at the Annual Soiree of the Royal Academy. At the conclusion of +the function a friend asked him how it had really fared with him--for +apparently his vitality had appeared, as usual, inexhaustible. "I +think the attacks must be greatly a matter of nerves," he answered. "I +have stood here three hours and a quarter and have not had one,--while +I was dressing and fearing how I should get through it, I had +_three_." + +Leighton did not go to Scotland that autumn but to the wild west coast +of Ireland, again to that Malinmore that had so greatly fascinated +him, and whose wild beauty he had longed for his sister to enjoy, +"taking her courage in one hand, her goloshes in a second, and +umbrella in the third."[85] On his way there he wrote to Mrs. Orr:-- + + IMPERIAL HOTEL, + PEMBROKE STREET, CORK, + _Thursday, September 5, 1895_. + + DEAR LINA,--I was glad to glean from your letter of last + Thursday that, taking it all round, you are having a fairly good + time, and Gussy ditto. (I can't stand _wind_ either, it + aggravates my system.) I've never seen Mull--should like to--but + _not_ being a sociable bird (like you) should wish to have no + acquaintances. Is it Napier of _Magdala_? if so, I knew the old + lord of that ilk; indeed, to be accurate, I knew him even if it + was not so; or Lord Napier of _Ettrick_? if so ditto, ditto. It + is always the previous lot _I_ knew. By this time you will have + been to Lindisfarne[86] (lovely name!)--if you did not enjoy the + sands and the Abbey you need not call on me again. I suppose you + are at home now. In a week or two I shall no doubt know how I + am. Just off to Killarney, then Galway, then _Malinmore_, County + Donegal, where I shall be from (say) the 10th to (say) the 17th, + your affectionate old brother. + +In another letter he wrote to Mrs. Orr: "I am too glad that you have +made acquaintances--been a gregarious person. If I make an +acquaintance anywhere, I have simply lost the game." From Malinmore on +September 19th he wrote to me: "I'm sorry that you saw Scotland in a +mist; its beauty is _succulent colour_--you want rain first and then a +burst of sun--I am enjoying unsociable solitude keenly, like the bear +I am; health so so; I'm sowing patience, but so far reaping nothing in +particular. In a fortnight, off to Italy." On this visit to his +"second home" Leighton began with Venice, from whence he wrote to me +Oct. 9th: "The wind is howling and the rain pouring down in +torrents--not a correct attitude in Venice--I'm no better." Leighton +next went to Naples, where he wrote the following letter to Mrs. +Orr:-- + + HOTEL BRISTOL, NAPLES, + _October 18, 1895_. + + DEAR LINA,--I am sorry that you and Gussy don't see your way to + going to Bayreuth, since it is your health that seems to stand + in the way; other reasons are all my eye. I KNOW from Gussy's + own mouth that she would particularly like to hear the Siegfried + Tetralogy at Bayreuth (and this _may_ be the last time of giving + it _there_), I _know_ also that, given, of course, the Fuersten + Loge with its facilities, you would like to go, because you have + said so. Well it will remain open in case you change what you, + fondly and perhaps sincerely, regard as your minds. + + I am very glad you take such a very sensible view of my ailment, + because it makes it more easy to speak of it; I also live in the + hope and, almost, expectation, that it will fizzle out some day + of its own accord, and this enables me to bear up against the + entire absence _at present_ of any improvement. I have at last + finished my "Nordau," which I have read through from cover to + cover; it is a very vigorous and remarkable book and of riveting + interest to any one who likes polemics (from _outside_) as I do. + The author is at his best when he is dissecting a particular + victim--say Nietzsche--on the other hand one is not a little + repelled by his astoundingly unparliamentary insolence, his not + infrequent disingenuousness and _spitzfindelei_ and his curious + narrownesses and lacunae. The _Boecke die er schneidet_ when he + gets on the subject of graphic art are quite comic. The fact is + he is in some respects absolutely devoid of perception, like an + otherwise most intelligent and cultured man who should have no + ear for music. What, for instance, can we say of a man who + asserts, as a truism, that aesthetic and _sexual_(!) feelings + (not sensual but "_geschlechtlich_") are not merely akin but + actually cover one another to a very large extent! I doubt + whether there is anything chaster than the sense of beauty in + abstract form; he has no inkling of this. When all is said and + done he is himself in some measure a _crypto_degenerate, if I + may so call him; degeneracy is a _Zwangsvorstellung_ with him, + he sees it everywhere; a curious instance is his seeing it in + the fondness of English writers for alliteration; of course he + knows, with his wide culture, better than I do that this + assonance of the beginning of words dates from the dawn of our + literature; _he might_, no doubt, say, "Yes! it is a + _Rueckschlag_," but he would therein give another proof of his + ineptitude in aesthetic matters. In _every_ Art, _iteration_, of + which alliteration is a form, has ever been a powerful source of + expression and charm. Meanwhile his last, remarkable, chapter + "Therapie" takes a good deal of the sting out of the book; he + owns that certain peculiarities--excess of sensibility and the + like--are present in _nearly all art_, that it is, in fact, only + a question of a degree and, he adds, in a passage which Gussy + has marked, "Who shall say _where_, exactly, madness begins?" + Amen! And that little (or large) spice of something which + _might_ be madness if there was much more of it, has given to us + poor mortals some of our keenest delights--"more grease to its + elbow," say I, in my vulgar way. But, I say! Nietzsche!! + eh?--I've also read J. Kowaleski, with great interest--but, + crikey! _what_ a creature to live with!! + + Tell Gussy, with my love, that I have got the usual two seats + (Queen's Hall) for the November _Wagner_. Tell her to keep the + day open.--Afftly. yrs. + + FRED. + +From Naples he travelled to Rome to find his dear friend Giovanni +Costa, with whom he spent the last weeks of his holiday. Of this visit +Costa wrote the following in his "Notes":-- + + "His last study from nature was painted in Rome in October 1895, + for the unfinished picture of 'Clytie,' exhibited in the Royal + Academy, 1896. It was a study of fruit, and he enjoyed working + on it for several hours, though he was then ill; and I believe + that the hours he passed in the courtyard of the Palazzo + Odeschalchi painting these fruits, which he had arranged on a + marble sarcophagus, afforded him, perhaps, the last artistic + pleasures he ever enjoyed. It is true that after this he went to + the Vatican, to Siena, and to Florence, where he saw for the + last time the masterpieces with which these towns abound. But, + standing before the great works of the masters of the past, he + could only sigh. + + "He worshipped children, and his pictures of children with fruit + and flowers are among the most delicious and spontaneous work + ever done by him in painting. And I can see him again, during + the last visit he paid to Rome in 1895, on his knees before my + little girl, to accede to her request that she should have a + lock of his hair as a remembrance." + +Nothing could give a better record of two sides of Leighton's nature, +often believed to be incompatible, than the contents of the letter +from Naples to his sister, with its remarks on Nordau, Nietzsche, and +the like, and this beautiful picture recalled by his old friend +Costa--Leighton on his knees before a little child. The intellect +which could crack the hardest of intellectual nuts was surmounted by +lowly reverence for all beauty, most ardently adored when that beauty +came to him in its most innocent childlike garb. + +Writing to me on his return on November the 6th Leighton says: "I +shall try to look in to-morrow at five. I want very much to hear +Fuller-Maitland's preachment" (Lectures on Purcell were being given at +our house previous to the Purcell Festival). "I am sorry to say I am +no better, rather worse." On being asked the next day, as he came into +our house, "How is it?" the answer Leighton gave was, "Oh, worse! +Sometimes fifteen attacks a day." On his birthday, the 3rd of +December, he wrote to his sister:-- + + 2 HOLLAND PARK ROAD, KENSINGTON, W., + _December 3, 1895_. + + DEAR LINA,--The grand leaves in a mossy pot, and the sweet + flowers, and the poems, and your letter, came all together. I + know you will let me answer you both on one piece of paper. I + know, dears, how true is your love, and though I am not a + demonstrative person, it is very precious to me. I know you will + both like to hear that after an _hour's_ innings between L. + Brunton, Dr. Tunnicliffe his partner, Roberts, and three most + ingenious scientific instruments, and after tapping and + auscultating of my wretched ear cap fore and aft, it was + pronounced that (in some mysterious way) I am _not_ worse, but + _better_; well, I am glad to hear it; meanwhile my medicine is + being strengthened, and will be again in the (pretty certain) + event of its requiring more strength. L.B. quite _hopes_ to rig + me out for the May banquet. Much love to both from affectionate + old brother. + +On the 14th he wrote to his friend Mr. Henry Wells:-- + + 2 HOLLAND PARK ROAD, KENSINGTON, W., + _December 14, 1895_. + + DEAR WELLS,--Many thanks for your kind letter, relying on which + I hasten to "nail" you for the _27th_; I shall be very much + disappointed if you say me "nay." I never give a _long_ notice, + in part so as to bring about a little shuffling of cards, and + relieving my guests of a certain monotony of routine which might + in the end irk them. I need not assure you that I am most warmly + sensible to the vigilant and truly friendly interest which you + manifest concerning my health; believe me, if I differ from you + in not believing in the efficacy or feasibility of a suspension + of activity for a year or two, it is in no unreasoning or + perverse spirit (and let me, by-the-bye, say in passing that I + have, for a few days past, certainly been a little better). + Putting aside for a moment the fact that I have for the next + year, and more, definite professional _obligations_ in the way + of commissioned work (which is, unfortunately, not incompatible + with having a certain number of unsold works!), to withdraw from + Academic duties would mean _leaving England_ for the period in + question; it would be morally impossible to remain here, + apparently in robust health, congratulated constantly, as I am, + on my healthy appearance, going about unrebuked by a _very_ + cautious doctor (Lauder Brunton), taking the pleasures of life + _apparently_ without any stint (as a matter of _fact_ I am very + quiet and regular, and under _continuous_ medical treatment), + and then shirking all its _duties_; but experience has shown + that I gain nothing by absence--by change of climate and the + rest; and, on the other hand, my temperament being what you + know, the withdrawal from my active life would infallibly prey + on me and have a marked effect on my health through my spirits; + this is also the opinion of Lauder Brunton. My care must be to + live quietly but not idly, and thus try to mend gradually, as I + doubtless shall, in the hands of my doctor _and my masseur_. + _If_, which God forbid, I am pronounced still unfit in May, I + will bow, with whatever bitterness, to the judgment, but till + then I must not forego hope. Meanwhile, you have all done me + infinite service in prohibiting the "Discourse" for this year--I + can't say how grateful I was for that! I shall also avoid, as + far as may be, all _controversy_ at our table; that is the worst + thing of all by far, for yours sincerely always, + + FRED LEIGHTON.[87] + +With the New Year honours and among those bestowed was a Peerage on +Leighton, who was created Lord Leighton, Baron of Stretton (see chap. +i. vol. i., Antecedents). Needless to say, congratulations poured in +from all sorts and conditions. One of these in writing was preserved +because enclosed in a note to his sister. + + _January 13, 1896._ + + MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--I have just come back from Italy, and hope + that it is not too late to tell you with how much satisfaction I + read of the mark of honour that has been accepted by you. I am + not a passionate admirer of the legislative feats of the House + of Lords, but so long as it stands, it is well that such a man + as you should sit there. I hope that the thing has given you + pleasure, and for my poor part I rejoice both as a friend and as + a humble admirer of art and genius that this honourable + recognition has fallen to you.--Yours sincerely, + + JOHN MORLEY. + + Not a word of reply, I pray. + +From his native place Leighton received the following:-- + + When it was announced on Wednesday that the Queen had been + pleased to confer the dignity of a Peerage of the United Kingdom + upon Sir Frederic Leighton, Bart., President of the Royal + Academy, who is a native of Scarborough, having been born here + sixty-five years ago, the Mayor (Alderman Cross, J.P.) sent the + following telegram:--"Sir Frederic Leighton, 2 Holland Park + Road, London, the Mayor, Corporation, and inhabitants of + Scarborough present their hearty congratulations on the honour + conferred upon you.--The Mayor, Scarborough." The next morning + the following reply was received:--"The Mayor of + Scarborough,--Sincere thanks for congratulations from my + birthplace. + + LEIGHTON." + +Leighton had been loath to acquaint his sisters with the real nature +of his complaint, as he was aware how much their anxiety for him would +be increased if they knew. However, he at last felt it was necessary +to tell them. Very characteristically, he chose the moment when they +were at the theatre, thinking it might produce a less painful shock +when mentioned casually, and when their attention might be distracted +more easily. It was difficult, however, under any circumstances to +temper the blow. Leighton wrote the next Sunday--"I do hope I shall +find you better this afternoon.... I ought not to have spoken to you +about my ailment." I received the following in Somerset, dated January +20, dictated, ... "As I am (not to put too fine a point on it) in bed +with a very bad cough at this moment, you will, I know, forgive my +using the hand of a secretary in writing to you. I see that you want a +contribution for Mrs. Watts Hughes' Home for Boys; I therefore enclose +a cheque." ... On the day following, Tuesday, his doctors decreed that +he should remain in his room, but on Wednesday, the day after, +Leighton insisted on getting into his studio, where he worked all the +morning from models. In the afternoon he drove in his open +carriage--certainly without the permission of his doctors!--to +Westminster, getting out and standing in the raw damp of a cold +January afternoon to watch the pulling down of some old houses which +had interested him. In the evening he wrote to me a letter, which +happened to be the last he penned. A Lecture was to be given for the +benefit of Mrs. Watts Hughes' Home for Boys; and in return for +Leighton's contribution I had sent him four five shilling tickets to +give away, offering to change them for half guinea tickets, but +suggesting it would be most rash of him to go himself. However, he +intended to go, and wrote that Wednesday evening:-- + + DEAR MRS. BARRINGTON,--... Since you are good enough to offer to + change the tickets for tenners, I will ask you to do so, and + thank you in advance. Yes, Mackail's book, which oddly enough I + _have_ read--for, alas! I never read now--is an exquisite bit of + work. + +When the Lecture was given on the evening of January 29, Leighton had +left us already four days! + +At five o'clock on Thursday morning, January 23, he woke, feeling +terrible pain and great distress in breathing, but would not ring for +his servant because he believed him to be delicate, and thought it +might hurt him to be disturbed so early. At seven he rang, and Dr. +Roberts, who was telegraphed for, at once saw that the situation was +of the gravest. Sir Lauder Brunton also was summoned. Leighton's +servant had promised his sisters that they should be sent for at once +if the symptoms at any time became more acute; but on his mentioning +this, Leighton said he must not send for Mrs. Orr and Mrs. Matthews, +as they were both more ill than he was. However, as the morning went +on and there were no signs of any change for the better, the sisters +were told of his condition, and at once came--not leaving him till the +end. + +On Thursday afternoon, when he was supposed to be sinking, and they +were with him alone, he expressed his wishes as to his property--the +sums of money he wished given to various friends--adding that he +should like ten thousand pounds to be given to the Royal Academy. +These were wishes expressed--not legacies, as he left his whole +property unconditionally to his sisters, and believed that they, as +next-of-kin, would, as a matter of course, be his heirs. + +Contrary to the doctor's expectations, Leighton rallied on the Friday, +and hopes were expressed that he might recover from the acute attack +from which he was suffering. On his hearing this, he exclaimed to his +sisters, "Would it not have been a pity if I had had to die just when +I was going to paint better!" + +On the Saturday morning the gravest symptoms returned, and every hope +vanished. It was then suggested to Leighton that it would be better +for him to make a will, and his lawyer was sent for; but it was some +time before he could arrive. Though the agony was great, Leighton +refused all alleviations till his will was written out. It was as +follows:-- + + This is the last will and testament of Frederic Leighton. + I will and bequeath to my sisters, Alexandra Orr and + Augusta Newnburg Matthews, the whole estate + unconditionally. + + FRED LEIGHTON. + +Mrs. Orr wrote: "When the official will had been drawn up and signed, +he said, 'Does this give my sisters absolute control over all I have?' +On the lawyer answering in the affirmative, Leighton asked, 'Then no +one can interfere with them?' 'No one,' answered the lawyer; 'they are +paramount.' He was afraid that the brief paragraph was not +sufficiently strong." + +After signing it, he said, "My love to the Academy"; but his last +words were spoken in German, and meant for his sisters' ears alone. +Then came the end. + + * * * * * + +"We went together," writes Lady Loch, "to see Fred Leighton the Sunday +before he died, and he said, 'Mind you come to "my concert." I have +just settled it all with Villiers Stanford, and it will be +beautiful.'" In about ten days after, with aching hearts at the loss +of so true, so warm, so great a friend, we attended his burial +service at St. Paul's Cathedral, seeing such proofs of real mourning +all along the Embankment and streets, for indeed every man, woman, and +child had lost a real, true friend. + + [Illustration: "THE SPIRIT OF THE SUMMIT." 1894] + + [Illustration: STUDY FOR "LACHRYMAE." 1895] + +All who were present must ever remember the last "Music" in the March +before, when (contrasting so strongly in colour and sentiment) +"Lachrymae" and "Flaming June" stood on the easels, and for the first +time the silk room was open, hung with the work of Leighton's friends; +how, through all the beautiful strains from Joachim and the rest, a +tragic note rang out to tell, as it seemed, of the waning life of the +centre of it all. No one said it, but all felt that the last chapter +was ending of those many, many perfect pages in life known as +"Leighton's music." + +A voice sang with emotion Charles Kingsley's soul-stirring verse-- + + "When all the world is old, lad, + And all the trees are brown; + And all the sport is stale, lad, + And all the wheels run down, + Creep home, and take your place there, + The spent and maim'd among; + God grant you find one face there + You loved when all was young." + +Cruelly pathetic did it seem that one who had ever had the vitality of +a boy, who had ever been the inspirer and support of those weary +overwrought ones whose wheels had run down before their time, should +himself be stricken, creeping home "the spent and maimed among." + +The studios emptied, and he came down the stairs with the last of us. +Dainty figures of girls were dancing round the fountain in the empty +Arab Hall; and as he went to the outer door they flew to him, throwing +their arms round his neck. "They are all my god-children," he said, +as each, fleet-footed, fled out of the gate. A clasp, a wring of a +friend's hand; then, ashen pale, tired and haggard, he turned back +lonely into the House Beautiful--and that book was closed. + +Instead of strains of perfect song and music hailing their completion, +the six pictures of the next year looked down on the coffin, and over +a rich carpeting of beautiful flowers. In the centre, above the head, +the sun-loving "Clytie" stretched out her arms, bidding a passionate +farewell to her god. + +The coffin was borne away to the Academy on Saturday, February 1, +previous to the funeral on the Monday. + + [Illustration: "CLYTIE." 1896 + By permission of the Fine Art Society, the owners of the + Copyright] + +The following is a correct account of the public funeral, written on +the day it took place, and forwarded to Leighton's birthplace. + + At half-past ten this morning, by which time a dense crowd had + collected in the neighbourhood of the Royal Academy, the workmen + commenced to remove the numerous wreaths from the Central Hall, + where the body of Lord Leighton has rested since Saturday night, + and to load the huge floral car. Prominent among these wreaths + was one from the Princess Christian; but that from the Prince + and Princess of Wales was conveyed in a separate carriage by + representatives of the Prince and Princess, General Ellis and + Lord Colville of Culross. The wreath consisted of choice white + flowers rising from a bank of delicate green foliage, and + attached was a card written by the Princess of Wales, and + inscribed as follows:-- + + "Life's race well run, + Life's work well done, + Life's Crown well won, + Now comes rest." + + Then follow the words, "A mark of sincere and affectionate + regard, esteem, and admiration for a great artist and much + beloved friend, from Alexandra and Albert Edward." At the head + of the card were the words, "To Sir Frederic Leighton." There + was also a wreath from the Empress Frederick, bearing the words: + "From Victoria, Empress Frederick," in the Empress's own + writing. + + The Queen's wreath for the funeral of Lord Leighton was sent + from Buckingham Palace this morning to Colonel the Honourable W. + Carington, by whom it was conveyed to St. Paul's Cathedral. The + wreath is composed of laurel, entwined with which are + immortelles, and it is tied with broad satin ribbon. Attached to + the wreath is an autograph card from Her Majesty, with the + following inscription: "A mark of respect from Victoria, R.I." + + About five minutes to eleven the coffin was removed from the + Central Hall, and carried through the vestibule into the + quadrangle. A detachment of the Artists' Volunteers was drawn up + here, and saluted the coffin as soon as it emerged into the open + by presenting arms. The remains were placed in a glass hearse, + and the volunteers took up their position at the front and + sides. The pall-bearers, relatives, and others meanwhile formed + in procession, and punctually at eleven the cortege left the + Academy, the crowd reverentially uncovering as the hearse passed + into the street. The whole length of the route, from Piccadilly + to St. Paul's, was lined with people; but the crowds were quiet + and orderly, and maintained a clear space for the funeral + cortege without the assistance of the police. The volunteers + marched with arms reversed, and the remains of the deceased + artist were carried to their last resting-place with every + manifestation of mournful regret. Flags were at half-mast on + many public buildings, and as the solemn procession passed + slowly along, the remains were reverently saluted by the crowd. + Passing into Pall Mall by Charing Cross, the procession wended + its way through Northumberland Street, proceeding thence along + the Thames Embankment, New Bridge Street, and Ludgate Hill, St. + Paul's being reached shortly before noon. + + The service in the Cathedral, which occupied an hour, was at + once picturesque as a spectacle and impressive in its solemnity + as a religious function. + + More than an hour before the time appointed for the arrival of + the funeral cortege, the space available to the public in St. + Paul's was occupied, and a few minutes after eleven o'clock, + visitors of distinction, who had been provided with special + invitations, began to fill up the reserved seats in the + transept. + + Among those present were representatives of the Royal Family, + the German Emperor, and the King of Belgium, members of both + Houses of Parliament, including the Speaker; delegates from + learned bodies and artistic associations, as well as from the + art committees of various provincial municipalities. + + The first lesson was read by the Dean, and the succeeding + passages were given by the Bishop of Stepney; but the greater + part of the service was undertaken by the Archbishop of York, + chaplain of the Royal Academy. The musical portions of the + service were exceptionally fine, and included, as a somewhat + unusual feature, a trombone quartette. + + Lord Salisbury had promised to be one of the pall-bearers, but + found himself unable to attend. The pall-bearers were + Major-General Ellis, representing the Prince and Princess of + Wales; the Duke of Abercorn, Sir Joseph Lister, Sir J. Millais, + Sir E. Thompson, Sir A. Mackenzie, and Professor Lecky. + + After the coffin was lowered into the crypt by a central opening + directly beneath the dome, the two sisters of the late Lord + Leighton came to the front, and took a last look at it. When the + coffin was lowered many beautiful flowers were placed upon it, + and again, after the opening was covered up, the space was more + than covered by further wreaths sent by various Academicians, + the Royal Academy, students, and personal friends, many of whom + lingered some time after the conclusion of the solemn ceremony. + + _Scarborough Evening News, February 3, 1896._ + + * * * * * + +Leighton's death touched, as did his life, all sorts and conditions of +men; for he had been the true friend alike of the greatest and of the +least. The soil in which true distinction is rooted is of a quality +too rich, too fertile to be affected by class prejudice. Leighton's +own life was made beautiful by the gratitude he felt for the joy +nature's loveliness inspired in his soul, and by the passion to make +known through his work the mysterious treasure, the never-failing +fountain of delight, ever springing up in his heart. Lovingly human, +he ardently desired not only to pass on his own joy in beauty to every +fellow-creature who crossed his path, but, where he saw in any +possible way help could be given, to give it. + +Of the eager, great-hearted Leighton, not a few can echo Romola's +tribute to Savonarola--the last words of the great book whose pages he +vivified with his art: "Perhaps I should never have learned to love +him if he had not helped me when I was in great need." + + A light has passed that never shall pass away, + A sun has set whose rays are unequalled of might; + The loyal grace, the courtesy bright as day, + The strong, sweet, radiant spirit of life and light, + That shone and smiled and lightened in all men's sight, + The kindly life whose tune was the tune of May, + For us now dark, for love and for fame is bright. + + ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE.[88] + + [Illustration: MONUMENT IN ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL, ERECTED AS A + MEMORIAL TO LORD LEIGHTON BY HIS FRIENDS AND ADMIRERS + Sculptured by Thomas Brock, R.A.] + + [Illustration: View of Inner Hall and Staircase of Leighton + House, with reproduction of Mr. Thomas Brock's R.A. Diploma + work, Bust of Lord Leighton, presented by Mr. Brock to the + Leighton House Collection in 1898. + By permission of Mr. J. Harris Stone.] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[83] "Life and Letters of Robert Browning." + +[84] Professor Giovanni Costa. + +[85] It was during this last visit to Malinmore Leighton made those +sketches of the sea thistle (see chapter iii. vol. i.), and also some +last sketches in oil. + +[86] Leighton had visited Mr. Pepys Cockerell and his family at +Lindisfarne (Holy Island) more than once when going or returning from +Scotland. + +[87] Mr. Percy Fitzgerald wrote the following:-- + +"Being in the same club with Lord Leighton, I could note many instances +of his good humour and sweetness of temper. I am happy to think, for it +was a high compliment from him, that he made my acquaintance, not I +his. He had always a pleasant word; as when, entering the writing-room +with his hasty tramp, he looked over at me, seated at the window pencil +in hand, and rushed over in his impetuous way: "Ah, one of _our_ trade, +I see!" He was particularly interested in a museum or institute at +Camberwell, and one day thanked me most warmly for having gone down to +lecture there, and that it was appreciated by the people, &c. This was +good-natured. + +"The day he received his title, an old gentleman of the club, who did +not know him, congratulated him as he passed by in high-sounding +Italian. He was delighted, and poured out a reply in the same tongue, +adding some pleasant remark. This little incident quite illustrates his +_bonhomie_. It is just what Dickens would do. I gave him a copy of Sir +Joshua's Discourses, a presentation one to Burke. It was fitting that +the modern President should have it. + +"How tragic were his last appearances at the Academy _soiree_! How +jaded, shrunk and haggard looked the once handsome painter! He must +have suffered cruelly, and at the end seemed worn out. There was +something of a likeness to the lamented Irving, the same sweetness of +manner, the same grace and romantic view of things. His dress was +characteristic, somewhat showy, yet not scrupulously neat like a dandy. +His clothes, like Irving's, seemed old friends, and lay about him in +roomy fashion. His somewhat unkempt beard left some traces on the +lapels of his favourite snuff-coloured coat with the flowing tails. The +blue or red silk, its ends flying free, was a note of colour. Three men +of mark, and on some points resembling each other, had each this fancy +for a somewhat theatrical attire. + +"I noticed that a nervous guest innocently presented to the porter a +ticket for some artistic _soiree_, which was declined, to the +embarrassment of the visitor. But Leighton promptly stepped forward, +and kindly came to his rescue. It was curious that those three eminent +artistic beings, Dickens, Leighton, and Irving, should have perished +from outwearing their nervous systems, Leighton and Irving from +heart-failure, Dickens from an overtaxed brain." + +[88] "A Reminiscence," Leighton, 1896. + + + + +APPENDIX + + + + +PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS + +_Delivered by_ SIR F. LEIGHTON, Bart., P.R.A., _at the Art Congress, +held at Liverpool, December 3rd, 1888_. + + +I cannot but feel that to some of my hearers, and to not a few of +those who do not hear me, but whom the words spoken in this place may +chance to reach through the Press, some brief explanation is, at the +outset, due as to my occupancy of this chair. To them it is known that +weighty reasons have for many years compelled me to decline all +requests--and those requests have been frequent, urgent, and most +gratifying to me in form and spirit--that I should publicly address +audiences, beyond the walls of Burlington House, on the subject which +is to occupy this Congress, the subject of Art. It is not without some +compunction that I have followed this course, but the exigencies, on +the one hand, of the duties of my office, and, on the other, a firm +purpose, which you will not, I hope, rebuke, to remain always and +before all things a working artist, have left to my too limited +strength and powers no alternative but that which I have adopted. +Nevertheless, I have felt justified in obeying the summons of the +founders of this Congress--and for this reason that, while the +far-reaching character of the effort here initiated, and my earnest +desire to contribute, in however small a measure, to whatever of good +may flow from it have seemed to make it incumbent on me to accept the +duty of saying a few words on this occasion, its comprehensive and +national character lifts it into a category wholly apart from and +outside the sphere of purely local interests such as those which I had +hitherto been invited to support. + +I trust I shall be pardoned this short obtrusion of private +considerations, and that you will see in it not a movement of egotism +but the discharge of a simple debt of courtesy; which said, let me +address myself to the task imposed upon me--the task of showing cause +and need for the existence of the association which inaugurates to-day +its public work, and of arousing, if it is in my power, your efficient +sympathy in that work, that it may not remain barren and without +fruit. But here I am at once conscious of a perplexity lurking in your +minds. "Why," I hear you ask, "should an organisation have been called +into life for the sole purpose of considering in public matters +relating to the development and spread of art in this country? What +hitherto unfulfilled ends do you seek to achieve? Do you aim at the +wider extension of artistic education in this country? But vast sums +from the public purse are annually devoted to its promotion; schools +of art multiply, one might almost say swarm, over the face of the +land. Or do you tax the great municipal bodies of England with +remissness on this score? But day by day efforts in this direction +among the great provincial centres of trade and industry become more +marked and effectual. No announcement more frequently meets our eyes +than that of the opening, with due ceremony and circumstance, and +seemingly with full recognition that the event is an important one, of +spacious public galleries for the annual exhibition, or for the +permanent housing, of works of contemporary art. Or does art find +private individuals lacking in that noble spirit which so often +prompts Englishmen to devote to the enjoyment and profit of their +fellow-citizens a large share of the wealth gained by them in the +pursuit of their avocations? But a great gallery of art which rises +hard by across the road would shame and silence any such assertion. +Or, again, can it be denied that what encouragement to artists is +afforded by the purchase of innumerable pictures, at all events, was +never more liberally meted out to them than within our generation, and +does not the crowding of exhibitions, of which the name is legion, +evince abundantly the responsive attitude of the country, as far at +least as one of the arts is concerned? Are not statues multiplying in +our streets? Is not architecture, as an art, finding at this time +increasing, if tardy, acceptance at the hands of private individuals? +Is not a wholesome sense dawning among us that even a private dwelling +should not offend, nay, should conciliate, the eye of the passer-by in +our public thoroughfares? and lastly, has not a more than marked +improvement taken place within our day in the character of all those +intimate domestic surroundings which are the daily diet of our eyes, +and should be daily their delight? Are these not facts patent to all, +and do they not seem to cut from under your feet the ground on which +you seek to stand?" Yes, all this and more may be said; and I should +be blind as an observer--I should be ungrateful as one speaking in the +name of artists--did I not recognise the force of these words which I +have put into the mouth of an imaginary querist. I acknowledge with +joy that there is in all these facts, and still more in their +significance, much on which we may justly congratulate ourselves, much +that points to a quickening consciousness, a stirring of slumbering +aesthetic impulse, a receptive readiness, a growing malleability in the +general temper, which promise well; and it is precisely such a +condition of things which justifies our hope of good results from this +Congress, and in it we find our best encouragement. + +Well, what then is our charge in respect to the present relation of +the country to art? What are the shortcomings for which we are here to +seek a remedy? Our charge is that with the great majority of +Englishmen the appreciation of art, as art, is blunt, is superficial, +is desultory, is spasmodic; that our countrymen have no adequate +perception of the place of art as an element of national greatness; +that they do not count its achievements among the sources of their +national pride; that they do not appreciate its vital importance in +the present day to certain branches of national prosperity; that while +what is excellent receives from them honour and recognition, what is +ignoble and hideous is not detested by them, is, indeed, accepted and +borne with a dull, indifferent acquiescence; that the aesthetic +consciousness is not with them a living force, impelling them towards +the beautiful, and rebelling against the unsightly. We charge that +while a desire to possess works of art, but especially pictures, is +very widespread, it is in a large number, perhaps in a majority of +cases, not the essential quality of art that has attracted the +purchaser to his acquisition; not the emanation of beauty in any one +of its innumerable forms, but something outside and wholly independent +of art. In a word, there is, we charge, among the many in our country, +little consciousness that every product of men's hands claiming to +rank as a work of art, be it lofty in its uses and monumental, or +lowly and dedicated to humble ends, be it a temple or a palace, the +sacred home of prayer or a Sovereign's boasted seat, be it a statue or +a picture, or any implement or utensil bearing the traces of an +artist's thought and the imprint of an artist's finger--there is, I +say, little adequate consciousness that each of these works is a work +of art only on condition that, is a work of art exactly in proportion +as, it contains within itself the precious spark from the Promethean +rod, the divine fire-germ of living beauty; and that the presence of +this divine germ ennobles and lifts into one and the same family every +creation which reveals it; for even as the life-sustaining fire which +streams out in splendour from the sun's molten heart is one with the +fire which lurks for our uses in the grey and homely flint, so the +vital flame of beauty is one and the same, though kindled now to +higher and now to humbler purpose, whether it be manifest in the +creations of a Phidias or of a Michael Angelo, of an Ictinus or of +some nameless builder of a sublime cathedral; in a jewel designed by +Holbein or a lamp from Pompeii, a sword-hilt from Toledo, a caprice in +ivory from Japan or the enamelled frontlet of an Egyptian queen. We +say, further, that the absence of this perception is fraught with +infinite mischief, direct and indirect, to the development of art +among us, tending, as it does, to divorce from it whole classes of +industrial production, and incalculably narrowing the field of the +influence of beauty in our lives. And with the absence of this true +aesthetic instinct, we find not unnaturally the absence of any national +consciousness that the sense of what is beautiful, and the +manifestation of that sense through the language of art, adorn and +exalt a people in the face of the world and before the tribunal of +history; a national consciousness which should become a national +conscience--a sense, that is, of public duty and of a collective +responsibility in regard to this loveliest flower of civilisation. + +Well, it is in the belief that the consciousness of which I have +spoken is rather dormant with us than absent, waiting to be aroused +rather than wholly wanting, that the founders of this Association have +initiated the movement which has brought you together, and laid upon +me the ungracious task to which I am now addressing myself--a task I +have accepted in the hope that, at least, some good to others may come +out of the wreck and ruin of any character for courtesy which may +hitherto have been conceded to me. + +But let us now look closer into my indictment; and let us, first, for +a moment, and by way of getting at a standard, turn our thoughts to +one or two of those races among which art has reached its highest +level and round whose memory art has shed an inextinguishable +splendour. Let us first consider the Greek race in the day of its +greatest achievements and the most perfect balance of its transcendent +gifts. What is it that impresses us most in the contemplation of the +artistic activity of this race? It is, first, that the stirring +aesthetic instinct, the impulse towards and absolute need of beauty, +was universal with it, and lay, a living force, at the root of its +emotional being; and, secondly, that the Greeks were conscious of this +impulse as of a just source of pride and a sign of their supremacy +among the nations. So saturated were they with it that whatever left +their hands bore its stamp. Whatever of Greek work has been preserved +to us, temple or statue, vessel or implement, is marked with the same +attributes of stately and rhythmic beauty; in all their creations, +from the highest to the lowest, one spirit lives, and whatever be the +rank of each of these creations in the hierarchy of works of art, in +one thing they are even-born and kin--in the spirit of loveliness. And +of the dignity of this artistic instinct, which they regarded as their +birthright, they were, as I have said, proudly conscious. Would you +have an instance of this high consciousness? Here is one. At the end +of the first year of the Peloponnesian war the Athenians having, +according to ancestral custom, decreed a public funeral to those who +had fallen in battle, Pericles, the son of Xanthippus, was chosen by +them to speak the praises of the dead. It is a famous speech, that in +which he obeyed their injunction, and it opens with a lofty eulogy of +the Republic for which the heroes whom they mourned had fallen. In +this magnificent song of praise he enumerates the virtues of the +Athenians; he shows them heroic, wise, just, tolerant, _lovers of +beauty_, philosophers--in all things foremost amongst men. Mark this! +At a celebration of the most moving solemnity--in a breathing space +between two acts of a gigantic international struggle for +hegemony--you have here a great statesman enumerating the titles of +his fellow-citizens to headship among the nations, and placing not at +the end of his panegyric and as an oratorical embellishment, but in +its very heart and centre, these words: "We love the beautiful." + +But we may gain, perhaps, a yet more vivid sense of the extent to +which the artistic impulse possessed and filled this people in the +fascinating epitome of Grecian handicraft which is presented to us in +Pompeii, or rather in the Museo Nazionale at Naples. Here you have the +work, not of Athenian Greeks, of the Periclean or of the Alexandrian +age, but the work of provincial Greeks inhabiting a watering-place of +no very great importance, in the first century of our era; a period as +far removed from the days of the Parthenon sculptures as we are from +the days of the Canterbury Tales. And what a display it is! How full +of interest! Here we are admitted into the most intimate privacy of a +multitude of Pompeian houses--the kitchens, the pantries, the cellars +of the contemporaries of the Plinies have here no secret for us; +indeed, for aught we know, more than one of those dinners of which +that delicate _bon vivant_, the nephew of the naturalist, was so +appreciative a judge may have been cooked in one of these very ranges, +one of these ladles may have skimmed his soup, his quails may have +been roasted on yonder spit. Nothing is wanting that goes to make the +complete armament of a kitchen--stoves, cauldrons, vessels of every +kind, lamps of every shape, forks, spoons, ladles of every dimension. +And in all this mass of manifold material perhaps the most marked +characteristic is not the high level of executive merit it reveals, +high as that level is, but the amazing wealth of _idea_, the +marvellous intellectual activity brought to bear on what we now call +objects of industrial art--whatever that may mean--in this outpost of +Greek civilisation. These accumulated appliances of the kitchen and +the pantry form a museum of art--a museum of art of inexhaustible +fascination; and not only does this vast collection of necessary +things contain nothing ugly, but it displays, as I have just said, an +amazing wealth of ideas; each bowl, each lamp, each spoon almost, is +an individual work of art, a separate and distinct conception, a +special birth of the joy of creation in a genuine artist. But, above +all, let us bear this fact in mind--_the absence there of any ugly +thing_; for the instinct of what is beautiful not only delights and +seeks to express itself in lovely work, but forbids and banishes +whatever is graceless and unsightly. + +As next to the Greeks, and as almost their equals in this craving for +the beautiful, the Italians will occur to you. And here it may be well +to note, in a parenthesis, that a vivid sense of abstract beauty in +line and form does not necessarily carry with it a keen perception of +shapliness in the human frame. This curious fact we see strikingly +illustrated in a race which possesses the artistic instinct in certain +of its developments in a greater degree than any other in our time--I +mean the Japanese. With them the sense of decorative distribution and +of subtle loveliness of form and colour is absolutely universal, and +expresses itself in every most ordinary appliance of daily life, +overflowing, indeed, into every toy or trifle that may amuse an idle +moment; and yet majesty and beauty in the human form are as absent +from their works as from their persons. Be this said without prejudice +to the fact that in the movement imparted by them to the figures in +their designs there is often much of daintiness and dignity, the +outcome of that keen perception of beauty of line in the abstract +which we have seen to be dominant in them. I need not follow further +this, I think, interesting train of thought, but the digression seemed +to me useful, not as illustrating the fact that beauty is not to be +regarded only in connection with the human form, which is a mere +truism, but as showing that the abstract sense of it, in certain +aspects, may possess and penetrate a race in which the perception of +comeliness in the human body is almost entirely absent; and I meet by +it also, in anticipation, certain objections that may suggest +themselves to you in connection with the Italians, as far, at least, +as the Tuscans are concerned; for in them, too, we find occasionally, +side by side with an unsurpassed sense of the expressiveness of line +and form, a defective perception of beauty in the human +frame--witness the ungainly angularities, for instance, of a +Verrocchio, a Gozzoli, a Signorelli. + +The thirst for the artistically delightful was the mark in Italy of no +particular class; it was common to all, high and low, to the Pontiff +on his throne, to the trader behind his counter, to the people in the +market-place. And here, again, observe that this desire was not alone +for the adornment of walls and public places with painting and +statuary--though every wall in every church or public building was, in +fact, enriched by the hand of painters and of sculptors--but it +embraced every humbler form of artistic expression, and was, indeed, +especially directed to one which has in our time touched, here and +there, a melancholy depth--the craft of the goldsmith. I said "humbler +form" of art for lack of a better word; for a craft cannot fitly be +called humble which has occupied and delighted men of the very highest +gifts. Did not the mind that conceived the "Perseus" of the Loggia dei +Lanzi pour out some of its richest fancies in a jewelled salt-cellar +for the table of a Pope? Did not the sublimest genius that ever shone +upon the world of art receive its first guidance in the workshop of a +jeweller--a jeweller who was himself a painter also of high renown? +For was it not that painter-goldsmith whose hands adorned with noble +frescoes the famous choir of Sta. Maria Novella? + +Now, to a cultured audience such as that which I am here addressing, +these facts are familiar and trite, so trite and so familiar that it +may, perhaps, be doubted whether their true significance has ever +stood quite clearly before your minds, and whether you have fully +grasped the solidarity of the arts--if I may use an outlandish +expression--which at one time prevailed. Let us in imagination +transfer the last quoted fact into contemporary life. Let us suppose +that the municipality of a great English city, proud of its annals and +of its culture, determined to decorate with paintings in some +comprehensive manner the walls of a great public building; and +suppose, further, that an artist, admittedly of the first rank, were +to answer to its call from the workshop--and I say advisedly from the +workshop, for it is there, and not on an armchair in the office, that +the head of the house would have been found in the old day--suppose, I +say, that such an artist came forth from some great firm of +jewellers, in Bond Street for instance, we should have, on the +artistic side, the exact parallel of the case of the Dominicans of +Sta. Maria Nuova and Domenico, the son of Thomas the garland-maker of +Florence. Meanwhile, striking as is this instance of the unity of art +in long past days, it is but just to add, and I rejoice to be able +here to do so, that signs are not wanting on the side of our own +artists of a strong tendency towards a return to closer bonds between +its various branches, in which direction, indeed, a movement has been +for some years increasingly marked and practical; and it is with a +glad outlook into the future, and with a sense of breathing a wider +air, that I place by the side of the cases which I have just +mentioned--cases which were, in their time, of natural and frequent +occurrence--one which is of yesterday. The chief magistrate of an +important provincial centre of English industry, the Mayor of Preston, +wears at this time a chain of office which is a beautiful work of art, +and this chain was not only designed but wrought throughout by the +sculptor who modelled the stately commemorative statue of the Queen +that adorns the County Square of Winchester, the artist who presides +over the section of sculpture in this Congress, my young friend and +colleague, Mr. Alfred Gilbert. + +I have pointed to the Italians and the Greeks as culminating instances +of people filled with a love of beauty and achieving the highest +excellence in its embodiment, and I have named the Japanese as +manifesting the aesthetic temper in a high degree of sensitiveness, but +within certain limitations. It is not necessary to remind you that I +might extend this list, if with some qualification, and that the same +lesson--the lesson that the nations which love beauty seek it in the +humblest as well as the highest things--is taught us by others than +those I have mentioned. Whosoever, for instance, has wondered at the +work of Persian looms, or felt the fascination of the manuscripts +illuminated by the artists of Iran, or noted the unfailing grace of +subtle line revealed in their metal-work, will feel that for this race +also the merit of a work of art did not reside in its category, but in +the degree to which it manifested the spirit which alone could ennoble +it, the spirit of beauty. And if, further, this dominant instinct of +the beautiful is not in our own time found in any Western race in its +fullest force, and among one Eastern people, with, as we saw, +important limitations, there is yet one modern nation in our own +hemisphere in which the thirst for artistic excellence is widespread +to a degree unknown elsewhere in Europe; a people with whom the sense +of the dignity of artistic achievement, as an element of national +greatness, an element which it is the duty of its Government to foster +and to further, and to proclaim before the world, is keen and +constant; I mean, of course, your brilliant neighbours, the people of +France. Here, then, are standards to which we may appeal to see how +far, all allowance being made for many signs of improvement in things +concerning art, we yet fall short, as a nation, of the ideal which we +should have before us. + +Let me now revert to my indictment. I said that the sense of abstract +beauty with the mass of our countrymen--and once again I must be +understood not to ignore, but only to leave out of view for the +moment, the considerable and growing number of those in whom this +sense is astir and active--with the mass, I repeat, of our countrymen, +the perception of beauty is blunt, and the desire for it sluggish and +superficial; with them the beautiful is, indeed, sometimes a source of +vague, half-conscious satisfaction, especially when it appeals to them +conjointly with other incitements to emotion, but their perception of +it is passive, and does not pass into active desire; it accepts, it +does not demand; it is uncertain of itself, for it lacks definiteness +of intuition, and having no definite intuition, it is necessarily +uncritical. This weakness, among the many, of the critical faculty in +aesthetic matters, and the curious bluntness of their perceptions, is +seen not in connection with the plastic arts only, but over the whole +artistic field, in the domains of music and the drama, as in that of +painting and sculpture. Who, for instance, where a body of English men +and women has been gathered together in a concert room, has not, at +one moment, heard a storm of applause go up to meet some matchless +executant of noble music, and then, five minutes later, watched in +wonder and dismay the same crepitation of eager hands proclaiming an +equal satisfaction with the efforts of some feeblest servant of +Apollo? Or have you not often, in your theatres, blushed to see the +lowest buffoonery received with exuberant delight by an audience--and +a cultivated audience--which had just before not seemed insensible to +some fine piece of histrionic art? And what could proclaim the lack of +true, spontaneous instinct in more startling fashion than the +notorious fact that the most thrilling touch of pathos in the +performance of an actor reputed to be comic will be infallibly +received with a titter by a British audience, which has paid to laugh +and come to the play focussed for the funny? + +Now this little glimpse into the attitude of the public in regard to +other arts than ours has its bearing upon our present subject. This +same feebleness of the critical sense which arises out of the +indefiniteness--to say the best of it--of the inner standard of +artistic excellence, is not unnaturally accompanied by and fosters an +apathy in regard to that excellence, and an attitude of callous +acquiescence in the unsightly, which are inexpressibly mischievous; +for you cannot too strongly print this on your minds, that what you +demand that will you get, and according to what you accept will be +that which is provided for you. Let an atmosphere be generated among +you in which the appetite for what is beautiful and noble is whetted +and becomes imperative, in which whatever is ugly and vulgar shall be +repugnant and hateful to the beholder, and assuredly what is beautiful +and noble will, in due time, be furnished to you, and in steadily +increasing excellence, satisfying your taste, and at the same time +further purifying it and heightening its sensitiveness. + +The enemy, then, is this indifference in the presence of the ugly; it +is only by the victory over this apathy that you can rise to better +things, it is only by the rooting out and extermination of what is +ugly that you can bring about conditions in which beauty shall be a +power among you. Now, this callous tolerance of the unsightly, +although it is, I am grateful to think, yielding by degrees to a +healthier feeling, is still strangely prevalent and widespread among +us, and its deadening influence is seen in the too frequent absence of +any articulate protest of public opinion against the disfigurement of +our towns. + +Let me give you an instance of this indifference. Our country is happy +in possessing a collection of paintings by the old masters of +exceptional interest and splendour, a collection which, thanks to the +taste and highly trained discernment of its present accomplished +head, Sir Frederick Burton, is, with what speed the short-sighted +policy of successive Governments permits, rising steadily to a +foremost place among the famous galleries in the world. Some years +ago, the building destined to receive it being found no longer +adequate, it became necessary to provide, by some means, ampler space +for the display of the national treasure. It was resolved that another +edifice should take the place of that designed by Wilkins, an edifice +which, be it said in passing, has been made the butt of curiously +unmerited ridicule in the world of connoisseurship, and which, apart +from certain very obvious blemishes, it has always seemed to me to be +much easier to deride than to better. A competition was opened, and +designs were demanded for a spacious building, equal to present and +future needs, and worthy of the magnificence of the collection it was +to house. It is hardly necessary to say that we have here no concern +whatever with the controversy which arose over these designs. My +concern is with its final outcome, which is this: the original +building has remained unaltered as to its exterior; but on the rear of +one of its flanks loom now into view, first, an appendage in an +entirely different style of architecture, and further on, an +excrescence of no style of architecture at all; the one an Italian +tower, the other a flat cone of glass, surmounted by a ventilator--a +structure of the warehouse type--the whole resulting in a jarring +jumble and an aspect of chaotic incongruity which would be ludicrous +if it were not distressing; and we enjoy, further, this instructive +phenomenon that a public opinion which sensitively shrank from the +blemishes of the original edifice has accepted its retention, with all +those blemishes unmodified, _plus_ an appendage which adds to the +whole the worst almost of all sins architectural--a lack of unity of +conception. Now, I have never to my knowledge heard one single word of +articulate public reprobation levelled at this now irremediable blot +on what we complacently call the finest site in the world; and yet I +cannot find it in me to believe that many have not, like myself, +groaned in spirit before a spectacle so deplorable--a spectacle which, +indeed, is only conceivable within these islands. I think that a good +deal is summed up in this episode, and I need not, for my present +purpose, seek another in the domain of architecture. + +In regard to sculpture, the public apathy and blindness are yet more +depressing and complete, and illustrate the deadness of the many to +the perception of the essential qualities of art. To the overwhelming +majority of Englishmen sculpture means simply the perpetuation of the +form of Mr. So-and-So in marble, bronze, or terra-cotta--this, and no +more. That marble, bronze, or terra-cotta may, under cunning hands, +become vehicles, for those who have eyes to see, of emotions, aesthetic +and poetic, not less lofty than those which are stirred in us by the +verse of a Dante or a Milton, or by strains of noblest music, of this +the consciousness is for practical purposes non-existent. For +sculpture, for an art through which alone the name of Greece would +have been famous for all time, there is, outside portraiture, even +now, under conditions admittedly improved, little or no field in this +country. Portrait-statues galore bristle, indeed, within our streets; +but the notion of setting up in public places pieces of monumental +sculpture solely for adornment and dignity, or of monuments that shall +remind us of deeds in which our country or our town has earned fame +and deserved gratitude, and incite the young to emulation of those +deeds, or that shall be the allegorised expression of any great +idea--and yet our race has had great ideas, and clothed them in deeds +as great--hardly ever, it would seem, enters the heads of a people +whose aspirations are surely not less noble or less high than those of +other nations. Nay, even a monument commemorative of the great public +services of some individual man which shall be a monument _to_ him +rather than exclusively an image _of_ him, a monument of which his +effigy shall form a part, but of which the main feature shall be the +embodiment or illustration, in forms of art, of the virtues that have +earned for him the homage of his countrymen--even this is suggested in +vain. + +And if we are tolerant of treason against fitness in architecture, +what shall we say of our tolerance in regard to its sculptural +adornments? What shall we say of the complacent acceptance, above and +about windows and doorways in clubs, offices, barracks, and the like +buildings, of carven wonders such as no other civilised community +would accept in silence? Though I fear I must here, with all +deference, add that my brethren, the architects, who suffer their +work to be so defaced, are themselves not wholly blameless; and +indeed, it is a truth in the assertion of which the most enlightened +workmen in every branch of art will stand by me, that among ourselves +also the sense of the kinship of the arts is too often a mere theory, +received, no doubt, with respect as an abstract proposition, but not +perceptibly colouring our practical activity. + +In sculpture the inertness of demand and tolerance of inferior supply +is due mainly to the want, to which I have alluded, of a sense of and +a joy in the purely aesthetic quality in artistic production, an +insensibility to the power inherent in form, by its own virtue, of +producing the emotion and exciting the imagination, a power on which +the dignity of this pure and severe art does or should mainly rest. + +In the appreciation of painting, which on various grounds appeals as +an art to a far wider public than either architecture or sculpture, +the same shortcomings are evident, though in a less degree, and with +less mischievous results; for the witchery of colour, at least, is +felt and appreciated, more or less consciously, by a very large number +of people. The inadequacy of the general standard of artistic insight +is here seen in the fact that to a great multitude of persons the +attractiveness of a painted canvas is in proportion to the amount of +literary element which it carries, not in proportion to the degree of +aesthetic emotion stirred by it, or of appeal to the imagination +contained in it--persons, those, who regard a picture as a compound of +anecdote and mechanism, and with whom looking at it would seem to mean +only another form of reading. Time after time, in listening to the +description--the enthusiastic description--of a picture, we become +aware that the points emphasised by the speaker are such as did not +specially call for treatment in art at all, were often not fitted for +expression through form or colour, their natural vehicle being not +paint but ink, which is the proper and appointed conveyor of abstract +thoughts and concrete narrative. I have heard pictures extolled as +works of genius simply because they expressed, not because they nobly +clothed in forms of art, ideas not beyond the reach of the average +penny-a-liner. + +Now I know that in what I am here saying I skirt the burning ground +of controversy long and hotly waged--skirt it only, for that +controversy touches but the borders of my subject, and I shall of +course not pursue it here. I will, nevertheless, to avoid +misrepresentation in either sense, state, as briefly as I can, one or +two definite principles on which it appears to me safe to stand. It is +given to form and to colour to elicit in men powerful and exquisite +emotions, emotions covering a very wide range of sensibility, and to +which they alone have the key. The chords within us which vibrate to +these emotions are the instrument on which art plays, and a work of +art deserves that name, as I have said, in proportion as, and in the +extent to which, it sets those chords in motion. The power and +solemnity of a simple appeal of form as such is seen in a noble +building of imposing mass and stately outlines. When, however, form in +arts is connected with the human frame, and when combinations of human +forms are among the materials with which a beautiful design is built +up, then another element is added to the sum of our sensations--an +element due to the absorbing interest of man in all that belongs to +his kind; and the emotion primarily produced by the force of a purely +aesthetic appeal is enhanced and heightened by elements of a more +intimate and universal order, one more nearly touching our affections, +but not, therefore, necessarily of a higher order. Thus the episode, +for instance, of Paolo and Francesca, clothed in the rare, grave +melody of Dante's verse, entrances us with its pathos; but our +emotion, intensely human as it is, is not therefore of a higher kind +than that which holds us as we listen to sounds sublimely woven by +some great musician; nor are the impressions received in watching from +the floor of some great Christian church the gathering of the gloom +within a dome's receding curves of less noble order than those aroused +by a supreme work of sculpture or a painting--by, say, the "Notte" of +Michael Angelo or the "Monna Lisa" of Lionardo; and yet in both of +these last the chord of human sympathy is strongly swept, though in +different ways--in the "Notte" by the poetic and pathetic +suggestiveness of certain forms and movements of the human body; in +the "Monna Lisa" by a more definitely personal charm and feminine +sorcery which haunts about her shadowy eyes, and the subtle curling of +her mysterious lips. + +I say, then, that in a work of art the elements of emotion based on +human sympathies are not of a loftier order than those arising out of +abstract sublimity or loveliness of form, but that the presence of +these elements in such a work, while not raising it as an artistic +creation, does impart to it an added power of appeal, and that, +therefore, a work in which these elements are combined will be with +the great majority of mankind a more potent engine of delight than one +which should rest exclusively on abstract qualities. And it follows, +therefore, that while a work of art earns its title to that name on +condition only, once again I say, of the purely aesthetic element being +present in it, and will rank as such in exact proportion to the degree +in which this element prevails in it; and while, further, this +element, carrying with it, as it does, imaginative suggestiveness of +the highest order and of the widest scope, is all-sufficient in those +branches of art in which the human form plays no part, the element +which is inseparable in a work of art from the introduction of human +beings is one which it is not possible for us to ignore in our +appreciation of that work as a source and vehicle of emotion. + +Every attempt at succinct exposition of a complex question risks being +unsatisfactory and obscure, and I am painfully alive to the inadequacy +of what I have just said. I trust, however, that I have conveyed my +meaning, if roughly, yet sufficiently to shield me from misconception +in regard to the special emphasis I am laying on the importance of a +proper estimation of the essentially aesthetic quality in a work of +art, an importance which I urge upon you, not so much here on account +of the effect its absence may have exercised on the development of +painting, as on account of the significant fact that its want--the +lack of a perception that certain qualities are the very essence of +art, and link into one great family every work of the hands of men in +which they are found--has led with us to a disastrous divorce between +what is considered as art proper and the arts which are called +industrial. I say advisedly "disastrous," for the lowering among us in +the present day of the status of forms of art, in the service of which +such men as Albert Duerer, for example, and Holbein (men, by-the-by, of +kindred blood with ourselves), Cellini and Lionardo, were glad to +labour and create--and that not as a concession, but in the joyful +exercise of their fullest powers--is one of its results, and carrying +with it, as is natural, a lowering of standard in these arts, has +generated the marvellous notion, not expressed in words, but too +largely acted on, that art in any serious sense is not to be looked +for at all in certain places--where, in truth, alas! neither is it +often found--and led to the holding aloof to a great extent, until +comparatively recent years, of much of the best talent from very +delightful forms of artistic creation; and this notion has led further +to the virtual banishment from certain provinces of designing of the +human figure, or where it is not banished, to its defacement, too +often, in the hands of the untrained or the inept. + +We are to a wonderful degree creatures of habit, our thoughts are +prone to run--or shall I say rather to stagnate?--within grooves; and +if we are a people of many and great endowments, a swift and free play +of thought is, as we have been forcibly told by a voice that we shall +hear no more, and can ill miss, not a distinguishing feature among us. +Is it not an amazing thing, for example, that human shapes, which in +clay or plaster would be ignominiously excluded from a second-rate +exhibition, are not only accepted, but displayed with a chuckle of +elated pride, when cast in the precious metals, flanked, say by a +palm-tree, borne aloft on a rock, and presented in the guise of a +piece of ornamental plate? But is this even rare? Is it not of +constant occurrence? Do you demur? Well, let me ask you a plain +question: Of all the nymphs and goddesses, the satyrs, and the +tritons, that disport themselves on the ceremonial goldsmithery of the +United Kingdom, how many if cast in vulgar plaster, and not in +glittering gold, would pass muster before the jury of an average +exhibition? And if few, I ask why is this so? In the name of +Cellini--nay, in the name of common sense, why? And is it on account +of the low ebb of figure modelling for decorative purposes that on our +carved furniture--what we mysteriously describe as "art +furniture"--the human form is hardly ever seen? Then why is the best +talent not enlisted in this work? Certain it is that the absence of +living forms imparts to much of the furniture now made in England, +unsurpassed as it is in regard to delicacy and finish of handiwork, +and frequently elegant in design, a certain look of slightness and +flimsy, faddy dilettantism which prevent it from taking that rank in +the province of applied art in which it might and should aspire. + +But I have, I fear, already unduly drawn upon your patience, and I +must bring to a close these too disjointed prefatory words, leaving it +to the accomplished gentlemen who head the various sections of this +Congress to amplify and enrich as they will out of the wide fund of +their knowledge and experience the bald outline I have sketched before +you. They, in their turn, taking up, no doubt, our common parable, +will emphasise and press on you the fact that by cultivating its +aesthetic sense in a more comprehensive and harmoniously consistent +spirit than hitherto, and with a clearer vision of the nature of all +art and a more catholic receptiveness as to its charms, and by +stimulating in a right direction the abundant productive energy which +lies to its hand, this nation will not only be adding infinitely to +the adornment and dignity of its public and private life, not only +providing for itself an increasing and manifold source of delight and +renovating repose, mental and spiritual, in a day in which such +resting and regenerating elements are more and more called for by our +jaded nervous systems, and more and more needed for our intellectual +equilibrium, but will be dealing with a subject which is every day +becoming more and more important in relation to certain sides of the +waning material prosperity of the country. For, as they will no doubt +remind you, the industrial competition between this and other +countries--a competition, keen and eager, which means to certain +industries almost a race for life--runs, in many cases, no longer +exclusively or mainly on the lines of excellence of material and +solidity of workmanship, but greatly nowadays on the lines of artistic +charm and beauty of design. This, to you, vital fact is one which they +will, I am convinced, not suffer to fall into the background. + +One last word in anticipation of certain objections not unlikely to be +raised against an assumption which may seem to be implied in the +existence of our Association--the assumption that the evils and +shortcomings of which I have spoken with such unsparing frankness can +be removed or remedied by the gathering together of a number of +persons to listen to a series of addresses. The causes of these evils, +we may be told, and their antidote, are not on the surface of things, +but rest on conditions of a complex character, and are fundamental. +"Who," I hear some one say, "is this dreamer of dreams, who hopes to +cure by talking such deep-seated evils? Who is this shallow and +unphilosophical thinker who does not see that the same primary +conditions are operative in making the purchaser indifferent what he +gets and the supplier indifferent to what he produces, and who +attributes the circumstance that good work is not generally produced +in certain forms of industry to the lack of demand, rather than to the +deeper-lying fact that suppliers and demanders are of the same stock, +having the same congenital failings; and satisfied with the same +standards?" My answer to this imaginary, or I ought, perhaps, to say +this foreseen objector would be, first, this--that I am not the +visionary for whom he takes me, and that I do not believe in the +efficacy of words either directly to remedy the state of things I have +been deploring, or to create a love of art and a delicate +sensitiveness to its charms in those to whom the responsive chords +have been refused; neither is the eloquence, trumpet-toned and +triumphant, conceivable by me before which the walls of the Jericho of +the Philistine shall crumble in abrupt ruin to the ground; least of +all do I believe in sudden developments of the human intellect. But it +has nevertheless seemed to me, as it has seemed to the framers of this +Association, that words, if they be judicious and sincere, may rally +and strengthen and prompt to action instincts and impulses which only +await a signal to assert themselves--instincts, sometimes, perhaps, +not fully conscious of themselves--and that a favouring temperature +may be thus created within which, by the operation of natural laws, in +due time, but by no stroke of the wand, a new and better order may +arise. Neither, indeed, do I ignore the force of my critic's +contention that the causes of mischief lie deep, and are not to be +touched by surface-tinkering, if they are to be removed at all; +although I demur to his pessimistic estimate of them as a final bar to +our hopes. It is true that certain specific attributes are, or seem to +be, feeble in our race; it is true, too true--I have it on the +repeated assurance of apologetic vendors--that with us the ugliest +objects--often, oh! how ugly--have the largest market; nevertheless, +the amount of good artistic production in connection with industry--I +purposely speak of this first--has grown within the last score or so +of years, and through the initiative, mind, of a mere handful of +enthusiastic and highly gifted men in an extraordinary degree; and in +a proportionate degree has the number increased, also, of those who +accept and desire it; and this growth has been steady and organic, and +is of the best augury. Now, the increase in the number of those who +desire good work, and the concurrent development of their critical +sensitiveness in matters of taste, stimulate, in their turn, the +energies, and sustain the upward efforts, of the producers, and thus, +through action and reaction, a condition of things should be slowly +but surely evolved which shall more nearly approach that general level +of artistic culture and artistic production so anxiously looked for by +us all. It is in the hastening of this desired result that we invoke, +not your sympathy alone, but your patient, strenuous aid. And if I am +further asked how, in my view, this association can best contribute to +the furtherance of our common end, I would say, not merely by seeking +to fan and kindle a more general interest in the things of art, but +mainly by seeking to awaken a clearer perception of the true _essence_ +of a work of art, by insisting on the fundamental identity of all +manifestations of the artistic creative impulse through whatever +channels it may express itself, and by setting forth and establishing +this pregnant truth--that whatever degrees of dignity and rank may +exist in the scale of artistic productions, according to the order of +emotion to which they minister in us, they are in one kind; for the +various and many channels through which beauty is made manifest to us +in art are but the numerous several stops of one and the same divine +instrument. + +And if in what I have said I have laid especial stress on that branch +of art which is called industrial, it is not solely to develop this +cardinal doctrine, neither only because of the pressing, practical, +paramount national importance of this part of our subject, but also +because I, in truth, believe that it is in a great measure through +these very forms of art that the improvement, to which I look with a +steadfast faith, will be mainly operated. The almost unlimited area +which they cover in itself constitutes them an engine of immense +power, and I believe that through them, if at all, the sense of beauty +and the love for it will be stimulated in, and communicated to, +constantly increasing numbers. I believe that the day may come when +public opinion, thus slowly but definitely moulded, will make itself +loudly heard; when men will insist that what they do for the gracing +and adornment of their homes shall be done also for the public +buildings and thoroughfares of their cities; when they will remind +their municipal representatives and the controllers of their guilds of +what similar bodies of men did for the cities of Italy in the days of +their proud prosperity in trade, and will ask why the walls of our +public edifices are blank and silent, instead of being adorned and +made delightful with things beautiful to see, or eloquent of whatever +great deeds or good work enrich and honour the annals of the places of +our birth. And lastly, I believe that an art desired by the whole +people and fostered by the whole people's desire would reflect--for +such art must be sincere--some of the best qualities of our race; its +love of Nature, its imaginative force, its healthfulness, its strong +simplicity. + +And now, ladies and gentlemen, my task is ended. My duties to-night +were purely prefatory; my words are but the prologue of the +proceedings which begin to-morrow--a prologue which I undertook to +speak less from any faith in its possible efficacy than in the belief +that the first word spoken at such a time should be heard from the +lips of one to whom, from the nature of the office he is privileged to +fill, as well as from the whole bent of his mind, everything that +concerns art, from end to end of its enchanting field, must be, and +is, a source of deep, of constant, and engrossing interest. The +curtain is now raised, the stage is spread before you, and I step +aside to make room for others, leaving with you the expression of my +fervent wish that the hopes which have brought us together in this +place may not have been entertained in vain. + + + + +LORD LEIGHTON'S HOUSE + +AND WHAT IT CONTAINS[89] + + +PREFACE TO CATALOGUE + +Two miles and a quarter from Hyde Park Corner, removed but a few steps +from the main thoroughfare between London and Hammersmith, and running +parallel to it, is Holland Park Road, facing which stands Lord +Leighton's House. "I live in a mews," he used to say. This meant more +than a figure of speech merely, though the "mews" in question is very +different from a London street mews. Low, odd-shaped, irregular +buildings, formerly stables (a few are still used as such), were in +Lord Leighton's life converted into studios by artists who wished to +cluster around the President of the Royal Academy. These stand in old +gardens and are studded at intervals along the road, bordered by trees +branching across it, and taking away all idea of its being a London +street. Screened by a hedge of closely-cut lime-trees, the Leighton +House stands back but a few yards from the pavement. Through a porch +and a small outer hall the House is entered. Monsieur Choisy, the +distinguished French architect, in his letter to the _Times_ of April +the 27th, 1896, written with the view of trying to induce the English +nation to rise to the value of preserving this House as a national +treasure, writes as follows:-- + +"Allow me also to point out the original beauty of the house where so +many masterpieces are grouped. The French public have been enabled to +admire this house through the excellent article of my friend and +fellow-member of the R.I.B.A., Mr. Charles Lucas. + +"Nowhere have I found in an architectural monument a happier gradation +of effects nor a more complete knowledge of the play of light. + +"The entrance to the house is by a plain hall that leads to a 'patio,' +lit from the sky, where enamels shine brilliantly in the full light; +from this 'patio' one passes into a twilight corridor, where enamel +and gold detach themselves from an architectural ground of a richness +somewhat severe; it is a transition which prepares the eye for a jewel +of Oriental art, where the most brilliant productions of the Persian +potter are set in an architectural frame inspired by Arab art, but +treated freely; the harmony is so perfect that one asks oneself if the +architecture has been conceived for the enamels or the enamels for the +hall. This gradation, perhaps unique in contemporary architecture, was +Leighton's idea; and the illustrious painter found in his old friend +Mr. G. Aitchison, who built his house, a worthy interpreter of his +fine conception. This hall where colour is triumphant, was dear to +Leighton, and even forms the background to some of his pictures. +Towards the end of his life he still meant to embellish it by +substituting marble for that small part that was only painted. The +generous employment of his fortune alone prevented him from realising +his intention. + +"England has at all times given the example of honouring great men; +she will, I am sure, find the means of preserving for art a monument +of which she had such reason to be proud." + +As is now well known, Lord Leighton's executrixes, his two sisters, +have assigned the lease of the property, which has sixty-six years yet +to run, to three gentlemen who are members of the committee formed to +preserve it for the use and education of the public, in memory of Lord +Leighton, and the committee are now tenants at will of the +proprietors. Works by Lord Leighton have been collected and placed in +the studios and other rooms of the House. A large collection of his +drawings and sketches and a few finished paintings have been secured +through the generosity of his sisters, Mrs. Sutherland Orr, Mrs. +Matthews, and his personal friends, the list of these being headed by +the Prince of Wales. This collection of original works numbers 1114, +594 being now framed and hung on the walls. The collection also +contains 28 proof engravings from Lord Leighton's principal pictures, +presented by those who own the copyrights, _i.e._ Mrs. James Watney +(who has also given an original drawing), the Fine Arts Society, the +Berlin Photographic Company, Messrs. Agnew, Graves, Colnaghi, and +Tooth. There are also 112 photographic reproductions by Mr. F. Hollyer +and Messrs. Dixon, these, with a few exceptions, having been taken for +Lord Leighton in his studio. The greater number of these photographs +were given to the House by Mr. Wilfred Meynell, Mr. F. Hollyer, and +Messrs. Dixon; the remainder by Lord Davey, Sir Henry Acland, Mr. A. +Henderson, Mr. Philipson, Mr. A.G. Temple, and Mr. George Smith. The +reproductions of completed pictures have been hung on the walls +together with the sketches executed for them, in order that the +student may realise how Leighton developed the designs he made into +finished pictures. When funds permit, the 520 remaining drawings and +sketches will be framed, and it is the desire of the committee that, +though the Leighton House should always remain the chief centre of the +collections, groups of sketches should be lent to exhibitors in the +provinces and in the poorer parts of London. In the middle of the +centre hall is now placed a reproduction presented by Mr. Brock, R.A., +of the bust of Lord Leighton, executed by his sculptor friend--that +perfect likeness in bronze of the President placed among the Diploma +works in Burlington House. Surrounding this reproduction and lining +the walls and staircase are plaques of Oriental designs, pictures in +enamel, framed in by a background of Mr. William De Morgan's beautiful +blue tiles.[90] The same treatment is continued through the "twilight +corridor" leading to the great casket of treasures known as the Arab +Hall. In the summer of 1899 the Society of the Library Association was +received at the Leighton House, and at the meeting which preceded the +conversazione, Lord Crawford, President of the Association, ended the +speech he made on the merits and rare gifts of his friend, Lord +Leighton, by a reference to the unique value of this casket of +treasures. "We often," he said, "see Persian tiles in England. They +are chiefly made in England, but they are bought in Persia! A genuine +Persian tile is a very rare thing. When you meet it, cherish it!" In +this Arab Hall hundreds of these "rare" things are collected, each +individually of a quality of uncommon beauty and almost priceless, +owing to the fact that large spaces on the walls are filled with these +gorgeous tiles, fitted together as originally designed and intended by +the Persian artists who invented them. Travellers who went to the East +when there was still a chance of buying genuine Persian tiles know how +it came about that these could sometimes be procured. The owners of +the houses on the walls of which they were placed would become +impoverished and were easily induced to sell a single tile to a +traveller as a specimen. When the money paid for it was spent and more +was wanted, if a second traveller came by another single tile was +sold. The first purchaser might have been an Englishman, the second a +Frenchman, the third a German, and so on. In this way the several +tiles making one design got hopelessly dispersed. Lord Leighton, aided +by his friend, Sir C. Purdon Clarke, the Director of the Art Museum, +South Kensington, was extraordinarily lucky in obtaining large plaques +of tiles intact. "During his visits to Rhodes, to Cairo, and to +Damascus," writes Mr. George Aitchison, R.A., "he made a lovely +collection of Saracenic tiles, and had, besides, bought two +inscriptions, one of the most delicate colour and beautiful design, +and the other about sixteen feet long and strikingly magnificent; +besides getting some panels, stained glass, and lattice-work from +Damascus afterwards; these were fitted into an Arab Hall in 1877." The +enamelled tiles made the keynote of this beautiful creation, the Arab +Hall, which, to repeat Mr. Choisy's words, forms a harmony "so perfect +that one asks oneself if the architecture has been conceived for the +enamels or the enamels for the Hall." Round three sides (the fourth +being filled by the large inscription) runs a frieze in mosaics, the +designs of which are among the most beautiful of those invented by our +great English decorator, Walter Crane. Sir C. Purdon Clarke has +designated this creation of Lord Leighton's, in which he was so ably +assisted by his friend, Mr. George Aitchison, R.A., President of the +Royal Society of British Architects, and in which is to be traced that +generous delight which Leighton took in all that was good in the art +of his contemporaries, as "the most beautiful structure which has been +raised since the sixteenth century." It would, alone, make the +preservation of the House as an effective medium for education in the +beautiful a necessity to any truly art-loving people. + +To turn to the collection of Leighton's own paintings, the most +complete work secured is the "Clytemnestra from the battlements of +Argos watches for the beacon fires that are to announce the return of +Agamemnon" (No. 212). + +Mr. G.F. Watts, R.A., writes: "I am more pleased than I can say that +the picture is possible. It is very fine, a grand pictorial +realisation of Greek sculpture and Greek poetry, very noble in form +and expression, and singularly fine in the arrangement of drapery. +Certainly a better example of Leighton at his happiest could not, I +think, be found. It is also _especially_ Leighton." + +Mr. Watts has himself presented a finished painting by Leighton--a +half-length figure of a man, which is an exquisite piece of work and +given to Mr. Watts many years ago by the artist. When presenting it to +the House Mr. Watts wrote that it was one of his possessions which he +prized the most. Though the collection in Lord Leighton's House is +mainly formed of his drawings, the few finished paintings and the +several oil sketches of landscape belonging to it are sufficient to +show how exquisite was his native sense of colour. The colour in +"Clytemnestra" (No. 212) is both true to nature as a presentiment of +the moonlight effect and to the dramatic feeling of the subject. The +study (No. 110), for one of the heads in "Summer Moon" (No. 272), +presented by Mr. Alfred Waterhouse, R.A., and executed actually by the +light of the moon in Rome, is notably fine in texture and gives us the +origin of that curiously happy note of colour in "Clytemnestra"--the +bar of dull red cooled by moonlight. The model wore a scarlet ribbon, +or might be, a row of coral beads round her neck while sitting to +Leighton for the study, and this evidently gave him what he wanted, +and suggested, when he was painting the "Clytemnestra" two years +later, the contrast to the greys and blues in the red bar in this +picture. Mr. A.G. Temple in his valuable work, "The Art of Painting in +the Queen's Reign," alludes to this effect: "A picture _low in key_, +but curiously strengthened by the massive bar of dark red that runs +from the bottom to the top of the picture." Very fine colour and +texture is seen in the sketch for a design of "St. George and the +Dragon" made for some arched space (No. 115), and also in the small +oil sketch for "Golden Hours" (No. 5-A), the study for the background +of the picture "David" (No. 111), "A pool, Findhorn River" (No. 120), +"Rocks in the Findhorn" (No. 123a), "Kynance Cove" (No. 125), "A View +in Spain" (No. 122), "Simaetha, the Sorceress" (No. 124), "Bay of +Naples by Moonlight" (No. 112), are rapid though eminently careful +sketches which prove, perhaps even more convincingly than +highly-finished works, that in the very grain of his native art +instinct was Leighton's delight in beauty of colour. In the sketch +(No. 109), "The Entrance of a House," is one of many examples among +his paintings which show what a master he was in the art of painting +white; really true white, such as we see in marble and whitewashed +walls in Greece, Sicily, and Italy. Surely no artist has ever painted +more truly or poetically the quality of Southern light as it falls on +white walls and columns. "Lieder ohne Worte" is one of several +examples of a successful treatment of white marble as a background +painted as Leighton could paint it. + +It is indeed to be hoped that Leighton's friends who possess any of +those oil paintings of landscape, sea, and architecture which lined +the walls of the great studio during his life may help in aiding to +make his gifts as a colourist more adequately represented in this +permanent collection. The above-named works are, one and all, good +specimens for the purpose. Whatever key of colour was struck, each of +these studies from nature is a faithful and beautiful record of a +scene in some lovely part of the world; whether the scene was fair and +bathed in southern sunlight, or glowing in rich depths of shadow as in +the paintings of the golden-lined interior of St. Mark's, Venice, +further enriched by the scintillating texture of mosaic surface. + +Leighton's early education, however, especially when he was in +Germany, tended more to the development of his gifts as a draughtsman +than to his gifts as a colourist; still it is evident that as soon as +he began working independently of any master, his love of colour at +once asserted itself. At the age of twenty-five his first picture, +"The Cimabue Procession" (No. 42), was exhibited at the Royal Academy +and purchased by the Queen. Mr. Ruskin criticised it at the time as +the work of a _colourist_. "This is a very important and very +beautiful picture," he writes. "It has both sincerity and grace, and +is painted on the purest principles of Venetian art.... The great +secret of the Venetians was their simplicity. They were great +colourists." (See Catalogue for full quotation.) A lengthy description +of Leighton's complete pictures would not find an appropriate place in +this preface. Those who had the good fortune to see the wonderful +collection of his works in 1897 will hardly need to be reminded of the +rich and glowing feast of colour enjoyed before such pictures as +"Helios and Rhodos," painted 1869 (studies in Collections No. 218), +nor the depth and beauty in "Weaving the Wreath"(No. 144), "Antique +Juggling Girl" (No. 359), "Moorish Garden: a Dream of Granada" (No. +280), not to mention the splendour and harmony in many of the larger +and more intricate compositions. No less beautiful, it will be +remembered, was the colouring of pictures in which the scheme was +light and fair rather than rich and glowing. In "Winding the Skein" +(No. 198), for instance, there is a feeling of morning freshness in +its lovely sea and mountain background and white-marble terrace +foreground. Though cool and pale the picture is full of colour. Again, +in the slightly-turning figure of Psyche, now in the Tate Gallery (No. +59), the exquisite, pearly fairness of flesh tint must ever make this +picture a standard of colour as well as of modelling. In its own line +it is an achievement in painting that has surely never been surpassed. +Almost equally beautiful is the passage in "Venus Disrobing for the +Bath" (No. 151), where the line of the figure comes against the sea +background. Leighton's native genius might perhaps be most truly +described as one allied closely to, and echoing, that of the Greeks in +Art, though trained, during a few important years of study, in +Germany. The work of his great contemporaries, Rossetti, Millais, and +Burne-Jones, might be described as revealing Italian, English, and +Celtic sentiment, influenced by the fervour of pre-Raphaelite feeling. +Leighton's genius as a colourist will probably be ever more and more +appreciated as a partial allegiance to those three great colourists +subsides as a fashion merely. + +It is quite clear, from the evidence of the earliest studies, that the +extraordinary facility evinced in Lord Leighton's drawings was the +outcome of natural gifts. No one can study his art without realising +very conclusively that he spared neither time nor trouble in order to +make it as perfect as it was in his power to make it; but equally +evident is it to those who examine his work with artistic and +intelligent insight that the great power that he possessed for taking +pains was inspired by a joyous, sensitive delight in beauty. The +untiring industry which alone could have produced the unparalleled +amount of work which he has left was clearly never weighted by any +feeling that the toil of study was irksome. On the contrary there is, +in every stroke, evidence that a fine delicate sense of beauty, a +fervent, spontaneous "sincerity of emotion" (to use Leighton's own +expression) was ever present, instigating and propelling the +conscientious persistency of his efforts. Whether it be a flower, a +face, a figure, a landscape, or but a piece of drapery--there is in +every sketch in this collection that convincing stamp on the work +which proves that the doing of it interested and delighted the artist; +the test, in other words, that the work has in it the true fibre of +the most genuine art. It is well to draw attention to this fact, +because his abnormal industry has apparently been considered by some +to be a sign of his having been deficient in rare and native art +instincts. Some there are who hold that the most notable +characteristic in Leighton's nature was an extraordinary power of +will. That he exercised such a power is undoubtedly true. In no other +manner could he have achieved the main purposes of his life, but +surely those who knew him best, and who were in the position best to +appreciate his art, would say rather that such an exercise of will was +used in the service of a still more powerful ingredient, in the truly +leading passion of his life, the moving motive of all his labours, +_i.e._ a reverent worship of beauty. Much has been said and +written,--even, strange to say, with respect to the great exhibition +of his works exhibited at Burlington House in the winter of +1897,--which implies that the scholarly element outweighed the +qualities resulting from natural gifts. Happily, the unprejudiced mind +of the widest public was not deluded into sparing its praise by +unappreciative or unintelligent criticism. Those who had not the +opportunity at the Burlington House Exhibition of judging for +themselves of the very great qualities Lord Leighton's art possesses, +have but to study the collection of drawings in his house in order to +realise that his gifts as an artist were as rare and native as was the +intellect and splendour of nature which made his personality one of +the most striking of his era. + +A strong dramatic power is shown in many of Leighton's early designs, +and the best examples of these have been secured for this national +collection. Of the "Plague in Florence" (project for a picture), a +notable example, there is a photograph by Mr. Fred Hollyer (No. 175), +taken for Lord Leighton, the original sketch being in South Kensington +Museum. The evidence of this power recurs at intervals in the later +work in such pictures as "Heracles struggling with Death for the Body +of Alcestis" (No. 54), "Electra at the Tomb of Agamemnon" (No. 7), (in +this picture the colour carries out the imaginative and truly-felt +dramatic instinct with singular power and beauty), "Orpheus and +Eurydice" (No. 236), "St. Jerome," "The Last Watch of Hero" (No. 28), +"Rizpah" (No. 193), and in the last work exhibited in the Royal +Academy after Lord Leighton's death, "Clytie" (No. 27), the sun-loving +soul bidding farewell to this world. But in many of the later works, +as the artist grew older, as the drama of real life became more +absorbing and intricate, as the struggle to sustain the interests of +the art of his country fell more and more directly on him +individually, he seemed to turn with a sense of relief to the more +serene, passive sentiment of such pictures as "Idyll," "Winding the +Skein" (No. 198), "Summer Slumber" (No. 94), "The Bath of Psyche," as +a contrast to the pressure and restless fever of his active life. The +tenderness of feeling, such as is invariably united with the highest +manly qualities, finds expression throughout every stage of Leighton's +art development, most notably in the drawing and painting of children. +(Children had the greatest fascination for him.) In "Elisha and the +Shunammite's Son" (No. 207), the tenderness is as touching as it is +unobtrusive. "Sister's Kiss" (No. 275), and "Return of Persephone" +(No. 53), are both examples in which wholesome, loving, human feeling +is depicted with exquisite tenderness. In "Captive Andromache" (No. +21), such feeling in the group of the caressing parents and child is +used as a contrast to enforce the loneliness of the captive widow. In +"Ariadne abandoned by Theseus: Artemis releases her by Death" (many +studies for which are in the collection still unframed), the whole +picture breathes a feeling of tenderness which is in a high sense +pathetic. In the sketches for "Michael Angelo nursing his Dying +Servant" (No. 192), even more than in the completed picture, is seen +evidence of the manly tender-heartedness which was a notable +characteristic in Leighton's nature. + +The hundreds of sketches and drawings now hung on the walls of the +Leighton House form a diary of the artist's working life. + +Here are records of the earliest student days in Florence in 1842. +When twelve years old he studied at the Academy there under Bezzuoli +and Servolini. Professor Costa writes of these two masters: "They were +celebrated Florentines, excellent good men, but they could give but +little light to this star, which was to become one of the first +magnitude. Leighton, from his innate kindness, loved and esteemed his +old masters much, though not agreeing in the judgment of his +fellow-students, that they should be considered on the same level as +the ancient Florentines. 'And who have you,' said Leighton one day to +a certain Bettino (who is still living), 'who resembles your ancient +masters?' And Bettino answered, 'We have still to-day our great +Michael Angelos, and Raffaels, in Bezzuoli, in Servolini, in Ciseri.' +But this boy of twelve years old could not believe this, and one fine +day got into the diligence and left the Academy of Florence to return +to England. Although the diligence went at a great pace, his +fellow-students followed it on foot, running behind it, crying, 'Come +back, Inglesino! come back, Inglesino! come back!' so much was he +loved and respected. He did come back, in fact, many times to Italy, +which he considered as his second fatherland." + +There are also many records of the studies in Germany when Leighton +was working under Steinle, of all his masters the one for whom he felt +the greatest enthusiasm. The drawing in the collection which shows +most clearly the influence of Steinle's teaching, was made on the +journey from Frankfort to Rome in 1852. The subject is a monk leading +a man away from his enemy and teaching him a lesson in forgiveness. It +is signed, "_Ulm, F.L., /52_" (No. 251). + +There is the sketch for the picture which Leighton and one of his +fellow-students, Signor Gamba, on that same journey, took it into +their heads to paint on the walls of an old ruined castle near +Darmstadt. "The schloss," writes Mrs. Andrew Lang, "where this piece +was painted is still in ruins, but the Grand Duke has lately erected a +wooden roof over the painting to preserve it from destruction." While +still at Frankfort, Leighton had begun the design for the "Cimabue's +Procession" (No. 42). In the collection we find the drawing of the +first design. For extraordinary precision of outline and graceful +arrangement of moving figures, this is one of the most remarkable on +the walls. We have also the study of the head in pencil for the figure +of Dante in the right-hand corner of the picture (No. 42-B), (given by +Canon Rawnsley), and a large study in water-colour and pencil of the +woman seated at the window (given by Mr. J.A. Fuller Maitland) (No. +42-C). Hanging near these is a very finely pencilled head of that boy +whom Leighton called "The prettiest and the wickedest boy in Rome." On +it is written "_Vincenzo--Roma, 1854, F.L._" Another, on which is +written "_Venezia, 1856, F.L._," is, for strength of character and +beauty combined, one of the most powerful in the collection (purchased +by a donation given by Lord Rosebery). These are a few out of fifty +drawings of heads in the House, executed for the main part, between +the years 1852 and 1856. There are many records in landscape and +street scenes of Leighton's journeying to Capri, Athens, Rhodes, +Damascus, and Algeria. Of the drawings made during his stay in Algeria +(presented to the House by Mr. Walter Derham) (Nos. 284 and 285), Mr. +Pepys Cockerell wrote in his interesting article which appeared in the +_Nineteenth Century_, "The finest of all, except the famous 'Lemon +Tree,' which is in silver point, and was done in 1859, are the +products of a visit to Algeria in 1857. I do not believe that more +perfect drawings, better defined or more entirely realised, than these +studies of Moors, of camels, &c., were ever executed by the hand of +man.... They are not particularly summary, nor do they look as if they +had been done in a moment, or without trouble. The drawings in +question are as complete as if they came from the hand of Lionardo or +Holbein." + +Among the most perfect drawings Lord Leighton has left, are also the +studies from flowers and foliage. Professor Aitchison writes: "One day +I found him (Leighton) drawing the flower of the pumpkin, and he said +flowers were quite as hard to draw as human heads, if you drew them +conscientiously, but doing that rested with yourself, for there could +be no critics. He said of drawing that the great thing was to +thoroughly understand the structure, and that then, by patience and +labour, you could express the outline and the modelling. In 1859, +while at Capri, he drew the celebrated 'Lemon Tree,' working from +daylight to dusk for a week or two, and giving large details in the +margin of the snails on the tree." Mr. Ruskin writes: "Two perfect +early drawings are of 'A Lemon Tree,' and another of the same date, of +'A Byzantine Well,' which determine for you without appeal the +question respecting necessity of delineation as the first skill of a +painter. Of all our present masters, Sir Frederic Leighton delights +most in softly-blended colours, and his ideal of beauty is more nearly +that of Correggio than any since Correggio's time. But you see by what +precision of terminal outline he at first restrained and exalted his +gift of beautiful _vaghezza_." + +Of this drawing of "A Lemon Tree," now in the Oxford Museum, lent by +Mr. Ruskin, Sir Henry Acland has given a singularly fine photograph, +very nearly the size of the original. Lord Leighton gave Mr. Ruskin +for his life this wonderful drawing of "A Lemon Tree" to hang in his +Oxford Museum, that it might serve to impede, if possible, the +increasing wrong-headedness in study--the careless conceit, the +irreverent dash, the incompetent confidence of many modern students. + +How Leighton's theories as to the manner in which flowers should be +drawn were carried out, is exemplified by two wonderful studies of the +said pumpkin flower (Nos. 97 and 104), and fifty other studies from +flowers and plants in this collection. This artist in his early +twenties, brilliant in society, full of intellectual and every other +kind of vitality, could nevertheless sit for hours perfecting the +study of a flower or a plant. One who knew him well in 1854 and 1855, +wrote in the _Times_ of 28th January 1896, three days after Leighton's +death: "I remember hearing a relative of his, a clergyman, deplore in +1854, the persistency with which Leighton was throwing away his +chances in life to become a mere artist." Five years previously, +Leighton had embodied in a design, now in his house, the longing, the +home sickness, the _Sehnsucht_ he felt for his own true much-loved +vocation. It is in the drawing of Giotto as a boy lying among his +sheep upon a bank (No. 227). Below the sketch, in Leighton's +handwriting, are the words "_Giotto, Sehnsucht_." The same writer +continues: "I enjoyed constant intercourse with him during the whole +of 1854 and to the middle of 1855. The summer of the former year we +passed at the Baths of Lucca, dining together every day for three +months. Finding the solitary splendour of the hotel at 'Villa' +irksome, he suggested that we should mess together in my lodgings, +which happened to be close to a little restaurant. In after years, +meeting in London houses, we always referred with pleasure to the +modest, but always wholesome and cleanly feasts that Lucrezia, +landlady, chef, and waitress, supplied us with at an almost nominal +cost. To me, at least, that period was one of great value and +interest, for it gave me the opportunity of studying the character of +one whose personality was attractive in no small degree. He was the +most brilliant man I ever met.... He longed for and desired success: +but only in so far as he deserved it. When he was sharply checked in +his upward career, he accepted the rebuke with humility, for he was a +modest man.[91] I had not met him for years when, coming into contact +with him, I told him how keen the interest had been with which I had +watched his progress. 'I am not satisfied,' he answered; 'I alone know +how far I have fallen short of my ideal.'" In his House are two +records of this visit to the Bagni di Lucca. One has been presented by +Mr. J. MacWhirter, R.A. (No. 249). It is a highly finished drawing of +a wreath of leaves exquisitely executed. On the same sheet is a +drawing of a vine in fruit, and in Leighton's own writing +"_Pomegranate Lucca Bagni Villa_." + + * * * * * + +No work in the collection evinces the precision and exact truthfulness +of Leighton's drawing better than the outline copies from pictures and +frescoes by V. Carpaccio, Giorgione, Simone Memmi and Signorelli made +in 1852-53. In the copy from the fresco in the Capella Spagnuola, +Sta. Maria Novella, Florence (No. 292), we have the portraits of +Cimabue, Giotto, Taddeo Gaddi and Simone Memmi whose work it is.[92] +The accuracy of the copy and the difficulty of making a copy at all, +can hardly fully be realised, save by one who has attempted also to +repeat the fading outlines of these dim frescoes in the only +half-lighted chapel. Slight and ineffective as Leighton's drawing may +appear at a first glance, it is, on further acquaintance, found to be +an exquisite piece of work. The absolute truth and precision with +which in pencil lines, on a small scale, he has unravelled the +outlines of the dim forms, and has depicted the quaint seriousness of +these old-world Italian countenances, makes this copy an extraordinary +feat of eye and hand. From this drawing he designed the dress of +Cimabue for the figure in his large picture, and also for the Cimabue +in the South Kensington Mosaic. Written by Leighton above the pencil +drawing are the words: "_Simone Memmi Capella Spagnoli (St. Maria +Novella, Florence), Taddeo Gaddi white and gold cap, Giotto gold and +sea green, Cimabue gold flowers on white ground, Sim. Memmi with grey +beard, head dress, yellow hood with black lining, Florence, 1853, +F.L._" + +A study in brown (water-colour) (No. 91) signed "_Florence, 1854, +F.L._," was used by Leighton forty years after it was made in his +background for "Lachrymae" (No. 147), an engraving of which was given +to the collection by Messrs. A. Tooth. The same study was also used +for a charming design, highly finished in pencil and Chinese white, +apparently executed for a book illustration, which is now in the +House. One of the most beautiful of the foliage studies tells of a +happy day "_Near Bellosguardo, Sept./56._" (No. 171). It is a perfect +and highly-finished study of a vine. What joy Leighton must have had +while looking at this exquisite thing in the September sunshine on +that delicious Bellosguardo height! A butterfly and a bee were +minutely pencilled on the paper as they flew round the vine-leaves as +he drew them. "_Cyclamen Tivoli, Oct./56._" is written on another of +these tiny treasures. "_Aloes Pampl. Doria,_" "_Pyrte Roma_," "_Thistle +Rhodes_," "_Lindos/67 Asphodel_," "_Thistle Banks of Tiber, stalk +light warm brown, leaf dark cld. brown, flow. dsk. warm brown, +Roma/56_," are notes on some of these pages of studies, which can only +be said to compare with the work of a Leonardo or an Albert Duerer. +There is absolutely no mannerism traceable; there is Nature's own +quality of style. There is nothing slovenly in Nature, there is as +surely nothing slovenly in Lord Leighton's art. The gift which in +these modern days is perhaps most rare is a sense of style. Leighton's +feeling for style was as much a part of his individual and native +taste as was his delight in any other quality of beauty in Nature. +Indeed what we call style in art is but the reflection of the same +quality in Nature herself, the love which adds to the more oblivious +facts of Nature a further quality of truth, a completer insight into +her. Leighton possessed a sculptor's feeling for form. It was his +subtle grasp of truth in structure which gives a special value to his +outline drawings. The keen sensitiveness to the right character of the +form, to which his pencil outline was the limit, influenced the +quality of his touch as he portrayed that limit. He felt things "in +the round" as solid projections in various planes, advancing or +receding from the eye. As in the best sculpture, to every aspect of +the solid form you get a fine, subtle, absolutely clear outline; so in +Leighton's drawing of a contour, never is there any vague or undecided +passage. This insures to his work the quality of distinction. These +studies have, one and all, that quality. They are _distinguished_, as +are fragments of the best Greek sculpture. Every born artist falls in +love specially with one class of sentiment in Nature. Whether his +special gifts guide his passion, or his passion his gifts, who can +say? Probably each urges the other. The special note of beauty in +Nature which excited Leighton's deepest enthusiasm was the quality +which is most like that in a shell. In the pumpkin flowers in the +study given by Mr. Hamo Thornycroft of "_Kalmia Califolia_," and in +many others, is recalled notably the fine, pure, carved distinctness +of the forms in a shell--the shell that contains the form and colour +that at once delights the sense both of the painter and the sculptor. +In the oil sketches by Leighton, those poems of Southern sunlight and +colour, records of voyages in the AEgean seas, and off the coasts and +islands of Greece and Asia Minor, we again recall the special beauty +in the quality and colour of a shell, the rainbow tints in +mother-of-pearl, the faint translucence trembling in a sheen of light. + +In gauging the exceptional quality of the gifts which all these studies +evince it will be well to remember that Leighton, at the time they were +made, was under no influence but that of his own high standard, and led +by no lights save those of his own exquisitely delicate perceptions. +For the last twenty or thirty years detail in Nature--vegetation and +Nature which is called "still life"--has been truthfully popularised by +photography, so that now all students have it in their power to study +from such detail treated on a flat surface. Beauty of natural structure +and grace of line rendered with right perspective on a sheet of paper +can be enjoyed and made use of by every artist. Many do avail +themselves of photographs to carry out and complete the details of +their pictures. But when Leighton made these wonderful drawings no such +standards of elaborate finish of detail had been diffused. Nor had he +joined, nor in any way come under the influence of the Pre-Raphaelite +Brotherhood, nor received any inspiration from the teaching of Mr. +Ruskin. Though we may truly liken these studies from "still life" to +those by Leonardo as regards the truthful perfection of copies from +Nature, there is no evidence in Leighton's drawings that the work, even +of the great, much-revered-by-him Italian masters had influenced him +when drawing from Nature. On the contrary, there is the strong stamp of +his own peculiar genius on all of them, the stamp that proves rather +that he saw and loved Nature as a Greek would have seen and loved her. +Essentially Greek-like was the attitude in which Leighton approached +Nature, _i.e._ with an emotion ever ardent in its intensity; but as +ever restrained by the rare gift--the sense of _style_ and of the right +balance and proportion necessary in treating worthily the beauties of +Nature in the language of art. Indeed, it may truly be affirmed that +Leighton was made more like a Greek than like an Englishman as regarded +his artistic powers, English though he was to the backbone in feeling +and sentiment. The effect produced by that collected exhibition of his +works in 1897 was, beyond all other effects, that of _achievement_; and +achievement which was the result of a perfect mastery and grasp of aims +meant to be achieved from the first to the last touch on the canvas. +Leighton was far too great an artist ever to be satisfied with the +results of his labour. Those who knew him best can testify to his +terrible depressions and disappointments. Still, there was no +"_muddling through_," to use Lord Rosebery's expression, such as so +many English artists confess to in reaching the final result. +Greek-like, Leighton saw everything in a definite, clearly outlined +view, and, from the beginning to the end, his work was one direct +forwarding of his purpose. + +In 1860, Leighton migrated to his studio in Orme Square, Bayswater. +The collection possesses several drawings made about that time, +notably the studies for "Lieder ohne Worte" (No. 36). His young +friend, now the well-known portrait-painter, Mr. Hanson Walker, sat +for the head in the picture: "A Crowded Scene in Florence" (No. 198), +a design full of interest and movement, was the gift to the House of +this friend of Leighton's, who, at his instigation, took up art as a +profession. In 1866 Leighton moved from Orme Square to the House he +had built in Holland Park Road, and there we can now follow his yearly +labours by studying the sketches and drawings made for all the +well-known famous pictures of the last thirty years, till we come to +the last--to that passionate appealing figure of Clytie (No. 27), +drawn after the fatal warning had been given. The motive is the same +as that of the first design--the early design of the "Giotto" (No. +227), (made very nearly fifty years before), _i.e._ "Sehnsucht"--not +the dreamy half-conscious Sehnsucht of the awakening artist-nature as +is seen in the boy Giotto--but the passionate longing to remain in the +rich existence that rare gifts and noble affections had secured for +that artist-nature. After the studies for "Clytie" there but remain +those made for pictures never to be painted, till we reach at last the +drawings made on the 22nd of January 1896 (No. 268), the last day on +which Leighton worked. Three days after, on the following Saturday, he +died. + +The object of the Committee is to make this House and its treasures a +centre for Art in the Parish of Kensington, where Lord Leighton lived +for thirty years. During seventeen of these years he was the President +of the Royal Academy, and, by common consent, the greatest President +that institution has ever had. The South Kensington Museum is not in +the parish, and, though this is one of the richest in London, +Kensington proper has no centre of Art, and is sufficiently far +removed from the centre of the metropolis to make it important that it +should possess such a centre. Since October 1898, the Committee has +arranged for Concerts, Lectures, and Readings to take place in the +Studios, and the public is now enlightened as to the exceptional +acoustic qualities the Studios possess, a fact for long recognised by +Leighton's personal friends at the yearly concerts he gave to them +when his pictures were ready for the Royal Academy. It is proposed to +add to the contents of the House an Art Library, and for this many +valuable volumes are waiting to be presented for the book-shelves to +contain them. The present proprietors are prepared to hand over the +house and all it contains to any public body who will engage to +maintain it and to meet the views of the Committee as to the use of +the House. As a memorial to Lord Leighton, the most suitable use will +be, they feel, to devote it to the furtherance of the interests of Art +of the best in all lines and among all classes; in fact to continue in +his own home the culture of that "sweetness and light" which emanated +so notably from his own nature. To conclude with words written by his +old and very intimate friend, Professor Costa, with whom he spent his +last holiday in the autumn before he died: "Leighton solved certain +problems which appeared insoluble. For instance, he combined a life at +high pressure with the most exquisite politeness--truth with poetry, +an iron will with the tenderness of a mother's heart, high aims with a +practical life and with the worship of beauty, the ardour of which was +only equalled by its purity." + + E.I.B. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[89] The greater portion of this preface appeared as an article in the +_Magazine of Art_, October 1899. It is with the kind permission of the +proprietors that it is reprinted. + +[90] Mr. De Morgan is at present engaged in making two jars in pottery, +which he intends to present to the House, to fill the niches in the +Arab Hall. + +[91] "Leighton has been cut up unmercifully by the critics, but bears +on, Robert says, not without courage. That you should say his picture +looked well, was comfort in the general gloom."--_Letter from Mrs. +Browning to Mrs. Jameson, May 6th, 1856, Paris._ + +[92] Nineteen years later, I happened to copy the same group in +water-colour; but it was only after Leighton's death that I saw this +extraordinarily beautiful drawing. + + + + +LIST OF DIGNITIES AND HONOURS CONFERRED ON FREDERIC LEIGHTON + + +Knighted, 1878; created a Baronet, 1886; created Baron Leighton of +Stretton, 1896; elected Associate of the Royal Academy, 1864; Royal +Academician, 1869; President of the Royal Academy, 1878; Hon. Member, +Royal Scottish Academy, and Royal Hibernian Academy, Associate of the +Institute of France, President of the International Jury of Painting, +Paris Exhibition, 1878; Hon. Member, Berlin Academy, 1886; also Member +of the Royal Academy of Vienna, 1888; Belgium, 1886; of the Academy of +St. Luke, Rome, and the Academies of Florence (1882), Turin, Genoa, +Perugia, and Antwerp (1885); Hon. D.C.L., Oxford, 1879; Hon. LL.D., +Cambridge, 1879; Hon. LL.D., Edinburgh, 1884; Hon. D. Lit., Dublin, +1892; Hon. D.C.L., Durham, 1894; Hon. Fellow of Trinity College, +London, 1876; Lieut.-Colonel of the 20th Middlesex (Artist's) Rifle +Volunteers, 1876 to 1883 (resigned); then Hon. Colonel and Holder of +the Volunteer Decoration; Commander of the Legion of Honour, 1889; +Commander of the Order of Leopold; Knight of the Prussian Order "pour +le Merite," and of the Coburg Order Dem Verdienste. + + + + +LIST OF PRINCIPAL WORKS + +_With Date and Place of Exhibition.[93] Corrected and amplified from +"Frederic, Lord Leighton, His Life and Work," by Ernest Rhys._ + + + 1850 (_circa_). *Cimabue finding Giotto in the fields of + Florence. (49-1/2 x 37 inches.) Steinle Institute + (Frankfort). + + 1850. The Duel between Romeo and Tybalt. (37 x 50 inches.) + + 1851 (_circa_). The Death of Brunelleschi. Steinle Institute. + + 1851. [Early Portrait of Leighton by Himself.] + + 1852. *A Persian Pedlar. + + 1852. [Buffalmacco, the Painter. A humorous subject, from Vasari, + was undertaken about this date.] See Sketch in water-colour, + Leighton House Collection. + + 1853. Portrait of Miss Laing (Lady Nias). + + 1855. Cimabue's celebrated Madonna is carried in procession + through the streets of Florence. In front of the Madonna, + and crowned with laurels, walks Cimabue himself, with his + pupil Giotto; behind it, Arnolfo di Lappo, Taddeo Gaddi, + Andrea Tafi, Niccola Pisano, Buffalmacco, and Simone Memmi; + in the corner, Dante. (87-1/2 x 205 inches.) R.A.[94] + Purchased by H.M. Queen Victoria, Buckingham Palace. See + Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1855. The Reconciliation of the Montagues and Capulets over the + dead bodies of Romeo and Juliet. Paris International + Exhibition.[95] + + 1856. The Triumph of Music. (80 x 110 inches.) R.A. Painted in + Paris. + + "Orpheus, by the power of his art, redeems his wife from + Hades." + + 1856. Pan. [A subject from Keats' _Hymn to Pan_, in the first book + of "Endymion."] Painted in Paris. A figure of Pan under a + fig-tree, with this inscription:-- + + "O thou, to whom + Broad-leaved fig-trees even now foredoom + Their ripen'd fruitage." + + 1856. Venus. [A pendant to the Pan.] The figure of a nude nymph + about to bathe, with a little Cupid loosening her sandal. + Exhibited at the Manchester Exhibition and sent to America + after. Painted in Paris. + + 1857. *Salome, the daughter of Herodias. (44-1/2 x 25 inches.) See + Sketch, Leighton House Collection. + + 1858. *The Mermaid (the fisherman and the syren). (From a ballad + by Goethe.) (26-1/2 x 18-1/2 inches.) R.A. + + "Half drew she him, + Half sunk he in, + And never more was seen." + + 1858. "Count Paris, accompanied by Friar Lawrence and a band of + musicians, comes to the house of the Capulets to claim his + bride: he finds Juliet stretched apparently lifeless on the + bed."--_Romeo and Juliet_, Act iv. sc. 5. (26-1/2 x 18-1/2 + inches.) R.A. + + 1858. Reminiscence of Algiers: A Negro Dance. (Water-colour.) + Suffolk Street Gallery. + + 1859. Sunny Hours. R.A. + + 1859. *Roman Lady (La Nanna). R.A. + + 1859. *Nanna (Pavonia). R.A. + + 1859. Samson and Delilah. S.S. See Sketches, Leighton House + Collection. + + 1860. Capri--Sunrise. R.A. + + 1861. *Portrait of Mrs. Sutherland Orr [Mrs. S.O., a Portrait]. + (28 x 18 inches.) R.A. + + 1861. *Portrait of John Hanson Walker, Esq. (23 x 17 inches.) + Owner, H.M. The King. R.A. + + 1861. Paolo e Francesca. See Sketch, Leighton House Collection. + + "Ma solo un punto fu quel che ci vinse + Quando legemmo il disiato riso + Esser baciato da cotanto amante, + Questi, che mai da me non fia diviso, + La bocca mi bacio tutto tremante: + Galeotto fu 'l libro e chi lo scrisse: + Quel giorno piu non vi legemmo avante." + + 1861. A Dream. + + "...Not yet--not yet-- + Still there is trial for thee, still the lot + To bear (the Father wills it) strife and care; + With this sweet consciousness in balance set + Against the world, to soothe thy suffering there + The Lord rejects thee not. + Such tender words awoke me hopeful, shriven + To life on earth again from dream of heaven." + + 1861. Lieder ohne Worte. R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House + Collection. + + 1861. J.A. A Study. R.A. + + 1861. Capri--Paganos. R.A. + + 1862. Odalisque. R.A. + + 1862. *The Star of Bethlehem. (60 x 23-1/2 inches.) One of the + Magi, from the terrace of his house, stands looking at the + star in the East; the lower part of the picture indicates a + road, which he may be supposed just to have left. R.A. See + Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1862. Sisters. R.A. + + 1862. *Michael Angelo Nursing his Dying Servant. (43 x 36 inches.) + R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1862. Duett. R.A. + + 1862. Sea Echoes. R.A. + + 1862. Rustic Music. R.A. + + 1863. Jezebel and Ahab, having caused Naboth to be put to death, + go down to take possession of his vineyard; they are met at + the entrance by Elijah the Tishbite. R.A. See Sketches, + Leighton House Collection. + + "Hast thou killed, and also taken possession?" + + 1863. *Eucharis. (A Girl with a Basket of Fruit.) (32-1/2 x 22 + inches.) R.A. + + 1863. A Girl Feeding Peacocks. R.A. See Sketch, Leighton House + Collection. + + 1863. An Italian Crossbowman. (51 x 24-1/2 inches.) R.A. + + 1864. Dante at Verona. R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House + Collection. + + 1864. *Orpheus and Eurydice. (49 x 42 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, + Leighton House Collection. + + "But give them--the mouth, the eyes,--the brow-- + Let them once more absorb me! One look now + Will lap me round for ever, not to pass + Out of its light, though darkness lie beyond! + Hold me but safe again within the bond + Of one immortal look! All woe that was, + Forgotten, and all terror that may be, + Defied--no past is mine, no future! look at me!" + + --ROBERT BROWNING: _A Fragment._ + + 1864. *Golden Hours. (36 x 48 inches.) R.A. See Sketches in oil + and chalk, Leighton House Collection. + + 1864. *Portrait of the late Miss Lavinia I'Anson. (Circular, + 12-1/2 inches.) + + 1865. *David. (37 x 47 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House + Collection. + + "Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly + away, and be at rest."--_Psalm_ lv. + + 1865. Mother and Child. R.A. + + 1865. Widow's Prayer. R.A. + + 1865. Helen of Troy. R.A. + + "Thus as she spoke, in Helen's breast arose + Fond recollections of her former lord, + Her home, and parents; o'er her head she threw + A snowy veil; and shedding tender tears + She issued forth not unaccompanied; + For with her went fair AEthra, Pittheus' child, + And stag-eyed Clymene, her maidens twain. + They quickly at the Scaean gate arrived." + + 1865. In St. Mark's. R.A. + + 1866. Painter's Honeymoon. R.A. See Sketch, Leighton House + Collection. + + 1866. Portrait of Mrs. James Guthrie. R.A. + + 1866. Syracusan Bride leading wild beasts in procession to the + Temple of Diana. (Suggested by a passage in the second Idyll + of Theocritus.) R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House + Collection. + + "And for her, then, many other wild beasts were going + in procession round about, and among them a lioness." + + 1866. A Noble Lady of Venice. (Not exhibited till 1897.) + + 1866. The Wise and Foolish Virgins. (Fresco in Lyndhurst Church, + finished 1864.) See Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1867. *Pastoral. (51-1/2 x 26 inches.) R.A. See Sketch, Leighton + House Collection. + + 1867. *Greek Girl Dancing. (Spanish Dancing Girl; Cadiz in the old + times.) (34 x 45 inches.) R.A. + + 1867. Knuckle-Bone Player. R.A. + + 1867. *Roman Mother. (24 x 19 inches.) R.A. + + 1867. *Venus disrobing for the Bath. (79 x 35-1/2 inches.) R.A. + + 1867. *Portrait of Mrs. John Hanson Walker. (18 x 16 inches.) + + 1868. Jonathan's Token to David. R.A. + + "And it came to pass in the morning, that Jonathan went + out into the field at the time appointed by David, and + a little lad with him." + + 1868. *Portrait of Mrs. Frederick P. Cockerell. (23-1/2 x 19-1/2 + inches.) R.A. + + 1868. *Portrait of John Martineau, Esq. (23-1/2 x 19-1/2 inches.) + R.A. + + 1868. *Ariadne abandoned by Theseus; Ariadne watches for his + return; Artemis releases her by death. (45 x 62 inches.) + R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1868. *Acme and Septimius. (Circular, 37-1/2 inches.) R.A. + + "Then bending gently back her head + With that sweet mouth, so rosy red, + Upon his eyes she dropped a kiss, + Intoxicating him with bliss." + + --CATULLUS (Theodore Martin's translation). + + 1868. *Actaea, the Nymph of the Shore. (22 x 40 inches.) R.A. See + Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1869. *S. Jerome. (Diploma work, deposited in the Academy on his + election as an Academician.) (72 x 55 inches.) R.A. + + 1869. *Daedalus and Icarus. (53-1/2 x 40-1/2 inches.) R.A. See + Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1869. *Electra at the Tomb of Agamemnon. (59-1/2 x 29 inches.) + R.A. + + 1869. *Helios and Rhodos. (65-1/2 x 42 inches) R.A. See Sketches, + Leighton House Collection. + + 1870. A Nile Woman. (21-1/2 x 11-1/2 inches.) R.A. + + 1870. Study. S.S. + + 1871. *Hercules Wrestling with Death for the Body of Alcestis. (54 + x 104-1/2 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House + Collection. + + 1871. Greek Girls picking up Pebbles by the shore of the Sea. R.A. + See Sketch, Leighton House Collection. + + 1871. *Cleoboulos instructing his daughter Cleobouline. (24 x + 37-1/2 inches.) R.A. + + 1871. View of Assiout (?). (A sketch.) S.S. + + 1871. Sunrise at Lougsor. (A sketch.) S.S. + + 1871. View of the Red Mountains near Cairo. (A sketch) S.S. + + 1872. *After Vespers. (43 x 27-1/2 inches.) R.A. See Sketch, + Leighton House Collection. + + 1872. *Summer Moon. (Guildhall, 1890.) (39-1/2 x 50-1/2 inches.) + R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1872. Portrait of the Right Hon. Edward Ryan, Secretary of the + Dilettante Society, for which the picture was painted. + (S.P.P., 1893.) R.A. + + 1872. A Condottiere. R.A. See Sketch, Leighton House Collection. + + 1872. *The Industrial Arts of War, at the International Exhibition + at South Kensington. (Monochrome, 76 x 177 inches.) Carried + out in fresco on the wall of the Victoria and Albert Museum. + R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1872. The Captive. S.S. + + 1872. An Arab Cafe, Algiers. S.S. + + 1873. *Weaving the Wreath. (Guildhall, 1895.) R.A. + + 1873. Moretta. (Guildhall, 1894.) (20-1/2 x 14-1/2 inches.) R.A. + + 1873. The Industrial Arts of Peace. (Monochrome, 76 x 177 inches.) + Carried out in fresco on the wall of the Victoria and Albert + Museum. R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1873. A Roman. S.S. + + 1873. Vittoria. S.S. + + 1874. *Moorish Garden: A Dream of Granada. (Guildhall 1895.) (41 x + 40 inches.) R.A. + + 1874. Old Damascus: Jews' Quarter. R.A. + + 1874. *Antique Juggling Girl. (Guildhall, 1892.) (41-1/2 x 24 + inches.) R.A. See Sketch, Leighton House Collection. + + 1874. Clytemnestra from the battlements of Argos watches for the + Beacon Fires which are to announce the return of Agamemnon. + R.A. Leighton House Collection. See also Sketches, Leighton + House Collection. + + 1874. Annarella, Ana Capri. D.G. + + 1874. Rubinella, Capri. D.G. + + 1874. Lemon Tree, Capri. D.G. + + 1874. West Court of Palazzo, Venice. D.G. + + 1875. *Portion of the Interior of the Grand Mosque of Damascus. + (62 x 47 inches.) R.A. + + 1875. *Portrait of Mrs. H.E. Gordon. (35-1/2 x 37 inches.) R.A. + + 1875. *Little Fatima. (15-1/2 x 9-1/4 inches.) R.A. + + 1875. Venetian Girl. R.A. + + 1875. *Egyptian Slinger. (Eastern slinger scaring birds in harvest + time: Moonrise.) (Guildhall, 1890.) R.A. See Sketches, + Leighton House Collection. + + 1875. Florentine Youth. S.S. + + 1875. Ruined Mosque in Damascus. S.S. + + 1876. *Portrait of Sir Richard Francis Burton, K.C.M.G. (Portrait + of Captain Richard Burton, H.M. Consul at Trieste.) (23-1/2 + x 19-1/2 inches.) (Paris, 1878; Melbourne, 1888; S.P.P., + 1892.) R.A. National Portrait Gallery. + + 1876. *The Daphnephoria. (89 x 204 inches.) A triumphal procession + held every ninth year at Thebes, in honour of Apollo and to + commemorate a victory of the Thebans over the Aeolians of + Arne. (See Proclus, "Chrestomath," p. 11.) R.A. See + Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1876. Teresina. R.A. + + 1876. Paolo. R.A. + + 1877. *Music Lesson. (36-1/2 x 37-1/8 inches.) (Paris, 1878.) R.A. + + 1877. *Portrait of Miss Mabel Mills (The Hon. Mrs. Grenfell). (23 + x 19 inches.) R.A. + + 1877. *An Athlete Strangling a Python.[96] Bronze. (Paris, 1878.) + R.A. See Sketch in plaster, Leighton House Collection, + presented by G.F. Watts, O.M. + + 1877. *Portrait of H.E. Gordon. (23-1/2 x 19 inches.) G.G. + + 1877. An Italian Girl. G.G. + + 1877. *Study. (A little girl with fair hair, in a pink robe.) (24 + x 28 inches.) R.A. + + 1877. A Study. G.G. + + 1878. *Nausicaa. (57-1/2 x 26-1/2 inches.) (Guildhall, 1896.) R.A. + See Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1878. Serafina. R.A. + + 1878. *Winding the Skein. (39-1/2 x 63-1/2 inches.) R.A. See + Sketch, Leighton House Collection. + + 1878. A Study. R.A. + + 1878. *Portrait of Miss Ruth Stewart Hodgson. (50-1/2 x 35-1/2 + inches.) G.G. + + 1878. Study of a Girl's Head. G.G. + + 1878. Sierra: Elviza in the distance, Granada. S.S. + + 1878. The Sierra Alhama, Granada. S.S. + + 1879. Biondina. R.A. + + 1879. Catarina. R.A. + + 1879. *Elijah in the Wilderness. (91 x 81-1/2 inches.) R.A. + (Paris, 1878.) Corporation of Liverpool. See Sketches, + Leighton House Collection. + + 1879. Portrait of Signor G. Costa. R.A. + + 1879. Amarilla. R.A. + + 1879. A Study. R.A. + + 1879. Portrait of the Countess Brownlow. R.A. + + 1879. *Neruccia. (19 x 16 inches.) R.A. + + 1879. A Study. S.S. + + 1879. The Carrara Hills. S.S. + + 1879. A Street in Lerici. S.S. + + 1879. Via Bianca, Capri. G.G. + + 1879. Archway in Algiers. G.G. + + 1879. Ruins of a Mosque, Damascus. G.G. + + 1879. Study of a Donkey. G.G. + + 1879. On the Terrace, Capri. G.G. + + 1879. Sketch near Damascus. G.G. + + 1879. View in Granada. G.G. + + 1879. Study of a Donkey, Egypt. G.G. + + 1879. Study of a Head. G.G. + + 1879. Nicandra. G.G. + + 1880. *Sister's Kiss. (48 x 21-1/2 inches.) R.A. See Sketch, + Leighton House Collection. + + 1880. *Iostephane. (37 x 19 inches.) R.A. + + 1880. The Light of the Harem. (60 x 33 inches.) R.A. + + 1880. Psamathe. (36 x 24 inches.) R.A. + + 1880. *The Nymph of the Dargle (Crenaia). (29-1/2 x 10 inches.) + R.A. + + 1880. Rubinella. G.G. + + 1880. The Pozzo Corner, Venice. Winter Exhibition. G.G. + + 1880. Jack and his Cider Can. Winter Exhibition. G.G. + + 1880. The Painter's Honeymoon. Winter Exhibition. G.G. + + 1880. Winding of the Skein (with sketch). Winter Exhibition. G.G. + + 1880. Head of Urbino. Winter Exhibition. G.G. + + 1880. Steps of the Bargello, Florence. Winter Exhibition. G.G. + + 1880. A Contrast. Winter Exhibition. G.G. + + 1880. Garden at Capri. Winter Exhibition. G.G. + + 1880. Twenty-nine Studies of Heads, Flowers, and Draperies. Winter + Exhibition. G.G. + + 1881. Elisha raising the son of the Shunammite. (32 x 54 inches.) + (Guildhall, 1895.) R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House + Collection. + + 1881. Portrait of the Painter.[97] R.A. + + 1881. *Idyll. (41-1/2 x 84 inches.) R.A. See Sketches in oil and + chalk, Leighton House Collection. + + 1881. *Portrait of Mrs. Stephen Ralli. (48 x 33 inches.) R.A. + + 1881. *Whispers. (48 x 30 inches.) R.A. See Sketch, Leighton House + Collection. + + 1881. Viola. R.A. + + 1881. *Bianca. (18 x 12-1/2 inches.) R.A. + + 1881. Portrait of Mrs. Algernon Sartoris. G.G. + + 1882. *Day-Dreams. (47-1/2 x 35-1/2 inches.) R.A. + + 1882. Wedded. R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1882. Phryne at Eleusis. (86 x 48 inches.) (Melbourne, 1888.) R.A. + See Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1882. Antigone. R.A. + + 1882. "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it"--Rev. xx. + 13. (Design for a portion of a decoration in St. Paul's.) + R.A. The Tate Gallery. See Sketches, Leighton House + Collection. + + 1882. Melittion. R.A. + + 1882. *Portrait of Mrs. Mocatta. (23-1/2 x 19-1/2 inches.) + + 1882. Zeyra. G.G. + + 1883. The Dance: decorative frieze for a drawing-room in a private + house. R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1883. *Vestal. (24-1/2 x 17 inches.) R.A. + + 1883. *Kittens. (48 x 31-1/2 inches.) R.A. + + 1883. Memories. R.A. + + 1883. Portrait of Miss Nina Joachim. (16 x 13 inches.) + + 1884. *Letty. (18 x 15-1/2 inches.) R.A. + + 1884. *Cymon and Iphigenia. (64 x 129 inches.) (Berlin, 1885.) + R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1884. A Nap. R.A. + + 1884. Sun Gleams. R.A. + + 1885. ..."Serenely wandering in a trance of sober thought." ... + (46 x 27 inches.) R.A. + + 1885. Portrait of the Lady Sybil Primrose. R.A. + + 1885. *Portrait of Mrs. A. Hichens. (26-1/2 x 20-1/2 inches.) R.A. + + 1885. Music: a frieze. R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House + Collection. + + 1885. Phoebe. (Manchester, 1887.) R.A. + + 1885. A Study. G.G. + + 1885. Tombs of Muslim Saints. S.S. + + 1885. Mountains near Ronda Puerta de los Vientos. S.S. + + 1886. Painted decoration for the ceiling of a music-room.[98] (7 x + 20 feet.) R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1886. Gulnihal. R.A. + + 1886. *The Sluggard. Statue, bronze. R.A. Presented to the Tate + Gallery by Sir Henry Tate. See Statuette, Leighton House + Collection. + + 1886. *Needless Alarms. Statuette. R.A. See Bronze, Leighton House + Collection. + + 1887. *The Jealousy of Simoetha, the Sorceress. (35 x 55-1/2 + inches.) R.A. See Sketch, Leighton House Collection. + + 1887. *The Last Watch of Hero. (62-1/2 x 35-1/2 inches, with + predella 12-1/2 x 29-1/2 inches.) R.A. Corporation of + Manchester. See Sketch, Leighton House Collection. + + "With aching heart she scanned the sea-face dim. + . . . . . . . . . + Lo! at the turret's foot his body lay, + Rolled on the stones, and washed with breaking spray." + + --_Hero and Leander: Musaeus_ (translated by Edwin Arnold). + + 1887. [Picture of a little girl with golden hair, and pale blue + eyes.] + + "Yellow and pale as ripened corn + Which Autumn's kiss frees--grain from sheath-- + Such was her hair, while her eyes beneath, + Showed Spring's faint violets freshly born." + + --ROBERT BROWNING. + + 1887. *Design for the reverse of the Jubilee Medallion. (Executed + for Her Majesty Queen Victoria's Government.) R.A. See + Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + Empire, enthroned in the centre, rests her right hand on the + sword of Justice, and holds in her left the symbol of + victorious rule. At her feet, on one side, Commerce proffers + wealth; on the other, a winged figure holds emblems of + Electricity and Steam-power. Flanking the throne to the right + of the spectator are Agriculture and Industry; on the opposite + side, Science, Literature, and the Arts. Above, interlocking + wreaths, held by winged genii representing respectively the + years 1837 and 1887, inclose the initials V.R.I. + + 1888. *Captive Andromache. (77 x 160 inches.) R.A. Corporation of + Manchester. See Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + ..."Some standing by, + Marking thy tears fall, shall say, 'This is she, + The wife of that same Hector that fought best + Of all the Trojans, when all fought for Troy.'" + + --_Iliad_, vi. (E.B. Browning's translation). + + 1888. *Portrait of Amy, Lady Coleridge. (42 x 39-1/2 inches.) + (S.P.P., 1891.) R.A. + + 1888. *Portraits of the Misses Stewart Hodgson. (47 x 39-1/2 + inches.) + + 1888. Four Studies. R.W.S. + + 1888. Five Studies. S.S. + + 1889. *Sibyl. (59 x 34 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House + Collection. + + 1889. *Invocation. (54 x 33-1/2 inches.) R.A. + + 1889. Elegy. R.A. + + 1889. Greek Girls playing at Ball. (45 x 78 inches.) R.A. See + Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1889. *Portrait of Mrs. Francis A. Lucas. (23-1/2 x 19-1/2 + inches.) R.A. + + 1890. Solitude. R.A. + + 1890. *The Bath of Psyche.[99] (75 x 24-1/2 inches.) R.A. See + Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1890. *Tragic Poetess. (63 x 34 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, + Leighton House Collection. + + 1890. *The Arab Hall. (33 x 16 inches.) (Guildhall, 1890.) R.A. + + 1891. *Perseus and Andromeda. (91-1/2 x 50 inches.) R.A. See + Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1891. *Portrait of A.B. Freeman-Mitford, Esq., C.B. (46-1/4 x + 38-1/2 inches.) R.A. + + 1891. *Return of Persephone. (79 x 59-1/2 inches.) R.A. + Corporation of Leeds. See Sketches, Leighton House + Collection. + + 1891. Athlete Struggling with a Python. Group, marble. R.A. + + 1892. *"And the sea gave up the dead which were in it." (Circular, + 93 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1892. At the Fountain. (49 x 37 inches.) R.A. + + 1891. *The Garden of the Hesperides. (Circular, 66 inches.) + (Chicago, 1893; Guildhall, 1895.) R.A. See Sketches, + Leighton House Collection. + + 1892. Bacchante. R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1892. *Clytie. (32-1/2 x 53-1/2 inches.) R.A. + + 1892. Phryne at the Bath. (24 x 12 inches.) S.S. See Sketches, + Leighton House Collection. + + 1892. Malin Head, Donegal. S.S. + + 1892. St. Mark's, Venice. S.S. + + 1892. Interior of St. Mark's, Venice. S.S. + + 1892. The Doorway, North Aisle, Venice. S.S. + + 1892. Rizpah (the small study in oils). (7 x 7 inches.) S.S. + + 1893. *Farewell! (63 x 26-1/2 inches.) R.A. + + 1893. *Hit! (29 x 22 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House + Collection. + + 1893. Atalanta. (26-1/2 x 19 inches.) R.A. + + 1893. Rizpah. (36 x 52 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, Leighton House + Collection. + + 1893. Corinna of Tanagra. (47-1/2 x 21 inches.) R.A. + + 1894. *The Spirit of the Summit. (77-1/2 x 39-1/2 inches.) R.A. + See Sketches, Leighton House Collection. + + 1894. *The Bracelet. (59-1/2 x 23 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, + Leighton House Collection. + + 1894. *Fatidica. (59-1/2 x 43 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, Leighton + House Collection. + + 1894. *Summer Slumber. (45-1/2 x 62 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, + Leighton House Collection, one presented by H.M. The King. + + 1894. At the Window. R.A. + + 1894. Wide, Wondering Eyes. (20 x 15-1/2 inches.) Manchester. + + 1894. The Roman Campagna, Monte Soracte in the distance. S.S. + + 1894. The Acropolis of Lindos. S.S. + + 1894. Fiume Morto, Gombo, Pisa. S.S. + + 1894. Gibraltar from San Rocque. S.S. + + 1895. Lachrymae. (60 x 24 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, Leighton + House Collection. + + 1895. The Maid with the Yellow Hair. R.A. + + 1895. *'Twixt Hope and Fear. (43-1/2 x 38-1/2 inches.) R.A. + + 1895. *Flaming June. (46 x 46 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, Leighton + House Collection. + + 1895. Listener. R.A. + + 1895. A Study. R.A. + + 1895. Phoenicians bartering with Britons. Presented to the Royal + Exchange by Lord Leighton. See Sketches, Leighton House + Collection. + + 1895. Boy with Pomegranate. Grafton Gallery. + + 1895. Miss Dene. + + 1895. Aqua Certosa, Rome. S.S. + + 1895. Chain of Hills seen from Ronda. S.S. + + 1895. Rocks, Malin Head, Donegal. S.S. + + 1895. Tlemcen, Algeria. S.S. + + 1896. *Clytie. (61-1/2 x 53-1/2 inches.) R.A. See Sketches, + Leighton House Collection. + + 1896. Candida. (21 x 41-1/2 inches.) Antwerp, 1896. + + 1896. *The Vestal. (27 x 20-1/2 inches.) Unfinished. + + 1896. *A Bacchante. (26-1/2 x 21 inches.) + + 1896. *The Fair Persian. (25-1/2 x 19-1/2 inches.) Unfinished. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[93] The asterisk denotes works exhibited at the Winter Exhibition of +the Royal Academy of Arts, 1897. + +[94] R.A., Royal Academy; G.G., Grosvenor Gallery; R.W.S., Royal +Society of Painters in Water-Colours; S.S., Royal Society of British +Artists, Suffolk Street; D.G., Dudley Gallery; S.P.P., Society of +Portrait Painters. + +[95] Exhibited in the Roman section by some blunder of the Committee, +the picture having been painted in Rome. + +[96] Purchased for L2000 by the President and Council of the Royal +Academy, under the terms of the Chantrey Bequest. + +[97] Painted by invitation for the collection of Portraits of Artists +painted by themselves, in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. + +[98] Painted for the house of Mr. Marquand, New York. + +[99] Purchased for 1000 guineas by the President and Council of the +Royal Academy, under the terms of the Chantrey Bequest. + + + + +INDEX + + + Abercorn, Lady, i. 256; ii. 338 + + Aberdeen, Lord, i. 256 + + Abydos, ii. 180 + + Academy, _see_ Royal Academy + + Acland, Sir Henry, ii. 364, 373 + + Acton, Lord, quoted, ii. 33-34 + + AEsthetics, i. 103-104 + + Afreet, ii. 168 + + Agnew, ii. 286 + + Aide, Hamilton, i. 195; ii. 60, 105, 110, 111; + letter from, ii. 126 _note_ [40]; + quoted, i. 154 _note_ [28] + + Aitchison, George, i. 164; ii. 7, 116, 117, 221, 363; + letter from, to Prof. Church, ii. 222 _note_ [57]; + quoted, ii. 118-119, 217 _note_ [55], 365, 372 + + Albert, Prince Consort, i. 1, 261, 262; ii. 202; + death of, ii. 85 + + Alexandra, Queen (Princess of Wales), lines by, on Leighton, i. 33; + ii. 336 + + Algiers (1857), i. 18, 293-294, 297-304; + (1895), ii. 318; + Drawings of Moorish subjects, ii. 372 + + Allen, Robin, letters from, ii. 59 _note_ [18], 102, 230; + poem by, 102 + + America-- + Hospitality in, i. 277 + Slave crisis (1862), ii. 77-78, 82-85 + + Ampere, Mr., i. 146 + + Arab Hall, ii. 7-8, 217-222 _and notes_ [55-57], 365 + + Arabic, ii. 154 + + Architecture-- + Athenian, ii. 128, 130-131, 145, 166 + Ecclesiastical, i. 74 + Egyptian, ii. 164-165, 185-186 + Leighton's presidential address on, ii. 239 _and note_ [63] + Scottish, ii. 262 + Westminster, in, i. 87 + + Armstrong, T., ii. 287 + + Arnold, Matthew, letters from, ii. 226, 231 + + Art-- + Academic, i. 209; ii. 5 + "Barbarians'" view as to, i. 41 + Breadth-of-treatment school, i. 70-71 + Catholicity in, ii. 264-265 + Classification in, ii. 16 + Detail, scrupulous care in, i. 202 + Florentine, ii. 117-118 + Form, importance of, i. 293; ii. 11, 263 + Foundation-laying in, i. 155-156 + Function of, i. 25-26; ii. 23, 278, 282, 283 + Greek, i. 228 + Impressionist, ii. 33 + Industry, need for, i. 206-208 + Influence of, Leighton's views as to, ii. 33-35 + Inspiration, moments of, ii. 4 + Inward source of, i. 92, 188, 212 _note_ [45]; ii. 15 + Italian, Leighton's love for, ii. 5 + Nature-study in, i. 174-175, 191, 199, 213; ii. 17-18 + Practical nature of, i. 238 + Protestant inconsistency as to, i. 74 + Roman Catholic influence on, i. 66, 73 + Roman influence on, i. 147, 188, 191 + Spontaneity of, in the young, i. 217-218 + Suggestion _v._ definition, ii. 26-28 + White, painting of, ii. 367 + + _Art of Painting in the Queen's Reign, The_, cited, ii. 366 + + Artist Benevolent Fund, ii. 213 + + Artist Volunteer Corps, Leighton's membership of, i. 11-14; + ii. 107, 111; + resignation of commission (1883), ii. 243-245; + at Leighton's funeral, ii. 337 + + Ashburton, Lord, portrait of, ii. 123 _and note_ [37] + + Assouan, ii. 148-150, 152 + + Athens, ii. 128, 130-131, 229 _note_ [60] + + Austin, Mrs., ii. 86 + + Avignon, i. 298 + + + Ballater, ii. 309 + + Barrington, Mrs. Russell, letters to, ii. 328, 332, 333 + + Bayreuth, ii. 316, 326 + + Beards, i. 170 + + Beauty-- + Leighton's passion for, i. 59; ii. 2, 30, 328, 369 + Puritanical attitude towards, i. 60 + + Becker, i. 56, 89 + + Beechey, Sir William, i. 269 + + Benedetto Bonfiglio, ii. 19 + + Beni Hassan, ii. 185-187 + + Benson, Ralph A., ii. 206-207; + letter from, 58 _note_ [18] + + Bentinck, Count, i. 49, 52 + + Bentinck, Gen., i. 63 + + Bentinck, Penelope, i. 255, 262 + + Bergheim, i. 49-53 + + Berlin, i. 158-160 + + Bettino, i. 39 + + Bezzuoli, i. 38, 39 + + Bideford, ii. 66-67 + + Bileith, Mr., ii. 129 + + Birrell, Augustine, ii. 304-305 + + Boehm, Sir Edgar, letter from, ii. 200 + + Boughton, George H., letters from, ii. 199 + + Boxall, ii. 119, 227 + + Brackley, Lord, i. 264, 284 + + Brandes, Miss, ii. 217 + + British Institution, ii. 39, 44 + + British Museum, Leighton a trustee of, ii. 256 + + Brock, Mr., ii. 241, 259-260 _and note_ [73] + + Brown, Madox, ii. 299 + + Browning, Mrs., ii. 51-52, 64, 374 _note_ [91]; + letter from, 93 + + Browning, Robert, estimate of Leighton by, ii. 29 _note_ [6]; + conversational powers of, i. 146 _and note_ [27], 149; + lines by, on the Heracles picture, ii. 190; + Leighton's estimate of, ii. 304-305; + letter to, ii. 51; + letters from, ii. 65, 225; + quoted, i. 164; + otherwise mentioned, i. 28, 149, 243, 280, 285; ii. 121 + + Bruce, Col. and Mrs., ii. 39 + + Bruckmann, Herr, ii. 113 + + Brunton, Sir Lauder, ii. 316, 323, 329-330 + + Buckner, i. 171 + + Bull-fights, ii. 210 + + Bulteel, Lady E., ii. 66 + + Burne-Jones, Sir E., ii. 3, 8, 199, 288, 368; + inaccuracies of, i. 219 _note_-220 [47]; + estimate of, ii. 25 + + Burton, Sir Richard, portrait of, ii. 195-196; + letters from, 218-219 + + + Calderon, ii. 196-197, 255 + + Cambridge, H.R.H. Duke of, ii. 262 + + Cameron, Mrs., cited, ii. 269 _note_ [76] + + Campagna, Roman, i. 22 _and notes_ [8 and 9], 162, 164 + + Capri, ii. 18, 41 + + Carlisle, Earl of, ii. 6 + + Cartwright, W.C., politics of, i. 307-308; + letters from, ii. 126 _note_ [40], 152, 286; + otherwise mentioned, i. 124, 243, 255-257, 278; ii. 38, 46, 52 + + Casts, gallery of, ii. 287-288 _and note_ [79] + + Chamberlayne, Kate, i. 126 + + Change of scene, importance of, i. 92-95 + + Chantrey Bequest, terms of, ii. 249-253 + + _Chemistry of Paints and Painting_ (Church), cited, ii. 290 _notes_ [80] + + Choisy, M., quoted, ii. 221, 362-363 + + Chorley, Henry J., ii. 43 _and note_ [13]; + letter from, 127 _note_ [40] + + Church, Prof., cited, ii. 290 _notes_ [80 and 81]; + letters to, 290-302 + + Churche, ii. 70 + + Cimabue, i. 227 + + Clarke, Sir C.P., ii. 365; + quoted, 218 _note_ [55] + + Cleopatra, ii. 163, 172 + + Cleopatra's Needle, ii. 284 + + Cleveland, Duke of, ii. 286 + + Cliquiness, i. 192 + + Cockerell, F. Pepys, i. 285; ii. 58 _note_ [18], 87, 325 _note_ [86]; + quoted, i. 294; ii. 372 + + Cole, Sir Henry, ii. 212; + letter from, 202; + letter to, 204 + + Coleridge, Lord, letter from, ii. 227 + + Colfax, Mr., ii. 165 + + Colnaghi, i. 252, 254; ii. 364; + cited 246 + + Colonna, i. 229 _note_ [50] + + Colour, Leighton's feeling for, ii. 188, 189, 366, 367 + + Colours, &c., letters to Prof. Church regarding, ii. 290-302 + + Commissioned subjects, Leighton's views on, ii. 277-278 + + Conture, i. 154, 296 + + Copies, Leighton's views on, ii. 277 + + Cornelius, i. 56, 66, 141, 149, 151, 173; + Leighton's estimate of, 180, 190-191, 291, 295; + Steinle's estimate of, i. 280 + + _Cornhill Magazine_, Leighton's illustrations for, ii. 91, 92, + 95, 103 + + Corot, i. 241 + + Correggio, ii. 41, 256 + + Costa, Prof. Giovanni, Leighton's first meeting with, i. 162-164; + portrait of, ii. 256; + estimate of Leighton by, ii. 379; + letter from, on Leighton, ii. 285 _note_ [78]; + quoted-- + on Leighton in Florence, i. 39; ii. 371; + on Leighton in Siena, ii. 242 _note_ [64]; + on Leighton's methods, ii. 256; + on Leighton's last visit, ii. 327-328; + otherwise mentioned, ii. 7, 223, 297, 314 + + Cowley, Lady, i. 240, 309; ii. 88; + letter from, i. 48 + + Cowley, Lord, letters from, i. 53-54; + portrait of, ii. 88 + + Cowper, Lady, ii. 66 + + Cowper, Lord, portrait of, ii. 88 + + Crane, Walter, ii. 365; + estimate of Leighton by, 6-9 + + Craven, Augustus, ii. 41 + + Crawford, Lord, quoted, ii. 364 + + Criticism-- + Leighton's appraisement of, i. 179 + Ruskin on, ii. 122 + + Currie, Sir Donald, i. 4 + + + Dalou, i. 241; + letter from, ii. 198 + + Dalziel's Bible, Leighton's illustrations for, ii. 94-95 + + Damascus, ii. 206-209 + + Davey, Lord, ii. 364 + + De l'Aigle, Madame, ii. 191 + + De l'Aigle, Marquis, ii. 103 + + De Morgan, Wm., ii. 364 _and note_ [90] + + De Savelege, Emile, ii. 214 + + Delaroche, Paul, i. 249, 290 + + Denderah, ii. 172 + + Dene, Dorothy (Miss Pullen), ii. 267-274 + + Detail, perfection of, i. 202 + + Dickens, Charles, letters from, ii. 89; + Leighton compared with, 330-331 _note_ [87] + + Dilettanti, Society of, ii. 212-213 + + Disneh, ii. 141 + + Dixon, Messrs., ii. 364 + + Dolby, Miss, ii. 43-44 + + Domestic decoration, ii. 220 + + Doyle, Richard, letter from, ii. 124 _note_ [38] + + Drawings by Leighton-- + "Cervara," i. 163 _note_ [32] + Comparison of, with finished paintings, ii. 93 + "Drifting," ii. 103 + Estimate of, i. 197, 205; ii. 368, 376 + "Evening in a French Country House, An," ii. 103 + Florentine fresco, copy of, ii. 374-375 + "Lemon Tree," i. 201 _and note_ [42]-202; ii. 41 _and note_ [11] + "Monk Dividing Enemies, A," i. 65 _note_ [18]; ii. 371 + Moorish subjects, of, ii. 372 + "Plague in Florence in 1850," ii. 93 + "Samson Wrestling with the Lion," ii. 94 + "Vincenzo's Head," i. 151-152, 154-155 + "Well-Head, The," i. 110 _note_ [24] + + Du Maurier, i. 20 _note_ [7] + + Duccio, i. 227 + + Dudley, Lord, ii. 53 _note_ [14] + + Duff, Sir M. Grant, quoted, ii. 33 + + Duerer, Albert, i. 220; ii. 239-240 + + Dyer, Sir W. Thistelton, estimate of Leighton by, i. 219-221 _note_ [47] + + + East, Alfred, estimate of Leighton by, ii. 266 + + Eastlake, Sir Ch., i. 48, 94, 265 + + Edfou, ii. 162 + + Edis, Col., ii. 244-245 + + Edward VII., King (Prince of Wales), "Cimabue's Madonna" lent by, + for exhibition, i. 185; + Leighton's studio visited by, ii. 37, 39, 40; + tribute to Leighton by, i. 7; ii. 37; + otherwise mentioned, i. 265; ii. 41 _and note_ [9], 56, 60, + 131, 213, 323, 363 + + Egypt, Leighton's visit to, ii. 131-187 + + Egyptian tombs, ii. 144-145 + + Elephantina, ii. 150 + + Elgin Cathedral, ii. 262 + + Eliot, George, _see_ Lewes + + Ellesmere, Earl of, i. 252, 257, 265 + + Ellesmere, Lady, i. 268 + + Ellis, Maj.-Gen., ii. 338 + + Elmore, ii. 118 + + Ely, Lady, ii. 178 + + Erskine, Mr., ii. 130 + + Esne, ii. 147-148 + + Etty, i. 216 + + + Farquhar, Miss, i. 152 + + Farrer, Lady (Miss Wedgwood), ii. 217 + + Fatma, ii. 167 + + Fenzi, M., i. 100, 285 + + Ferronay, Pauline la (Mrs. A. Craven), ii. 41 _note_ [10] + + Ffrench, i. 260, 262 + + Findhorn River, ii. 261-262 + + Finlay, Mr., ii. 130, 131 + + FitzGerald, Percy, quoted, ii. 330 _note_ [87] + + Flatz, i. 133 + + Fleury, Robert, i. 27, 154, 245, 248, 249, 290; ii. 214, 294; + letter from, ii. 37; + cited, ii. 46 + + Florence-- + Leighton's early studies in, i. 38-40; + his stay at (1853), 136; + (1856), 284 + List by Steinle of works to be studied in, i. 225-226 + + Florentine art, ii. 117-118 + + Flowers, Leighton's feeling for, i. 69, 75, 198; + studies, i. 200, 218-219; ii. 263, 325 _note_ [85], 372-373, 375-376 + + Form and matter, divergence between, ii. 184 + + Forres, ii. 261-262 + + Frankfort, Leighton at school at, i. 42 + + Frederick, Empress, ii. 337 + + French, i. 243 + + Fresco, Gambier Parry's medium for, ii. 105-106, 108-110, 301 + + Fresco _v._ oils, i. 296-297, 305; ii. 20 + + Freshfield, Mrs. Douglas, ii. 217 + + Frith, W.P., letter from, ii. 119 _note_ [35] + + Fuehrich, i. 174 + + Fuller-Maitland, J.A., ii. 328, 372 + + + Gamba, Count, i. 75, 85, 87, 90, 96, 98, 116-118, 120, 122, 123, + 125, 132, 149, 151, 152, 164, 174, 188, 189, 191, 237; ii. 371 + + Gambart, ii. 114, 123 + + Garcia, Senor, ii. 239 _note_ [62] + + Gebel Silsily, ii. 161 + + Genius, i. 206 + + German aesthetics, i. 103-104 + + Germany, Leighton's journey through (1852), i. 63-68 + + Gerome, ii. 147, 155 + + Gibson, i. 181, 261; ii. 39, 56; + Leighton's estimate of, i. 114 + + Gilbert, Alfred, quoted, i. 7 + + Gilbert, Sir J., ii. 286 + + Gilchrist, Connie, ii. 268 + + Giotto, i. 128, 226 _note_ [49], 228; ii. 374 + + Gladstone, W.E., ii. 57; + letters from, 243, 289 + + Glyn, Mrs., ii. 269, 270 + + Goethe's _Sprueche_, Leighton's criticism of, ii. 305-306 + + Gondolas, i. 78 + + Goodall, J., i. 48; + quoted, ii. 284 + + Gooderson, T., i. 171 + + Gordon, Lady Duff, ii. 132, 177, 181 + + Gortschakoff, Prince, i. 56 + + Gozze, Count, i. 169 + + Graefe, i. 157 + + Granada, ii. 210 + + Grant, Gen., ii. 165 + + Greek language, ii. 130-131 + + Greene, i. 258, 259 + + Greg, W.R., ii. 269 _note_ [76] + + Grenfell, Hon. Mrs. (Miss Mabel Mills), portrait of, ii. 197 + + Greville, Charles, ii. 108 + + Greville, Henry, Leighton's friendship with, i. 28, 164, 251 _and + note_ [56], 282; + extracts from diaries of, i. 242-244, 246, 278; + death of, i. 268-269; + letters from, i. 252-268; + otherwise mentioned, i. 241, 247; ii. 43, 44, 46, 86, 92, 216 + + Grey, Countess, i. 270 + + Grove, Sir George, letter from, ii. 243 _note_ [65] + + Grueber, H.A., quoted, ii. 255-256 + + Guaita, Mr., i. 281 + + Guthrie, Mrs. James, portrait of, ii. 10 _note_ [1], 114 + + + Habit, deadening effect of, i. 93, 95 + + Hague, The, i. 54-55 + + Hale, Mr., ii. 163, 165 + + Halle, i. 234 + + Handel Festival (1859), ii. 43-44 + + Hardy, Thomas, ii. 320 + + Harrison, Mr., i. 260, 267, 282; ii. 46 + + Hassan Effendi, ii. 143 + + Haydon, i. 143-144 + + Hebert, i. 236, 237 + + Heidelberg, i. 63-64 + + Heilbronn, i. 64 + + Henderson, A., ii. 364 + + Hendschel, i. 150 + + Herkomer, Hubert, letter from, ii. 226 + + Hickey, Miss Emily, sonnet by, ii. 261 _note_ [74] + + Hildesheim, ii. 315 + + Hills, Mr., ii. 291 + + Hoare, Lady, ii. 38, 40, 48 + + Hodgson, J.G., i. 275; + letter from, ii. 205 _note_ [74] + + Holland, Leighton's visit to (1852), i. 54-55 + + Holland, Lord and Lady, i. 309; ii. 41, 67, 92 + + Hollyer, Fred, ii. 364, 370; + quoted, 288-289 + + Hommel, i. 150 + + Hooker, Sir Joseph, cited, i. 220 + + Hope, J.K. Kempton, letter from, ii. 213 + + Horsfall, T.C., correspondence with, ii. 274, 276-283 + + Horsley, Mr., ii. 223 + + Hosmer, Miss Harriet, i. 146, 181, 195; ii. 72, 76 + + Hosseyn, ii. 137-138, 140-142, 144, 146, 148, 153, 157, 158, 160, + 165, 167, 170, 172, 174, 176-180, 187 + + Hughes, Mrs. Watts, ii. 332; + letter from, 217 + + Human form, Leighton's treatment of, ii. 29 + + Hunt, Holman, i. 187 _note_ [34], 220, 278; ii. 118, 148, 219 + + Hunter, Colin, i. 4 + + + I'Anson, Mr. (great-uncle), i. 45-46 + + Impressionists, ii. 33 + + Ingres, i. 245 + + Innsbruck statues, i. 69-70, 88-89 + + Irish scenery, ii. 311 + + Irving, Sir H., ii. 270 _note_ [77]; + Leighton compared with, 330-331 _note_ [87] + + Italian art, ii. 5, 19, 117 + + Italy (_for districts, towns, &c., see their names_)-- + Leighton's affection for, i. 19-24, 56, 62, 67-68, 72, 135, 137, + 158, 302-303; ii. 51 + Music of, i. 167 + Street cries in, i. 72-73 + + + Jameson, Mrs., i. 280 + + Janauschek, i. 55 + + Janotha, Miss, ii. 228 + + Joachim, Dr. Joseph, ii. 216, 223, 228, 316; + Leighton's speech at jubilee presentation to, ii. 245-247 + + + Kalergi, Madame, i. 242 + + Karnak, ii. 165-167 + + Kaye, Miss, i. 264 + + Kemble, Adelaide, _see_ Sartoris + + Kemble, Mrs. (Fanny), on "Pan" and "Venus," ii. 45; + reading of, i. 184; + estimate of Leighton by, i. 264; + letter to, i. 165; + letters from, i. 165 _note_ [33]; ii. 68-83, 126 _note_ [40]; + otherwise mentioned, i. 146, 147, 149, 178, 181, 245, 255, 300 + + Kew gardens, i. 219-221 _note_ [47] + + Kimberley, S.A., art exhibition at, i. 4 + + Kom Ombo, ii. 160, 161 + + Koorveh, ii. 145 + + Kuppelwieser, i. 174 + + Kyrle Society, ii. 274-275 + + + Laing, Isabel (Lady Nias), i. 108, 122 _note_ [25], 125; + portrait of, 122-123, 177 + + Land, W.C., ii. 225 + + Landseer, Sir Edwin, ii. 59, 61 + + Lang, Mrs. Andrew, quoted, ii. 372 + + Lansdowne, Lord, ii. 41, 43 + + Lanteri, Edouard, ii. 288 + + Lascelles, E., ii. 92 + + Lawrence, Sir Thos., i. 269 + + Lecky, Prof., ii. 338 + + Leech, John, ii. 68 + + Lehmann, ii. 287 + + Leighton, Dr. (father), career of, i. 36-37; + attitude towards art as a profession, 16-17; + severity towards his son, 37; + anatomy studies, 38; + move to Bath, 56; + illness, ii. 309-310; + death, 314; + letters to, i. 44, 110, 171, 177, 180, 212, 236, 237, 244, 248, + 269, 283, 307; ii. 58, 62, 86, 95, 114-116, 129, 131, 206, 209, + 211, 213, 238 _note_ [62], 261, 313; + letter from, i. 101; + letter regarding, i. 135-136; + otherwise mentioned, i. 76, 84 + + Leighton, Lady (grandmother), i. 47, 56, 86 + + Leighton, Mrs. (mother), delicate health of, i. 36-38; + tenderness of, 37; + death of, ii. 126; + letters to, i. 18, 42, 46, 49, 51, 59, 84, 92, 104, 122, 137, + 139, 142, 147, 166, 167, 176, 178, 212, 224, 234, 236, 240, + 245, 247, 281, 287, 289, 290, 297, 308; ii. 14 _note_ [2], 38, + 43-48, 55, 57, 60, 64-68, 88, 91, 107, 108, 110, 111, 119, 122, + 191; + letters from, i. 57, 98, 133, 139, 144, 177, 226 _note_ [49], 232; + letter from, to younger daughter, ii. 56 + + Leighton, Alexandra (sister), _see_ Orr + + Leighton, Augusta (sister), _see_ Matthews + + Leighton, Sir Baldwyn, letter from, i. 34 + + Leighton, Frederic, Lord-- + Ancestry of, i. 34-36 + Career, chronological sequence of-- + birth, i. 36; + early travels, 37, 38; + education, 37-39, 41-42; + under Steinle's influence, 40-42; + first picture, 44; + studies in Brussels, Paris and Frankfort, 44; + visit to London, 45-48; + portrait painting, 46, 48, 51-53; + back to Frankfort, 48; + at Bergheim, 49; + in Holland, 54-55; + Italy, 72-83; + Rome, 95-96, 106 _et seq._, 161; + at Bad Gleisweiler, 134; + at Frankfort and Florence, 136; + return to Rome, 139; + at Lucca, 154 _note_ [28]; + Frankfort, Venice, Florence and Rome, 154; + consultation with Graefe, 157; + success of "Cimabue's Madonna," 193; + in London, 222, 233; + in Paris, 235-237, 239 _et seq._; + to Frankfort and Italy, 281-285; + back to Rome, 289; + in Algiers, 18, 293-294, 297-304; + in Rome (1858), ii. 37; + in London, 43; + at 2 Orme Square, 47, 49; + volunteering activities, i. 11-14; ii. 55, 107, 111; + in Devonshire, 66; + visit to Mason, 89-90; + at Compiegne, 103-104; + the Lyndhurst fresco, 104-108, 110-112; + building of Leighton House, 114-117; + A.R.A., 118; + visit to Spain (1866), 128; + examiner at Victoria and Albert Museum (1866-1875), 212; + at Vichy (1869), 218 _note_ [56]; + up the Nile, 131-187; + R.A. (1869), 123, 188; + visit to Damascus (1873), 205-209; + to Spain (1877), 209; + P.R.A. (1878), 223; + trustee of British Museum (1881), 256; + resigns volunteer commission (1883), 243-245; + made a baronet (1886), 289; + waning health, 241, 313, 318, 323, 324, 328; + visit to Spain (1889), ii. 238 _note_ [62]; + foreign travel, 313-316; + Algiers, 318; + made a peer, 331; + fatal illness, 333-334; + death, 334 + Characteristics of-- + Actuality, sense of, i. 280; ii. 5, 26-27, 30 + Art, passionate attachment to, i. 2, 16, 17; ii. 338-339 + Beauty, love of, i. 59; ii. 2, 30, 328, 369 + _Bonhomie_, ii. 330 + Boyishness, ii. 317 + Children, love of, ii. 192, 328, 370 + Consistency, ii. 3, 21 + Courage, ii. 317 + Critical faculty, i. 217 + Criticism, attitude towards, i. 179 + Depression, liability to, i. 10 + Duty, sense of, i. 250; ii. 21 + Enthusiasm, i. 18, 41 + Fastidiousness, ii. 5 + Gratitude, ii. 266 + Greek-like combination of qualities, i. 24-25, 59; + ii. 368, 377-378 + Impartiality, i. 5 + Industry and strenuousness, ii. 4, 207-208, 223, 369 + Insight, rapidity of, i. 24 + Intellectual brilliancy, i. 4, 23, 24, 210; ii. 2, 242 + Kindness, i. 269; ii. 7, 90, 104, 242 _note_ [64] + Loyalty, i. 19; ii. 3, 8 + Mastery of others, ii. 242-243 _and note_ [64] + Modesty, i. 8, 206, 280; ii. 16, 233, 265, 266 + Music, love of, i. 108, 126 + Oratorical powers, i. 5, 6, 29; ii. 233-234 + Originality, ii. 5, 16 + Selective faculty, predominant, i. 219 _note_ [47]; ii. 2 + Sensitiveness, i. 31 + Simplicity, i. 9 + Sincerity, i. 8, 60, 92, 216 + Smell and hearing, keen senses of, i. 72 + Social charm, i. 8, 30 + Society, general, distaste for, i. 166, 168, 222-223 + Spontaneity, lack of, i. 246; ii. 1, 20, 233-234 + Sympathy, i. 4-6, 9 _and note_ [4], 216 + Thoroughness, ii. 20, 31, 208, 233 + Unselfishness, ii. 266 + Vitality, exuberance of, i. 59, 224 + Will power, ii. 369 + Diary ("Pebbles"), extracts from, i. 61-87, 198 + Diary of Egyptian visit, ii. 133-187 + Dignities and honours conferred on, ii. 380 + Drawings by, _see that title_ + Estimates of, by-- + Anonymous, i. 60; ii. 29-30, 374 + Browning, Robert, ii. 29 _note_ [6] + Costa, Prof. G., ii. 379 + Crane, W., ii. 6-9 + Dyer, Sir W.T., i. 219-221 _note_ [47] + East, A., ii. 266 + Greville, H., i. 243 + Kemble, Mrs., i. 264 + Powers, Hiram, i. 39 + Poynter, Sir E., ii. 242 _note_ [64] + Richmond, Sir W., i. 209; ii. 1-6 + Riviere, Briton, i. 5, 129, 207, 250; ii. 21-22 + Ruskin, J., i. 212 + Thornycroft, H., i. 5-6, 13-14 + Watts, G.F., i. 4, 7, 210; ii. 22 + Frescoes by, ii. 104-108, 110-112, 203-204 + Funeral of, i. 31-33; ii. 335-338 + Health difficulties, i. 42, 59, 130, 169, 240, 241; ii. 22, 68; + eyesight trouble, i. 101, 111, 113, 123-124, 130, 131, 142, 157, + 247, 309; ii. 22; + waning health, 313, 318, 323, 324, 328; + fatal disease, ii. 241, 302, 316, 333-334 + Limitations in his art, i. 211-215 + Methods of, ii. 12-15, 256, 293 + Pictures by, _see that title_ + Portrait of, ii. 259; + bust by Brock, 260 _and note_ [73], 364 + Portraits by, _see that title_ + Presidential addresses by, ii. 229-233, 235-241 + Sketches by, ii. 257-259 _and note_ [71], 366-367, 371-372 + Speeches by, ii. 241-247 + Statuary by, ii. 198-200, 259-260 + + Leighton, Sir James (grandfather), i. 36 + + Leighton, Rev. Wm., i. 35 + + Leighton House-- + Aims of committee of, ii. 378-379 + Arab Hall, ii. 217-222, 365 + Contents of, ii. 363-378 + Preface to Catalogue of, ii. 362-379 + Preliminaries to building of, ii. 115-116 + Site of, ii. 114 _and note_ [32] + Style of, ii. 362-363 + + Leitch, i. 181 + + "Les Natchez," ii. 184 + + Leslie, Lady Constance, ii. 92; + quoted, i. 193 + + Leslie, Sir John, i. 164, 261, 262 + + Lewes, Mr., ii. 95, 100 + + Lewes, Marian E. (George Eliot), ii. 95; + letters from, 96-100 + + Lewis, Arthur, ii. 55, 92 + + Lindos, ii. 129, 148 + + Lindsay, Sir Coutts, ii. 286 + + Linton, ii. 286 + + Lister, Sir Joseph, ii. 338 + + Lister, Villers, i. 285 + + Listowel, Lord, ii. 92 + + Liszt, ii. 43 _note_ [13] + + Liverpool, Leighton's speech at Art Congress at (1888), ii. 247, + 341-361 + + Loch, Lady, quoted, i. 3-4; ii. 334 + + Lockhart, i. 176 + + Lougsor, ii. 143, 174, 175 + + Lucas, Charles, cited, ii. 362 + + Lugano, Lake of, i. 283 + + Lynn of Dee, ii. 261 _and note_ [74], 309 + + Lyon, Lord, ii. 76 + + Lyons, Bickerton, i. 146, 243 + + + Mackail, ii. 333 + + Mackenzie, Sir A., ii. 338 + + MacWhirter, J., ii. 374 + + Maeterlinck, ii. 25, 27 + + _Magazine of Art_, reprint from, ii. 362 _and note_ [89], 379 + + Mahometans, ii. 146, 169-170 + + Malet, Sir E., ii. 316 + + Malinmore (Co. Donegal), ii. 311, 324-325 _and note_ [85] + + Man, Isle of, art exhibition in, i. 3 + + Manchester Art Museum and Galleries, ii. 274-281 + + _Manchester Courier_, extract from, ii. 275-280 + + Maquay, Mrs., i. 134, 285 + + Mariani, ii. 294-295 + + Mario, i. 309; ii. 43 + + Marochetti, i. 176, 261 + + Marquand, Mr., i. 277; ii. 259 _note_ [72] + + Marriage, Leighton's views on, ii. 56 + + Massarani, Sig. Tullio, ii. 214 + + Mason, George, i. 32, 164, 286; ii. 66, 118; + Leighton's relations with, i. 193; ii. 89-90, 266 + + Matthews, Mrs. (Augusta N. Leighton), birth of, i. 36; + Leighton's advice to, on musical studies, 91-92, 97-98; + extracts from diary of, 233, 241; + in Leighton's last illness, ii. 333-334; + at the funeral, ii. 338; + letters to, i. 97, 182; + ii. 52, 64, 85, 90, 117, 216, 223, 309, 313, 315; + letter from Mrs. Leighton to, ii. 56; + otherwise mentioned, i. 76, 87, 99, 105, 145, 169, 181; + ii. 65, 95, 304, 316, 326, 363 + + May, Phil, ii. 32 + + Medinet Haboo, ii. 164 + + Meissonier, ii. 214 + + Melbourne, art exhibition in, i. 3-4 + + Meli, Signor, i. 37 + + Mendelssohn, Frau, i. 56 + + Meran, i. 71, 89, 282 + + Meynell, Wilfrid, ii. 321, 364 + + Middleburgh, i. 63 + + Millais, Sir J., Leighton's estimate of, ii. 67, 68; + flower painting by, i. 220; + "Needless Alarms" given to, ii. 260; + letter from, 230; + otherwise mentioned, i. 187 _note_ [34], 221, 234, 254; + ii. 60, 87, 118, 319, 322, 338, 368 + + Millet, Jean Francois, i. 241 + + Mills, Sir Charles, i. 4 + + Mills, Miss Mabel (Hon. Mrs. Grenfell), portrait of, ii. 197 + + Minyeh, ii. 135-136 + + Monbrison, George de, ii. 41 + + Monson, Lady, i. 244 + + Montfort, i. 243, 249; ii. 39; + cited, 46 + + Moor scenery, ii. 308-309, 311 + + Moorish interior, i. 301; + music, 303 + + Morants, ii. 66 + + Morlaix, ii. 324 + + Morley, Rt. Hon. John, letter from, ii. 331 + + Morny, i. 243 + + Morris, William, ii. 220 + + Mortlake, M.C., ii. 120 _note_ [35] + + Music-- + Italian, i. 167 + Leighton's feeling for, i. 100, 182; ii. 6; + his singing, i. 140-141, 169-170; + his yearly gatherings, ii. 216-217; + his speech at the Joachim celebration, ii. 245-247 + Monday popular concerts, ii. 216 + Moorish, i. 303 + + Mustafa Aga, ii. 143-144, 165, 172 + + + Napier, Lord, ii. 325 + + Naples, Leighton's visit to (1859), ii. 41 + + Nash, Mr. and Mrs., i. 224 + + Neville, Lady Dorothy, ii. 111, 114 + + Nettleship, ii. 114 + + Nias, Lady, _see_ Laing, Isabel + + Nicholson, ii. 55 + + Nordau, Leighton's estimate of, ii. 326-327 + + North, Miss, i. 220 + + Norton, Hon. Mrs., letter from, ii. 10 _note_ [1] + + Novello, Clara, ii. 43 + + Nubians, ii. 150 + + + Oakes, i. 96, 108 + + _Obiter Dicta_ (Birrell), ii. 304-305 + + O'Conor, ii. 226 + + Ogle, Miss, ii. 38 + + Old Masters-- + Leighton's attitude towards, i. 230 + Winter Exhibitions of, ii. 214 + + Oppenheim, i. 56 + + Orcagna, i. 225 + + Ordway, Mr., ii. 69, 71, 74, 75, 83 + + Orr, Col. Sutherland, i. 3 _note_ [2], 300, 309 + + Orr, Mrs. Sutherland (Alexandra Leighton), birth of, i. 36; + marriage of, 3 _note_ [2]; + in India, 300 _and note_ [70], 306, 309; + widowed, ii. 50; + portrait of, 54, 57, 61; + in Leighton's last illness, 333-334; + at the funeral, 338; + work on Browning by, 314 _and note_ [83]; + letters to, i. 18, 19, 22 _note_ [8], 302; + ii. 240, 304, 307, 310, 311, 319, 322, 325, 326; + otherwise mentioned, i. 42, 44, 46, 99, 126, 183; + ii. 45, 211, 273, 315, 363 + + "Orphee," ii. 52-53 _and note_ [14] + + Ouless, W.W., i. 4 + + Overbeck, i. 96, 116, 132-133, 189, 190, 192; + Leighton's estimate of, 113-114; + Steinle's, 121 + + + Paestum, ii. 50 + + Paget, Sir James, ii. 313 + + Palmer, ii. 55 + + Panshanger, ii. 92 + + Pantaleone, Dr., i. 169; ii. 52 + + Paris, Comtesse de, telegram from, ii. 321 + + Parry, Gambier, ii. 105, 299-301; + letter from, 108 + + Pasta, i. 267-268 + + Pasteur, W., letter from, ii. 244 _note_ [66] + + Pattison, Mrs. Mark, letters to, i. 16, 27, 302; ii. 118, 128, 209, + 303 + + "Pebbles," _see under_ Leighton--Diary + + Perry, Walter Copland, ii. 287-288 _and note_ [79] + + Persian tiles, ii. 364-365 + + Perugia, ii. 19 + + Perugini, Carlo, i. 236, 237, 241; ii. 55 + + Petre, i. 290 + + Pheidias, i. 224 + + Philipson, Mr., ii. 364 + + Phipps, Hon. Col., i. 265, 267, 282, 290 + + Phipps, Hon. Mrs., ii. 40 + + Photography, i. 202-206; + of masterpieces, ii. 277 + + Phylae, ii. 150-151, 154-155, 167 + + Piatti, ii. 228 + + Pictures by Leighton-- + "And the Sea gave up ...," ii. 193 + "Antique Juggling Girl, The," ii. 194-195, 205 _note_ [53] + "Ariadne abandoned by Theseus," ii. 370 + "Atalanta," ii. 262-263 + "Bath of Psyche, The," ii. 257 + "Byzantine Well," ii. 42 _and note_ [12] + "Captive Andromache," ii. 370 + "Cimabue finding Giotto in the Fields of Florence," i. 56 + "Cimabue's Madonna"-- + Description of, i. 173 + Estimate of, i. 185-186; + by Richmond, 186; + by Ruskin, 186 _note_ [34]; ii. 367; + by Rossetti, i. 187 _note_ [34] + Exhibition of, in Rome, i. 177, 180; + at Leighton House (1900), i. 185 + Holes in, i. 260 _and note_ [59], 282-283, 290 + Success of, i. 32, 193; ii. 367 + Work on, i. 128-130, 135-136, 141, 145, 148-151, 155, 175, 179, + 184-186 + "Cleoboulos Instructing his Daughter Cleobouline," ii. 192 + "Clytemnestra Watching from the Battlements of Argos," ii. 195 + _and note_ 46, 205 _note_ [53], 366 + "Clytie," ii. 96, 263, 327 + "Condottiere, A," ii. 193 + "Crossbowman, The," ii. 119 + "Cymon and Iphegenia," i. 25; ii. 258 _and note_ [70], 259 + "Daedalus and Icarus," ii. 188, 189 + "Dante at Verona," ii. 114, 123 _and note_ [38] + "Daphnephoria, The," ii. 195-197 + "Death of Brunelleschi, The," i. 55-56 + "Duel between Romeo and Tybalt, The," i. 56 + "Duet" (small "Johnnie"), ii. 85 _note_, 88, 123 + "Eastern King, The," ii. 86-88, 107 + "Egyptian Slinger," ii. 370 + "Electra at the Tomb of Agamemnon," ii. 188, 189, 370 + "Elijah in the Wilderness," ii. 188, 256 + "Eucharis," ii. 9, 108, 119 _and note_ [34] + "Fisherman and the Syren, The," ii. 36 _and note_ [8], 62 + "Flaming June," ii. 262-263 + "Francesca," ii. 57, 59 _note_ [18] + "Girl feeding Peacocks," ii. 119 _and note_ [33] + "Golden Hours," ii. 9, 114 + "Greek Girl Dancing," ii. 193 + "Greek Girls Picking up Pebbles," ii. 192 + "Helen of Troy," ii. 125 _and note_ [39] + "Helios and Rhodos," ii. 188 + "Heracles Wrestling with Death for the Body of Alcestis," + ii. 189-191, 370 + "Honeymoon, The," ii. 114, 123 + Improvement in, by keeping, ii. 258 _note_ [70] + "In a Moorish Garden," ii. 194, 205 _note_ [53] + "Industrial Arts of Peace, The," ii. 193-194, 202 + "Industrial Arts of War, The," ii. 193-194, 224 + Landscapes in Oil, i. 208 + "Lieder ohne Worte," ii. 17 _and note_ [3], 57, 58 _note_ [16], 60 + _note_ [19], 61-63, 65, 367 + List of, ii. 381-392 + "Michael Angelo Nursing his Dying Servant," ii. 86-88, 93, + 105-107, 370 + "Music Lesson," ii. 197 + "Nanna, La," ii. 39-41, 48 + "Nausicaa," ii. 200-201 + "Negro Festival, A," i. 302; ii. 44-47 + "Neruccia," ii. 256, 257 + "Nile Woman, A," ii. 189 + "Noble Lady of Venice, A," ii. 10 + "Plague in Florence," ii. 370 + "Psyche," ii. 368 + Number of, during Presidency, ii. 257 + "Odalisque," ii. 87, 88 + "Old Damascus," ii. 205 _and note_ [53] + "Orpheus," _see subheading_ "Triumph of Music" + "Othello and Desdemona," i. 44 + "Pan," i. 249, 258, 278; + in America, i. 300; ii. 45-46 + "Paolo and Francesca," ii. 63, 76-77 + "Persephone," i. 220 + "Perseus and Andromeda," ii. 198 + Perugini, Carlo, head of, i. 237 + Poetry in, i. 211; ii. 29 _and note_ [6] + "Reconciliation of the Montagues and Capulets"-- + America, in, i. 300; ii. 46 + Criticism of, i. 287 _note_ [68] + France, in, i. 235 + Sale of, i. 289 + mentioned, i. 141, 176 + "Romeo," _see subheading_ "Reconciliation" + "Romeo and Juliet," ii. 36 _and note_ [8] + "Rustic Music" (large "Johnnie"), ii. 85 _note_ [22], 86, 88 + "S. Jerome," ii. 188 + "Salome, the Daughter of Herodias," i. 308; ii. 119 _and note_ [35] + "Samson and Delilah," ii. 39, 47, 74 + "Sea Echoes," ii. 87 _and note_ [24], 88 + "Solitude," ii. 260-261 _and note_ [74] + "Spirit of the Summit, The," i. 10 + "Study," ii. 197 + "Summer Moon," ii. 192-193, 366 + "Sunrise--Capri," ii. 53 + "Syracusan Bride ..., A," ii. 10 _and note_ [1], 124 + Texture of, ii. 93 + "Triumph of Music, The"-- + Failure of, i. 246-249 + "Sketches of Orpheus," i. 278 + Subject of, i. 244-245 + mentioned, i. 236, 238, 257; ii. 46, 114 + "Venus," i. 249, 258-259, 278, 287 _note_ [68]; + in America, i. 300; ii. 45-46 + "Venus disrobing for the Bath," ii. 368 + Vision of Mrs. Sandbach, ii. 54 _and note_ [15], 56, 57, 58 _note_ + "Weaving the Wreath," ii. 194 + "Wedded," ii. 29 _note_ [6] + "Winding the Skein," ii. 201, 368 + + Pisano, Nicolo, i. 227 + + Pocock, ii. 87 + + Pollington, Lady, i. 115; + portrait of, 54 + + Portraits by Leighton-- + Ashburton, Lord, ii. 123 _and note_ [37] + Bentinck, Count, family of, i. 49, 52 + Burton, Sir R., ii. 195, 196 + Costa, Giovanni, ii. 256 + Cowley, Lady, and family, i. 48-49, 53 + Cowper, Lord, ii. 88 + Guthrie, Mrs. James, ii. 10 _note_ [1], 114 + I'Anson, Mr., i. 46 + Mills, Miss Mabel, ii. 197 + Pollington, Lady, i. 54 + Walker, Mrs. Hanson, i. 251 _note_ [57] + + Powers, Hiram, i. 114; + estimate of Leighton by, i. 39 + + Poynter, Sir E., i. 164; + estimate of Leighton by, ii. 242 _note_ [64] + + Prange, Mr., i. 4 + + Pre-Raphaelites-- + Burne-Jones distinguished from, ii. 25; + Leighton's estimate of, i. 289; + his relations with, ii. 52 + + Pullen, Miss (Dorothy Dene), ii. 267-274 + + Pullen, Lina, ii. 268 + + + Quilter, Sir Cuthbert, ii. 258 _note_ [70] + + + Rafaello, i. 162 _and note_ [31], 163 + + Ravaschieri, Duchessa, i. 167 + + Rawnsley, Canon, ii. 372 + + Redesdale, Lord, i. 121 + + Reeves, Sims, ii. 44 + + Reston, i. 268 + + Rhapsodist performance, i. 303-304 + + Rhoden, i. 133 + + Rhodes Island, ii. 129-130, 148 + + Rhys, Ernest, cited, ii. 232 _note_ [61] + + Ricardo, Puliza, ii. 46 + + Richmond, George, ii. 255; + letter from, 312 + + Richmond, Sir Wm. B., i. 186, 220; ii. 55; + estimate of Leighton by, i. 209; ii. 1-6 + + Ristori, i. 242-243 + + Ritchie, Miss, ii. 217 + + Ritchie, Mrs. Richard, quoted, i. 194 _note_ [36]; ii. 43 _note_ [13] + + Riviere, Briton, estimate of Leighton by, i. 5, 129, 207, 250; + ii. 21-22; + quoted, i. 216; ii. 233-234, 317; + letter from, ii. 230; + letters to, ii. 318, 324 + + Roberts, Dr., ii. 241, 315, 316, 329 + + Roman Catholic faith, i. 66 + + Rome-- + Art, influence on, i. 147, 188, 191 + Cafe Greco, i. 162 _note_ [31] + Leighton's early studies in, i. 37 + Steinle's estimate of, i. 280-281 + + _Romola_, Leighton's illustrations for, ii. 95-102, 121 + + Rosebery, Lord, ii. 372 + + Ross, Mr., ii. 132 + + Ross, Mrs., ii. 8 + + Rossetti, D.G., i. 278; ii. 118, 288; + quoted, i. 187 _note_ [34]; ii. 60 _note_ [19], 191, 368 + + Rossetti, Wm., ii. 45-46, 58 + + Rossini, i. 166-167 + + Royal Academy-- + Attacks on, ii. 8 + Chantry Bequest, terms of, ii. 251-253 + Codification Committee, ii. 254-255 + Constitution of, ii. 248-251 _note_ [67] + Exhibitions of-- + Burlington House, at, ii. 201 + Colour, as test of, ii. 88 + Winter, of Old Masters, ii. 214 + Leighton an Associate of, ii. 118; + member, 123, 188; + President, ii. 223; + his speeches at banquets of, ii. 241-243 _and notes_ [64 and 65]; + his bequest to, ii. 333 + Pension question, ii. 252-253, 255 + Presidency of, ii. 231 _note_ [61] + Treasurership of, ii. 249 _note_ [67] + Tresham case, ii. 248-250 _note_ [67] + Women, question of admission of, to membership, ii. 247-248 + _and note_ [67] + + Ruskin, John, estimate by, of "Cimabue's Madonna," i. 186 _note_ [34]; + ii. 367; + of Leighton, i. 212; ii. 373; + on "A Lemon Tree," ii. 41; + on the Lyndhurst fresco, ii. 112; + letters from, ii. 42, 120-121; + otherwise mentioned, i. 201 _note_ [42], 220, 234, 245, 247, 257; + ii. 59, 377 + + Russell, Odo (Lord Ampthill), ii. 38, 40, 52 + + Russell, Lady William, letters from, ii. 215, 216 + + + S. Francis of Assisi, quoted, i. 22 _note_ [10] + + Salisbury, ii. 67 + + Salisbury, Lord, ii. 338 + + Samuelson, Right Hon. Sir Bernard, ii. 190 _note_ [42] + + Sandbach, Mrs., ii. 54 _and note_ [15], 56 + + Sartoris, Hon. Mrs. Alfred, letter from, ii. 88 _and note_ [25]; + quoted, 104 + + Sartoris, Edward, Leighton's friendship with, i. 124, 126; + illness of, i. 263, 266, 267; + otherwise mentioned, i. 28, 147, 240, 241, 245, 257, 310; + ii. 46, 52, 66, 68 + + Sartoris, Mrs. (Adelaide Kemble), Leighton's friendship with, + i. 27-28, 124, 126-128, 149, 166, 168, 176, 181, 183, 194, 250, + 289; + estimates of, i. 126-128; + portrait of, i. 172, 184, 232; + intimates of, i. 183; + personal appearance of, i. 183; + Mrs. Ritchie's account of, i. 194 _note_ [36]; + extract from early diary of, 195-196 _note_ [36]; + Leighton's family's appreciation of, i. 232-233; + "A Week in a French Country House" by, ii. 103; + illness of, ii. 191-192; + letter from, to Greville, i. 266; + to Mrs. Leighton, ii. 61; + otherwise mentioned, i. 146, 147, 182, 234, 240-245, 247, 251 + _note_ [56], 258, 260-265, 278; ii. 43 _and note_ [13], 52, 57, + 66, 68, 81, 217, 218, 239 _note_ [62] + + Saunders, Mr. Bailey, letter to, ii. 305 + + Scarborough Borough Council, messages from, ii. 225, 331 + + Schaeffer, i. 116 + + Scheffer, Ary, i. 245 _and note_ [55], 249; ii. 46 + + Schlemmer, Dr., i. 56 + + Schlosser, Frau Rath, i. 64, 190 + + Schwind, i. 293 + + Scottish rivers and scenery, ii. 261-262, 308-309 + + Sculpture, Leighton's view on, i. 6, 69, 88-89; + his work in, ii. 198-200, 259-260 + + Selim, Sheykh, ii. 141-143, 179 + + Sermoneta, Duke, i. 169 + + Servolini, i. 38, 39 + + Seville, ii. 210 + + Shakespear, illustration of, ii. 113 + + Shaw, Norman, letter from, ii. 239 + + Sheik Boran Bukh, letter to, i. 306; + letter from, 307 + + Shelley, ii. 307 + + Shields, Frederick, ii. 299 + + Si Achmet, Syed, ii. 173, 174, 176, 177 + + Siddons, Mrs., i. 268 + + Siena, Leighton at the Duomo fire in, ii. 242 _note_ [64] + + Simon, John, ii. 42 + + Smith, George, ii. 364 + + Society, i. 166, 222-223 + + Sohag, ii. 140, 159 + + Somers, Lord, ii. 213 + + "Souls," the, ii. 25 + + South London Fine Art Gallery, ii. 8 + + Spain, Leighton's visit to (1866), ii. 128; + (1887), ii. 209; + (1889), 238 _note_ [62] + + Spanish language, Leighton's mastery of, ii. 238 _note_ [62] + + Speke, ii. 172 + + Spencer, Lord and Lady, ii. 92 + + Sphinx, ii. 146 + + Spielmann, M., letter to, ii. 12 + + Spottiswoode, Wm., letter from, ii. 216 _note_ [54] + + Stanton, Col., ii. 131-132 + + Statuary, _see_ Sculpture + + Steinle, Eduard von, influence of, on Leighton, i. 27, 92, 215, 250; + ii. 303; + Leighton's tribute to, i. 61; + list of Florentine paintings recommended by, for study, + i. 225-226; + with Leighton (1856), i. 281-282; + water-colour by, i. 291 _note_ [69]; + portrait of (_Der Winter_), ii. 303-304; + estimate of, i. 40-42; + death of, ii. 303; + letters to, i. 22 _note_ [9], 87, 118, 119, 130, 134, 150, + 154, 157, 172, 187, 190, 193, 215, 233, 237, 238, 279, 284, + 291-296, 304, 305; ii. 11, 49, 50, 53, 63, 64, 91, 105, 106, + 112, 188, 201; + letters from, i. 116, 120, 151, 189, 280; ii. 127, 224, 302; + otherwise mentioned, i. 24, 56, 64-65, 86, 113, 129, 136 + + Stephens, ii. 59, 87 + + Sterlings, ii. 133, 135, 182 + + Stevens, Alfred, Wellington monument by, ii. 286-287 + + Storey, W.W., ii. 7 + + Strafford, Alice, Countess of, i. 251 _note_ [56] + + Strangford, Lady, ii. 222 _note_ [57] + + Stratford de Redcliffe, Lady, ii. 40 + + Strauch, i. 238 + + Stretton, i. 34 + + Style, ii. 4, 376 + + Sunrise, i. 79 + + Sunset, i. 170 + + Swinburne, A.C., letter from, ii. 307; + tribute of, ii. 339; + quoted, ii. 218 _note_ [56] + + Symons, Arthur, quoted, ii. 23-24 + + Syoot, ii. 137-140 + + + Tadema, Alma, i. 220 + + Talfourd, ii. 55 + + Tangiers, ii. 209-210 + + Tate, Sir Henry, ii. 259 + + Tate Gallery, founding of, ii. 284-286 + + Taylor, Tom, i. 300; ii. 58 + + Temple, A.G., ii. 364; + quoted, 366 + + Tennyson, ii. 66 + + Terry, Ellen, ii. 271 _note_ [77] + + Thackeray, Miss, ii. 43, 92 + + Thackeray, W.M., i. 176 + + Thompson, Sir E., ii. 338 + + Thorley, Mrs. Anne, quoted, i. 36 + + Thornycroft, Hamo, ii. 376; + estimate of Leighton by, i. 5-6, 13-14 + + Titian, i. 225; ii. 11 + + Tintoretto, ii. 26 + + Tree, Beerbohm, ii. 271 + + Troyon, i. 245 + + Turkish children, ii. 168 + + Tunnicliffe, Dr., ii. 319 + + Tupper, Martin F., letters from, ii. 125 _note_ [39] + + Turner, ii. 121 + + Tyrolese scenery and peasantry, i. 66-69, 71, 198 + + + Ulm, i. 65 + + Underhill, Mr., quoted, ii. 231 _note_ [61] + + + Valletort, Lady Katharine, ii. 92 + + Valletort, Lord, ii. 92 + + Van Eycke, ii. 32 + + Van Haanen, cited, ii. 301 + + Vandyke, i. 54 + + Vaughan, Kate, ii. 25 + + Velasquez, ii. 235-238 + + Venetians, i. 82-83 + + Venice (1852), i. 77-82, 88; + (1856), 283, 285; + after Athens, ii. 131 + + Verdi, i. 268 + + Verona, i. 72, 73, 75 + + Viardot, Madame, ii. 52-53 _and note_ [14], 217 + + Vibert, ii. 301, 302 + + Vichy, ii. 218 _note_ [56] + + Victoria, Queen, "Cimabue's Madonna" bought by, i. 187 _note_ [34], + 193, 195, 222; + on Prince Consort's death, ii. 85, 86; + medallion for Jubilee of, ii. 288; + otherwise mentioned, i. 261, 263, 265, 276 + + Victoria and Albert Museum-- + Decoration of, ii. 202-204; + Leighton examiner at, ii. 212 + + Volunteering, Leighton's activities in, i. 11-14; ii. 86, 107, 111; + his retirement (1883), ii. 243-245 + + Vyner, Mr. Clare, ii. 92 + + + Walker, John Hanson ("Johnny"), Leighton's friendship with, i. 251 + _and note_ [57]; + paintings from, ii. 85 _and note_ [22]; + letters to, i. 269-277 + + Walker, Mrs. J.H., portrait of, i. 251 _note_ [57], 273 _and note_ [66] + + Wall-painting, i. 296-297, 305 + + Walpole, Mr. and Mrs. Henry, i. 115 + + Walton, Frank, i. 4 + + Wantage, Lady, ii. 18 _note_ [4] + + Ward, J., cited, ii. 201 _note_ [52] + + Waterhouse, A., ii. 366 + + Watney, Mrs. James, ii. 364 + + Watson, Wm., letters from, ii. 321 + + Watts, G.F., estimate of Leighton by, i. 4, 7, 210; ii. 22; + Leighton's estimate of, ii. 18; + views on the province of art, 23-24; + theory on rendering of truth, 31; + Leighton's friendship with, i. 224 _and note_ [48]; + compared with Leighton, 230-231; + portraits of "Dorothy Dene," ii. 269 _note_ [75]; + Hollyer's photographs from, 288; + baronetcy declined by, 289; + picture presented by, to Leighton House, 366; + letter from, i. 231; + quoted, 208; ii. 198 _note_ [49], 259, 366; + cited, ii. 192, 194 _note_ [45]; + otherwise mentioned, i. 144, 258, 260-262; + ii. 57, 119, 258-259, 264, 298 + + Wellington, Duke of, i. 168-169; + Stevens' monument of, ii. 286-287 + + Wells, Henry, letters from, ii. 248 _note_ [67], 250 _note_ [67]; + letters to, 249-255 _and note_ [67], 286, 287, 318, 322, 329 + + Westbury, ii. 74 + + Westminster, architecture in, i. 87 + + Whistler, i. 241; ii. 32 + + Wilkinson, Gardiner, cited, ii. 160 + + Willig, i. 291 + + Wilson, Herbert, i. 237, 240 + + Wonista, Mrs., ii. 181 + + Woolfe, Henry, ii. 114 + + Woeredle, i. 295 + + Wright, Dr. William, quoted, ii. 206 + + + Yeames' "Arthur and Hubert," ii. 283 + + + Zanetti, i. 39 + + Zermatt, ii. 315 + + +THE END + + + + + Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. + Edinburgh & London + + + + +ERRATA + + + Page 41, note 2, _for_ "soeuer," _read_ "soeur." + Page 148, line 21, _for_ "Lindas," _read_ "Lindos." + Page 260, line 16, _for_ "Rispah," _read_ "Rizpah." + Page 316, line 1, _for_ "altmodish," _read_ "altmodisch." + Page 320, line 34, _for_ "men-schlich," _read_ "mensch-lich." + Page 301, line 10, _for_ "Gambia Parry," _read_ "Gambier Parry." + + * * * * * + + +------------------------------------------------------------+ + | Typographical errors corrected in text: | + | | + | Page 14: "This arrangement, if effected" replaced with | + | "This arrangement, is effected" | + | Page 46: "a quarelle" replaced with "aquarelle" | + | Page 69: RIVERE HOUSE replaced with REVERE HOUSE | + | Page 69: Mr. Caleot replaced with Mr. Cabot | + | Page 129: Mr. Bileith replaced with Mr. Biliotti | + | Page 131: 1878 replaced with 1868. (Grant and Colfax, | + | mentioned later in the diary, were elected in | + | 1868, not 1878.) | + | Page 133: 1878 replaced with 1868. (see above) | + | Page 145: Koorveh replaced with Koorneh | + | Page 183: fastastic replaced with fantastic | + | Page 192: "Cleaboulos Instructing his Daughter Cleabouline"| + | replaced with | + | "Cleoboulos Instructing his Daughter Cleobouline"| + | Page 194: Cleabouline replaced with Cleobouline | + | Page 197: Cleabouline replaced with Cleobouline | + | Page 201: Cleabouline replaced with Cleobouline | + | Page 207: delighful replaced with delightful | + | Page 209: aficimado replaced with aficionado | + | Page 233: spontanteous replaced with spontaneous | + | Page 236: sociel replaced with social | + | Page 241: Gussey replaced with Gussy | + | Page 294: 'Are there differents kinds' replaced with | + | 'Are there different kinds' | + | Page 320: mensch-lich replaced with menschlich (the errata | + | includes the hyphen because it spans two lines) | + | Page 345: heirarchy replaced with hierarchy | + | Page 347: "a vivid scene of abstract beauty" replaced with | + | "a vivid sense of abstract beauty" | + | Page 382: Keat's replaced with Keats' | + | Page 384: OEthra replaced with AEthra | + | Page 385: Longsor replaced with Lougsor | + | Page 386: 1886. *The Daphnephoria. replaced with | + | 1876. *The Daphnephoria. | + | Page 386: Oeolians replaced with Aeolians | + | Page 387: 1889. Catarina. replaced with 1879. Catarina. | + | Page 389: Hichins replaced with Hichens | + | Page 391: Mont replaced with Moute | + | Page 396: 'Garcia, Senor' replaced with 'Garcia, Senor' | + | Page 402: Phylae replaced with Phylae | + | | + | Note that the date "Friday, 28th" on page 147 is out of | + | order. By checking the dates it clearly should be the 23rd,| + | which is confirmed with the date Wednesday, 28th on page | + | 153. This has been corrected to "Friday, 23rd" in the text.| + | "Friday Evening" on page 152 has been corrected to | + | "Tuesday Evening" by the same logic. | + | | + | Words that are not errors: | + | | + | Page 9: distrest. | + | Page 27: subtile. | + | Page 31: scumble. | + | Page 32: subtilty. | + | Page 47: the phrase 'tol-lol!' is 19th century slang for | + | pretty good. | + | Page 198: tres. | + | Page 236: euphuism. | + | Page 320: fribbled. | + | Page 347: shapliness. | + | | + +------------------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life, Letters and Work of Frederic +Leighton, by Mrs. Russell Barrington + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE, LETTERS OF FREDERICK LEIGHTON *** + +***** This file should be named 35935.txt or 35935.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/9/3/35935/ + +Produced by Jeannie Howse, Jonathan Ingram and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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