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DÆDALUS AND ICARUS.
Bell's Miniature Series of Painters
FREDERIC
LORD LEIGHTON
BY
GEORGE C. WILLIAMSON, LITT.D.
harles

HN
LONDON
GEORGE BELL & SONS
1902
First published February, 1902.
Reprinted October, 1902.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
16-17
PAGE
I
.
.
.
15
.
25
.
41
LIFE OF LORD LEIGHTON.
THE ART OF LEIGHTON
OUR ILLUSTRATIONS .
LEIGHTON HOUSE
CHIEF WORKS BY THE ARTIST
MURAL DECORATION.
BOOKS ON LORD LEIGHTON
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
47
.
51
53
.
55
365610
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
.
.
DÆDALUS AND ICARUS. By permission of
Alex. Henderson, Esq.
Frontispiece
PORTRAIT OF THE LATE SIR RICHARD
FRANCIS BURTON, K.C.M.G. National
Portrait Gallery
24
THE ARTS OF PEACE. Wall decoration,
Victoria and Albert Museum, South Ken-
sington.
26
AN ATHLETE STRUGGLING WITH A PYTHON.
Bronze, National Gallery of British Art,
Millbank
28
FATIDICA. By permission of Messrs. Thomas
Agnew and Sons and W. H. Lever, Esq. . 30
GREEK GIRLS PLAYING AT BALL. By per-
mission of the Berlin Photographic Society.
From the picture in the possession of J. M.
Fraser, Esq.
34
HERCULES WRESTLING WITH DEATH FOR
THE BODY OF ALCESTIS. From the picture
in the possession of Sir Bernhard Samuel-
son, Bart.
CLYTIE. By permission
By permission of the Fine Art
Society and James Knowles, Esq.
40
.
.
36
“In all his pictures there is the same constant and noble
effort to draw vigorously and perfectly.”
SWINBURNE,
“Drawing is the backbone of all great work.”
ARMITAGE.
LIFE OF LORD LEIGHTON
THE life of Frederic Leighton offers a striking
,
it was not surrounded by those difficulties which
serve but to encourage, andsoften to inspire, young
artists, and bear so important a part in the educa-
tion of genius.
Leighton's home was one of comfort, and from
his earliest days he had from his parents and in
his surroundings all the assistance which his artistic
power demanded. His career is one of those
very rare ones which are favoured with early
success, and go on from strength to strength
until the end.
He was born in 1830, at Scarborough, and his
father was a successful physician-a cultured
man, well read in the classics, and ready to
instruct his son in the learning which had such
attractions for him, and which was in later years
the mainspring from which Leighton drew his
ideals and subjects.
Little of his early life was spent in England,
for before he was ten years of age he went abroad
with his mother, who was in poor health, and,
after staying awhile in Paris, settled down for
a time in Italy. Thus early was laid the founda-
I
2
LORD LEIGHTON
tion of that passionate love for Italy which
ever characterized Leighton, and found its vent
in his constant visits to the country, his eager
attention to Italian art, and his enthusiastic
regard for the stories, legends, colour, and life of
that wonderful country.
Leighton was from his earliest days a lad of
striking appearance, and of more than usually
good looks. He was also a ready speaker, and,
while not clever with his books in the ordinary
sense, and with a very slight knowledge of mathe-
matics, he was a reading, studious lad, being espe-
cially fond of the stories of classic literature. He
was also a clever sketcher, constantly illustrating in
his sketch-book the stories that took his attention,
and doing them with a minuteness of detail and
a fineness of stroke which were extraordinary in
one so young.
His first master in drawing was Signor Meli,
in Rome, and he was afterwards sent to school
in Frankfort. A few years later, when taking
lessons in Florence, his ability was so marked
and his enthusiasm for the life of an artist so
great that the oft-quoted remark was made by
Hiram Powers, the American sculptor, to the
effect that his father had no choice in the
decision as to whether the boy should be made
an artist or not, for, said Powers, “he is one
already, and may become as eminent as he
pleases.” This of a lad of but fourteen was a
very remarkable utterance, and one which was
fully justified by after-events.
For a while, therefore, he was allowed to
HIS LIFE
3
remain under Zanetti in Florence, where he had
shown this remarkable ability, and where there
was every opportunity for study. But soon he
was moved to Frankfort again, as the wisdom of
his parents decided that it would be well for him
to have some more general education; then, at
the age of seventeen, when he had acquired all
the book-learning that he was likely to assimilate,
he was free to pursue his art studies in the same
town at the Staedel Institute.
The arrangement was a happy one, as his
master at the Staedel, Steinle, was just the sort
of teacher whom the well-favoured and clever boy
needed. Under his stern rule the eccentricities
of genius and the extravagancies incident to con-
tinual praise were curbed and restrained.
After a year at the Staedel, Leighton went to
Brussels, studying Wiertz and Gallait, and then
on to Paris, into the studios of Ingres and Ary
Scheffer, working mainly by himself, without the
attention of any regular master, and seeing all the
great pictures in those cities and learning from
them.
It was in Paris that he painted his first picture,
the very subject of which, Cimabue finding Giotto
in the Fields of Florence, shows the attention
he had given to the subject of Italian art.
He had already, in company with his parents,
visited Dresden and Berlin, taking lessons in
drawing at each place; but his choice was given
for Frankfort in these early years, as he had the
wisdom to see that it was the harder rule of
Steinle that he needed, and so in 1850 back he
I-2
4
LORD LEIGHTON
-
came to his old master, and stayed with him
for two years, with a short interval which was
occupied by a visit to London. In 1852 he
went to Rome, where he commenced painting
his first great picture, in which again he took an
episode from the career of the early painter who
had so fascinated him — Cimabue's Madonna
carried in Procession through the Streets of
Florence.
In Rome he placed himself very much under
the guidance of Cornelius, to whom he had been
recommended by Steinle. Here he met with
Thackeray and showed him the studies for his
picture, and then it was that, according to
Mr. Rhys, Thackeray turned prophet, and on
"returning to London and meeting Millais he
prophesied gaily to that ardent Pre-Raphaelite,
then marching on from success to success:
'Millais, my boy, I have met in Rome a versatile
young dog called Leighton, who will one of these
days run you hard for the presidentship.'”
Leighton from the very earliest stage in his
career attracted such remarks as this. His genius
was so evident, and it was so coupled with a
knowledge of his own power and a determina-
tion to make his mark, that he impressed those
who met him with a very real idea of his ability
and the possibilities of his future.
Although the picture just named was the
first which he sent to the Royal Academy, it was
not his first exhibited picture. This position
must be claimed for the Cimabue and Giotto
already mentioned, which was followed by one
HIS LIFE
5
ул
of The Duel between Romeo and Tybalt, and by
a third work called The Death of Brunelleschi,
all of which he exhibited at the Steinle Institute
at Frankfort in 1850, when he was but twenty
years of age.
A portrait of himself, and another of Miss
Laing (afterwards Lady Nias), and a figure called
A Persian Pedlar, were his next pictures, and were
done in 1852-53 ; but it was not until 1855 that
he made his name really known. This he did
in triumphant manner by the Cimabue's Procession
which was commenced in 1852, exhibited at the
Academy in 1855, and purchased immediately by
Queen Victoria.
He had been working at this picture steadily
for some years, and it had attracted considerable
attention in Rome whilst it was in progress,
amidst the circle of cultivated persons with whom
Leighton had speedily become friendly; these
comprised such well-known people as the Brown-
ings, Mrs. Kemble, Gibson, and Lord Lyons, who
were well qualified to judge of the ability of their
young countryman.
When the picture was exhibited it created
somewhat of a sensation. It was the work of an
artist whose personality was unknown in London;
it was his first work seen on the walls of the
Academy, and it was very different from the
paintings which were at the time receiving atten-
tion. Its great size also challenged attention,
and from the fact of its purchaser being the
Sovereign it could not fail to be considered by the
press and the critics.
6
LORD LEIGHTON
Fortunately, Ruskin saw it, and not only did he
give it considerable attention and space in his
notes on the exhibition, but he also pointed out
its grave faults in handling, and so taught a much-
needed lesson to the young artist, who never
repeated the too broad and somewhat rough treat-
ment of the faces, their carelessness and want of
finish, and the poverty of their colouring.
Apart from the error in the painting of the
faces, the picture was one of vast importance, and
for a young and almost unknown artist of twenty-
five was a marvellous accomplishment.
Its colour scheme was delightful, and the
accuracy of its details and the evident careful
study which had been given to the whole concep-
tion, delighted not only the great critic, but all
who studied the painting. It was a starting-point,
and from that moment Leighton never looked
back.
The artist's handsome appearance and his
ability to hold his own easily in conversation,
together with his fondness at that time and ever
afterwards for the gatherings of society and the
company of the great ladies who were its leaders,
bid fair to injure him, and he was in danger of
becoming a spoiled favourite of fortune; but the
announcement of an exhibition to be held in Paris,
and to be composed mainly of English pictures,
sent him back to his work to complete a scene from
Shakespeare, The Reconciliation of the Montagues
and Capulets, which he sent to the exhibition.
The next four years were passed mainly on
the Continent, the first two very much in Paris,
HIS LIFE
7
and the remaining two in Italy, varied with
occasional visits to London; but it was not until
1860 that Leighton really settled down in London,
residing at 2, Orme Square until he built the
famous house to be mentioned later on.
It was during this period of his life that he
took an interest in the newly-founded Hogarth
Club and exhibited some of his exquisite draw-
ings in its rooms, notably The Lemon-tree, which
he had drawn in Capri in 1859 and which in
delicacy of detail he never surpassed.
He was friendly with the leaders of the Pre-
Raphaelite movement, which at this time was
making a great stir in the world of art ; but its
productions never attracted him to any extent,
and plastic form and perfection of grace had
much more charm for him than accuracy of
treatment or allegorical symbolism.
A capable linguist from his very youth, and one
who was accustomed to Continental life, to refine-
ment, and to comfort, he was able to take a more
extensive view of foreign art than his contem-
poraries, and this ability, together with an ever-
increasing passion for the forms, colours and
graces of his beloved Italy, decided the character
of his life's work.
His connection with the Royal Academy com-
menced in 1864, when he was made an Associate,
and soon after he commenced that series of
travels which had so great an effect upon his
later work.
In 1866 he was in Spain, greatly delighted with
the wonderful Moorish architecture of Granada,
8
LORD LEIGHTON
and painting with rare skill the gardens which
surrounded that city with all their depth of green
foliage.
In the following year he went for the first time
to the East, and, once having seen the grand
colouring and the exquisite beauty that Egypt
was able to afford, visited the Nile over and over
again.
The trip in 1868 was a memorable one, as it
was made in company with M. de Lesseps and
under the protection of the reigning Khedive.
It was in these visits that he commenced to form
his collection of Damascus porcelain tiles, of
which in time, attracted by their sumptuous
colour, he acquired so many that the idea of the
Arab Hall which he carried out in his new house
began to have shape in his mind.
Arab architecture and Eastern grace always
attracted him, and, fortunately, he was able to
gratify his tastes to the full and to travel as often
as he pleased in the country which so charmed
him, returning laden with precious spoil and
filled with ideas which he was able to transfer to
canvas.
He became an Academician in 1868 and two
years later was one of the first to suggest, and one
of the most earnest to support, the establishment
of annual Winter Exhibitions of pictures by old
masters at Burlington House, and so to initiate
the series of exhibitions which have revealed the
great wealth of England in the way of fine pictures,
and have helped all who love painting to cultivate
their taste and to find keen enjoyment every
HIS LIFE
9
recurring winter in the hitherto deserted galleries
of Burlington House.
Then for eight years we have a steady suc-
cession of paintings from his hand, many of
extreme beauty, and all refined to the utmost
extent and growing nearer and nearer to the ideal
of work which Leighton had always set before
him.
Greek and Latin stories were responsible for
most of the subjects; in many cases the source
was but little known to the general reader, and
had been so little illustrated that it afforded
special opportunity for Leighton to exercise the
powers of his imagination upon it, and the result
was genera lly poetical and delightful.
Summer Moon, Clytemnestra watching from
Argos, the great Daphnephoria, Helios and Rhodos,
Cleobolos, Nausicaa and An Eastern Slinger, may
be mentioned as amongst the notable works of this
period; but it is also remarkable, as it witnessed
the artist's incursion into other and hitherto little-
tried fields in which he was equally successful.
In 1872 and 1873 he executed the famous
so-called frescoes which appear in lunettes in the
central court at the Victoria and Albert Museum,
and which, as important decorative works, executed
in a special manner, were triumphant successes.
They were not actually his first achievements in
that direction, as in 1866 he had executed the
altar decoration at Lyndhurst, which is particularly
lovely, and as the work of so young an artist, and
done under much difficulty in the midst of more
pressing labours, is noteworthy. The South Ken-
IO
LORD LEIGHTON
sington decoration was on a grander scale, and
showed Leighton's capabilities in that direction
more clearly than the work at Lyndhurst had
done.
It was during this same period of his life that
the artist painted his most notable portraits, to
one of which (see p. 25) we shall give special
attention.
Here he revealed himself on a field of operation
in which he had done one of his earliest works,
but in which he was but little known up to that
time. It is, however, a question whether, as a
portrait-painter and as a sculptor, in which art, also,
this period saw his first public appearance, Leigh-
ton did not win greater laurels than he could ever
have done as a subject-painter, although it is by
his subject-pictures that he is chiefly known.
Certainly, the portraits which he painted of
women were simply lovely, graceful, and pleasing
rather than characteristic, and often in such work
he failed in the presentation of character, such as a
great portrait must possess; but in portraits of
men, notably those of Burton, Costa, Edward
Ryan, and Mr. Gordon, he won a triumphant suc-
cess, and there are few finer portraits to be found
in English art than those of the men whom
Leighton painted with his full skill and attention.
As a sculptor, he was first known to the public
in 1877, when he exhibited his Athlete struggling
with a Python.
It was then realized that
Leighton had been born as a sculptor, and that
it was the knowledge which he had of plastic
form, the power of rendering in the round the

HIS LIFE
II
strength of limb or the pose of grace, which enabled
him to present in his subject-pictures that solidity
of appearance which the figures possess in so
marked a degree.
In 1878 the death took place of Sir Francis
Grant, who was President of the Royal Academy,
and it was felt that the most fitting man to step
into his place was Leighton. He was elected to
the chief position in British art on November 13,
1878, and immediately received the honour of
knighthood.
From that moment, and for some eighteen
years, Sir Frederic Leighton devoted himself, with
much self-denying energy, to the affairs of the
important body over which he was called to rule.
No President ever gave more time and energy to
the affairs of the Academy, and no one was more
popular with its members and with the public.
At that time, of very striking appearance, and
gifted with a melodious voice, easy command of
words, and a special grace in phrasing, he was
an ideal speaker at its gatherings. His extreme
courtesy, great kindness of heart, and unusual
urbanity, made him an excellent person to repre-
sent the august body on public occasions, and
his freedom from domestic cares—for he never
married—and his love of society and its gatherings,
served but to increase his popularity. How, in
the midst of all his public and Academy duties,
he found time to carry out so many commissions
and to execute so many pictures was always a
mystery; but, as his secretary informed the public
some time after his death, it was only by the
I2
LORD LEIGHTON
strictest regulation of his time, unfailing punctu-
ality, and unwearied industry, that he did it.
His discourses were prepared with the utmost
care and deliberation, based very largely upon
his own personal researches, and upon the
experience which he was continually gaining in
Italy, and they were delivered with a digni-
fied, courteous utterance and pleasing manner
which won for their statements the most ready
acceptance.
With the students in the schools Leighton was
a great favourite, and he took infinite pains, not
only to assist them in every way, but to find
out and encourage the more promising of their
number; whilst to artist or student alike, upon
whom worry or difficulty was pressing, the purse
of the President was always open, and only those
who were helped in the quiet, unostentatious
manner which Sir Frederic adopted can tell of his
goodness in that respect.
His speeches at public gatherings were always
well prepared and worth attention, and although
they were at times just a little too mellifluous
and couched in too involved a style, yet they
always bore the impress of a cultivated, thoughtful
mind, and were marked by refinement, accuracy,
and grace.
Some notable pictures were done by the Presi-
dent during his years of office. One of the most
gorgeous was The Garden of the Hesperides, which
was perhaps afterwards eclipsed, in point of
colour, by Flaming June and by his last work,
Clytie.
HIS LIFE
T3
A proposed panel for the decoration of St. Paul's,
called And the Sea gave up the Dead which were
in it, was notable for its magnificent drawing in
an exceedingly difficult problem of position which
the artist had set himself, and for striking dignity.
Cymon and Iphigenia, The Last Watch of Hero,
and Greek Girls playing at Ball, were other impor-
tant works, many of them, like the one just named,
remarkable for wonderful drawing, involved and
complex attitudes, manifold complicated draperies,
and withal a grace which was Greek in its purity
and refinement.
Some of his very best pictures, however, con-
sisted mainly of single figures, such as Farewell,
The Frigidarium, Bath of Psyche, Day-Dreams,
Fatidica, Phryne at Eleusis, and The Nymph of
the Dargle-statuesque creations in which that
sculptor's instinct which ruled over Leighton
had its fuller sway, and in which the pose, the
draperies, and the quiet reticence of the scene,
with its loneliness, showed the artist at his very
best.
At the close of his career we find his old ideas
as to the importance of fresco decoration gaining
ground, and one of the chief works which he
accomplished, as well as one of those in which he
took the most pleasure, was the panel in the Royal
Exchange representing Phænicians bartering with
Britons.
In 1896 Clytie was his only exhibited picture.
“The goddess is in adoration before the
setting sun, whose last rays are permeating her
whole being. With upraised arms she is entreat-
14
LORD LEIGHTON
-
ing her beloved one not to forsake her,” and
these arms it was which were, by a curious
coincidence, raised above the dead figure of the
creator of the picture, soon afterwards, when the
studio was deserted by the presence which had
worked there so long.
Honours were showered upon the man who
never painted a base or sensual picture, nor
even condescended to paint a foolish one.
Honorary degrees were given to him by the
Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Dublin, Edin-
burgh, and Durham. He was connected as a
member with all the leading Academies of the
Continent, was a member of at least four foreign
Orders of Chivalry — those of Leopold, of
Prussia, of Coburg, and of the Legion of Honour;
and of other distinctions of merit he had plenty.
His ability was splendidly recognised by his own
Sovereign, who not only made him a Baronet in
1886, but gave him the unique distinction, as an
artist, of a peerage of the United Kingdom in
1896. This honour only reached him a few days
before his death, and he carried it but for a
short month, when the disease which had made
such terrible inroads upon his health during the
preceding years took him away from the scene of
his triumph, and left England the poorer for his
loss and the Academy without its noblest painter.
He died on January 25, 1896, and was buried in
St. Paul's Cathedral.
THE ART OF LEIGHTON
NE of the most treasured books in the writer's
possession is a copy of a work in French,
richly illustrated, on Donatello, which was one
of the favourite books of the late Lord Leighton,
and came after his death to the writer from the sister
of the artist. It has been well read and carefully
studied. It is marked by the finger and stained by
oil and varnish, and has every sign upon it of having
been constantly used and appreciated. Its exist-
ence and the condition in which it now appears
give a keynote to the study of Leighton.
It was his appreciation of the work of Donatello
that made him so great as he was. He was born
to be a sculptor, and was only prevented from
being so by his profound love of colour and his
ability to see it wherever it was to be found. His
very best works have all the plastic quality which
belongs to work in marble or stone, all the
roundness of form, and all the intense desire to
make such roundness clear to the eye.
In their strength, in their virility, in the
draperies which surround them, in the pose which
they assume, his single, separate figures in
statuesque attitudes, girded about with multi-
farious folds of draperies, show the feeling
16
LORD LEIGHTON
towards sculpture, and the desire to present
in paint what could have been so much more
readily presented in marble, albeit without the
colour which was the breath of life to Leighton.
We must not, however, carry the connection
between the two men too far, as with Donatello
the mere beauty of line or form, the external grace,
were of small importance beside the questions of
uncompromising realism, energy, life, and move-
ment. Each man accepted the desire of decora-
tion, but with Leighton there was much more of the
Greek love of sheer beauty of line and form than
ever had a part in the mind of the Tuscan sculptor.
The strange failing in Leighton was with regard
to the flesh of his figures, which became more and
more waxlike as the years went on, and lacked
the blood and vigour which they should have
possessed
It is difficult to account for this failure, as no
more careful student of the human flesh ever
studied in the schools; but it may be attributed
partly to his sense of what was exquisite and
luxurious, and partly to the effect of that earliest
criticism already quoted, and to the intention
of the artist never again to deserve the accusation
that his faces needed more care and attention.
These wonderful ivory countenances are, how-
ever, actually to be seen in the world, notably in
Spain, in the East, and in Greece. They are rare,
it is true, in their cold and pure perfection, but
something allied to them is sometimes to be seen
even in this country, given proper light, perfect
health and a fair skin.
HIS ART
17
Leighton always desired to equip his figures
with such a countenance as was most fitting for
the subject of the picture, but ever to produce a
sense of beauty and refinement, and these desires
led him to give to the faces of his statuesque
figures that exquisite pallor which has been by
some critics condemned. When vigorous action
enters into the conception this pallor is not found.
When portraits are in question it never appears,
but in the Greek pictures, those illustrative of
ancient story, it does occur, and perhaps too
often.
Leighton was one of the very few men who was
able to draw drapery well and who exulted in all
the complexity of folds and in the movements
which the air or the body give to these draperies,
and therefore took infinite pains to have them
accurate and pleasing. Drapery has a great part
in Leighton's conceptions, and received a propor-
tionate attention.
No artist of modern times ever took more
trouble with the preparation of his pictures. As
Mr. Spielmann mentioned in the Magazine of Art,
May, 1889, he had a very elaborate system which
he invariably adopted with all his greatest works,
and the result of which is to be seen when his
pictures are carefully studied.
Under the draperies of the clothed figure will
be found the figure itself, true in all its postures,
perfect in every detail of flesh or muscle. It can
never be said of Leighton's pictures that such
and such a person could never have sat within
those draperies, or that the head or arms, as the
2
18
LORD LEIGHTON
case might be, were painted from a living model
and the draperies from a lay figure.
He first prepared a careful sketch in black and
white chalk on brown paper of the general idea
of the picture. This was followed by an accurate
posing of the nude model in the position which was
intended, and then another sketch was made of
the figure in its position draped, for the artist
fully understood that by the exigencies of life and
climate undraped models did not assume the
same attitude as they would have assumed in
similar position when draped.
These were followed by a third sketch, this time
in colours, that the effect of the colour scheme
might be adequately presented, and then
upon
the actual canvas the nude form was painted
from these sketches “highly finished in mono-
chrome from the life.”
The next stage in the work was with reference
to the draperies, and now the artist returned
again to his first brown-paper study, from which
he arranged the draperies fold by fold upon the
living model, and then transferred them in the
same monochrome colour to the canvas as they
actually appear over the nude figure which was
already upon it.
When all this was done there remained the
question of colour, and that was applied over the
monochrome, and the same deliberate work took
place with regard to every figure which appeared
upon the canvas.
When this almost perfect method of working
is considered, the fact of the large number of
HIS ART
19
pictures which the President was able to produce
becomes an increasing mystery, and yet it is true
that such was his procedure in every important
figure-picture. In addition to all this, he often
modelled many of the figures for his pictures
in clay, that he might study the effect of fore-
shortening in the picture.
The result was, of course, the utmost perfection,
deliberateness and calculation, and to all this is
due not only the truth of the figure and the
draperies, but also that absence of spontaneity
that has been so often urged against the work of
the artist.
Inspiration was, as Mr. Spielmann has pointed
out, confined to the initial stages of the picture,
to the very first sketch when the artist con-
ceived and prepared his scheme for the work,
and “was practically passed when he took the
crayon in hand.”
To this calm deliberation of process we owe the
many splendid studies and sketches which exist
from the hand of the artist, and which are unique
in their beauty, accuracy and care amongst the
works of modern artists. Leighton adopted the
serious deliberation of the old Italian masters,
and even exceeded them in the number and
accuracy of the sketches and studies which they
were in the habit of preparing. From his earliest
days he had been accustomed to draw with the
pencil in the finest of line and with the most
perfect attention to detail, and as he grew up
colour was never used by him to hide faults in
drawing, and his keenest critic in the art world
2-2
20
LORD LEIGHTON
.
could never but say that his drawing was irre-
proachable.
This is apparent not only in his finished pencil
drawings, but in all the successive studies made
for his great pictures. The striking lack in his
work was that of life, and the desire so often
comes over the student when he gazes at a fine
work by Leighton to call for a Prometheus, with
his stolen divine fire, to give life to those ivory
waxlike creations.
Exquisitely lovely as they are, and wondrously
formed with all the plastic force, all the desirable
perfection of beauty or strenuous power, they yet
lack that life which is never absent from the works
of the great Tuscan sculptor, whose figures
Leighton so loved, and upon whose productions
he so carefully formed his own.
Another strange fact about the work of Leighton,
and one for which it is not easy to account, is the
absence of progress which appears in it. There
was no essential change from the Procession of
Cimabue to the Mourning Cly tie ; there was no
vital progression in his art at all. He seems to
have sprung equipped completely from the very
first, and to have had from the beginning all the
power which he needed.
There is, of course, a sign of increasing ability
in colour, a movement from the too brown early
work to the more delicate and carefully finished
colour of the later pictures; but in drawing he was
as accurate at the first as he ever was, in com-
position he was as happy, and in draperies, ever a
strong point with him, there is but little to choose
HIS ART
21
in beauty between the earliest and the latest
works, the changes being in complexity, in elabora-
tion, but not in truth. To consider his subject
pictures alone is almost tiresome, as their level of
beauty is so marked, and one is relieved to turn
in a gallery from them to his portraits and to his
sculpture, so as to try to find perchance a note,
not perhaps jarring, but at least strong and rough,
to relieve the cloying sweetness of the subject
works.
A careful consideration of the art of the painter
will, I think, decide that it is in design, in decora-
tion, that he will live, and that these are the
qualities which stand for immortality with him. In
colour he was fine, at times magnificent, and
always pleasing. There are some works, such as
Golden Hours, Garden of the Hesperides, David,
Clytie, and especially Flaming June, where his
skill and his boldness enabled him to take a very
high place, and to produce a superb piece of
colour; but for the rest it was not his colour,
exquisite as it always was, which made him great.
In design, on the other hand, in ability to
compose, and to so fill the canvas as to produce
a harmonious effect; in organizing his scene, and
in arranging it upon his panel or canvas, he was
undoubtedly great, and therein is his triumph.
Many of his pictures are wellnigh perfect
pieces of decoration, and it would be impossible
to conceive of another figure, of more detail, or of
another subject, in them which would do otherwise
than injure the well-thought-out scheme, and
detract from the perfection of the picture.
22
LORD LEIGHTON
Especially is his fame an immortal one with
regard to the single-figure pictures which form so
large a proportion of his greatest works, and
in which his capabilities for modelling, for posing,
and for the exquisite arts of a sculptor, had the
fullest play.
With all this, I am disposed to attach even
higher value to his studies and to his works in
pencil than to his greatest paintings. In them he
was pre-emincntly great, and for their sake his
name will, I believe, ever be cherished. They
are melodious, harmonious works, which often
attack the most difficult problems in perspective,
and which seem to have been greater the more
difficulty there was to overcome.
Take his picture of the Greek Girls at Ball,
and consider the extraordinary positions in which
the game has placed the combatants. Mark the
violently jerked action of the arms of the nearer
player and the well-thrown-out action of the
further one, and then, if the studies are examined
which Leighton made for these very difficult
positions, and in which a feebler man would have
hopelessly failed, it will be granted, I think, that
in them he appears as one of the greatest of
draughtsmen, an earnest student of line, and
perfect exponent of its charms. To overcome
difficulty was of the very nature of the artist; he
gloried in it, he went forward to meet it-yea, he
actually initiated it and loved it for its very
charm.
The picture of Rizpah abounds in difficulties
in pose; there is foreshortening in Phryne ; there
HIS ART
23
are involved positions in the Garden of the
Hesperides ; and a most complicated problem is
boldly attacked in Flaming June, in the position
of the girl ; and in all of them his studies are
simply masterpieces of triumphant success.
Sizeranne, in a well-reasoned argument, attri-
butes much of the character of Leighton's work
to the influence of the Elgin marbles, and shows
how the artist, in the portrait of himself which he
did for the Uffizi, has introduced a part of the
famous frieze behind the head as a background
for the portrait. The horsemen of Phidias are,
he considers, the keynote which enables us to
understand Leighton.
There is no doubt that the able French critic is
right to a great extent. The contrast of the
simplicity of the nude with the complexity of the
drapery, the “analysis of the draped with syn-
thesis of the nude,” had charms for the artist,
and it was upon Greek and Italian art that he
built up his own work.
One other feature stands out in pre-eminent
importance, and that is the high tone which
Leighton took with regard to the subjects of
his pictures throughout his whole career. Never
was there a single appeal to unwholesome
appetite, never anything which was sensual or
ignoble, and, stranger still for a modern artist,
never anything trivial, foolish, or sensational.
Passion he but seldom attempted to depict; the
nearest, perhaps, that he ever got to it was in the
wonderful Clytie, in which entreaty and hungering
desire have crept very close indeed to the sister
24
LORD LEIGHTON
quality of passion. There is a suppressed sense
of passion in Golden Hours, one of his most
marvellous paintings, in which he came very
close to the quality of a Venetian artist, not only
in the deep feeling which he implanted in the
painting, but also in the colour scheme which he
adopted.
At this distance from the work of the great
artist, one is disposed to wish that he had been
more passionate-a trifle more sensuous, using
the word in a favourable sense—than he was, in
order to redeem the average of his works from
monotony; but at the same time the quality of
beauty was so great in Leighton's painting, his
observation so keen, his care so estimable, and
his determination never to leave anything to
chance so resolute, that in the presence of his
greatest works shortcomings may well be forgotten.
Even in the figures which have the most studied
grace, the most waxlike complexions, there is
such a serene beauty of line and such perfection
of form that the critic is impressed, and is careful
rather to praise than to object.
Style was always his aim, grace and refinement
invariably his purpose, and it is these three charac-
teristics which are so conspicuous through the
whole course of his artistic life. His colour is
always carefully considered, scrupulously polished,
but it has no magic charm. It is the cultivation
of taste rather than the personal characteristic
which is notable.

Sweethez
[National Portrait Gallery,
PORTRAIT OF SIR RICHARD BURTON.
OUR ILLUSTRATIONS
IT
T is well, in describing a man who attempted
so much and excelled in so many fields of
art, that our illustrations should embrace examples
of this variety, and therefore we have selected a
portrait, the finest which he ever did ; an example
of his fresco work, the most popular of his produc-
tions in that direction ; a piece of sculpture, so
highly esteemed that it was purchased for the
nation; and in paintings those which illustrate
his special characteristics and capabilities.
To those of us who had the satisfaction of
knowing the late Sir Richard Burton, Leighton's
portrait of him was certainly the most satisfying
portrait which the artist painted. Burton was a
man who would be said to have had no grace
about him, and not a man, in the ordinary way,
to appeal to Leighton in the least ; but there was
a rugged grandeur about him which did appeal to
the artist. He is before us in the picture, in all
his simplicity: strong, bold, uncompromising, and
determined, almost to the very brink of, and
sometimes beyond, obstinacy. He was a man to
be feared, and one who often repelled, and yet
there were tender spots in his nature and a fine
26
LORD LEIGHTON
look of affection in his eyes, to which the artist
has done justice.
There is no attempt at posing. The man
stands before you in the calm, self-possessed,
determined, inflexible way which his friends knew
so well. The skin is brown and rough, not
possessing in the least the waxy surface which
Leighton loved. There is no elaboration, and
hardly a line in the picture-all is in masses;
built up with architectural regularity, the modelling
superb, and the paint so lightly placed on the
canvas that the dexterity of the technique is of
itself remarkable. The colouring is dark, rich in
golden browns and subtle grays, while the light
that illumines the features just reveals them from
the shadows as the man, wholly unconscious and
deep in thought, comes forward out of the gloom.
This portrait is of itself sufficient to proclaim the
merits of Leighton as a master.
The Arts of Peace, one of the panels in the
galleries of the Victoria and Albert Museum, is
styled a fresco, but is not accurately described by
that term. Fresco is a term applied to all kinds
of mural decoration, but it should really be
applied to one class only of the work. True
fresco, or, as the Italians call it, fresco buono, is
painting done upon fresh (hence the name) and
wet plaster with raw pigments, mixed with pure
water or with slaked lime, the ground being both
wet and caustic. It is done rapidly, only so
much being covered as has been laid in the wet
plaster ready for the artist, the edges left by one

[Victoria and Albert Museum, Lordon.
THE ARTS OF PEACE.
OUR ILLUSTRATIONS
27
day's work being covered by the next, and the
whole built up as a puzzle would be. The colour
becomes incorporated with the ground, and the
work is to a great extent imperishable, and is also
adapted for exterior surfaces.
There is also a process called fresco secco, which
consists in painting done upon a fresh but dry
intonaco, or ground, and in this, as well as in the
truer method, the vehicle is lime-water, and the
binding is affected by the formation of carbonate of
lime. The process on the dry ground is not as
stable or as complete as in the other method,
and the colour is apt not to take full hold of the
plaster and to scale off ; but this kind of work
can be done with greater leisure, and there are no
rough edges to be covered up.
Beyond these two processes, there are various
methods of painting with a medium of which wax
forms a considerable part, in which the wax may
be mixed with colour and distributed hot by
means of a heated spatula, or the brush be dipped
into the mixture.
A modification of this process was adopted by
Leighton, called spirit fresco ; but it is impracticable
for use out of doors, and is really mural painting,
and not fresco at all. It entirely lacks the bright,
pure crystalline quality which fresco should pos-
sess, and is dull in effect. The same method was
adopted by Ford Madox Brown in his paintings
in the Manchester Town Hall, but the results are
not very satisfactory. So completely have the
traditions as to the work in true fresco disappeared,
that it is practically impossible to expect a real
28
LORD LEIGHTON
revival in this fine method of work, and various
processes to take its place have been adopted with
varying success.
The painting by Leighton which we depict suffers
also in its true effect from its too rigid balance
and uniformity. The curve of the temple which
occupies the centre is perfect in its accuracy ; the
boat occupies the exact centre of it, and the chain
which falls in a rigid curved line enclosing the boat,
between the two piers, completes the academic
treatment of the scene.
The grouping of the girls in the centre, and the
two groups of men, one on either side, are care-
fully planned that they balance each other with
but slight variations in line and form, so that the
effect of the painting is that of a design rather
than a picture. The figures are full of grace, and
their poses are delightful; the colour scheme is
sunny and warm and is well diversified, but the
monotonous balance of the whole conception
detracts from the charm. Even in the mountainous
background the President has feared to step
away from his rigid lines, and delightful although
that part of the painting is, there is too much
regularity in it to make it really true or attractive.
As mural decoration, however, in a position
where such balance was specially desired by those
who directed the work; as pure classical art, and
as a presentation of a variety of gracefully draped
girls contrasted with strenuous men engaged in
hard and earnest occupation, it is a good example
of the best productions of Leighton.

SWANIYPE
[Tate Gallery.
AN ATHLETE STRUGGLING WITH A PYTHON.
OUR ILLUSTRATIONS
29
In the bronze figure called An Athlete strug-
gling with a Python we see Leighton at his very
best. His love of the figure in the round, his
passion for Greek attitude, his innate instinct
towards the art of the sculptor, rather than that
of the painter, had full scope in the creation of
this famous work. The man is represented as
crushing the neck of the snake in his right hand;
with his left he attempts to free himself from
its coils, which twine twice round his left thigh
and once round his right ankle. The determina-
tion both of the man and the snake are finely
contrasted, as the ferocious look of the reptil
is seen facing the calm, steady, scientific glance
of the man, who is exerting, not alone all his
strength, but all his ingenuity, in trying to free
himself from the toils of the monster and to slay
his opponent.
Few finer studies of the muscular action of the
body have ever been executed since early times,
and the tense condition of skin and muscles
betoken a close acquaintance with the appearance
of the body under such stress. The manner in
which the feet are planted, one firmly placed on
the level ground and the other raised slightly to
give greater purchase, and strained by the force
of the struggle, is worth attention. Every muscle
is brought into action to withstand the slow,
gradual pressure which the snake is bringing to
bear, and to correct or counteract the action of its
ribs.
Especially grand is the muscular action of the
right arm, which is at its fullest length, and the
30
LORD LEIGHTON
fingers of which are working their deadly earnest
upon the neck of the snake. The result of the
struggle will, it is evident, rest with the man, but
he is well matched with a foe as strong and as
wary as himself, and upon whom he has already
made a tremendous strain.
Evidence of very careful study can be seen
when this fine bronze is carefully examined, and
the days which Leighton spent at the Zoological
Garden watching the ophidians in their cages
gave proof of his desire to have the result as
accurate as possible.
The single-figure subject Fatidica illustrates
that sense of statuesque effect and form in the
round which we have mentioned.
It is a striking example of the many pictures
painted by Lord Leighton which consist of one
single lonely figure, such as the Frigidarium,
Phryne at Eleusis, Day-Dreams, The Juggling
Girl, Venus disrobing, Electra at the Tomb of
Agamemnon, Farewell, Hero, and Nausicaa.
As a rule, the figure is a standing one, but in
this case it is seated, and is arranged to fill the
curve which swells out in the apse of the temple
behind. The figure of the woman is a calm and
meditative one draped in white robes, arranged
with studied grace and with the finely rounded
arms revealed, and the feet also partially exposed
to view. By the side of the priestess is a bronze
tripod, and at her feet the discarded wreath of
leaves. Her legs are crossed; one arm rests upon
the elbow of the chair in which she is seated, and

SWANA
By permission of Messrs. T. Agnew and Sons.]
FATIDICA.
OUR ILLUSTRATIONS
31
the other is thrown over the back, while her
fingers support her face, which the white drapery
on the head throws into dense shadow.
There is an expression of deep thoughtfulness
and anxious expectation upon those beautiful
features, and the eyes look out into the gloom as
though they would pierce its mysteries and find
out its secrets. All is foiled by the rich colour
of the curved apse, by the bronze of the tripod
and metal of the chair, from which stand out in
clear radiance the dazzling white of the robes which
so well set off the Eastern hue of the yellowish,
semitransparent skin.
There is a beauty of form and grace about
this quiet solitary figure which is very impressive,
and it illustrates well the power which the
President had of presenting in a single figure
the embodiment of grace, and with it of sooth-
ing the thoughts and enchaining the imagina-
tion. Such a picture is a good example of the
result attained by the method of work mentioned
on p. 18, as the figure is perfectly set beneath
the multitudinous folds of the robes, which hang
with absolute truth and without any metallic
rigidity, and are drawn as Leighton alone could
draw them.
The picture was painted in 1894, only a short
year or so before the last work which Leighton
executed, and represents, therefore, his final
manner of work-the complete expression of his
art in that direction, when all his ability had been
trained up to the end which he had ever had in
view.
32
LORD LEIGHTON
Dedalus and Icarus and the Greek Girls
playing at Ball are good examples of pictures
containing two figures.
Dædalus and Icarus was the first of the two,
having been exhibited in the Royal Academy in
1869, just when Leighton had been elected Royal
Academician, and was shown at the same time as
his diploma work called St. Jerome, which can
now be seen in the Diploma Gallery at Burlington
House.
The story which it illustrates is a familiar one:
Dædalus the artist, the son of the ready-handed
one, Eupalamus, was an architect, a sculptor, and
an inventor, and such appliances as the saw, the
potter's wheel, the axe, and the awl, were all
credited to his ingenious activity. His nephew,
who is said to have suggested the idea of the saw
to him, and to whom is ascribed the discovery of
the turning-lathe, bid fair to eclipse him in genius
and power, and Dædalus therefore, jealous of the
ability of another, and refusing to have his nephew
so near to his own throne, threw him from the
Acropolis, and, having been detected in the act of
burying the body, had to flee from Athens, and
take refuge in Crete with King Minos. Here he
designed and built the famous labyrinth which
has lately been uncovered by Mr. Arthur Evans
in his excavations in that island, where the
fabled Minotaur was said to reside. Dædalus,
the builder of the labyrinth, was the one who
supplied Ariadne, the daughter of the King,
with the clue to its secret, which she passed
on to her lover, Theseus, when he came to
OUR ILLUSTRATIONS
33
Crete and slew the Minotaur within his own abode.
Theseus came safely out of the labyrinth, and
fled with Ariadne, and it was needful for Dædalus
and his clever son, who was with him, to flee
away from the wrath of the offended monarch of
Crete.
He made wings of feathers for himself and his
son, and they escaped by their aid ; but Icarus in
his foolhardiness approached too close to the sun
in his flight, the wax which fastened them melted
in the fierce rays, and the lad fell into the sea and
was drowned ; whilst Dædalus got safely to land,
persuaded the King of Sicily-on whose shores
he alighted, and with whose daughter he fell in
love—to fight on his behalf; and together they
killed Minos, who came in search of the great
inventor who had betrayed his trust.
In the picture father and son are standing upon
a stone platform ready to start on their famous
flight; Icarus has already donned his great wings,
into which he is being assisted by his father,
who gazes on him with a sorrowful look. The
eyes of the son are kindling ; and he is anxious
to try his new capability and to soar above the
clouds close to the radiant sun.
Dædalus has, it is evident, warned Icarus of
the danger, and half dreads his departure. He
himself has, however, counselled the flight and
prepared the means for it, but now at the final
moment of departure, when completing the
arrangements, he holds on to the drapery which
is flung around his son, as if to detain him and
to urge him to be prudent. Already the wind is
3
34
LORD LEIGHTON
blowing out the loose folds of drapery as if they
were sails; already the son is eager for his flight;
the day is propitious, and the wind in the favour-
able direction. Icarus, making light of his
father's warning, is on the point of slipping his
arm through the strap which restrains the wing
and bidding farewell to the dangers of Crete in
his flight for Sicily.
The figures are very noble and determined ;
the draperies, although at this early stage of the
art of the painter a little metallic, are not without
air and movement, spreading aloft in the breeze;
and the view of the Ægean Sea upon which
Dædalus and Icarus are gazing is lovely in its
deep blue and golden sun, sparkling with colour
and glowing with light.
The whole work is in a very fine scheme of
colour, and the figures stand out in magnificent
proportions.
The Greek Girls playing at Ball was exhibited
at the Royal Academy twenty years later, in
1889, and in the meantime the artist had learned
more of the action of the air in the draperies
which he always so loved to depict.
Here again Greece supplies the landscape, the
deep sapphire blue of the sea, the cloud-flecked
sky, the brilliant green of the myrtle and laurel,
contrasting superbly with the dazzling white of the
houses seen in the full splendour of the sun.
Once more we see a stone raised platform, the
roof of some house or the floor of some balcony,
and on it are two active girls playing at ball.

Swpbyes
By permission of the Berlin Photographic Co.]
GREEK GIRLS PLAYING AT BALL.
OUR ILLUSTRATIONS
35
One has just thrown, and the other is in the act
of catching, the ball, and both are moving lightly
across the stony floor intent on their game, and
not thinking of aught beside.
Their flowing robes are caught in the wind and
rippled in all directions into innumerable folds
and coils, serving but to reveal the outlines of
the form. This picture is, however, specially
notable for the example it affords of the desire of
the President to grapple with the most complex
and difficult problems of anatomy and perspec-
tive, and to give them accurate treatment in his
paintings.
The backward swing of the more distant girl as
she catches the ball is only equalled in its difficulty
by the movement of the other one as her arms
are raised up above her breast in the action of
throwing the ball. Both are momentary actions,
perfectly natural, but so seldom seen that they
appear to be almost unnatural.
It needed the quick eye of Leighton, gifted as
he was with an almost Japanese sense of the
position of the body under certain movements, to
see and delineate such postures, which the body
could not retain save for a short second, and
which would be instantly altered as the ball was
thrown and caught.
In this moment of action Leighton saw, with
unerring truth, the position of each part, and has
so presented them as to convey in a manner
quite remarkable the effect of swift movement,
and with a truth that hardly any other artist, save
an Eastern one, could have given. Air, move-
3-2
36
LORD LEIGHTON
ment, and sun are the leading characteristics of
this extraordinarily fine picture.
A far more crowded picture is the Hercules
wrestling with Death for the Body of Alcestis,
which Leighton exhibited in 1871. Here again
the artist has gone to old Greek story for the
subject of his picture.
Admetus, the son of a King of Thessaly, took
part in the famous Calydonian boar-hunt and in
the voyage of the Argo. His piety and loveliness
were so great that Apollo served him for a while
in the garb of a shepherd, as a reward for his
devotion to the gods, and was ever ready to assist
him during his life. He fell in love with Alcestis,
the daughter of Pelias, who refused to give her to
him unless he yoked lions and boars to his chariot ;
and this task he was enabled to perform by the
assistance of the friendly god. Apollo's goodness
to him went even further, for he extracted a
promise from the Fates that they would release
him from death if anyone else would volunteer to
die for him. This actually occurred, for Admetus
was seized with a sickness which was unto death,
and when his aged parents, who had but a few
months to live, refused to give up even that
remnant for their son, his wife, the fair Alcestis,
died for him that he might be spared; then the
gods, rejoicing at this fine example of wifely
devotion, allowed Hercules to rescue her soul
from Hades and restore it to her body.
For a wonder, the artist was hardly accurate in
his pictorial representation of this dramatic scene,

HERCULES WRESTLING WITH DEATH FOR THE BODY OF ALCESTIS.
ایک دن دو
OUR ILLUSTRATIONS
37
as it was not so much the body of the lovely
Alcestis as her soul which Hercules desired, and
for which he fought, that he might restore it to
the body; and it was for that grim Death was
approaching, rather than for the actual custody
of the body.
In the centre of the picture is the body arrayed
for burial, and around it are grouped the mourners
and the women who watch the struggle, anxious
as to the result which will ensue.
By the side is the gigantic form of Death, who
has for the first time met with his opponent, and
is confronted by the bearer of the lion's skin, who
is fiercely combating for the spoil. These two
figures have a certain passionate energy, which is
as close to actual passion as Leighton was able at
that time to approach. Once only in his career
did he rise to the fullest interpretation of an
overwhelming, passionate desire.
There are several finely-contrasted groups in
this picture, but they are not well knit together,
and it consists too much of a series of separate
events, detached and hardly congruous. The
centre of the work, occupied by the figure of
Alcestis robed in white draperies, serves to
separate the sides of the picture rather than to
unite them, and the contrast of the cold, gray,
repellent figure of Death as it grapples with the
ruddy, healthful strength of Hercules clad in his
gorgeous golden lion's skin, forms one fine
episode of the picture, which, however, seems
distinct from the group of women and girls,
rather than attached to it.
38
LORD LEIGHTON
The women wailers are an impressive group,
rhythmic, well posed, and full of emotion and
sympathy. Another group is formed by the
watchful maiden in the foreground. But the fault
of the painting is not so much in any of the
groups as in the absence of a connecting motive
to pull them all together.
The scheme of colour is fine, but here again the
sense of completeness is lacking, as the mass of
white in the centre casts all the rest into shadow,
and the academic manner of grouping the picture
into a centre and two opposing sides prevents its
coming out altogether a success.
The story of Clytie, which forms the subject of
our last picture, is not particularly well known,
but it appealed to Lord Leighton with peculiar
force. He painted it in 1892, but was not quite
satisfied with the result, and hoped to depict
the same subject again with greater force and
ability. It was, however, his final effort, and was
never entirely completed.
Clytie was a nymph, daughter of the ocean,
beloved by Helios, the Sun-god, who afterwards
deserted her. As the Sun drew up to himself
the waters of the ocean in the form of vapour and
spray, so the soul of this famous nymph went out
to the heart of the Sun; but he set in the west in
glorious splendour, and deserted her, leaving her
to cry out for the warmth of his love, and to
stretch out her arms towards him who was at once
her lover and her destroyer. She was, according
to the story, changed into a sunflower or helio-
OUR ILLUSTRATIONS
39
trope--flowers which are supposed to turn their
heads always in the direction of the movement of
the sun, and to be for ever gazing upon it.
In this picture Leighton has, perhaps for the
only time in his life, let himself go, and depicted
a scene of real passion. Clytie, in white and
brown drapery, kneels beside a column near to
an altar on which is fruit, ripened and coloured
by the sun. Her arms are outstretched towards
the setting monarch, who is sinking in all the
splendour of colour to be seen in gorgeous sunsets
over the sea, which Leighton, like Turner, loved
to depict.
Her head is thrown back, her ruddy hair streams
loosely down her back, and her whole aspect and
position bespeak the earnest desire that the
bright rays which she so adores should not depart
from her presence, leaving her in the cold silence
of neglect.
Never before was the President able to realize
the strength of a consuming passion which over-
powered every other thought.
In this picture he did realize such a scene, and
then death plucked him from his place ere he could
give it the finishing touches. It seems almost
a harsh thing to say, but it is probably true, that
the picture is finer than it would have been had
the artist lived to complete it. In its present
condition the fierce eagerness of the prayer was
allowed to reveal its fire, and had the President
ever finished the picture with that too elaborate
attention which he was disposed to give to the
flesh in the later days of his life, much of its
40
LORD LEIGHTON
vigour would have been endangered, if not actually
lost.
Mr. James Knowles, the owner of the picture,
kindly assents to my request to publish a few
MS. lines which he showed me and in which
he has finely expressed the "voice of the picture”
-Clytie's passionate protest against her desertion
by the Sun :
“Forsake me not, forsake me not, O King,
Lover and Lord; for thou alone canst bring
The light and joy of life into my heart :
All, all of rapture goes if thou depart,
And leaves but unimagined weariness
And memory, the worst of all distress.
The whole creation pines without thy smile,
But I, beyond all creatures, for, awhile,
Thou hast been one with me, and our fond
arms
Have clasped each other in the love that
warms,
Or wounds, for ever, If that be withdrawn,
The agony of darkness without dawn
Will madden me, and my despairing cry,
'Forsaken !' ever haunt thee through the sky.'

By permission of the Fine Art Society. ]
CLYTIE.
bolo
LEIGHTON HOUSE
HE house in the Holland Park Road, which
Mr. George Aitchison designed for Lord
Leighton, and to which allusion has already
been made, was so important in its connection
with the President, that it deserves a chapter to
itself in any consideration of the artist and his
work.
Its main feature is, of course, the Arab Hall,
which is unlike any other apartment in Europe,
and the erection of which enabled Leighton to
give full scope to his delight in rich colours.
Its scheme of colour is a peacock blue or green,
with gold, black and white, and it was really
erected in order to enshrine a fine collection of
Arab tiles, with sumptuous rich-coloured enamel
work upon them, which the President obtained in
the East.
The rarest and most precious of them form a
superb decorative border above the entrance, with
a great procession of Arabic letters in splendid
colouring, which has been thus translated: “In
the name of the merciful and long-suffering God.
The Merciful hath taught the Koran. He hath
created man and taught him speech. He hath set
the sun and moon in a certain course.
Both
42
LORD LEIGHTON
the trees and the grass are in subjection to
Him."
Equal in rarity to the tiles which form this mag-
nificent inscription are two small ones let into
the woodwork in the western division of the hall,
which are Persian of the thirteenth century. All
the remainder are of sixteenth and seventeenth
century work.
In the centre is the mysterious bason of black
marble, cut out of one great slab, from which rises
and falls the jet of water.
Its black and appar-
ently fathomless depths, within which move some
gold-fish, is well adapted to increase the air of
mystery which the hall possesses, and the gentle
splash of the water is soothing to the ear as one
sits in this remarkable room.
The windows are shaded with musharabiyeh
woodwork brought from the East, and one of
them is glazed with ancient glass from the same
region of enchantment, whilst others are filled
with the nearest approach to it which could be
obtained from the glass works of this country.
The effect of light is delightful, and the eye is led
upward past the gleaming marble, pale alabaster,
glittering mosaic of gold and colours, brass and
copper, into the dim recesses of the golden dome
which crowns the hall and has its own splendour,
faintly revealed and partly concealed by the
minute orifices covered with deep-coloured glass
through which the light finds its wandering way.
The floor is of black and white marble, and on
a hot summer day, when the hall had its rich
treasures of bronze and marble, ivory and silver,
LEIGHTON HOUSE
43
Greek vases and Persian majolica, to adorn it, and
when the glow of the sun found its way into the
windows and lit up the surfaces of marble and
metal, and glinted in a thousand points from the
high relief of the purple tiles, the hall was indeed
a place of wonder, an apartment of mystery in
which one could sit and dream of the Far East,
and revel in all the illusion which such imaginings
would create.
Even now, robbed of much that rendered it so
entrancing, and remaining but the bare shell of
what it once was, the Arab Hall has no compeer
in its strange beauty, and speaks in eloquent
phrase of the ingenuity and excellent taste of its
creator.
In the great studio still remain the casts of the
frieze of the Parthenon which, as I have already
mentioned, were selected by M. de la Sizeranne
as the fitting emblem of the artist's work, and
which he himself so adopted in his own portrait
painted for the Uffizi Gallery.
The room is admirably planned, and now con-
tains many studies and sketches as well as pictures
lent from time to time, the work of the artist
whose workshop they now serve to adorn.
In Leighton's time the house was full of fine
pictures which the artist had collected and
brought together. There were many works of
the French School, as Ingres, Delacroix, Daubigny
and Millet, and notably some superb Corots,
especially a set of the Seasons. Leighton was
one of the earliest to discover the high merit of
the works of this artist, and bought them when


44
LORD LEIGHTON
they were but little esteemed, knowing full well
that their beauty was unapproached by any of the
landscape artists who were then working, and that
sooner or later it could not fail to receive recogni-
tion. His judgment proved accurate, for lately
the appreciation of Corot had gone up by leaps
and bounds, and the pictures which were sold at
Leighton's sale proved how well he had made his
original purchases. In the house there were also
works by Reynolds and Gainsborough, by Tin-
toretto, Grant, Mason, Bordone, Schiavone, Dürer,
del Piombo, and Constable. Curiously enough, an
unfinished picture had an especial charm for
Leighton, and many of his most notable works by
other men were in this condition. He loved to
see an artist at work in the picture, as he used to
say—to watch his methods, to understand his
mind and his technique—and therefore the draw-
ings and studies of the old masters and their
unfinished paintings had a particular charm for
him, and he gloried in possessing and studying
them.
The music-room contained some important
paintings by his contemporaries, such as Watts,
Millais, Burne-Jones, Solomon, Herkomer, Kate
Greenaway, Menpes, Moore and Crane, which
he had exchanged for works by himself. Leighton
was also a great admirer of Alfred Stevens, and
possessed some fine studies by him.
His rooms were adorned with magnificent
Persian rugs and Rhodian pottery, the sumptuous
colouring of which specially appealed to him,
and they were hung with hundreds of his own

LEIGHTON HOUSE
45
studies and with coloured designs for many of his
greatest pictures, in which the original conception
had been created.
Now these rooms are adorned with the collec-
tion of sketches which a willing band of those
who love his memory have gathered together, and,
having been taken over by the district authority,
will be sustained out of the rates, forming a
place of education for future students of art,
one in which they can learn of the infinite pains
which Leighton took to be accurate and true,
and of the exquisite sense of beauty and refine-
ment which characterized him all the days of his
life.
It is no small gain to the community that so
precious a residence has been saved from destruc-
tion and decay, and that future generations will
be enabled through the generosity of the artist's
sisters and friends to study the President's work
in the house in which it was created, and which so
fittingly enshrines the memories and activities of
his life.
THE CHIEF WORKS OF LEIGHTON
THE TATE GALLERY.
“AND THE SEA GAVE UP THE DEAD WHICH WERE
IN IT” (1511).
Designed as a portion of the decorative scheme for
the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral. A young man rises
from the waves, with his wife and son in his arms, their
draperies of green, salmon, and light blue about them;
below them, to the left, a man shrouded in purple and
red lifts his head above the waters ; on the rocks the
tombs deliver up their dead, in their shrouds; one, to
the left, seen against the white cloud, is crowned ; to
the right, a figure in rose-coloured drapery lifts his
arms with a despairing action ; others gaze up at the
bright light bursting through the darkness.
Exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1892.
THE BATH OF PSYCHE (1574).
She stands turned to her right, her left arm lifting
her white draperies over her head ; she looks down
at the water which reflects her draperies, white and
yellow, and a copper vase that stands on the white
marble edge of the bath ; beyond is a colonnade of
marble columns, with gilt capitals and bases ; purple
curtains are hung between them, not so high as to
shut out the blue sky, with its silver-white clouds.
Exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1890 and pur-
chased under the Chantrey Bequest.
48
LORD LEIGHTON
BRONZES.
THE SLUGGARD (13).
He stretches himself as he presses a laurel wreath
under the heel of his right foot.
Exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1886.
AN ATHLETE STRUGGLING WITH A PYTHON (15).
Exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1877 and pur-
chased under the Chantrey Bequest. See p. 29.
A plaster cast of the original sketch in wax for An Athlete
struggling with a Python, No. 15 (22).
Presented by Professor Alphonse Legros in 1897.
NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY.
PORTRAIT OF SIR RICHARD F. BURTON, K.C.M.G.
Painted when the traveller was H.M.'s Consul at
Trieste in 1879. See p. 25.
NATIONAL GALLERY OF IRELAND,
STUDIES OF DRAPERY, IN CHALK.
ROYAL ACADEMY, DIPLOMA GALLERY.
ST. JEROME
The saint nude to the waist, kneeling to the right at
the foot of a crucifix, a lion being seen in the back-
ground.
The Academy also possesses the sketch models in
bronze for a group of three figures in the Daphnephoria,
for the Cymon in Cymon and Iphigenia, for the figure
of Iphigenia in the same picture, for the statue
of the
Sluggard, for the Athlete struggling with a Python,
for the group of figures in the Garden of the Hesperides,
for the figures in Perseus and Andromeda, and for two
other of the figures in the Daphnephoria. It has also
plaster casts of the bronze statues of the Sluggard and
of the Athlete struggling with a Python, and the
model for the Jubilee medal.
CHIEF WORKS
49
VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, KENSING-
TON.
A FINE COLLECTION OF SKETCHES AND STUDIES OF
DRAPERIES AND FOR VARIOUS PICTURES.
BIRMINGHAM ART GALLERY,
A CONDOTTIERE (155).
The Condottieri, or Captains, were leaders of military
companies in the Middle Ages, often numerous enough
to constitute a large army, which they used to hire out
to carry on the wars of the Italian States. One of the
most famous of them was an Englishman named
Sir John Hawkwood, called by the Italians Acuto.
“ AND THE SEA GAVE UP THE DEAD WHICH WERE
IN IT."
The study in oil for the large picture in the Tate
Gallery
LEEDS ART GALLERY.
THE RETURN OF PERSEPHONE.
Persephone, supported by Hermes, being brought
back to the upper world, where she is waited for by
Demeter with outstretched arms.
LIVERPOOL ART GALLERY.
ELIJAH IN THE WILDERNESS (31).
Presented by A. G. Kurtz, Esq., in 1879.
MANCHESTER ART GALLERY.
THE LAST WATCH OF HERO (80).
“ 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,” Musæus, translated
by Sir E. Arnold.
Hero, a beautiful girl of Sestos, was beloved by
Leander, a youth of Abydos. The lovers were greatly
4
50
LORD LEIGHTON
attached to each other, and often in the night Leander
swam across the Hellespont'to Hero, in Sestos. On
one tempestuous night he was drowned, and Hero, in
despair, threw herself into the sea and perished.
Painted for the Corporation in 1887. Hero is repre-
sented in the upper portion of the picture gazing out
into the sea. In the lower part, or predella, is the
body of Leander, lying on a rock washed by the
waves.
CAPTIVE ANDROMACHE.
Andromache, one of the noblest and most amiable
characters in the “Iliad," was the daughter of Eetion,
King of the Cilician Thebes. Her father and her
seven brothers were slain by Achilles at the taking of
Thebes, and her mother was killed by Artemis. She
was married to Hector, for whom she entertained
the most tender love. On the taking of Troy her son
was hurled from the walls of the city, and she herself
fell to the share of Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles, who
'took her to Epirus, and to whom she bore three sons,
Molossus, Pielus, and Pergamus. She afterwards
married Helenus, a brother of Hector, who ruled over
Chaonia, a part of Epirus, and to whom she bore
Cestrinus. After the death of Helenus she followed her
son Pergamus to Asia. The subject is suggested by a
passage in Homer's "Iliad,” but is not an actual inci-
dent therein described. When Hector, armed for battle,
takes leave of his wife Andromache, he resists her pas-
sionate entreaties to stay and be satisfied with defending
Troy, and reminds her of the prophecy which foretold
that in the fall of Troy the women would be taken cap-
tive and enslaved. In the picture the artist has depicted
the fulfilment of the prophecy. The enslaved Andro-
mache is awaiting her turn to draw water at Hyperia's
spring—the meanest of all menial offices. As she stands
wrapt in sad meditation, her eye falls on a group which
reminds her of the day when domestic happiness, hus-
band, and child were hers; and her tears fall. In the
foreground, a man who may be supposed to be a veteran
of the Trojan war, points her out to his youthful com-
MURAL DECORATION
51
panion, saying, " See, that is Andromache, the wife of
Hector, who was foremost among the Trojans !”
Purchased 1889.
The majority of the best works of Lord Leighton are in
private possession, but many of the pictures are often on
exhibition in loan collections.
Cimabue's Madonna, Nanna, and Bianca are in the
possession of H.M. the King.
Mrs. Leathart, Mrs. Alfred Morrison, Viscount Powers-
court, Lord Davey, Lord Hillingdon, Sir Cuthbert Quilter,
Alderman Davies, Mr. Bacon, Mr. Henderson, Mr. Knowles,
Mr. Lever, Mr. George McCulloch, Mr. Reckitt, and Mr.
Woodroffe, own some of the most notable works.
MURAL DECORATION.
LYNDHURST CHURCH, NEW FOREST.
Altar-piece in so-called fresco, representing the Wise and
Foolish Virgins. Executed in 1866.
ROYAL EXCHANGE, LONDON.
Mural decoration representing Phænicians bartering with
Britons. Executed in 1895.
VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, KENSING-
TON.
Two lunettes representing the Arts of War and the Arts
of Peace. See p. 28.
4-2
BOOKS ON LORD LEIGHTON
FREDERIC, LORD LEIGHTON. An illustrated record
of his life and work. By Ernest Rhys,
with an Introduction by F. G. Stephens.
Super royal 4to., with 15 photogravures and
about 1oo other illustrations. Bell. 1895.
New edition, with an extra chapter on
“ Leighton House as it is,” by S. Pepys
Cockerell. Large post 8vo., with 8o illustra-
trations. Bell.
1900.
LEIGHTON HOUSE. By A. G. Temple. With
many illustrations. Bell.
SIR F. LEIGHTON : HIS LIFE AND WORK. By
Mrs. Lang, being the Art Journal special
number, 1884.
LORD LEIGHTON. Pencil drawings and studies
in pencil and chalk, reproduced in facsimile,
with descriptions and the names of the
present owners, and preface by Cockerell.
40 plates. Fine Art Society. 1898.
FREDERIC LEIGHTON. Illustrations designed for
the Cornhill Magazine, with extracts descrip-
tive of each picture. 25 engravings. Small
folio. 1867
54
LORD LEIGHTON
A List of the late Lord Leighton's pictures,
reproduced and published by the Fine Art
Society, with descriptions of them. Fine
Art Society. 1896.
A CATALOGUE of the studies, designs, and sketches
of Lord Leighton exhibited at the rooms of
the Fine Art Society, December, 1896, with
a prefatory note by S. Pepys Cockerell. Fine
Art Society.
The sales of the collections of the late Lord
Leighton took place at Christie's, and interesting
catalogues were issued of them :
The pictures and drawings were sold July 11,
13, and 14, 1896; the pottery, rugs, and furni-
ture, July 8, 9, and 10; the library, July 15
and 16.
The most important exhibition of the works of
Lord Leighton took place at the Royal Academy
in 1897, in the Winter Exhibition, and an instruc-
tive catalogue was issued.
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
1830. Birth of Leighton.
1840. Had lessons on drawing in Rome.
1844. Decided in Florence to become an artist
1847. At the Staedel Institute in Frankfort.
1848. In Brussels.
1849. In Paris.
1850-1852. In Frankfort, studying under Steinle.
1852. Settled down in Rome.
1855. Exhibited Cimabue's Madonna carried
through Florence at the Royal Academy.
Bought by the Queen.
1860. Settled in London at Orme Square.
1864. Became an Associate of the Royal Academy.
1866. Removed to Holland Park Road.
1867. His first journey to the East.
1868. Elected Royal Academician.
1870. Was largely instrumental in starting the
first of the Winter Exhibitions of Old
Masters.
1876. Painted his portrait of Burton, and also
Daphnephoria.
1877. Exhibited his first notable work in sculpture.
1878. Elected President of the Royal Academy
in the place of Sir Francis Grant
56
LORD LEIGHTON
1879. Delivered his first discourse.
1886. Was created a Baronet. Executed the ceil-
ing decoration for Mr. Marquand's house
in New York.
1887. Executed the design for the reverse of the
Jubilee medallion.
1896. Was created first Baron Leighton of Stretton
by Queen Victoria. Died on January 25.
DEC 31 1920
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