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
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