The Life, Letters and Work of Frederic Leighton Volume II Part 22

The construction of this thing of beauty, the Arab Hall, is a visible and permanent proof of the side in Leighton's artistic endowments which are so rarely found in northern, or indeed any modern nations, and the want of which are gradually leading our world into being very ugly--namely, the sense of the appropriate, of balance, of proportion, and of harmony in the construction and decoration of buildings. As an adherent of the pre-Raphaelites, William Morris had been battling with this tasteless condition of things for some years--strenuously working to counteract the unmeaning adaptations of foreign designs of all times and of all countries into English work, and the general muddledom into which the decoration in the surroundings of domestic life had fallen, by starting afresh on the lines of simple good designs of English pre-Puritan days. Leighton's taste had been inspired, in the first instance, by the crafts as well as by the art of Italy. Subsequently, the East had fascinated him. He admired greatly the frank, courageous beauty in the colouring of the decorations of her buildings; but, having an acute sense of the appropriate, he felt that they would not harmonise successfully with the necessary surroundings of English domestic life. He was therefore inspired to erect a special shrine for his collection of enamels. It has been truly said that the Arab Hall is as notable a creation in Art as any of Leighton's pictures or statues. The beauty of its effect is greatly enhanced by the arrangement of light and shade which leads on to the wonderfully beautiful casket of treasures.

Monsieur Choisy, the distinguished French architect, wrote as follows in the _Times_ of April 27, 1896, when advocating the preservation of this house for the public: "Nowhere have I found in an architectural monument a happier gradation of effects, nor a more complete knowledge of the play of light. The entrance to the house is by a plain hall that leads to a '_patio_' lit from the sky, where enamels shine brilliantly in the full light; from this 'patio' one pa.s.ses into a twilight corridor, where enamel and gold detach themselves from an architectural ground of richness somewhat severe; it is a transition which prepares the eye for a jewel of Oriental Art, where the most brilliant productions of the Persian potter are set in architectural frame inspired by Arab Art, but treated freely; the harmony is so perfect that one asks oneself if the architecture has been conceived for the enamels, or the enamels for the hall. This gradation, perhaps unique in contemporary architecture, was Leighton's idea; and the ill.u.s.trious painter found in his old friend Mr. G. Aitchison, who built his house, a worthy interpreter of his fine conception. This hall, where colour is triumphant, was dear to Leighton, and even forms the background to some of his pictures. Towards the end of his life he still meant to embellish it by subst.i.tuting marble for that small part that was only painted. The generous employment of his fortune alone prevented him from realising his intention.

"England has at all times given the example of honouring great men; she will, I am sure, find the means of preserving for Art a monument of which she has such reason to be proud."[57]

[Ill.u.s.tration: VIEW OF ARAB HALL. 1906]

FOOTNOTES:

[42] In the Leighton House Collection is a splendid study for the wrestling figure of Heracles, also for the rec.u.mbent Alcestis, and the drapery for the phantom figure of Death. The figure of Heracles, fine as it is in the picture, lacks somewhat of the ardent quality in the action of the sketch. Owing to the public-spirited generosity of its owner, the late Right Hon. Sir Bernhard Samuelson, this picture has travelled all over the world for exhibition. It was also lent to Leighton House for more than a year in 1901.

[43] In the Leighton House Collection is a head in oils (presented by the late Alfred Waterhouse, R.A.) which Leighton painted actually by moonlight in Rome, as a study for one of the figures in "Summer Moon."

See List of Ill.u.s.trations.

[44] See study for picture in Leighton House Collection.

[45] Leighton had a cast made of this, and his copy is still in the collection in his house. Another copy he gave to Watts, who admired it beyond measure. Watts recounted to me that so preciously did he value it, that, not daring to expose it to the danger of housemaids' dusting, he carefully wrapped it up in handkerchiefs and put it in a drawer. One day, alas! forgetting it was there, in a hurry, he pulled the bundle of handkerchiefs out; it fell to the floor and was smashed.

[46] _The Athenaeum_ described the work when it appeared. "There is the grandeur of Greek tragedy in Mr. Leighton's 'Clytemnestra watching for the signal of her husband's return from Troy.' The time is deep in the fateful night, while the city sleeps; moonlight floods the walls, the roofs, the gates, and the towers with a ghastly glare, which seems presageful, and casts shadows as dark as they are mysterious and terrible. The dense blue of the sky is dim, sad, and ominous. But the most ominous and impressive element of the picture is a grim figure--the tall woman on the palace roof before us, who looks t.i.tanic in her stateliness, and huge beyond humanity in the voluminous white drapery that wraps her limbs and bosom. Her hands are clenched and her arms thrust down straight and rigidly, each finger locked as in a struggle to strangle its fellow; the muscles swell on the bulky limbs.

Drawn erect and with set features, which are so pale that the moonlight could not make them paler, the queen stares fixedly and yet eagerly into the distance, as if she had the will to look over the very edge of the world for the light to come."

[47] The Hon. Mrs. Grenfell.

[48] Purchased by the trustees of the Chantrey Bequest and placed in the Tate Gallery.

[49] Leighton gave this group to Watts, who expressed to me an unbounded admiration for it. "Nothing more beautiful has ever been done! Pheidias never did anything better. I believe it was better even than Pheidias!" were the words Watts used when deploring the fact that he had lent it to a sculptor to be cast--something had gone wrong in the process of casting, and it had been destroyed. When giving me the modelled sketch for the "Python," Watts said, "I am giving you the most beautiful thing I have in my place."

[50] The group of singing girls modelled as a study for "The Daphnephoria."

[51] See complete list in Appendix.

[52] The "Arts of War" lunette was commenced in 1870 and finished in 1880. The "Arts of Peace," begun in 1881, was completed in 1886. An account of these two frescoes appeared in the _Magazine of Art_ written by Mr. J. Ward, the master of the Macclesfield School of Art, who a.s.sisted Leighton in the work.

[53] In a letter from Mr. J.G. Hodgson, A.R.A., praises are bestowed on this picture and the "Moorish Garden" at the expense of "Clytemnestra"

and the "Antique Juggling Girl." The letter is a good example of the criticisms which Leighton's serious work often received--that work in which, nevertheless, he was most true to himself. The ordinary English eye neither longed for nor appreciated Leighton's native h.e.l.lenic strain.

5 HILL ROAD, _Friday, April 4, 1874_.

MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--I was immensely delighted with your two pictures of the Jew's house and the Alhambra ("Moorish Garden: A Dream of Granada"). I was at the opera last night, but thought much less of Crispin and his Comara than of them; they are quite charming, and excite me with the desire of emulation, at that safe distance which is inherent in the nature of things. For your "Clytemnestra" and the other ("Antique Juggling Girl"), I, being a Philister, care nothing at all. From those to turn to these, seems like leaving a garden fragrant with roses and citron blossoms, where I hear the murmur of cooling streams, Abanah and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, to enter a museum filled with dusty plaster casts.

After all, the woes of the house of Atreus are now of very little importance to mankind, or interest either. The most of the latter they possess, is that they serve as themes for some good Greek play, which had better have been burnt, as they have hampered the genius of modern Europe and taught us nothing. Had only Homer and the lyrics survived, we should have done better.

At all events, if a man must ill.u.s.trate, why does he not ill.u.s.trate Shakespeare, a bigger man head and shoulders than any of the Greek tragedists? But it appears to me you are made for a much better and more intellectual purpose than ill.u.s.trating anybody. You have the eye to see and power to represent what you see. You have special gifts and faculties highly trained. The aspect of nature, as it appears to such a mind, would be of the highest intellectual value to us, and would lead to progress. I don't think modern art differs from that of any other day. It has always been the effort to represent what is seen every day, bringing to bear upon the representation the greatest possible amount of culture, _i.e._ of reflection and selection. The women and that dear little girl in the courtyard of your Jew's house will outlive all the "Clytemnestras," &c.; they live with blood in their veins, the others are but galvanised corpses. There I have had it out; you must not complain, because you have had to apologise for slashing into me, and now it is my turn. In the prologue to Goethe's "Faust," if you remember, the poet, a stubborn fellow, has his notions of the high aim of his art. He will do nothing but what is extremely sublime, &c. The clown quite agrees that such things may possibly do for the future, but who, says he, is to amuse the present? I am that sort of clown, I suppose. Don't be riled, and believe me,--Very much your admiring friend,

J.G. HODGSON.

[54] Mr. William Spottiswoode wrote of one of these:--

"DEAR LEIGHTON,--Best of thanks from Mrs. Spottiswoode and myself for another of the happiest day-dreams of the year, viz.

your afternoons at home."

[55] Mr. Aitchison, R.A., wrote: "During his visits to Rhodes, to Cairo, and Damascus, he made a large collection of lovely Saracenic tiles, and had besides bought two inscriptions, one of the most delicate colour and beautiful design, and the other sixteen feet long and strikingly magnificent, besides getting some panels, stained gla.s.s, and lattice-work from Damascus afterwards; these were fitted into an Arab Hall, something like La Zira at Palermo, in 1877."

The Arab Hall was begun November 1877, virtually completed by the end of 1879, but some small matters not till 1881. Materials--b.a.s.t.a.r.d statuary, _i.e._ the marble columns in the angle recesses. These caps are of alabaster, designed by George Aitchison, R.A., and modelled by Sir E. Boehm. The large columns are of Caserta marble, caps of stone, birds modelled by Caldecott; column niches lined with Devonshire spar; dado, Irish black; string, Irish green, and bases of small columns.

Those of the large columns are of Genoa green and Belgian blue; the marble lining behind big columns is of Pyrennean green, and the panel overhead; the lintel of Irish red. The marble work was done by White & Son, Vauxhall Bridge Road. Mosaic floor, designed by George Aitchison, R.A.; executed by Messrs. Burke & Co., who replaced fountain of white marble with the single slab of Belgian black. Chandelier, designed by G.A. Aitchison, R.A., executed by Forrest & Son, now extinct. The lattices to the lower part of the gallery designed by George Aitchison, R.A.

Sir Caspar P. Clarke wrote: "I was commissioned in 1876, by the authorities at South Kensington, to proceed to the East to buy artistic objects for the Museum. Before I started Leighton asked me, if I went to Damascus, to go to certain houses and try to effect the purchase of certain tiles. I had no difficulty in finding my market, for Leighton, with his customary precision, had accurately indicated every point about the dwellings concerned, and their treasures. I returned with a precious load, and in it some large family tiles, the two finest of which are built into the sides of the alcove of the Arab Hall. Leighton made no difficulty about the price, and insisted upon paying double what I had given. He never spoke of picking things up cheap, and scouted the idea of 'bargains in Art objects.'"

[56] Leighton, Sir Richard Burton, Algernon Swinburne, and Adelaide Sartoris pa.s.sed some weeks together at Vichy in September 1869.

Swinburne wrote in 1875: "We all owe so much to Leighton for the selection and intention of his subjects--always n.o.ble, always beautiful--and these are always worthy of a great and grave art."--"Essays and Studies," A.C. Swinburne.

[57] Letters from Lord and Lady Strangford to Leighton exist on matters concerning the East, on which both were great authorities.

"Will you accept," Lady Strangford wrote, "as a token of my admiration of your house, a piece of ancient Persian needlework? It is really old, and it is said that they no longer do anything of the kind in Persia, and that these pieces are valuable. I do not know if this is true or not, but _if_ you _like_ the thing, please use it among the many treasures you have already acc.u.mulated. It is to my eyes a nice bit of harmonious colouring. Let it say to you how much, how very much, I enjoyed your sketches.--Yours very truly,

E.A. STRANGFORD.

"_P.S._--I bought the work from a Persian at Antioch."

To Professor Church Mr. Aitchison wrote after Leighton's death: "I cannot urge the preservation of his home and surroundings, as I built the house, for there are always too many to attribute low motives to everybody, and it would be called personal advertis.e.m.e.nt; though when one's work is done it becomes almost impersonal, and if it did not, the fact remains the same, that here he (Leighton) lived and drew part of his culture and inspiration from his surroundings. As a mere matter of reverence, how many would come from all parts of the civilised world to see his abode!"

[Ill.u.s.tration: PROFESSOR GIOVANNI COSTA Painted at Lerici, October 1878]

CHAPTER V

LEIGHTON AS PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY

1878-1896

Leighton was at Lerici in the autumn of 1878, visiting his dear old friend Giovanni Costa ("an artist in a hundred--a man in ten thousand," were Leighton's words describing him), when he received a telegram stating that Sir Francis Grant was dead. "The President is dead! Long live the President!" exclaimed Costa. Leighton remained in Italy, sketching landscapes and painting heads--one, the portrait of Costa--till his holiday was over, the end of October. On the 18th of November he was elected President of the Royal Academy. Thirty-five Academicians voted for Leighton, five for Mr. Horsley.

Leighton wrote to his younger sister:--

1878.

DEAREST GUSSY,--You perhaps have heard from Lina that I had an overwhelming majority, and that the outer world beyond artistic has warmly received my election, which is of course infinitely gratifying, but fills me with a dread of disappointing everybody. Monday I go to Windsor to be knighted. Yes, I got a first-cla.s.s gold medal for my statue[58]--at least, it was awarded, and I shall get it some time. I also don't mind telling you in _strict confidence_--because it is not yet a _fait accompli_--that I am, I believe, to have the "ruban" of an Officier de la Legion d'Honneur. I am so glad, dear, your wrists are better--may they keep so. Love to old Joseph (Joseph Joachim) when you see him.

Most treasured of all congratulations were doubtless these lines from his beloved master, Steinle:--

_Translation._]

FRANKFURT AM MAIN, _December 1, 1878_.

DEAR AND HONOURED FRIEND,--To-day I have read in the paper that the choice of President of the Royal Academy has fallen upon you, and since I am convinced that this distinguished position is both appropriate to your services to art, and also certainly well merited, you must permit an old friend, who remains bound to you in love only, to offer you his dearest and warmest good wishes upon this honour. I pray G.o.d, that your position may provide you with great power in your country for good so as to enable you to encourage the n.o.blest things in art. I am convinced that you, dear friend, will make a right and fruitful use of it. I often set my pupils to make enlarged drawings of single groups from your medieval Equipment for the Defence of the Town,[59] and rejoice in the admirable studies which you made for that cartoon. I, dear friend, am in my old age still active and industrious, and would gladly go on learning. Should G.o.d grant life, I shall next year complete my work on the Stra.s.sburg master, which will demand all my love and strength.

Here we have now built a new gallery, on the other side of the river Main, and a new studio. The collections are good, and more suitably accommodated than heretofore, and there is no want of s.p.a.ce for future additions. Perhaps one of your journeys will bring you again to the old Main town, and so to the arms of your old friend. My dear President, I repeat my good wishes, and remain with all my heart, your truly devoted,