The Life, Letters and Work of Frederic Leighton Volume II Part 30

_June 22, 1894._

Very many thanks for your interesting and exhaustive investigations on the French lakes. I observe that in several cases you mention lakes having _cracked_. I presume, however, there is no reason to suppose they would do this when embodied with other colours, and that _if_ otherwise safe they might therefore be used. The purple lake used by our friend Watts is furnished to him, I have always understood, by Messrs. Newton of Rathbone Place. I am glad to hear so good an account of the pale boiled linseed oil from May & Baker, Ltd., of Battersea. I do not, however, gather from what you say that there can be any reason for subst.i.tuting it for Bell's medium, to which I am much attached, and which, as you know, is, with the admixture of one-third rectified essence of turpentine, the only vehicle I use. This note, of course, requires no acknowledgment--anything you may have to say on these various points will abundantly keep until I get a further account of your investigations on the purple lake.

Many thanks for your valuable caution. Amongst the lakes you tried, did you include the garance _nuance brun_ and do. _brun fonce_? Both are superb colours, and it would be nice to think one might use them. It is very comfortable to feel that one has a _conscience_ one can tune at Shelsley.

_April 19, 1894._

I am about now to take up a large decorative painting for the Exchange, a work which cannot be done on the spot on account, _inter alia_, of the darkness of the place, and will, therefore, be carried out here at the studio on _canvas_, and then "maroufle" on the wall. Macbeth (A.R.A.), who is also doing one, is using _Parris's_ "Marble medium," in which, a thousand years ago, I painted two figures for mosaic at South Kensington; great brilliancy is obtainable, but I rather fear a certain tendency to look waxy and almost shiny. I myself incline to use Gambier _Parry's_ material, which I have used on the _wall_ at South Kensington and greatly like. But now the question arises, ought the canvas to be _prepared_? and on this I shall be grateful for your opinion, as the matter is very important. G. Parry told me that canvas either _could_ or _should_ be prepared for his medium, I don't remember which. Roberson's man tells me that Madox Brown and Fredk. Shields (I think) both had canvases prepared for a similar purpose. I shall postpone ordering mine till I have your instructions; till when, and always, I am, in much haste.

_April 23, 1894._

Many thanks for your letter. I shall, of course, obey your instructions punctually, and subst.i.tute paraffin wax for the ordinary Brecknell and Turner beeswax, as prescribed by Parry himself. I will see Roberson immediately, for I should not think it right, as he ground the colours and prepared the medium throughout for my two large frescoes at South Kensington, to abandon him in favour of Laurie, or anybody else.

You suggest that I should make a little experiment on a small canvas. Do you think that would be necessary? I presume that the material will work exactly as it did before, and that the surface will be--bar the granulation--very much the same as on a wall. I ask this question, because I ought to get to work immediately, and I gather from a reference to your work that it will take several weeks before the process of preparation is complete.

I wish I could throw light for you on the verb "maroufler," and should like to know what subterranean connection there is, or can be, between it and the word "maroufle" which is, as you say, being interpreted, a "rascal."

At all events, when the moment comes for the operation, I must endeavour to obtain information from France, where the process is in very frequent use.

_February 27, 1895._

A contretemps has occurred of which I think I ought to inform you, as it relates to the very interesting subject of grounds and pigments.

Robersons, when they came to roll up my fresco to transport it to the Exchange, found that either the ground or the pigment--probably both, as they are of the same substance--was extremely brittle and cracked right across, cracking at a rather abrupt tangent from the circ.u.mference of the circle; so that they immediately struck work, and declined to go any further.

As far as the painting itself is concerned, I do not believe that any serious damage is done, because on re-straining it flat, the cracks are barely perceptible, and probably would not be at all perceptible in _situ_.

Meanwhile, if any question arises as to the ground, it has occurred to me, and it is on this point I wish to consult you, that the cause may be the subst.i.tution of paraffin wax for the ordinary wax hitherto used in Gambier Parry's material, which, though perhaps not absolutely so durable as paraffin, is sufficiently so, and very malleable. One does not see what else could have cracked in that abrupt and sharp manner--certainly not the copal, which has oil in it and is further made supple by the oil of spike. If it turned out that the paraffin was the peccant element, I should be, _entre nous_, rather glad, because it diminished the facility of the work.

With reference to the cracking of this work Professor Church writes:--

This unrolling was begun in very cold weather; if the temperature had been a little higher, nothing of this kind would have taken place. The picture now shows no sign of defect or injury, and is in perfect condition. By subst.i.tuting _ceresin_, a paraffin obtained from ozokerite or earthwax, for crystalline paraffin, the chance of cracking is obviated. The ceresin, which should have a melting-point of 150 or 160 Fahrenheit, const.i.tutes a safe subst.i.tute for the beeswax commonly employed in Gambier Parry's Spirit Fresco Medium.

FOGGIA, _October 15, 1895_.

You will be surprised to get a letter from me with an Italian superscription; I am writing thus early before my return to save time. When I was in Venice the other day, Van Haanen spoke to me, _with approval_, of a certain vehicle, of which I had already heard before vaguely, the invention of the French painter, Vibert. You probably know of it, as the subject of media has occupied you. There are, it appears, three forms of this medium: the vehicle for painting, the medium for painting _into_ in retouching, and the final _varnish_. As far as I understood Van Haanen in a hurried conversation--he was a little vague--the painting medium contains no gum, only, he seemed to think, petroleum and oil; I a.s.sume that in the final "vernis"

there _is_ gum of some kind.

I am perfectly satisfied with Bell's medium and fresh turpentine for the very little use I make of vehicle in painting; but there is always the difficulty of the _final_ varnish in the Academy.

I don't like risking mastic or copal _so soon_ on work which contains _nothing_ but oil (and if I ever do use a little, I put poppy oil with it), and the result is that I generally varnish with Roberson's medium, which is safe, but I fear a little inclined to _yellow_ in time.

Now what I want you kindly to tell me, my dear Church, is the exact composition of the _three_ Vibert media, and your opinion about the safety of using _all three_ in the prescribed order; and this I should like to know on my return at the _beginning_ of November (hence my haste in writing), and also whether I can safely use these vehicles on work _begun in my usual medium_.

It is just possible you may not have heard of the Vibert vehicles; if so, I would ask you to be so kind as to obtain (of course at _my_ expense) a bottle of each of the mixtures and to test them carefully.

A line to say this has reached you would find me at the Hotel Royal Mazzeri, Via 20 Settembre, _Rome_.

With kind regards and antic.i.p.ated thanks.

HoTEL ROYAL MAZZERI, ROME, _October 22, 1895_.

Many thanks for your prompt and amiable answer. I shall be interested to hear on my return the upshot of your a.n.a.lysis; but I _hate vernis_ in painting, as Bocchini tells us the Venetians did, _comme la peste_.

I am very glad you are getting on so satisfactorily with your work on the frescoes.

In haste (for I have many letters before me).

_P.S._--No; I am sorry to say I am no better of my special ailment though my _general_ condition is good.

2 HOLLAND PARK ROAD, KENSINGTON, W., _November 8, 1895_.

Excuse the hand of my secretary.

Many thanks for your note about Vibert's varnishes, which I shall accordingly dismiss from my mind--the varnishes, I mean, not your note.

One chapter in which is revealed Leighton's serious inner life closed during the years he was President. The last letter which has been preserved from his beloved master, Steinle, is dated 22nd November 1883, Frankfurt:--

DEAR FRIEND,--Yesterday evening I received your letter from Florence, and answer at once, partly to tell you how delighted I am at the result of the consultation with Quarfe, as also at your comfort and well-being, and partly because this part of your letter has greatly roused my curiosity for a second, which shall also tell me something about Vienna, Verona, and Florence.

At the same time, however, I want to make use of a pause in my work to tell you that the first three coloured contours are completed. To the painting I dedicated all my small skill, and would have died in order to secure that the drawing and composition should produce a life-like effect; I believe also that these pictures will look like frescoes in their surroundings.

Some time after this Leighton wrote to Mrs. Pattison the following letter, which proves that to the end he retained his great affection for Eduard von Steinle. This friend and master died in 1886, but whether Leighton made this inquiry before or after that date I do not know, as his letter is not dated:--

DEAR MRS. PATTISON,--I saw a paragraph not long ago in the _Academy_ which concerned me deeply; it did not _say_, but it implied that my dear old friend and master, Ed. Steinle (professor at Frankfurt a/M) is dead. Did you by chance write the note? and do you know when or how he died, if he be indeed dead? His wife has not written to me. I am anxious to have some certainty in the matter.

(Influenced) "--for good far beyond all others by Steinle, a n.o.ble-minded, single-hearted artist, _s'il en fut_ ... Steinle's is the indelible seal." In making any estimate of Leighton's character these words should ever be remembered. They prove how deeply rooted were those feelings on which his principles were grafted. These words were no mere outlet for youthful enthusiasm and affection, but were noted with reference to an account of his life about to be written for publication; therefore we may consider them to be a deliberate statement made for a purpose, when he had reached the zenith of his fame and was already President of the Academy. The design by Steinle here produced, called _Der Winter_, in which the artist has drawn his own portrait when old, throws a light on the mind and nature of Leighton's master, whose influence on him for good was greater "far beyond all others."

Written on the drawing are these lines, penned by Steinle:--

Giunto e gia 'l corso della vita mia, Che tempestoso mar per fragil barca Al comun porto ov 'a render si varca Giunto ragion d'ogni opera trista e pia.

Indi l'affettuosa fantasia Che l'arte si fece idola e monarca Conos...o...b..n quant 'era d'error carca Ch' errore e ci che l'uom quaggiu desia.