The Life, Letters and Work of Frederic Leighton Volume II Part 33

We have one in suspense before us at this moment--the case of the engravers.

The laws of the Academy distinctly provide (but not more distinctly than that without discrimination "members" shall sit on Council) that a vacancy in the case of R.A. engravers shall not be filled up until the a.s.sent of the General a.s.sembly has been taken by vote. Since the making of that law only two vacancies have occurred. They were both filled up without a preliminary permission, and the Sovereign sanctioned the election. On your contention, therefore, the custom consecrated by these sanctions must override the law itself, and nothing at this time stands between Barlow and the Queen's signature to his Diploma.

The Const.i.tutional question you have raised is certainly one of the highest importance, and I shall watch its development with great interest. It is a matter of little moment what the view of an ordinary member like myself may be, but not so with the President, and I offer no apology for endeavouring to throw light upon the subject.

H.T.W.

[68] See Chapter III.

[69] Now in the Tate Gallery, purchased under the terms of the Chantrey Bequest.

[70] The owners of Leighton's pictures must feel satisfaction, not only in the fact that in all cases the beauty of the forms and arrangements of line grow on the eye more and more the longer they are studied, but also that the work itself improves by keeping. I noticed this to be the case very decidedly in "Cymon and Iphigenia." I had seen it when completed, the day before it left the studio in 1884; and when it returned there in 1901 (the owner, Sir Cuthbert Quilter, having kindly lent it for exhibition), and was placed in precisely the same light, I was surprised to see how much it had improved in tone during those seventeen years; it had gained so very greatly in those qualities which suggest the feeling Leighton wished it to inspire.

[71] Leighton kept these precious studies he made for his pictures in a drawer where I was often invited, rather apologetically, to turn them over as if they were absolutely of no importance. I protested against the cursory treatment they received at the hand of their creator; and on seeing one superlatively beautiful study of drapery pinned on his easel one day, I implored him to have it glazed and framed before it ran any danger of being rubbed. He did so, and always alluded to it after as "that sketch you lost for me," because, being framed, he lent it to some one--he did not remember to whom--and it never came back.

Periodically I asked if it had returned; "No--some one, I suppose, has taken a fancy to it," Leighton would reply. The pace at which he had to live in order to fulfil the work he had set himself, enforced great carelessness about his own interests in such matters. Unfortunately, after Leighton's death, the sketches were exposed to much defacement, a natural consequence of their being moved before being secured under gla.s.s.

[72] Ceiling for a music room, painted for Mr. Marquand, New York.

[73] Mr. Brock gave a replica of this bust to the Leighton House Collection in 1897. It is from some points of view the most characteristic portrait of Leighton in existence.

[74] Miss Emily Hickey, the poetess, was inspired by Leighton's picture to write the following lines:--

SOLITUDE

O'er the grey rocks, like monarchs robed and crowned, High tower the firs in swart magnificence, Where, winter after winter, vehemence Of the wild torrent's rush, unstayed, unbound, Hath scooped and worn the rocks till so profound The deep pool's depth that all the gazer's sense Fills with the absolute, dark-brown night intense.

The rapid current swirls, but never a sound.

By the high grandeur of the silence wooed Into its bond of comradeship, the maid Sits with the quiet on her bosom laid; Not on the great unknowable to brood; Only to wait a while till, unafraid, She see the spirit of the solitude.

E.H. HICKEY.

_Oct. 26, '91._

[75] As portraits, the two heads Watts painted from "Dorothy Dene" were superior to those Leighton painted.

[76] This referred to a joke we had had with reference to a photograph Mrs. Cameron had taken of my brother-in-law, Mr. W.R. Greg. Mrs.

Cameron had insisted that all character, will-force, and superiority in general, evinced themselves through the size of the nose and the height of the bridge. The result was, in trying to accentuate this feature in my brother-in-law's photograph, she had made it almost _all_ nose!

[77] Among Leighton's correspondence is the following interesting letter from Irving, who was an ardent admirer of Leighton's, and was among the first to join the committee formed to preserve his house for the public.

15A GRAFTON STREET, BOND STREET, W., _January 1, 1889_.

DEAR SIR FREDERIC,--I am glad that you are coming to "Macbeth,"

and I wish you had been with us on Sat.u.r.day.

The seats you wish for I enclose, though I should ever look upon it as a great privilege to welcome you myself.

Ellen Terry's performance is remarkable, and perfectly delightful after the soulless and insipid imitations of Sarah Siddons to which we have been accustomed.

You will find the cobwebs of half a century brushed away.

There is an amusing article in to-day's _Standard_, which overshoots the mark, and clearly shows how offensive it is to some minds to be earnest and conscientious in one's work. But I need not point this out to you.--Remaining, my dear Sir Frederic, yours sincerely,

H. IRVING.

[78] Needless to say that time was invariably forthcoming to welcome and entertain the friends he loved. The following letter from Costa gives a picture of his delight in so doing:--

"LONDON, _Dec. 10, 1888_, "2 HOLLAND PARK ROAD.

"DEAREST TONINA,--A thousand thanks for the twelve letters which I have found awaiting me here.

"I have just arrived from the station, where I found the President, who was shedding light all round him, all radiant with his white beard. Note that the train arrived at a quarter past five, and there was an hour's drive from the station to his house, and then he had to dine, and at half-past seven he was due at the Academy for a distribution of prizes to the students, where I, too, was to have accompanied him. However, in London there was one of those fogs which put a stop to all traffic, and it took us an hour and three-quarters to reach home.

"The cabman had to get down and lead the horse; with one hand he guided the animal, which was slipping on the ice, and with the other he held a lantern. What darkness,--the gloom of h.e.l.l itself! Boys holding torches and shouting, showed us the way; foot pa.s.sengers called out, 'Hi there! look where you're going to!' but, in spite of everything, the cabman with his lantern banged into a railing.

"At last we arrived at our destination, having discussed all the way along the speech which Leighton made at Liverpool. The dinner was ready, and eaten hurriedly, with the obligatory champagne. I had eaten nothing since the morning. Whilst dining, I got off accompanying him to the Academy, pleading my rheumatic pains, and I ate like a famished and attentive dog. But the President, spite of the hurry he was in, never once ceased from tracing the iron line along which I am to run as long as I am with him, and so he has set me down for a trip on Sat.u.r.day.

"Good-night; I am going to bed, as I am deadly sleepy. Did you receive a letter of mine from Castle Howard?

"Thank for me the kind writers of the twelve little letters; in the midst of these fogs they have been twelve stars to me. A kiss to dear Tonachino. Frederic was much amused by Georgia's letter, and embraces you all.

"Love to all, from Ninaccio, who has the greatest possible desire to repa.s.s the Channel."--(See "Giovanni Costa: His Life, Work, and Times," by Olivia Rossetti Agresti.)

[79] It may interest his friends to know that the valuable collection of casts which Mr. Copland Perry spent four years in forming, after visits to all the collections of ancient sculptures in Europe, has been ceded to the British Museum, and will be transferred from the South Kensington Museum, where it has long been hidden away in a dark corridor, to suitable courts in the new buildings of the British Museum.

[80] Professor Church's Lectures were given to the outer world beyond the Academy in the form of a book, published in 1891, and dedicated by permission to Leighton.

[81] The questions raised in these letters have been very fully answered in the third edition of Professor Church's "Chemistry of Paints and Painting" (see Index), published in 1901.

[82] This spot inspired the picture "Solitude."

CHAPTER VI

LIFE WANING--DEATH

1887-1896

Already in 1887 his friends noticed that Leighton showed at times that he was overtaxing his strength. On retiring from the Academy as an active member, Mr. George Richmond wrote:--

20 YORK STREET, PORTMAN SQUARE, W., _January 13, 1887_.

MY DEAR SIR FREDERIC,--I have just received your most kind and generous note, and thank you and the Council for so promptly complying with my request to retire from the R. Academy as an active member.

To do it was much worse than making a will; but, having done it, I am greatly relieved.

Had it been earlier it would have been wiser; but as delay has not forfeited the esteem of my dear President and others, I am thankful and content.