CONTEMPORARY PORTRAITS. NEW SERIES.-No. 13. SIR FREDERICK LEIGHTON, P.R.A. THE present day must be a trying one for the peculiar qualities supposed to reside in the artistic nature. Instead of looking for an obscure but happy working life under the patronage of some tranquil monastery, the painter of to-day has choice of two evils. He may paint inconspicuously well, and he will be hustled out of sight by a crowd of chromographs, oleographs, photographed canvasses from great pictures, daubed with colour from the back so as to look marvellously like copies in oils to the uninitiated, and so on. Or, if our artist should paint with conspicuous power, he will eventually find his creative moments interrupted by urgent calls made upon him to take his place in society, and obey its caprices, and to assume heavy practical responsibilities. Those must indeed have a large passion for art and a large capacity on their world side who can fulfil such diverse functions at once. Χαλεπὸν πολλὰς ódovs åμa Toû Bíov Badilew, said a Pythagorean, if not the master himself: It is a difficult business to walk in many ways of life at one and the same time. It is strongly to be hoped that in this instance we shall not have to accept the loss of a great and poetic artist beneath the heavy mantle of the duties and responsibilities of an Academic President. Sir Frederick Leighton is in the full vigour of the prime of life, and may be found strong enough to be an Atlas bearing the double orb of his fate upon his shoulders-a real and an ideal world. Leighton is of a family sprung originally from Yorkshire, and was himself born at Scarborough, 3rd December, 1830. His grandfather, Sir James Leighton, Knight, was Physician to the Royal Family of Russia, and Privy Councillor to the Emperor. His father, Frederick Leighton, who is still living, is also a physician. Leighton, the painter, showed his tendency very early in life. When a mere child of eleven or twelve he was studying art from choice, and at an early age was taking lessons from the celebrated Herr E. Steinle at Frankfort. It must have been both a pride and a pleasure to the old man to write, as recently he has done, to congratulate his pupil on having attained the highest dignity which is in the power of an English artist to win within his own sphere, the Presidency of the Royal Academy of Arts. The boy's earliest lessons were received at Rome, under Meli, a master now dead, a good draughtsman, who insisted upon purity of drawing. Before Leighton went to Frankfort he was a pupil of the Royal Academy at Berlin, entering that institution a little before the legitimate age. Here, under the late Professor Dahling, he used to make compositions of a severe historical kind. From Berlin his parents returned to England, and he did not go abroad again until he was fourteen, having spent a year in London. Then came a period of residence at Florence, where he first began drawing from the life. His father, while encouraging his son's taste, did not destine him for art as a chief aim in life. He met, however, Hiram Power at Florence, in the winter of 1845-6, when the sculptor expressed so decided an opinion on the merits of the youth's drawings, that Mr. Leighton, sen., came to a decision that painting should be adopted as his son's profession. After this the family settled in Frankfort, and young Leighton went to school, painting being to a certain extent suspended, although the opposition to his being a painter was now definitely withdrawn. Eventually he attended the Städel Institute, a local academy at Frankfort, where he studied some time, at first for a while under Becker, and then under the master whom it is understood that he regards as his good genius. This was Steinle, under whom he now first took lessons. Under the direction of this kind master, who was originally of Vienna, and is a painter of the school of Overbeck, Leighton painted his first picture, the "Death of Brunellesco." It was not until 1848, however, when he was in his eighteenth year, that he exhibited anything. The first picture that came before the world was his " Cimabue," which represented the noble Florentine artist finding Giotto drawing in the fields that Giotto, who was afterwards his disciple, and outdid his master. This work was the young painter's first success, and indeed its level was not attained by the pictures that immediately succeeded it from the same brush. In this picture the influence of his master, Steinle, was traceable. At the time of the Revolution in Frankfort the family went to winter in Brussels, and there also the studies in painting were continued. In 1849 Leighton was studying in Paris, attending the Life School, and also copying in the Louvre. Thence he returned to Frankfort, where he remained until 1853, after which he spent three successive winters in Rome. Here it was that he made the acquaintance of the Prince of Wales. During the second period at Frankfort he was again working under . Steinle; and, while during his former stay he had had advice and assistance from him, he was now definitely taken as a pupil into his studio. This master had an extraordinary purity of taste, without being absolutely ascetic, or posing as a religious painter. To his pupil's studies he gave a special direction, without, however, at all forcing him into his own channel. In this Frankfort studio the design was made for a picture of importance which represented another scene from the life of Cimabue. The renowned Florentine had painted a picture of the Madonna, which was the largest that had been seen in those thirteenth century days, and produced so great a wonder among the people that it was carried from Cimabue's house to the church of Sancta Maria Novella, where the artist first went to school, in solemn procession, with trumpets blowing, and a great concourse of people. This is the scene in the life of an old master, which the young master chose to represent in his own picture. By this work success was made decisive. It gave Leighton his first entrance as an exhibitor into the Academy over which he now presides; and its merit was so far recognised that it was at once purchased by the Queen; and Leighton's name, till then almost unknown, came at once into notice in this country. For a long time, however, his works met with a very decided opposition, the elder artists looking askance at what they regarded as foreign tendencies. England was somewhat more insular and less cosmopolitan then than now. With the "Cimabue was painted a picture now in America, the "Reconciliation of the Montagues and Capulets." After the "Cimabue" success, Leighton spent four years in hard study in Paris, associating there with Ary Scheffer, Robert Fleury, Decamps, and other French representative artists. Whilst in Paris he painted "Orpheus and Eurydice," which was hooted down. How could a man be such a fool, after painting the "Cimabue ?" sapient critics asked of one another. For some years Leighton was under a cloud; his pictures were skyed in the exhibitions, and purchasers held aloof. His work was contemptuously dubbed "foreign painting," and perhaps some were ashamed of ever having said a good word about the painter. Amid these violent reactionists there were a few exceptions, amongst whom was the conscientious and independent critic Mr. W. M. Rossetti, who expressed his sorrow that people were not more open to serious impressions. The pictures of this period, in addition to the one named, were "The Great God Pan," "Venus and Cupid," "The Feigned Death of Juliet," and "Samson Agonistes." Returning to London, Leighton prosecuted his art with vigour, and contributed, in 1864, his second master-work, "Dante in Exile," to the exhibition of the Royal Academy. The merit of this work was so gene rally recognised as to lead to Leighton's election as associate in the year of its appearance. A large part of his time was now spent in travel and in study of the art of various countries. To Greek art he especially directed his attention, while from the regions further east he gathered rich studies which he afterwards embodied in his works. Travelling alone, as a rule, he went up the Nile, travelled through the Levant, and visited Damascus. From Damascus he doubtless drew the materials for his picture of "The Jew's House" which appeared during the year following his stay in that city. Passing through so many rich experiences, he gained style and completeness as an artist. Another result of his varied travels has been the acquisition of many languages. French, German, and Italian he can talk and write like a native, with all the patois. He can converse also in Spanish, modern Greek, and Arabic, the last having been learned in Egypt and Damascus. "" Sir Frederick Leighton was elected a Royal Academician in 1869, and contributed as his diploma picture "St. Jerome in the Wilderness,' which is to be seen in the Diploma Gallery at Burlington House. His style may be said to have been modified since even so recent a date as this. What may be called his modern popularity dates from a time (1863) when he exhibited a picture called " Odalesque." He had not then been in the East, but this work betrays the quality that afterwards developed into what is known as his Oriental tendency. Sir Frederick Leighton's pictures are so numerous that it would be a long labour to specify them here, much more to attempt a descriptive catalogue. Among classical pictures of note are "Helen of Troy" (exhibited 1865); "Ariadne;" "Helios and Rhodos" (1869), a picture whose graceful figures, and blue waters into which rich roses are falling, haunt us still; "Syracusan Brides leading Wild Beasts in Procession to the Temple of Diana" (1866); and "Alcestis," in which Hercules, tawny and brawny, contends for the possession of Alcestis with the King of Terrors, a livid form scarcely less muscular than himself. This picture, which is a very large one, being about eight feet in length by more than five in height, was exhibited in 1870, when the painter had only just recovered from a severe illness. 66 We may add the melancholy picture of "Electra at the Tomb of Agamemnon," Clytemnestra from the Battlements of Argos Watching for the Beacon Fires which are to announce the return of Ulysses" (1874), "Dædalus and Icarus," "Antinous," &c. Among biblical subjects are the "Elijah," lately exhibited at the Paris Exhibition, " Ahab and Jezebel" (1863), and a picture of the wise men in the East looking at the stars; this is entitled "The Star of Bethlehem," and was exhibited in 1862. Between the classical and biblical styles should come the picture of the dancing of the daughter of Herodias. |