Part 3 (2/2)

Still more popular was his _Music Lesson_, another work in the same exhibition. To realize the full charm of this picture, one must see the original; for much depends upon the beauty of its colouring. Imagine a cla.s.sical marble hall, marble floor, marble walls, in black and white, and red--deep red--marble pillars; and sitting there, sumptuously attired, but bare-footed, two fair-haired girls, who serve for pupil and music-mistress. The elder is showing the younger how to finger a lyre, of exquisite design and finish; and the expression on their faces is charmingly true, while the colours that they contribute to the composition,--the pale blue of the child's dress, the pale flesh tints, the pale yellow hair, and the white and gold of the elder girl's loose robe, and the rich auburn of her hair,--are most harmonious. A bit of scarlet pomegranate blossom, lying on the marble ground, gives the last high note of colour to the picture. Two other pictures of 1877 must not be omitted. _Study_ shows us a little girl (the present Lady Orkney), in Eastern garb, diligently reading a sheet of music which lies before her on a little desk. There is great charm in the simple grace of the picture and in the softly brilliant colouring of the child's costume.

Very delightful, too, is the portrait of _Miss Mabel Mills_ (now the Hon. Mrs. Grenfell), habited in black velvet, and a large dark hat with coloured feathers, set against a grey background, a picture here reproduced. _A Study_, _An Italian Girl_, and a _Portrait of H. E.

Gordon_, were all three shown at the Grosvenor Gallery the same year.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PORTRAIT OF THE HON. MABEL MILLS (1877)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PORTRAIT OF CAPTAIN RICHARD BURTON (1876)]

Another picture, in which a simple theme is treated in a cla.s.sic fas.h.i.+on--not dissimilar to that employed for the _Music Lesson_--is _Winding the Skein_, a lovely painting exhibited at the Academy in 1878.

In this we see two Greek maidens as naturally employed as we often see English girls in other surroundings. This idealization of a familiar occupation--so that it is lifted out of a local and casual sphere, into the permanent sphere of cla.s.sic art, is characteristic of the whole of Leighton's work. He, like Sir L. Alma-Tadema and Albert Moore, contrived also to preserve a certain modern contemporary feeling in the cla.s.sic presentment of his themes. He was never archaic; so that the cla.s.sic scenarium of his subjects, in his hands, appears as little antiquarian as a mediaeval environment, shall we say, in the hands of Browning.

_Nausicaa_, a full-length girlish figure, in green and white draperies, standing in a doorway, and _Serafina_, another single figure, and _A Study_, were also shown the same year. At the Grosvenor Gallery were a _Portrait of Miss Ruth Stewart Hodgson_, a demure little damsel in outdoor attire, and a _Study of a Girl's Head_, full face.

[Ill.u.s.tration: NAUSICAA (1878)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: STUDY FOR ”ELIJAH AND THE ANGEL”]

CHAPTER V

YEAR BY YEAR--1878 TO 1896

On November 13th, 1878, Frederic Leighton was elected President of the Royal Academy, in succession to Sir Francis Grant, and immediately received the honour of knighthood.

In 1879 Leighton sent eight contributions to the Academy, not one of which, with the possible exception of the _Elijah_, perhaps, has been counted among his masterpieces. Four of them belong to that group of ideal figure paintings which almost const.i.tute a _genre_ in themselves: _Biondina_, _Catarina_, _Amarilla_, and _Neruccia_, a girl with a red flower in her hair, in white dress, against a dark background. The finely austere _Elijah in the Wilderness_ was an addition to the notable group of Scriptural paintings. In this picture the nude figure of the prophet is seen reclining on a rock, with head and arms thrown back, while beside him stands an angel holding bread and water. The striking and powerful _Portrait of Professor Costa_, the _Portrait of the Countess Brownlow_, and a portrait study, completed the list of the year's contributions, the largest number ever sent in by Leighton, before his election or afterward. This year ten of his landscape-studies in oil were exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery.

It may be thought by the outsider that the coveted office of the President of the Royal Academy of Arts is, in a way, an ornamental one,--some such golden sinecure as that of the old High Chamberlains.

Nothing could be more mistaken. ”Not everybody,” wrote the late Mr.

Underhill, who for some time, as private secretary to Sir Frederic Leighton, had special opportunities of knowing, ”is aware of the tax upon a man's time and energy that is involved in the acceptance of the office in question. The post is a peculiar one, and requires a combination of talents not frequently to be found, inasmuch as it demands an established standing as a painter, together with great urbanity and considerable social position. The inroads which the occupancy of the office makes upon an artist's time are very considerable. There is, on the average, at least one Council meeting for every three weeks throughout the whole of the year. There are from time to time general a.s.semblies for the election of new members and for other purposes, over which the President is bound, of course, to preside. For ten days or a fortnight in every April he has to be in attendance with the Council daily at Burlington House, for the purpose of selecting the pictures which are to be hung in the Spring Exhibition. He has to preside over the banquet which yearly precedes the opening of the Academy, and he has to act as host at the annual conversazione. Finally, it is his duty every other year to deliver a long, elaborate, and carefully prepared 'Discourse' upon matters connected with art, to the students who are for that purpose a.s.sembled. It is a post of much honour and small profit.”

[Ill.u.s.tration: SISTER'S KISS (1880) _By permission of the Fine Art Society_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PORTRAIT OF SIGNOR COSTA (1879)]

In filling this post, and neglecting no one of its smallest offices and endless small courtesies, an artist had needs be without the characteristic artist's defects of hesitation and delay; and in fact, Lord Leighton mastered, as much as any statesman of our time, the indispensable secret of despatch. We quote from Mr. Underhill again: ”To administer the affairs of the Academy, to fulfil a round of social semi-public and public engagements, and to paint pictures which invariably reach a high level of excellence, would of course be impossible--even to Sir Frederic Leighton--were it not for the fact that he makes the very most of the time at his disposal. 'That's the secret,'

remarked a distinguished member of the Academy to the present writer some little time before the President's death; 'Sir Frederic knows exactly how long it will take to do a certain thing, and he apportions his time accordingly.' This being the case, no one will be surprised to learn that he attached the greatest importance to punctuality. He himself never failed to keep an appointment at the exact moment fixed upon, and he expected, of course, similar punctuality on the part of others. The stroke of eight from the Academy clock was the signal for Sir Frederic to enter the Council Room at Burlington House, and to open the deliberations of the body over which he presided. 'They will never again get a man to devote so much time and energy to the business of the Academy,' said Sir Frederic Leighton's most distinguished colleague shortly before his death; 'never again.'” And since that time the same tribute has been paid ungrudgingly in public and private often enough.

In 1880, we are tempted by five canvases; of which the _Sister's Kiss_ and _Psamathe_, are perhaps the most important. The former turns a garden wall to delightful account, in its picture of a child, who is seated upon it, and of her charmingly drawn elder sister, who gives the kiss. The composition of this picture may be seen in our reproduction, but the colour of the bronze green robe--of singular beauty--is of course not even suggested. More cla.s.sic, perhaps, and not less picturesque, is the Greek maiden, Psamathe, who was, if we remember aright, one of the Nereides. The artist has painted her sitting by the seash.o.r.e, gazing over the aegean, with her back turned to the spectator.

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