The Life, Letters and Work of Frederic Leighton Volume II Part 11

I had a delightful time at Compiegne--the place is charming, the house comfortable in the extreme, and the life the perfection of unconstraint (if that is English); I have told you already how hospitable and kind my host and hostess were. I have, of course, no news to give you yet, except, by-the-bye, that the bailiffs were in the house the other day because Mr. and Mrs. Gedy had not paid 3, 5s. 6d. taxes; they stayed two days in the house, and if the money had not come, would have walked off with some of _my_ furniture. I wish I had a house; they are beginning a house on Campden Hill, and would build it for an artist after his own designs.

Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Sartoris, the admirer of "Eastern King," were also among the visitors during this week in a French country house, and write the following anecdote:--

"Those who knew Lord Leighton require no record of his kindness and unselfishness. For those who had not that privilege the following little anecdote may be interesting. In the late autumn of 1863 we were all staying with my sister-in-law, the Marquise de l'Aigle, at Francport, near Compiegne. Mrs. Sartoris was also there and Mr. Leighton. There was to be a service on the Sunday in a little neighbouring village church for some children who had made their first communion, and it occurred to Mme. de l'Aigle to have some special music on the occasion, and profit by the glorious voice of Mrs. Sartoris, who kindly offered to sing. Mr. Leighton also volunteered to take the tenor part in various sacred pieces. We were all to help in the concerted music, and the old cure was in the seventh heaven of delight at the prospect of such a grand service. Our dismay can be imagined when three days before the service Mr. Leighton announced that he must leave us as business required his presence in London.

'Oh!' we all exclaimed, 'what shall we do? the tenor pieces must be given up; the cure will die of grief,' &c. ... 'No, no,' said Mr. L., in his cheery way, 'don't change anything; I shall be back all right on Sunday morning in time to sing;' and so, sure enough, he did return, having travelled two nights to London and back. He never would tell us why he had gone; and it was not till long afterwards that it transpired that he had made the hurried double journey to help a struggling artist, whose work he wished to bring forward and introduce to some influential person. He attained his object, and thought nothing of the time and trouble involved, only glad to have been a help to one who needed a.s.sistance, and also to keep his promise by singing in the little village church."

[Ill.u.s.tration: "DRIFTING"

Ill.u.s.tration for Mrs. Adelaide Sartoris's story, "A Week in a French Country House," published in the _Cornhill Magazine_, 1867 By permission of Messrs. Smith, Elder, & Co.]

In 1863 Leighton began painting the fresco of "The Wise and Foolish Virgins," which he presented to the Church at Lyndhurst. It was painted on the plaster wall above the altar at the east end. While at work on it, he stayed with his old friend Mr. Hamilton Ade, who formed one of the happy company of _intimes_ of the Roman and Lucca days. Several visits to this charming home in the New Forest were made before the work was finished.

In the following letter to Steinle he mentions his first experiment in Mr. Gambier Parry's medium for painting in fresco.

_Translation._]

2 ORME SQUARE, BAYSWATER.

MY VERY DEAR FRIEND,--When I last wrote I asked you when the German exhibition of which you spoke was to take place, and whether it was to be held in Cologne itself; but as I received no answer I supposed that this exhibition either had not come to anything (as I have seen nothing about it in the newspapers), or that it did not seem sufficiently important to you for me to go specially to Germany for it. Nevertheless, I would have gone to Cologne, if it had been in any way feasible, exclusively on account of you and your works, which I am very anxious to see; unfortunately, however, I could not arrange it, and must content myself with learning from a letter (if you will write me one) how your work succeeds, and how far you have got with it. Two walls are already finished, are they not?

As for myself, I am fairly industrious. Amongst other things, I am painting at present the composition which you have already seen, of Michael Angelo and his old servant Urbino. I have endeavoured to keep the action of the figures simpler and smoother than in the first sketch; and, in fact, I think the picture will please you better than the drawing. For the rest, I am sick of painting small pictures, and would like to undertake something large; but it is not very agreeable to paint pictures which will probably remain always hanging round one's neck.

I think I shall very soon test the public again in this respect--but _what_ I shall paint I do not know. A friend of mine (Mr. Gambier Parry), a great art devotee and first-rate amateur, has discovered a medium to replace fresco painting in our damp climate. I have seen his experiments, and have myself painted a head under his rules,[28] and to my complete satisfaction. The result is scarcely to be distinguished from fresco, and is quite as easy, indeed even easier to achieve. At the same time this method has advantages which _buon_ fresco does not possess; it dries exactly as one lays it on (and is then flat), it has no deposit (_Ansatze_), and one can go over it as often as one likes. The wall (a granular lime wall) is saturated with the same preparation as you paint with. This preparation, which is _stone hard_ against water, can always dissolve _itself_ with moisture, so that one can retouch it perpetually, at the same time the _whole_ of one's palette is available. My friend is going to publish his system; I will then, if you like, tell you exactly about it.

And now, farewell, dear Master. Remember me most kindly to your wife and children, and keep in remembrance your friend and pupil,

FRED LEIGHTON.

He wrote to Steinle in 1862 that he was making studies for the Lyndhurst fresco, and expected to finish it that summer; but it was apparently only begun in August 1863.

_Translation._]

2 ORME SQUARE, BAYSWATER, _April 22, 1862_.

MY VERY DEAR FRIEND,--When I last wrote to you, I promised and hoped that this time I should be able to send you some photographs of my latest works, but unfortunately at the last moment time ran short. My pictures are only just ready for exhibition, and I must send them off unphotographed. In order that you may not think I have been idle, I write these lines; also because I am unwilling, my dear Master, to fade entirely from your memory. I am exhibiting _eight_ pictures this year, an unusually large number. But the case is not so bad as it looks at the first glance. Two only of these pictures are important in size and subject. One of them you already know from a former composition. It represents Michael Angelo with his dying servant Urbino. In the princ.i.p.al idea I have not deviated much from the first sketch, but have endeavoured to treat the whole with more unity and the details with more simplicity than in the drawing which you saw, and the faults of which you pointed out to me. This picture is life-size, and extends down to the knees.

The other is of a somewhat fanciful description. I have imagined one of the three holy kings, when he sees the Star in the East from the battlements of his palace. The picture is curious and open to much fault-finding, but I think it will please you by a certain poetry in the conception. The shape is long and narrow.

The king, half life-size, almost turns his back upon the spectator, and is, in the midst of the dark night, only lit by the mystic rays of the Star. In contrast to this pure light one sees, quite at the bottom, through an arch, into the hot lamp-light, which illuminates a gay orgy. I have allowed myself a certain amount of pictorial licence, which may well surprise the general spectator at first glance, but which to me heightens the poetical impression of the whole.

Five other pictures are smaller, and three of the subjects are idyllic or fanciful (_e.g._ a shepherd playing on a flute, an Oriental girl with a swan, &c. &c.), all carried out with great love, and certainly my best works.

At present I am busy making studies for a large wall painting (the "Wise and Foolish Virgins"), which I am giving to a church.

I shall execute it this summer, and tell you more about it.

Now, my dear Friend, I have given you a long and full report of myself; I hope you also will tell me what you are doing. I am very anxious to know how the Cologne frescoes get on. How I should like to see them! PERHAPS I may manage it this autumn. In the meantime, however, write to me, and believe me to be, your devoted pupil,

FRED LEIGHTON.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PORTRAIT FROM A PHOTOGRAPH OF LORD LEIGHTON TAKEN IN 1863]

_April 1863, Sat.u.r.day._

DEAREST MAMMA,--You have seen in the papers that the Review at Brighton went off capitally. I enjoyed my day very much, and though I was a _little_ tired and _very_ sleepy for two days after, was altogether the better for it. It was a stiff day's work too--nine or ten hours without sitting down, and with the additional responsibility of having the command of the Artists'

Company. I was sure you would be pleased at the reception of my "Fruit Girl"[29] by my brother artists--you must understand, though, that this applies chiefly to the younger men (and not to _all_ of _them_), for there are several of the older painters who strongly object to my style of painting and are bent on suppressing it.

Will you thank Papa for his hint about the _Athenaeum_--I am pretty sure he is mistaken about it, but I shall take measures about it--indeed I _have_.

I spoke to _Charles_ Greville (Henry's brother) and told him I thought I should be coming on before very long; he very kindly overhauled the lists and said he thought I might be up by the end of the summer, and, what was still more kind, seeing me unseconded, he put his name down as seconder.

FOREST BANK, LYNDHURST, _Thursday, August 6, 1863_.

If I was not more explicit about being with Ade, it was because I made sure you knew it. You will be pleased to hear that when after many _peripeties_ I did begin my fresco I got on capitally; I have now finished the task for this year, having painted _three_ life-size figures, with a good bit of background, in _four_ days. I worked hard for it, and am rather tired--head and eyes; otherwise flouris.h.i.+ng.

I am delighted with my new fresco material (Parry's)--the effect is excellent--nearly as fine as real fresco. Everybody seems much pleased with what I have done, particularly the parson. I like it myself; I enjoy working at it immensely; it is my real element. I find it (for mere _manipulation bien entendu_) absurdly easy.

The following letter from Mr. Gambier Parry explains the "fresco material" Leighton used.

HIGHNAM, GLOUCESTER, _August 3, 1863_.

MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--In reply to your last note about the use of the wall itself rather than of canvas, there can be no doubt on the subject, if only the plaster is _good_ and _well put on_.

You speak of two or three months to get it dry. I a.s.sure you that that is _not near enough_. When the surface feels dry to your hand you must not suppose that it is all dry inside, and if the _wall_ is new, I doubt a year being enough to dry it. The water must evaporate somewhere--it is drawn _to the_ surface of _interiors_ because they are the warmest.

You ask whether the rough cast on the wall must be sc.r.a.ped off before you wash the wall for painting. If by the _rough cast_ you mean rough plaster, which is a totally different thing to rough cast, certainly use it as it is. The coa.r.s.er the plaster the better, because it is all the more porous, so long only that it is of the best materials (viz. perfectly _washed_ sand, and good lime), and well put on a good wall. _Nothing in the world could equal it for painting upon_, except a surface of _coa.r.s.e clean_ Bath stone, with _all its pores open_. If you have such plaster as I have just described, and both it and the wall thoroughly dry, nothing could be better. The smooth surface, with what granulated texture you please, can be got according to the directions in my paper--viz. after two or three washes of pure diluted medium, give another or two more of the same, with dry whiting and a little white-lead, then go ahead _while it is all fresh_, viz. _two or three days_ after the process of preparation has been completed.

Take care in painting not to rub it up too much, for fear of _drawing up the glossy resins to the surface_ away from the wax.

Paint right _into_ your prepared surface _solidly_ and with _decision_ in the way of fresco painting, not as oil. Keep the brush clean, and the volatile oil in the dipper clean, and then, oh! how shall I envy you your power to use them all![30]

At the _Ely ceiling_, which is of hard wood _not_ porous, but prepared with three coats of oil white-lead, I am painting with

Liquid Measure.

Pale drying oil 2 j.a.pan gold size 2 Turpentine 2 Artist copal 1

well shaken up every time it is used. The colours are all ground up in it, and then painting is done as in water-colour, using _pure spirits of turpentine_ as a vehicle. Colours dry extremely rapidly and with a dead surface. The stuff looks horribly black, but the colours are not materially affected by it. Of course it is not to be compared with my former medium, because there is that bane of the palette oil in it, but I used it because of its great facility (used transparent like _water-colour on a white ground_), and because the surface was hard, so that wax might (in great heat) shrink or play tricks on it, as it has done in Murillo's pictures and many others.--Ever most sincerely yours,

T. GAMBIER PARRY.

If I can do anything for you, command me; we go to Scotland on the 14th.

LONDON, _April 26, 1863_.

DEAREST MAMMA,--You were no doubt surprised to see a sock arrive in Bath in solitary grandeur, unaccompanied by any sort of note.

The fact is, for some days past I have been working at a rate which made me altogether unfit for correspondence. I have just returned from Lyndhurst, where I have been doing a bit more fresco--and very stiff work it was--up and at work at seven, and at it best part of the day, perched generally on an uncomfortably narrow ladder, and with my head almost blown off by the agreeable but overpowering smell of the vehicle with which I painted. The result is as far as it goes tolerably satisfactory--everybody there is delighted, and though that, of course, does not prove much, it is at all events agreeable to me that they derive so much pleasure from my work. The stained-gla.s.s window, too, which has been executed at my desire from Jones' designs, gives great satisfaction--is a lovely piece of colour, and (which was, to me, of paramount importance) does not hurt my fresco, though, of course, in the nature of things, it outs.h.i.+nes tenfold in point of brilliancy; hence the folly, to my mind, of ever putting gla.s.s and wall painting in immediate juxtaposition. I shall go and paint another slice in June, after which Ade leaves, so I may not be able to finish my work till he returns in autumn. On my road to Lyndhurst, I paid a visit to Lady Dorothy Neville (Lady Pollington's sister) at Dangstein--a very beautiful place near Petersfield.

On Monday week the Royal Academy opens--I shall be curious to see what pictures they have taken; my work at present will be a woodcut for Dalziel--then that for the _Cornhill_--then a drawing for Cundall's Bible--Mrs. Magniac's portrait--the cartoon for the remainder of the Lyndhurst fresco--then perhaps a new picture. I wish some one would buy the old ones!

Have you read "Sylvia's Lovers"? Don't read "Salammbo"--it is hideous.