The Life, Letters and Work of Frederic Leighton Volume II Part 21

TANGIERS, _October 4, 1877_.

MY DEAR PAPA,--You are probably not a little surprised at the superscription of this letter; so am I. It was a sudden and a happy thought that brought me here. I reflected that, whilst I had long wished to see Tangiers, I should not very probably come to Spain again, and should therefore not have another chance of visiting Morocco without a journey made on purpose. The run from Gibraltar is only four hours, and I wonder the trip did not form part of my original scheme. It will have one drawback for me, that I shall get to Granada a few days later, and be by so much the longer in getting news from England; but my journey will not be prolonged on the whole, as I shall endeavour to cut off at the end what I put on now. I the more owe myself what enjoyment I can get here, that as I told you--did I not?--in my last, my journey has been hitherto rather a dismal failure. I told you how vile the weather was in Madrid, so that all technical study of the pictures was out of the question. Well this is, since then, the first perfectly fine afternoon we have had. Observe, I only say afternoon, for it poured in the morning, and the phenomenon of a wholly bright day has still to come. I am also still further in arrears of enjoyment from the fact that I got rather out of order, G.o.d knows why, the day I went to Toledo, to the utter spoiling of what should have been one of my most delightful trips, and am only now pulling round again, having called in aesculapius (at 2 dollars a consultation), whilst at Gibraltar. An attack of this nature is simply fatal to any real pleasure on one's journey, and, coming on the top of dark weather and the contretemps just as the closing of the Alcazar in Seville (one of the things I especially wanted to see) made rather an absurd failure of the whole thing. At Seville I was fool enough to go again to a bull-fight, and was so disgusted that I got up and went away when the performance was only half over. Meanwhile the aspect of the arena itself, with the Cathedral and its marvellous tower rising just above into the sky, is a very striking sight, and one I should regret to have missed. The processional entry, too, of the whole of the performers--picadors, capeodors, espadas, &c. &c.--is very picturesque and stately. It is when the goring and torturing begins that the sight is revolting; and the enormous popularity of this form of sport with a nation, not, that I am aware of, exceptionally cruel, only shows how easily our worst instincts stifle our better nature, such as it is.

This is a prodigiously picturesque place, and I enjoy more than I can say watching the Arabs swarming up the streets and markets, stately and grand in their picturesqueness beyond any population that I know, and particularly instructive and valuable to an artist from the sculpturesque _definiteness_ of their forms. The Jewish women here are said (by Ford) to be prodigiously handsome. I have seen no Rebeccas amongst them yet.

I have not yet opened my box, and shall at best do little or nothing; I have no time. Next week I shall be in Granada, from where I hope to have to acknowledge a letter dated in Kensington Park Gardens. Meanwhile I am, with best love to Lina and yourself,--Yours affectionately,

FRED.

GRANADA, _October 19, 1877_.

MY DEAR PAPA,--To-morrow is my last day in Granada. On Sunday I turn my face Londonward, and my holiday will be pretty nearly at an end, as I have, from want of time, given up my original intention of seeing Valencia, Alicante, Tarragona, &c. &c.

Travelling in Spain is so infinitely slower than I had remembered it, and so ideally inconvenient in regard to hours of starting and arriving, that my programme has altogether undergone considerable modifications. I reached this place a good week later than I expected, and I did not get your letter till some days later yet, owing, I suppose, to the difficulty experienced by the postal authorities in the art of reading.

This will account to you for the time that will have elapsed between your receipt of my two epistles. I am truly sorry to hear that poor Lina is below par; tell her so, with my love. As you do not speak of yourself, I presume that you are in good form, and am glad to hear it. There is one pa.s.sage in your letter which suggests to me a strong protest. I think it preposterous that the ambulant spinsters, or otherwise, with whom you foregather on your journeys, should expect _you_ to furnish them with photos of your "celebrated son." I like enthusiasm; but _genuine_ enthusiasm does not halt at a s.h.i.+lling, which is the sum for which my effigy is obtainable in the public market; _verb. sap._ I will not describe to you Toledo, Cordova, Seville, Granada, &c. (under which heads see Murray's guide-book). I have done so before (probably), and they have altered less than I, with the exception, perhaps, of Granada, or rather the Alhambra, which, alas! is changed indeed, thanks to the restoring mania, and is now all but brand new. I ought, perhaps, to remark that the changes in _me_ are not precisely in that direction. Taking a bird's-eye view of my holiday, I don't think I should call it altogether a success, though I have had many very delightful moments, and have seen many very beautiful things; but, in the first place, I have failed to fulfil one of the special objects of my trip, that, namely, of making a few sketches of sky effects, particularly seaside skies, which I sorely want for my picture of the girls and the skein of worsted. I have not done so, because I have not _once_ seen anything even resembling the skies I mean, and which are generally forthcoming at this season. The weather has indeed of late been fine, often if not always, and here even, at times, superb; but it is the before the rains, and not, as it should be, the clear, keen, autumn weather, after the air has been well swept and purged by the equinoctial broom and pail, which I had a right to demand of a Mediterranean October. This is a great disappointment. I did not want to _work_, and G.o.d knows I have not (five little sketches in all!); but just this doc.u.ment I did peremptorily require. In the second place, I have been rather seedy (am all right now), not very, but enough to poison my pleasure; and just so much that, after two or three little amateur attempts (local apothecary, fellow-travellers, &c. &c.), I thought it right (at Gibraltar) to see a doctor, not _because_ I was ill, but _lest_ I should get worse and develop more serious symptoms, as internal disturbance occasionally does in hot countries. In a few days (and two large bottles of physic) I was much better, and am now, I repeat, quite "myself"

again.

But I perceive that this uninteresting twaddle has filled my paper, and barely left me s.p.a.ce to tell that I have been to Africa, and shall be home on the 28th (evening). Yes, to Africa; Tangiers in four hours' steam from Gibraltar, and a most picturesque spot, of which more when we meet. On my way home I shall spend part of a day in Madrid, in the hopes of seeing the pictures this time. On my road through France I shall make a short break at Poitiers. _a bientot._--Affectionate son,

FRED.

During the nine years that Leighton was a Royal Academician he worked most energetically in many directions towards establis.h.i.+ng the principles which he considered sound and essential to the growth of the best Art instincts in England. He was one of the Professional Examiners in Art from 1866 to 1875 at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

In 1884 he became one of the Art Referees for the Museum, and was consulted by Sir Henry Cole to a considerable extent. He aided, as far as lay in his power, all Art Societies to expand and to grow on the lines of Catholicity. He was a member of the Committee of the Society of Dilettanti, for the purpose of obtaining information as to the probable success of renewed search for monuments of Greek Art. The following extract from a report proves what an active part he took in the business of the society:--

"In the autumn of the same year two hundred cases of inscriptions and sculptures from Priene were transported from Priene to Smyrna, and thence conveyed to England in H.M.S.

_Antelope_. In March 1870 the society presented these marbles to the trustees of the British Museum. In May 1870 the committee, then consisting of Earl Somers, Lord Houghton, Mr. Watkiss Lloyd, Mr. Penrose, Mr. Cartwright, Mr. Leighton, and Mr.

Newton, held several meetings. The committee at their meetings went carefully over all the drawings and details obtained by the society of the Temple of Bacchus at Teos, Apollo Smintheus, and Minerva Polias at Priene; they were of opinion that they would form an interesting and valuable publication, and should be proceeded with as soon as possible, and executed in a style worthy of the former productions of the society. Mr. Leighton offered to redraw the sculpture on some of the friezes, and Lord Somers to prepare the landscape ill.u.s.trations."

In 1871 the President of the Artist Benevolent Fund, Mr. J.K. Kempton Hope, wrote to Leighton: "I am peculiarly proud that the first act which I have to perform in my new character is to say how honoured and grateful we all should be if you would kindly consent to accept the position of Vice-President."

The following letter to his father announces that Leighton had been elected President of the International Jury of Painting, Paris Exhibition, 1878:--

HoTEL WESTMINSTER, 1878, _Friday_.

DEAR PAPA,--I have been waiting to write till I should have something to say beyond the fact that the weather is odious, and shows no signs of relenting. On Sat.u.r.day afternoon we had our meeting of the Royal Commissioners, which had for its object the hearing of an address from the Prince of Wales. On Monday morning the _whole_ International Jury (some six hundred or seven hundred members) met at the Ministere de Commerce, and was little more than formal. _To-day_ the group of sections which are concerned with Art held its first meeting under the presidency of Signor Tullio Ma.s.sarani, an Italian, with Meissonier as Vice-President, the chief object of the meeting being to inform the various sections of the groups whom the Minister had appointed as their respective presidents. My section, composed of forty members, is _Paintings and Drawings_; there are twenty Frenchmen--nearly all the first artists of the country, in fact--and you will be surprised and very much gratified to learn that I was named president of this section--a very high honour, of course, and one of which I am extremely sensible, but which we must not misinterpret; it is, of course, only by an act of international courtesy that the French placed a foreigner at the head of their section, and amongst the other foreign artists there were few names of much weight or standing; still, it is a courtesy which will, I am sure, give you pleasure. Our section being thus const.i.tuted, we then appointed our own _vice_-president, reporter, and secretary; they were unanimously elected; the first was my old friend, Robert Fleury; the second was Emile de Savelege, the Belgian writer whom you know of; and the third an old and kind friend of mine, Maurice Cottier, a man much mixed up in the official artistic world and possessing a magnificent picture gallery. To-morrow we begin our labours at the Exhibition, and in the afternoon I shall go to the _seance_ of the _Inst.i.tut_, which always takes place on Sat.u.r.days. This is my budget.

Perhaps the most important work inside the Academy which Leighton effected during this time was that of establis.h.i.+ng the winter exhibitions of Old Masters at Burlington House. No one exemplified practically better than did Leighton the value of the motto, "What is worth having is worth sharing." He had been fed from early youth from the fountain-heads of Art, and one of his first objects after being elected a member of the Royal Academy was to endeavour to secure the same inspiring stimulus for students which he had himself imbibed from the work of the greatest men. He told me also that his chief object in making conscientious studies in colour when he travelled, was to endeavour to convey to students who were not able to go abroad some idea of the varieties in the aspects of nature found in different countries. Leighton was much appreciated in London society, but the _intimes_ of the old Roman days remained still the nucleus of his friends.h.i.+ps; also every year he tried to find himself in his beloved Italy, and he generally succeeded. From his old friend Lady William Russell, mother of Odo Russell (afterwards Lord Ampthill and Leighton's ally in Rome), and Arthur Russell--the notable lady whose charm attracted to her _salon_ all that was most interesting among the magnates of Europe--two notes record her affection for Leighton and the death of Henry Greville in 1872, the severest blow which Leighton had sustained since the death of his mother.

I was in hopes of seeing you, to thank you _viva voce_ for the _ambrosia_ you sent me from Italy. I did _not_ write during your pictorial tour, not exactly knowing _where_ you might be. It was, _and is_, for I have some still, _excellent_; Paolo Veronese did not eat any better, nor t.i.tian, nor any of your _Brethren in Apollo_.

_Guido_ you _are_--the English Guido--but _not_ "da Polenta"; I will _not_ accept that "terre a terre" denomination. I now thank you most gratefully--it was one of the seven works of mercy, for I really could not eat and was _starving_. The Indian cornflour was a _renovation_. If ever you can make up your mind to pay a visit to una povera vealisa--zoppa--sorda--brutta and seccante, and forget "_Aurora_," I shall be charmed. But I know that your time is better employed; so a million of thanks, and as many regrets not to be able to see your _marvels_ of which I hear.--Believe me, most sincerely your obliged Serva and Amica,

E.A.R.

2 AUDLEY SQUARE MAYFAIR, W.

_Sunday, 26th November 1871_.

DEAR GUIDO (but _not_ of Polenta),--I have been quite _mortified_ at your neglect of me, and invoked the muses in vain! and call'd on the ghosts of t.i.tian and Raffael, but they did not heed my sighs! I am always glad to see you, and wish I could _see your works_! All my cotemporaries and comrades are dying off, and I _cannot_ last long--so come to my "Evenings at Home" when you dine in my "Quartier" and are going to your club.

Alas! for dear Henry Greville! I knew him from his most early youth. _Both_ his parents were my _early_ friends from _my_ youth, and his elder brother my cotemporary.

Come! Benvenuto Cellini--venite!

_Monday, February 1873._

Leighton's pa.s.sion for music led him to encourage all that was best in instrumental as well as in vocal performance. The Monday Popular Concerts were started by Messrs. Chappell in 1859, the first being given on the 3rd January. From their commencement Leighton was a subscriber, and very rarely missed being present.

It was in the 'seventies that Leighton inst.i.tuted those yearly feasts of music, which were among the real treats of the year.[54] His dear friend Joachim was to the end the _piece de resistance_ of these gatherings. Never did the Great Master seem so inspired as when he played in that studio. Leighton wrote to his sister, Mrs. Matthews, April 1871:--

DEAREST GUSSY,--You heard, no doubt, that I gave a party the other day, and that it went off well. To me perhaps the most striking thing of the evening was Joachim's playing of Bach's "Chacone" up in my gallery. I was at the other end of the room, and the effect from the distance of the dark figure in the uncertain light up there, and barely relieved from the gold background and dark recess, struck me as one of the most poetic and fascinating things that I remember. At the opposite end of the room in the apse was a blazing crimson rhododendron tree, which looked glorious where it reached up into the golden semi-dome. Madame Viardot sang the "Divinites du Styx," from the "Alcestis," quite magnificently, and then, later in the evening, a composition of her own in which I delight--a Spanish-Arab ditty, with a sort of intermittent mandoline sc.r.a.ping accompaniment. It is the complaint of some forsaken woman, and wanders and quavers in a doleful sort of way that calls up to me in a startling manner visions and memories of Cadiz and Cordova, and sunny distant lands that smell of jasmine. A little Miss Brandes, a pupil of Madame Schumann, played too. She is full of talent and promise, and has had an immense success. Mme. Joachim sang "Mignon" (Beethoven) excellently.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Sketch executed on the spot by Mr. Theodore Blake Wirgman of their Majesties the King and Queen attending a Popular Concert in St. James's Hall, Lord Leighton being one of the Royal party. About 1893.]

Mrs. Watts Hughes writes the following notes relating to those years of the 'seventies:--

I remember the incident you refer to at Eton College. The _Orfeo_ performance was given by the Eton boys, who had formed a society among themselves with the view of making acquaintance with the music of the great masters. I took the part of _Orfeo_, and a niece of Darwin's, Miss Wedgwood, who is now Lady Farrer, sang Euridice's part. I believe Lord Leighton sang in some of the quartettes and choruses. I often met Lord Leighton at Mrs.

Sartoris' musical gatherings at her house in Park Place, St.

James', when he would sing very heartily the tenor parts of the old madrigals, in which also Mrs. Douglas Freshfield, Miss Ritchie, and others took part with Mrs. Sartoris, who on some occasions would sing one of her great operatic _Arias_ which brought her so much fame in her former years.

In 1877 Leighton began to build the famous Arab Hall.[55]

The following letters from Sir Richard Burton refer to the collecting and sending of one instalment of the precious tiles:--

DAMASCUS, _March 22, 1871_.

DEAR MR. LEIGHTON,--I have just returned from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, or yours of April 14th, 1871, would not have remained so long unanswered. And now to business. I am quite as willing to have a house pulled down for you now as when at Vichy,[56]

but the difficulty is to find a house with tiles. The _bric-a-brac_ sellers have quite learned their value, and demand extravagant sums for poor articles. Of course you want good old specimens, and these are waxing very rare. My friends, Drake and Palmer, were lucky enough, when at Jerusalem, to n.o.bble a score or so from the so-called Mosque of Omar. Large stores are there found, but unhappily under charge of the Wakf, and I fancy that long payments would be required. However, I shall send your letter to my colleague, Moore, who will do what he can for you.

The fact is, it is a work of patience. My wife and I will keep a sharp look-out for you, and buy up as many as we can find which seem to answer your description. If native inscriptions--white or blue, for instance--are to be had, I shall secure them, but not if imperfect. Some clearing away of rubbish is expected at Damascus; the Englishman who superintends is a friend of mine, and I shall not neglect to get from him as much as possible.

We met Holman Hunt at Jerusalem; he was looking a little worn, like a veritable denizen of the Holy City. I hope that you have quite recovered health. Swinburne, the papers say, has been sick; his "Songs before Sunrise" show even more genius than "Poems and Ballads." What has become of Mrs. Sartoris? I saw her son's appointment in the papers. Poor Vichy must be quite ruined--veritably it was a c.o.c.kney hole. Syria is a poor Chili; the Liba.n.u.s is a mole-hill compared with the Andes--do you remember? I am planning a realistic book which has no Holy Land on the brain, and the public will curse her like our army in Flanders. Pilgrims see everything through a peculiar medium, and tourists shake hands (like madmen) when they sight the Plain of Esdraelon or Sharon, as the case may be.

_N.B._--Both plains are like the poorer parts of our midland counties. My wife joins in kind remembrances.--Ever yours sincerely,

RICHARD F. BURTON.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PORTRAIT OF SIR RICHARD BURTON, K.C.M.G. 1876]

TRIESTE, _July 13, 1876_.

MY DEAR LEIGHTON,--One word to say that the tiles are packed, and will be sent by the first London steamer--opportunities are rare here. Some are perfect, many are broken; but they will make a bit of mosaic after a little tr.i.m.m.i.n.g, and ill.u.s.trate the difference between Syriac and Sindi. They are taken from the tomb (Moslem) of Sakhar, on the Indus. I can give you a.n.a.lysis of glaze if you want it; but I fancy you don't care for a.n.a.lyses. The yellow colour is by far the rarest and least durable apparently. The blues are the favourites and the best.

Here we are living in a typhoon of lies. I am losing patience, and shall probably bolt to Belgrade in search of truth. Austria is behaving in her usual currish manner, allowing her policy to be managed by a minority of light-headed, Paddy-whack Magyars and pudding-headed, beer-brained Austro-Germans. How all Europe funks the Slavs, and how well the latter are beginning to know it.

Very grand of _la grande Bretagne_ to propose occupying Egypt without any army to speak of. Sorry that you don't understand the force of the expression, the "world generally," but will try some time or other to make it clear. United best regards and wishes. Why don't you take a holiday to Turkey?--Ever yours,

R.F. BURTON.

_P.S._--I hear that W. Wright has subsided into an Irish conventicle, and that Green doesn't like prospect of returning to Dan!