GARDENS OF CELEBRITIES 



of an artist's work, and possibly not in another which is the 

 unconscious expression of his own pleasure at the moment in what 

 he does expressed itself in Leighton's case in an exquisite sensitive- 

 ness to line and colour, to grace and sweetness, and, when under 

 its influence in an unrivalled delicacy, a charm of touch and 

 treatment. This sort of " feeling " he possessed in abundance, 

 and it shows in such idyllic pictures as " Cleobaulos teaching his 

 daughter Cleobouline "in " Wedded," " The Music Lesson," 

 " Winding the Skein," and in some delicious Oriental studies 

 but I cannot help wishing that he had never painted " Elijah and 

 the Angel," " Rispah," and " The Sea gave up her Dead ! ' : 



Sir Frederick Leighton was the handsomest man I ever knew 

 perhaps more handsome as he grew older, and his hair began to 

 whiten than when I first became acquainted with him. The 

 charm of his manner and his smile were felt by all who, having 

 the entree to Holland Park Lane, flocked there on Studio Sundays. 

 On such occasions one saw there in the seventies and eighties, 

 many of the most eminent men and women of the day, he himself 

 generally wearing a brown velvet coat being in appearance the 

 most distinguished. 



Many will remember the gallant and stately figure he presented 

 on the evenings of the Royal Academy conversazioni, when, wear- 

 ing the gold chain and badge of his office, and supported by some 

 members of the Council of the year, he stood to receive the 

 Academy's guests with a charming grace, at the end of the long 

 crimson pathway, lined breast-high with flowering plants, that 

 led from the staircase to the Central Hall. Behind this flowery 

 barrier, many of the earlier comers took their stand to watch the 

 arrivals, and hear their names announced by a pair of dignified 

 Academy servitors attired in long crimson betasselled gowns. 

 Somehow, the Royal Academy soirees seemed more brilliant affairs 

 in Leighton's time than ever they have done since, even in those 

 seemingly far-off days, after his death, but before the great war, 

 which has put a veto on all such functions for no President, how- 

 ever courtly, was ever so popular in Society and among his con- 

 freres and students as he. He always stood to " receive " in person 

 from nine to twelve o'clock never moving from his place till after 

 the stroke of midnight when with a sigh of relief, he would turn 

 away and mingle for a while with the gay throng in the Galleries. 



316 



