GARDENS OF CELEBRITIES 
if he tried; and would not if he could; who has been true to his 
own ideals, and finds that the nearer he gets to them, the farther 
he is from those of his critic—must suffer in silence, and wait 
patiently, as he has already done for twenty or thirty years, for 
the advent of a more catholic school of art-criticism. He is 
inarticulate save through his art, as most artists are—and indeed, 
in the words of that wise and witty Royal Academy Keeper from 
whose humorous letter—written when once I rushed into print— 
I shall quote again : “‘ We must beware of the inkpot—our business 
is to paint—let others talk—the men who row don’t speak; it is 
the idle fellows running along the bank who shout: ‘Ha, you 
duffer, why don’t you pull?’ ” 
It was just the recognition of the fact that men do not all tread 
the same path in reaching their goal—that though all roads are 
supposed to lead to Rome, there is, in art, but one reliable finger- 
post, and that is sincerity—that made Lord Leighton such an 
excellent critic, and helped to make of him the ideal President. 
Those who, like myself, have benefited by his wise advice, have the 
best possible reasons for stating, that though his own instincts 
might lead him in a certain direction, he took into account that 
the natural bent of a student in whom he might conceivably 
discern promise, might be in another. Earnestness and ingustry 
were his watchwords. Himself an ardent lover of ordered and 
classical art, cheap and merely showy work—winning easy success 
but often concealing ignorance and impatience of labour—were 
abhorrent to him. Possibly he did not go so far as Sir Joshua 
Reynolds, who held that perseverance is genius; but he certainly 
believed that however fanciful and free its ultimate application, 
fine work must fundamentally depend on sound drawing and good 
painting, and that these must of necessity be based on the reverent 
study of Nature. In his relations with us students, and in his 
lessons on composition, he refused to consider a mere ‘“ sketch ” 
at all. He insisted that the design presented to him for criticism 
should be clearly worked out, and if for a figure picture, should 
be worked out from living models—a matter of considerable expense 
to young artists, but—and I speak from experience, the lesson that 
followed was well worth the outlay ! 
Lord Leighton was tolerant of everything except insincerity ; 
but his tolerance was never put to a very severe test, for the first 
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