His election as an Associate of the Royal Academy came in 1885. That he
coveted this particular distinction can scarcely be said; indeed, he was
at first unwilling to accept it, and it was only in response to a
personal request from Leighton that he finally decided to take his place
in the ranks of the Associates. But he exhibited a picture at Burlington
House in 1886, "The Depths of the Sea," and then, feeling that his work
was unsuited for the Academy galleries, he sent nothing else there, and
in 1893 resigned his Associateship. His contributions to the Grosvenor
Gallery in 1886 were "The Morning of the Resurrection," "Sibylla
Delphica," and "Flamma Vestalis"; and in 1887 "The Baleful Head," "The
Garden of Pan," and some other canvases.
After this year he ceased to exhibit at the Grosvenor Gallery, as he was
one of the chief members of the group of artists who supported Mr.
Comyns Carr and Mr. C. E. Hallé in the founding of the New Gallery, and
he sent there nearly all the works he produced during the rest of his
life. The most important exceptions were the magnificent "Briar Rose"
series of pictures, which were shown in 1890 by Messrs. Agnew at their
gallery in Bond Street, and "The Bath of Venus," which went straight
from the artist's studio to the Glasgow Institute in 1888.
The first exhibition at the New Gallery was opened in 1888, and it
included several of his oil-paintings, among them "The Tower of Brass,"
an enlarged repetition of an earlier picture, and two canvases, "The
Rock of Doom" and "The Doom Fulfilled," from the "Story of Perseus"
series, to which also belonged "The Baleful Head," shown in the previous
year. To the succeeding shows there he sent much besides that can be
taken as representing his soundest convictions. There were the large
water-colour, "The Star of Bethlehem," and the "Sponsa di Libano," in
1891; "The Pilgrim at the Gate of Idleness" and "The Heart of the Rose"
in 1893; "Vespertina Quies" and the oil version of "Love among the
Ruins" in 1894; "The Wedding of Psyche" in 1895; "Aurora" and "The Dream
of Launcelot at the Chapel of the San Graal" in 1896; "The Pilgrim of
Love" in 1897; and "The Prioress' Tale" and "St. George" in 1898. In all
of these his consistent pursuit of definite ideals, his love of poetic
fantasy, and his admirable perception of the decorative possibilities of
the subjects he selected are as evident as in any of his earlier works;
as years went on he relaxed neither his steadfastness of purpose nor his
sincerity of method. To the last he remained unspoiled by success and
unaffected by the popularity which came to him in such ample measure--it
may be safely said that with his temperament and his artistic creed he
would have continued on the course he had marked out for himself even if
the effect of his persistence had been to rouse the bitterest opposition
of the public, and he was as little inclined to trade on his success as
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