The life, letters and work of Frederic Leighton. Volume IIBarrington, Russell, Mrs.
General
The life, letters and work of Frederic Leighton. Volume II
Barrington, Russell, Mrs.
Leighton of Stretton, Frederic Leighton, Baron, 1830-1896
It is thought by some that the design would have carried out the
feeling of absolute repose better had the lower curves of the round
aperture behind the figures been absent--these lines rather suggesting
horns springing up on either side of the group. The end of the foot of
the sitting figure being cut off by the bottom line of the picture has
also a somewhat uncomfortable effect. The same thing occurs in the
picture "Greek Girl Dancing," producing the feeling that the canvas
has run short. These criticisms, however, only refer to minor matters.
"Summer Moon" is an exquisitely beautiful picture, one which will ever
sustain the great reputation of its creator. "A Condottiere" and the
monochrome version of "The Industrial Arts of War" (76 × 177 in.),
exhibited at the South Kensington International Exhibition the same
year, strikingly contrast in character with "Summer Moon." If the one
is notable for gentle, womanly grace and a sense of relaxation induced
by slumber, "A Condottiere" is full of verve and virile power,[44] and
in the design for "The Industrial Arts of War" all is action and
movement. Leighton made many studies for all his principal pictures,
but the finest group of sketches are certainly those made for mural
decorations. Being executed under more difficult conditions than the
easel pictures, doubtless he felt more preparation for frescoes was
required. The studies in Leighton House for the "Arts of War," "Arts
of Peace," two friezes, "Music," "The Dance," "And the Sea gave up the
Dead that were in it," the painted decoration for the ceiling of a
music room, "Phoenicians Bartering with Britons," are the most
completely worked out and powerful studies in the collection. In the
following year, 1873, the companion lunette in monochrome, "The
Industrial Arts of Peace," was exhibited at the Royal Academy. This
design is more comfortably fitted into its space than that of the
"Arts of War," as the whole is lifted up from the bottom line of the
lunette, and no part of the figures is cut off (as in the case of the
men's feet and the drapery of the otherwise most beautiful group of
women on the left hand in the "Arts of War"). "Weaving the Wreath," a
small picture of lovely colour and subtle technique, appeared in 1873,
and in 1874 three of the most remarkable of Leighton's pictures of
single figures. "In a Moorish Garden: a Dream of Granada" the charming
child "Cleobouline" reappears in an Eastern turban and drapery,
holding a copper vessel and followed by two peacocks, walking across a
square canvas filled in by a background of the delightful garden at
Generalife at Granada. "The Antique Juggling Girl" is one of the best
examples in Leighton's work of his "ardent passion for colour," and
his perfect mastery in painting the beauty of an undraped figure. The
form of the torso recalls the exquisite fragment from the Naples
Museum.[45] The actual painting, however, exemplifies the truth of
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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