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
"But I am being led away into undue length without the
possibility, after all, of doing more than roughly indicate
the grounds of my dissent from a rather vital article of
your creed--a dissent which will, I am afraid, jar on you in
proportion to the great sincerity with which you hold your
faith. I may say, by the way, that I dwelt at rather greater
length on this very subject in my first presidential address
to the Royal Academy, delivered on 16th December 1879.--And,
herewith, I remain, dear Mr. Horsfall, yours very truly,
FRED LEIGHTON.
"2 HOLLAND PARK ROAD, KENSINGTON,
"_August 18, 1890_."
Examples of the kind of copies which Sir F. Leighton recommends
can be seen in the Art Museum in No. 1 Room. We have there a
photograph of the "Adoration of the Magi" of Paul Veronese, with
a series of studies by Mr. F. Shields of the composition, the
light and shade, and the arrangement of colour in the picture.
These copies suffice to prove that such a collection as Sir F.
Leighton recommends would be of the greatest value and interest.
May I say with regard to two points in the letter, that my
proposal to use some parts of the collections in our galleries
for the purpose of revealing the beauty of nature and the
greatness of human nature, does not involve any belief that the
giving of ethical teaching ought to be one of the functions of
pictures, and that the proposal is made partly for the purpose
of increasing the width of appeal of works of art. While trying
to make that appeal reach a large part of the community, we may
usefully teach, by means of other parts of the collections, that
the excellence of paintings has no relation to ethical
teaching.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account