I. "And the Sea gave up the Dead which
were in it." (Rev. XX. 13) . . . . . . . . . . . . Frontispiece
At the Tate Gallery
II. The Syracusan Bride
In the possession of F. B. Mildmay, Esq., M.P.
III. Gathering Citrons
In the possession of F. B. Mildmay, Esq., M.P.
IV. Clytemnestra
At Leighton House, Kensington
V. The Bath of Psyche
At the Tate Gallery
VI. A Noble Lady of Venice
In the possession of Lord Armstrong, Rothbary
VII. Elijah in the Wilderness
At the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
VIII. Portrait of Sir Richard Burton
At the National Portrait Gallery
[Illustration: Leighton]
It is true that a definite connection can almost always be traced
between the temperament of an artist and the work that he produces.
One of the first things that must be taken into account in any study of
his achievement is the manner of his training during the most
impressionable years of his boyhood. Youthful associations and
surroundings must obviously have a very real influence upon the
direction in which any man develops in after life, and much of his
later success or failure must depend upon the kind of cultivation that
is given at the outset to his natural tastes and instinctive
preferences. Everything which helps to define his personality, or to
shape his character, has an actual bearing upon his ultimate efficiency
as a producer, and counts for something in the building up of his
scheme of active existence; the discipline of a judicious up-bringing
puts his temperament under the control of his intelligence, and by
pointing the way in which he can best apply his powers, saves him from
wasting his energies in unprofitable experiment. He starts his career
with a knowledge of himself, and with confidence in his personal
qualifications for the profession he has chosen; and this confidence
enables him to use his individuality not only to his own advantage, but
for the benefit of other men as well.
It would not be easy to find a better instance of this connection
between the artist's personality and the character of his performance
than is afforded by the life and practice of Lord Leighton, nor one
which marks more definitely the effect produced by early associations
and training. Indeed, to understand his art at all, it is necessary to
trace from his childhood the sequence of events by which the trend of
his aesthetic convictions was determined, and to follow, step by step,
the evolution of that creed in which he retained, to the end, the
fullest and most absolute faith. He was no opportunist in art matters,
momentary fashions did not affect him, and he did not yield to the
temptation, which many artists are unable to resist, to make
experiments in unaccustomed directions; what he once believed he
believed always, and neither his catholicity of taste, nor his generous
toleration of methods of practice quite opposed to his own, had any
effect upon the consistency of his effort. What he conceived to be his
mission he fulfilled to the utmost, and there is no plainer proof of
his strength than the firmness of his adherence to the course which he
had decided at the outset was the one he ought to follow.
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