Art history is full of stories of painters who in their lifetime were famous and feted but who after their death vanished into obscurity. At the same time it is replete with artists who during their lifetime never sold a single painting but who after their death became internationally known as some of the finest of all time. We can all recognize the second type of artist; Van Gogh and Modigliani are just two poignant examples. But the first type? Until the resurgence of interest in them painters like Edward Poynter, Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Bouchereau, Frith, Millais and George Frederic Watts were considered almost as curiosities or, at best academic and tedious. Impressionism, post impressionism, surrealism, vorticism and all the others ‘isms’ that developed in the twentieth century cast them aside and their works, once so highly praised, were consigned to the dusty store rooms of provincial museums or sold for a pittance at some local charity auction.
It seems almost unbelievable that one of the greatest Victorian paintings, now redeemed from oblivion by post-modernist taste, Lord Leighton’s ‘Flaming June’, failed to achieve its reserve price of £100 at a 1960’s auction. Later bought by the Museo Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico which stated that the picture was all it could afford to buy when setting up the island’s first art gallery Leighton’s masterpiece is now considered to be one of the greatest of all nineteenth century paintings and has achieved truly iconic status.
Although it’s doubtful that ‘Flaming June’ will ever return to Lord Leighton’s house the museum has managed to keep the original sketch the artist made for this immortal picture.
We were again privileged to visit Sir Frederick Leighton’s studio house near Holland Park yesterday in the company of an old schoolfriend yesterday.
Previous visits, with more extended information on the artist, are mentioned in my posts at
Now reopened after a through restoration bringing it back as far as possible to the original appearance when the artist died in 1896 and now furnished with new visitor facilities including a gallery, cafe and lift Leighton’s house was one of the first specifically built for an artist in this London district, Indeed, it was the artist’s presence there that encouraged others to come to the area and to form a stimulating creative village.
Over thirty years the house was extended to include an enlarged studio space and an exotic Arabian hall built to accommodate Leighton’s collection of Middle Eastern tiles. To visit it now is to overwhelmingly experience a High Victorian painter’s artistic and social ambience .
It is also a place to engage in contemporary art with current displays. Iranian artist Harzad Ghaffari’s exhibition ‘Journey to Oneness’ explores themes of love related to the poetry of Rumi and her large canvases use eastern calligraphy in a vibrant manner.
Ghaffari also painted the mural encircling the new spiral staircase linking the upper floor with the cafe in the recently developed wing.
Several historic houses and art galleries in London have had refurbishments in the past decades. Some of these have been a little disappointing for various reasons. However, in the case of Lord Leighton’s ?House of Art’ it has been very well done and the return of much that was unfortunately dispersed when the artist died has been brought back to its elegantly seductive interiors. Yet in the midst of all this splendour this deservedly reappraised painter remained a bachelor and slept in a single simple bed in a sparsely furnished room. That for me shows that Lord Leighton, apart from his fashionable soirées and doting admirers, remained a true artist with utter dedication to and thorough preparation.
