See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323541880 'The Artistic Economy of the House': Frederic Leighton as a Collector of Contemporary Art Thesis · August 2016 DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.15100.64649 CITATIONS READS 0 1,701 1 author: Pola Durajska The University of York 3 PUBLICATIONS 0 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: 'I saw Nature unfold before my eyes': Nature, Science, and Myth in the Landscape Art of Frederic Leighton View project Frederic Leighton as a Collector of Contemporary Art View project All content following this page was uploaded by Pola Durajska on 03 March 2018. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. ‘The Artistic Economy of the House’: Frederic Leighton as a Collector of Contemporary Art Pola Durajska Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Letters in Art History: History of Collections and Collecting in the School of Culture and Creative Arts, University of Glasgow, 16 August 2016. Words: 15,402 Acknowledgements I am indebted to Mr Daniel Robbins (Leighton House Museum) and Prof. Elizabeth Prettejohn (University of York) for their generous comments and sharing their work with me. Many thanks to the staff of the Watts Gallery, especially to Dr Beatrice Bertram for her incredible help and support, and to Mr Mark Pomeroy of the Royal Academy of Arts Archive. I am also very grateful to Dr John Bonehill (University of Glasgow) for his insightful comments on the many drafts, and to my academic supervisor, Dr Patricia de Montfort (University of Glasgow). 2 Table of Contents List of Illustrations …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 4 Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 10 1. The Origins of the Silk Room …………………………………………………………………….…………………. 15 1.1. French Influence on Leighton ……………………………………………………..……………. 15 1.2. The Silk Room ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 16 1.3. The Academy and the Gallery ………………………………………………………………….. 18 1.4. Leighton and Collectors from His Circle …………………………….……………………… 21 2. ‘An Artist Among Artists’ ………………………………………………………….……………………………..….. 24 2.1. Rival ‘Palaces of Art’ ……………………………………………………………………….……….. 24 2.2. Watts and Burne-Jones ……………………………….……………………………….…………. 28 2.3. Collector in the Public Eye ………………………….………….……….……………..………… 31 3. Collector Artist …………………………………………………….………………………………………..….……….. 36 3.1. Leighton as a Virtuoso ………………………………..…..….………………………………….. 36 3.2. Artistic Exchanges ………………………………..…….………….………………..…………….. 38 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………………….……………………………….. 42 Bibliography ……………………………………………………………………………….………………………………….. 44 Illustrations ……………………………………………………………………………….……..……………………………. 54 3 List of Illustrations Fig. 1. First floor plan of Leighton’s house in 1896. Source: http://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/SchoolofEnglish/visual-culture/painting/Leighton- House.html. Accessed June 23, 2016. Fig. 2. George Aitchison, Design for the Elevation of a Wall of the Picture Gallery, 1895, watercolour. RIBA Collections, London. Source: https://www.architecture.com/image- library/RIBApix/image-information/poster/design-for-the-elevation-of-a-wall-of-the-picture- gallery-leighton-house-12-holland-park-road-london/posterid/RIBA4032.html. Accessed June 20, 2016. Fig. 3. The Silk Room, photograph, 1895. Reproduced from: Closer to Home: The Restoration of Leighton House and Catalogue of the Reopening Displays 2010 (London: The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, 2010), 76. Fig. 4. The Silk Room, 1895, photograph. Leighton House Museum, London. Source: https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/lhleightonhouse/housetour/silkroom.asp. Accessed July 5, 2016. Fig. 5. After William Powell Frith, A Private View at the Royal Academy, 1881, published 1885, photogravure, 47,5 x 90,8 cm. Royal Academy of Arts, London. Source: http://www.racollection.org.uk/ixbin/indexplus?_IXSESSION_=de0qjdpnyDs&_IXSR_=&_IXA CTION_=display&_MREF_=102925&_IXSP_=1&_IXFPFX_=templates/full/&_IXSPFX_=templat es/full/&_IXTRAIL_=Academicians. Accessed June 23, 2016. Fig. 6. Interior of the Grosvenor Gallery’s West Gallery, published in The Illustrated London News, 5 May 1877. Source: http://preraphaelitepaintings.blogspot.co.uk/2013_01_01_archive.html. Accessed July 5, 2016. Fig. 7. Edward Burne-Jones, Chaucer’s Dream of Good Women, 1871, watercolour and gouache, 45,7 x 60,9 cm. Reproduced from: Oliver Garnett, ‘The Letters and Collection of William Graham – Pre-Raphaelite Patron and Pre-Raphael Collector,’ The Volume of the Walpole Society 62 (2000): 145-343. 4 Fig. 8. Anna Alma-Tadema, Drawing Room, 1a Holland Park, 1887, watercolour on paper, 27 x 18 cm. Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum, Bournemouth, UK. Source: https://www.artrenewal.org/pages/artwork.php?artworkid=13440. Accessed July 5, 2016. Fig. 9. Photograph of Lawrence Alma-Tadema in the Hall of Panels, published 1897. Reproduced from: M. H. Spielmann, ‘Laurence Alma-Tadema, R.A.: A Sketch,’ Magazine of Art (Jan 1897): 42-50. Fig. 10. Photograph of Lawrence Alma-Tadema in the Hall of Panels, published 1911. Reproduced from: Rudolph de Cordova, ‘The Hall of Panels in the House of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, R.A.,’ Scribner’s Magazine (1911): 299-314. Fig. 11. Lawrence Alma-Tadema, In My Studio, 1893, oil on canvas, 61.6 x 47 cm. Collection of Ann and Gordon Getty. Source: http://www.wikiart.org/en/sir-lawrence-alma-tadema/in- my-studio-1893. Accessed June 4, 2016. Fig. 12. Plan of Alma-Tadema’s house’s ground floor. Reproduced from: Giles Walkley, Artists’ Houses in London 1764-1914 (Aldershot: Scolar Press, 1994). Fig. 13. Frederic Leighton, A Noble Lady of Venice, c. 1865, oil on canvas, 87,8 x 66,2 cm. Leighton House Museum, London. Source: http://artuk.org/discover/artworks/a-noble-lady- of-venice-180200. Accessed July 20, 2016. Fig. 14. Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Monna Rosa, 1867, oil on canvas, 69 x 53 cm. Private collection. Source: http://www.wikiart.org/en/dante-gabriel-rossetti/monna-rosa-1867. Accessed July 20, 2016. Fig. 15. Valentine Cameron Prinsep, My Lady Betty, c. 1864, oil on canvas, 81.3 x 58.1 cm. Private collection. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:My_Lady_Betty_Valentine_Cameron_Prinsep.jpeg Accessed July 20, 2016. Fig. 16. Frederic Leighton, Head of Young Girl, c. 1863. Reproduced from: Emilie Barrington, The Life, Letters and Work of Frederic Leighton, vol. 2 (London: George Allen, Ruskin House, 1906). Fig. 17. Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Anna Alma-Tadema, 1883, oil on canvas, 112 x 76.2 cm. Royal Academy of Arts, London. Source: http://www.racollection.org.uk/ixbin/indexplus?_IXSESSION_=de0qjdpnyDs&_IXSR_=&_IXA 5 CTION_=display&_MREF_=20395&_IXSP_=1&_IXFPFX_=templates/full/&_IXSPFX_=template s/full/. Accessed July 20, 2016. Fig. 18. Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Spring Flowers, 1911, oil on canvas, 24x18 cm. Private collection. Source: http://www.wikiart.org/en/sir-lawrence-alma-tadema/spring-flowers. Accessed July 19, 2016. Fig. 19. George Frederick Watts, Study for Hope, c. 1885, oil on panel, 66 x 53.3 cm. Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool. Source: http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/onlineshop/prints- posters/print-hope.aspx. Accessed July 12, 2016. Fig. 20. George Frederick Watts, Patient Life of Unrequited Toil, 1890-1891, oil on canvas, 182.9 x 167.6 cm. Watts Gallery, Compton. Source: http://www.wattsgallery.org.uk/en- gb/collections/highlights-permanent-collection/#item-7844. Accessed July 12, 2016. Fig. 21. After George Stubbs, The Anatomy of the Horse, c. 1815, etching. Private collection. Source: http://www.christies.com//lotfinder/lot/stubbs-george-the-anatomy-of-the- 1932451-details.aspx?from=searchresults&intObjectID=1932451&sid=a0ad4d05-0fee-4f73- 9608-0218886577cd. Accessed July 12, 2016. Fig. 22. The drawing-room, 1 Holland Park, 1883-1884. Reproduced from: Charles Harvey, Jon Press, and Mairi Maclean, William Morris, Cultural Leadership, and the Dynamics of Taste. Fig. 23. Edward Burne-Jones, Luna, 1872-1875, oil on canvas, 101 x 71 cm. Private collection. Source: http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/paintings/sir-edward-coley-burne-jones-bart- ara-rws-5157409-details.aspx. Accessed August 2, 2016. Fig. 24. View of the Watts display at the Manchester Royal Jubilee Exhibition, 1887. Reproduced from: Representations of G. F. Watts: Art Making in Victorian Culture, ed. Colin Trodd and Stephanie Brown (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004), fig. 14. Fig. 25. Edward Burne Jones, The Annunciation, 1876-1879, oil on canvas, 98 x 44 cm. Lady Lever Art Gallery, Liverpool. Source: http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/picture-of- month/displaypicture.aspx?id=14. Accessed June 25, 2016. Fig. 26. Frederic Leighton, Lieder Ohne Worte, exhibited 1861, oil on canvas, 101.6 x 62.9 cm. Tate Britain, London. Source: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/leighton-lieder-ohne- worte-t03053. Accessed June 25, 2016. 6 Fig. 27. Edward Burne-Jones, Summer Snow, 1863, wood engraving on paper by the Dalziel Brothers, 14,6 x 10,8 cm. Tate Britain, London. Source: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/burne-jones-summer-snow-engraved-by-the-dalziel- brothers-n04047. Accessed July 12, 2016. Fig. 28. Frederic Leighton, Odalisque, 1862, oil on canvas, 90.8 x 45.7 cm. Private collection. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1862_Frederick_Leighton_- _Odalisque.jpg. Accessed July 12, 2016. Fig. 29. Edward Burne-Jones, Chaucer’s Dream of Good Women, 1865, watercolour. Private collection. Source: http://preraphaelitepaintings.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/edward-burne-