THE LEIGHTON HOUSE.
[TO THY EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Srn,-It is now five years since the great President of the Royal Academy died; it is nearly five years since the Leighton House Committee began its work of securing his house and garden for the use and benefit of the public in memory of Lord Leighton. Ten months after the death of their brother, his sisters, Mrs. Sutherland On and Mrs. Matthews, offered to
give their interest in the property to the nation. Great was the affection and admiration felt for him by many of his friends, but his sisters, and his sisters alone, enjoyed his entire confidence. Those who own the privilege of their friendship cannot too much admire the scrupulous delicacy and self-ignoring bountifulness with which these ladies have fulfilled the task of carrying out all their brother's wishes. This task completed, they have shown that same generosity which was the keynote of Leighton's nature. Not only have they given the house to the public, but by far the greater part of the matchless collection of sketches and drawings which the house now contains. During his lifetime Leighton was, as is well known, personally a great force, exercising a strong influence as a public man, but it is perhaps left for pos- terity fully to value his exceptional powers as an artist. His natural gifts were those which seem to be but seldom bestowed on our painters in these modern days, and we have to go back to the work of the so-called " old masters" to find any drawings or sketches which can equal those now contained in the Leighton House in the quality of style—in the evidence of a sense of structural beauty—or in spontaneous power, excepting perhaps the drawings of Alfred Stevens, the sculptor. The idea which lies at the root of the work undertaken by the Leighton House Committee is some- what a combination of that which inspired the Kyrie Society, and that which led to the founding of the National Trust Society,—namely, first to secure Leighton's beautiful creation, the famous Arab Hall, together with the works of art in the studios and other rooms of the house, for the public, and in so doing " bring beauty into the lives of the poor " of Ken- sington; secondly, to preserve to the nation a place not only beautiful in itself, but constructed by, and associated with, one of England's great workers of the nineteenth century as a man and as a public servant the greatest artist of the Victorian era, one who distinctly raised the art of his country to a higher level through his exceptional gifts and his extraordinarily self - sacrificing industry. To retain, in a form obvious•and striking to all, the memory of noble lives, of the great workers of England, is, in the most practical way, to keep the mind of the public in touch with all that is greatest in the past, which has made England the great England that she is. Kensington, one of the largest and richest parishes in London, and owning, when the last Census was taken, a population of over a hundred and sixty-five thousand inhabitants, has hitherto not possessed one spot belonging to the public where a sense of beauty in art could be inspired. South Kensington Museum is not in the parish of Kensington. Since April 9th, 1900, the day on which it was first opened to the public, over eight thousand persons have visited the Leighton House. On Tuesdays and Saturdays the entrance is free, on the other days by payment of ls., except on Sundays, when it is closed. During the last two years concerts of the best music, lectures on art and literature, and exhibitions have taken place in the large studio. The object of the Committee is now to obtain an endowment fund for the maintenance of the house, for without it their scheme is much hampered. The expenses of an adequate maintenance would come, it is calcu- lated, to £500 a year. The necessary expenses have hitherto been met by subscriptions and by payment for entrance to the house, concerts, lectures, &c. The Committee is anxious to arrange for concerts and lectures for audiences who cannot afford to pay much more than a nominal fee; also that the hun- dreds of beautiful sketches which still remain unframed, should be framed and seen ; and that selected groups should be lent to art exhibitions in the provinces and other parts of London. In order not only to carry out the work on a more extensive and fruitful scale, but to facilitate the desire of the Committee to hand over the property to a public body, and thus to secure the permanence of their undertaking, an endowment fund is necessary ; but since it is proved that the work is one keenly appreciated by the public and ever increasing in usefulness, there will be found, no doubt, those who will show an apprecia- tion of the generosity of Lord Leighton's sisters, and will help the Committee to secure permanently such an ever-inspiring memorial to one whose fame was established not only by reason of the possession of great natural gifts, but by reason of high and admirable qualities of character and unselfish devotion to the art interests of his country.—I am, Sir, &c.,
E. I. B. [We heartily endorse our correspondent's appeal, and trust
that the necessary funds may be secured in order to render complete the generous gift to the public made by the late Lord Leighton's sisters.—ED. Spectator.]
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