Sir Frederick Leighton, Bart., P.R.A., D.C.L., LL.D.

George Frederic Watts RA (1817-1904)

M. Klinkicht, engraver

Source: Magazine of Art 11 (1888): 237

“For more than one reason Mr. G. F. Watts's portrait of Sir Frederick Leighton is attractive beyond most of his works in this branch of art. The subject, in the first place, is a good one. The handsome and commanding face and figure of the President in his Doctor's robes present an opportunity not often offered for producing a picturesque portrait.” [Continued below]

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“But the knowledge that, with the exception perhaps of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sir Frederick Leighton is the most skilful administrator and most enlightened President that the Academy has ever had adds a very peculiar interest to the picture; and as we gaze at it we feel, as we have more than once expressed, that he has made it almost impossible for any immediate successor to preside with equal brilliancy. It is therefore fitting that he should have been painted by the greatest of our living portrait-painters, wearing the robes of his degree and with his chain of ofHce abont his neck. We cannot say that the legs of the wrestler and the tail end of the python of the President's famous statue are highly-pictorial adjuncts as represented in the corner of the picture, but they are useful from motives of composition, and serve to remind the spectator of the dual art of the sitter.

The selection of the subject's costume must surely have been a piece of bravado on the part of the painter, for never before have the cruelly-offensive scarlet and magenta of the robes been satisfactorily handled by any artist, no matter how eminent. Sir John Millais was herein hardly successful in his portrait of Mr. Gladstone; and Mr. Browning, if we remember aright, failed far more conspicuously in his likeness of Mr. Robert Browning. Mr. Watts, however, has grappled with the difficulty, and has come nearer to success than any that have gone before. Handling his pigments with consummate knowledge and taste, he has combined the opposing colours in such a manner that they no longer do violence to the spectator. The painting of the head must command unfeigned admiration, despite the fact that the colour is somewhat dry. This indeed is unavoidable, seeing that Mr. Watts paints with as little medium as possible, in the conviction that medium is chiefly responsible for the rapid fading of a picture in tone, and that it is better to sacrifice a little depth to permanency of colour. The painting and modelling of the head could not lie surpassed : the massive brow, the delicately-chiselled nose, and, above all, the character of the man, all render the portrait one of extraordinary truth and of wonderfully picturesque effect. We are told that the picture, which was exhibited in 1881 but is only just completed, is a gift from Mr. Watts to the Royal Academy” (236).

Bibliography

“Sir Frederick Leighton, Bart., P.R.A., D.C.L.,LL.D..” Magazine of Art. 11 (November 1887-October 1888): 236-37. Internet Archive version of a copy in the University of Toronto Library. Web. 8 September 2013.

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Last modified 10 September 2013