ILLUOSTRATED

Francis Grant on November 13, 1878, In that year the IFrench Exhibition was held,

and he was madce President of the Britich

section there, and received the Legion of

Honour.

“The first statue I did," said Sir Frederick, “was that of an athlete wrestling with a python. ‘The little sketch for this 1 merely did casually. It took but a short time to modcl, and there was no question of ex- hibiting 1t. But one or two fricnds saw the model, amongst them Legros, who re- marked, * Why not carry it out on a larger scale 7' I'laughed, thinking I should not bc able to manage it, but finally succeeded. [t occupied a couple of years in com- pleting, working on it occasionally. It was cventually bought under the Chantrey bequest, sent to Paris, and cot a first-class gold medal and diploma. I also did the ‘Sluggard " and * Necdless Alarm. "

Seeing that Sir Frederick always declines Lo express himself on any great artistic sub- ject 1n the haphazard way in which we

were chatting together, I contented mysclf

with asking him onc or two questions on the very simple

topics of can- vases, colours, models and

methods of working.

“ I never give my wholc atten- tion to one pic- turc at the same time,” said Sir Frederick ; Y1 invariably have 51N Or seven canvases going, and I find it gives me all the rest I nced to go trom one to the other, work- mg a little bit here and a little bit there. DBy this means the eye 1sconstantly refreshed 5 T get through a good deal of work by this system. I have no special modcls, and therec 1s mno modcl who sits

— e ot 2 A o . o e e it~ e 1

SIR FREDERICK LEIGHTON, P.R.A, From a Photo. by Elliott & Fry.

INTLERTTITES, 137 tome alone. Models are constantly ring- mg at my side door, anxious to become en- caged, Just as they do at the doors of other studios. The faces I paint are never the faces of my models ; what the artist puts on the canvas i1s the impression which the model produces upon him—what he feels inwardly, and not what he sces before him. Yes, Tam very devoted to drapery, and mvariably usc a certain kind of muslin for dresses. In a picture the colour of a garment 15 an invention on the part of the artist, and not a copy of the colour of any fabric. It is quitc a mistake to imaginc that we take a garment out of a cupboard and paint it ; it is simply used for getting the form and folds; the colour is conceived. I consider that the colours used to-day, if properly prepared, ought to be far better and much more durable than thosc of the past. In the days of Sir Joshua Reynolds and Wilkie, during the reign of asphaltum, & colour used very largely then but now quitc out of usc, the pictures suffered very much. Although I have been painting in otls exactly fifty years, I have only had onc single accident happen with a pigment.”

Sir Frederick Leighton scl- dom paints por- traits. Hc con- siders 1t fet- ters onc down, as you arc stmply bound to satisfy your subject.,” He cannot work under restraint, neither can he use his brush whilst being watched; he could not touch a canvas with his most inti- mate friend by his side looking on. He likes to work with a large palette, and by prefer- ence with onc of lemon-coloured wood.

e ———— et e e & e = ts memene e e

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