- Leighton House Museum
The Leighton House Museum is a
museum inHolland Park ,London ,England . It is based in the former house of the painter Frederic, Lord Leighton. The first part of the house (2 Holland Park Road, later renumbered as 12) was designed in 1864 by the architectGeorge Aitchison , although Leighton was not granted a lease on the land until April 1866 [page 60, The Holland Park Circle: Artists and Victorian Society, Caroline Dakers 1999] , with building commencing shortly afterwards, the building which cost £4,500 was ready for occupation by the end of the year [page 136, Survey of London XXXVII Northern Kensington, F.H.W. Sheppard Editor 1973 ] . The building is of red Suffolk bricks withCaen Stone dressings in a restrained classical style. Subsequently the building would be extended over a period of 30 years by the original architect. The first phase was only three windows wide. The main room was the first floor studio, facing north, originally 45 by 25 feet, with a large central window to provide plenty of light for painting. There was also a gallery at the east end, and a separate staircase for use by models [page 140, Survey of London XXXVII Northern Kensington, F.H.W. Sheppard Editor 1973 ] . The house was extended to the east in 1869-70.The major extension was made in 1877-9, this was the two storey Arab Hall, this was built to house Leighton's collection of tiles collected during visits to the
Middle East [page 140, Survey of London XXXVII Northern Kensington, F.H.W. Sheppard Editor 1973 ] .According to Aitchison andWalter Crane the design was based on the palace of La Zisa inPalermo . The 17th century tiles are complemented by carved wooden lattice-work windows of the same period fromDamascus . There are also large 16th century Turkish tiles. The west wall has a wooden alcove with inset 14th century tiles. The room also contains Victorian elements, the capitals of the smaller columns are by SirJoseph Boehm , from Aitcheson's designs. The capitals of the large columns, gilded and carved in the shape of birds are by Randolph Caldecot. The mosaic frieze was designed by Walter Crane. TheMarble work was by George P. White. Elaborate decorative paintwork decorates the domed ceiling and in the centre of the floor there is a fountain. The tiles in the passage to the Arab Hall are byWilliam de Morgan .In 1889 an additional winter studio was added to the building the final addition by Aitcheson was the top-lit picture gallery in 1895. After Leighton died in 1896 the contents of the house was sold, including at least 1000 of his own drawings, almost all of which were bought by the Fine Art Society. In 1927 Mrs Henry Perrin offered to pay for additional gallery space, the building was extended to the designs of Halsey Ricardo, the Perrin Galleries opening in 1929 [page 141, Survey of London XXXVII Northern Kensington, F.H.W. Sheppard Editor 1973 ] . This extension was in memory of Mrs. Perrin's daughter Muriel Ida Perrin, an artist who had trained at the
Royal College of Art [page 12, Bryon Parkin - "The Arts and Crafts of Bushey Heath" (Bushey Museum Trust, 2003) ] and worked for the catalogue section of the The Aircraft Manufacturing Company (Airco ) during theFirst World War . Muriel had died on 12th March 1919, aged 29, of pneumonia followingSpanish Influenza ["The Air-co Rag", March 1919 ] .The museum has on permanent display works of art by various members of the
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood includingJohn Everett Millais ,Edward Burne-Jones andGeorge Frederick Watts as well as 81 oil paintings by Leighton himself.Some of the most notable oil paintings by Leighton in the collection are:
* "The Death of Brunelleschi" - 1852
* "Charles Edward Perugini" - 1855
* "A Noble Lady Of Venice" - c1865
* "Hercules Wrestling with Death for the Body of Alcestes" - 1869-71
* "Clytemnestra From The Battlements Of Argos Watches For The Beacon Fires Which Are To Announce The Return of Agamemnon" - c1874
* "Professor Giovanni Costa" - 1878
* "The Countess of Brownlow" - c1878-9
* "The Vestal" - c1882-3
* "Alexandra Leighton" (Mrs Sutherland Orr) - 1890
* "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it" - c1891-2Other works by Leighton in the collection include:
* 5 albums and sketchbooks of drawings and water colours.
* 27 water colours.
* 54 prints of Leighton's works.
* 14 items of personal material including documents, personal mementos, embroideries, enamels and caricatures.
* Several small scale sculptures including: Athlete Strangling a Python 1874 & Needless Alarms 1887.Works in the collection not by Leighton include:
*
Antonio Rossellino 's carved and colouredrelief : Madonna of the Candleabra, which had been in Leighton's collection, sold after his death and re-acquired by the Museum in 2006.
* G.F. Watts portrait of Frederic Leighton.
*Luke Fildes Still Life & Study for 'The Widower'.
* SirAlfred Gilbert original sketch model for Eros.The house's pseudo-Islamic court has featured as a set in various film and television programs, such as "Nicholas Nickleby" (2002), "Brazil", and an episode of the
British television drama series "Spooks ", as well as themusic video for the song "Golden Brown " byThe Stranglers .References
External links
* [http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/LeightonHouseMuseum/ Museum website]
* [http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/museum_gfx_en/SE000043.html Information] from the24 Hour Museum
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.