Lord Leighton Will See You Again Now

No need to slink in surreptitiously through the separate models' entrance; come right up to the brand new main front door; they've done a splendid job refurbishing the Leighton House Museum in west London, the old home and studio of Frederic, Lord Leighton, one of the giants of the Victorian art scene. 

One of the giants? That's an understatement. He was president of the Royal Academy for 18 years, and his house in Holland Park was like no other artist's residence in London, with its extraordinary Arab Hall, inspired by the interiors and gardens of North Africa and the Middle East, as the sumptuous pièce de résistance. 

The house reopens to the public on October 15, and we were most impressed with the results of the four-year renovation at a preview for the press; we can remember visiting several times over the past two decades and finding the visitor facilities a little on the poky and drab side. The modern extension is in harmony with the house and the new entrance has been thoughtfully designed to recreate Lord Leighton's aims to set the scene for his visitors' tour of his residence and workplace.

(It also opens up the previously hidden models' entrance; professional models, who might pose in the nude, were regarded as morally disreputable by those priggish Victorians and, to make their status perfectly clear, they were provided with a separate way in to the house with a staircase leading up to Leighton's studio -- they certainly wouldn't be allowed in through the main door.... nor to mix with the servants.)

The house feels much more spacious and sparkling now; Leighton's winter studio upstairs in particular has been reglazed and opened up, and in the bigger, main studio next door two new replica bookcases are really rather fine, helping re-establish that 19th-century atmosphere and giving the impression that Lord Leighton will be back to see you shortly, maybe for a chat about that painting you're thinking of commissioning from him. 

One of the new highlights is a spiral staircase that takes you down to the basement and up to the winter studio and the main exhibition spaces; here you can see a new cast of Leighton's sculpture Athlete Wrestling a Python at the foot of the staircase, which is decorated with a mural by Iranian artist Shahrzad Ghaffari.

Leighton is perhaps most famous for Flaming June, a truly sensational and sensuous painting that was part of the national consciousness more than 100 years ago; like so much Victorian art it went completely out of fashion in the middle of the 20th century, sold to Puerto Rico for a knock-down price. We got to see it at Leighton House in 2016-17. 

You'll have had a lot more opportunity to see in the flesh Leighton's first major work, the extremely ambitious Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna is Carried in Procession through the Streets of Florence, which he showed at the Royal Academy in 1855 and which was snapped up by Queen Victoria. Don't recall it? It hangs at the top of the main staircase in the Sainsbury Wing in the National Gallery, passed unnoticed by thousands of unsuspecting tourists every day. 

Leighton was not the first artist to make his home in this area of west London. George Frederick Watts came to Holland Park in 1851, 15 years before Leighton, and a total of nine artists' studio-mansions were built in the vicinity by the end of the century. Most survive (including the architect William Burges's Tower House, now the home of Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page), but Leighton's, owned by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, is the only one open to the public. 

You can learn lots about Leighton and the other artists in the Holland Park Circle -- and their houses -- down in the basement, where they're introduced in an informative new video (albeit in a slightly cramped space, with only a handful of seats). 

And you get to meet members of the artistic clique through their artwork in the main exhibition in the museum this winter: Artists and Neighbours: The Holland Park Circle, which provides a chance to get a little better acquainted with Leighton's friends and rivals. 

And here, positioned right at the start of the display, is Leighton himself, done by Watts, that other highly rated artist of the time -- England's Michelangelo. 

Leighton is portrayed with an intimacy and informality that may not be quite what you would expect for the only British artist ever to be made a peer of the realm. 

Others in Holland Park that you might have come across before are Luke Fildes, known for his social-realist paintings, and Albert Moore, who favoured languorous female figures in classical flowing drapes. Moore designed his own house, despite a lack of architectural training, but it was apparently a bit of a shambles. Something of an art-world outsider, Moore was nevertheless a dinner guest at Leighton House and returned the compliment by presenting Leighton with this painting of a Vase of Dahlias.  

But then there are other artists you'll possibly never have heard of, such as Sir James Jebusa Shannon and Solomon J. Solomon, represented here with A Conversation Piece. All is perhaps not quite as it should be during this soirée despite outward appearances; the father at the back seems to wear a concerned expression; that owl lampshade is pretty spooky, isn't it? and is there something ominous written on that piece of card the mustachioed young man at the front is holding -- today he might be staring at an alert on his mobile announcing that the financial markets have slumped in after-hours trading.

A very Victorian image, that, rather overwhelming in its stuffed shirts, ferns, frills and ornaments. Equally Victorian, but very different, are the jewel-like pictures produced by Emilie Barrington, who published a biography of Leighton and reminiscences of Watts at the start of the 20th century and played a key part in the foundation of the museum. 

The museum's expanded exhibition space also offers the opportunity to appreciate the draughtsmanship that formed the basis of Leighton's skills. He started every picture with a thumbnail sketch which he broke down by making 20 to 30 studies to realise the individual parts. Leighton House has over 700 sheets of his drawings, and a varied selection is on show in A Life of Drawing: Highlights from the Leighton House Collection. 

Meanwhile, a few minutes walk away....

Kensington and Chelsea own another remarkably preserved late-Victorian home, Sambourne House, easily distinguished from the rest of the terraced houses on the street by the terrarium with plants that is part of the downstairs front window.

Edward Linley Sambourne, illustrator of Punch, lived here from 1874 to his death in 1910, and there are entertaining original photographs of his staff and family dressed up and adopting poses that he would use to create his satirical topical cartoons for the magazine. 

Thanks to his descendants, Linley's lovingly created home has missed out on makeovers. There are stained glass windows, William Morris wallpaper (some original) can be seen throughout and hundreds of framed photos and artwork adorn the walls. The rooms are cluttered, crammed, jam-packed with furniture, ceramics, stuffed birds in glass cases and knickknacks. It's a bit like that Solomon J. Solomon painting. Somewhat faded grandeur, though, after the splendour, freshness and brightness at Leighton House. 

Practicalities

Artists and Neighbours: The Holland Park Circle runs until March 19 and A Life of Drawing: Highlights from the Leighton House Collection is on until February 19 at the Leighton House Museum in Holland Park. The museum is open daily except Tuesday from 1000 to 1730. Tickets to the house, which include entry to the exhibitions, cost a standard £11 and can be booked online here. You'll perhaps want to give yourself a good 90 minutes to take in the house, the film and the displays. 

Leighton House is on Holland Park Road, a few minutes walk from High Street Kensington on the Underground's Circle and District Lines as well as from Kensington Olympia, which has Overground and National Rail trains and a restricted District Line service. 

Sambourne House, on Stafford Terrace, is less than 10 minutes walk from Leighton House, and is open Wednesday to Sunday from 1000 to 1730. Full-price tickets are also £11, or you can buy a ticket for both houses for £20. Give yourself at least 30 minutes; rather more if you're a big fan of Victoriana. 

Images

The Arab Hall, Leighton House. © Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Leighton House. Image courtesy Dirk Lindner.
New reception with view into the De Morgan cafe and garden. © Leighton House. Image courtesy Dirk Lindner
Frederic Leighton, new cast of Athlete Wrestling a Python against the backdrop of new spiral staircase with Oneness by Shahrzad Ghaffari. © Leighton House. Image courtesy Dirk Lindner
George Frederic Watts, Frederic Leighton, 1871. © Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Albert Moore, Vase of Dahlias, c. 1880. © Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Solomon J. Solomon, A Conversation Piece, 1884. © Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Emilie Russell Barrington, Girl Seated, c. 1885. © Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Entrance Hall, Sambourne House. © Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Image courtesy of Kevin Moran