Leighton House Museum

Yesterday we went to a particularly interesting museum....which is actually just the previous home of a very prominent Victorian era painter, particularly of the aesthetic movement-- Frederic Leighton. The aesthetic movement basically focused less on telling a story in the painting and more on the lines, contours and brush strokes.  That's my grasp of it, atleast :) Basically the museum is his restored home, that he lived in that he lived and died in.  The house was set up to be plain on the outside and in the main drawing room to "prepare you" for entering his art studio, "if you
were lucky enough to be invited in".  He had a studio up the stairs where he displayed all of his art and had models pose for his
paintings.  They say he had up to 7 canvases going at one time, which sound very similar to how I paint (haha); going off to work on something else until I can come back to it with fresh eyes and ideas.  I found the Leighton house to be a great example of "class", just simply because of the company he kept.  He threw lavish dinner parties in his dining/party room, filling it with his well-to-do friends and was definitely a member of the highest social circles of the time. He was well acquainted with members of the Royal Family and with most of the great artists, writers and politicians of the late Victorian era.  Another element of identity I found extremely evident is "Cultural Borrowing/Fusion" because his home is full of pieces of art and furniture borrowed from numerous places around the world.  For example, Leighton had replicas of famous artworks of from Italy and other places in Europe, as well as a "considerable collection of highly decorative, polychrome tiles, mostly from Damascus in Syria dating from the 15th to 17th century as well as 19th-century tiles made by William de Morgan"(http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/ceramics/pages/leightonhouse.asp).  He shows these tiles of in his awe-inspiring Arab Hall, pictured below:

  
 I personally enjoyed this tour enormously because I took advantage of the close access to his oil paintings and chalk sketches.  This allowed me to pick up a bit on his techniques and application of brush strokes, particularly with the human form and making facial features and hands look extremely realistic.  When I get home to the States I will try to apply these little things I've picked up by closely inspecting his paintings, both finished and unfinished, and hopefully get back into my painting before I lose my skills completely! :O  If you are ever in London, this is definitely a place to check out! Best of all, its only about 5 pounds to enter!

Cheers!
xoxo
-Abby