Chapter I: Antecedents and School Days (3)

"I am glad to hear what you tell me about the comfort you
enjoy in Bath, from the superior cleanliness and decency of
behaviour of English servants over foreign ones; it is a
thing to which I am particularly alive, and which struck me
very much last time I was in England; Gussy too, I am sure,
appreciated it very much. I am sorry that I cannot participate
in your enthusiasm about the beauties of Bath (barring, of
course, the situation, which is charming), but I will say
nothing against it, as I am only too glad that you should be
pleased with it. I quite follow you in your admiration of the
edifices in Westminster; I think that, taking them altogether,
they form one of the finest groups of architecture that I ever
saw; but what particularly pleases me in the Houses of
Parliament is the example they set of building in that style
of architecture which is our own, the growth, as it were, of
our soil, and which therefore best befits our country. Such
feelings, I have reason to believe, are becoming prevalent in
England, and they may have great results; but I reserve all
this for another letter. I am glad to hear of the institution
you tell me of for the cultivation of good principles; I
believe that the greatness of England will not be as ephemeral
as that of the other nations that have had the lead in
succession, because so much is done to consolidate and
increase in strength the basis on which it stands, and which
is the best prop to the enduring prosperity of a nation,
uprightness and morality.

"I have now followed and answered your letter, from beginning
to end, from point to point, it is time I should close; next
time I write, I shall be in Rome, settled for the
winter.--Believe me, dear Mamma, with very best love to all,
your most affectionate and dutiful son,

"FRED LEIGHTON."

_Translation._]
VENICE, _31st August_.

"HONOURED AND VERY DEAR HERR STEINLE,--If I did not, according
to our agreement, write to you directly Rico[19] arrived, it
was because I could not make up my mind to put you off with
two words, whereas I had neither time nor leisure to write you
anything detailed. Now, however, arrived and established in
Venice, I take up my pen to repair the neglect. It is a
lovely, cool, clear summer morning; I sit at my window on the
Grand Canal, and before my eyes rises in glorious beauty the
incomparable outline of Sta. Maria della Salute with the
adjoining Dogano. The newly risen sun (it is five o'clock in
the morning) throws a golden, enchanted light along one side
of the Canal; the gondolas and barges, which nestle in a
numerous array at the steps of the _Salute_, glitter in the
dusky distance like gleaming jewels on the borders of the
silver mirror of the water, whose clear bosom is gently
ruffled by the soft breath of dawn. All is still, except the
distant church bells. What words can give an idea of such a
sight? I gaze about me in a day-dream and think of you, the
dear friend, the honoured master; all that I owe you for
heartfelt sympathy and wise guidance, and cannot pay, rises
before my grateful soul, and reminds me that I have lost one
whom I shall miss many a time. I hope with all my heart that
your stay in the mountains of Appenzell will have given you
fresh strength, and that in all respects you are
re-established and invigorated according to your expectations.

"Now, however, as I am to speak of myself, and to give some
account of my impressions on my journey, I note that for me
the potent picture of Italy, of Venice, has pushed all that
went before into the background, almost blotted it out, so
that now it floats before me like a dim remembrance; but with
two exceptions: two pictures have impressed themselves deeply
on my memory, and will certainly not be easily erased--I mean
the _Franciscan church at Innsbruck_ and lovely _Meran_. You
were indeed right when you said that the cast giants in that
church are the grandest achievement of German sculpture; they
are colossal, a truly imposing spectacle, brilliant monuments
of an age of noble taste. What eternal truth! What an amazing
impress of individuality! Of marvellous execution that never
borders on the little, full of breadth and strength, and yet
nobly slender, they are the most perfect example of _economy
of detail_; what a sharp contrast to the superficial
stone-hammering (I might say) of to-day; what an everlasting
shaming to the nineteenth century! I could name many sculptors
who could not look at these things without profit.

"Meran! What an indelible, fascinating picture floats before
one's eyes at the name; this Alpha and Omega of all that is
lovely in Tyrol; this lovely amphitheatre of mountains, rugged
on one side, and steep and covered with snow on the other,
glowing in the purple gleam of the south--widely extended,
melting away, alluring; this fertile plain; this gold-green
flood of climbing vines, hanging down like waterfalls from the
espaliers on the mountain slopes, with the purple foam of the
vines; these thousand pleasure-houses and castles; the
picturesque costume!

"But why so many words? You have seen this beauty yourself,
and have no doubt a clearer picture of it than I can paint for
you.

"In Botzen, to my very great regret, I was unable to see Herr
von Hempel, since he was staying, not in his town house, but
in a castle at a distance of two hours; but I visited Becker's
brother. He received me in a most friendly manner, asked much
after his brother, of whom he had heard _nothing_ for more
than a _year_, and told me that his mother, who had recently
visited him in Feldkirch, had wept bitterly about it. I must
also inform you that he has recently _taken unto himself a
wife_--a fact of which our good Jacob (that is his name, is it
not?) also knew nothing.

"I could still, dear Herr Steinle, write much to you about
Tyrol and Italy (especially about _Verona_), for I know no one
with whom I so gladly share my artistic sensations as with
you, but lack of time obliges me to close quickly for the
present; I will only add that after I had been two days in
Verona the worthy Rico arrived, and we are now having a _feast
of art_ in Venice together.

"Should you be still at the Stift when you receive these
lines, I beg you to kiss the Frau Rath's hand for me, and to
tell her that I remember vividly the day I spent in her house.
Remember me most kindly to your wife--I congratulate her upon
her deliverance from the Cronberg martyrdom; kiss the little
children for me, and remember me to the elder ones; remember
me also to Frau Schoeff & Co. and to all my other good friends;
this is perhaps rather a large request, but whom could I omit?
I rely upon your kindness. I close with a plea for forbearance
towards my incorrigible writing and my lame, headlong
style.--Heartfelt greetings from your devoted and grateful
pupil,

"FRED LEIGHTON.

"_P.S._--Should you have anything to say to me, or any
commission to give me, the address, Poste Restante, Florence,
will find me till the end of September.

"Gamba wishes to be cordially remembered to you, and promises
himself to be under your wing again in eighteen months.

"In my next letter I will tell you about Italy."

FOOTNOTES:

[13] In the winter of 1845 Leighton went to a children's costume ball in Florence as Punch, and for some time after the name clung to him in his family.

[14] Literally, "devoured nature with a spoon."

[15] A distinguished actress.

[16] Probably "The Death of Brunelleschi."

[17] See Appendix, In Memoriam.

[18] See sketch, "A Monk Dividing Enemies," Leighton House Collection, "Ulm, 1852."

[19] Count Gamba.