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Lot Essay
KITTENS IS A DELIGHTFUL EXAMPLE, UNUSUALLY LARGE IN SCALE, OF THE INTIMATE GENRE SUBJECTS WITH WHICH LEIGHTON VARIED HIS MORE FORMAL CLASSICAL WORKS. IN 1878 HE HAD BEEN ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY, A POST HE HELD UNTIL HIS DEATH AND ENDOWED WITH MORE PRESTIGE THAN ANY OCCUPANT, BEFORE OR SINCE, EXCEPT THE FIRST HOLDER OF THE OFFICE, SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. KITTENS WAS ONE OF FOUR PICTURES HE SHOWED IN 1883, THE OTHERS BEING A FRIEZE REPRESENTING THE DANCE, DESTINED FOR THE DRAWING-ROOM OF STEWART HODGSON'S HOUSE IN SOUTH AUDLEY STREET (NOW AT LEIGHTON HOUSE), AND TWO FANCIFUL FEMALE HALF-LENGTHS, VESTAL (ALSO AT LEIGHTON HOUSE) AND MEMORIES (PRIVATE COLLECTION), A PICTURE WHICH WAS INCLUDED IN THE LEIGHTON EXHIBITION AT THE ROYAL ACADEMY IN 1996 (NO. 88). KITTENS IS DESCRIBED BY THE ORMONDS IN THEIR MONOGRAPH (LOC. CIT.) AS 'UNTRACED'. IT HAS NOT IN FACT BEEN SEEN IN PUBLIC SINCE IT WAS SOLD AT CHRISTIE'S IN 1925, AND ITS EMERGENCE RESTORES AN IMPORTANT WORK TO THE OEUVRE OF ONE OF THE GREATEST VICTORIAN ARTISTS.
THE PICTURE WAS WELL RECEIVED WHEN IT APPEARED AT THE ACADEMY. HARRY QUILTER DESCRIBED IT IN THE TIMES AS AN 'AN ADMIRABLE EXAMPLE' OF THE PRESIDENT'S 'MANNER OF PAINTING CHILDREN ... [IT] REPRESENTS A CHARMING, FAIR-HAIRED CHILD, WRAPPED IN THE MOST SUMPTUOUS SPOILS OF THE PAINTER'S WARDROBE, AND BENDING OVER TO TALK WITH CHILDISH EARNESTNESS TO A KITTEN BY HER SIDE. AS A STUDY OF COLOUR, IT IS MOST EFFECTIVE; SELDOM ARE SUCH COMBINATIONS OF RED, OF LILAC, OF GOLD SO DAINTILY ARRANGED ON THE CANVAS OF A MODERN ENGLISH ARTIST'.
F. G. STEPHENS IN THE ATHENAEUM WAS EQUALLY ENTHUSIASTIC. 'A SOFT CHARM, WHICH IS DELICATE RATHER THAN LUXURIOUS, PERVADES THE GRACEFUL FIGURE OF A LITTLE GIRL, SUMPTUOUSLY DRESSED IN ORIENTAL PURPLE AND FAWN-COLOURED TISSUES, AND SEATED ON A COUCH COVERED WITH CHOICE DRAPERIES, TURNS SIDELONG AND STOOPS OVER A PRETTY TIGER-LIKE KITTEN, HER OWN TYPE, WHICH GAMBOLS AT HER SIDE. THE CHILD'S BEAUTIFULLY MODELLED FEET, OVER WHICH THE P.R.A. HAS LINGERED WITH DELIGHT, HANG DOWN AND NEARLY TOUCH THE FLOOR. THESE FEET AND THE ADMIRABLE MANNER IN WHICH THE ROSY FACE AND ITS FINE HONEY-COLOURED HAIR ARE RELIEVED ON THE GOLD-HUED PANELS BEHIND THE FIGURE ARE THE TECHNICAL TRIUMPHS OF THIS PICTURE'.
STEPHENS HAD STARTED HIS CAREER AS A PAINTER, INDEED HE HAD BEEN ONE OF THE SEVEN MEMBERS OF THE PRE-RAPHAELITE BROTHERHOOD IN 1848; AND HIS OBSERVATIONS ON THE WAY LEIGHTON HAD PAINTED THE CHILD'S FEET AND RELIEVED HER HEAD AGAINST THE 'GOLD-HUED PANELS' IS CHARACTERISTIC OF A CRITIC WHO HAD ONCE HELD A BRUSH HIMSELF.
THE SITTER WAS ISABELL, OR LENA, PULLAN, THE YOUNGEST OF FIVE SISTERS, OF WHOM THE ELDEST, ADA ALICE, BETTER KNOWN BY HER STAGE NAME OF DOROTHY DENE, WAS THE INSPIRATION FOR SO MUCH OF LEIGHTON'S LATER WORK. HIS HOUSE (THE PRESENT LEIGHTON HOUSE, A MUSEUM DEVOTED TO HIS MEMORY) STOOD IN THE CENTRE OF AN ARTISTS' COLONY WHICH HAD SPRUNG UP IN THE 1860S ON GROUND WHICH HAD FORMERLY BEEN PART OF THE HOLLAND HOUSE ESTATE IN KENSINGTON. A MAGNIFICENT BUILDING BY HIS FRIEND GEORGE AITCHISON, WHO HAD RECENTLY ENHANCED IT BY ADDING THE FAMOUS ARAB HALL, IT DOMINATED THE SURROUNDING STUDIO HOUSES AS EFFORTLESSLY AS LEIGHTON HIMSELF DOMINATED THE VICTORIAN ART ESTABLISHMENT. THE PULLAN SISTERS WERE 'DISCOVERED' FOR HIM IN 1879 WHEN HIS NEIGHBOUR AND FUTURE BIOGRAPHER, MRS RUSSELL BARRINGTON, SAW DOROTHY STANDING ON THE DOORSTEP OF A NEARBY STUDIO. THE GIRLS CAME FROM A WORKING-CLASS FAMILY IN NEW CROSS, SOUTH LONDON, AND WERE LIVING IN STRAIGHTENED CIRCUMSTANCES. THEIR FATHER, ABRAHAM PULLAN, A MECHANICAL ENGINEER, HAD DESERTED THEM, AND THEIR MOTHER WAS AN INVALID WHO WAS TO DIE IN 1881. DOROTHY, BORN IN 1859, WAS ENDEAVOURING TO BRING UP THE FAMILY, AND SHE AND HER SISTERS WERE EARNING WHAT THEY COULD AS ARTISTS' MODELS, A PROFESSION NOT CONSIDERED PARTICULARLY RESPECTABLE IN VICTORIAN LONDON. BY THE MID-1880S DOROTHY WAS WELL ESTABLISHED AS LEIGHTON'S MUSE, HER REMARKABLE ABILITY TO STRIKE A DRAMATIC POSE CAPTURING HIS IMAGINATION AND FINDING EXPRESSION IN A SERIES OF MAJOR PAINTINGS. INDEED SHE HARBOURED AMBITIONS TO GO ON THE STAGE, AND LEIGHTON DID MUCH TO PROMOTE HER CAREER IN THE 1880S AND 1890S. DOROTHY FOR HER PART BROUGHT A NOTE OF WARMTH AND TENDERNESS INTO HIS AUSTERE BACHELOR EXISTENCE, DEDICATED TO OFFICIAL DUTIES, AND THERE WERE EVEN UNFOUNDED RUMOURS OF A ROMANTIC ENTANGLEMENT. SHE ONLY OUTLIVED HER PROTECTOR BY THREE YEARS, DYING IN JANUARY 1899.
ALTHOUGH DOROTHY CAME TO HAVE A UNIQUE SIGNIFICANCE FOR LEIGHTON, HE ALSO EMPLOYED HER SISTERS. EDITH, THE SECOND OLDEST, WHO LATER MARRIED THE ARTIST HERBERT SCHMALZ, SAT FOR MEMORIES, ONE OF THE PICTURES EXHIBITED WITH KITTENS IN 1883, AND THE THIRD SISTER, HENRIETTA (HATTY), MODELLED FOR TWO PICTURES, THE JEALOUSY OF SIMOETHA THE SORCERESS (1887; UNTRACED) AND FAREWELL! (1893; FERENS ART GALLERY, HULL). HOWEVER, IT WAS LENA, THE YOUNGEST GIRL, WITH HER PALE SKIN AND SOFT GOLDEN HAIR, FALLING IN A FRINGE OVER HER FOREHEAD, WHO APPEALED TO LEIGHTON MOST. BORN IN 1873, AND THEREFORE NINE OR TEN WHEN SHE POSED FOR KITTENS, SHE APPEARS IN A NUMBER OF HIS WORKS. THE EARLIEST, SISTER'S KISS (PRIVATE COLLECTION, INDIA) AND THE LIGHT OF THE HAREM (PRIVATE COLLECTION), WERE BOTH EXHIBITED AT THE ACADEMY IN 1880. KITTENS CAME NEXT, AND SHE ALSO MODELLED FOR THE DANCE FRIEZE WHICH WAS SHOWN WITH THE PICTURE IN 1883, AND ITS COMPANIONPIECE, MUSIC (AGAIN AT LEIGHTON HOUSE), WHICH WAS EXHIBITED TWO YEARS LATER. MEANWHILE IN 1884 SHE HAD POSED FOR LETTY (PRIVATE COLLECTION) AND AS THE LITTLE GIRL CURLED UP IN THE FOREGROUND OF CYMON AND IPHIGENIA (ART GALLERY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, SIDNEY), ONE OF THE ARTIST'S LARGEST AND MOST ROMANTIC COMPOSITIONS. SHE WENT ON TO MODEL FOR GULNIHAL (FIG. 1), WHICH TAKES ITS TITLE FROM AN ARAB WORD MEANING 'BEAUTIFUL ROSE'; YELLOW AND PALE AS RIPPENED CORN (1887; UNTRACED), A PICTURE WHICH INSPIRED A POEM BY BROWNING; AND AS THE YOUNG GIRL STANDING BEHIND THE PRINCIPAL FIGURE IN CAPTIVE ANDROMACHE (FIG. 2), ANOTHER ENORMOUS WORK WHICH HAS A GOOD CLAIM TO BE LEIGHTON'S MASTERPIECE. SHE ALSO POSED NUDE FOR THE STATUE NEEDLESS ALARMS (FIG. 3), ONE OF THE HANDFUL OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL WORKS THAT LEIGHTON PRODUCED IN THE DECADE 1877-86, THEREBY GOING FAR TO INSPIRE THE SO-CALLED 'NEW SCULPTURE' WHICH EMERGED IN THE 1880S.
LEIGHTON, LIKE RUSKIN, LEWIS CARROLL AND MANY VICTORIANS, WAS PROFOUNDLY MOVED BY INNOCENCE AND YOUTH. HIS FRIEND GIOVANNI COSTA, WHOSE PORTRAIT BY LEIGHTON (1878) WAS SOLD IN THESE ROOMS ON 6 JUNE 1997, WROTE OF HIM AFTER HIS DEATH: 'HE WORSHIPPED CHILDREN, AND HIS PICTURES OF [THEM] WITH FRUIT AND FLOWERS ARE AMONG THE MOST DELICIOUS AND SPONTANEOUS WORK EVER DONE BY HIM IN PAINTING. AND I CAN SEE HIM AGAIN, DURING THE LAST VISIT THAT HE PAID TO ROME, IN 1895, ON HIS KNEES BEFORE MY LITTLE GIRL TO ACCEDE TO HER REQUEST THAT SHE SHOULD HAVE A LOCK OF HIS HAIR AS A REMEMBRANCE'. LEIGHTON WAS CONSTANTLY EITHER PAINTING PICTURES OF CHILDREN OR INTRODUCING THEM INTO HIS CLASSICAL COMPOSITIONS, AND IT WAS IMPORTANT TO HIM TO HAVE A CHILD MODEL ON WHOM HE COULD RELY. IN THE 1870S HE OFTEN EMPLOYED CONNIE GILCHRIST, THE PRETTY FAIR-HAIRED LITTLE GIRL WHO SAT FOR SUCH PICTURES AS MUSIC LESSON (GUILDHALL ART GALLERY, LONDON) AND STUDY: AT A READING DESK (SUDLEY HOUSE, LIVERPOOL), BOTH SHOWN AT THE R.A. IN 1877, AS WELL AS A WHOLE CHORUS OF SINGING INFANTS IN THE GREAT DAPHNEPHORIA (LADY LEVER ART GALLERY, PORT SUNLIGHT) OF 1876. BUT CONNIE WAS GROWING UP, AND AFTER 1878 SHE DISAPPEARED FROM LEIGHTON'S WORK, GOING ON TO MAKE A NAME FOR HERSELF AS A SKIPPING-ROPE DANCER AT THE WESTMINISTER AQUARIUM, A ROLE IN WHICH SHE WAS PAINTED BY WHISTLER. LENA PULLAN, WHOM MRS BARRINGTON DESCRIBED AS HAVING 'A RARE, REFINED CHARM WHICH MUST HAVE CAPTIVATED ANY CHILD-LOVER', TOOK HER PLACE A YEAR OR TWO LATER, AND REIGNED SUPREME AS LEIGHTON'S IDEAL CHILD THROUGHOUT THE 1880S. KITTENS ENCAPSULATES THE APPEAL SHE HAD FOR THE PAINTER. THERE IS ONLY ONE ACTUAL KITTEN IN THE PICTURE, AND THE TITLE CLEARLY REFERS TO THE CHILD AS WELL, EMPHASISING HER PLAYFULNESS, INNOCENCE AND YOUTH.
RUSKIN OFFERS MORE THAN A MERE COMPARISON, FOR HE GREATLY ADMIRED LEIGHTON'S PICTURES OF LITTLE GIRLS. HE PRAISED ONE OF THEM (LITTLE FATINA) IN HIS REVIVED ACADEMY NOTES OF 1875, AND IN 1883, WHEN HE WAS PREPARING TO LECTURE ON LEIGHTON IN ONE OF THE 'ART OF ENGLAND' LECTURES WHICH HE GAVE THAT SUMMER IN HIS CAPACITY AS SLADE PROFESSOR AT OXFORD, HE TOLD HIS FRIEND CHARLES ELIOT NORTON: 'LEIGHTON HAS WON MY HEART BY PAINTING SOME EXTREMELY PRETTY GIRLS, WHOM I CAN'T BUT, WITH MUCH DEPRECATION OF MYSELF, EXTREMELY PREFER TO THE OLD HARD OUTLINED MANTEGNAS AND LEONARDOS AND THE LIKE'. THIS OF COURSE WAS THE SAME YEAR THAT KITTENS APPEARED AT THE ACADEMY, AND RUSKIN DID IN FACT MENTION THE PICTURE IN HIS LECTURE, IN WHICH HE WENT OUT OF HIS WAY TO PRAISE THIS ASPECT OF LEIGHTON'S WORK. 'IT IS WITH EXTREME GRATITUDE AND UNQUALIFIED ADMIRATION', HE TOLD HIS AUDIENCE, 'THAT I FIND SIR FREDERICK CONDESCENDING FROM THE MAJESTIES OF OLYMPUS TO THE WORSHIP OF THESE UNAPPALLING POWERS, WHICH, HEAVEN BE THANKED, ARE AS BRIGHTLY ANGLO-SAXON AS HELLENIC; AND PAINTING FOR US, WITH A SOFT CHARM PECULIARLY HIS OWN, THE WITCHCRAFT AND THE WONDERFULNESS OF CHILDHOOD'.
WHEN WE THINK OF VICTORIAN ARTISTS PAINTING WINSOME CHILDREN, THE NAME THAT LEAPS TO MIND IS THAT OF MILLAIS, LEIGHTON'S FELLOW ACADEMICIAN AND HIS SUCCESSOR AS PRESIDENT IN 1896. LEONéE ORMOND HAS RECENTLY DRAWN ATTENTION TO THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TWO ARTISTS IN THIS CONTEXT (LOC. CIT.). 'LEIGHTON'S KITTENS OF 1883', SHE WRITES, 'IS A STUDY IN THE MILLAIS STYLE', ALTHOUGH SHE GOES ON TO STRESS THAT MILLAIS WOULD NEVER HAVE PAINTED ONE OF HIS CHILD SITTERS IN THE ORIENTAL COSTUME THAT IS SUCH A MARKED FEATURE OF OUR PICTURE. HARRY QUILTER WAS RIGHT WHEN HE WROTE THAT LENA IS DRESSED 'IN THE MOST SUMPTUOUS SPOILS OF THE PAINTER'S WARDROBE'. LEIGHTON HAD A FINE COLLECTION OF RICH ORIENTAL COSTUMES AND DRAPERIES, ACQUIRED ON HIS MANY JOURNEYS TO THE EAST AND THE LEVANT; AND HE LOVED TO DRESS HIS MODELS IN THEM, JUST AS HE LOVED TO SURROUND HIMSELF WITH THE PERSIAN TILES AND OTHER MIDDLE EASTERN CERAMICS THAT HE ACQUIRED ON HIS TRAVELS AND WHICH CAN STILL BE SEEN AT LEIGHTON HOUSE. SOMETIMES THESE DRAPERIES WERE DEMANDED BY THE SUBJECT, AS IN THE LIGHT OF THE HAREM, ALREADY MENTIONED AS ONE OF THE FIRST PICTURES FOR WHICH LENA MODELLED, OR THE EARLIER MOORISH GARDEN (PRIVATE COLLECTION), A PICTURE OF CONNIE GILCHRIST FEEDING PEACOCKS AGAINST A BACKGROUND DEVELOPED FROM A SKETCH MADE BY LEIGHTON IN GRANADA, THAT WAS EXHIBITED AT THE ACADEMY IN 1874 AND SOLD BY CHRISTIE'S IN LONDON ON 13 NOVEMBER 1992. ELSEWHERE, HOWEVER - IN MUSIC LESSON, STUDY: AT A READING DESK AND KITTENS ITSELF - THEY ADD AN ELEMENT OF MYSTERY AND EXOTICISM TO WHAT ARE OTHERWISE CONVENTIONAL GENRE SCENES.
THE PICTURE HAS A DISTINGUISHED AND INTERESTING PROVENANCE. ITS FIRST OWNER WAS CHARLES MATTHEWS, WHO HAD A MAGNIFICENT COLLECTION OF VICTORIAN PAINTINGS WHICH WAS SOLD AT CHRISTIE'S IN JUNE 1891 (WITHIN LEIGHTON'S LIFETIME). MANY WERE MAJOR WORKS THAT HAVE SINCE BECOME FAMOUS, BUT PERHAPS THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT PICTURE IN THE COLLECTION WAS THE FINDING OF THE SAVIOUR IN THE TEMPLE, HOLMAN HUNT'S MASTERPIECE OF 1854-60, NOW IN THE BIRMINGHAM CITY ART GALLERY. ALL THE WORKS BY LEIGHTON WERE GENRE SCENES OR 'FANCY' PICTURES OF PRETTY MODELS; THEY ALSO INCLUDED MUSIC LESSON (GUILDHALL ART GALLERY), FOR WHICH CONNIE GILCHRIST HAD POSED IN 1877.
BY 1906, WHEN IT WAS LISTED IN EDGCUMBE STALEY'S MONOGRAPH ON LEIGHTON (OP.CIT.), KITTENS WAS IN ANOTHER GOOD COLLECTION, THAT OF E. M. DENNY OF 11 BRYANSTON SQUARE. INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH, LEIGHTON'S MUSIC LESSON WAS STILL PRESENT, AND MAY HAVE BEEN BOUGHT AT THE SAME TIME AS KITTENS. AT ANY RATE THE PICTURES REMAINED TOGETHER UNTIL 1925, WHEN MUSIC LESSON WAS ACQUIRED BY LORD BEARSTED AND PRESENTED TO THE GUILDHALL WHILE KITTENS ENTERED THE FAMILY COLLECTION OF THE PRESENT OWNER, BEING BOUGHT ON BEHALF OF LADY DIXON-HARTLAND, WIDOW OF SIR FREDERICK DIXON-HARTLAND, BT, MP (1832-1909), OF ASHLEY MANOR, NEAR CHELTENHAM. BEFORE HER MARRIAGE TO SIR FREDERICK (AS HIS SECOND WIFE) IN 1895, LADY DIXON-HARTLAND HAD BEEN AGNES CHICHESTER CHRISTIE OF GLYNDEBOURNE IN SUSSEX, AND IT MAY BE THAT SHE WAS ATTRACTED TO THE PICTURE BECAUSE THERE WAS ALREADY A FINE EXAMPLE OF LEIGHTON'S WORK IN THE CHRISTIE COLLECTION. GOLDEN HOURS, A ROMANTIC GIORGIONESQUE COMPOSITION OF 1864, HAD BEEN BOUGHT BY LADY ROSAMOND CHRISTIE, HER SISTER-IN-LAW, IN 1916 (SEE FREDERIC LEIGHTON, EXH. ROYAL ACADEMY, LONDON, 1996, CAT. NO. 31, ILLUSTRATED).
KITTENS REMAINED AT ASHLEY MANOR UNTIL LADY DIXON-HARTLAND'S DEATH IN 1955. DOCUMENTS RELATING TO ITS PURCHASE IN 1925 ARE SOLD WITH THE PICTURE.
THE PICTURE WAS WELL RECEIVED WHEN IT APPEARED AT THE ACADEMY. HARRY QUILTER DESCRIBED IT IN THE TIMES AS AN 'AN ADMIRABLE EXAMPLE' OF THE PRESIDENT'S 'MANNER OF PAINTING CHILDREN ... [IT] REPRESENTS A CHARMING, FAIR-HAIRED CHILD, WRAPPED IN THE MOST SUMPTUOUS SPOILS OF THE PAINTER'S WARDROBE, AND BENDING OVER TO TALK WITH CHILDISH EARNESTNESS TO A KITTEN BY HER SIDE. AS A STUDY OF COLOUR, IT IS MOST EFFECTIVE; SELDOM ARE SUCH COMBINATIONS OF RED, OF LILAC, OF GOLD SO DAINTILY ARRANGED ON THE CANVAS OF A MODERN ENGLISH ARTIST'.
F. G. STEPHENS IN THE ATHENAEUM WAS EQUALLY ENTHUSIASTIC. 'A SOFT CHARM, WHICH IS DELICATE RATHER THAN LUXURIOUS, PERVADES THE GRACEFUL FIGURE OF A LITTLE GIRL, SUMPTUOUSLY DRESSED IN ORIENTAL PURPLE AND FAWN-COLOURED TISSUES, AND SEATED ON A COUCH COVERED WITH CHOICE DRAPERIES, TURNS SIDELONG AND STOOPS OVER A PRETTY TIGER-LIKE KITTEN, HER OWN TYPE, WHICH GAMBOLS AT HER SIDE. THE CHILD'S BEAUTIFULLY MODELLED FEET, OVER WHICH THE P.R.A. HAS LINGERED WITH DELIGHT, HANG DOWN AND NEARLY TOUCH THE FLOOR. THESE FEET AND THE ADMIRABLE MANNER IN WHICH THE ROSY FACE AND ITS FINE HONEY-COLOURED HAIR ARE RELIEVED ON THE GOLD-HUED PANELS BEHIND THE FIGURE ARE THE TECHNICAL TRIUMPHS OF THIS PICTURE'.
STEPHENS HAD STARTED HIS CAREER AS A PAINTER, INDEED HE HAD BEEN ONE OF THE SEVEN MEMBERS OF THE PRE-RAPHAELITE BROTHERHOOD IN 1848; AND HIS OBSERVATIONS ON THE WAY LEIGHTON HAD PAINTED THE CHILD'S FEET AND RELIEVED HER HEAD AGAINST THE 'GOLD-HUED PANELS' IS CHARACTERISTIC OF A CRITIC WHO HAD ONCE HELD A BRUSH HIMSELF.
THE SITTER WAS ISABELL, OR LENA, PULLAN, THE YOUNGEST OF FIVE SISTERS, OF WHOM THE ELDEST, ADA ALICE, BETTER KNOWN BY HER STAGE NAME OF DOROTHY DENE, WAS THE INSPIRATION FOR SO MUCH OF LEIGHTON'S LATER WORK. HIS HOUSE (THE PRESENT LEIGHTON HOUSE, A MUSEUM DEVOTED TO HIS MEMORY) STOOD IN THE CENTRE OF AN ARTISTS' COLONY WHICH HAD SPRUNG UP IN THE 1860S ON GROUND WHICH HAD FORMERLY BEEN PART OF THE HOLLAND HOUSE ESTATE IN KENSINGTON. A MAGNIFICENT BUILDING BY HIS FRIEND GEORGE AITCHISON, WHO HAD RECENTLY ENHANCED IT BY ADDING THE FAMOUS ARAB HALL, IT DOMINATED THE SURROUNDING STUDIO HOUSES AS EFFORTLESSLY AS LEIGHTON HIMSELF DOMINATED THE VICTORIAN ART ESTABLISHMENT. THE PULLAN SISTERS WERE 'DISCOVERED' FOR HIM IN 1879 WHEN HIS NEIGHBOUR AND FUTURE BIOGRAPHER, MRS RUSSELL BARRINGTON, SAW DOROTHY STANDING ON THE DOORSTEP OF A NEARBY STUDIO. THE GIRLS CAME FROM A WORKING-CLASS FAMILY IN NEW CROSS, SOUTH LONDON, AND WERE LIVING IN STRAIGHTENED CIRCUMSTANCES. THEIR FATHER, ABRAHAM PULLAN, A MECHANICAL ENGINEER, HAD DESERTED THEM, AND THEIR MOTHER WAS AN INVALID WHO WAS TO DIE IN 1881. DOROTHY, BORN IN 1859, WAS ENDEAVOURING TO BRING UP THE FAMILY, AND SHE AND HER SISTERS WERE EARNING WHAT THEY COULD AS ARTISTS' MODELS, A PROFESSION NOT CONSIDERED PARTICULARLY RESPECTABLE IN VICTORIAN LONDON. BY THE MID-1880S DOROTHY WAS WELL ESTABLISHED AS LEIGHTON'S MUSE, HER REMARKABLE ABILITY TO STRIKE A DRAMATIC POSE CAPTURING HIS IMAGINATION AND FINDING EXPRESSION IN A SERIES OF MAJOR PAINTINGS. INDEED SHE HARBOURED AMBITIONS TO GO ON THE STAGE, AND LEIGHTON DID MUCH TO PROMOTE HER CAREER IN THE 1880S AND 1890S. DOROTHY FOR HER PART BROUGHT A NOTE OF WARMTH AND TENDERNESS INTO HIS AUSTERE BACHELOR EXISTENCE, DEDICATED TO OFFICIAL DUTIES, AND THERE WERE EVEN UNFOUNDED RUMOURS OF A ROMANTIC ENTANGLEMENT. SHE ONLY OUTLIVED HER PROTECTOR BY THREE YEARS, DYING IN JANUARY 1899.
ALTHOUGH DOROTHY CAME TO HAVE A UNIQUE SIGNIFICANCE FOR LEIGHTON, HE ALSO EMPLOYED HER SISTERS. EDITH, THE SECOND OLDEST, WHO LATER MARRIED THE ARTIST HERBERT SCHMALZ, SAT FOR MEMORIES, ONE OF THE PICTURES EXHIBITED WITH KITTENS IN 1883, AND THE THIRD SISTER, HENRIETTA (HATTY), MODELLED FOR TWO PICTURES, THE JEALOUSY OF SIMOETHA THE SORCERESS (1887; UNTRACED) AND FAREWELL! (1893; FERENS ART GALLERY, HULL). HOWEVER, IT WAS LENA, THE YOUNGEST GIRL, WITH HER PALE SKIN AND SOFT GOLDEN HAIR, FALLING IN A FRINGE OVER HER FOREHEAD, WHO APPEALED TO LEIGHTON MOST. BORN IN 1873, AND THEREFORE NINE OR TEN WHEN SHE POSED FOR KITTENS, SHE APPEARS IN A NUMBER OF HIS WORKS. THE EARLIEST, SISTER'S KISS (PRIVATE COLLECTION, INDIA) AND THE LIGHT OF THE HAREM (PRIVATE COLLECTION), WERE BOTH EXHIBITED AT THE ACADEMY IN 1880. KITTENS CAME NEXT, AND SHE ALSO MODELLED FOR THE DANCE FRIEZE WHICH WAS SHOWN WITH THE PICTURE IN 1883, AND ITS COMPANIONPIECE, MUSIC (AGAIN AT LEIGHTON HOUSE), WHICH WAS EXHIBITED TWO YEARS LATER. MEANWHILE IN 1884 SHE HAD POSED FOR LETTY (PRIVATE COLLECTION) AND AS THE LITTLE GIRL CURLED UP IN THE FOREGROUND OF CYMON AND IPHIGENIA (ART GALLERY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, SIDNEY), ONE OF THE ARTIST'S LARGEST AND MOST ROMANTIC COMPOSITIONS. SHE WENT ON TO MODEL FOR GULNIHAL (FIG. 1), WHICH TAKES ITS TITLE FROM AN ARAB WORD MEANING 'BEAUTIFUL ROSE'; YELLOW AND PALE AS RIPPENED CORN (1887; UNTRACED), A PICTURE WHICH INSPIRED A POEM BY BROWNING; AND AS THE YOUNG GIRL STANDING BEHIND THE PRINCIPAL FIGURE IN CAPTIVE ANDROMACHE (FIG. 2), ANOTHER ENORMOUS WORK WHICH HAS A GOOD CLAIM TO BE LEIGHTON'S MASTERPIECE. SHE ALSO POSED NUDE FOR THE STATUE NEEDLESS ALARMS (FIG. 3), ONE OF THE HANDFUL OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL WORKS THAT LEIGHTON PRODUCED IN THE DECADE 1877-86, THEREBY GOING FAR TO INSPIRE THE SO-CALLED 'NEW SCULPTURE' WHICH EMERGED IN THE 1880S.
LEIGHTON, LIKE RUSKIN, LEWIS CARROLL AND MANY VICTORIANS, WAS PROFOUNDLY MOVED BY INNOCENCE AND YOUTH. HIS FRIEND GIOVANNI COSTA, WHOSE PORTRAIT BY LEIGHTON (1878) WAS SOLD IN THESE ROOMS ON 6 JUNE 1997, WROTE OF HIM AFTER HIS DEATH: 'HE WORSHIPPED CHILDREN, AND HIS PICTURES OF [THEM] WITH FRUIT AND FLOWERS ARE AMONG THE MOST DELICIOUS AND SPONTANEOUS WORK EVER DONE BY HIM IN PAINTING. AND I CAN SEE HIM AGAIN, DURING THE LAST VISIT THAT HE PAID TO ROME, IN 1895, ON HIS KNEES BEFORE MY LITTLE GIRL TO ACCEDE TO HER REQUEST THAT SHE SHOULD HAVE A LOCK OF HIS HAIR AS A REMEMBRANCE'. LEIGHTON WAS CONSTANTLY EITHER PAINTING PICTURES OF CHILDREN OR INTRODUCING THEM INTO HIS CLASSICAL COMPOSITIONS, AND IT WAS IMPORTANT TO HIM TO HAVE A CHILD MODEL ON WHOM HE COULD RELY. IN THE 1870S HE OFTEN EMPLOYED CONNIE GILCHRIST, THE PRETTY FAIR-HAIRED LITTLE GIRL WHO SAT FOR SUCH PICTURES AS MUSIC LESSON (GUILDHALL ART GALLERY, LONDON) AND STUDY: AT A READING DESK (SUDLEY HOUSE, LIVERPOOL), BOTH SHOWN AT THE R.A. IN 1877, AS WELL AS A WHOLE CHORUS OF SINGING INFANTS IN THE GREAT DAPHNEPHORIA (LADY LEVER ART GALLERY, PORT SUNLIGHT) OF 1876. BUT CONNIE WAS GROWING UP, AND AFTER 1878 SHE DISAPPEARED FROM LEIGHTON'S WORK, GOING ON TO MAKE A NAME FOR HERSELF AS A SKIPPING-ROPE DANCER AT THE WESTMINISTER AQUARIUM, A ROLE IN WHICH SHE WAS PAINTED BY WHISTLER. LENA PULLAN, WHOM MRS BARRINGTON DESCRIBED AS HAVING 'A RARE, REFINED CHARM WHICH MUST HAVE CAPTIVATED ANY CHILD-LOVER', TOOK HER PLACE A YEAR OR TWO LATER, AND REIGNED SUPREME AS LEIGHTON'S IDEAL CHILD THROUGHOUT THE 1880S. KITTENS ENCAPSULATES THE APPEAL SHE HAD FOR THE PAINTER. THERE IS ONLY ONE ACTUAL KITTEN IN THE PICTURE, AND THE TITLE CLEARLY REFERS TO THE CHILD AS WELL, EMPHASISING HER PLAYFULNESS, INNOCENCE AND YOUTH.
RUSKIN OFFERS MORE THAN A MERE COMPARISON, FOR HE GREATLY ADMIRED LEIGHTON'S PICTURES OF LITTLE GIRLS. HE PRAISED ONE OF THEM (LITTLE FATINA) IN HIS REVIVED ACADEMY NOTES OF 1875, AND IN 1883, WHEN HE WAS PREPARING TO LECTURE ON LEIGHTON IN ONE OF THE 'ART OF ENGLAND' LECTURES WHICH HE GAVE THAT SUMMER IN HIS CAPACITY AS SLADE PROFESSOR AT OXFORD, HE TOLD HIS FRIEND CHARLES ELIOT NORTON: 'LEIGHTON HAS WON MY HEART BY PAINTING SOME EXTREMELY PRETTY GIRLS, WHOM I CAN'T BUT, WITH MUCH DEPRECATION OF MYSELF, EXTREMELY PREFER TO THE OLD HARD OUTLINED MANTEGNAS AND LEONARDOS AND THE LIKE'. THIS OF COURSE WAS THE SAME YEAR THAT KITTENS APPEARED AT THE ACADEMY, AND RUSKIN DID IN FACT MENTION THE PICTURE IN HIS LECTURE, IN WHICH HE WENT OUT OF HIS WAY TO PRAISE THIS ASPECT OF LEIGHTON'S WORK. 'IT IS WITH EXTREME GRATITUDE AND UNQUALIFIED ADMIRATION', HE TOLD HIS AUDIENCE, 'THAT I FIND SIR FREDERICK CONDESCENDING FROM THE MAJESTIES OF OLYMPUS TO THE WORSHIP OF THESE UNAPPALLING POWERS, WHICH, HEAVEN BE THANKED, ARE AS BRIGHTLY ANGLO-SAXON AS HELLENIC; AND PAINTING FOR US, WITH A SOFT CHARM PECULIARLY HIS OWN, THE WITCHCRAFT AND THE WONDERFULNESS OF CHILDHOOD'.
WHEN WE THINK OF VICTORIAN ARTISTS PAINTING WINSOME CHILDREN, THE NAME THAT LEAPS TO MIND IS THAT OF MILLAIS, LEIGHTON'S FELLOW ACADEMICIAN AND HIS SUCCESSOR AS PRESIDENT IN 1896. LEONéE ORMOND HAS RECENTLY DRAWN ATTENTION TO THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TWO ARTISTS IN THIS CONTEXT (LOC. CIT.). 'LEIGHTON'S KITTENS OF 1883', SHE WRITES, 'IS A STUDY IN THE MILLAIS STYLE', ALTHOUGH SHE GOES ON TO STRESS THAT MILLAIS WOULD NEVER HAVE PAINTED ONE OF HIS CHILD SITTERS IN THE ORIENTAL COSTUME THAT IS SUCH A MARKED FEATURE OF OUR PICTURE. HARRY QUILTER WAS RIGHT WHEN HE WROTE THAT LENA IS DRESSED 'IN THE MOST SUMPTUOUS SPOILS OF THE PAINTER'S WARDROBE'. LEIGHTON HAD A FINE COLLECTION OF RICH ORIENTAL COSTUMES AND DRAPERIES, ACQUIRED ON HIS MANY JOURNEYS TO THE EAST AND THE LEVANT; AND HE LOVED TO DRESS HIS MODELS IN THEM, JUST AS HE LOVED TO SURROUND HIMSELF WITH THE PERSIAN TILES AND OTHER MIDDLE EASTERN CERAMICS THAT HE ACQUIRED ON HIS TRAVELS AND WHICH CAN STILL BE SEEN AT LEIGHTON HOUSE. SOMETIMES THESE DRAPERIES WERE DEMANDED BY THE SUBJECT, AS IN THE LIGHT OF THE HAREM, ALREADY MENTIONED AS ONE OF THE FIRST PICTURES FOR WHICH LENA MODELLED, OR THE EARLIER MOORISH GARDEN (PRIVATE COLLECTION), A PICTURE OF CONNIE GILCHRIST FEEDING PEACOCKS AGAINST A BACKGROUND DEVELOPED FROM A SKETCH MADE BY LEIGHTON IN GRANADA, THAT WAS EXHIBITED AT THE ACADEMY IN 1874 AND SOLD BY CHRISTIE'S IN LONDON ON 13 NOVEMBER 1992. ELSEWHERE, HOWEVER - IN MUSIC LESSON, STUDY: AT A READING DESK AND KITTENS ITSELF - THEY ADD AN ELEMENT OF MYSTERY AND EXOTICISM TO WHAT ARE OTHERWISE CONVENTIONAL GENRE SCENES.
THE PICTURE HAS A DISTINGUISHED AND INTERESTING PROVENANCE. ITS FIRST OWNER WAS CHARLES MATTHEWS, WHO HAD A MAGNIFICENT COLLECTION OF VICTORIAN PAINTINGS WHICH WAS SOLD AT CHRISTIE'S IN JUNE 1891 (WITHIN LEIGHTON'S LIFETIME). MANY WERE MAJOR WORKS THAT HAVE SINCE BECOME FAMOUS, BUT PERHAPS THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT PICTURE IN THE COLLECTION WAS THE FINDING OF THE SAVIOUR IN THE TEMPLE, HOLMAN HUNT'S MASTERPIECE OF 1854-60, NOW IN THE BIRMINGHAM CITY ART GALLERY. ALL THE WORKS BY LEIGHTON WERE GENRE SCENES OR 'FANCY' PICTURES OF PRETTY MODELS; THEY ALSO INCLUDED MUSIC LESSON (GUILDHALL ART GALLERY), FOR WHICH CONNIE GILCHRIST HAD POSED IN 1877.
BY 1906, WHEN IT WAS LISTED IN EDGCUMBE STALEY'S MONOGRAPH ON LEIGHTON (OP.CIT.), KITTENS WAS IN ANOTHER GOOD COLLECTION, THAT OF E. M. DENNY OF 11 BRYANSTON SQUARE. INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH, LEIGHTON'S MUSIC LESSON WAS STILL PRESENT, AND MAY HAVE BEEN BOUGHT AT THE SAME TIME AS KITTENS. AT ANY RATE THE PICTURES REMAINED TOGETHER UNTIL 1925, WHEN MUSIC LESSON WAS ACQUIRED BY LORD BEARSTED AND PRESENTED TO THE GUILDHALL WHILE KITTENS ENTERED THE FAMILY COLLECTION OF THE PRESENT OWNER, BEING BOUGHT ON BEHALF OF LADY DIXON-HARTLAND, WIDOW OF SIR FREDERICK DIXON-HARTLAND, BT, MP (1832-1909), OF ASHLEY MANOR, NEAR CHELTENHAM. BEFORE HER MARRIAGE TO SIR FREDERICK (AS HIS SECOND WIFE) IN 1895, LADY DIXON-HARTLAND HAD BEEN AGNES CHICHESTER CHRISTIE OF GLYNDEBOURNE IN SUSSEX, AND IT MAY BE THAT SHE WAS ATTRACTED TO THE PICTURE BECAUSE THERE WAS ALREADY A FINE EXAMPLE OF LEIGHTON'S WORK IN THE CHRISTIE COLLECTION. GOLDEN HOURS, A ROMANTIC GIORGIONESQUE COMPOSITION OF 1864, HAD BEEN BOUGHT BY LADY ROSAMOND CHRISTIE, HER SISTER-IN-LAW, IN 1916 (SEE FREDERIC LEIGHTON, EXH. ROYAL ACADEMY, LONDON, 1996, CAT. NO. 31, ILLUSTRATED).
KITTENS REMAINED AT ASHLEY MANOR UNTIL LADY DIXON-HARTLAND'S DEATH IN 1955. DOCUMENTS RELATING TO ITS PURCHASE IN 1925 ARE SOLD WITH THE PICTURE.