PICTURE FOR AUCKLAND

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 97, 21 October 1926, Page 5

PICTURE FOR AUCKLAND

ONE OF LEIGHTON'S BEST

"THE SPIRIT OF THE SUMMIT."

(From Oir Own Corrnpondint) LONDON, Bth September. I Through the generosity of Mr. Moss Davis, *the citizens of Auckland will shortly be the possessors or what is considered by some to be the best example of the late Lord Leighton's paintings. "The Spirit of the Summit," a, picture 78in by 39iin, was exhibited in the Royal Academy in 1894. Lord Leighton was then president of the academy. In the same year there were four other pictures from Leighton's brush—"Fatidica," "Summer Slumber," "The Bracelet," and "At the Window." Some of the critics at the time preferred "Fatidica," but undoubtedly,the artist himself felt that j he had put his best work into the study that is now to find a permanent home in New Zealand. Leighton exhibited! again in. 1895, but this was the. last time before his death in 1896. "The Spirit of the Summit" was again seen at Burlington House in 1897, when the Memorial Exhibition of the artist was held. From then until recently it had been in private possession. A few months ago the collection of Mr. Robert English cas sold at Christie's, and Leighton 'g masterpiece was one of the group. It was bought by a dealer and eventually Mr. Moss Davis was fortunate enough to obtain it. I have been able to look up the authorities on Leighton's works. Bryan's "Dictionary of Painters" has the following: "In 1894 the great picture was 'The Spirit of the Summit,' a wondrous composition 'in white upon a snowy peak, with starlit sky beyond." Perhaps the most glowing description of the picture jis found in "Makers of British Art," edited by James A. Manson. • 'The most striking picture of the set was' undoubtedly ' The Spirit of the Summit.' 'Leighton appears to have, aimed at a pictorial rendering of his ideal, so as to unite things heavenly and things earthly in one superlative creation. Inspiration and invention ' could hardly join in the realisation of a transcontinental themo more idyllic. ■ This may be held to be Leigh-ton-'s truest expression of all that was best in his art. The superb figure of a fair-haired girl, with blonde carnations and features and head eclectic in their beauty, sits like a queen upon a snowy peak, gazing with upturn-d face to the starlit sky. She is in thick, pure white draperies, which reflect the silvery illumination of the night. "This queen of inspiration seems to typify the whole of Leighton's art. 'He might have: called this picture,' writes M.'de la Sizeranne, 'The Spirit of My Painting,' for in the whole of his work, if you look ever so well for various inspirations and for numbers of subjects, you will only find one idea based on simple feeling, only one appeal to passions, only one,sport of his brush. Indeed, 'The Spirit of the Summit1 is a votive offering to the genius which inspired the mind and guided the hand of the prophet of the cult of eclectic beauty. She is, in short, the genius of Leighton personified. Strange as it may seem, Leighton said the subjc.i of this picture occurred to him one night when he sat gazing at the drop-scene of a theatre on which wero many spots." Finally, there is the notice of the picture in "The Athenaeum" at the time of the 1894 Academy. "Chromatically speaking, 'The Spirit of the Summit,' another life-size, tall, and stately virgin, dressed in a different sort of white, is the complement to "Fatidica.' The so-called spirit sits on a natural throne, formed in ttie highest peak of a mountain, while white clouds rise out of the valleys far beneath her and climb to the firmament behind her. The intense azure of the sky supplies | very deep tones, contrasting with the spirit's pale, but not iwan carnations, the snowy clouds and the marble whiteness of the draperies, up.on the designing and execution of which the president has lavished the best of his knowledge." It is understood that the late Lord Leighton received 3000 guineas for this oil painting. It is being shipped by the Buahine.