ch the problem of reconciling the dramatic with
the decorative has been seriously attempted. The dome of St. Paul's, had
it been completed according to this scheme, might have been a worthy if
a somewhat academic presentation of the tremendous visions of the
Apocalypse.

[Illustration: CUPID: FROM A FRESCO]

[Illustration: PHOENICIANS BARTERING WITH BRITONS
PANEL IN THE ROYAL EXCHANGE (1895)]

Certain others of Leighton's decorative works we have already mentioned,
such as the design for a ceiling, now in New York. Not so well known is
his frieze delineating a dance, for an English drawing-room; or the
small frieze with a design of Dolphins, also in England. A scheme in
water-colours for a mural decoration, entitled _The Departure for the
War_, was never carried out; the sketch for it was sold with the
remaining works at Christie's, July, 1896. The single figures in mosaic
of _Cimabue_ and _Pisano_, at the South Kensington Museum, must not be
forgotten.

To the public--or at least that portion which limits its art to the
exhibitions of the Royal Academy--Leighton, as we have seen, made his
_debut_ as a sculptor with the group, _An Athlete struggling with a
Python_ (known also as _An Athlete strangling a Python_), which in the
bronze version is now among works purchased under the terms of the
Chantrey bequest in the Tate Gallery. But long before that date he had
successfully essayed plastic art; his first effort being for the
medallion of a monument to Mrs. Browning in the Protestant cemetery at
Florence. Two other monuments, to the memory of Major Sutherland Orr
(his sister's husband), and Lady Charlotte Greville, must also be
mentioned. We have already spoken of _The Athlete_, _The Sluggard_, and
_Needless Alarms_. But it would be unfair to omit mention of many small
works--small, that is to say, in scale, for they are distinguished by
great breadth of handling--which were prepared as auxiliary studies for
his paintings. Visitors to the studio in Holland Park Road, were always
impressed by several of these models, which stood on a large chest in
the bay of a great studio window. Especially noteworthy was a group of
three singing maidens, who figure in _The Daphnephoria_, and another of
the "choragus" for the same picture; for later works, the mounted
Perseus, and Andromeda with the monster, both designed for the picture
of that legend. Others belonging to a slightly earlier period
included--th