own evidence
at first hand. This gives his Discourses all the value of original
research, based on new materials, to add to their purely critical value.
Had they been completed, they would have formed an invaluable
contribution to the history and the philosophy of Art.

CHAPTER IX

LORD LEIGHTON'S HOME

If we seek for practical expression of Leighton's sympathy for
decorative art, we may find it most satisfactorily in his own home as it
appeared during his life. Mr. George Aitchison, R.A., designed the whole
house;--even the Arab Hall being largely built from drawings made
specially by him in Moorish Spain. Although the exterior of No. 2,
Holland Park Road has individuality, rather than distinction, it was
within that its special charms were found. One of the first things seen
on entering was a striking bronze statue, "Icarus," by Mr. Alfred
Gilbert; a typical instance of Leighton's generous recognition of
artistic contemporaries.

In earlier pages we spoke of the Arab Hall and its Oriental enchantment.
No attempt to paint the effects of such an interior in words can call it
up half as clearly as the slightest actual drawing. There is a dim dome
above, and a fountain falling into a great black marble basin below;
there are eight little arched windows of stained glass in the dome; and
there are white marble columns, whose bases are green, whose capitals
are carved with rare and curious birds, supporting the arches of the
alcoves. The Cairo lattice-work in the lower arched recesses lets in
only so much of the hot light of midsummer (for it is in summer that one
should see it to appreciate its last charm), as consists with the
coolness, and the quiet, and the perfect Oriental repose, which give
the chamber its spell.

[Illustration: THE HOUSE: THE INNER HALL]

More in what we may call the highway of the house, from entrance hall to
studios, is the large hall, out of which the Arab Hall leads, and from
which the dark oak staircase ascends with walls tiled in blue and white.
Here, on every side, one saw all manner of lovely paintings and
exquisite _bric-a-brac_: a drawing of _The Fontana della Tartarughe in
Rome_ by Leighton's old mentor, Steinle; other bronzes and paintings,
and in full view a huge stuffed peacock, which seemed to have shed some
of its brilliant hues upon its surroundings.

In the drawing-room hung many Corots and Constables, with a superb
Daubigny, and a most tempting example of Georg