h-painting. In 1867, speaking of
the _Venus Disrobing_, the "Art Journal" critic says: "According to the
manner, not to say the mannerism, of the artist, it has a pale silvery
hue, not as white as marble, not so life-glowing as flesh." With this we
may compare, for the comparison is instructive, the "Athenaeum," whose
notice is more sympathetic. The figure of the goddess it describes as
"all rosy white, ... admirably drawn, and modelled with extreme care."

Again, in 1868, the "Art Journal" says of Sir Frederic's _Actaea_: "The
artist has made some attempt to paint flesh in its freshness and
transparency, and indeed the more he renounces the opacity of the German
school, and the more he can realize the brilliance of the old Venetian
painters, the better."

In 1869, the "Athenaeum" praised the _Sister's Kiss_, as "a lovely
group," but complained that the execution was a "little too smooth,"--a
complaint not infrequently echoed from time to time by the artist's
critics. Some years later we find Mr. W. M. Rossetti making the same
complaint in criticising _Winding the Skein_.

In 1875 the picture, _Portions of the Interior of the Grand Mosque at
Damascus_, won great praise, as "a remarkably delicate piece of work, in
which the beautiful colouring of the tiled walls and mosaic pavement are
skilfully rendered."

In 1876, the quondam hostile "Art Journal" is completely converted by
the _Daphnephoria_: "To project such a scene upon canvas presupposes a
man of high poetic imagination, and when it is accompanied by such
delicacy and yet such precision of drawing and such sincerity of
modelling, the poet is merged in the painter and we speak of such a one
as a master. There is, indeed, nothing more consolatory to those who
take an interest in British art than the knowledge that we have among us
a man of such pure devotion and lofty aim."

It was in 1875, that Mr. Ruskin, resuming his _role_ of an Academy
critic, claimed Leighton as "a kindred Goth," and confessed, "I
determined on writing this number of 'Academy Notes,' simply because I
was so much delighted with Mr. Leslie's _School_, Mr. Leighton's _Little
Fatima_, Mr. Hook's _Hearts of Oak_, and Mr. Couldery's _Kittens_."

In his lectures on the Art of England, the same critic, speaking of
Leighton's children, says: "It is with extreme gratitude, and
unqualified admiration, that I find Sir Frederic condescending from the
majesties of Olympus to the worship of those unappa