Tito Melema. c.1871-74. Pencil, watercolour and gouache on paper; 14½ x 12 inches (36.8 x 30.5 cm). Private collection. Click on image to enlarge it
The Cornhill Magazine first published George Eliot’s novel Romola in 1862 in fourteen instalments with illustrations by Frederic Leighton. The story was set in 15th century Renaissance Florence. Tito Melema was a young Italianate-Greek scholar who had recently been shipwrecked before arriving in Florence. He was introduced to the blind scholar Bardo de’ Bardi, whom he assisted with his classical studies, and he fell in love with Bardi’s virtuous daughter Romola. The two marry but eventually she discovers that he is a treacherous individual who is already married with children. Her love for her husband then turns to contempt and she leaves Florence. She is later persuaded by the Dominican preacher Savonarola to return to fulfil her obligations to her marriage and to her fellow Florentines. Tito is eventually killed by Baldassarre, his adoptive father, whom he had earlier robbed and abandoned into slavery.
Clifford portrays the dashing Tito in this profile portrait wearing a rich dark red hat that matches his mantello. It was influenced by Italian High Renaissance art that began to particularly inspire artists associated with the Aesthetic Movement in the 1860s. It is interesting that Clifford has chosen to portray the deceitful Tito whereas most of his Pre-Raphaelite contemporaries would likely have chosen the noble Romola. Although Clifford’s picture is not dated, an old label on the backboard of the painting gives his address as 1 Highbury Place, Bristol, where he lived between 1871 and 1874.
The model for Tito was probably chosen from amongst the Italian expatriate community in London, in this case quite possibly Gaetano Meo. Meo may have also been the model for Constance Phillott's Portrait of Tito Melema of 1872, now at the Delaware Art Museum (object no. 2022-65). This date makes both Clifford’s and Phillott’s versions almost contemporaneous. On a former backing to Phillott’s watercolour, the artist inscribed its title as Demetriki. This could therefore mean the model was of Greek origin rather than Italian. Although Gaetano Meo was born in Laurenzana in Italy, he was the son of an impoverished shepherd of Greek extraction. A second label inscribed later by Phillott gives its title as Portrait of a Youth – called Tito. Perhaps she changed the title to make it more saleable after it had initially failed to sell. Her picture was exhibited under the title of Tito at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1874. There is no record of either Cliffford’s or Phillott’s pictures being exhibited at any major London venue and it is unlikely that Clifford would have seen Tito in Edinburgh. Clifford and Phillott may have been acquainted with each other, however, since she was a cousin of William De Morgan and they would have had friends in common. Clifford’s friend Robert Bateman exhibited a picture entitled Tito Melema at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1888, no. 350.
Last modified 9 February 2023