Leighton House: The Studio Balcony

Jessie Macgregor (1847-1919)

1918

Watercolour drawing

Source: Macgregor, facing p. 296

Macgregor's main concern in this chapter, as she says at the outset, is Leighton himself: she was a student at the Royal Academy for seven years, and has the utmost respect for him as the "gallant and stately" President (316), and many stories to share with her readers. [Commentary continues below. Mouse over the text for links.]

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Macgregor does tell us that: "From the little Venetian balcony at the East end of the great Studio — shown from without in my drawing, and suggestive of Romeo and Juliet — we get a charming view of the garden at the back of the house." Only, when she came to paint it for this book, she found it "overlooked, overgrown, and comparatively neglected" (319). She went ahead with her painting, all the same — a prime example of the way she chose her subjects more for their human associations rather than their intrinsic beauty. Yes, the garden look overgrown, but she has made a pleasant picture from this angle, focussing appropriately enough on the studio balcony, with roses, geraniums, an attractive pot of flowers and a shady tree all contributing to a sense of abundance in nature.

Links to related material

• Leighton House (exterior and interior)

• Lambeth Place: The Fig Tree in Greater Courtyard
• Lambeth Palace — Water Cresses — drawing by John Leighton
• Paddlewheel Thames Ferry near Lambeth Palace — engraving from The Book of the Thames
• Lambeth palace. Surry [sic]. — from Eighty Picturesque Views of the Thames and Medway
• Lambeth Palace — etching by T.R. Way
• Lambeth Palace, by George Seymour

Bibliography

MacGregor, Jessie. Gardens of Celebrities and celebrated gardens in and around London. London: Hutchinson, 1918. Internet Archive. Contributed by the University of British Columbia Library. Web. 20 March 2022.

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Created 22 March 2022