The Saint Paul globe., 1900-01-28

Park road Sir Frederick used to open
wide the blinds and let his favorite
model battle in its trying beams, gath
ering the while inspiration from the de-
tailed perfection Of her beauty.
The soft down upon her cheeks. the
veins like their faint threads, that gave
to her skin Its tint of transparency, the
corai of her curved lips, the color that
came IN her cheeks to add to this har-
mony of natures painting, the nose.
modelled from some Grecian, preserved
even rarely in our statues, the throat
that Sir Frederick Leighton never per-
mitted his model to hide, gained in beau
ty under the ruthless glare Of the sun
light
Sir Frederick Leighton saw the beauty
of Dorothy Dene in a hundred different
lights that his pictures attest. Until he
died, in 1896, she had been his model for
fifteen years.
In his splendid studio, where the east
wall is covered with a cast of the frieze
of the Parthenon, and where on every
other side Sir Frederick has collected
the mementoes of his countless tours in
Ireland, Italy, Spain, Palestine, Greece,
Egypt, Dorothy Dene was a constant or
nament. She came early in the morning
and remained until the sun had set
Habitues Of the studio grew accustomed
to seeing her always there. The girl had
in her eyes pathetic look even when
she was not posing for a Madonna. 1t
fingered after she had stepped down
from the platform and out of her drap-
cries into modern everyday garb 1t
was always there in her eyes, in the cor
ners of her mouth that dropped the least
bit wistfully. There were those who
were wont to say that she had not real
lied the ambition of her life. And when
they told you of how simple little am
bition was here, how easy 1t might be Of
attainment to nine girls out Of ten, and
how 1t had been denied tc Dorothy Dene,
her face seemed to gather new sadness.
Imagine what this ambition was. Cast
when very young, through circunls ances
which spoke of destitution, into the work
| ing field as a model, she yet longed with
| all the strength of a modest girl for her
own hearthstone, to be legitimate wife
and mother.
Dorothy Dene died without ever having
| realized this dream.
For many years the world that worship
| ped Sir Frederick Leighton feared that
| he would succumb to the attractions Of
his favorite model, and add to her fame
| by making her his wife. The great man
| sion on Holland Park road was more ard
more her home. When the Wistfui look In
her eyes increased with years there were
! those who conjectured that she had fallen
| in love with the artist who had paid her
| the greatest recognition a man may pay
| to a beautiful woman.
He had shown, how Immortality time
alone will tell, that he understood and ap
preciated her beauty in all its infinite va
riety.
No form for him could wear drapery as
that of Dorothy Dene. Look at her about
to cast the ball in the picture here repro
duced. Is not that what Is meant by the
poetry of motion?
| In his pictures the mind of the artist
must be revealed. 1t is impossible that
| even an Englishman should keep 1t hid
den. 1t is evident that Sir Frederick
Leighton admired his model intensely. He
painted her as he saw her-a hundred Diff
| ferent women in one. She was the SYM
boil of his ideas, the perfection of his i'm
aginings.
When he threw about her exquisite fig
ure a bit of drapery it fell In the folds
Of which he had dreamed in her absence.
She assisted him with the intelligence
that may make of amodel an inspiration
instead Of a mannikin.
During those days which must have
been for Dorothy Dene comparatively
happy If indeed she loved the man whom
it was her privilege to assist. it was no.
ticed by many in the habit of seeing her
that the transparency Of her skin In
creased day by day.
| After Sir Frederick Leighton's death
he was Lord Leighton then-she seemed
| to droop visibly, to grow paler and more
| wistful.
Poor Dorothy Dene," people said of
her
If at this time she had had touch Of