If you’re in Leighton House – and if you haven’t been, what’s stopping you? – then there’s a treat in store. Over and above the exquisite Arab Hall and Leighton’s famous painting Flaming June and his studio upstairs and the other gorgeousness, right now there’s also a little, free exhibition downstairs of Evelyn de Morgan’s Gold Paintings.
There are only 17 of these all told, and here there are 11, in a darkened room. Think grisaille (in which the image is rendered entirely in shades of grey), only with luminous gold. The drawings are chalk on dark grey paper, with gold by way of highlight, which creates a rich and intriguing effect. It’s not shiny or metallic; but there’s a subtle sheen which you see properly only face-on; seen from the side it’s altogether duller.
