LES
LES
bis works are three landscapes after Claude, six sea-fights after Paton, and after Vernet a ' Calm "and a ' Storm.' He exhibited in 1778 some architectural engravings with the Free Society of Artists. He died in 1785, aged 40.
LESLIE, Charles Robert, R.A., sub- ject painter. Was born in ClerkenwelLof American parents, October 11 ; 1794. The family left England for Philadelphia in 1799, and settling there, the future artist, the eldest of a young family, was at the age of 10 years left to the charge of a widowed mother. His earliest wish was to be a painter, but his mother's straitened means led to his apprenticeship to a book- seller and publisher. His wish, though repressed, clung to him; a likeness he sketched from recollection showed so much ability that a fund was raised by his friends to enable him to visit Europe to improve himself, and provided with letters of intro- duction, he arrived in London in 1811.
He was in 1813 admitted a student of the Academy, and devoting himself to the study of his profession, the same year ap- pears as an exhibitor of ' Murder,' with a quotation from Macbeth, and the following year of the 'Witch of Endor.' He next exhibited, in 1816, ' The Death of Rutland.' He added to his means at this period by painting the portraits of his friends, and in 1817 visited Paris, Brussels, and Ant- werp, and after enlarged study he found the true bent of his genius in humorous comedy, and painted his 'Slender and Anne Page.' In 1819 he exhibited ' Sir Roger de Coverley,' which made a great impression, and was induced to follow this walk in art, apparently determined to settle in England. He was fortunate to make, about this time, the friendship of Lord Egremont, for whom he painted 'Sancho Panza in the Apartment of the Duchess/ a work which led to numerous commissions, and enabled him to marry in 1825.
He had been elected an associate of the Academy in 1821, and in 1826 was ad- mitted to his full membership. In 1831 he exhibited a large group, upon which he had been for some time engaged, 'The Dinner at Page's House,' from the ' Merry Wives of Windsor,' one of his finest works. In 1833 his brother, without his knowledge, asked and obtained for him the appoint- ment of teacher of drawing at the American Military Academy at West Point, on the Hudson, and induced him to accept it and remove with his family to America ; but it was a mistake, the regret at leaving his art and art friends in England could not be overcome, and he returned early in the following year, in the full vigour of his powers, and resumed his art and his old friendships. He painted from Shakespeare,
Cervantes, Sterne, Goldsmith. In 1838 he painted, by command of her Majesty, ' The Coronation of the Queen ;' and in 1841, ' The Christening of the Princess Royal.' He was a constant exhibitor at the Academy, and his works never failed to please ana attract the public. A family and a happy household surrounded him. He had been appointed the professor of painting in 1847, but resigned the office in 1852 on the ground of delicate health. The loss of a daughter, shortly after her marriage, was a shock too great for him; he gradually declined, and died May 5, 1859.
Leslie entered into the true spirit of the writer he illustrated. His characters ap- pear the very individuals who have filled our minds. Beauty, elegance, and refine- ment, varied and full of character, or sparkling with sweet humour, were charm- ingly depicted by his pencil, while the broader characters of another class, from his fine appreciation of humour, are no less truthfully rendered, and that with an entire absence of any approach to vulgarity. The treatment of his subject is so simple that we lose the sense of a picture, and feel that we are looking upon a scene as it must have happened. He drew correctly, and with an innate sense of grace. His colouring is pleasing, his costume simple and appro-
Eriate. Leslie was also a pleasant, intel- gent, and kindly writer. He published, in 1845, ' The Memoirs of John Constable, R.A.,' and the substance of his own lec- tures in his ' Handbook for young Painters ' in 1855. Some ' Autobiographical Recol- lections ' of him, edited by Mr. Tom Taylor, were published in 1860, and his materials for a life of Reynolds, on which he was engaged, continued and concluded by the same writer, were published in 1865. A collection of 30 of his works was exhibited with the works of the old masters at the Royal Academy in 1870.
LE SOEUK, Hubert, modeller and sculptor. Born in France. He studied under John of Bologna. Was a Huguenot refugee, and settled in England, where he was much employed by the Court and the nobility. He was living in St. Bartholo- mew's Close in 1630, when his son Isaac died, who was buried in the adjacent church of that name. The bronze statue of William, Earl of Pembroke, in the picture gallery at Oxford, is by him, as is also the fine statue of Charles I. at Charing Cross. The latter was cast in 1633, for the space in front of the chur«h in Covent Garden, and was removed to Charing Cross in 1678. In Westminster Abbey, the figure of Sir George Villiers and the bust of Sir Thomas Richardson, dated 1635, are also by his hand. Many of his works, particularly these in bronze, have disappeared. He died in England about 1652.
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