The former London home of Lord Frederic Leighton reopened on Saturday with a new restoration providing a glimpse into the sumptuous, carefully curated world of Victorian artists.
The Victorian era was in thrall to the “House Beautiful”, encapsulating tiles laid in intricate patterns, mouldings leafy and ornate, and iron fireplaces florally festooned. Artists took it one step further, constructing “studio-houses”, where the house itself was a work of art, as well as a place where art could be made.
Lord Leighton’s abode, in the then-rural enclave of Holland Park, West London, was one of the prime examples of this type of living. And, after 18 years of painstaking conservation and restoration, costing £8 million ($8.88 million), its original splendour is ready to be enjoyed once again.
Leighton House started as a relatively modest brick dwelling and was extended over the years. A large, glass-enclosed studio allowed in as much light as possible — always helpful in the UK’s dark winters, but even more necessary in the smog of late 19th-century London. A salon, the walls gridded with paintings by the artist and others, gave Lord Leighton a place to welcome guests and, on his popular “Show Sundays”, the curious public.
At the house’s centre is the astounding Arab Hall. Arranged as an enclosed courtyard, the walls are covered in Iznik tiles that the well-travelled artist had bought in Syria, Egypt and Turkey. Nooks provide space for lounging and a water feature cools the space. Above, a small mashrabiya overlooks Leighton’s fantasy of Ottoman Empire life – a classic example of British Orientalism.
“Little is known about the Arab Hall,” says Daniel Robbins, the senior curator of Leighton House. The only comment attributable to Leighton was a throwaway one — that he needed something to do with all the tiles he bought.
That remark — if accurate — is almost certainly facetious, the curator says. “We know it came out of an aesthetic interest, rather than a scholarly one,” he continues. “And, it’s entirely unique among artists’ studio-houses.” But its direct influences or Leighton’s own motivations are unclear.
Born in 1830 in Yorkshire and raised in Germany, Lord Leighton brought a range of interests, from Arab motifs to old master paintings, to his exquisitely rendered canvases. He had an affinity for poignant vignettes: Michelangelo nursing his ailing servant; a young girl feeding berries to her mother, lounging in bed; a couple on their honeymoon, leaning in close.
At the age of 26, he made a headline-grabbing debut at the Royal Academy with a painting of the Madonna being carried through the streets of Florence. Prince Albert was so taken he convinced his wife, Queen Victoria, to buy it. Later, Lord Leighton was elected president of the Royal Academy and used his influence there, over an 18-year period, to raise the profile and importance of artists in Britain's cultural landscape.
After his death in 1896, the furnishings of his house were sold in a Christie’s auction lasting eight days. His house became the property of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and, after the Second World War, the local council hosted a library in a cheap 1950s retrofitting of Leighton’s adored building.
The message of the mural is very important. It’s about bringing together East and West
Shahrzad Ghaffari,
artist
All of this work has been undone in the restoration, which started in 2018 after a private fundraising initiative, in partnership with the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Kensington and Chelsea Council, raised money for the conservation work. Leighton House worked with the architecture firm BDP to bring the house back to its former glory, adding a gallery in a dug-out basement and a spiral staircase to allow accessibility to all floors.
The final touch was the recovery of the objects, which Robbins described as the "perfect Covid-19 lockdown activity". He and his team tracked down some on eBay, and commissioned replicas of others, drawing on images and descriptions in press reports from the time. Two new dark wooden cabinets, with thin inlay patterns, flank the entrance to his conservatory-like studio, standing sombrely at the exit from the vast salon.
Leighton House also sought new works for its reopening. They collaborated with Syrian artisans from Turquoise Mountain, an NGO supporting traditional handicrafts across the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia region, on bespoke inlaid tables and desks that greet visitors — quite a luxe entrance versus the usual MDF get-up of tables as brochure holders. One imagines Lord Leighton might have been more interested in this grandeur than in the idea of the contemporary — the vast aesthetic excess of the house suggests a man in love with beauty in any form, whether old or new.
The house has also commissioned a mural from Iranian-Canadian artist Shahrzad Ghaffari to run alongside the new staircase. Ghaffari used writings about “oneness” by 13th-century poet Rumi as her inspiration, painting his words 11 metres high in thick, swirling calligraphy that rises up the coiling walls. She drew on Leighton’s home for her palette, with the intense blues of her lettering referring to the turquoise tiles in the Narcissus Hall, opposite the Arab Hall, and the muted reds pointing to the exterior brickwork. But most wonderful of all here is the texture: up close, the different elements of the paintwork separate from each other and become almost 3D, a topographical display of the layers of time that have been built up between the original vision of Lord Leighton and the museum display of today.
The commission by Ghaffari also renegotiates the potentially tricky legacy of the Arab Hall. While a thing of wonder, it is also marked by the lack of accuracy at play in Orientalism, or 19th-century European and American artists' fantasies of Arab life, which often bears the air of thick pastiche. It’s also hard to ignore the context: Victorian wealth came from the country’s industrial factories as well as its beneficial trade policies with its colonies — whose cultural forms and identities were often translated back in stereotyped canvases of the “Arab”, lounging on a divan much like the one Lord Leighton installed in his home.
The debates over Orientalism are rarely touched upon by the museum, which focuses on the British context of the Victorian artists’ home studios. It also unveils a partnership with the nearby Sambourne House, the less grand home of Edward Linley Sambourne, a cartoonist for Victorian magazine Punch.
For Leighton House, the invitation to an Iranian artist to create her own mural is a nice codicil to this history of misunderstanding and acquisition.
“The message of the mural is very important,” says Ghaffari. “It’s about bringing together East and West. We shouldn't be afraid of different cultures.
"If we bring them together and put them beside each other, their beauty multiplies. And this is what exactly happened here. And I hope that this message goes to future generations, which will embrace different cultures: the message of oneness.”
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Marital status: Single
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
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Started: July 2016
Founders: Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori
Based: Bangalore, India
Sector: Health & wellness
Size: 500 employees
Investment: $250 million
Investors: Accel, Oaktree Capital (US); Chiratae Ventures, Epiq Capital, Innoven Capital, Kalaari Capital, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Piramal Group’s Anand Piramal, Pratithi Investment Trust, Ratan Tata (India); and Unilever Ventures (Unilever’s global venture capital arm)
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Favourite sport: beach volleyball
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Daniella Weiss and Nachala
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Harel Libi & Libi Construction and Infrastructure
Libi has been involved in threatening and perpetuating acts of aggression and violence against Palestinians. His firm has provided logistical and financial support for the establishment of illegal outposts.
Zohar Sabah
Runs a settler outpost named Zohar’s Farm and has previously faced charges of violence against Palestinians. He was indicted by Israel’s State Attorney’s Office in September for allegedly participating in a violent attack against Palestinians and activists in the West Bank village of Muarrajat.
Coco’s Farm and Neria’s Farm
These are illegal outposts in the West Bank, which are at the vanguard of the settler movement. According to the UK, they are associated with people who have been involved in enabling, inciting, promoting or providing support for activities that amount to “serious abuse”.
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Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 611bhp
Torque: 620Nm
Transmission: seven-speed automatic
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The 12 Syrian entities delisted by UK
Ministry of Interior
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General Intelligence Directorate
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General Organisation of Radio and TV
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Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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Canada
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Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
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- Power: 640hp
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Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
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Date started: March 2013
Founder: Hussam Hammo
Based: Amman, Jordan
Employees: 55
Funding: $6m
Funders: Wamda Capital, Modern Electronics (part of Al Falaisah Group) and North Base Media
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
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FIXTURES
Thu Mar 15 – West Indies v Afghanistan, UAE v Scotland
Fri Mar 16 – Ireland v Zimbabwe
Sun Mar 18 – Ireland v Scotland
Mon Mar 19 – West Indies v Zimbabwe
Tue Mar 20 – UAE v Afghanistan
Wed Mar 21 – West Indies v Scotland
Thu Mar 22 – UAE v Zimbabwe
Fri Mar 23 – Ireland v Afghanistan
The top two teams qualify for the World Cup
Classification matches
The top-placed side out of Papua New Guinea, Hong Kong or Nepal will be granted one-day international status. UAE and Scotland have already won ODI status, having qualified for the Super Six.
Thu Mar 15 – Netherlands v Hong Kong, PNG v Nepal
Sat Mar 17 – 7th-8th place playoff, 9th-10th place playoff
Honeymoonish
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ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies direct from Dubai to Rio de Janeiro from Dh7,000 return including taxes. Avianca fliles from Rio to Cusco via Lima from $399 (Dhxx) return including taxes.
The trip
From US$1,830 per deluxe cabin, twin share, for the one-night Spirit of the Water itinerary and US$4,630 per deluxe cabin for the Peruvian Highlands itinerary, inclusive of meals, and beverages. Surcharges apply for some excursions.
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Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
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Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
The specs
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Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
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UAE Team Emirates
Valerio Conti (ITA)
Alessandro Covi (ITA)
Joe Dombrowski (USA)
Davide Formolo (ITA)
Fernando Gaviria (COL)
Sebastian Molano (COL)
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A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
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CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
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Power: 380hp at 5,800rpm
Torque: 530Nm at 1,300-4,500rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Price: From Dh299,000 ($81,415)
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