I popped into the Leighton House Museum the other day. I didn't go there to look at the house, I went there because there was an exhibition of the paintings of Churchill. But I fell in love with the house while the paintings were eminently forgettable. It is an extraordinary place, the home of Lord Leighton, designed in 1864. Now I could have imagined myself living here.
So you pays your £10 entrance fee and you goes in and you sees amazing sights. This extension contains the tiles that he collected during his visit to the Middle East. 
It reminded me of the time I visited an Ottoman Era house in Cairo. See here for that photo essay. 
The dome is amazingly painted. 
The mashrabiyas are exquisite as usual. 
The architect and builder has managed to cram in these wonderful tiles beautifully all over the place. 
Again the tiles reminded me of this building that I saw in Cairo. But the damn attendants came around and said that I cannot use my camera. DAMMIT!, what’s wrong with them? So I walked off and up into the first floor in a huff. Still, sod them, I took out my iPhone and took the following photographs starting from the huge studio.
Flaming June. I love this photograph. I even have a copy of this hanging at home. She is a nymph, and perhaps one of his best paintings. 
A letter from the Borough to Winston Churchill announcing him to be a honorary freeman. 
The studio walls were filled with lovely lovely paintings. 
A rather unremarkable fireplace but the inset tiles were extraordinarily beautiful. Very delicately painted with very evocative patterns. Lovely. 
A desk had some paints open 
A tidy little balcony looked over the rear garden. Can you imagine painting with this kind of vista in front of you? I would love it, in fact I would love to have a house like this. Not so much as to paint but to read and write..I cant paint worth a damn. Fence painting is the best I can do, lol.
Then popped into the gallery where the Churchill paintings were kept. 
The paintings all related to Marrakech, from Churchill and the son of the local Pasha.
I wasnt impressed. I mean, they were ok as watercolours but besides the fact that they were painted by Churchill and a local royal, nothing more to say about them. So I turned around and went back to the studio. And now the journey starts properly.
On one side of the studio, you have this staircase which leads to a balcony, almost like a minstrels gallery which runs the width of the room. This little area around the staircase was used to make the paints. The balcony was used by the painter to paint the higher reaches of the very large paintings he made, and also to help with the frames. I suppose I never thought about how painters got to paint the huge huge paintings. This makes sense.
A stained glass window. 
The view from the studio window. How beautiful. 
Here is the studio. 
Huge huge giant awesome windows flood the room with light. You can see the Massive easel on the left which has paintings mounted on them. 
The walls were wallpapered with some lovely fabrics. 
Here is his bedroom. Tiny bed!. How the heck did he manage to sleep in that? or did he sleep alone? the walls are hung with pencil drawings. Amusingly, the places around the museum where you can sit, like the old chairs, this bed, the shelves, they had these pine cones on them. So as a delicate warning not to sit on them. I love this understated notices “samajdhar ko ishara ki kafi hota hai” (a small gesture is enough for the intelligent)
A bear rug is on the floor. That took me back to my childhood. My grandfather was a big hairy hunter and one of the things we got was a bear rug. It was extraordinary to lie on and do stuff, good for all concerned. Imagine yourself sleeping inside a cylinder lined with velvety very soft fur. Or wearing a fur coat inside out. We had to throw it out after it became too tatty and started losing clumps of hair. What a tragedy. With an evil nostalgic grin, I walked on. 
This is a little balcony which overlooks the fountain in the first floor. You can see the mashrabiya. 
On the left is a little drawing room again hung with beautiful photographs. 
Walking back to the landing. On the right is the entrance to the bedroom. 
The stairwell had a big open sky light on top and was hung with lovely paintings. 
Peeking down at the stairs. The tiles were amazing. Just look at the colours. They are amazing amazing amazing. 
Peering down a bit more, you can see a stuffed peacock. 
The painting on the left does not need any explanation. A copy that Leighton made while in Rome. Then I moved downstairs and into the dining room. 
The dining room has these lovely plates mounted on the walls on some extraordinarily beautiful wallpaper. 
Moving into the next room where I suppose he could be using as a morning room. The views over the side of the garden, the large windows, all combined to make this into a light and airy room. Lovely place. Again hung with lovely paintings. 
This room was also hung with four panels of paintings which show similar scenes in four seasons. I am going to try to do this one day. I leave the morning room and emerge into the Arab room. 
See what I mean by putting a pine cone on the shelves? amusing. 
The arab room is covered with these beautiful tiles and little niches with vases. 
See? 
A beautiful iron table with flying angels but raised top. Hmmm, i wonder what this was used for. 
The detail is exquisite. I am sure anybody from the Middle East will go very nostalgic if they pop in here. 
They have made it very nicely and tastefully, all those centuries back. It doesnt look bad, very very nicely done, considering that the designer had to work with thousands of tiles in a bewildering variety of colours and designs. They work together. 
The columns are made up of polished marble with gilded tops. 
I am now coming back into the central hall. 
See? the tiles are achingly beautiful in colours. 
At the bottom of the stairs. That’s the loo on the right. 
The peacock with couple of lovely vases. And the obligatory pine cone on the chair. For a dirty moment, I thought the peacock had popped on the chair, heh. 
Here is his working desk and this is where I really fell in love with the house. 
Who wouldn't want to work in that room? with that lovely looking desk? one day when I grow up, I want an office like that. I leave the building and pop outside. 
The outside of the building is brick faced. 
The flowers are out…the fragrance was pretty good. 
Here you go, the blue plaque. 
The building on the right was the extension and is the place where the painting exhibitions are held. 
The flowers. 
This is the Arab wing from outside. As you can see, this was extended out from the house.
The dome is beautiful. 
With a spire and sign of the moon on top. Beautiful. I need to get back there, more painting exhibitions are held there frequently.
As usual, I stood there trying to think of the painter. What a man, see his biography here. I am just thinking about what a fantastic life he must have led. Travelling the continent and the middle east, learning about history, culture, mythology, architecture, food, painting, sculpture, metal working, chemistry, light, wood working, diplomacy, running a big organisation, etc. etc. What a renaissance man. And this lovely beautiful house, airy, filled with memories, very tastefully done, surrounded with the tools of his trade. I wish I had a house like this to work in. Well, mine isnt that bad, but its getting too small with all the damn books, lol.
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