Dorothy Dene (1859 – 27 December 1899), born Ada Alice Pullen, was an English stage actress and artist's model for the painter

Frederick Leighton Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton, (3 December 1830 – 25 January 1896), known as Sir Frederic Leighton between 1878 and 1896, was a British painter, draughtsman, and sculptor. His works depicted historical, biblical, and classical subjec ...

and some of his associates. Dene was considered to have a classical face and figure and a flawless complexion. Her height was above average and she had long arms, large violet eyes and abundant golden chestnut hair.

Biography

Dene was born in

New Cross New Cross is an area in south east London, England, south-east of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Lewisham and the SE14 postcode district. New Cross is near St Johns, Telegraph Hill, Nunhead, Peckham, Brockley, Deptford and Greenwic ...

, London, in 1859; her birth name was Ada Alice Pullen. She came from a large family of girls, a number of whom earned their living from acting on stage. She lived with her four sisters in an apartment in

South Kensington South Kensington, nicknamed Little Paris, is a district just west of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with ...

, London.

Career as a model

According to a story published in 1897, Leighton chose her as the one woman in Europe whose face and figure most closely tallied with his ideal. Leighton searched Europe for a model suitable for his 1884 painting '' Cymon and Iphigenia'', eventually finding Dene in a theatre in London. However, the story about her being found in a theatre is contradicted in Leighton's biography, written by Emilia Barrington right after his death. According to Barrington, Dene was spotted by the artist at the doorstep of a painter's studio close to Leighton's. The studio mentioned was probably that of Louise Starr Canziani in Kensington Green where she was already working as a model. She sat for Leighton when he painted ''Bianca'' in 1881. Aside from '' Cymon and Iphigenia'' Dene appeared as the maiden catching the ball in Leighton's , url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/Greek-girls-playing-at-ball.jpg , title=''Greek Girls Playing Ball''. Her long arms embellish the painter's '' Summer Moon''. She also was the model for his ''Captive Andromache'', ''The Garden of the Hesperides,''

John Everett Millais Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, ( , ; 8 June 1829 – 13 August 1896) was an English painter and illustrator who was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He was a child prodigy who, aged eleven, became the youngest ...

and

George Frederic Watts George Frederic Watts (23 February 1817, in London – 1 July 1904) was a British painter and sculptor associated with the Symbolist movement. He said "I paint ideas, not things." Watts became famous in his lifetime for his allegorical work ...

also used Dene as a model.

Relationship with Leighton

Ferederic Leighton - Crenaia, the nymph of the Dargle; 1880

There have been rumours that Leighton had a romantic interest in Dene, but nothing has ever been substantiated. Leighton's sexuality remains a matter of debate. He remained a bachelor and, according to art historian Richard Louis Ormond who together with his wife Leonée wrote Leighton's biography, acknowledged he "fulfilled some part of himself in the company of young men". However, Leighton's friend, Italian artist Giovanni Costa makes some mysterious references to the artist's "wife" in letters to their mutual friend George Howard, 9th Earl of Carlisle. It has been speculated that they refer to Dene. Leighton assisted Dene in her acting career; educating her and introducing her to "fashionable society", and it has been speculated that

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

"drew upon their relationship" for his play '' Pygmalion''. At his death, he left her £5,000, plus another £5,000 in trust for herself and her sisters (this was the equivalent of around one million pounds today), which was by far the largest bequest he made.

Acting career

Ada Alice became "Dorothy Dene" in 1882 when Leighton became Ada's benefactor. It was adopted as a stage name for her theatrical career. "Dorothy" was chosen by Ada in reference to her younger sister who died in 1877 and the surname Dene was chosen by Leighton. Dene made her debut as an actress as ''Marin'' in ''The School For Scandal'' in 1886. She appeared in New York City in a play produced by the Theater of Arts and Letters and performed in other venues there. She found little success as a performer in America and her tour was eventually abandoned. In Britain her skill as an actress did not go unnoticed. In 1894, in a tour of ''

A Woman of No Importance ''A Woman of No Importance'' by Oscar Wilde is "a new and original play of modern life", in four acts, first given on 19 April 1893 at the Haymarket Theatre, London. Like Wilde's other society plays, it satirises English upper-class society. It ...

'', she alternated the roles of Mrs Allonby and Mrs Arbuthnot with the company's other leading lady,

Florence West Florence Isabella Brandon, (15 December 1858 – 14 November 1912) known by her stage name Florence West, was an English actress, who created roles in new plays by Oscar Wilde and Bernard Shaw. She married the actor Lewis Waller and frequently a ...

: critics complimented Dene on contrasting the two very different characters successfully. One wrote that she rose "to a height of intense emotional power" in the latter role, another that she played the former "with much charm and grace of manner". She died in London in 1899, at the age of forty and is buried in

Kensal Green Cemetery Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in the Kensal Green area of Queens Park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. Inspired by Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, it was founded by the barrister George Frederick ...

.'English Actress Dies', ''The New York Times'', 29 December 1899, p. 7 File:Lord Frederic Leighton - Cymon and Iphigenia - Google Art Project.jpg, '' Cymon and Iphigenia'', Frederick Leighton, 1884 File:Flaming_June,_by_Frederic_Lord_Leighton_(1830-1896).jpg, '' Flaming June'', Frederick Leighton, 1895

References

* Lima, Ohio Times Democrat, ''Searching for a Model'', 28 May 1897, Page 6. * North Adams, Massachusetts Evening Transcript, ''Most Beautiful English Woman'', Tuesday, 10 May 1898. * Ogden Utah Standard, ''A Beautiful Actress'', Saturday, 24 December 1892, Page 7.

External links

*
On the Trail of Dorothy Dene: Actress, Model and Muse Speaker

Philippa Martin Philippa Anne Martin is a New Zealand electrical engineering academic and a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. She is currently a full professor at the University of Canterbury. Academic career After a ...

.
"Ode to the Muse": a good short biography, with pictures, from the Art Magick website.
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dene, Dorothy 1859 births 1899 deaths English artists' models English female models English stage actresses 19th-century English actresses Muses Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery