DOROTHY DENE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 10832, 16 August 1898, Page 3

DOROTHY DENE.

Dorothy Dene is said to be the most beautifiil woman in England. The late .Sir Frederick Leighton selected her as the one woman ill all Europe whose fare and figure most closely tallied with his ideal, .She posed for a number of his most famous paintings. When Sir Frederick, who was President of the Royal Academy and ranked first among English colonrists, conceived the idea of his famous painting "Cymon and Jphigenia" every quarter of the Continent was scoured for a suitable model to pose for the reclining figure so well known to lovers of art. Six months elapsed before the-artist met with anyone sufficiently be.nitifu 1 to appeal to his fancy, and it was in Loudon that he finally found his ideal. The long-souglit-for model was discovered behind the footlights of a theatre. She was Miss Dorothy Dene, a young actress. Being told of Sir Frederick's contemplated canvas and her fulfilment of the artist's ideal for the central figure. Miss Dene cnoseuted to pose. Eight months later the most admired of Sir Frederick's works was completed. Nowhere at the present time can a more, perfect type of Greek beauty be found vliau Miss Dene. Each line of her face and ligure is purely classical. Her height is rather t.ljtiv-.j the average, but her limbs are long and lithe and her bust is exquisitely moulded. I lei eyes are violet, and she has golden n.ir that is wavy and plentiful. In addition 10 these charms, Miss Dene's complexion is said to Ik. the most beautSlil of any woman in Europe. Hiss Dene's .features can be readily recognised in a number of later works by the same artist, for she continued to be Sir Frederick's model long after he had finished " Cymon and Ipliigcuia." Miss Dene is represented as the maiden who is catching die ball in his " Greek Girls Playing Ball," in which her exquisite figure is displayed to advantage. Another well-known painting by Leighton is Summer Moon," in which Miss Dene's shapely -.mis may be noted. It was gossiped in London shortly before the artist's death that he was then in love with his model. Humour also had it that there was an obstacle in the way of their marriage, but just what this obstacle was no one seemed to know. It may have been the disparity in their ages, for at the time of his death, about a year and a half ago, Leighton was nearly 70 years old. Miss Dene is now about 28. In 1893 Dorothy Dene undertook to produce in the United States classical plays that had been popular in England. Apart from these plays being almost wholly Unknown here, they did not seem to hit the popular fancy, and the tour was abandoned. Miss Dene is very popular in England. Not onlv is her title to Queen of Beauty undisputed there, but her abilities as an actress have been recognised and have won her wellmerited praise from critics.