| Description | San Martino
Dear Mr Deschamps
Your letter reaches me here today. I am not quite sure whether you have understood that access to my studio with your clients could only extend to the end of this month at the latest as the studio will at that period have to be closed for its annual cleansing.
In regard to the possible acquisition of 'Andromache' for Birmingham I may at once say that whatever my attitude might be with a private individual I should not allow the copyright question you allude to stand between me and a public body - least of all in the case of a body which should by so colossal an expenditure in the interest of Art set a remarkable example to similar bodies in the provinces. There is, however, a consideration which would be worthy of being weighed by the Corporation of Birmingham should they determine on this purchase; I have reason to hope that 'Andromache' will hold a prominent place among my works & it would therefore, if the publication of works of Art is, as I believe it to be, valuable, be desirable that this work should be reproduced on a much larger scale & in a more durable form than that contemplated by the Committee of the Corporation Galleries, and the question of course arises how far a publisher might be willing to undertake the expense of a photogravure which had been already in a manner forestalled. I am not, here giving the least thought to my diminution of profit to myself personally - and I repeat that I should not allow these considerations to bar the way in the present instance.
I am
Yours faithfully
Fred Leighton
P.S. A letter sent to my house would be forwarded to me in due course with my correspondence. |