Corot Exhibit Honors Ridley-Tree

Lady Leslie Ridley-Tree’s entire collection of Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot artworks – which includes 11 paintings, 12 lithographs, and a drawing – goes on display Jan. 11 – March 23 in the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art. A free public opening reception for the exhibition, Camille Corot to Orthodox Icons: Lady Leslie Ridley-Tree’s Gifts to the Collection, will be Thursday, Jan. 11, from 4-6 pm.

Seven Barbizon artworks, also donated by Ridley-Tree, will accompany the exhibition. Artists include Charles-François Daubigny, Narcisse Virgilio Díaz de la Peña, Théodore Rousseau, Jules Dupré, and Hippolyte Camille Delpy. Bo Bartlett’s large portrait of Leslie and her husband, Lord Paul Ridley-Tree, will also be on display.

Judy L. Larson, Askew professor of art history and museum director, says the exhibition pays tribute to the memory of Leslie, who died in October 2022 at 98.

“Leslie told a story of her and Paul’s honeymoon in Russia and a visit to St. Petersburg’s Hermitage Museum,” Larson says. “After a couple of hours, she was fatigued and suggested they sit in a gallery hung salon-style with Corot’s paintings. She had always loved Corot. While resting there, Paul suggested that perhaps they, as a couple, should collect landscapes by this French painter. As Leslie put it: ‘My strategy worked!’”

Together, the two formed a prestigious collection, which Leslie expanded after Paul’s death. 

Ridley-Tree was also interested in collecting orthodox icons, which she hung in a small, royal blue room, where she began meditating every day. 

“Leslie was a deeply spiritual woman; her collection of icons was well-loved,” Larson says. “The icons will be displayed in a small room in the museum painted bright blue to evoke what her personal prayer room looked like. The icons are not art, since they are meant to be touched and kissed in prayer, rather than pristinely preserved or presented simply as objects.”

Leslie worshiped at the Santa Barbara Episcopal Church All-Saints-by-the-Sea and enjoyed serving as a lector during Sunday services.

She supported many institutions and causes, including Cottage Hospital, Alzheimer’s research, Sarah House, the Santa Barbara Zoo, Casa Esperanza, the Music Academy, United Way, Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinic, Girls Inc., the Sheriff’s Council, the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, the Council of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, the Ridley-Tree Cancer Center, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, U.C. Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara City College, and the Ridley-Tree Art Museum at Westmont, as well as Westmont’s music and nursing programs.