Actress and artist's model. Born Ada Alice Pullen in New Cross. Her theatrical career took her to New York, but she had little success there. As a model, she became the muse of Frederick Leighton, who described her as having a face and figure which most closely tallied with his ideal. There is some evidence that Dene and the never-married Leighton may have had a romantical relationship. Died London, only 40. There are reports that physicians who treated her said "she was dying from consumption, a victim of her own work, in spending long hours, scantily draped, in the not too comfortable studio."
says Dene lived with her sisters in an apartment in South Kensington, but does not mention Clapham at all.
Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk
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