| Method | Oil on panel |
| Artist | Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones |
| Published | 1860's |
| Dimensions | 10 ¼ x 14 ¼ inches |
| Notes |
An original oil on panel sketch of two figures in a landscape by Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones. This lively and energetic oil sketch on panel is datable to the 1860s. Two women are front-of-stage in a surreal landscape, one weaves a garland of leaves and flowers, while the other plays a lute. From about 1856, Burne-Jones had been led to early Italian painting by John Ruskin, and independently by his patron William Graham. He travelled to Italy in 1859 and 1862, undertaking copies at the instruction of Ruskin. In England he was shown works by Carpaccio, Mantegna and Bellini, and he began to grow beyond the influence of Rossetti. Throughout his life, Burne-Jones maintained an extensive collection of photographs of Old Master paintings, which he used as source material like the 'model books' of the early Italian painting workshops. The strange, austere landscape in the background of this painting echoes that in Giovanni Bellini's Agony in the Garden, which had been acquired by the National Gallery in 1863. The intense colour seen in this work is Venetian in character. Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Bt (1833-1898) was a painter and designer closely associated with the later phase of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. Burne-Jones met William Morris as an undergraduate of Exeter college, Oxford, whilst studying for a degree in theology. The pair went on to work very closely together on numerous decorative arts projects including stained glass windows, tapestries and illustrations. Originally intending to become a church minister, Burne-Jones never finished his degree, choosing instead to pursue an artistic career under the influence of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Rossetti heavily inspired his early work, but by the 1860's his idiosyncratic style was beginning to develop. His mature work, however different in total effect, is rich in conscious echoes of Botticelli, Mantegna and other Italian masters of the Quattrocento. Thusly, Burne Jones' later paintings of classical and medieval subjects are some of the most iconic of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. He was at the height of his popularity during the 1880's, though his reputation began to decline with the onset of the Impressionists. He was created a baronet in 1894, when he formally hyphenated his name. Provenance: Margaret Burne-Jones, 1953. Angela Margaret Mackail, 1961. Colin McInnes, 1976, and thence by descent. Sotheby's, Important British Pictures, 14 June 2001, lot 35. Ref: Burne-Jones Catalogue Raisonné. Condition: Framed in an ornate gold frame. |
| Framing | framed |
| Price | £75,000.00 |
| Stock ID | 53421 |