Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, Bt., A.R.A., R.W.S.

Sir George and Lady Lewis and thence by descent;
London, Sotheby's, 7 June 1995, lot 152;
London, Leicester Galleries;
David Posner;
Private collection

Florida, Winter Park, Cornell Fine Arts Centre and Rollins College, Selection from the David Posner Collection of Drawings, 1980, no. 38

The sheet is sound and has been laid to a mount sheet. There a various undulations to the sheet. There is evidence of very minor discolouration around the extreme edges of the sheet. There is some very minor foxing to the mount but not to the sheet. Otherwise the work is in good condition. Held in a simple wooden frame in fair condition. Under glass and unexamined out of frame.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Sir Edward Burne-Jones was deeply interested in the mythological legend of Danaë, the daughter of Acrisius King of Argos, who was incarcerated in a tower of brass by her father who had been warned by an oracle that a son born to her would be the cause of his own death. The god Zeus visited her in the form of a shower of gold, and as a result she became the mother of Perseus. Acrisius banished Perseus, sending him upon an apparently impossible mission – to kill the Medusa. With the assistance of the goddess Athena, Perseus accomplished this task and in due course returned to the court of Acrisius, where as foretold he was the cause of his grandfather's death.

Burne-Jones had first made drawings on the theme in the 1860s, in connection with the projected illustrated edition of William Morris's The Earthly Paradise, into which was incorporated the poem 'The Doom of King Acrisius'. Later he painted several versions of the subject Danaë and the Brazen Tower, in which the figure of Danaë is seen looking through a doorway towards the tower under construction. The largest and most complete painting in this series is that in the Glasgow City Art Gallery, of 1887-8, while a smaller version is in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. It must also have been in the later 1880s that the artist painted the present gouache, which may be regarded as a sequel to the oil, as it shows the imprisoned Danaë receiving Zeus as her lover.

The present subject was treated by Burne-Jones as one of his illustrations on the theme of flower names in the so-called 'Flower Book', which were done at intervals between 1882 and his death in 1898. Number XVIII in that series, Golden Shower. Danaë in the Brazen Tower, takes a similar theme to the present watercolour.
CSN