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

By descent to Margaret Mackail, nee Burne-Jones (1866-1953);
To her daughter, Angela Margaret Thirkell, nee Mackail (1890-1961);
To her son, Lancelot Thirkell, and thence by descent

London, Burlington Fine Arts Club, Drawings and Studies by Sir Edward Burne-Jones, Bart., 1899

STRUCTURE This picture is in excellent condition with strong colours throughout and no signs of damage. the paper is flat in the frame with no signs of staining or cockling. Unexamined out of the frame. FRAME This picture is contained in a simple wooden gilt frame and under glass. It is sold with the original frame - of a more simple design of gilt wood.
"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."

In his last years Burne-Jones painted a series of exquisite pictures of female figures and head studies on blue paper heightened with gold paint. These pictures were highly experimental and demonstrate Burne-Jones' enduring need to explore different techniques, even in his maturity. He told Thomas Matthew Rooke on 22 April 1897 "This gold work must be done very directly - it's an art of itself. I forget how I do it between one time and another, and it's always an experiment.'" (Mary Lago, Burne-Jones Talking: His Conversations, 1895-1898, Preserved by his Studio Assistant Thomas Rooke, 1982, p.143) 

Burne-Jones wrote in a letter to his friend Frances Horner about a Byzantine book of Gospels that he had seen in Quaritch's bookshop; 'every sheet dipped in a vat of Tyrian purple dye. There are five-and-twenty tints of Tyrian purple. When you dipped the first time a pale rose colour came and when you dipped a twenty-fifth time it was the colour of a black poppy.' (Frances Horner, Time Was, 1933, p.139) He sought to emulate the illuminations in this book and the colour of its paper. There are similar pictures in various private collections and at the British Museum, Ashmolean in Oxford, in the Cecil French Bequest and the Owens Art Gallery in New Brunswick.

Two related drawings, dated 1896 (both at the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight) depict the central pair of figures and the embracing girls on the left. The first of these was used by Robert Catterson Smith for a repousse silver plaque shown at the Arts and Crafts Exhibition of 1896. Dancing Girls was based upon a design made in 1895 but subsequently abandoned, for The Book of Fowles in the Kelmscott Chaucer, published in 1896.