Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, Bt., ARA, RWS

(British, 1833-1898)

Head study of a girl in profile

Footnotes

The present lot is likely to have been a gift from Burne-Jones to Sir Henry Austen Layard (British, 1817-1894) in recognition for his help in creating the mosaics for St. Paul's Within the Walls church in Rome, a mammoth project that occupied the artist for much of the last seventeen years of his life.

Sir Henry Austen Layard was a renowned archaeologist, explorer, art historian and diplomat, who is arguably most famous for his discovery of Ninevah and important excavations at Babylon between 1845-1851. Fluent in Italian, Persian and Arabic, and with a deep fascination with the Ottoman empire, its people and history, Layard was a quintessential Romantic and a strong believer in the self-made, self-reliant man. He was an avid collector of Italian Old Master paintings, and a great friend of George Frederic Watts, RA (British, 1817-1904), who painted Layard's portrait on several occasions. Through this friendship, and his subsequent association with the Holland Park Circle, Layard became acquainted with Burne-Jones.

Layard co-founded the prestigious Venezia-Murano Company (originally Salviati & Co.) in 1866, and had a particular interest in the rediscovery of murrine, a type of glass making technique of Ancient Rome. Burne-Jones commissioned the famed company to create the mosaics for his project in Rome. Layard devised a complex yet effective method by which the artist's cartoons could be translated into mosaic glass, and then shipped from Venice to Rome to be assembled. At a time when Burne-Jones was also occupied with his Briar Rose cycle, it was a period of great activity for the artist. His wife, Georgiana, wrote in her diary that 'it would be impossible to describe the anxiety and labour connected with the mosaic.'¹ Burne-Jones, together with his friend and patron, John Ruskin (British, 1819-1900) originally conceived the idea for the mosaics in 1862, following Burne-Jones' visit to the famous mosaics at Venice and Torcello. Upon Burne-Jones' death in 1898, the project was continued by his studio assistant, Thomas Matthews Rooke (British, 1842-1942), and overseen by the church rector, Dr. Robert J. Nevin. The work was finally completed in 1907.

Although Burne-Jones gifted the present lot in 1893, the year before Layard's death, the drawing itself likely dates to the mid 1870s. With fifty-nine known studies by the artist for his Roman mosaics, it is possible the present lot is an early head study for one of the figures. Burne-Jones was captivated by feminine charm and sensuality, and this intimate and tender head study is typical of his work.

¹G. Burne-Jones, Memorials, London, 1904, II, p.141