Study of a head of a girl; for the design for the tapestry 'The Achievement of Sir Galahad' by Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, Bt ARA 1933-1898

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Head of a girl

Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, Bt ARA (1833-1898)

circa 1894

Pencil on white paper

13 1/8 x 9 7/8 inches, 33.3 x 25 cm.

Study for the r the tapestry 'The Achievement of Sir Galahad'

During the 1890s Burne-Jones and William Morris returned to those books which had inspired them as young men: Malory's Morte d'Arthur and Geoffrey Chaucer. The Australian mining millionaire W.K.D'Arcy commissioned Morris and Company to design 'The Quest of the Holy Grail' tapestries for his house, Stanmore Hall, near Harrow. This consisted of five tapestries based upon the legend of the Holy Grail, culminating in 'The Achievement of Sir Galahad' (exhibited at the New Gallery, 1898-99 in Central Hall). Morris asked Burne-jones to draw cartoons for the series, and the present drawing is a study of the head of the right-hand angel of a group of three guarding the Grail in the chapel on the right of the composition.

Provenance: Lady Eleanor Leighton, Oliver and Cicely Rossetti.

Bibliography

Reproduced, Martin Harrison and Bill Waters, Burne-Jones, (Barrie & Jenkins, London 1973), figure 231. See also Linda Parry, William Morris Textiles, (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1983), page 116. The Tapestry can be seen hanging in the Memorial exhibition in the album of photographs by Frederick Hollyer in this catalogue (number 85)

Morgan, Hilary and Nahum, Peter. Burne-Jones, The Pre-Raphaelites and Their Century. London: Peter Nahum, 1989. Catalogue number 78.

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Last modified 0 January 2002