Portrait of Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1868-69. Oil on panel, 181/8 x 145/8 inches (46 x 37.2 cm). Collection of the Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museum, accession no. ABDAG002505
This sober frontal portrait of the young Burne-Jones dressed in black is very reminiscent of similar portraits by the Florentine Mannerist painter Pontormo and his pupil Bronzino. The wooded landscape in the background could have come straight from an Italian Renaissance painting. In early 1865 Legros had met Burne-Jones through D. G. Rossetti and the two became friends. Burne-Jones also became one of Legros most ardent supporters. When George Howard asked Burne-Jones to teach him to paint he instead suggested Legros. It is likely Howard commissioned this portrait from Legros since he was its first owner. On July 12, 1868 William Michael Rossetti mentioned that he lunched with Legros who had various pictures in hand, including a portrait of Edward Burne-Jones, “all but finished, excellent” (318). Since both Burne-Jones and Legros greatly admired Italian sixteenth-century pictures, painting Burne-Jones’s portrait in this style must have greatly pleased both artist and sitter
The Victoria and Albert Museum has a portrait sketch of an older Burne-Jones that Legros carried out in one sitting. Legros was famous for his portrait sketches that he used as teaching exercises for his students at the Slade that he completed within a two-hour session. This work was executed in 1879 and exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1880, no. 96. Burne-Jones gave it to the V&A in 1880.
Bibliography
Rossetti, William Michael. Rossetti Papers 1862 to 1870, London: Sands & Co., 1903.
Last modified 11 November 2022