Sketch of Edward Burne-Jones, 1879. Oil on canvas, 19¾ x 14½ inches (50.2 x 36.8 cm). Collection of Victoria and Albert Museum, accession no. 370-1880.
Legros carried out in one sitting the Victoria and Albert Museum this portrait sketch of an older Burne-Jones. 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.
The Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museum has a 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. 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. 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).
Bibliography
Rossetti, William Michael. Rossetti Papers 1862 to 1870, London: Sands & Co., 1903.
Last modified 11 November 2022