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Lot Essay
The present watercolour is a copy after Burne-Jones’ watercolour, An Idyll (Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery, painted in 1862, inv. 1924P91). Clifford was a great admirer of Burne-Jones's work and painted, often at Burne-Jones’s request, several faithful copies of some of his early pictures from the 1860s, including The Forge of Cupid in 1890 (see Christie’s, London, 11 July 2018, lot 44) and Merlin and Nimué, 1861 (see Sotheby’s, London, 13 July 2017, lot 16).
Burne-Jones’ small group of watercolours dating from the early 1860s form a distinct group in his œuvre and deploy his technique of using watercolour and bodycolour together to achieve a richness of colour and depth of texture, characterised by a warm, sombre palette reminiscent of oil paintings and influenced by the works of the Old Masters. John Ruskin (1819-1900) encouraged Burne-Jones to visit Italy in May 1859 in the company of Val Prinsep (1838-1904); this trip proved hugely influential and is reflected in his subsequent works as he progressed from pen and ink drawings, strongly influenced by the medievalism of Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882), to works in watercolour and bodycolour. Burne-Jones visited Italy again, along with Georgiana and Ruskin himself, in 1862.
An Idyll shows the influence of Giorgione in the landscape and the enigmatic subject which was possibly suggested to him by a black and white photograph of a painting then attributed to Giorgione, published by Colnaghi’s in 1857 (see Burne-Jones Catalogue Raisonné Foundation (eb-j.org)). Although we do not know when he acquired it, the photograph was in the possession of Burne-Jones’ friend and patron George Howard, 9th Earl of Carlisle (1843-1911) and it is likely that he was aware of this photograph from an early date.
These early watercolours also reflect the rich medieval decorative style favoured by William Morris (1834-1896) and Philip Webb (1831-1915), first at the Red House where Morris and his wife Jane moved in June 1860, and after 1861 in the work of the firm Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Co. which Burne-Jones joined as a founder member in 1861. The colour harmonies of reddish browns set against greens and blues reflect the colours of the domestic and church interiors he was working on for the firm.
Born in St John's Wood, the son of an artists' materials supplier, Clifford taught painting at the Berry F. Berry Art School in Swiss Cottage. He showed his work in London at the Royal Society of British Artists, the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours, the Royal Academy, and the Royal Institute of Oil Painters. Further afield his work was exhibited at the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts and the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool. Although it seems likely that Clifford had access to Burne-Jones's studio, there is no suggestion in Clifford's biography or his writings that he was actually worked as an assistant to Burne-Jones, unlike Thomas Matthews Rooke (1842-1942) and Charles Fairfax Murray (1849-1919).
Burne-Jones’ small group of watercolours dating from the early 1860s form a distinct group in his œuvre and deploy his technique of using watercolour and bodycolour together to achieve a richness of colour and depth of texture, characterised by a warm, sombre palette reminiscent of oil paintings and influenced by the works of the Old Masters. John Ruskin (1819-1900) encouraged Burne-Jones to visit Italy in May 1859 in the company of Val Prinsep (1838-1904); this trip proved hugely influential and is reflected in his subsequent works as he progressed from pen and ink drawings, strongly influenced by the medievalism of Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882), to works in watercolour and bodycolour. Burne-Jones visited Italy again, along with Georgiana and Ruskin himself, in 1862.
An Idyll shows the influence of Giorgione in the landscape and the enigmatic subject which was possibly suggested to him by a black and white photograph of a painting then attributed to Giorgione, published by Colnaghi’s in 1857 (see Burne-Jones Catalogue Raisonné Foundation (eb-j.org)). Although we do not know when he acquired it, the photograph was in the possession of Burne-Jones’ friend and patron George Howard, 9th Earl of Carlisle (1843-1911) and it is likely that he was aware of this photograph from an early date.
These early watercolours also reflect the rich medieval decorative style favoured by William Morris (1834-1896) and Philip Webb (1831-1915), first at the Red House where Morris and his wife Jane moved in June 1860, and after 1861 in the work of the firm Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Co. which Burne-Jones joined as a founder member in 1861. The colour harmonies of reddish browns set against greens and blues reflect the colours of the domestic and church interiors he was working on for the firm.
Born in St John's Wood, the son of an artists' materials supplier, Clifford taught painting at the Berry F. Berry Art School in Swiss Cottage. He showed his work in London at the Royal Society of British Artists, the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours, the Royal Academy, and the Royal Institute of Oil Painters. Further afield his work was exhibited at the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts and the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool. Although it seems likely that Clifford had access to Burne-Jones's studio, there is no suggestion in Clifford's biography or his writings that he was actually worked as an assistant to Burne-Jones, unlike Thomas Matthews Rooke (1842-1942) and Charles Fairfax Murray (1849-1919).