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拍品專文
Laura Lyttelton was one of the four daughters of Sir Charles Tennant, a highly successful businessman who had made a fortune in the stock market through interests such as railways and gold mines. His two youngest daughters, Margot and Laura, were brought up as if they were twins at The Glen, his Scottish estate in Peebleshire. They had a blissful and idyllic childhood in the Scottish borders with their sisters before being introduced to London Society in the 1880s. Their arrival was a great success and they were inundated with proposals from eligible suitors. Jane Abdy and Charlotte Gere wrote in their book on The Souls that 'Laura Tennant was not a Soul, for she died in 1886 and the coterie coalesced a little later.' However, as Mary Elcho wrote Laura 'would have worn with better grace than any that fantastic label'. She was tall, slender, large-eyed, highly vulnerable, with an air of delicacy about her that made many feel her life might not be long. Everyone felt protective towards Laura. She described herself as having a 'Zig-Zag' character, and in spite of her frailty had all the Tennant vivacity. In Lucy Lyttelton's words, 'She had the naughtiness, the grace and quickness and mischievousness of a kitten... nothing was safe in heaven or earth from the sallies of her wit ... she could strike sparks out of dead wood'.
Laura Tennant's charm captivated two men in the 1880s, Alfred Lyttelton, and the painter Edward Burne-Jones. Lyttelton, the son of Lord Cobham, married Laura in the summer of 1885 after a blissful courtship. She was pregnant within the year and gave birth to their son in 1886. Childbirth weakened her and she died a few days after the birth bringing to an end a tragically short love affair. In life, Laura's happiness and exuberance marked her out as a very special person and these qualities attracted the friendship of Edward Burne-Jones whom she met through her great friend, Frances Horner. The effect of Horner's special relationship with the artist rubbed off on Laura, and it was Horner who persuaded Burne-Jones to create Laura's memorial after her death.
Frances Horner's commission was for a sculptured relief depicting a magnificent peacock resting on a bier surrounded by myrtle leaves. The relief, which was made in grey gesso for the church at Mells, was not the only version done by the artist. A larger oil version of the memorial is in the Victoria and Albert Museum as well as another gouache, illustrated in Gere and Abdy's book The Souls. It was made for Mary Elcho, another friend of Laura's, who was a member of The Souls. Burne-Jones wrote to Elcho in 1888 saying 'if you put the little peacock anywhere prythee let it be in some remote room your own innermost bower'. The present version which is now the third painted version to come to light is also in gouache. They all differ from each other with no two being a copy of the first. Burne-Jones has not only made subtle changes to the composition, he has also completely changed the colouring and gilding. In the Elcho version, he has chosen to gild the bier with burnished gold. In the present version, he has painted the bier and inscribed it with a patterned design incorporating Laura's initials, and gilded the background behind the peacock. The oil version differs again with the artist inscribing the left hand edge in gold with the inscription 'In Memoriam' and Laura's initials. It is possible that the present version was also done for another member of The Souls and given as a gift from the artist. It is also conceivable that this work is one of the earlier versions used as a preparatory design for the oil.
We are grateful to John Christian, Charlotte Gere and Peter Rose for their assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.
Laura Tennant's charm captivated two men in the 1880s, Alfred Lyttelton, and the painter Edward Burne-Jones. Lyttelton, the son of Lord Cobham, married Laura in the summer of 1885 after a blissful courtship. She was pregnant within the year and gave birth to their son in 1886. Childbirth weakened her and she died a few days after the birth bringing to an end a tragically short love affair. In life, Laura's happiness and exuberance marked her out as a very special person and these qualities attracted the friendship of Edward Burne-Jones whom she met through her great friend, Frances Horner. The effect of Horner's special relationship with the artist rubbed off on Laura, and it was Horner who persuaded Burne-Jones to create Laura's memorial after her death.
Frances Horner's commission was for a sculptured relief depicting a magnificent peacock resting on a bier surrounded by myrtle leaves. The relief, which was made in grey gesso for the church at Mells, was not the only version done by the artist. A larger oil version of the memorial is in the Victoria and Albert Museum as well as another gouache, illustrated in Gere and Abdy's book The Souls. It was made for Mary Elcho, another friend of Laura's, who was a member of The Souls. Burne-Jones wrote to Elcho in 1888 saying 'if you put the little peacock anywhere prythee let it be in some remote room your own innermost bower'. The present version which is now the third painted version to come to light is also in gouache. They all differ from each other with no two being a copy of the first. Burne-Jones has not only made subtle changes to the composition, he has also completely changed the colouring and gilding. In the Elcho version, he has chosen to gild the bier with burnished gold. In the present version, he has painted the bier and inscribed it with a patterned design incorporating Laura's initials, and gilded the background behind the peacock. The oil version differs again with the artist inscribing the left hand edge in gold with the inscription 'In Memoriam' and Laura's initials. It is possible that the present version was also done for another member of The Souls and given as a gift from the artist. It is also conceivable that this work is one of the earlier versions used as a preparatory design for the oil.
We are grateful to John Christian, Charlotte Gere and Peter Rose for their assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.