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Lot Essay
This unusual drawing strongly shows the influence of Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882), and indeed has previously been attributed to him. It dates to 1861, very early in Burne-Jones’ career when he was much under Rossetti’s influence. The study of Fanny Cornforth reclining, so familiar from similar intimate sketches by Rossetti (see fig. 1), is in fact a study for the figure of Venus in Burne-Jones’ early watercolour version of Laus Veneris (Tate Gallery), while the verso sketches are for the figure of the Clerk in Clerk Saunders .
Burne-Jones first met Rossetti in January 1856 at the Working Men’s College in London, where the latter was teaching. Shortly afterwards, Burne-Jones left Oxford University to move to London and took painting lessons from Rossetti and at Leigh’s school. In 1857-8 he worked with Rossetti on the scheme of murals for the debating chamber of the new Oxford Union building, becoming close friends and securing the development of the second phase of Pre-Raphaelitism. Much of his early work shows Rossetti’s influence in both subject matter and style.
Janet Camp Troxell, the collector and Rossetti scholar to whom this drawing once belonged, identified the sitter as Lizzie Siddal, but Mrs Surtees revised the identification to that of Fanny Cornforth. Fanny was Rossetti’s house-keeper, and one of his favourite models of the 1850s and 1860s, and he made a series of affectionately teasing drawings of her reclining and often napping on chairs or sofas (see fig. 1, Christie’s, London, 16 June 2015, lot 3), which the present drawing recalls. Closely associated with Rossetti as she is, Ford Madox Brown also records her sitting to Burne-Jones in 1858, and she seems to have continued to model for him for several years (see F.M. Hueffer, Ford Madox Brown: A record of his Life and Work, 1896, p. 154).
Laus Veneris is best known from the later oil version, exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1878 (now Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle, fig. 2). However, an early watercolour version was also made in 1861 (whereabouts unknown), and the present drawing appears to be the only surviving study for it.
A number of studies for various elements of Clerk Saunders are known, and the present drawing demonstrates Burne-Jones’ preferred technique of developing sketches for individual elements of a composition before bringing the whole together.
Burne-Jones first met Rossetti in January 1856 at the Working Men’s College in London, where the latter was teaching. Shortly afterwards, Burne-Jones left Oxford University to move to London and took painting lessons from Rossetti and at Leigh’s school. In 1857-8 he worked with Rossetti on the scheme of murals for the debating chamber of the new Oxford Union building, becoming close friends and securing the development of the second phase of Pre-Raphaelitism. Much of his early work shows Rossetti’s influence in both subject matter and style.
Janet Camp Troxell, the collector and Rossetti scholar to whom this drawing once belonged, identified the sitter as Lizzie Siddal, but Mrs Surtees revised the identification to that of Fanny Cornforth. Fanny was Rossetti’s house-keeper, and one of his favourite models of the 1850s and 1860s, and he made a series of affectionately teasing drawings of her reclining and often napping on chairs or sofas (see fig. 1, Christie’s, London, 16 June 2015, lot 3), which the present drawing recalls. Closely associated with Rossetti as she is, Ford Madox Brown also records her sitting to Burne-Jones in 1858, and she seems to have continued to model for him for several years (see F.M. Hueffer, Ford Madox Brown: A record of his Life and Work, 1896, p. 154).
Laus Veneris is best known from the later oil version, exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1878 (now Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle, fig. 2). However, an early watercolour version was also made in 1861 (whereabouts unknown), and the present drawing appears to be the only surviving study for it.
A number of studies for various elements of Clerk Saunders are known, and the present drawing demonstrates Burne-Jones’ preferred technique of developing sketches for individual elements of a composition before bringing the whole together.