Lot 29
SIR EDWARD BURNE-JONES (1833-1898)
STUDY FOR THE FIGURE OF LOVE IN ‘THE CAR OF LOVE’
Auction: Design Since 1860 Day One | Wed 14th October | Lots 1 to 245
Description
pastel and chalk
Dimensions
34cm x 22cm (frame size 54cm x 41.5cm)
Provenance
Terence Rowe
The Maas Gallery, London
Art & Design from a Private Collection
Footnote
‘The Car of Love' is a large, unfinished oil painting by the Pre-Raphaelite artist Sir Edward Burne-Jones. The full painting depicts Love, the subject of this study, being drawn on a chariot by a group of men and women along a Sienese street. The triumphal procession of Love was a common theme in Medieval and Renaissance art, the specific inspiration for Burne-Jones' work being ‘Trionfior Triumphs’ by the 14th-century Italian poet Petrarch. The idea for the painting dates from as early as 1871 but Burne-Jones only began the work in the 1890's. It was left unfinished on his death in 1898 and was gifted by his wife Lady Burne-Jones to the V&A in 1909.