Music in the art of Edward Burne-Jones
Martin Cullingford
Tuesday, October 23, 2018
![The Lament [1865-1866; Watercolour and bodycolour on paper mounted on canvas; Brangwyn gift, 1941. William Morris Gallery, London Borough of Waltham Forest]](/media/199497/the_lament_1865-66.jpg)
![Angeli Laudantes (Salisbury Cathedral) [1878; Coloured chalks on paper, stretched over a canvas covered frame; The Syndics of the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge]](/media/199499/angeli_laudantes_salisbury_cathedral_1878.jpg)
![The Love Song (Le Chant D’Amour), depicts a young woman playing a portable organ [1865; Transparent and opaque watercolour on paper; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Bequest of Martin Brimmer]](/media/199498/the_love_song_le_chant_damour_1868-1873.jpg)
![Other works in the major retrospective - the first of the artist's work in a generation - includes Love Among the Ruins [1870-1873; Watercolour, bodycolour and gum arabic on paper; Private collection]](/media/199496/love_among_the_ruins_x65317.jpg)
![Frances Graham is also depicted as an ethereal figure in a white gown in The Golden Stairs, holding a pair of cymbals [1880; Oil paint on canvas; Tate]](/media/199495/the_golden_stairs_1880.jpg)
![One exhibition highlight is The Graham Piano (1879-80), depicting the tragic love story of Orpheus [Private Collection]](/media/199493/the_graham_piano_1879-1880.jpg)
![Music-making appears throughout the work of Edward Burne-Jones, including the painting Laus Veneris [1873-8; oil paint on canvas; Laing Art Gallery, Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums]](/media/199492/laus_veneris_x33381.jpg)
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A major Edward Burne-Jones exhibition opens at London’s Tate Britain tomorrow (October 24) - the first significant retrospective of the artist’s work in a generation.
Like other Pre-Raphaelites, Burne-Jones was informed by a wide range of cultural pursuits, and many of his paintings depict elegant figures dressed in flowing garments, often drawn from myth and fairy tales, playing and listening to music as well as reading musical scores.
The exhibition even features The Graham Piano, an intricately painted grand piano illustrating the tragic love story of Orpheus, commissioned by William Graham, one of Burne-Jone’s patrons, for his daughter Frances Graham.
Edward Burne-Jones is at Tate Britain, London, October 24, 2018-February 24, 2019. Find out more.
