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Lot Essay
This watercolour appears to relate to Le Chant d’Amour, a subject which Burne-Jones revisited several times, although it is unclear at what date it was made. He first touched upon the composition in 1860, when it appeared as a vignette he painted on the lid of a small upright piano given to him and his wife, Georgiana Macdonald (1840-1920), upon their wedding in June 1860. In 1865 Burne-Jones completed a watercolour of the subject (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston). He then re-worked the image into a larger oil between 1872-1873, before finally returning to and completing the composition in 1877 (The Metropolitan Museum, New York). Both works share a similar layout of figures: in the centre of the composition a beautiful young woman plays the organ to a young knight seated at her feet, assisted on the right by an angel working the bellows.
Although this composition is quite different from either of the finished pieces, it shares the central motif of the female musician playing to an enraptured knight. Whilst in those versions the knight wears plated armour, here he appears to wear chainmail. The buildings behind, although less fully realised, are of a very similar type to those in the other versions – an empty waste-land of haunted lovers.
Burne-Jones first visited Italy in 1859 with the artist Val Prinsep (1838-1904), returning to Venice in May 1862 in the company of his wife and John Ruskin (1819-1900) who encouraged him to make copies of Venetian works. The arrangement of Le Chant d’Amour demonstrates this Venetian influence, referencing Giorgione’s concert champêtre compositions that show figures in pastoral settings, which whilst absent of clear narrative, are suffused with musicality and romance. The distracted knight recalls Mars’ seduction by Venus, as depicted by Botticelli. The title derives from the refrain of a traditional Breton song: 'Hélas! Je sais un chant d'amour, / Triste ou gai, tour à tour' which reflects upon the turbulence of love.
Although this composition is quite different from either of the finished pieces, it shares the central motif of the female musician playing to an enraptured knight. Whilst in those versions the knight wears plated armour, here he appears to wear chainmail. The buildings behind, although less fully realised, are of a very similar type to those in the other versions – an empty waste-land of haunted lovers.
Burne-Jones first visited Italy in 1859 with the artist Val Prinsep (1838-1904), returning to Venice in May 1862 in the company of his wife and John Ruskin (1819-1900) who encouraged him to make copies of Venetian works. The arrangement of Le Chant d’Amour demonstrates this Venetian influence, referencing Giorgione’s concert champêtre compositions that show figures in pastoral settings, which whilst absent of clear narrative, are suffused with musicality and romance. The distracted knight recalls Mars’ seduction by Venus, as depicted by Botticelli. The title derives from the refrain of a traditional Breton song: 'Hélas! Je sais un chant d'amour, / Triste ou gai, tour à tour' which reflects upon the turbulence of love.