Head of a young girl in profile to the left for a Sea Nymph in Perseus and the Sea Nymphs (Perseus and the Nereids): The Arming of Perseus (Second Version), Perseus Series

The present lot is a study for the head of the Nymph holding the Kibisis in Perseus and the Sea Nymphs (Perseus and the Nereids), The Arming of Perseus (Staatsgalerie Stuttgart), from the eponymous series which Burne-Jones began in 1875.

The cycle was commissioned for the music room of the Conservative politician, Arthur Balfour (1848-1940) who served as the UK’s Prime Minister between 1902-1906. Balfour left the subject entirely open for Burne-Jones’s interpretation, and the artist selected the legend of Perseus as his inspiration, using William Morris’s Earthly Paradise for his source material. In typical fashion Burne-Jones produced a wealth of preliminary material, filling an entire sketchbook from July 1875 until his death with related drawings, many preliminary ones on the distinctive terracotta paper used here.

The model appears to be Bessie Keene, who would have been about 18 years old in 1896. Bessie was the model for Burne-Jones's Vespertina Quies (Tate Britain, London), and Aurora (Queensland Art Gallery, New Zealand), as well as several other head studies.

We are grateful to the Burne-Jones Catalogue Raisonné Foundation (eb-j.org) for their assistance in preparing this catalogue entry, and to Scott Thomas Buckle for his help in identifying the sitter.