Richesse
Artist
Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones
CultureEnglish
Date1876
MediumPencil, chalk, paper
DimensionsOverall: 14 3/8 x 9 5/8 in. (36.5 x 24.4 cm)
InscribedInscribed in pencil upper right, "Richesse," signed with artist's initials and dated at the lower right, EBJ 1876 andinscribed in pencil, lower right edge, "a study for a procession in the ROMANCE of the ROSE. On the verso a study of Cupid's wing, pencil, signed EB-J 1876 and inscribed "a sleeve for CUPID in procession of ROMANCE of the ROSE. Stamped on the verso with Platt's collector's stamp (Lugt 750a).
Credit LineMuseum purchase
Object number50.48.34
Not on view
DescriptionPencil and black chalk on lightly stained paper drawing of a standing female who is richly garbed.Label TextSir Edward Coley Burne-Jones English (1833-1898) Richesse, 1876 Pencil and black chalk Museum purchase 50.48.34 In the mid-1870s the great Pre-Raphaelite artist Burne-Jones worked with fellow Englishman William Morris to design a set of embroideries illustrating scenes from the medieval French poem, La Roman de la Rose (The Romance of the Rose). Burne-Jones's preliminary drawings for the set include this handsome figure study depicting the female personification of Richesse, or Wealth, who encounters the poem's young hero on his quest for his beloved, symbolized by a rose. The embroideries were commissioned by Sir Lowthian Bell for his dining room at Rounton Grange, Northallerton. They are today in the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow, England. ProvenanceDan Fellows Platt, Englewood, N.J., d. 1938; Mrs. Platt,1938-50; Chrysler Museum Purchase, 1950 Exhibition History"Grand Designs: Preliminary Drawings and Oil Sketches from The Chrysler Museum," Prints and Drawings Gallery, The Chrysler Museum, April 2 - June 22, 1994. "Master Drawings from the Chrysler Museum," Small Changing Gallery, The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA, February 26 - April 23, 1989 Published ReferencesE. Benezit. _Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs_. Librarie Grund, 1955, Vol. 2, pg. 217-218. Eric M. Zafran. _One Hundred Drawings in the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk_. Chrysler Museum. 1979. No. 58, p. 25.
