The representation of withdrawal into the self, of the hidden, inner world, the world of dreams and sleep, recurs like a leitmotiv in the work of Burne-Jones. These themes and their corresponding imagery are the clearest evidence of the links between this artist and the universe of the Symbolists, partic- ularly in Belgium and France. At the heart of many of Burne- Jones's representations is the theme of music {The Lament, Chant d s Amour, The Golden Stairs; cat. nos. 44, 84, 109). which often serves as the inspiration for this inner world. Music also played an important role in the thinking of Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), a philosopher whose writings had a profound influence on the Symbolists. The supreme art, music in its immateriality reveals to the individual his deepest and most absolute being and is a source of sensory and pictorial correspondences. Khnopff developed this notion in his analy- sis of The Golden Stairs, in which "a metallic glissando of brass cymbals evokes the sad golden and faded purple tones of autumnal sunsets." 56 The best illustration of the affinity between Burne-Jones and Khnopff is the mirror, symbol of meditative reflection. In strikingly similar ways, the two artists created the image of woman absorbed in the narcissistic con- templation of her double — Khnopff s Avec Gregoire le Roy: Mon coeur pleure d'autrefois (fig. 35) and Burne-Jones s study for The Mirror of Venus (fig. 36), to cite only two examples. 57