Meanwhile, in 1881 Burne-Jones had embarked on the task of designing mosaics for Saint Paul's Within-the-Walls, G. E. Street's new church for the American community in Rome (fig. 98). Miss Wolfe, who knew the incumbent, Dr. Robert J. Nevin (1839-1906), was one of those who helped to finance the project.
Burne-Jones was always a little uneasy with the fact that easel paintings could be bought and tucked away in private collections. 'T want big things to do and vast spaces," he said, "and for common people to see them and say Oh! — only Oh!" 3 ° His chance came in 1881, when G. E. Street asked him to design mosaic decorations for the American Episcopal church in Rome, Saint Pauls Within-the-Walls (fig. 17). The designs were settled in sketch form between about 1881 and 1886, but the project moved slowly, awaiting donors. The Heavenly Jerusalem in the apse at the far end of the church, with a very Byzantine Christ in Glory, was installed in 1885. Then came an Annunciation in an eerie, empty landscape over the arch at the front of the chancel in 1893, and the Tree of Life between these two in 1894. 31 A frieze of figures below the Heavenly Jerusalem, sometimes known as the Church Militant, was completed by Rooke from Burne-Jones's sketches in 1906-7. The Tree of Life is an instance where Burne-Jones actual- ly developed Christian imagery. 32 The arms of Christ in front of the tree are spread out, as in Byzantine images where Christ does not hang in suffering but triumphs over death. Only here the arms are spread more in blessing than in triumph. The tree flourishes. Medieval Christianity had an image of the cross as the tree of life, but Burne-Jones's image is all tree, all life, and no cross. To either side, where we would normally see the Virgin Mary and Saint John, are Adam and Eve and their children, an arrangement that moves the focus of the scene from the event itself to the significance of the event. This is a most benign redemption, an image about growth and the pos- sibility of blessing in life. The Tree of Life is the design with which this essay began.
August 12. 1897 My dear Murray I am much in / need of your help in a little / matter – and briefly it is this - / There appeared a week ago in / one of the newspapers some reproductions / from designs by Richmond for the / new mosaics in St. Paul’s / And one of them – an outstretched / figure of Christ on a tree whose / branches filled the lunette was so / very like the one I made for St. Paul’s / American Ch. In Rome, that the / similarity was noticed by many / & reported to me. / And I ? having a little / controversy with Richmond on the / subject / I was under the impression that / my treatment of the subject was / new – but I know too well how / memory fails me – and it may be that / Christ on the Tree of Life has been / done before – but I can’t remember / it. In the newspaper account / of the designs it is stated that / he found that treatment in an / old MS. But in a letter / from him to-day he say that / he found it in S. Clemente. / Could you find out for me if / there is any such design there / either in the Church or in / the pictures of the underground / church – it may be so – but / I should like to know for / certain – it still would not / affect the extraordinary resemblance / between my design of 4 years / ago, & his of to-day – but / still if it is possible to know / what the S. Clemente design is / I should be very glad. But not if it occasions you much / trouble – you may now be in / Rome, or may know some / Roman archaeologist who could / tell me. I specially don’t / want you to take trouble about / it – but I know no one lese / to appeal to. / believe me / Always your affect. / E. Burne-Jones