Property from descendants of Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones (lots 101-126) Edward Burne-Jones and his wife Georgiana had a large, close family, who often provided inspiration for and were recipients of his work. Georgiana (née Macdonald), was one of four daughters of a Methodist minister. She first met Burne-Jones aged eleven, as he was a schoolfriend of her elder brother. She trained at the Government School of Design in South Kensington, chiefly to aid Burne-Jones in his career, and practised very little as an artist. Later in life she became increasingly independent and politically minded. The sisters were a remarkable family: Alice, the oldest, married John Lockwood Kipling in 1865, and was the mother of the author Rudyard Kipling. Agnes, the third daughter, married Sir Edward John Poynter, having met him through Burne-Jones and the Pre-Raphaelite circle. The fourth daughter, Louisa, married a Worcestershire ironmaster and was the mother of the prime minister Stanley Baldwin. Georgiana and Edward had two children, Philip (1861-1926) and Margaret (1866-1953). Philip became an artist himself, and an example of his work is included in the present group (lot 123). Margaret married a Scottish academic, John Mackail, and their children were the novelists Denis Mackail and Angela Thirkell. Burne-Jones often made drawings for his children, and later his grandchildren, and many of these, as well as larger and more finished works, have remained in the family. Alice 'Trix' Macdonald Fleming (1868-1948) was born three years after her brother, the writer Rudyard Kipling. She was known for much of her life by the nickname 'Trix', a name given to her by her family when she was a baby because she was ‘a tricksy little thing’. In 1871, Trix and Rudyard were placed by their parents as boarders in a family home in Southsea, England; their parents returned to India for the following five years. After her education was completed, Trix travelled to India to be with her family in 1883. Her mother, also Alice, was the sister of Georgiana Burne-Jones. In 1889 Trix married Lieut.-Col John M. Fleming (1858-1942), son of the Surgeon-General of the Indian Army, who was ten years her senior, when she was 21 years old. They lived in Calcutta and Simla and, as well as writing, she was involved with charity work. In 1910, Trix and Colonel Fleming returned to the United Kingdom and settled in Edinburgh, where Colonel Fleming's family lived. However, when Trix's parents died within three months of each other, she suffered a breakdown and battled with her health for the following decade. According to a large paper fan, which Trix annotated and autographed between 1891 and 1895 with the names and places she visited, when the present drawing was executed in 1894 she was travelling in India, embarking for London in June 1895 (L. Lee (ed.), Trix: Kipling’s Forgotten Sister, Peterborough, 2004, p. 118). In July 1895 Rudyard and his wife Caroline signed it in Tisbury, possibly at The Gables, which belonged to Kipling’s parents (they had retired back to England in 1893). However, the profile in the present drawing is similar to that of Trix’s so it is possible that it was drawn from memory and given to her on her return to England. By 1932, Trix had largely recovered and was able to return to Scotland. She was a loyal member of the Kipling Society and enthusiastically supported its foundation, serving as Vice President and writing articles for the quarterly Kipling Journal. In 1943, Trix took over the lease of a shop in Edinburgh, which raised funds for army charities. Eclipsed by her brother's great fame as a writer, Trix herself was possessed of great literary talent. In 1884, she co-authored a volume of poetry, Echoes, with her brother. First edition copies of this can be found in the Baldwin Papers, also stored in Special Collections. Trix published her first novel, The Heart of a Maid, in 1891. This was followed by A Pinchbeck Goddess in 1897 and Her Brother's Keeper in 1901. She wrote numerous stories and articles for the press in both India and England - including, in 1885, works for Quartette, the Christmas annual of the Civil & Military Gazette in collaboration with her brother Rudyard and their parents. In 1902 she published a volume of poetry, Hand in hand, Verses by a mother and daughter, with her mother Alice Kipling.
The unusual formality of the drawing suggests that it was taken from a studio photograph, whilst the sitter was in India and given to her upon her return.