The present lot depicts Burne-Jones's wife, Georgiana in circa 1861-2. There is a possibility that it was a study for the wall hanging made for John Ruskin's new house in the Wye valley depicting Chaucer's The Legend of Good Women. A number of preparatory sketches for this wall hanging are in the collection of the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. The present lot is also similar to a drawing Two studies of Georgiana, 1861 (private collection) which was a preparatory study for the window depicting the Song of Solomon at St Helen's Church, Darley Dale, Derbyshire.1 James Richardson Holliday (1840-1927) was a Birmingham solicitor who was one of the most prolific collectors, and subsequently, benefactors, of Pre-Raphaelite and Victorian paintings. He was a Trustee of the National Gallery and of the Tate and on his death bequethed large numbers of paintings, drawings and watercolours to museums, galleries and other organisations such as the V&A, Birmingham Museum and Gallery and the Tate Gallery. JR Holliday was an active and generous member of the Art Gallery committee for many years, and is largely responsible for the large collection of works by David Cox, and Burne-Jones. In 1903 he, with friends on the Committee, presented the Gallery with 260 drawings by Rossetti, and 226 by Burne Jones. Later in 1906 he and friends added a collection of 300 drawings by Millais, Madox Brown, and Sandys, and in 1907 they presented 105 drawings by David Cox. 1. Bill Waters and Martin Harrison, Burne-Jones, (London 1973), p. 52. Bonhams 2009
The style of the drawing is not that as mentioned by Bonhams but is more likely to relate to the earlier version for tiles.