AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED WITH A LARGE SELF-PORTRAIT, the drawing pen and ink, seated with palette and brushes in hand, inviting Max to visit him, very fine, 2 pages, octavo, framed and glazed, size of image 7 x 9 inches (17.5 x 23 cm), overall size 12½ x 14 inches (32 x 36 cm), The Grange, West Kensington, no date
One of Burne-Jones' many friends was Cecilia Steele Maxse, the estranged wife of Admiral Frederick Augustus Maxse and the mother of Violet (later Viscountess Milner) and Olive, who, in their own rights, became close friends of Burne-Jones'. Violet, born in 1872, was the youngest Maxse child. She had a great interest in art, and studied in Paris from March 1893-January 1894. In June 1894, she married Lord Edward Cecil, a soldier and foreign service officer with whom she traveled widely. Their marriage was not a particularly happy one, and after Cecil's death in 1918, Violet married Sir Alfred Milner, who died in 1925. After her brother Leo's death in 1929, she took over editorship of the National Review, owned by their family since 1893. She had 2 children with Lord Cecil, George and Helen. She died in 1958.