A pencil study of a full-length standing nude female figure, facing front, with her head tilted to the left and her arms merely indicated; for the figure of Venus in 'The Mirror of Venus' (Gulbenkian Collection, Lisbon). The verso of the mount is inscribed: "Study for Venus in "Mirror of Venus" / 1873 65 gns". 'The Mirror of Venus' (signed and dated 1875) was one of eight paintings which Burne-Jones contributed to the opening exhibition of the incipient Grosvenor Gallery in 1877. Four other studies for it are in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. In the finished painting, Venus is clothed in semi-transparent drapery. This study, along with other drawings by Burne-Jones, was purchased by Queen Alexandra from the Leicester Galleries in Leicester Square in 1904. It appears to have passed into the collection of Queen Alexandra's daughter, Princess Victoria of Wales, at some point, as it is listed in the probate valuation of her possessions in 1936.
Exhibited at the Leicester Galleries in 1904 exh details to be loaded - WW