Dear Lady Leighton / Thank you but I / know I cannot be in / London tomorrow - it / must be at the end / of the week. / for indeed I am not / free in the matter, but / in the service of an / exacting daughter / and any day next week / ...
An important series of 17 autograph letters to Eleanor Warren, Lady Leighton (1841-1914), 26 July 1881-27 March 1884, consisting of 17 autograph letters from Burne-Jones to Lady Leighton, on writing paper headed The Grange, West Kensington, W (except one on paper headed Ashley Cottage, Walton-on-Thames, the home of Sir George Lewis, the famous solicitor and patron of the arts), including 15 with original handwritten envelope, postmarked (except two without stamp and postmark, presumed hand-delivered), together with a telegram from Burne-Jones to Lady Leighton, and two autograph letters from Lady Leighton to Burne-Jones, on unheaded writing paper (one with original envelope), letters typically a single folded sheet, written on both sides, all now mounted on white backing paper. A significant sequence of correspondence between the Pre-Raphaelite painter Edward Burne-Jones and Eleanor Warren, who married Sir Baldwyn Leighton, M.P., 8th Baronet of Loton, Shropshire in 1864. She was the sister of John Byrne Leicester Warren, 3rd Baron de Tabley, of Tabley Hall, Cheshire, and held the Tabley estate in trust for her son Cuthbert, following her brother's death. The Leighton's London residence was 49 Upper Brook Street, Grosvenor Square, London. Eleanor had met Burne-Jones at Downing Street in 1877 (the year her husband was elected a Conservative M.P.), and developed a close friendship that lasted until the artist's death in 1898, culminating in a commission from her for a stained glass window designed by Burne-Jones commemorating Eleanor's siblings at Tabley Chapel. The letters reveal the important role she played in assisting the artist with his work, discussing his art, and exchanging opinions on people and politics. Moreover, she became an important source to Burne-Jones for suggestions of old English flower names for an important sequence of small circular flower studies illustrating the names of flowers, undertaken between 1882 and 1898, known as The Flower Book (now in the British Museum). From her estate she supplied Burne-Jones with briars for his Briar Rose series (see Memorials of Burne-Jones, volume 1, page 145), and almond blossom for his painting The Tree of Forgiveness, painted in the winter of 1881, and exhibited the following spring at the Grosvenor Gallery : 'and O if I might have the real veritable & true bit of almond blossom by bearer & then I should want no more in all my life' (from a Burne-Jones letter to Lady Leighton included here). The letters refer several times to Burne-Jones' progress with 'Demophon' (The Tree of Forgiveness), the title of which was apparently suggested by Lady Leighton herself : 'I thought I had told you that you have to be the godmother to that picture - & now it is in print is it? Yes - that is a lovely name for it & will be understanded of the people better than if I called it by their names - thank you for that.' (Burne-Jones letter to Lady Leighton, postmarked May 26, 1882, included here). (Quantity: 20)
An important series of 17 autograph letters to Eleanor Warren, Lady Leighton (1841-1914), 26 July 1881-27 March 1884, consisting of 17 autograph letters from Burne-Jones to Lady Leighton, on writing paper headed The Grange, West Kensington, W (except one on paper headed Ashley Cottage, Walton-on-Thames, the home of Sir George Lewis, the famous solicitor and patron of the arts), including 15 with original handwritten envelope, postmarked (except two without stamp and postmark, presumed hand-delivered), together with a telegram from Burne-Jones to Lady Leighton, and two autograph letters from Lady Leighton to Burne-Jones, on unheaded writing paper (one with original envelope), letters typically a single folded sheet, written on both sides, all now mounted on white backing paper A significant sequence of correspondence between the Pre-Raphaelite painter Edward Burne-Jones and Eleanor Warren, who married Sir Baldwyn Leighton, M.P., 8th Baronet of Loton, Shropshire in 1864. She was the sister of John Byrne Leicester Warren, 3rd Baron de Tabley, of Tabley Hall, Cheshire, and held the Tabley estate in trust for her son Cuthbert, following her brother's death. The Leighton's London residence was 49 Upper Brook Street, Grosvenor Square, London. Eleanor had met Burne-Jones at Downing Street in 1877 (the year her husband was elected a Conservative M.P.), and developed a close friendship that lasted until the artist's death in 1898, culminating in a commission from her for a stained glass window designed by Burne-Jones commemorating Eleanor's siblings at Tabley Chapel. The letters reveal the important role she played in assisting the artist with his work, discussing his art, and exchanging opinions on people and politics. Moreover, she became an important source to Burne-Jones for suggestions of old English flower names for an important sequence of small circular flower studies illustrating the names of flowers, undertaken between 1882 and 1898, known as The Flower Book (now in the British Museum). From her estate she supplied Burne-Jones with briars for his Briar Rose series (see Memorials of Burne-Jones, volume 1, page 145), and almond blossom for his painting The Tree of Forgiveness, painted in the winter of 1881, and exhibited the following spring at the Grosvenor Gallery : 'and O if I might have the real veritable & true bit of almond blossom by bearer & then I should want no more in all my life' (from a Burne-Jones letter to Lady Leighton included here). The letters refer several times to Burne-Jones' progress with 'Demophon' (The Tree of Forgiveness), the title of which was apparently suggested by Lady Leighton herself : 'I thought I had told you that you have to be the godmother to that picture - & now it is in print is it? Yes - that is a lovely name for it & will be understanded of the people better than if I called it by their names - thank you for that.' (Burne-Jones letter to Lady Leighton, postmarked May 26, 1882, included here). (Quantity: 20)
Ashley Cottage, / Walton on Thames. / dear Lady Leighton / Thank you but I / know I cannot be in / London Tomorrow - it / must be at the end / of the week. / for indeed I am not / free in the matter, but / in the service of an / exacting daughter / and any day next week / ...