This illustration by Edward Burne-Jones was made to embellish a poem entitled Summer Snow, printed in Good Words magazine in May 1863. Good Words was a monthly religious magazine edited by Queen Victoria’s chaplain, Dr Norman McLeod. The magazine was very popular and published novels in parts, travel journalism and edifying poetry. Burne-Jones made two illustrations for the magazine in 1862 and 1863, when he was working in close collaboration with William Morris and Rossetti.
Dora Greenwell (6 December 1821 – 29 March 1882) The engraving was commissioned by the Dalziel Brothers who were the engravers for the magazine "Good Words" published by Alexander Strahan. Dora Greenwell was friend of Christina Rossetti. Burne-Jones painted Georgie, leaning against a wall reading a book and this has been adapted by adding detail relevant to the poem i.e. a tree with falling blossoms in the engraving. There must have been a drawing from which the engraving was taken, either this was lost at the time or has yet to re-surface, in the process the model appears to have been changed and as the engraving stands it bears some resemblance to Jane Morris. In 1863 Burne-Jones and Georgiana were frequent guests at Morris's Red House an the atmosphere of the engraving has something of that of the garden as in Girl and Gold Fish 1861 (Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery, Carlisle). Malcolm Bell (1895) refers on page 30 to an "oil picture of a girl in a green dress standing among daffodils under a tree and reading a book, which was afterwards reproduced, reversed, as the woodcut "Summer Snow" in "Good Words" for May 1863. Gordon Bottomley in the catalogue for Barbizon House 1934, also mentions the existence of the oil version. This may be a repetition of the entry in Bell as there are no other references, Bottomley also suggests that the present watercolour may have been study for a larger version.
From: Wmg Enquiries Date: Thu, Feb 18, 2021 at 10:22 AM Subject: RE: Summer Snow Br11 To: william waters Hi William, Thank you for your email, I am afraid to say this watercolour was stolen from the William Morris Gallery in the 1970s and was not recovered. Correspondence in the object file shows that it then came up for auction at Sotheby’s in 1986, however it was not returned to the Gallery. We only have the correspondence from the Gallery to their solicitor at the time, it seems someone from the Gallery went to Sotheby’s and verified the painting was the exact one that had been stolen from the Gallery, but our claim must have been contested as the painting was not returned. I am afraid we only have a low res black and white image of the watercolour which I have attached here. Apologies we could not be more help with this, please let me know if you need anything else. Many thanks and best wishes, Ainsley Vinall | Assistant Curator William Morris Gallery and Vestry House Museum, Lloyd Park, Forest Road, London E17 4PP