After reading Pepys Diary / together / Saturday / This evening to H. Pollen / his house where a company / of folk to dinner - but / little mirth - there came my lady / Theresa of Shrewsbury - and a lady / whose name I do forget, who said / she was a friend of La Fleury - / so are to praise Fleury - / but this did make me sick that / there should be a man there / whom I do hate, and who / would have speech of me, do what / I would - though I shewed him / but little courtesy - troubled / with my eyes, and do perceive I / must regard them more than / I have done which do trouble me. / - Lords day. To day but Morris / being gone to France I to linger / over my books, and to studying / things I have had a mind to / but no leisure of late - for them. / till one of the clock, and then / to writing of letters - i? especially / to my Lady Brooke that hath / writ to me, saying she is / coming back and will see / me everyday - and a / business letter or two - the / day being very quiet and sunny. / Came no message from my / Lady at the Marble Arch, by which / I know she hath taken coach / for Windsor and will have none / of me to-day - and indeed the / season is good for her, and / God forgive me, I should be more / glad than I am that she / doth not need me. / Comes H. Taylor and his wife / to super and Ambrose Poynter / that is som to my wifes sister / and very good victuals, a / handsome roast and a / dish of rice that is made / after a Turquish fashion / and is called pilau that / my wife is mighty proud / about, poor wretch - and / both Rhenish and Rochelle / wines and a wine of Anjou / that I find very excellent / for - / H Taylor, that is a Queen's / messenger tells me his doctor / bids him - / - / my wife this day mighty / witty at table, full of / very excellent jokes & I / 2 / well pleased that / she showed herself / wittier than Mistress / Taylor, for which God forgive / me. This day i thought / it be Whit Sunday, I have heard / no sermon, for which I am / less vexed than of reason / I ought to be - but I was / minded to disport myself / with my books and prints / of having I have now a mighty / fine number - the book / of John Keats his poems / hath come, that I shall take / tomorrow to my Lady in to ? / of my content at her cure / for a sore heart I have / had a long time and / now, methinks, I can breath / lightly again - so tomorrow / betimes I will take / coach and to her - for of / all ladies that I do / know she is the one / that hath much grace / and sweetness - But lord / to think it is but a / month ago that I was / the most saddest of men / and had great reason, / in her illness that would / not abate now I / have good hope again / that thought never to / know good days any / more.
The archive, which has remained with May Gaskell’s descendants, consists of more than 200 letters dating from 1892 up to the year of Burne-Jones’s death: three albums of intimate letters from the artist to Mrs Gaskell; two albums of illustrated letters to Mrs Gaskell and her daughter, Daphne; and other ephemera such as the artist’s brushes which he used when painting his famous portrait of Amy Gaskell. The letters are one of the most endearing records of all Burne-Jones’s friendships. They recount both his innermost thoughts and feelings and feature a cast of humorous characters, fictitious and real. They have been acquired for £200,000 with major support from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF); the Art Fund; the Arts Council England/Victoria and Albert Museum Purchase Grant Fund; the Friends of the National Libraries; and numerous private donations. Two of the albums are on display in the Museum for its Great British Drawings exhibition where they can be seen until 31 August. They will now enter the Ashmolean’s permanent collection. Following conservation, they will be made available as an invaluable resource to students and scholars of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, and they will be published online. The letters will add to the collection of drawings by Burne-Jones bequeathed to the Ashmolean in 1939 by Mrs Gaskell, forming one of the richest Pre-Raphaelite archives in the country. Many of the letters were published by Josceline Dimbleby, May Gaskell’s great-granddaughter, in her acclaimed book, A Profound Secret (2004), which recounts the author’s research into her family’s history. On the occasion of this major acquisition, Josceline Dimbleby will give a Saturday Talk on 8 August at the Ashmolean, in conversation with the curator of Great British Drawings, Colin Harrison. Josceline Dimbleby says: "My discovery of so many intimate and often witty letters from Burne-Jones to my great grandmother May Gaskell, forgotten for decades in an old chest of drawers, was one of the most exciting moments in my life, together with finding, wrapped in old paper and string at the back of one drawer, the paintbrushes he used for his famous portrait of my doomed great aunt Amy Gaskell, still with paint sticking to them. The letters revealed a passion that made it hard to think of this friendship as platonic and I spent a fascinating and happy three years piecing together and writing the story of what was A Profound Secret, feeling that I was getting to know my ancestors, and a very private side of Burne- Jones." Burne- Jones met May Gaskell in 1892, and she became the last in the succession of women with whom he enjoyed especially close, but platonic, friendships. She was the wife of a dull cavalry officer, and, in an unfulfilling marriage, she corresponded with Burne- Jones up to five times a day. The letters include a series of cartoon-like tales featuring characters such as the ‘fat lady’ and the artist himself, caught in mishap and misadventure. Beneath the surface lies the black humour endemic to Burne-Jones’s frequent moods of depression and insecurity. There is, for example, a superb sequence of caricatures of the artist suffering from flu. In the course of their friendship, Burne-Jones became dependent on May, confessing to her that she ‘reached the well of loneliness that is in me’. He also sent whimsical letters to the infant Daphne Gaskell (1887–1966). She was only six when she met Burne-Jones and he took an affectionate and fatherly interest in her, his own children having grown up. His letters to Daphne, written in phonetic spelling, include birds and animals familiar from his other letters to children, and several fantastic inventions such as the ‘Phlumbudge’ and ‘Flapdabble’. The archive also includes some letters to May’s elder daughter, Amy (1874–1910), whom Burne-Jones painted in 1893 in one of the greatest Pre-Raphaelite portraits (collection of Lord Lloyd-Webber). Colin Harrison, Senior Curator of European Art, Ashmolean Museum, says: "May Gaskell was Burne- Jones’s closest friend in his last years. He gave her a selection of his finest drawings, which she in turn gave to the Ashmolean in 1939. The opportunity to acquire the albums of intimate and humorous letters that he sent to May and to her daughter, Daphne, was unmissable; and we are most grateful for the support from the NHMF, the Art Fund, and other bodies, as well as numerous private donors. Their generosity has ensured that the letters have ended up in their rightful home, and that the Ashmolean now has one of the most representative, as well as distinguished, collections of Burne-Jones’s work in the world." Sir Peter Luff, Chair of NHMF, says: “Sir Edward Burne-Jones was the most prominent of the second generation Pre-Raphaelites and his work had an enormous influence. This exceptional collection of letters, which throws light on the last years of his life, was the most important part of his collection in private hands. I'm delighted that National Heritage Memorial Fund investment will mean they can be available for everyone to explore and enjoy.” Stephen Deuchar, Director of the Art Fund, says: "The Ashmolean owns one of the finest collections of works by Burne-Jones in the world, which will be greatly enriched by this important and delightful collection of letters."