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By Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones
Study for The Wise and Foolish Virgins
pen and ink with black wash and graphite
1857
Dimensions: 34.29 cm x 22.86 cm
Collection Categories
Early Pen & Ink on vellum & paper done whilst working under D G Rossetti, Works on Paper / Vellum
Dated 1857 on verso
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Elements of the final version are contained in this preliminary drawing. This rather primitive beginning is elaborated into a much more sophisticated work. By 1869 Burne-Jones was maturing and the relatively simple lines of the present drawing were substituted by more detailed observation of complex drapery. The crouched figure in the foreground here was retained and appears reversed in the final version. Relative to the later version, this drawing recounts the narrative less clearly. The lovers that appear here were eliminated in favour of the foolish virgins taking precedence, in the later version.

This unfinished drawing compares to a similarly unfinished oil version of The Blessed Damozel of 1857 (Sotheby's 19 June 1984)

William Waters
12/06/2019

This one of the earliest drawings made during the period of the artist's move from Oxford to London. The design was made c. 1857 and leans heavily upon Rossetti, whose design 'Mary Magdalen at the Door of Simon the Pharisee' (now in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge) it closely parallels. In fact, Burne-Jones sat for the Head of Christ in that picture. The present drawing is one of a pair of composition designs which are quite different from the final work completed in 1860 (ex Coltart collection).

William Waters
10/01/2021
Owner Dates Owned Further Info. and Accession no. circa
Margaret Burne-Jones (Mrs Margaret Mackail) 1953
Terence W Rowe 1953-1970
Norham House Gallery 1970-1973 Sold To Barry Friedman
Barry Friedman, Ltd. 1973-1987 Sold To John D. Reilly
Sotheby's Belgravia 1979-1979 1 October 1979 Highly Important Victorian Paintings lot 11
John D Reilly 1987-1996
Snite Museum of Art 1996 - Present On Long-term Loan In 1987/converted To A Gift In 1996
Exhibition Catalogue no, Page no, Illustration no. Institution/Venue People From To
The Pre-Raphaelite Fringe Cat no 1 illus Norham House Gallery
November 1973   -
The Paintings, Graphic and Decorative Work of Sir Edward Burne-Jones 1833-1898 (1975-6) Cat no. 17 p. 22 The Hayward Gallery
November 1975 January 1976
The Paintings, Graphic and Decorative Work of Sir Edward Burne-Jones 1833-1898 (1975-6) Cat no. 17 p. 22 Southampton City Art Gallery
January 1976 February 1976
The Paintings, Graphic and Decorative Work of Sir Edward Burne-Jones 1833-1898 (1975-6) Cat no. 17 p. 22 Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery
March 1976 April 1976
Title Author/Editor Year Page No. & Illustrations Attachments
The Pre-Raphaelite Fringe William Waters 1973
Burne-Jones William Waters, Martin Harrison 1973
pp. 40, 70
Pre-Raphaelite Paintings and Graphics Martin Harrison 1974
p. 42
Burne-Jones: the paintings, graphic and decorative work of Sir Edward Burne-Jones 1833-98, Hayward Gallery 1975-6 John Christian, Miss Penelope Marcus 1975
Cat no. 17 p. 22


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