Label Text: 32Q: 2130 19th Century , written 2015 In 1875, Burne-Jones was engaged to design a series of panels for the drawing room of Arthur Balfour, a Conservative politician who was later to become prime minister. He chose to represent the legend of Perseus, borrowing from mythological sources as well as his friend William Morris’s version of the tale in his lengthy poem The Earthly Paradise (1868–70). This drawing is a study for the penultimate panel, The Doom Fulfilled, in which Perseus rescues the captured maiden Andromeda from the “hideous worm” that threatens her. In the final painting, Perseus, clad in burnished armor with winged sandals, addresses the serpent face-to-face. Here, Perseus has severed the sea monster’s head; its absence, and the arabesque of the coils, renders this study more decorative than menacing. Andromeda, chastely turned away, is in one of Burne-Jones’s favorite poses, similar to that of Helen of Troy and Venus Epithalamia in the drawings nearby.
Letter to Fairfax Murray Dear L.M. Cheque for 5 drawings / recd. - thanks - I / roared with laughter at / the scene between you & / Phil - why didn't / you stay lunch? / today I send the / drawing except the / blue Andromeda, which / Phil wants to exhibit / I suppose that's all right - / also the Nimue head / which I would work on / when I work on the / oil head - first week / of May. / Are you going to / write a biographical / sketch of me thus / you wanted those / 2 particular heads / yesterday? deal / gently. Youraff / EB