The masque of Cupid takes its subject from Edmund Spenser's 1590 Faerie Queene, an epic patriotic allegorical verse in which the Faerie Queene herself is a flattering depiction of Queen Elizabeth I. It follows several knights in examination of the virtues, and as such it relates to many of the earlier stories of knights which were so often depicted by the Pre-Raphaelites. The Masque of Cupid appears in book III, canto XII, in which the warrior maiden and embodiment of chastity, Britomart, enters the evil wizard Busirane's castle, where a storm hits and a door blows open, revealing a masque (or procession) of the servants of Cupid. The various figures all wear outfits appropriate to their nature, and Despite and Cruelty lead out the chained Dame Amoret, in a premonition of the torture Britomart will rescue her from the next night. Burne-Jones first undertook to paint the subject in 1872, naming it in his work record as one of the '4 subjects which above all others I desire to paint, and count my chief designs for years to come', and conceiving a life-size series of three paintings: 'the vision of Britomart; in 3 pictures life size.' John Christian has noted that it is not clear why Burne-Jones set put to illustrate Spenser; he may have been influence by Ruskin's of allegorical passages from Spenser, including Masque of Cupid, to illustrate moral principles, or perhaps by G. F. Watts' interest in the poet. The scheme was soon abandoned, but not before a series of drawings, now largely in the National Museum, Cardiff and Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, and a watercolour were executed. The Cardiff drawings in particular are strong psychological studies of the different characters, their anguished faces betraying their roles. In Burne-Jones's characteristic way of developing a composition, the figures in the Cardiff drawings are depicted nude as he worked out the poses and forms, before adding the drapery later. The present sheet dates from 1898, when Burne-Jones returned to the subject, The Burlington Fine Arts Club exhibition catalogue of 1899 in facts lists this as the third iteration, saying that it was 'subsequently drawn out again, about two-thirds life-size, on canvas for tapestry, but abandoned' before being 'taken up again, for the third time' in 1898. This drawing appears to be a mural design, over life-size, which was never realised. Another drawing of the same date continued the procession - it was lot 46 in the artist's studio sale, and was lent to the Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1899 (no. 45), by the Duke of Portland. Georgiana Burne-Jones wrote in her memorials that the scheme would never have been completed even if her husband had lived longer: ‘About this time, he took up again the designs made in 1872 for ‘Masque of Cupid’; but on looking freshly at the poem he found it had become quite unreadable to him’ (G. Burne-Jones, op cit., p 306). The figures in the right-hand group of the scene are, from right to left, Fancy, Desire, Doubt, Danger, Fear, Hope, Dissemblance, Suspicion, Grief and Fury; and to the left of the door, Despite and Cruelty leading Dame Amoret, Pleasure, Displeasure and Cupid riding in on his lion, as noted by an old label on the backboard. The two cartouches on the lower edge were intended to hold mottoes ‘Be bold’ and ‘Be not too bold’ which decorated the house of Busirane. The viewer occupies the place of Britomart, watching the narrative unfold before her. The drawing’s first owner, Robert Henry Benson, was a merchant banker and collector of paintings, porcelain and works of art. He was a member of the Burlington Fine Arts Club, lent extensively to public museums, and became a trustee of the National Gallery from 1912. His collection of Italian Renaissance pictures was world-renowned, including works by Giorgione, Botticelli, Correggio, Titian and Veronese, and it was sold in its entirety to the dealer Joseph Duveen in 1927 for $4 million. Much of Benson’s collecting was advised by William Graham, Burne-Jones’s great friend and patron who acted as his agent in the 1880s, and it was probably through Graham that Benson came to own several works by the artist.
The following passages are quoted from "Edward Burne Jones - Victorian Artist-Dreamer" and refer to the whole project for The Masque of Cupid The subject of these two drawings is taken from Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queene (1590), book 3, canto 12. In one drawing (cat. no. 61) Britomart, the "fair" or "bold Britonesse" who represents maidenly purity, stands to the left, watching the masque of Cupid in the house of Busyrane. The figures to her right seem to be what Spenser describes as a "rude con- fused rout" of unhappy personifications — Strife, Anger, Care, Infirmity, Loss of Time, and others, harried by Death himself brandishing a sword. This, however, is not entirely clear, and it is curious that the drawing bears the inscription "Luxorii," since no such abstract value is represented in the masque. The figures in the other drawing (cat. no. 60) are easier to identify: Cupid is seen riding a lion and preceded by Despight and Cruelty, "two grysie villeins," who lead and savagely torture Dame Amoret. These fine drawings come from a group of three in the National Museum and Gallery of Wales, all showing the figures nude. They date from 1872 when Burne-Jones, in the full flush of inspiration following his third visit to Italy the pre- vious year, wrote in his work record that there were "4 subjects which above all others I desire to paint, and count my chief designs for some years to come," and then went on to identify one of them as "the Vision of Britomart; in 3 pictures . . . life size." It is not clear why he was so anxious to paint the subject on this scale, or indeed to illustrate Spenser at all, since the poet was not an author, so far as we know, to whom he was par- ticularly attached. Perhaps he was influenced by Ruskins ten- dency to use "The Masque of Cupid" and other allegorical passages in Spenser to illuminate moral precepts, or perhaps by G. F. Watts s long-standing interest in the poet, expressed most notably in the painting Britomart and Her Nurse (Bir- mingham Art Gallery), which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1878. It is also possible that the concept owed something to the processional paintings favored by two other artists in Burne-Jones s circle, Frederic Leighton and Walter Crane. Whatever the case, the work hung fire. Maybe its inspi- ration was never as deep-seated as he had imagined, or possi- bly, like the Troy triptych (cat. no. 50), it was simply conceived in too-ambitious terms. Burne-Jones did return to the scheme in later life. According to one source, it was "subsequently drawn out again, about two-thirds life-size, on canvas for tapestry, but abandoned," and then "taken up again, for the third time," in 1898/ Another authority links the project to "mural decoration," but confuses the drawings in question. 2 All we know for certain is that in the last year or two of his life, Burne-Jones recast the composi- tion in at least two watercolour designs, clearly for some sort of room decoration and in his most disembodied late style. 3 Georgie Burne-Jones mentions his doing so but suggests that, even if he had lived, he would once again have let the idea drop. "About this time," she wrote, "he took up again the designs made in 1872 for 'The Masque of Cupid,' but on looking freshly at the poem he found it had become quite unreadable to him, and the names in it, as in the Pilgrims Progress, actually repellent." 4 The present drawings have an interesting provenance, hav- ing been bought at Burne-Jones's second studio sale by the sculptor Sir William Goscombejohn (1860-1952). Goscombe John had a certain link with the Pre-Raphaelites, as he had started his career working for one of their associates, the Gothic Revival architect William Burges (1827-1881), while as a Welshman he would have been interested in Burne-Jones, who had Welsh blood on his father's side. In any case, these strong working drawings are of a type that would have appealed to a practicing artist. [jc] 1. Burlington Fine Arts Club 1899, p. 4, under no. 7. 2. De Lisle 1904, p. 189. 3. Two of these drawings (there may be a third) were exhibited at the Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1899, nos. 7, 45. The former, illustrated here, was sold at Sotheby's, London, July 10, 1995, lot 93. 4. Memorials, vol. 2, p. 306.
The majority of this watercolour is the work of possibly two studio assistants from the drawings made at the beginning of the project c. 1872. In 1898 Burne Jones had two assistants Garstin Harvey, who had joined T M Rooke, which is consistent with two hands working the outlines and the more detailed filling in.