| Method | Photogravure |
| Artist | after Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones |
| Published | Published by the Berlin Photographic Company Berlin. _ London W.133 New Bond Street. _ New York 14 East 23rd Street. [c.1900] |
| Dimensions | Image 396 x 240 mm, Plate 468 x 298 mm, Sheet 667 x 507 mm |
| Notes |
Printed on India laid paper. Plate 57, taken from Burne-Jones' 1865-98 watercolour of the same title, from 'The Work of Edward Burne-Jones, Ninety-One Photogravures Directly Reproduced from the Original Paintings'. Only two-hundred copies of the 'The Work of Edward Burne-Jones...' were produced, each of which was signed by Philip Burne-Jones, the eldest son of Edward. As with many works produced by Burne-Jones, and more broadly speaking, the artists associated with Pre-Raphaelitism, the subject, and title, of 'The Prioress's Tale' comes from medieval literature. Burne-Jones looked to Geoffrey Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales', in which the 'Prioress's Tale' is featured. The tale, set in a Christian city in Asia, speaks of a Jewish community living in the area. A seven-year-old boy teaches himself the first verse of 'Alma Redemptoris Mater', a popular medieval hymn, which he begins to sing everyday on his walk to school through the streets of the Jews. Incited by Satan, the Jews murder the child, and discard of his body. When the child's mother eventually finds his body, he miraculously begins to sing the 'Alma Redemptoris'. Throughout his Requiem Mass, the child continues to sing the hymn, until the holy abbot asks why it is possible for him to sing. The child replies that he had a vision in which Mary laid a grain on his tongue, allowing him to keep singing despite his throat being cut, and would be able to sing until the grain is removed. The abbot removes the grain, and the child dies. The primary focus of Burne-Jones' 'The Prioress's Tale' is the moment in which the Virgin places a grain within the child's mouth. Mary, bending downwards to the kneeling child, holds ears of corn in her left hand. Set within a garden, the two miraculous figures are surrounded by lilies, poppies, and sunflowers. The background is composed of a street scene, with the child's murder depicted to the right, and scholars entering a school on the left. The watercolour from which this photogravure was taken is now in the collection of the Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington. Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Bt (1833-1898) was a painter and designer closely associated with the later phase of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. Burne-Jones met William Morris as an undergraduate of Exeter College, Oxford, whilst studying for a degree in theology. The pair went on to work very closely together on numerous decorative arts projects including stained glass windows, tapestries, and illustrations. Originally intending to become a church minister, Burne-Jones never finished his degree, choosing instead to pursue an artistic career under the influence of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Rossetti heavily inspired his early work, but by the 1860's his idiosyncratic style was beginning to develop. His mature work, however different in total effect, is rich in conscious echoes of Botticelli, Mantegna and other Italian masters of the Quattrocento. Thusly, Burne Jones' later paintings of classical and medieval subjects are some of the most iconic of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. He was at the height of his popularity during the 1880's, though his reputation began to decline with the onset of the Impressionists. He was created a baronet in 1894, when he formally hyphenated his name. The Berlin Photographic Company, (1880 - 1920; fl) or the Berlin Photographische Gesellschaft, was a German print publishers who specialised in photogravures after Old Masters and contemporary painters. High quality photographs were taken of the original works. The negatives were then exposed onto a gelatin covered copper plate, etched with acid, and printed in a similar fashion to an engraving. The main series of the Berlin Photographic Company's publications is kept together at Blythe House, West Kensington. Condition: Foxing and discolouration to margins, water stains to upper right corner and lower edge of sheet, not affecting image. |
| Framing | unmounted |
| Price | £450.00 |
| Stock ID | 41579 |