Edward Burne-JonesBritish, 1833–1898Sketchbook
Can I see it?
Not on view at present
Where is “Sketchbook” now? Collection: Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge. Not on view at present. Checked September 29, 2026.
Cambridge, United States
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the work
Mostly drapery and head studies, possibly studies for "The Wheel of Fortune" (1875-83).
Harvard Art Museums
Details
- Accession number
- 1943.1815.15.1-44
In the catalog
Sources
- Harvard Art Museums
- Image: Harvard Art Museums — © President and Fellows of Harvard College
In the life of Edward Burne-Jones
The whole life1870
The “Phyllis and Demophoön” scandal: he quits the Society
Maria Zambaco’s features were clearly recognisable in the barely draped Phyllis, and Demophoön’s nakedness offended Victorian sensibilities. Asked to make a slight alteration, Burne-Jones instead withdrew not only the picture from the walls but himself from the Society.
1870–1877
Seven years away from exhibitions: turning to oils
After bitterly hostile attacks in the press he exhibited only two works in these years, yet worked unremittingly: he turned from watercolour to oils and planned the first “Briar Rose” series, “Laus Veneris”, “The Golden Stairs”, the “Pygmalion” series and “The Mirror of Venus”. His partnership with the photographer Frederick Hollyer, whose reproductions brought his work to a wide audience, also began then.
May 1877
Triumph at the opening of the Grosvenor Gallery
At the first exhibition of the new Grosvenor Gallery, a rival to the Royal Academy, he showed eight oil paintings, among them “The Days of Creation”, “The Beguiling of Merlin” and “The Mirror of Venus”. Their success made him the herald and star of the new Aesthetic Movement.
1884
Legion of Honour for “King Cophetua”
Burne-Jones received the Legion of Honour for his painting “King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid”.
1886
“The Depths of the Sea”, his only Academy showing
Elected an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1885, he exhibited there the following year for the only time, showing “The Depths of the Sea”, a mermaid carrying down a youth she has unconsciously drowned in the impetuosity of her love.
1890
Acclaim for the second “Legend of Briar Rose”
The second series of “The Legend of Briar Rose” was exhibited on its own and won admiration.
