SIR EDWARD BURNE-JONES
(1833-1898)
STUDY FOR PERSEUS FROM THE PERSEUS SERIES: ATLAS TURNED TO STONE
Provenance
Studio of the Artist (Artist's sale, London, Christie's, June 5, 1919, part of lot 106)
Private Collection, England
Bill Blass
Private Collection, France
Exhibited
London, The New Gallery, The Works of Sir Edward Burne-Jones, 1898-1899, no. 164, as Studies of Armour for the Perseus Series
Literature
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Edward Burne-Jones: Victorian Artist-Dreamer, 1998, p. 229, ill. 94 for the most finished version of the Atlas Turned to Stone.
This drawing of Perseus in armour is a preparatory study for 'Atlas turned to Stone' (1878) from 'The Perseus Series', (Series I in the Stattsgalerie, Stuttgart; Series II in the Southampton City Art Gallery) a cycle commissioned in 1875 by Arthur Balfour for the music room of his London house at 4 Carlton Gardens. The subject comes from 'The Doom of King Acrisius', a poem by William Morris. This study shows Perseus in flight, having just turned the unfriendly Atlas into stone for his lack of hospitality.
Other studies of armour for the Perseus series can be seen in Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery and The Fitzwilliam Museum.
