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Laus Veneris

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Sir Edward Burne-Jones (1833 - 1898)

Laing Art Gallery

1873 - 1875

This picture, commissioned by William Graham, was based on a lost watercolour dated 1861 and there are possible connections between Burne-Jones's subject, Wagner's opera Tannhaiiser (which was produced in Paris in 1860), and Swinburne's poem, Laus Veneris (begun in 1862). Henry James was among those who praised the picture when it was first exhibited.

Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 122 x 183 cm
Art Fund Grant: £4000 ( Total: £47,000)
ArtFunded in: 1972
Vendor: Agnew's

Provenance

Commissioned by William Graham; Christie's, 1886; Sir William Agnew; Philip Agnew, then by descent; Sotheby's, 1957; Agnew; Huntington Hartford Museum; Sotheby's; Agnew's.

Comment

The 1861 watercolour is not in fact lost, it is in a private collection in the UK but the owner will not allow it to be viewed by Burne Jones scholars, let alone reproduced. By a somewhat convoluted process I have seen a copy of a photograph of a copy of the work (blurry!) which was clear enough to show that it does not differ greatly from the later oil, except that a cat is curled up asleep under Venus' chair and the Passage of Venus embroidery on the wall is not in the early version .Tannhäuser was produced in Paris in 1861 and certainly may have provided some inspiration for both Burne-Jones and Swinburne who certainly discussed the subject matter of the Venusberg at length together in the 1860s.Huxylady

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