Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery Pre-Raphaelite Online Resource : The Collection

Melody (Musica)

By Kate Elizabeth Bunce

1895 – 1897

Accession number: 1897P17

Oil on canvas.

Width: 510 mm

Height: 763 mm

A female figure is depicted playing a musical instrument. With a mirror to the left and vase to the right, the setting is full of luxurious colours, details and textures.

Information

One of the few known easel paintings by the artist who studied at Birmingham School of Art. The model may have been her sister, Myra, who designed beaten metalwork including the frames for some of Bunce's paintings.The young woman playing a lute, framed by apple blossom, is facing an open window visible in the mirror behind her. The mirror frame is inscribed 'MUSICA' in the top left corner. She appears to be in a small private chapel with an image of the Virgin depicted in the stained glass, a crucifix and walls decorated with angels. Her necklace of gold set with pearls is a symbol of purity. The format of the composition, the use of ornate detail, the sensuous textures and the musical subject echoes Rossetti's female icons particularly the 'Blue Bower' (1865).

Presented by Sir John Holder, Bt., 1897.
© Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery

Makers

Association	Artist	Organisation
Artist	Kate Elizabeth Bunce	-

Inscriptions

Type	Position(s)	Method	Date(s)	Notes
K B
Initials	bottom left	-	-	Initials in monogram.

Rowney / 1884
Company name	-	-	-	Inscription on canvas.

Exhibitions

Catalogue No.	Venue	Date(s)
Oil Paintings lent by the Corp[oration of Birmingham
28	Bradford, Cartwright Memorial Hall	1910 - 1910

-
86	Birmingham Art Circle	1928 - 1928

The Last Romantics - The Romantic Tradition in British Art
71	Barbican Art Gallery, London	1989 - 1989

The Birmingham School
50	Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery	1990-07-28 - 1990-10-14

Pre-Raphaelite Women Artists
72	Manchester City Art Gallery	1997-11-15 - 1998-02-01
72	Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery	1998-02-00 - 1998-04-00

The Blue Bower: Rossetti in the 1860s
26	Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham	2000-10-27 - 2001-01-14

The Pre-Raphaelites
204	Nationalmuseum, Stockholm	2009-02-26 - 2009-05-24

Literature

Author(s)	Date(s)	Publisher	Pages
The Last Romantics - The Romantic Tradition in British Art
Peter Fuller	1989	Barbican Art Gallery, London	pl.71

Women Artists and the Pre-Raphaelite Movement
Jan Marsh, Pamela Gerrish Nunn	1989	Virago, London	pp.123-4

The Birmingham School
Stephen Wildman	1990	Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery	pl.50

Pre-Raphaelite Women Artists
Jan Marsh, Pamela Gerrish Nunn	1997	Thames and Hudson, London	p.14, pl.72

Birmingham Historian No 14
Christina Bostock	1997	-	pp.13-16

The Blue Bower: Rossetti in the 1860s
Paul Spencer-Longhurst	2000	Scala Publishers, London	p.87, pl.26

The Pre-Raphaelites
	2009	Nationalmuseum, Stockholm	cat.204,p.234; fig.56