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

This is arguably Burne-Jones's most important early work. In the memorial biography of her husband, Georgiana Burne-Jones stated that it seemed: 'to sum up and seal the ten years that had passed since Edward first went to Oxford'. In terms of design, technique and expression, the picture demonstrates that Burne-Jones had reached a new and more personal style. It remained Burne-Jones's own favourite among his early works and in 1894 he tried to borrow it to make a large oil version.The subject is taken from the life of the Florentine knight St John Gualberto, founder of the Valombrosan Order in 1039, who was miraculously embraced by a wooden figure of Christ while praying at a wayside shrine after forgiving the murder of his kinsman. This obscure legend was unlikely to be familiar to a wide audience and this further enhanced its mystical and intensely poetic quality. Incidentally, the marigolds in the foreground came from the 'town garden' in Russell Square, close to Burne-Jones's house opposite the British Museum.

Purchased, 1973.
© Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery

Makers

Association	Artist	Organisation
Artist	Sir Edward Burne-Jones	-

Inscriptions

Type	Position(s)	Method	Date(s)
EDWARD BURNE-JONES 1863
Signature and date	bottom right	Painted	1863

Exhibitions

Catalogue No.	Venue	Date(s)
-
215	Old Water-Colour Society	1864 - 1864

Exhibition of the Works of Edward Burne-Jones
9	New Gallery, London	1892 - 1893

A Pre-Raphaelite Collection
13	Goupil Gallery, London	1896 - 1896

Exhibition of the Works of Sir Edward Burne-Jones, Bart.
53	New Gallery, London	1898 - 1899

Loan Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings of the 1860 Period
102	Tate Gallery	1923-04-27 - 1923-07-29

Centenary Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by Sir Edward Burne-Jones, Bart. (1833-1898)
8	Tate Gallery	1933 - 1933

Exhibition of British Art 1000-1860
584	Royal Academy of Arts, London	1934-01-006 - 1934-03-10

-
43	National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth	1956 - 1956

Il Sacro e Il Profano nell'Arte dei Simbolisti
145	Galeria Civica d'Arte Moderna, Turin	1969 - 1969

Burne-Jones
10	Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield	1971-10-23 - 1971-11-28

Burne-Jones: The Paintings, Graphic and Decorative Work of Sir Edward Burne-Jones 1833-98
45	Hayward Gallery, London	1975-11-01 - 1976
45	Southampton City Art Gallery	1976 - 1976-03-01
45	Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery	1976-03-01 - 1976-04-01

The Pre-Raphaelites
234 (repro)	Tate Gallery, London	1984-03-07 - 1984-05-28

Pre-Raphaelite Painters and Patrons in the North East
20 (repro)	Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne	1989-10-14 - 1990-01-15

Rossetti
-	Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington	1990-07-22 - 1991-02-14

Burne-Jones: Watercolours & Drawings
27	Tate Gallery, London	1993-07-01 - 1993-11-07

Visions of Love and Life: The Pre-Raphaelite Collection from the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
73 (repro)	Seattle Art Museum, Washington	1995-03-09 - 1995-05-07
73 (repro)	The Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio	1995-05-27 - 1995-07-16
73 (repro)	Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington	1995-08-11 - 1995-10-15
73 (repro)	The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston	1995-11-04 - 1996-01-02
73 (repro)	High Museum of Art, Atlanta	1996-01-23 - 1996-04-10
73 (repro)	Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery	1996-05-25 - 1996-07-29

Edward Burne-Jones: Victorian Artist Dreamer
26 (repro)	Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York	1998-06-04 - 1998-07-06
26 (repro)	Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery	1998-10-17 - 1999-01-17
26 (repro)	Musée d'Orsay, Paris	1999-03-01 - 1999-06-06

Love Revealed: Simeon Solomon
121	Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery	2005-10-01 - 2006-01-15
121	Villa Stuck, Munich	- - 2006-06-18

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

Literature

Author(s)	Date(s)	Publisher	Pages
Critical Review
	30 April 1864	Athenaeum	p. 618

Critical Review
	1864	Art Journal	p. 170

Critical Review
	1864	Times	-

Critical Review
	1864	Illustrated London News	-

Broadlands as It Was
E. Clifford	1890	-	p. 56

Edward Burne-Jones: A Record and a Review
Malcolm Bell	1892	George Bell & Sons	pp. 21,37,97

Review
Julia Cartwright	1894	The Art Annual	pp. 11-12

Burne-Jones
Otto von Schleinitz	1901	Bielefeld & Leipzig	p. 17 (repro)

Burne-Jones
Fortunee de Lisle	1904	Methuen & Co.	pp. 67, 69-74

Memorials of Edward Burne-Jones
Georgiana Burne-Jones	1904	Macmillan & Sons	Vol. I, pp. 261-262; Vol. II, p. 231

Burne-Jones
Bill Waters, Martin Harrison	1973	Barrie & Jenkins	p. 76, fig. 94

Burne-Jones Talking: His Studio Conversations
Mary Lago	1985	University of Michigan	p. 107

Simbolismo en Europe
	1990	Centro Atlantico de Arte Moderna, Canary Islands	pp-57-58 (repro)

Burne-Jones
Christopher Wood	1998	Weidenfeld & Nicolson	pp. 42 (repro), 44

Chivalry, Sacrifice & The Great War: The Medieval Contexts of Edward Burne-Jones'"The Miracle of the Merciful Knight" (from 'Speaking Images. Essays in Honor of V.A. Kolve')
Allen J. Frantzen	2001	Pegasus Press, The University of North Carolina at Asheville	pp. 618-625 (repro)

Edward Burne-Jones
Patrick Bade	2004	Paradise Books	p.33, fig. 19

Hidden Burne-Jones, Works on paper by Edward Burne-Jones from Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery
	2007	Dan Giles, Ltd., London	p. 76

The Pre-Raphaelites
	2009	Nationalmuseum, Stockholm	cat.141,p.214; fig.52