Head of a Augusta Jones (b. 1843)
Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones (Birmingham 1833 - London 1898)
Category
Art / Drawings and watercolours
Date
1863 - 1869
Materials
Red chalk on textured paper
Measurements
320 x 250 mm
Order this imageCollection
Wightwick Manor, West Midlands
NT 1287918
Summary
Red chalk drawing on textured paper, Head of Augusta Jones (b.1843) by Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones (Birmingham 1833 - London 1898), signed with initials, lower right, EBJ, mid-late 1860s. A head-and-shoulders portrait of lady turned to right, with short curly hair. This drawing from Miss Crawshay's collection is one of the fine chalk studies of young women characteristic of Burne-Jones' work in the 1860s. He used the technique both in figure studies for paintings such as those for Green Summer of around 1864 (Birmingham Art Gallery) and in highly finished signed drawings such as this, in what Stephen Wildman describes as "this style of soft chalk on fairly heavy paper, which gives a rich grainy texture to shadows and background." (Visions of Life and Love, Virginia 1995, No. 79). See also Head of a Young Woman [WIG/ D/ 62, Dining Room], Study of a Girl (with puffed sleeves) [WIG/ D/ 50, Great Parlour], Study of a Young Woman [WIG/ D/ 98, Honeysuckle Room], Study of Maria Zambaco [WIG/ D/ 49, Indian Bird Room]. Betty Elzea has identified the sitter as Augusta Jones, the sister of Mary Emma Jones who lived with Frederick Sandys. Augusta modelled for several other leading artists including Poynter, Leighton, Simeon Solomon and Whistler and was the sitter for The Princes in the Garden, 1866, Musée D'Orsay, Paris, the first oil painting of his St George series.
Provenance
Thomas Ayres; his posthumous sale, Christie's, 23rd April 1906 (12, as Head of a Lady), bought in; Miss Sylvia Crawshay; by whom given to Wightwick Manor in 1975 Miss Sylvia Crawshay, by whom given 1975
Marks and inscriptions
Fanny (?) Head Sir E Burne Jones £35. (written in ink on label)
Makers and roles
Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones (Birmingham 1833 - London 1898) , artist
References
Spencer-Longhurst 2011 Paul Spencer-Longhurst, 'Works on paper by Rossetti, Burne-Jones and their contemporaries recently donated to Wightwick Manor', The Burlington Magazine, Vol CLII, no. 1297, April 2011, pp. 232-240, 11. fig. 27