And there she stood ... pale as privet blossom is in June, shrunk like a leaf The autumn frost first touches on the tree, Stared round about with eyes that could not see, -And muttered sounds from lips that said no word, And still within her ears the sentence heard, … and silence fell on all 'Twixt marble columns and adorned wall. The third subject has a similar friezelike composition, with the princess's attendants, this time standing, in place of the petitioners. There are some variations of detail between the pencil drawing (British Museum, London, acc. no. 1954-5-8- 11, signed and dated 1865-66) and the painting: in the latter, the princess seems more resigned to her fate as she draws the fatal lot labeled "MORITURA" (She who shall die). A sense of claustrophobic tension remains, emphasized by the discon- certing sea of hooded onlookers below the dais. The statuette of an ancient goddess on the left holds a globe, presumably symbolizing fortune, while, as John Franklin Martin has observed, the Gothic lectern with an eagle subduing a serpent may be read as a prefiguration of the eventual triumph of Saint George over the dragon, and of Christianity over paganism. 1 The next scene is of the princess led to the dragon, a verti- cal composition for which the drawing is missing. The oil was in a private collection in the United States until it was sold recently at Christie's (October 25, 1991, lot 25). 1. Martin 1997, p. 332.
Fairfax Murray worked on the painting from the pencil composition (location unknown) in 1866-67 , which was then finished off by Burne-Jones. In 1897, in preparation for an exhibition in Munich Burne-Jones again over-painted the picture, which accounts for its appearance as being from later date, particularly the facial types. Extract quoted from William Morris's The Earthly Paradise "The Story of Cupid and Pysche" in McLean Gallery catalogue of 1895 as follows: "And thither must she go right well arrayed In marriage raiment loose hair as a maid; ... and with her shall there go Fair maidens bearing torches, two and two. Then through the courts, grown cruel, strange drear Since the bright morn, they led her to the gate. - Afoot amidst her maids with head down bent."
25 April 1895 Agnews bought them and had them oiled out4 and varnished and properly framed. Gooden then bought them and sold a half share in them to McLean who exhibited them at his place in Hay Market5. They are the cheapest lot of Burne-Jones's on the market, if you know of any friends who have a house big enough to hold them. 2 of them are as big as your [Samuel Bancroft] Briar Rose (197). 2 about 2/3rds this size and 3 others small. The difficulty is to sell them in the lump. Agnew was disposed to break them up if he hadn't sold them immediately and I expect that will be their ultimate fate.6 4. A process of rubbing the picture surface with oil to restore its original colour. 5. Thomas McLean's Gallery at 7 the Haymarket. 6. The set was dispersed.
13 May 1895 I do not know what the St. George pictures! will go for but I believe 7,000. Everything depends on what E.B.J. will charge for retouching them as he wishes to do.
27 February [1897] I know exactly where E. B. J. got his Story of St. George from. He usually consulted Mrs. Jameson's "Sacred and Legendary Art"2 for the Lives of saints. I have referred to her book but the legend differs in details. he has probably supplemented it from other sources, but for all the details he would not be bound by any authority. 2. Anna Brownell Jameson. Sacred and legendary Art. London, Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans. 1848.
