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By Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones
The Castle of the Unnamed, with Don Rodrigo and his Bravoes ascending the hillside, illustration from The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni (1827, published in English 1828 and 1834)
pen and ink on paper
1845
Dimensions: 6.4 cm x 10 cm
Collection Categories
Illustration, Works on Paper / Vellum
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Alessandro Manzoni's famous novel, first published in 1827, had run to four English editions by 1845, and these drawings probably date from a few years later. They are most certainly Burne-Jones's earliest surviving work. Although they owe much to conventional illustration of the day, Burne-Jones felt that drawings of this kind were prophetic. In 1890 he wrote of his early attempts to draw: 'I never failed to draw mountains at the back of everything just as I do now, though I'd never seen one.'

Two more very early drawings of a child reading and a Gothic chapel on a bridge, are pasted to the back of the sheet (H & W, figs 4-5). The child reading is copied from The comic album, 1843.

John Christian
18/06/2023
Owner Dates Owned Further Info. and Accession no. circa
Archibald Maclaren 1848 Probably given to him by EB-J
Exhibition Catalogue no, Page no, Illustration no. Institution/Venue People From To
The Paintings, Graphic and Decorative Work of Sir Edward Burne-Jones 1833-1898 (1975-6) cat no. 1 p. 17 (illus, two in the cat number, shown with Don Abbondio walking beside Lake Como) The Hayward Gallery
November 1975 January 1976
The Paintings, Graphic and Decorative Work of Sir Edward Burne-Jones 1833-1898 (1975-6) cat no. 1 p. 17 (illus, two in the cat number, shown with Don Abbondio walking beside Lake Como) Southampton City Art Gallery
January 1976 February 1976
The Paintings, Graphic and Decorative Work of Sir Edward Burne-Jones 1833-1898 (1975-6) cat no. 1 p. 17 (illus, two in the cat number, shown with Don Abbondio walking beside Lake Como) Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery (Birmingham Museums Trust)
March 1976 April 1976
Title Author/Editor Year Page No. & Illustrations Attachments
Burne-Jones William Waters, Martin Harrison 1973
illus fig. 2 p. 2
Burne-Jones: the paintings, graphic and decorative work of Sir Edward Burne-Jones 1833-98, Hayward Gallery, Southampton City Art Gallery, Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery 1975-6 John Christian, Miss Penelope Marcus 1975
cat no. 1 p. 17 (illus, two in the cat number, shown with Don Abbondio walking beside Lake Como)
The Last Pre-Raphaelite: Edward Burne-Jones and the Victorian Imagination Fiona MacCarthy 2011
Illus pl. XXII between pp. 358-359 and pls. 3, 13, 15, 30, 31, 32, 33 between pp. 486-487 and in the text pp. 71, 192, 203, 238, 256, 268, 329, 330, 371, 425, 439, 449, 466 pp. 1-17, 20-24, 26-66, 68-71, 75-95, 96-117, 120-122, 124-132, 134-150, 153-154, 156-168, 170, 172-177, 179-203, 205, 207-214, 216-235, 237-240, 242, 244-249, 251-252, 254-255, 257, 259-262, 264-276, 278-279, 281-307, 309-317, 319-321, 323-350, 357-361, 363-384, 387-389, 395, 398-400, 402, 405-416, 418-445, 451-462, 464-472, 478-481, 483, 485, 487-489, 491-501, 504-511, 522-523, 525-530, 534, 536


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