Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, Bt., A.R.A., R.W.S. (1833-1898)

The present study is for the so-called 'hill-fairies', one male and one female group, that Burne-Jones considered painting into the lateral sections of his great masterpiece Arthur in Avalon (Museo de Arte, Ponce, Puerto Rico). Dated to circa 1885, it corresponds to an entry for that year in his autograph work-record, preserved at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge: 'also I worked on Avalon, and made the designs for the Fairies in the hills of that picture'. 1885 was also the year when Burne-Jones suggested to George Howard that he should keep the original version of the picture and paint a 'simpler scheme' for Naworth.

For other studies for Arthur in Avalon see lots 3, 5 and 7.