Edward Burne-Jones Tile Design - Theseus and the Minotaur in the Labyrinth 1861 wash drawing Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery |
Edward Burne-Jones Feast of Peleus ca. 1872-81 oil on canvas Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery |
Cloud-maidens that bring the rain-shower
To the Pallas-loved land let us wing,
To the land of stout heroes and Power,
Where Kekrops was hero and king,
Where honour and silence is given
To the mysteries that none may declare,
Where are gifts to the god in high heaven
When the house of the gods is laid bare.
Where are lofty roofed temples, and statues well carven and fair;
Where are feasts to the happy immortals
When the sacred procession draws near,
Where garlands make bright the bright portals
At all seasons and months of the year;
And when spring days are here,
Then we tread to the wine-god a measure,
In Bacchanal dance and in pleasure,
'Mid the contests of sweet singing choirs,
And the crash of loud lyres.
– Oscar Wilde (1856-1900) from his translation of The Clouds by Aristophanes
Edward Burne-Jones Pygmalion and the Image - The Heart Desires 1878 oil on canvas Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery |
Edward Burne-Jones Pygmalion and the Image - The Godhead Fires 1878 oil on canvas Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery |
Edward Burne-Jones Pygmalion and the Image - The Soul Attains 1878 oil on canvas Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery |
Edward Burne-Jones St George slaying the Dragon 1866 oil on canvas Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney |
Edward Burne-Jones Study for St George slaying the Dragon 1865-66 drawing Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery |
Edward Burne-Jones Phyllis and Demophon 1870 bodycolor and watercolor Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery |
So now the very bones of you are gone
Where they were dust and ashes long ago;
And there was the last ribbon you tied on
To bind your hair, and that is dust also;
And somewhere there is dust that was of old
A soft and scented garment that you wore –
The same that once till dawn did closely fold
You in with fair Charaxus, fair no more.
– Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869-1935) from his translation of an epigram by Posidippus
Edward Burne-Jones King Mark and La Belle Iseult 1862 bodycolor and watercolor Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery |
Edward Burne-Jones The Wizard 1896-98 oil on canvas Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery |
Edward Burne-Jones Winter - Study of flying drapery 1866-67 drawing Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery |
Edward Burne-Jones Three studies of a female nude possibly for Venus 1865-66 drawing Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery |
Edward Burne-Jones Nude studies for soldiers for The Princess led to the Dragon 1865-66 drawing Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery |
Edward Burne-Jones Portrait head of man 1865-66 drawing Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery |
Torquatus, if the gods in heaven shall add
The morrow to the day, what tongue has told?
Feast then thy heart, for what thy heart has had
The fingers of no heir will ever hold.
When thou descendest once the shades among,
The stern assize and equal judgment o'er,
Not thy long lineage nor thy golden tongue,
No, nor thy righteousness, shall friend thee more.
Night holds Hippolytus the pure of stain,
Diana steads him nothing, he must stay;
And Theseus leaves Pirithous in the chain
The love of comrades cannot take away.
– A.E. Housman (1859-1936) from his translation of an ode of Horace