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| Edward Francis Burney Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts Great Hall (North Wall) Somerset House 1784 drawing British Museum |
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| Edward Francis Burney Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts Great Hall (East Wall) Somerset House 1784 drawing British Museum |
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| Edward Francis Burney Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts Great Hall (West Wall) Somerset House 1784 drawing British Museum |
"Burney came from a family prominent in the arts. His uncle was the musicologist Dr Charles Burney and his cousin the writer Fanny Burney. Edward Burney enrolled in the Royal Academy School in 1776, staying until sometime in the early 1780s. He became acquainted with James Barry and other less prominent artists, and was soon encouraged in his career by the Academy President, Joshua Reynolds. A virtuoso draughtsman, Burney devoted the greater part of his career to producing book illustrations [including those for Fanny Burney's Evelina], although he also painted some portraits. He rarely exhibited at the Royal Academy, and never married. His performances on the violin as part of amateur private concerts receive occasional mention in contemporary journals."
"Burney possessed a fine comic sense and his use of wit and irony, combined with his somewhat rococo drawing style, connects him with William Hogarth. His most important and interesting work is a set of four large watercolours [directly below] from the 1820s in which he satirises contemporary musical and social life. Two of these are in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London and two are in the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut. The Tate Gallery owns an oil version of one of the Yale watercolours, Amateurs of Tye-Wig Music (Musicians of the Old School)."
– biographical notes from the Tate Gallery
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| Edward Francis Burney An Elegant Establishment for Young Ladies ca. 1820 watercolor Victoria & Albert Museum |
"This famous caricature mocks women's education that consists only of lessons in deportment and dress, music and dance. Such an education is shown to be both superficial and self-indulgent. The artist implies that these were the only accomplishments thought necessary for a 'career' of marriage and motherhood. Indeed, one girl is seen in the act of eloping with her suitor through the window. She is the finished product of this kind of schooling."
– curator's notes from the Victoria & Albert Museum
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| Edward Francis Burney The Waltz ca. 1820 watercolor Victoria & Albert Museum |
"Watercolor drawing of a waltzing party, caricaturing the dancers who are all either unusually matched or accident prone, except one young couple in the centre who hand their heads. There are many inscriptions regarding humorous and spurious dance rules. A band are also depicted comically, as are two disapproving women, a praying woman and a man with an ear-trumpet who look on from the opposite balcony. The scene is chaotic with several people having fallen over and glasses smashed on the floor. Some of the dancers are in a rage and others are evidently miserable. In the middle of the floor, a kitten dances with a puppy."
– curator's notes from the Victoria & Albert Museum
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| Edward Francis Burney The Triumph of Music ca. 1820 watercolor Yale Center for British Art |
"This drawing, also known as The Glee Club, appears to be part of a coherent group along with The Waltz, An Elegant Establishment for Young Ladies, and Amateurs of the Tye-Wig Music. All four pictures are of similar format and finish are are linked by their musical theme. Although no printed version has yet been identified, it is possible that Burney may have intended to publish them, but they may also have been created for the amusement of his private circle. The Triumph of Music depicts the type of musical group to which the Burney family belonged, a group of gentlemen (and sometimes ladies) who met to sing, eat, and drink together. Specifically, it refers to types of songs popular during the period; the numerous inscriptions are the title of catches, canons, glees, and rounds. Glees in particular are characterized by their double, sometimes obscene meanings and the repetition of words or fragments of words. Here, the formal attributes of the picture echo the structures of glee and canon singing: the figures of the three old women on the right, for example, are repeated in the three young women on the left, and salacious visual puns abound. The tall, thin man on the left may be a self-portrait."
– curator's notes from the Yale Center for British Art
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| Edward Francis Burney Amateurs of Tye-Wig Music ca. 1820 watercolor Yale Center for British Art |
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| Edward Francis Burney Amateurs of Tye-Wig Music (Musicians of the Old School) ca. 1820 oil on canvas Tate Gallery |
Of the four large musical watercolors, Amateurs of Tye-Wig Music is " . . . the only one, apparently, which Burney reworked as an oil painting. Its theme is the battle between 'modern' and 'traditional' taste in the music world. The modern is represented by references to Beethoven, Mozart and others in the foreground, while traditional taste is epitomised by Handel, whose bust looks down upon a group of musicians, appropriately dressed, who are playing (discordantly) music by his great contemporary Arcangelo Corelli. The concert takes place in a room whose decorations are predominantly Gothick in style, a further indication of the revival of ancient tastes. Burney includes many apparent and traditional amusing details such as the howling dog, noisy children, striking clocks, a careless servant, and a sneezing, coughing, snoring and throat-clearing audience."
– curator's notes from the Tate Gallery
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| Edward Francis Burney View of Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg's Eidophusikon ca. 1782 drawing British Museum |
"The Eidophusikon opened in February 1781 in Lisle Street, Leicester Square and held up to 130 people, who paid 5 shillings entrance. The stage was ten feet wide, six feet high and eight feet deep. The performance consisted of changes of scenes accompanied by coloured light effects and vocal and instrumental music. This particular scene from 'Paradise Lost' was first shown on 31 January 1782 . . . titled, Satan Arraying his Troops on the Banks of a Fiery Lake, with the Raising of the Palace of Pandemonium."
– curator's notes from the British Museum
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| Edward Francis Burney Académie - Tom Tring the Boxer ca. 1790-1800 drawing British Museum |
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| Edward Francis Burney Académie - Tom Tring the Boxer ca. 1790-1800 drawing British Museum |
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| Edward Francis Burney Académie - Nude with Sword and Shield ca. 1790-1800 watercolor Yale Center for British Art |
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| Edward Francis Burney Académie - Seated Nude ca, 1790-1800 watercolor Yale Center for British Art |
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| Edward Francis Burney Antique Warrior's Head before 1848 drawing British Museum |
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| Edward Francis Burney Portrait Bust of David Garrick by Joseph Nollekens before 1817 drawing British Museum |
"The portrait takes the form of a classical memorial, set in a wash frame that forms a trompe-l'oeil niche, the bust turned away from the viewer to emphasize the actor's profile. It is not inscribed with the name of the sitter, sculptor or artist and is not known to have been engraved, making it likely that this was a personal and private commission from the artist's cousin Charles for his collection. . . . Charles Burney (1757-1817), the second surviving son of the historian of music of the same name [and brother of Fanny Burney], was expelled from Cambridge for stealing books from the library, and finished his degree elsewhere. He became a successful schoolmaster in London and classical scholar and was ordained in 1808. His greatest achievement was the library he amassed which was purchased for the nation after his death. Mostly classical texts, it also included 400 volumes of material on the English stage, including newspaper clippings, prints, playbills, etc. with which he intended to write a history of the theatre. This drawing is one of three watercolours relating to the actor David Garrick (1717-1779) that were removed from one of the volumes still in Prints and Drawings [at the British Museum]. The rest are now in the British Library. . . . J.T. Smith recorded that Mrs. Garrick visited the Print Room in 1821 in order to look over the portraits of Garrick collected by Charles Burney."
– curator's notes from the British Museum