SIR EDWARD BURNE-JONES A.R.A.
(1833 – 1898)
Portrait of Maria Zambaco
46 x 40.5 cm
Provenance
Captain Spyridion Alexander 'Spiro' Mavrojani (1804-1884)
Mrs William Leslie (Evelyn) Bundey (née Evelyn Mavroyanni) (1887-1964)
Private Collection, UK
Exhibited
Exhibition of Drawings and Studies by Sir Edward Burne-Jones, Burlington Fine Arts Club BFAC 1899, cat no. 82Literature
William Cosmo Monkhouse, Burlington Fine Arts Club, Drawings and Studies by Sir Edward Burne-Jones, BFAC, 1899, cat no.82, p.18
Fiona MacCarthy, William Morris: A Life for Our Time, 1994, pp. 228, 248, 254
Fiona MacCarthy, The Last Pre-Raphaelite: Edward Burne-Jones and the Victorian Imagination, 2011, pp. 358-359
This remarkable red chalk drawing of Maria Zambaco, which has been in a private collection for the last 40 years, was drawn by Burne-Jones in 1868. Previously misidentified as Augusta Jones, this intimate and tender portrait was made at a time when Burne-Jones was falling in love with Zambaco. The profusion of olive leaves indicates his passionate response, as these appear in all his drawings that were of a personal significance. The tablet bearing his initials hints at his gathering interest in Classicism stimulated by her Greek heritage and the drawing dates from the same year that he painted The Lament (William Morris Gallery).
William Waters, Burne-Jones Catalogue Raisonné, 2021
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