Study for Perseus

In this large drawing, the Greek hero Perseus, resplendent in shimmering armor, launches himself into flight. It was made by Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones as a preparatory study toward a partially realized, site-specific ensemble known as the Perseus Series. In the drawing, Burne-Jones was clearly captivated with the reflective sheen and metallic hardness of armor as he executed a secondary study of the backplate and spaulders to the immediate left of the principal figure. In both instances, Burne-Jones applied thick, distinct layers of gray and white opaque watercolor, which he brilliantly set off against broad passages of blue opaque watercolor. The body of Perseus, by contrast, is rendered in dilute, transparent wash. Alongside this study, Burne-Jones and his wife Georgiana even fashioned armor for a clay model to better understand the visual properties that so fascinated the artist. The drawing belongs to a composition depicting the moment when Perseus uses Medusa’s severed head to turn Atlas into stone. While the final work was never completed, the Perseus drawing clearly corresponds to a highly finished cartoon, which was one of ten scenes intended for the London drawing room of the British politician Arthur Balfour.