Edward Burne-Jones (1833-98)
'Head of a Girl'
About 1870
Pencil 
Museum no. CAI 11
Bequeathed by Constantine Alexander Ionides

Following academic practice stretching back to the Renaissance, 19th-century artists such as Burne-Jones would make numerous studies of heads and figures in preparation for a picture. Many were highly finished and the more exquisite examples, such as this, were sought after by collectors as independent works of art. This study may relate to Burne-Jones's painting The Golden Stair (Tate Britain).