Legros, Rossetti and Burne-Jones

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  • Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 'Portrait of Maria Zambaco'

    Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 'Portrait of Maria Zambaco', About 1869. Museum no CAI 1149

    Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-82)
    'Portrait of Maria Zambaco'
    About 1869
    Coloured chalks
    Museum no. CAI 1149
    Bequeathed by Constantine Alexander Ionides

    Maria Zambaco (born Cassavetti) was a first cousin of Constantine Ionides. She was a sculptor, but is better known as a model for other artists. Her features also appear repeatedly in the paintings of Rossetti's friend Edward Burne-Jones, whose affair with the tempestuous Zambaco in the late 1860s came close to wrecking his domestic and artistic existence.

  • Edward Burne-Jones, 'Head of Cassandra'

    Edward Burne-Jones, 'Head of Cassandra', About 1866-1870. Museum no. CAI 12

    Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1898)
    'Head of Cassandra'
    About 1866-1870
    Red chalk
    Museum no. CAI 12
    Bequeathed by Constantine Alexander Ionides

    The model for Cassandra here is Maria Zambaco. In Greek mythology Cassandra's beauty caused Apollo to fall in love with her and grant her the gift of prophecy. However, because she did not return his love, Apollo took away Cassandra's powers of persuasion, with the result that her predictions of catastrophe went unheeded.

  • Alphonse Legros, 'A Study of the Head of a Man'

    Alphonse Legros, 'A Study of the Head of a Man', 1882. Museum no. CAI 40

    Alphonse Legros (1837-1911)
    'A Study of the Head of a Man'
    1882
    Pencil
    Museum no. CAI 40
    Bequeathed by Constantine Alexander Ionides

    Between 1876 and 1893 Legros taught at the Slade School of Art in London. While other art schools advocated detailed compositions, placing great emphasis on shading, Slade students were encouraged to make rapid linear sketches from the life model. Legros was an accomplished portraitist, but this study was probably a one-hour demonstration drawing made against the clock in the Slade life room.

  • Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 'Head of Andromeda'

    Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 'Head of Andromeda', 1868. Museum no. CAI 6

    Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882)
    'Head of Andromeda'
    1868
    Red chalk
    Museum no. CAI 6
    Bequeathed by Constantine Alexander Ionides

    Rossetti made this highly finished study from his model Alexa Wilding in preparation for a painting. The picture was to show Perseus holding the severed head of Medusa - which turned to stone those who looked directly at it - above a pool of water, so Andromeda could safely see its reflection. The study shows Andromeda leaning awkwardly over to look.

  • Edward Burne-Jones, 'Head of a Girl'

    Edward Burne-Jones, 'Head of a Girl', About 1870. Museum no. CAI 11

    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).

  • Edward Burne-Jones, 'Dorigen of Bretagne Longing for the Safe Return of her Husband'

    Edward Burne-Jones, 'Dorigen of Bretagne Longing for the Safe Return of her Husband', 1871. Museum no CAI 10

    Edward Burne-Jones (1833-98)
    'Dorigen of Bretagne Longing for the Safe Return of her Husband'
    1871
    Bodycolour
    Museum no. CAI 10
    Bequeathed by Constantine Alexander Ionides

    Burne-Jones and his Pre-Raphaelite associates were fascinated by medieval literature. This illustration to Chaucer's Franklin's Tale shows Dorigen of Bretagne watching for the return of her husband's boat across the treacherous sea. Chaucer describes how Dorigen falls to her knees because she is trembling with fear; Burne-Jones uses this posture to emphasise her watchfulness in an unusually elongated composition.