Draped Figure and Reflection, study for Mirror of Venus

Art Historical Context

Step into the enchanting world Sir Edward Burne-Jones, a leading figure the Pre-Raphael Brotherhood, with this delicate graphite study from 1873–77. Titled *Draped Figure and Reflection, study for Mirror of*, it captures a draped female form and its shimmering reflection, serving as preparatory sketch for the artist's monumental painting *The Mirror of Venus*. Created during the Victorian era's fascination with medieval aesthetics and classical mythology, Burne-Jones's work evokes timeless beauty and introspection, blending realism with ethereal grace. Rendered in soft graphite on luxurious ivory wove paper (.3 × 17.8 cm), the drawing showcases Burne-Jones's masterful technique: fluid, precise lines that model form and fabric with luminous subtlety. This intimate scale highlights his meticulous preparatory process, where studies like this refined poses and compositions before transferring to canvas. The interplay of figure and reflection hints at themes of vanity and self-admiration central to the final oil painting, now in the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Prints and Drawings department, this gem reveals the artist's devotion to craft amid the Pre-Raphaelite revival. It invites visitors to appreciate how such sketches bridge imagination and masterpiece, offering a window into 19th-century artistic innovation.

About the Artist

Sir Edward Burne-Jones · 1833–1898

Edward Coley Burne-Jones was born on 28 August 1833 in Birmingham, the son of a frame-maker, and lost his mother within a week of his birth. He attended King Edward VI Grammar School and the Birmingham School of Art before proceeding to Exeter College, Oxford, in 1852, intending to study theology. At Oxford he formed a lifelong friendship with William Morris, and the two young men became intoxicat...