Painting of the Day: Head of Sleeping Attendant from Briar Rose, 1881-1886

Study of a Sleeping Attendant from "Sleeping Beauty"
Edward Burne-Jones, c. 1881
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This monochrome study by the famed Pre-Raphaelite painter, Edward Burne-Jones demonstrates his curious ability to draw in detail using only a paintbrush. This head-study is for a female sleeping attendant in one of a series of four paintings on the theme of the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty.

Burne-Jones has frozen the scene at a moment before the princess is awakened by the prince's kiss.  

While the series, at face value, is an innocent exploration on the theme, making a good use of the Pre-Raphaelite sensibilities, art historians suggest that there’s something else lurking beneath.  According to the V&A, “One theory is that the series refers to Burne-Jones's disquiet at the impending marriage of his daughter, Margaret, wishing her to remain untouched for ever. “

Hmmm…a look at the series reveals that the sleeping girls, all of whom share the features of the figure in this study, resemble the artist’s daughter, Margaret, and he gave his daughter a gouache version of the sleeping princess as a wedding present. “Thanks, Dad!  That’s not creepy at all.”

The finished paintings are in the Faringdon Collection at Buscot Park in Berkshire.  These studies live  in the V&A.