Saturday, June 26, 2010

Edward Burne-Jones - Design for a Memorial to Christine Rossetti



Hammer Price with Buyer's Premium: 4,320 GBP

design for a memorial to christina rossetti
inscribed with artist's notes at the lower edge of the sheet; inscribed on verso: Half Hour sketch by E Burne Jones 1897 (June) done in my presence, for memorial Reredos to Christina Rossetti in Woburn Square Church. Commissioned by Revd Glendinning Nash and executed by me at that time. T.M.Rooke, 1921.'
black and white chalk with watercolour
33 by 49.5 cm., 13 by 19 1/2 in.

Christina Rossetti died on 29 December 1894. Her funeral and later a memorial service took place at Christ Church, Woburn Square, both conducted by the Revd Nash who two years later asked Burne-Jones to make the present sketch design for a monument to the dead poetess. Christ Church, which was built by Lewis Vulliamy, no longer stands, presumably destroyed by bombing in 1940, or demolished shortly after the war, as was most of the square. All trace of the reredos decoration, designed by Burne-Jones and painted by his assistant T.M. Rooke, is lost.

2 comments:

CandyB said...

Thank you for this post which I am going to link to mine on Woburn Square at http://londondiaryblog.wordpress.com
Christ Church was not bombed, but demolished to accommodate University of London buildings - rather unattractive buildings

Tim McGee said...

It's Christina with an 'a', and her funeral was at Highgate Cemetery,
at the Rossetti family plot.