Frederic William Burton

The picture is in fair condition. There are two small areas of surface abrasion, including a small spot on her chest and a small mark in the upper right quadrant. There is an inch long sensitively repaired old tear to the lower centre and there is a thin line of staining in the upper right quadrant, visible in the catalogue illustration. The picture is held in a gilt frame with a cream mount under glass.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The present lot is a study for Burton's Day Dreams (c.1861, Yale Center for British Art); a work that is closely related to one of his other seminal Aesthetic works, The Child Miranda (sold, Christie's London, 9^th June, 2004, lot 34). In both paintings the same model, with her distinctively wavy and voluminous locks, is placed along side or handling flowers. The carefully depicted natural elements betray not only Ruskin's influence on Burton, but the flowers, as examples of purity and fragility, are also a frequently used metaphor for childhood in the second half of the nineteenth century. John Everett Millais's paintings of children, such as his Portrait of Eveline Lees (1875), often depict them at one with nature, and allude to the transient, precious, nature of childhood, as in Bubbles (1885).

Having been educated in Dublin, Burton was living in London from 1858, where he was part of Rossetti's circle, frequently visiting the likes of Poynter, Morris, and Burne-Jones. Georgiana Burne-Jones stated in her husband's biography that the group frequently 'enchanted us all [with] their pranks, in which Morris and Edward Poynter occasionally joined, and Burton's beautiful face beamed on the scene, while Mrs. Morris, placed safely out of the way, watched everything from her sofa' (Memorials of Edward Burne-Jones, London, 1904, ii. p.46). Burton and Burne-Jones were fast friends and in 1870 Burton withdrew from the Old-Watercolour Society in protest of the scandal facing Burne-Jones regarding the nude in his Phyllis and Demophoön.

The present lot's emphasis on languor and female beauty suggests Burton drew heavily from his association with this group of Pre-Raphaelite artists, as his earlier career had been largely dominated by austere portraits, miniatures and landscapes. In 1874 Burton gave up painting when he succeeded his friend Sir William Boxall as director of the National Gallery, London, a position he would hold for the next twenty years. During his tenure the museum acquired some of its most famous works including da Vinci's Madonna of the Rocks and Hans Holbein the Younger's Ambassadors.