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The Legend of the Briar Rose - The Prince Enters the Briar Wood

1892
Not on view
Between 1874 and 1884 Burne-Jones painted four large panels inspired by Charles Perrault’s La Belle au bois dormant (Tale of the Sleeping Beauty). After they were exhibited to great acclaim at Agnew’s London gallery in 1890, a set of luxurious photogravures was produced at one-third the scale of the originals, using a technique that combines photography and etching. In this introductory scene, the armored hero cuts his way through briars to discover five slumbering knights who failed to break the curse that binds the princess. William Morris, a close friend of the artist’s and a collaborator in Pre-Raphaelitism’s second wave, composed the verse on the painting’s frame:

The fateful slumber floats and flows
About the tangle of the rose.
But lo the fated hand and heart
To rend the slumberous curse apart!

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Legend of the Briar Rose - The Prince Enters the Briar Wood
  • Artist: After Sir Edward Burne-Jones (British, Birmingham 1833–1898 Fulham)
  • Publisher: Thomas Agnew & Sons, Ltd. (London)
  • Date: 1892
  • Medium: Photogravure; proof
  • Dimensions: Image: 16 5/16 × 32 9/16 in. (41.5 × 82.7 cm)
    Sheet: 25 1/2 × 37 3/16 in. (64.7 × 94.4 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1959
  • Object Number: 59.592.25
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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Armed Men, Sir Edward Burne-Jones British, Graphite, heightened with white chalk, on brown paper
Armed Men
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Study of a Female Head, Sir Edward Burne-Jones British, Yellow, red, and green pastel with fabricated black crayon on red paper
Study of a Female Head
Sir Edward Burne-Jones
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The Summons: Study for the Head of Gawaine, Sir Edward Burne-Jones British, Fabricated black crayon on paper
The Summons: Study for the Head of Gawaine
Sir Edward Burne-Jones
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Summer Snow (in "Good Words for 1863," opp. p. 380)
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Dalziel Brothers
1863
The Deliverer (in "Parables from Nature", opp. p. 205)
Sir Edward Burne-Jones
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