Saturday, June 4, 2022

The Tree of Forgiveness


The Tree of Forgiveness, 1881 

I've always loved this masterpiece.  I had an over-sized reproduction that I lavished with an expensive frame and it hung in my home for years.  When my children were very young they never talked about it, but now that they are older, they do.  They remember it well.  Today we discuss the meaning of this painting.  Who is forgiving who?  What do you think?


Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet ARA (28 August 1833 – 17 June 1898) was a British artist and designer closely associated with the later phase of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, who worked closely with William Morris on a wide range of decorative arts as a founding partner in Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. 

Burne-Jones was involved in the rejuvenation of the tradition of stained glass art in Britain; his works include windows in St. Philip's Cathedral, BirminghamSt Martin in the Bull Ring, Birmingham, Holy Trinity Church, Sloane Square, Chelsea, St Peter and St Paul parish church in CromerSt Martin's Church in BramptonCumbria (the church designed by Philip Webb), St Michael's Church, BrightonTrinity Church in FromeAll Saints, Jesus LaneCambridgeSt Edmund Hall, and Christ Church, two colleges of the University of Oxford. His stained glass works also feature in St Anne's Church, Brown Edge, Staffordshire Moorlands, and St Edward the Confessor church at Cheddleton Staffordshire. Burne-Jones's early paintings show the inspiration of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, but by the 1860s Burne-Jones was discovering his own artistic "voice".

Burne-Joness early paintings show the heavy inspiration of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, but by the 1860s Burne-Jones was discovering his own artistic "voice". In 1877, he was persuaded to show eight oil paintings at the Grosvenor Gallery (a new rival to the Royal Academy). These included The Beguiling of Merlin. The timing was right, and he was taken up as a herald and star of the new Aesthetic Movement.

COPYRIGHT 2007-2022 Patti Friday b.1959.

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