Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones

pre-raphaelite

Burne-Jones Paintings 1833 - 1898 Painter,Illustrator,England,Pre-Raphaelite

The Rock of Doom, 1884-1885

Bodycolour60 5/8 x 50 3/4 inches (154 x 129 cm)

Southampton City Art Gallery, Southampton

Mythological Art

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OIL PAINTING: The Rock of Doom, 1884-1885
In The Rock of Doom the figure is armoured creating a dramatic contrast with the nude figure of Andromeda. After the mid 1860's, Burne-Jones made preliminary nude studies of all his figures, which was standard academic practice. He may have been encouraged in this by George Frederic Watts about whom he wrote, 'compelled me to try and draw better'.
The raised left arm in this painting - The Rock of Doom relates to Burne-Jones's final conception of the figure as it appears in the oil painting of 1885-1888, which was exhibited in the New Gallery in 1888 (Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart). The drawing also shows the smooth modelling typical of Burne-Jones paintings in the 1880's.