Liberty

Maker Edward Burne-Jones (British, 1833 - 1898)

Maker Morris and Company (London, British, 1861 - 1940)

Additional Title(s)

Design for Stained Glass

Collections

William Morris Collection

ClassificationsDRAWINGS

Dateca. 1896

Mediumblack, white, and blue chalk on buff paper

Dimensions54 1/2 x 18 1/2 in. (138.4 x 47 cm.)

DescriptionOutline of lancet window, with female figure turned slightly to viewer's left holding a wing in each hand.

Inscribedverso: "F.P. 481 MORTON/ 'LIBERTY'/ one of three lights/ Designed by the late Sir Edward Burne-Jones Bart."

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Status

Not on view

Label TextIn this drawing Burne-Jones has not confined the figure within the window panel, but has depicted the symbolic removal of Liberty's wings, the right one extending beyond the left edge of the design. The simple, clean outlines of the drapery and head of this figure emphasize her statuesque pose. Like many of Burne-Jones's designs, Liberty was reused several times in later window commissions. Burne-Jones (1833-1898) began designing for stained glass at the age of twenty-four, before the firm was founded, and, by 1875, was the sole designer of the firm's stained glass. He continued to produce new cartoons until his death in 1898. He frequently designed only the figures for a particular window, leaving the background design to Morris or Webb or in later years to the glass painters in the firm's studio.

Object number2000.5.514