Sketch for "The Council Chamber"
Datec. 1888
Artist
Edward Burne-Jones
(British painter, 1833–1898)
Studio Assistant
Matthew William Webb
(British painter, c. 1851–1924)
MediumBlack chalk on buff paper
Dimensionscomposition: 6 15/16 × 13 in. (17.6 × 33 cm)
sheet: 8 11/16 × 13 1/2 in. (22.1 × 34.3 cm)
sheet: 8 11/16 × 13 1/2 in. (22.1 × 34.3 cm)
Credit LineF. V. du Pont Acquisition Fund and Gift of Paul R. Miles, 1992
Object number1992-75.5
On View
Not on viewClassificationsDRAWING
Label TextBurne-Jones first addressed the “Sleeping Beauty” fairy tale in the designs for a set of painted tiles produced by Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Company in 1864. The design for The Knight Entering the Briar Wood relates to this project. The story was one with which Burne-Jones seems to have been particularly preoccupied. He returned to it repeatedly, culminating in the Briar Rose series, of which The Council Chamber is an example. Numerous preparatory sketches such as these survive, conveying the artist's infatuation with this imaginary dream world. 
