Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, Bt

Study of a Female Head for ‘The Hours’

c.1872

In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

View by appointment
Medium
Graphite on paper
Dimensions
Support: 146 × 149 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Presented by Lord Duveen 1925
Reference
A00070

Display caption

Burne-Jones first planned a painting called 'The Hours' in the mid-1860s, but it was not until 1882 that he completed the picture now in Sheffield City Art Gallery, his second attempt at the idea. The painting shows six seated women related to one another by the colour of their gowns, which encompass the gradations of daylight from dawn until dusk. The study of a sleeping head is for the sixth and last figure on the extreme right of the group.

Gallery label, September 2004

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