''The Flower Book'' by

Edward Burne-Jones Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, (; 28 August, 183317 June, 1898) was a British painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood which included Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Millais, Ford Madox Brown and Holman Hun ...

(1833–1898) is a series of 38 round watercolours, each about across, painted from 1882 to 1898. The paintings do not depict flowers; rather, they were inspired by the flowers' names. Burne-Jones called them "a series of illustrations to the Names of Flowers". "Not a single flower itself appears", according to his wife Georgiana. They were painted for his private pleasure, many while he was resting at his summer home in

Rottingdean Rottingdean is a village in the city of Brighton and Hove, on the south coast of England. It borders the villages of Saltdean, Ovingdean and Woodingdean, and has a historic centre, often the subject of picture postcards. Name The name Rottingde ...

, and were described by his wife as the "most soothing piece of work that he ever did".Leicester Galleries
/ref>Wildman (1998), pp. 285–86 In 1905 Georgiana, by then a widow, published a limited edition of high-quality colour

facsimiles A facsimile (from Latin ''fac simile'', "to make alike") is a copy or reproduction of an old book, manuscript, map, art print, or other item of historical value that is as true to the original source as possible. It differs from other forms of re ...

Themes and technique

Edward Burne-Jones Witches Tree (Flower Book)

Love in a Tangle Burne Jones Brit Museum

Worked in

watercolours Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to ...

, bodycolour (or gouache), and gold paint, the paintings reflect the landscape around Rottingdean and include favourite themes from Burne-Jones's work: ''Witches' Tree'' (no. xv) revisits the subject of ''

The Beguiling of Merlin ''The Beguiling of Merlin'' is a painting by the British Pre-Raphaelite painter Edward Burne-Jones that was created between 1872 and 1877. The painting depicts a scene from the Arthurian legend about the infatuation of Merlin with the Lady of th ...

'' and ''Meadow Sweet'' (no. xxxv) features the central figures from ''

The Last Sleep of Arthur in Avalon ''The Last Sleep of Arthur in Avalon'' is a painting by Edward Burne-Jones, started in 1881. The massive painting measures 279 cm × 650 cm, and is widely considered to be Burne-Jones's ''Masterpiece, magnum opus''.Waters, p. 42. The p ...

''. Burne-Jones collected folknames of flowers from many sources, but the greatest number were provided by Eleanor Leighton, Lady Leighton Warren, who shared her "knowledge of the names and legends belonging to flowers". In a letter to her, he wrote: In a later letter, he added, "You see how I want to deal with them: it is not enough to illustrate them—that is such poor work: I want to add to them or wring their secret from them".

Publication

On his death, Burne-Jones left the album of flower paintings to his wife Georgiana, and she published a facsimile edition of 300 copies in 1905 in co-operation with the

Fine Art Society The Fine Art Society is a gallery based in both London and in Edinburgh's New Town (originally Bourne Fine Art, established 1978). The New Bond Street, London gallery closed its doors in August 2018 after being occupied by The Fine Art Society si ...

in London. It was printed by Henri Piazza, who hand-stencilled watercolour over

collotype Collotype is a gelatin-based photographic printing process invented by Alphonse Poitevin in 1855 to print images in a wide variety of tones without the need for halftone screens. The majority of collotypes were produced between the 1870s and ...

s using the

pochoir Stencilling produces an image or pattern on a surface, by applying pigment to a surface through an intermediate object, with designed holes in the intermediate object, to create a pattern or image on a surface, by allowing the pigment to reach ...

technique to produce brilliant colours. These copies of the "Book" were sold in both bound and unbound form, with the unbound copies contained in a clamshell box. Copies of ''The Flower Book'' are in the collections of the

Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BM&AG) is a museum and art gallery in Birmingham, England. It has a collection of international importance covering fine art, ceramics, metalwork, jewellery, natural history, archaeology, ethnography, local ...

and the

Delaware Art Museum The Delaware Art Museum is an art museum located on the Kentmere Parkway in Wilmington, Delaware, which holds a collection of more than 12,000 objects. The museum was founded in 1912 as the Wilmington Society of the Fine Arts in honor of the artis ...

. The art publisher

Taschen Taschen is a luxury art book publisher founded in 1980 by Benedikt Taschen in Cologne, Germany. As of January 2017, Taschen is co-managed by Benedikt and his eldest daughter, Marlene Taschen. History The company began as Taschen Comics, pu ...

reprinted the book in 1994 in a modern format without using the pochoir technique. The

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

bought the original album of paintings from Georgiana Burne-Jones in 1909.Gere (1994), p. 98Edward Burne-Jones, Love in a tangle, a watercolour
British Museum. Retrieved 1 February 2012.

Prints

For the complete set of prints see ''The Flower Book'' by Edward Burne-Jones on Wikimedia Commons. File:The Flower Book - Love in a Mist.jpg, No. i
''Love in a Mist''
''

Nigella damascena ''Nigella damascena'', love-in-a-mist, or devil in the bush, is an annual garden flowering plant, belonging to the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. It is native to southern Europe (but adventive in more northern countries of Europe), north Afri ...

'' File:The Flower Book - Golden Thread.jpg, No. ii
''Golden Thread''
'' Coptis trifolia groenlandica'' File:The Flower Book - Jacob's Ladder 1905.jpg, No. iii
''Jacob's Ladder''
''

Polemonium caeruleum ''Polemonium caeruleum'', known as Jacob's-ladder or Greek valerian, is a hardy perennial flowering plant. The plant produces cup-shaped, blue or white flowers. It is native to temperate regions of Europe. Growth The plant usually reaches tall ...

'' File:The Flower Book - Traveller's Joy.jpg, No. iv
''Traveller's Joy''
''

Clematis vitalba ''Clematis vitalba'' (also known as old man's beard and traveller's joy) is a shrub of the family Ranunculaceae. Description ''Clematis vitalba'' is a climbing shrub with branched, grooved stems, deciduous leaves, and scented greeny-white flo ...

Notes

Georgiana_Burne-Jones_by_Edward_Coley_Burne-Jones

References

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External links