CHATSWORTH SUMMER FINE ART SALE 18th & 19th June 2025

67 Fonsie Mealy’s Est. 1934 665. Edward Burne-Jones (After) Four-folding Screen “The Star of Bethlehem,” c. 1900, approx. 199cms x 244cms (78” x 96”). (1) Originally commissioned in 1886 by John Prideaux Lightfoot, rector of Exeter College in Oxford, The Adoration of the Magi was designed by Edward Burne-Jones and woven into a large tapestry by William Morris, with background details, such as flowers and trees, by John Henry Dearle. Both graduates of Exeter, Morris and Burne-Jones had been conferred in 1883 with honorary fellowships by the University. Burne-Jones had previously designed tapestries for Morris, including a set illustrating the search for the Holy Grail. Woven at Merton Abbey, The Adoration of the Magi took several years to complete, and in 1890 was displayed in the showrooms of William Morris & Co. at 449 Oxford Street. It was then hung in the Gothic Revival chapel at Exeter College, where it remains today. It went on to became one of Morris’s best-selling tapestries. In 1894 a copy was woven for Manchester Corporation, and over the next decade or so, ten more versions were woven, including ones for Eton College, the Hermitage Museum, and Carrow Abbey in Norwich. A version made in 1904 for a house in Normandy, and later owned by Yves St. Laurent, was donated the Musee d’Orsay in 2009. In 1887, following closely the design of his Exeter College tapestry, Burne-Jones painted a full-size canvas, Star of Bethlehem, which is now in the Bermingham Museum and Art Gallery. The present work, depicting the three kings paying homage to the infant Jesus at Bethlehem, is a good copy of the original in Bermingham. Painted on a four-fold screen, it largely faithful to the original, although haloes have been added. Other changes include the position of the crown resting on the grass, and the design of the robe of the King of Nubia on the right. Although the coarseness of passages of paint on the screen is not to be found in original paintings by Burne-Jones, the copy is far from being run-of-the-mill, and is a powerful work of art, retaining much of the brooding intensity of Burne-Jones’s original design. Dr. Peter Murray 2025 €4,000 - €6,000