Burne-Jones and Pygmalion (IV)

Burnes knew what he was doing, and he did it exceedingly well. "I mean by a picture," he wrote, "a beautiful romantic dream of something that never was, never will be - in a light better than any light that ever shone - in a land no one can define, or remember, only desire." It is the piling on of negatives that is significant here. Burne-Jones was a profoundly reactive artist. He was reacting to preindustrial society. Burne-Jones hated that light from that world and the materialism, inventing another one from Arthurian romances and early Italian paintings. "The more materialistic science becomes," he boasted to Oscar Wilde, "the more angels shall I paint."

Pictured on this page:

"The Soul Attains", Pygmalion Series. 1868-70, Oil on canvas. Joseph Setton Collection, a private collection in Paris, France.

"The Soul Attains", Pygmalion and Galatea: Series I-IV (1875-78), is the fourth painting in this series and may be viewed at the Birmingham City Museums & Art Gallery in Birmingham, England. 1878 Oil on canvas 99 x 76.2 cm (39 x 30 in)