A Seated Fat Lady

Sir Edward Burne-Jones

ca. 1866 · Pen and ink on lined blue paper · Drawings and Prints

To entertain friends and family, Burne-Jones produced quickly-drawn caricatures throughout his career. The images often were opposite to the ideal forms found in his paintings. When the artist shared rooms with William Morris at the start of their careers, he often contrasted his own extreme thinness to his friend's rotundity. At once fascinated and repulsed by obesity, the artist centered many caricatures on large overdressed society women and non-ideal female nudes. This example belonged to Maria Zambaco, a sculptor and member of London's Greek community with whom Burne-Jones had an extended affair. The pose echoes one found in the artist's painting "The Lament" (1866, tempera, William Morris Gallery, Walthamstow).

Artist

Sir Edward Burne-Jones

Date

ca. 1866

Medium

Pen and ink on lined blue paper

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift of Jacqueline Loewe Fowler, 2020