ABSTRACT
Edward Burne-Jones created more than forty new versions or autograph replicas of his own original paintings. One painting which Burne-Jones would not have replicated but for a devastating incident which was out of his control, was his beautiful large watercolor Love among the Ruins , which was painted between 1870 and 1873 and bought by Manchester calico printer Frederick Craven. A smaller watercolor version of the Heart Desires, painted by Burne-Jones in 1871, was sold to William Graham and then on to Burne-Jones’s artist friend, Edward Clifford, in 1886 for the more modest amount of 310 guineas. During the uncertain economic conditions of the 1880s William Graham acted increasingly as a business advisor to Burne-Jones, monitoring prices for his work in contemporary art sales. Burne-Jones also experimented with creating versions in highly unconventional media, rejecting standard canvas or paper supports and applying paint to a carved gesso-covered mahogany panel in a style more commonly used in the decorative arts.
