(click to enlarge)
Eugene Thirion
(French, ????-????)
Jeanne d'Arc, 1876
Oil on canvas
I can't find any information on this artist, but I adore this painting.
I can't find any information on this artist, but I adore this painting.
Here an ancient Breton song that was probably known to Georgiana [Burne-Jone's wife] provides the subject and the title for the painting: Hélas! je sais un chant d'amor/Triste ou gai, Tour á tour (Alas, I know a love song/Sad or merry, each in turn). The work depicts an organist with a figure representing Love working the bellows. The figure of Love is sightless ('love is blind'), while Burne-Jones's abiding interest in the language of flowers is manifest un the painting, where tulips (symbolizing 'ardent love') and wallflowers ('bitterness') jointly represent the contradictory emotions expressed in the song.