Lines and Colors art blog

Eye Candy for Today: Burne-Jones’ King Cophetua


King Cophetura and the Beggar Maid, Edward Coley Burne-Jones

On Google Art Project; high-resolution downloadable file on Wikimedia Commons; original is in the Tate, Britain.

The Tate’s website has some background on the painting and the story it presents. There is more in an article on the painting on Wikipedia.


Comments

4 responses to “Eye Candy for Today: Burne-Jones’ King Cophetua”

  1. Looks like a top designer’s dress she’s wearing.
    Please, please, show more of Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet.

  2. http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/burnejones
    Chiefly associated with the second generation of Pre-Raphaelites, Burne-Jones also worked closely with designer William Morris throughout his life.

    The Cophetua complex names an attraction to lower-class women, a tendency which Higgins exhibits in his interactions with Eliza. (The broader rags-to-riches theme is common in Western literature; compare the film Pretty Woman.)

  3. The name of Burne-Jones’ king is misspelled on the blog entry. It’s “Cophetua,” not “Cophetura.”

    1. Corrected. Thanks.