Burne-Jones, Edward (1833-1898)
The Love Song
1868–1877
Oil on canvas, 114.3 x 155.9 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Burne-Jones associated this painting with a refrain from a French folk ballad: “Alas, I know a love song, / Sad or happy, each in turn.” Cupid, his arrows slung over his shoulder, works the bellows on the portative organ. This picture, which took nine years to complete, unites inspirations that shaped Burne-Jones’s art: medievalism, Italian Renaissance painting, romance, beauty, and music. (MET)