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A dream of the Nine Muses: 1473

An image of Drawing

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Object information

Current Location: In storage

Titles

A dream of the Nine Muses

Maker(s)

Draughtsman: Burne-Jones, Edward

Entities

Categories

Legal notes

Through the National Art Collections Fund.

Measurements and weight

Height: 270 mm
Width: 355 mm

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1927-09) by Colvin, Sidney

Dating

1870s
1871 - 1872

Note

Lady Burne-Jones in 'Memorials', II, p. 24 records the incident which inspired this work: '... on the way to Rome, between Monte Fiascone and Viterbo, Edward fell asleep and had a dream of the nine muses on Mount Helicon, so distinct that he drew it on awaking'. This Italian trip was in 1871, so the picture either dates from that year or from 1872. The sketchbook containing a note of the composition is in the collection of Miss Mary Chamot.

School or Style

British

Materials used in production

Varnish
Gouache

Components of the work

Support composed of canvas

Techniques used in production

Watercolour : Gouache, varnished on canvas, mounted and framed with glass

Related exhibitions

Identification numbers

Accession number: 1473
Primary reference Number: 26133
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Wednesday 15 October 2025 Last processed: Wednesday 15 October 2025

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Paintings, Drawings and Prints

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025) "A dream of the Nine Muses" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/26133 Accessed: 2025-12-05 19:55:49

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{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/26133 |title=A dream of the Nine Muses |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-05 19:55:49|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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        <img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/pdp/pdp13/1473.jpg"
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        <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">A dream of the Nine Muses</figcaption>
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