Edward Burne-Jones
The Star of Bethlehem
1890
A major watercolour designed by the late-Pre-Raphaelite master Edward Burne-Jones (1833–1898) in 1887–1888 as the cartoon for a stained-glass window for St Philip's Cathedral in Birmingham, 'The Star of Bethlehem' depicts the three Magi arriving before the Virgin and Child, led by a majestic standing angel holding a bright yellow star. Working layers of watercolour to achieve a metallic, glass-like sheen, Burne-Jones stills the figures into his characteristic archaic melancholy. The composition was subsequently produced in stained glass several times by Morris & Co. and is a crowning Victorian religious work held by Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.
Exhibition Venue
Image source: Wikimedia Commons