Stories Pictures Tell. Book 6

by Flora L. Carpenter

It is interesting to draw an oblong of this same proportion and then represent the curved lines in this picture; it makes us feel the movement, swing, and rhythm which come to us like approaching music.

The picture is full of idyllic charm which takes us away from all the prosaic details of everyday life to a fairyland where this happy throng may come and go with music, flowers, and delight. The calm, thoughtful faces, so full of kindly purpose and high ideals, cannot fail to inspire us with good thoughts.

The dove in the upper casement window is typical of the peace that pervades this scene. The faint, far from earthly, shadows, the bare feet, even the stairway without a railing or protection of any kind, all suggest that our youthful maidens are celestial beings. Their destination we can only guess. Perhaps that is why the picture has had several names: “The King’s Wedding,” “Music on the Stairs,” and the one by which it is now known, “The Golden Stairs.”

Burne-Jones made many beautiful designs for stained-glass windows, and we can but regret that he did not produce this picture in that way also.

Questions to help the pupil understand the picture. Tell about the boyhood and early training of the artist. What book influenced him most? How did it affect his choice of subjects to paint? How did he happen to become interested in art? How old was he before he first saw a great painting? Compare the subjects chosen by Burne-Jones and by Millet as to character and feeling. What was Burne-Jones’s idea of a good picture? How did he happen to paint “The Golden Stairs”? For what room was it intended? What colors did the artist use in this painting? In what ways does it suggest music? How would you explain the destination of these maidens? their errand? from whence they come? What would you consider the chief charm in the picture?

The story of the artist. We have heard how the small Burne-Jones was brought up by a rather strict but ambitious father, and perhaps have felt sorry for the boy who used to spend hours before the windows of a book store, gazing at the even rows of books with such wistful longing. But we need not feel so, for it was this very desire for books and stories that led him to use his own imaginative power.

When he was old enough to begin serious preparation for the ministry his father sent him to King Edward’s School. Here he earned a scholarship to Oxford. When he left home for Oxford it seemed as if his real life had begun, for it was here that he met friends who had the same tastes and longings as himself. One friend in particular, William Morris, shared with him his new-found delight in art. Both had intended to prepare for the ministry, but now they decided to give up all else and pursue the study of art. So at the age of twenty-three Burne-Jones left Oxford and went to London, where he began painting in earnest. From the very first he showed great originality both in his subjects and in his manner of representation.

Many of his subjects were taken from the Bible, from Greek mythology, or from stories of King Arthur’s court. Sometimes he painted with but the one idea of making something beautiful, as in this picture of “The Golden Stairs.”

Burne-Jones was fortunate in his first teacher, Rossetti, who was a man so filled with the beauty of a scene that he must paint it for sheer joy. In order to pay for this instruction Burne-Jones made designs for stained-glass windows, and became famous for the beauty of these windows. The one at Trinity Church, Boston, is called “David Instructing Solomon in the Building of the Temple.” At Oxford is the famous Saint Cecilia window he designed for Christ Church College.

It seems strange that Burne-Jones should wait until he grew to manhood before he discovered that he had the desire and the ability to draw. Other artists tell of the years spent in longing, and their constant struggle for the sake of their art. But when Burne-Jones made up his mind, he spent no time in experiment or even practice. He devoted all his time to the one idea which filled his thoughts. He made no effort whatever to find out whether his work would meet with popular favor or not, beginning at once with what he knew to be his right material.