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<!-- The Perseus Cycle is an unfinished series artworks by the Pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones, which he worked on from 1875 until 1892. The cycle was intended to decorate the London home of the Member of Parliament Arthur Balfour. Burne-Jones completed full size gouache studies of ten scenes, now held by Southampton City Art Gallery and exhibited in its Baring Room. The cycle was originally intended to include six oil paintings and four low-relief wood panels, but after the first relief panel was completed and received poor reviews, Burne-Jones decided to replace them with another four paintings. Four of the paintings were completed, now held by Staatsgalerie Stuttgart – number 2, Perseus and the Graiae; and the last three: 8, The Rock of Doom; 9, The Doom Fulfilled; and 10, The Baleful Head. A fifth painting, number 1, The Call of Perseus, is unfinished. [check]

Story
The cycle of paintings is based on the ancient Greek myth of the demigod Perseus: his father was the Greek god Zeus, and his mother was the human Danaë, daughter of Acrisius, King of Argos. In the Greek myth, Perseus killed the Gorgon Medusa and rescued Andromeda from a sea monster, Cetus.

Perseus had been protecting his mother from the attentions of Polydectes, the King of Seriphos. Perseus attended a banquet held by Polydectes, at which all of the guests were required to bring a gift of a horse for the host. Perseus did not have a horse, so he rashly offered to bring something else instead, whatever Polydectes requested. The king demanded Perseus to bring him the head of Medusa. The goddess Athena assisted Perseus to compete the task: she instructed him to find the Hesperides, who could give him the weapons he needed. He first sought out the sisters of the Gorgons, the Graeae, three old women who shared a single eye: they could tell him where to find the Hesperides. The Hesperides gave Perseus the kibisis, a bag to hold Medusa's severed head. He also received assistance from other gods: Zeus gave Perseus a Harpe (an adamantine sword) and Hades' helm of darkness to hide him; Hermes lent Perseus his winged sandals; and Athena gave him a mirror, because looking on Medusa directly would turn Perseus to stone. With this assistance, Perseus found Medusa and severed her head, with her offspring Pegasus and Chrysaor emerging from the wound. The surviving Gorgons pursued Perseus, but he escaped wearing the helm of darkness.

On his return journey, Perseus encountered Andromeda, who has been chained to a rock by her father Cepheus, King of Joppa, as a sacrifice to propitiate the sea monster Cetus sent by the Nereids (sea nymphs) angered by Cepheus's wife Cassiopeia. After rescuing Andromeda, Perseus abandoned his quest and presented Andromeda with the head of Medusa, which she safely viewed through its reflection in a well. Perseus displaced Phineas in her affections.

The Pre-Raphaelites interpreted the Perseus myth as a classical version of a chivalric quest.

Project
In 1875, the young and newly-elected MP Arthur Balfour commissioned Burne-Jones to decorate the drawing room (sometimes described as the dining room or the music room) of his London home at 4 Carlton Gardens. Burne-Jones suggested scenes from the myth of Perseus, based on "The Doom of King Acrisus" in William Morris's epic poem The Earthly Paradise. The cycle is perhaps the largest and most ambitious artistic project started by Burne-Jones. He worked on it from 1875 until 1892, when his ill health forced him to abandon the project. His initial estimate of the cost was £3,800. Balfour made significant alterations to the room make the proposed paintings fit, adding oak panelling to the walls and ceiling, and re-glazing the windows with small panes to reduce the level of light. Burne-Jones suggested the alternations should be made first, to make the room look beautiful even without the paintings.

[meanwhile, Burne-Jones was working from 1875 on his Wheel of Fortune, completed for Balfour in 1883, exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery, 1883, and at the New Gallery, 1892-3, and in the Musée d'Orsay since 1980]

The whole decorative scheme is shown in three large sketches made from 1875-76 (acquired by the Tate Gallery in 1919), which show the ten paintings in three groups – first, The Call of Perseus, Perseus and the Graiae, and Persus and the Nereids (also known as The Arming of Perseus); then The Finding of Medusa, The Death of Medusa (also known as The Birth of Pegasus and Chrysador or The Death of Medusa I), and Perseus Pursued by the Gorgons (also known as The Escape of Perseus, or The Death of Medusa II); and finally Andromeda and Perseus (which became two works, The Rock of Doom and The Doom Fulfilled), Atlas Turned to Stone, The Court of Phineas (dropped from the final series), and The Baleful Head. As originally conceived, the cycle would include six oil paintings and four low relief panels of mahogany and gesso to be made in collaboration with Osmund Weeks, mounted with a border of gilded stucco. Burne-Jones worked on watercolour studies of elements, combined into full-size gouache cartoons, used as the basis for the final works. Nine of the cartoons measure 60 x, but the tenth is smaller to fit over a door.

Burne-Jones visited the British Museum to view ancient depictions of Medusa, and worked up many studies of the sea monster. He made a clay model of Perseus, and studies of Margaret Benson for [?] And also a large wax model of the monster [which one?].

Burne-Jones finished the first part, a wooden panel of Perseus and the Graiae, in 1878, in silver and gold leaf, gesso and oil on oak (now held by the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff). It was exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery in London, but it was not well received. Burne-Jones abandoned the wood panels, intending to complete the series with nine oil paintings, and a tenth painting to replace the wooden panel already completed.

The Rock of Doom and The Doom Fulfilled were exhibited at the New Gallery in 1888. (combined in his unfinished 1876 painting of Perseus and Andromeda in Australia)

One of the Perseus series was exhibited in 1887, two more in 1888, with The Brazen Tower, inspired by the same legend.

Other drawings in the V&A, Fitz, BM, Huntingdon Hertford

Unfinished painting ...

The cycle
This list from List of paintings by Edward Burne-Jones Another painting, Perseus and Andromeda, 1876, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, has the same composition as Doom Fulfilled.
 * 1) The Call of Perseus, full size study in Southampton Art Gallery; double image of Perseus and Athena, with Athena handing Perseus a mirror.
 * 2) Perseus and the Graiae, completed work in oil at Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart. Study in private collection, sketches at the Cecil Higgins Gallery and a full size study Southampton Art Gallery; oak panel at the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff.
 * 3) The Arming of Perseus (or Perseus and the Nereids), study in Southampton Art Gallery.
 * 4) The Finding of Medusa, unfinished full size study in Southampton Art Gallery.
 * 5) The Death of Medusa I (or The Birth of Pegasus and Chrysador), full size study in Southampton Art Gallery.
 * 6) The Death of Medusa II (or Perseus Pursued by the Gorgons, or The Escape of Perseus), full size study in Southampton Art Gallery.
 * 7) Atlas turned to Stone, full size study in Southampton Art Gallery.
 * 8) The Birth of Pegasus and Chrysaor, full size study in Southampton Art Gallery.
 * 9) The Court of Phineas
 * 10) The Rock of Doom, completed work in oil at Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart; full size study in Southampton Art Gallery.
 * 11) The Doom Fulfilled, completed work in oil at Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart; full size study in Southampton Art Gallery.
 * 12) The Baleful Head, completed work in oil at Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart; full size study in Southampton Art Gallery.