Pygmalion and the Image: I The Heart Desires

Edward Burne-Jones

Date: 1875-78

Materials: Oil on canvas

The four Pygmalion paintings share with the Cupid and Psyche frieze an origin in illustrations to 'The Earthly Paradise' by William Morris. Deriving from the story in Ovid's 'Metamorphoses', Morris's poem tells how the sculptor Pygmalion, disgusted by the immorality of the young women of Cyprus, resolves to remain celibate. Falling in love, however, with the image of female perfection he creates in marble, he prays to Venus: she brings the sculpture to life as Galatea, whom Pygmalion marries.