Le Chant d'Amour (The Love Song) – Edward Burne-Jones (1868–1877)

A knight sits spellbound at the feet of a woman playing a small organ, while a winged boy, Love himself, works the bellows with his eyes closed. In Le Chant d'Amour (The Love Song), Edward Burne-Jones places the three figures in a garden of flowers at dusk, before a walled medieval town touched by the last light of the day.

The title comes from an old Breton song: "Hélas ! je sais un chant d'amour, triste ou gai, tour à tour" (Alas, I know a song of love, sad or joyful, each in turn). Burne-Jones does not tell a story here: he paints a mood, made of music, longing and the fading day.

Why it works on your wall

• Rich, jewel-like colours: silver, deep red and dark green give depth to a living room, a study or a music room
• A horizontal format: it finds its place above a sofa, a bed or a piano
• Framing tip: a gold or dark wood frame suits its Pre-Raphaelite richness

The painting

Burne-Jones first treated the subject in a small watercolour of 1865, then worked on this large oil version from 1868 to 1877. It now belongs to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. A close friend of William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones (1833–1898) was the leading painter of the second generation of the Pre-Raphaelites and one of the great figures of the Aesthetic movement.

• Artist: Edward Burne-Jones (1833–1898)
• Date: 1868–1877
• Technique: oil on canvas
• Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• Movement: Pre-Raphaelite, Aesthetic movement

Your print

• Colours restored from a high-definition scan of the original
• Printed in Europe on thick archival matte paper, FSC certified
• From A4 to A0, plus 40×60, 50×70, 60×90 and 70×100 cm and 12×18 to 27×40 inch sizes, all made for standard frames
• Free shipping, no minimum order. Shipped rolled in a sturdy tube

Explore our Pre-Raphaelite art prints and our John William Waterhouse prints.