| The Mill | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Sir Edward Burne-Jones |
| Completion date | 1882 |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 91 cm× 197 cm(36 in× 78 in) [1] |
| Location | Victoria and Albert Museum, London |
The Mill is an Aesthetic Movement, Renaissance-inspired oil on canvas painting completed by the English painter Edward Burne-Jones in 1882. It depicts three dancing women and a musician in front of a mill pond on a summer evening, with several nude men and a wooded landscape in the background. The painting is 91 centimetres (36 in) in height, and 197 centimetres (78 in) in width. [1]
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Edward Burne-Jones took twelve years to complete The Mill, starting work in 1870 [1] and completing it in 1882. [2] Shortly after its completion, the painting was displayed at an exhibition at the Grosvenor Gallery. [3] The Mill was inspired by The Allegory of Good and Bad Government , a mural painted by Italian Renaissance artist Ambrogio Lorenzetti between 1338 and 1340. [4] The dancing women in the painting were modelled upon women known to Burne-Jones personally: from left to right, Aglaia Coronio, Marie Stillman, and Maria Zambaco. [5] Aglaia was the daughter of Constantine Ionides, who, like Burne-Jones, was interested in art. Marie was a painter, [3] and Maria was Ionides' granddaughter. [6] At the time, Maria was Burne-Jones' mistress. [3]
The Mill is a vague and mysterious painting with no particular meaning. [3] It incorporates styles from the Aesthetic Movement and the Renaissance. [6] In the painting, three women wearing simple, Renaissance-style aesthetic dresses [3] are dancing in a garden on a summer evening. On the right of the dancing women, a musician of an indiscernible gender is standing under a loggia. [1] [6] A mill pond can be seen behind the women. [6] On the other side of the pond, there are several nude men, who are presumably swimming. In the background is an unspecific landscape consisting of various designs and types of architecture. [1]