The Council Chamber 1890

Curator: This is Edward Burne-Jones's painting, "The Council Chamber," created in 1890, rendered in oil. The tableau unfolds as a still life where slumber permeates everything it touches. Editor: The figures seem caught in a perpetual state of suspension, their expressions conveying an odd mixture of weariness and serenity. I feel as though time has folded in on itself within this depicted scene. Curator: The subject stems from the tale of Sleeping Beauty, where a kingdom succumbs to enchanted sleep. Burne-Jones presents not the awakening kiss, but the suspended animation before. This resonates profoundly given the context of late 19th-century Britain and its fascination with the medieval aesthetic, known as the Pre-Raphaelite movement. Editor: The pervasive sense of stillness almost feels politically charged. Consider the figures seemingly held captive by the encroaching briars—are they held in slumber by an oppressive patriarchy? Curator: It's compelling to view those overgrown thorns through the lens of gender and power. It makes me ponder whether Burne-Jones, albeit working within a pre-existing framework, subverted his era's expectation of womanhood? Were the figures merely passive recipients of a curse? I suggest Burne-Jones painted these figures into the roles society forced on women during that time period. Editor: Absolutely. It speaks volumes about societal expectations imposed onto women as decorative or stagnant figures, reflected within the somber mood he constructs here. There’s that distinct Pre-Raphaelite rejection of industrial England too, an aesthetic choice which infuses itself in this visual narrative. Curator: Indeed, from a cultural studies point of view, Burne-Jones used allegory as critique. In the end the "The Council Chamber," is an insightful narrative regarding gender and political power. Editor: Thinking about Burne-Jones and "The Council Chamber" prompts questions regarding our contemporary understanding of socio-political expectations then and now. Curator: For me, examining Burne-Jones’s "The Council Chamber" shows how art's political voice develops through critical interpretations over time.