Spes, or Hope in Prison (oil on canvas laid on panel)

As with many of Burne-Jones' projects there were several treatments of the same theme across decades. There is a finished watercolour of 1871 and two known finished oil versions of Hope; the earlier version, 1872-1877, is in the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia and the later version of 1896 is in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts. The figure of Hope also forms part of the Faith, Hope, Charity series in the three-part window in Christ Church Cathedral Oxford; this painting is based on that design. As Burne-Jones’s fame spread and demand grew, particularly after about 1860, he used studio assistants. The extent of their involvement in his pictures, whether autograph or not, awaits a proper study, similar to the Rembrandt Research Project. Bill Waters has suggested that this painting could have been mainly executed by Francis Lathrop (1849-1909), an American in Burne-Jones' studio at about the time he believes that picture was painted, in the early mid 1870s. It has a softer manner with less emphatic outlines than are associated with the better known assistants, TM Rooke, Charles Fairfax Murray and JM Strudwick). The more domestic presentation of the room, figure and mood is more typical of Lathrop. Inscribed on the reverse '"Spes" (unfinished painting) by Sir E. Burne Jones (all original work except apple blossom?)