The Triumph of Music - YCBA Collections Search

Edward Francis Burney, 1760–1848, British, The Triumph of Music, ca. 1815

Creator:: Edward Francis Burney, 1760–1848
Title:: The Triumph of Music
Additional Title(s):: The Glee Club
Date:: ca. 1815
Materials & Techniques:: Watercolor, pen and black ink, gray ink, and graphite on moderately thick, slightly textured, cream wove paper
Dimensions:: Sheet: 12 3/16 × 18 1/8 inches (31 × 46 cm), Mount: 14 13/16 × 21 1/4 inches (37.6 × 54 cm), Image: 11 3/16 × 17 3/16 inches (28.4 × 43.7 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:: Inscribed in graphite, verso, bottom center "D Cox [...]" and bottom right "D26261"
Credit Line:: Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:: Public Domain
Accession Number:: B1975.4.1467
Classification:: Drawings & Watercolors
Collection:: Prints and Drawings
Access:: Accessible by appointment in the Study Room [Request]
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Link:: https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:12991
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Burney made several large drawings of this sort, satirizing the manners and pastimes of contem-porary society. Here the subject is an evening meeting of a glee club; the numerous inscriptions scattered throughout the drawing are all titles of popular madrigals and "catches," or rounds.

Gallery label for Pleasures and Pastime (Yale Center for British Art, 1990-02-21 - 1990-04-29)

This drawing, also known as “The Glee Club”, appears to be part of a coherent group along with “The Waltz”, “The Elegant Establishment for Young Ladies” (both Victoria & Albert Museum, London), and “Amateurs of Tye-Wig Music” (Paul Mellon Collection, ycba). All four pictures are of similar format and finish and are linked by their musical theme. Although no printed version has yet been identified, it is possible that Burney may have intended to publish them, but they may also have been created for the amusement of his private circle.

“The Triumph of Music” depicts the type of musical group to which the Burney family belonged, a group of gentlemen (and sometimes ladies) who met to sing, eat, and drink together. Specifically, it refers to types of songs popular during the period; the numerous inscriptions are the titles of catches, canons, glees, and rounds. Glees in particular are characterized by their double, sometimes obscene meanings and the repetition of words or fragments of words. Here, the formal attributes of the picture echo the structures of glee and canon singing: the figures of the three old women on the right, for example, are repeated in the three young women on the left, and salacious visual puns abound. The tall, thin man on the left may be a self-portrait.

Eleanor Hughes

John Baskett, Paul Mellon's Legacy: a Passion for British art: Masterpieces from the Yale Center for British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2007, cat. no. 79, N5220 M552 P38 2007 OVERSIZE (YCBA)

British Watercolors - Drawings of the 18th and 19th Centuries from the Yale Center for British Art (Blaffer Gallery, University of Houston, 1985-04 - 1986-08) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

British Watercolors - Drawings of the 18th and 19th Centuries from the Yale Center for British Art (Block Museum of Art, 1985-04 - 1986-08) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

British Watercolors - Drawings of the 18th and 19th Centuries from the Yale Center for British Art (Toledo Museum of Art, 1985-04 - 1986-08) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

British Watercolors - Drawings of the 18th and 19th Centuries from the Yale Center for British Art (Portland Art Museum, 1985-04 - 1986-08) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

British Watercolors - Drawings of the 18th and 19th Centuries from the Yale Center for British Art (Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1985-04 - 1986-08) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

British Watercolors - Drawings of the 18th and 19th Centuries from the Yale Center for British Art (Memorial Art Gallery of Rochester, 1985-04 - 1986-08) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

British Watercolors - Drawings of the 18th and 19th Centuries from the Yale Center for British Art (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1985-04 - 1986-08) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

An American's Passion for British Art - Paul Mellon's Legacy (Royal Academy of Arts, 2007-10-20 - 2008-01-27) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Paul Mellon's Legacy : A Passion for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2007-04-18 - 2007-07-29) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

An American's Passion for British Art - Paul Mellon's Legacy (Yale Center for British Art, 2007-04-18 - 2007-07-29) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Metropole London 1800 - 1840 (Kulturstiftung Ruhr, 1992-06-04 - 1992-11-08) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Pleasures and Pastimes (Yale Center for British Art, 1990-02-21 - 1990-04-29) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

A loan exhibition of English drawings and watercolours from the collection of Mr and Mrs Paul Mellon of Upperville, Virginia, P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., London, 1964, no. 30, N5247.M385 L62 (YCBA) [YCBA]

John Baskett, Paul Mellon's Legacy: a Passion for British Art: Masterpieces from the Yale Center for British Art, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2007, pp. 277-278, no. 78, pl. 78, N5220 M552 P38 2007 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Painting in England 1700-1850 : collection of Mr. & Mrs. Paul Mellon : Exhibition at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, , , Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA, 1963, v.1: p. 206, no. 434, ND466 V57 v.1-2 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Paul Mellon's Legacy : a passion for British art [large print labels], , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2007, v. 2, no. 78, N5220 M552 P381 2007 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Nick Powell, Coleridge's London, The Coleridge Bulletin, New Series 19, Spring, 2002, p. 9, no. 15, Not Available at Yale

Scott Wilcox, British watercolors : drawings of the 18th and 19th centuries from the Yale Center for British Art, , Hudson Hill Press, New York, 1985, no. 41, pl. 41, ND1928 W533 1985 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Yale University Art Gallery, English drawings and watercolors from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, April 15-June 20,1965, , New Haven, 1965, no. 30, NC228 Y34 (YCBA) [YCBA]

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