Studies for 'The Golden Stairs': female figure studies, including possibly Margaret Burne-Jones and Mary Stuart Wortley, one with a subsidiary drapery study (verso) and one with a study for 'The Nativity' (verso)

Margaret Burne-Jones (1866-1953), the artist's daughter often modelled for both portrait studies and larger compositions. It is thought that she may appear more than once in The Golden Stairs, which seems a likely possibility as she was fourteen years old and living at home at the time it was painted. Mary Stuart Wortley (1848-1941) was the oldest daughter of barrister and Conservative politician James Stuart Wortley. She was one of the most eligible young ladies in London, and shortly after The Golden Stairs was painted, she married Ralph King-Milbanke, 2nd Earl of Lovelace.

See lot 15 for information about The Golden Stairs and the provenance for this lot.