Tempera on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/sir-edward-coley-burne-jones-bt-68" aria-label="More by Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, Bt" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, Bt</a>
Sisyphus
Bequeathed by A.N. MacNicholl 1916
actions: postures and motions
actions: processes and functions
adults
classical myths: gods and heroes
crime and punishment
Hell
Hell
hill
Judaeo-Christian imagery
king
kneeling
landscape
male
man
mythical, religious, fictional
natural phenomena
nudes
people
places
punishment
pushing
religion and belief
royalty and social rank
Sisyphus
society
stone
work and occupations
<p>According to Greek myth, Sisyphus was punished for challenging the gods (hubris). They condemned him to spend eternity rolling a boulder uphill; each time he neared the top it rolled back. The downward sweep of Burne-Jones’s design emphasises the fruitlessness of Sisyphus’s labour.</p><p>The roundel was one of eight made to decorate a grand piano for MP William Graham, linked by the story of Orpheus - whose music charmed all who heard it - and his descent into the Underworld in an attempt to rescue Eurydice, his wife. The beauty of Orpheus’s playing caused Sisyphus to pause in his task.</p><p><em>Gallery label, October 2013</em></p>
paper unique tempera
1 November 2011 – 21 October 2012
2012-10-21
1 November 2011 – 19 February 2012
2012-02-19
2011-11-01
State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts (Moscow, Russia)
3 July 2012 – 21 October 2012
2012-10-21
2012-07-03
Fundació “la Caixa” (Madrid, Spain)
2011-11-01
Blake Exhibition
Loan-out
3 May 2013 – 29 March 2015
2015-03-29
3 May 2013 – 29 March 2015
2015-03-29
2013-05-03
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2013-05-03
Gallery 8
Collection based display
14 December 2018 – 19 September 2021
2021-09-19
19 June 2019 – 6 October 2019
2019-10-06
2019-06-19
Palazzo Reale (Milan, Italy)
13 May 2021 – 19 September 2021
2021-09-19
2021-05-13
Hungarian National Gallery (Budapest, Hungary)
2018-12-14
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
Tate partnerships & programmes
Sisyphus
support: 262 × 258 mm
Bequeathed by A.N. MacNicholl 1916
<div class="text">
<p>According to Greek myth, Sisyphus was punished for challenging the gods (hubris). They condemned him to spend eternity rolling a boulder uphill; each time he neared the top it rolled back. The downward sweep of Burne-Jones’s design emphasises the fruitlessness of Sisyphus’s labour.  </p>
<p>The roundel was one of eight made to decorate a grand piano for MP William Graham, linked by the story of Orpheus - whose music charmed all who heard it - and his descent into the Underworld in an attempt to rescue Eurydice, his wife. The beauty of Orpheus’s playing caused Sisyphus to pause in his task.</p>
</div>

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2013-10-29T00:00:00
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actions: postures and motions actions: processes and functions adults classical myths: gods and heroes crime and punishment Hell Hell hill Judaeo-Christian imagery king kneeling landscape male man mythical, religious, fictional natural phenomena nudes people places punishment pushing religion and belief royalty and social rank Sisyphus society stone work and occupations