Hope

Hope, one of the three theological Virtues, is symbolized here as a prisoner chained indoors, holding a branch of apple blossoms and reaching upward to pull the blue sky down toward her. The slender, vertical format of this painting recalls the fact that many of Burne-Jones's designs were successfully translated into stained-glass windows and textiles. Burne-Jones painted this work for Mrs. Whitin, of Whitinsville, Massachusetts. He had previously worked on a large watercolor version of the same subject.