Spes or Hope

Spes or Hope, executed in 1871 using gold as a primary material and held at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery, is one of Burne-Jones's more unusual works in terms of medium — the description of 'gold' as medium may indicate a gilded support, chrysography, or a work in which gold leaf or gold paint plays a dominant role, in the tradition of Byzantine icons and medieval altarpieces. The personification of Hope (Spes in Latin) is a virtue with a long iconographic tradition: she is typically shown with an anchor and a flame, attributes of steadfastness and aspiration. Burne-Jones's treatment of traditional virtues was consistently anti-triumphal — his Hope persists rather than radiates, endures rather than promises easy reward. The Dunedin Public Art Gallery in New Zealand holds a historically significant collection of British Victorian and Edwardian painting, acquired during a period of strong cultural connection between New Zealand and Britain.

The use of gold as a primary material aligns the work with the medieval devotional tradition that Burne-Jones consistently invoked, creating a luminosity that conventional oil or watercolour cannot achieve. Gold grounds or gold-heightened figures carry a hierarchical significance beyond mere decoration in this iconographic tradition.