The Tree of Forgiveness

The Tree of Forgiveness (1882) depicts the myth of Phyllis and Demophoon from Ovid's Heroides: Phyllis, abandoned by her Trojan lover Demophoon, transformed into an almond tree that blossomed when he finally returned and embraced it. Burne-Jones had treated this subject in an earlier and controversial version of 1870 which depicted Demophoon's male nudity in a manner judged indecorous; this 1882 revisiting refines the composition with greater formal control. The theme of love persisting beyond transformation and separation appealed to Burne-Jones's characteristic preoccupation with the intersection of desire, beauty, and metamorphosis. Lady Lever Art Gallery holds this major work as part of its outstanding collection of Victorian painting. The compositional device of a human figure emerging from or merging with a tree drew on a long tradition in European art from Ovid's Metamorphoses, allowing Burne-Jones to explore the permeable boundary between the human and the natural world.

Large oil on canvas with a vertical format suited to the tree-and-figure composition. The intertwining of the human form with the almond tree's branches required careful compositional integration, and Burne-Jones achieves this with elegant linear invention. Surface treatment contrasts rough bark texture with smooth flesh.