There is a finished watercolour of 1871 and two known finished oil versions of Hope by Edward Burne-Jones; the earlier version, 1872-1877, is in the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia and the later version of 1896 is to be found in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts. The figure of Hope also forms part of the Faith, Hope, Charity series in the three-part window in Christ Church Cathedral Oxford; the present painting is based on that design. Like all great artists of popular acclaim who came under pressure to produce works for an ever-demanding public, Burne-Jones had studio assistants. His use of studio assistants started early in his career when he was a partner of Morris & Co. in the 1860s. The company had been given a commission to decorate and furnish a house for the artist Myles Birket Foster. The scheme included paintings by Burne-Jones, who employed his first studio assistant Charles Fairfax Murray to paint the series on the theme of Princess Sabia for the house under his supervision. These paintings are now in public and private collections and some have been recently exhibited in the Burne-Jones Retrospective exhibition (Edward Burne-Jones, Victorian Artist-Dreamer, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, June-September 1998, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, October 1998 - January 1999 and the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, March -June 1999.) as by Burne-Jones. As Burne-Jones’s fame spread and demand grew, he increased his use of studio assistants, but never to more than three or four at any one time. Venus Discordia, another studio production, has appeared in many recent major museum shows where Burne-Jones’s work has been represented. At his death, many such paintings remained in his studio. Spes Hope in Prison, was one of those works. Bill Waters has suggested that this painting could have been mainly executed by Frances Lathrop, an American who worked in the artist’s studio at about the time he believes that the present picture was executed, namely c. 1874; It has a softer manner with less emphatic outlines associated with the two better known assistants (T. M Rooke and Charles Fairfax Murray). Or it may be by J. M. Strudwick, who was also working in the studio at that time. The more domestic presentation of the room, figure and mood is a feature of this artist.
The Artist's Studio Sir Philip Burne-Jones Bt., the artist's son Christie's London, Sale of the remaining works by the late Sir Edward Burne-Jones Bt., June 5th 1919, lot 169, (50gns) Gooden & Fox Herbert Fleishhacker to 1928; gifted to: California Palace of the Legion of Honour, San Francisco The Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco; to 1999
San Francisco, California Palace of the Legion of Honour Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute of Art