King Cophetua & the beggar maid by Will Jones

This painting took Burne-Jones a long time to complete, with complicated glazes; and I always found it extremely stiff and unyielding, like so many of his paintings: he was a masterful painter, but he took an age over his paintings and would have had to, in order to achieve the finish he did. To be honest, I dislike his work quite strongly! His figures were like statues, the draperies enveloping them as stiff as stone - your painting is nothing like his, because you've not laboured over it for months as he almost certainly did (more likely years) - I don't think, to be honest, that you, or anyone, can even begin to approach his work unless you're prepared to immerse yourself in his thinking and to take the time he did to complete his works... And to be entirely honest, I think you'd be daft to try..... Burne-Jones was a bit like James Joyce; he took his particular art form to his very own level, and no one else could, or should, follow him there... You could say of many artists that you like their work or you don't, and leave it at that: in Burne-Jones' case, I think you can say you either like his work or you don't, but for goodness's sake just leave him alone on his lofty hill and don't try to emulate him: he will lead you nowhere because he stands, for better or for worse, alone. I think he's quite a dangerous master to follow; but I've never doubted he was a master nonetheless. I quite like your painting, but it's nowhere near a Burne-Jones - you're much too free and easy - I like that, but B-J really wouldn't have done: following Burne-Jones will lead you to a meticulously careful technique, laboured over and precise; unless you really want to go that way - I'd choose another example to follow. B-J had wonderful, subtle touches in his paint handling, but .. he did produce some immensely gloomy paintings, on a very schematic basis. This one was one of many, and the composition is archaic as well.

I think that if you read my comments that I am not trying to emulate Burne Jones, I just like the painting. I thought that the comments section was for constructive comments on the work presented, not a diatribe on your likes or dislikes on the original.Do us all a favour & keep the comments short & relevant