FLAMMA VESTALIS (1886) † NCM 1900-680 Again we see Burne-Jones’s beloved daughter, Margaret, who embodied the artist’s ideal of beauty, as the model for this painting. The Latin title refers to the Vestal Virgins of Rome, the ancient priestesses who tended the perpetual fire on the altar of the goddess Vesta. This portrait does not differ too greatly from the portrait of Margaret in which she is just herself. There is the same spiritual cast in both, and an emphasis on the preservation of her virtue. Begun before her marriage in 1888 to John William Mackail, the painting aligns Margaret with these chaste women, suggesting her innocence and purity. He often referred to Margaret as his ‘favourite companion’, and she would often read to him whilst he was in his studio.
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