Hope

I brought this piece of artwork home from the auction yesterday

and need help learning more about it.

It was sold on a table full of Maxfield Parrish prints.

The woman is holding a blooming tree branch.

She appears to be getting something off the ceiling behind

the curtain at the window.  There are bars on the window.

  And her left ankle is chained to the wall.

Is it an illustration to a story?  

Any help would be appreciated!

******

UPDATE!

After searching the picture in better light I found 

the artists signature.  Burne-Jones.

And here's what Wiki says about the painting ~

Hope is a late oil painting by the Pre-Raphaelite artist 

Edward Burne-Jones.  It was painted on commission for

Mrs. George Marston Whitin of Whitinville, Massachusetts in 1896.

Mrs. Whitin originally requested a painting of a dancing figure, but

Burne-Jones, devastated by the recent death of his long-time friend

and partner William Morris, struggled with the work and wrote to ask

if a painting of Hope would be an acceptable alternative.  The result was

an allegory in the Renaissance fashion, with the bound personification

of Hope reaching skyward despite her bars.

The painting is based on an 1871 watercolor by Burne-Jones.

The watercolor is likely painted over the original cartoon for one of

a set of stained glass designs of the Christian virtues of Faith, Hope,

and Charity created by Burne-Jones for Morris, Marshall, Faulknor

and Company.  A three-light window based on Burne-Jones' designs

was commissioned for the nave of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford.

The stained glass designs were also used for a set of windows at 

St. Margaret's Church, Hopton-On-Sea. 

The oil pinting of Hope was donated to the Museum of Fine Arts, 

Boston by Mrs. Whitin's daughters in her memory.

And there you have it!

♥