Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1898)

Edward Coley Burne-Jones was born in Birmingham in 1833, son of a gilder and framemaker. Educated at King Edward VI School, Birmingham and Exeter College, Oxford, where he met William Morris. Both intended to enter the Church, but having visited northern French cathedrals in 1855, they decided to become artists.

Burne-Jones, a largely self-taught artist, took part in the Oxford Union mural campaign in 1857. He joined the Hogarth Club in 1858 and toured Italy in 1859.

He married Georgiana Macdonald in 1860 and she and John Ruskin accompanied him on his second visit to Italy in 1862; thereafter he began to develop a personal style which combined elements of Pre-Raphaelitism with classical art and the Old Masters. Later, Burne-Jones was involved in a scandalous affair with Maria Zambaco who modelled for him.

His works at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1877 and at the Exposition Universelle, Paris in 1878 received popular acclaim. Later that year he was a witness for Ruskin in the notorious libel case with James McNeill Whistler.

After 1875 Burne-Jones was the principal designer for Morris's firm. As an Associate of the Royal Academy from 1885, he exhibited only once, resigning in 1893. He was created a baronet in 1894.