Charles Fairfax Murray (1849 - 1919)

Charles Fairfax Murray was born in Bow, East London, in 1849. His father, a draper, may have been an amateur artist. Though lacking formal training, he showed promise as a draughtsman in a Westminster engineer's office. He was introduced to the Pre-Raphaelites, working as a studio assistant in 1866-1867 for both Burne-Jones and Rossetti. In 1867, he first exhibited his own work at the Royal Academy and later at the Grosvenor and New Galleries.

By 1870 he was employed by Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Company, chiefly in translating Burne-Jones's designs into studio cartoons. He also painted decorative panels for the firm's furniture.

Burne-Jones showed to John Ruskin copies made by Murray of the frescoes at the Campo Santa at Pisa, made by Murray in 1871 and Ruskin commissioned Murray to make similar watercolour copies in Siena and Rome in 1873. He settled in Florence after his marriage to Angelica Collivichi in Pisa in 1875. They had six children, (on his death, it was revealed that Murray had maintained a family in England as well). Whilst working for Ruskin as a copyist, he provided information on Old Master paintings to collectors. In 'Ariadne Florentina' (1875), Ruskin described Murray as someone "who already knows the minor secrets of Italian art better than I". He collected and dealt in Renaissance and contemporary art. His unique collection of Pre-Raphaelite drawings was sold to Birmingham Museum between 1903 and 1906. He died in 1909.