Biography for Sir Edward Burne-Jones

Employment

Artist. Burne-Jones was a Birmingham native and a major British artist of the 19th century. His art influenced major European painters of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Birmingham Museums and Art houses the largest collection of his work under one roof. The collection demonstrates the range of his artistic style from Medievalist, Pre-Raphaelite, Symbolist, Aesthetic artist to Arts and Crafts designer.

Son of Edward Richard Jones, framer and gilder, and Elizabeth Coley, who died six days after his birth. Attended King Edward VI Grammar School, Birmingham. 1852, attended Exeter College, Oxford, as a divinity student where he first met William Morris (1834-96).

1855, received his first artistic commission for Archibald MacLaren's (1819-84) 'The Fairy Family of Europe'. Although untrained as an artist, he took inspiration from the art of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. In 1857 he was tutored by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-82). First commission to design stained glass, for James Powell & Sons, of The Good Shepherd. Creates many pen and ink designs, imitative of Rossetti. Began his first works in paint, particularly the mural of Nimuë Luring Merlin, on the bays of the Old Debating Chamber in the Oxford Union Society. Also creates first work in oil, The Blessed Damozel, based on Rossetti's eponymous poem.

Visited Italy four times between 1859-1873. During these visits he made copies of Old Masters in early visits he was influenced by the Medieval, during his later visits it was the Renaissance artists Botticelli and Michelangelo who interested him.

1860, married Georgiana Macdonald on 9 June in Manchester. Utilised her facial features as the model for his female subjects for many years.

1861, a founding partner of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. Designs stained glass cartoons, textiles, including embroidery and ceramic tiles.

1866, his medievalist tendencies replaced by a Venetian sensibility in his painting, such as in 'Le Chant d'Amour'. Strongly influenced by Simeon Solomon (1840-1905) and Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909); begins to explore classical sculpture, which is further enhanced by his introduction to the Anglo-Greek community in Kensington, particularly the Ionides family. Receives first commission from Euphrosyne Ionides Cassavetti, uses her daughter, Maria Zambaco (1843-1914), as a model. Zambaco later becomes his primary muse and model.

1875, now the sole designer of stained glass for Morris & Co.

1885, elected Associate of the Royal Academy; and Honorary President of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, visiting Birmingham in the autumn. Started work on the largest watercolour of the 19th century, 'The Star of Bethlehem', completed in 1891. The watercolour was commissioned for Birmingham's collection.

Shortly before his death, Burne-Jones completed an unfinished painting begun in 1865, 'The Prioress' Tale', which exemplified a fusion of the various styles worked on throughout his forty-two year career.