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A pupil of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and a protégé of John Ruskin
Edward Burne-Jones belonged to the second generation of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood,
creating a narrative style of romantic symbolism steeped in medieval legend and fused with
the influence of the Italian Rennaissance. He became one of the most sought-after painters in Europe.
Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1898) and William Morris (1834-1896) met whilst at Oxford taking Holy Orders. Here they gained inspiration from the writings of Ruskin, and decided they wanted to become artists. Ruskin saw the work of Rossetti and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood as 'the dawn of a new era of art', and Burne-Jones went to London to seek out Rossetti. |
Rossetti had a contract with Powell's Glass Works to design stained glass windows, and he introduced Burne-Jones to them. Burne-Jones worked for them from 1857 until William Morris formed 'The Firm' in 1861. Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co, later to become Morris & Co, had as members Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Philip Webb, Edward Burne-Jones and Ford Madox Brown.
They created murals, carvings, stained glass, metal work, embroidery and furniture. Their success was mainly due to Morris and Webb's associations with architects, church decoration being their most important activity. When Burne-Jones joined The Firm in 1861, his job as stained glass window designer at Powell's went to his friend Henry Holiday.
Burne-Jones died on June 17th 1898. Six days later at the intervention of the Prince of Wales, a memorial service was held at Westminster Abbey, the first time any artist had been so honoured.
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There are many places where the paintings and drawings of Burne-Jones may be seen. The main collections are The Tate Gallery in London and the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. Carlisle Art Gallery at Tullie House has a good selection of works. The William Morris Gallery at Walthamstow in London has a representative selection of tiles, windows, embroidery, paintings and drawings produced by the Morris Company.
A comprehensive book on the work of Edward Burne-Jones is 'Burne-Jones' by Martin Harrison and Bill Waters, published by Barrie & Jenkins in 1973. The text is by Bill Waters from Cockermouth, who was formerly assistant curator of Tullie House Museum in Carlisle. The sections on stained glass are by Martin Harrison, an expert in this subject, who has also written the book 'Victorian Stained Glass', published by Barrie and Jenkins, in 1980. A good introduction is 'Edward Burne-Jones' by Ann S Dean, published by Pitkin at £2.99.
A major exhibition of Burne-Jones work took place recently at New York, Birmingham and Paris. It contained many examples of Burne-Jones work including many picture from private collections. The exhibition catalogue, 'Edward Burne-Jones Victorian Artist-Dreamer' by Stephen Wildman (curator of the Ruskin Library www.lancs.ac.uk/users/ruskinlib/default.htm) and John Christian, both of whom are noted authorities on Burne-Jones, is published (1998) by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and contains 266 illustrations. It is now the most comprehensive book on the work of Edward Burne-Jones.
Burne-Jones was born in Birmingham on 28 August 1833, and Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery has a good collection of paintings and drawings by Burne-Jones, and also the 'Holy Grail' tapestries based on his designs. See the Museums's page about Burne-Jones at: www.birmingham.gov.uk/burnejones. Nearby St Paul's Cathedral has some fine windows by Burne-Jones. He died in London on 16 June 1898, and is buried at Rottingdean, Sussex, where he had a country home.
After the death of Morris and Burne-Jones, the Company continued under J.H. Dearle and W.H. Knight. Several windows in Cumbria are from this late Morris period - Wigton, Scotby, Cliburn, Plumpton Wall, Eaglesfield, Hensingham, Muncaster, Ulverston St Mary, Allithwaite and Field Broughton. The Morris firm ended with the death of Dearle in 1940.
Too see high quality photographs of the windows at some of these churches, see Stained Glass Photography.
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