SIR EDWARD COLEY BURNE-JONES BT ARA (1833-1898) Biography
PRE-RAPHAELITE (founded 1848) Biography

Description / Expertise

Burne-Jones is the most important artist in the second generation of Pre-Raphaelitism. His early works were influenced by Rossetti but in the mid-1860's his own distinctive style developed. This style reveals his admiration for the early Renaissance but is never merely derivative or decorative. His paintings always embody an emotional charge and often conceal private autobiographical meanings.

Burne-Jones was the son of a Birmingham frame maker and went up to Exeter College in Oxford in 1853 where he met his life-long friend William Morris. He had always been an enthusiastic amateur artist: at Oxford he read Ruskin and decided against his intention to enter the church, but to become a painter. Ruskin's writings and the collection of Thomas Combe in Oxford gave him an enthusiasm for the Pre-Raphaelites. At the beginning of 1856 he met Rossetti who encouraged him to move to London, gave him informal lessons and initiated his career. In 1857 he joined Rossetti painting murals in the Oxford Union building. He married in 1860 and in 1861 he was a founder member of Morris & Company. His early work was influenced by Rossetti's medievalism and at that time he produced very detailed finished pen and ink drawings and small intense watercolours.