Edward Burne-Jones

Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones was a British artist and designer closely associated with the later phase of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, who worked closely with William Morris on a wide range of decorative arts as a founding partner in Morris, Marshall, Faulkner, and Company.

Burne-Jones was closely involved in the rejuvenation of the tradition of stained glass art in England; his stained glass works include the windows of St. Philip's Cathedral, Birmingham, St Martin's Church in Brampton, Cumbria, the church designed by Philip Webb, All Saints, Jesus Lane, Cambridge and in Christ Church, Oxford.

Burne-Jones's early paintings show the heavy inspiration of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, but by the 1860s Burne-Jones was discovering his own artistic "voice". In 1877, he was persuaded to show eight oil paintings at the Grosvenor Gallery (a new rival to the Royal Academy). These included The Beguiling of Merlin. The timing was right, and he was taken up as a herald and star of the new Aesthetic Movement. In addition to painting and stained glass, Burne-Jones worked in a variety of crafts; including designing ceramic tiles, jewellery, tapestries, mosaics and book illustration, most famously designing woodcuts for the Kelmscott Press's Chaucer in 1896.

To some, Burne-Jone's work is too sentimental. But to others, it is work on a grand and mystical scale. His technique is flawless and through the use of form, color and a dash of drama, the work evokes a majestic historical significance that draws the viewer in. Moody, often to the point of meloncholy, one cannot be but moved when in the presence of a Burne-Jones artwork.

Comments

[Yuyun]

I love the deMorgan. That is an interesting idea, the whole Disney picsrens attraction for birds and animals, and the Pre-Raphaelite love of nature. Of course, many of the fairy tales were written down and published in the 18th and 19th centuries, when the study of nature was becoming more prevalent, and one always sees the heroines of these tales being helped by creatures of some sort. There is definitely something to be investigated there. You have piqued my researching interest, I must admit. Let's think on this further, and see what we come up with, shall we?