28th August 2015
On the 28th of August 1833 Edward Burne-Jones was born in Bennett’s Hill, Birmingham.
It was in January 1853, when Burne-Jones began attending Exeter College in Oxford, that he met William Morris, and so began their life long friendship. They both found a common passion in the writings of Thomas Carlyle and John Ruskin, and they were both fascinated with all things medieval. After visiting French Cathedrals in 1855, both decided to follow their interest in art, instead of entering the Church as was their original plan.
The company Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Company, whom you will have seen us blog about in the past, was founded partly by Burne-Jones. He was the company’s principle designer of stained glass, it became his area of expertise within the business, creating more than 500 of them. In his early work you can see he worked mainly in an influenced style of Rossetti, but after 1859, a trip to Italy inspired his own style, which also incorporated a feel of the Pre-Raphaelites.
He sold decorative pieces in Morris’ Merton Abbey, such as jewellery and tapestries. He was very inspired by these kind of arts, and exhibited them once before he resigned from the Associate of the Royal Academy, in 1893.
He died in 1898 on the 17th of June, of heart failure, and still to this day is remembered for his work in the pre- raphaelites movement, and his art which is incredibly beautiful.
We have a whole board on Pinterest if you are interested in seeing more pre-raphelite artwork! You can find it here.
Posted in Uncategorized by Laura