’ Bell M i nia ure Series Of Paint e rs s t . Ed ed b G . C . O L . D . it y WILLIAMS N, itt VE AZ EZ. WI LLI AMSON L t . D L U G C t . Q By , i - U RN ON S . M LC LM ELL. SI R E. B E J E By A O B L . WI L S t F RA ANGE I CO . G C L I AM N L t. D . By O , i WA A AND HI S P PI S EDG M TTE U U L . By CU BE STALEY, B . A. F . W R . G A S A . C . ATEMAN TT , By T B . GEORGE ROMNEY . R WLEY CLEEVE By O . O HERS TO F LL W T O O . LONDON : G ORGE B LL SO E E NS, YORK S COVENT G D TREET, AR EN. Holl er o to F . y plz j ’ THE P R I R E TA LE O SS S . ’ Bell s M iniat ure Series Of Paint ers S I R EDWA RD B U R N E - J O N E S BY M ALCOLM BELL LONDON GEORGE BE LL SONS 1 90 1 FAM I L OJ T CHlSWlCK PRESS : CHA RLES WHI T I NG HA M A N D CO . TOOK COURT C H NCE RY LA N E LO N DO N . S , A , TABLE OF CONTE NTS C HAP. HI S B I . IRTH AND EDUCATION K II . HI S PICTORIAL WOR V WORR III . HI S DECORATI E V SO F O ART I . ME EATURES F HIS V R S . OU ILLUSTRATION CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF CHIEF PI C TURES . 7 1 LIST OF WORKS IN PUBLIC GALLERIES 74 A SHORT LIST OF PLACES WHERE WI N DOWS BY BURNE-JONES MAY BE SEEN 75 LI S T O F I L L U S TRATI ONS PAGE ’ THE PRIORESS S TALE THE MERCIFUL KNIGHT THE WINE OF CIRCE LOVE AMONG THE RUINS THE MIRROR OF VENUS TEMPERANTI A DANAE AND THE BRAZEN TOWER THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM S I R E DWA RD B U RNE- O N E S J , BART . CHAPTER I HI S BIRTH AN D EDUCATION DWARD BURNE-JONES was born in B n a on a8th Au 1 8 irmi gh m the of gust, 33 , of a Welsh family in no way especially distin uished can n g , as far as be ascertai ed . His - f w great grand ather, hich is the furthest gener n can atio to which it be traced back, is known n n but to have bee a schoolmaster at Ha bury, n n his first ames have bee already forgotten . n n B v n n His o ly so , Edward e i Jo es, married A n r K u Edith lvi , and had issue, a daughte et ra, and son R n a Edward ichard Jo es, who married za and n a Eli beth Coley, also had two childre , an son n daughter Edith, d the whose ame, con n n B n - n solidated by a hyphe i to ur e Jo es, is known throughout the civiliz ed world. There is no evidence to be discovered that B — 2 SI R EDWARD BURNE JONES n d n his extraordinary ge ius descen ed to him, eve in f an f . n directly, rom y of his orbears His stro g artistic bent would seem to be an altogether n n n ne in an as spo ta eous growth, a otable o y c e, but in this one the more so as it did not burst n forth until comparatively late i life. His earlier years were void of the slightest impulse towards the objects to which his later life was destined so n to be utterly give up . n in 1 8 n v n He we t 44, whe he was just ele e , to the Old school founded in 1 5 2 2 by the King Edward after whose title it is called . Here he n n worked dilige tly at the usual studies, and gai ed an n in an ra u i timate acqua t ce with classic lite t re, together with an unusual passion for it which n u f A he ourished thro ghout his li e . mong his classmates were many who have also distin uish d in a g e themselves diverse ways, p rticularly in n B L the Church, as wit ess ishop ightfoot and D B n n A octor e so , the late rchbishop of Cante r . F r hi f n n B bury o t s pro essio , i deed, urne ones was n to and n in himself purposi g qualify, whe 1 85 2 he won an exhibition which gave him the n of n n C w mea s e teri g Exeter ollege, it as with the full intention of taking orders in due course to f that he went up Ox ord. To the same college on the same day came up HI S BIRTH AN D E DUCATION 3 n n m n a other you g a , also of Welsh descent, also n n n i te ded for the Church, and the two fell i to an n n d d to n acquai tanceship, desti e spee ily ripe n f n s i had an in i to warmest rie d h p, which has fluence quite immeasurable upon the art of the as n r eh l t thirty years, for the you g st anger thus countered was the late William Morris . There for the first time it was revealed to young Burne-Jones that there existed a strange enchanting world beyond the humdrum of this T f daily life. he first suspicion of that land O f him n in S aery came to whe , a mall volume of l a Allin ham n poems by Willi m g , he fou d a little l n M n woodcut, E fe ere, sig ed with a curious f n o n t s D . G R . T entwineme t the i i ial . his art, strange and incomprehensible as it had proved t o most, found here a chord that thrilled to it in A a and utmost sympathy. little l ter he stood in ecstasy before a more important work by the s d . ame master, and bowe himself before him Mr . Combe, the director at that time of the a n P was n Cl rendo ress, a profou d admirer of the Pre-R h nd n ap aelite school, a possessed, amo g ’ R D ante s Celebration others, a picture by ossetti, ’ o B eatr ce s B if f/d a f i y . m W The Mus c Mas ter and other Poe s b . i , y ‘ h e Alling am(Routledg , SI R EDWARD BURNE-JONES By this he was aroused into an enthusiasm - The un which it were hard to over estimate. known man with the sweet-sounding foreign name who could conceive and body forth such visions became for him thenceforth a god-like To ain im hero . p t such pictures too would be t x possible, he felt, but to at empt to e press even falteringly the echo that they woke within him B seemed all that life was good for. y slow h n degrees, for all the w ile he was still worki g m resolutely at his acade ic studies, the firm con viction grew that these were merely waste of an n M energy, d he a d orris about the same time a n n Art c me to the , co clusio that , and not the C n a . hurch, was their predesti ate field of ction F or long he hugged the project to his breast in n n n sile ce, imparti g it to no one save that si gle friend 'but in the end his longing waxed too n him and stro g for , he resolved to look, at least, of upon the hero his choice . Towards the end of 1 855 it was that this de n an terminatio came to a head, d he set out for n London to act upo it . He found out that at W n M n in the College for orki g e , Great Titch was n n f field Street, there an eve i g class or drawing to which his hero condescended to v f n n gi e, ree of charge, some eve i gs every week, 6 SI R EDWARD BURNE—JONES a bachelor evening at his rooms the following R to night, at which ossetti had promised be n prese t. n n With a flutteri g heart he we t, and shook n an to st him by the ha d d spoke him, the proude Wh n and the happt st youth in all the city . e finally Rossetti asked him, as he asked every one if n n d to , he too was a pai ter, he ma age not n to admit that he was , but that he lo ged be, and having owned in answer to the question n r n to that he had do e some d awi gs, was made promise blushingly that he would bring them to the studio for consideration .