Burne-Jones, Sir Edward

Burne-Jones was born in Birmingham. He enrolled at Exeter College, Oxford intending to enter the church (an idea he later abandoned) and there met William Morris. In 1856 he first met Rossetti who was to greatly influence him. In 1860 he was an active member of Morris & Co., for whom he produced many tapestry and stained glass designs. Both these and his paintings evoke a dreamy, romantic feel which is strongly associated with the second phase of Pre-Raphaelitism. Both ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ and ‘Cupid and Psyche’ feature sleeping women: sleep, dreams and states of trance-like stillness are frequent in Burne-Jones’s work and must have exercised a compelling fascination for him. He was made a baronet in 1864.