Edward Francis Burney (1760–1848) was an English artist. His middle name is sometimes given as "Francisco" or "Francesco".

Life

Burney was born in Worcester on 7 September 1760, the son of Richard Burney and Elizabeth Humphries. The

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some m ...

Charles Burney was his uncle and the writer Frances (or "Fanny") Burney was his cousin. He studied at the Royal Academy Schools from 1776, where he received encouragement from Sir Joshua Reynolds. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1780 until 1803. His work included historical subjects and portraits of friends and family. A portrait of his cousin Frances was engraved as a frontispiece to her works, and in 1780 he exhibited three drawings illustrating her novel ''

Evelina ''Evelina, or the History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World'' is a novel written by English author Fanny Burney and first published in 1778. Although published anonymously, its authorship was revealed by the poet George Huddesford in ...

'', which were engraved for a 1791 edition of the work. Much of his work was done for book illustrations, including a series for an edition of Milton's '' Paradise Lost''. Handel-Westminster

Satirical works

In the 1820s Burney painted four large watercolours satirising contemporary musical and social life: ''The Waltz'', ''The Elegant Establishment for Young Ladies'' (both

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

), ''Amateurs of Tye-Wig Music'' and ''The Glee Club; or, The Triumph of Music'' (both Yale Center for British Art), possibly with the intention of publishing prints after them. They were never engraved, but he did work up ''Amateurs of Tye-Wig Music'' into an oil painting, now in the collection of the

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

. The picture draws on the debate over the relative virtues of modern music (exemplified by

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

and Mozart) as against that of earlier composers, such as Handel, whose bust overlooks the ramshackle band of musicians in the painting, and Corelli, one of whose pieces they are playing. Burney's uncle Charles took a leading part in the argument, on the side of the modernists.

Death

Burney died in London on 16 December 1848, at the age of 88. He never married.

References

Sources

External links

Burney Centre at McGill University
* * An engraving by

William Thomas Fry William Thomas Fry (1789–1843) was a British engraver. He occasionally exhibited his engravings at the Suffolk Street exhibition. Works Fry worked chiefly in stipple. He engraved four portraits for Fisher, Son, & Co.'s ''National Portrait Ga ...

of a painting by Burney in Forget Me Not, 1824, with an accompanying poem by

Letitia Elizabeth Landon Letitia Elizabeth Landon (14 August 1802 – 15 October 1838) was an English poet and novelist, better known by her initials L.E.L. The writings of Landon are transitional between Romanticism and the Victorian Age. Her first major breakthrough ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Burney, Edward Francis 1760 births 1848 deaths Artists from Worcester, England 18th-century English painters English male painters 19th-century English painters Edward Francis 19th-century English male artists 18th-century English male artists