Georgiana, Lady Burne-Jones (Birmingham, 21 July 1840 – 2 February 1920) was a painter and engraver, and the second oldest of the
Macdonald sisters
The Macdonald sisters were four English women of part-Scottish descent born during the 19th century, notable for their marriages to well-known men. Alice, Georgiana, Agnes and Louisa were the daughters of Reverend George Browne Macdonald (1805–18 ...
. She was married to
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James ...
artist
Edward Burne-Jones
Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, (; 28 August, 183317 June, 1898) was a British painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood which included Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Millais, Ford Madox Brown and Holman Hun ...
, and was also the mother of painter
Philip Burne-Jones
Sir Philip William Burne-Jones, 2nd Baronet (1 October 1861 – 21 June 1926) was the first child of the British Pre-Raphaelite artist Sir Edward Burne-Jones and his wife Georgiana Macdonald. He became a well-known painter in his own right, pr ...
, aunt of novelist
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work.
...
and Prime Minister
Stanley Baldwin
Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, (3 August 186714 December 1947) was a British Conservative Party politician who dominated the government of the United Kingdom between the world wars, serving as prime minister on three occasions, ...
, confidante and friend of
George Eliot
Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively Mary Anne or Marian), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She wro ...
,
William Morris
William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...
, and
John Ruskin
John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and politi ...
. She was a Trustee of the
South London Gallery
The South London Gallery, founded 1891, is a public-funded gallery of contemporary art in Camberwell, London. Until 1992, it was known as the South London Art Gallery, and nowadays the acronym SLG is often used. Margot Heller became its direc ...
and was elected to the parish Council of
Rottingdean
Rottingdean is a village in the city of Brighton and Hove, on the south coast of England. It borders the villages of Saltdean, Ovingdean and Woodingdean, and has a historic centre, often the subject of picture postcards.
Name
The name Rottingde ...
, near
Brighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
in Sussex.
She is known for the biography of her husband, ''The Memorials of Edward Burne-Jones'' and for publishing his ''
Flower Book''. She became the mother-in-law of
John William Mackail
John William Mackail (26 August 1859 – 13 December 1945) was a Scottish academic of Oxford University and reformer of the British education system.
He is most often remembered as a scholar of Virgil and as the official biographer of the so ...
, who married her daughter Margaret. Their children were the novelists
Angela Thirkell,
Denis Mackail
Denis George Mackail (3 June 1892 – 4 August 1971) was an English fiction writer. His work was popular in his time, but much of his work has been forgotten. However, ''Greenery Street'', a 1925 novel of early married life in upper middle-class ...
and Clare Mackail.
Early life
Georgiana, always called "Georgie", was born in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
on 21 July 1840, one of eight surviving children born to the Reverend George Browne Macdonald (1805–1868), a Methodist minister, and his second wife Hannah Macdonald, née Jones (1809–1875).
The Macdonald family moved frequently since the usual time in each of George's postings was three years, returning to Birmingham in September 1850, where Georgiana's elder brother Harry attended
King Edward's School. Through him Georgiana and her sisters were introduced to a group of students who would become known as the
Birmingham Set
The Birmingham Set, sometimes called the Birmingham Colony, the Pembroke Set or later The Brotherhood, was a group of students at the University of Oxford in England in the 1850s, most of whom were from Birmingham or had studied at King Edward's ...
or "Pembroke Set" at the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
, most of whom were from Birmingham or had studied at King Edward's. Among them was the young
Edward Burne-Jones
Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, (; 28 August, 183317 June, 1898) was a British painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood which included Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Millais, Ford Madox Brown and Holman Hun ...
(then plain Edward or Ned Jones). Edward went up to
Exeter College,
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, to study
theology
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
. There he met
William Morris
William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...
as a consequence of a mutual interest in poetry. The two Exeter undergraduates formed a very close and intimate society, which they called "The Brotherhood", with other members of the Birmingham set. The members of the Brotherhood read
John Ruskin
John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and politi ...
and
Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...
, visited churches, and worshipped the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
. At that time neither Burne-Jones nor Morris knew
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti (), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhoo ...
personally, but both were much influenced by his works, and met him by recruiting him as a contributor to their ''Oxford and Cambridge Magazine'' which Morris founded in 1856 to promote their ideas.
Under Rossetti's influence both Burne-Jones and Morris decided to become artists, and Burne-Jones left college before taking a degree to pursue a career in art.
![Dante Gabriel Rossetti Drawing of Georgiana Burne-Jones](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Dante_Gabriel_Rossetti_Drawing_of_Georgiana_Burne-Jones.jpg)
Georgiana moved to London with her family in 1853, following the death of her sister Carrie from tuberculosis; first to Sloane Square, and then to 33
Walpole Street
Walpole Street is a street in Chelsea, London, running north-west to south-east from King's Road to St Leonard's Terrace and Burton's Court.
The MacDonald sisters lived at no 33 in the 1850s.
In 1936, the Scottish architect G. Kay Green
Geor ...
. The family then moved to 17 Beaumont Street in Marylebone, in August 1856. After a brief family relocation to Manchester, Georgiana moved on her marriage into Russell Street in 1860.
[Burne-Jones (1904), ''The Memorials of Edward Burne-Jones'', Vol 1, 1904.]
Through her friendship with, and eventual engagement to Edward, at age 15 in June 1856, she was able to visit the studio where he worked with Rossetti and Morris. She was also introduced to John Ruskin. She said, "I wish it were possible to explain the impression made upon me as a young girl whose experience so far had been quite remote from art, by sudden and close intercourse with those to whom it was the breath of life... I felt in the presence of a new religion."
The artist
Ford Madox Brown
Ford Madox Brown (16 April 1821 – 6 October 1893) was a British painter of moral and historical subjects, notable for his distinctively graphic and often William Hogarth, Hogarthian version of the Pre-Raphaelite style. Arguably, his mos ...
and his wife Emma invited Georgiana to an extended stay at their London home in April, 1860, so that she could spend time with Edward, and the two were married two months later.
[Flanders (2001), pp. 72-73]
Marriage and family
![Edward Burne-Jones Green Summer (1864)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Edward_Burne-Jones_Green_Summer_%281864%29.jpg)
Georgiana and Edward married in Manchester on 9 June 1860. Georgiana was 19, and Edward 27. They had been engaged for four years to the day. Between them they had £30 and a deal table containing her engraving tools,
[Todd (2001), p. 71] but "Light-hearted indifference, however, to many things generally regarded as essential lent boldness to domestic arrangements, and I remember thinking it quite natural that in the middle of the morning I should ask our only maid - a pretty one - to stand for me that I may try to draw her; to which she, being good tempered as well as pretty, cheerfully consented."
Georgiana moved on her marriage into rented rooms in Great Russell Street.
The early years of their marriage were idyllic; they spent a summer with William and
Jane Morris
Jane Morris (née Burden; 19 October 1839 – 26 January 1914) was an English embroiderer in the Arts and Crafts movement and artists' model who embodied the Pre-Raphaelite ideal of beauty. She was a model and muse to her husband Willi ...
at
Red House, working together on decorating projects. Their first child, Philip, was born on 21 October 1861. But in the summer of 1864 little Phil caught
scarlet fever
Scarlet fever, also known as Scarlatina, is an infectious disease caused by ''Streptococcus pyogenes'' a Group A streptococcus (GAS). The infection is a type of Group A streptococcal infection (Group A strep). It most commonly affects childr ...
, and Georgiana soon contracted the dread disease, which brought on the premature birth of her second child, Christopher, who was also infected and died soon after. Georgiana was ill for months, and on her recovery refused to return to their old rooms where so much tragedy had occurred.
The family soon moved to 41 Kensington Square, and their daughter Margaret was born there in the summer of 1866.
After Georgiana's marriage, her sisters
Louisa, Alice and Agnes, married
Alfred Baldwin Alfred Baldwin may refer to:
* Alfred Baldwin (politician) (1841–1908), English businessman and Conservative MP, father of Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin
* Alfred C. Baldwin III (1936–2020), "shadow man" in the 1972 Watergate break-in
*Alfr ...
,
John Lockwood Kipling
John Lockwood Kipling (6 July 1837 – 26 January 1911) was an English art teacher, illustrator and museum curator who spent most of his career in India. He was the father of the author Rudyard Kipling.
Life and career
Lockwood Kipling was b ...
and
Edward Poynter
Sir Edward John Poynter, 1st Baronet (20 March 183626 July 1919) was an English painter, designer, and draughtsman, who served as President of the Royal Academy.
Life
Poynter was the son of architect Ambrose Poynter. He was born in Paris, Fr ...
respectively. Their youngest sister, Edith, cared for their parents in the family home and published a brief family history.
Artistic career
Georgiana attended the Government School of Design, which was part of the South Kensington museums complex in a building that is now part of the
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 ...
. Georgiana dismissed her time at the school in a single sentence in ''Memorials'' by saying she had not learned anything of importance.
In 1856, Georgiana took lessons from
Ford Madox Brown
Ford Madox Brown (16 April 1821 – 6 October 1893) was a British painter of moral and historical subjects, notable for his distinctively graphic and often William Hogarth, Hogarthian version of the Pre-Raphaelite style. Arguably, his mos ...
and remembered, "Madox Brown's incredible kindness in allowing me and Miss Seddon, sister to his dead friend
Thomas Seddon
: ''For the New Zealand politician see'' Tom Seddon
Thomas Seddon (London, 28 August 1821Cairo, 23 November 1856) was an English landscape painter associated with the Pre-Raphaelite movement, who painted colourful and highly detailed scenes of ...
the artist, to come and try to paint from a model in his studio".
There are few surviving examples of her artwork. One of her woodcuts and a small, exquisitely coloured watercolour and pencil rendering of a dead bird show a focus on small scale personal drawings and woodcuts to be used as book illustrations. The bird was done in 1857 and is held by the
Tate Britain
Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...
.
In 1861, the decorative arts firm Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co., "Fine Art Workmen in Painting, Carving, Furniture and the Metals," was jointly created by William Morris, Madox Brown, Burne-Jones,
Charles Faulkner, Rossetti,
P. P. Marshall, and
Philip Webb
Philip Speakman Webb (12 January 1831 – 17 April 1915) was a British architect and designer sometimes called the Father of Arts and Crafts Architecture. His use of vernacular architecture demonstrated his commitment to "the art of common ...
to create and sell medieval-inspired, handcrafted items for the home.
Jane Morris directed the embroidery arm, and Georgiana was employed painting tiles, but with the birth of her son Philip in October of that year she gave up the art studio to become a full-time caregiver. "I remember the feeling of exile with which I now heard through its closed door the well-known voices of friends together with Edward's familiar laugh, while I sat with my little son on my knee and dropped selfish tears on him as 'separator of companions and the terminator of delights'".
As late as 1868 she was still attempting to learn to etch but none of her work was published.
Friendships
![Frederick Hollyer Morris and Burne-Jones Families 1874](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/Frederick_Hollyer_Morris_and_Burne-Jones_Families_1874.jpg)
In 1867 the Burne-Jones family moved again, to the Grange, an 18th-century house set in a large garden in
North End Road,
Fulham
Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...
, London. For much of the 1870s Burne-Jones did not exhibit, following a spate of bitterly hostile attacks in the press, and a passionate affair (described as the "emotional climax of his life"
[Wildman (1998), p. 114]) with his Greek model
Maria Zambaco
Maria Zambaco (29 April 1843, London – 14 July 1914, Paris), born Marie Terpsithea Cassavetti ( el, Μαρία Τερψιθέα Κασσαβέτη, sometimes spelled Maria Tepsithia Kassavetti or referred to as Mary), was a British artist and m ...
which became a public scandal bordering on farce when she tried to commit
suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...
by throwing herself in
Regent's Canal
Regent's Canal is a canal across an area just north of central London, England. It provides a link from the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal, north-west of Paddington Basin in the west, to the Limehouse Basin and the River Thames in eas ...
in 1869.
During these difficult years Georgiana developed a close friendship with William Morris, whose wife Jane had fallen in love with Rossetti. Morris and Georgiana may have been in love, but if he asked her to leave her husband (as some of his poetry of these years suggests), she refused.
Of the Zambaco affair, which would sputter on for some years, Georgiana wrote to her dear friend
Rosalind Howard "Dearest Rosalind, be hard on no one in this matter, and exalt no one, and may we all come through it at last. I know one thing, and that is that there is enough love between Edward and me to last out a long life if it is given us".
In the end, the Burne-Joneses remained together for another 30 years, as did the Morrises. William Morris and Georgiana remained close until his death.
Another close friend was
George Eliot
Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively Mary Anne or Marian), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She wro ...
, whom Georgiana met in February 1868. The self-educated novelist encouraged her young friend to make up for her lack of education, and Georgiana studied to improve her scant French and German, and took Latin lessons. They remained close until Eliot's sudden marriage in 1880, of which Georgiana had no inkling in advance, left her feeling betrayed and untrusted. The rift was never mended, for Eliot died that December.
Public life
![Edward Poynter portrait of Georgiana Burne-Jones](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/Edward_Poynter_portrait_of_Georgiana_Burne-Jones.jpg)
In 1880 the Burne-Joneses bought Prospect House in
Rottingdean
Rottingdean is a village in the city of Brighton and Hove, on the south coast of England. It borders the villages of Saltdean, Ovingdean and Woodingdean, and has a historic centre, often the subject of picture postcards.
Name
The name Rottingde ...
, near
Brighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
in Sussex, as their holiday home, and in 1889 they acquired Aubrey Cottage next door to create
North End House, reflecting the fact that their Fulham home was in North End Road. Georgiana loved her new country house and garden, and became active in village affairs. Rottingdean became her home in way that it never was for her husband, who preferred the Grange and its studio.
Although she had abandoned organized religion at the time of her marriage, Georgiana's Methodist upbringing emphasized service to the community, and she had been a supporter of William Morris's
active role in the
Social Democratic Federation
The Social Democratic Federation (SDF) was established as Britain's first organised socialist political party by H. M. Hyndman, and had its first meeting on 7 June 1881. Those joining the SDF included William Morris, George Lansbury, James Con ...
and later the
Socialist League.
[Taylor (1987), pp. 155-56] Her close friends Morris,
John Ruskin
John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and politi ...
, and Rosalind Howard were all involved in progressive causes. Georgiana's first steps into public service came as a supporter of the
South London Fine Art Gallery, which had been established in 1891 to arts education for the working classes of South London. Georgiana encouraged the loan of her husband's paintings and those of others in her circle. She and
Walter Crane
Walter Crane (15 August 184514 March 1915) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered to be the most influential, and among the most prolific, children's book creators of his generation and, along with Randolph Caldecott and Ka ...
championed the addition of a library to the gallery. She became the only woman on the committee established to turn governance of the gallery over to the local authority, and discovered a talent for detail-oriented committee work.
In the mid-1880s Burne-Jones had begun hyphenating his name, merely - as he wrote later - to avoid "annihilation" in the mass of Joneses,
[Taylor (1987), pp. 150-51] and thus Georgiana became Lady Burne-Jones when her husband reluctantly accepted a
baronet
A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...
cy in 1894, partially at least as the title would descend to his son Philip, who ran with the smart set around the
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...
and cared very much for the honour. Jane Morris wrote that her husband had commented "Well, a man can be an ass for the sake of his children", but in general the Socialists of their circle and Georgiana herself were appalled.
In 1895, the new Lady Burne-Jones took her first steps into elected office, winning a seat on the parish council of her beloved Rottingdean (an office established by the
Local Government Act of 1894), to the apparent delight of both her husband and her old friend William Morris. She supported interests of the working class and women's issues, taking positions in her electioneering materials that were radical for the wife of a baronet and simply baffling to the villagers of Rottingden. But her day-to-day work in the parish focused on street lighting, fire brigades, and the provision of a village nurse for the community.
Widowhood and memorials
![Georgiana Burne-Jones by Edward Coley Burne-Jones](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Georgiana_Burne-Jones_by_Edward_Coley_Burne-Jones.jpg)
William Morris died after a lingering illness in October 1896. Edward Burne-Jones, who had been Morris's friend and partner since their college days, was devastated, and his health declined substantially. In 1898 he had an attack of influenza, and had apparently recovered, when he was again taken suddenly ill, and died of a heart attack in the early hours of 17 June 1898. Six days later, at the intervention of the Prince of Wales, a memorial service was held at
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...
. It was the first time an artist had been so honoured. Burne-Jones was cremated and his ashes were buried in a grave lined with moss and roses at the village church in Rottingdean.
Edward Burne-Jones had dreaded that someone unsympathetic would attempt his biography, and had asked his wife to take up the task. Georgiana, now aged 58, began work within months of Edward's death, reveling in memory. In a letter to
F. G. Stephens, she wrote, "There are so few left now who can recall those early days when Gabriel
ossettiwas in his glory and Edward and Morris sat at his feet and rejoiced in his light".
[Quoted in Taylor (1987), p. 166]
''Memorials of Edward Burne-Jones'' was published six years later, in 1904, in two volumes, and remains a standard reference. In keeping with the standards of the times, much of the vagaries of his personal life were glossed over (the years of the episode with Maria Zambaco fall neatly into a period somewhere between the end of Volume 1 and the beginning of Volume 2).
While she worked on the ''Memorials'', Georgiana remained active on the Rottingdean parish council, and her politics became if anything more radical as she grew older. At the outbreak of the
Boer War
The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...
, England was swept up in a wave of pro-war patriotism, but Georgiana opposed Britain's action in
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
. When news of the relief of the siege of
Mafeking arrived, Georgiana hung a banner at North End House reading "We have killed and also take possession," paraphrasing a verse from the Bible. Her nephew,
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work.
...
, rushed to her house to ensure she would not fall victim to an outraged mob of villagers.
In 1905, Georgiana arranged the publication of ''
The Flower Book'', a limited-edition facsimile of an album of watercolour flower paintings by Edward Burne-Jones. Three hundred copies were issued in cooperation with the
Fine Art Society
The Fine Art Society is a gallery based in both London and in Edinburgh's New Town (originally Bourne Fine Art, established 1978). The New Bond Street, London gallery closed its doors in August 2018 after being occupied by The Fine Art Society si ...
of London. It was printed by Henri Piazza, who hand-stencilled watercolour over
collotype
Collotype is a gelatin-based photographic printing process invented by Alphonse Poitevin in 1855 to print images in a wide variety of tones without the need for halftone screens. The majority of collotypes were produced between the 1870s and 1 ...
s using the
pochoir
Stencilling produces an image or pattern on a surface, by applying pigment to a surface through an intermediate object, with designed holes in the intermediate object, to create a pattern or image on a surface, by allowing the pigment to reach ...
technique to produce brilliant colours.
These copies of the ''Flower Book'' were sold in both bound and unbound form, with the unbound copies contained in a clamshell box.
Georgiana Burne-Jones died on 2 February 1920 after a short illness. Her son
Philip
Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...
, who had become a portrait painter, died in 1926. Her daughter Margaret married
John William Mackail
John William Mackail (26 August 1859 – 13 December 1945) was a Scottish academic of Oxford University and reformer of the British education system.
He is most often remembered as a scholar of Virgil and as the official biographer of the so ...
(1850–1945), the friend and biographer of Morris, and Professor of Poetry at Oxford from 1911 to 1916, and died in 1953. Their children were the novelists
Angela Thirkell and
Denis Mackail
Denis George Mackail (3 June 1892 – 4 August 1971) was an English fiction writer. His work was popular in his time, but much of his work has been forgotten. However, ''Greenery Street'', a 1925 novel of early married life in upper middle-class ...
.
In Portraits
![Edward Burne-Jones Portrait of Georgiana Burne-Jones 1863](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Edward_Burne-Jones_Portrait_of_Georgiana_Burne-Jones_1863.jpg)
Georgiana Burne-Jones, in common with others of her circle, is portrayed in a number of drawings and paintings by her husband and other artists. A portrait by her husband, dated 1863 and now in the
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BM&AG) is a museum and art gallery in Birmingham, England. It has a collection of international importance covering fine art, ceramics, metalwork, jewellery, natural history, archaeology, ethnography, local ...
portrays the 22-year-old Georgiana in a format heavily influenced by
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
portraiture, including the Latin inscription. It is one of Burne-Jones's first attempts at formal portraiture.
''Green Summer'', a watercolour by Burne-Jones painted at Red House in the summer of 1864 while Georgiana's sisters Louisa and Agnes were visiting London, depicts Louisa, Agnes, Jane Morris, and others listening to Georgiana reading aloud. A version in oils was painted in 1868.
A portrait of Georgiana drinking tea of ca. 1870 was painted by her brother-in-law, the artist
Edward Poynter
Sir Edward John Poynter, 1st Baronet (20 March 183626 July 1919) was an English painter, designer, and draughtsman, who served as President of the Royal Academy.
Life
Poynter was the son of architect Ambrose Poynter. He was born in Paris, Fr ...
.
Burne-Jones's best-known portrait of his wife was begun in 1883, and shows her holding an herbal, with her children in the background, Philip (aged about 22) at his easel and Margaret (about 17) standing behind him. Burne-Jones tinkered with the portrait for years, and it remained unfinished at his death. It was never exhibited in his lifetime.
[Wildman (1998), p. 259-60]
References
Notes
Bibliography
* (signed as "G B-J"; in two volumes
vol. 1vol. 2
*Flanders, Judith, ''A Circle of Sisters: Alice Kipling, Georgiana Burne-Jones, Agnes Poynter, and Louisa Baldwin'', Norton, 2001,
* Taylor, Ina, ''Victorian Sisters'' (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1987)
* Todd, Pamela, ''Pre-Raphaelites at Home'', New York, Watson-Guptill Publications, 2001,
*Wildman, Stephen:
Edward Burne-Jones: Victorian Artist-Dreamer', Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1998,
Further reading
* Lago, Mary, ed., ''Burne-Jones Talking: His Conversations 1895-1898 Preserved by His Studio Assistant Thomas Rooke'' (London: Murray, 1982)
* Macdonald, Edith, ''Annals of the Macdonald Family'' (London: H. Marshall & Son, 1928)
* Baldwin, A.W., ''The Macdonald Sisters'' (London: Davies, 1960)
* Daly, Gay, ''Pre-Raphaelites in Love'' (Glasgow: HarperCollins, 1989)
* Marsh, Jan and Nunn, Pamela Gerrish, ''Women Artists and the Pre-Raphaelite Movement'' (London: Virago, 1989)
* Orr, Clarissa Campbell, ed., ''Women in the Victorian Art World'' (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1995)
* Marsh, Jan, ''Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood,'' (London: 1985)
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Burne-Jones, Georgiana
1840 births
People from Birmingham, West Midlands
1920 deaths
20th-century British women writers
20th-century British writers
People from Fulham
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood artists' models
Victorian women writers
Victorian writers
19th-century British women writers
19th-century British writers
Wives of baronets
Burne-Jones family
Pre-Raphaelite painters
Pre-Raphaelite engravers
Female Pre-Raphaelite painters