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The Oxford Union murals (1857–1859) are a series of mural decorations in the Oxford Union library building. The series was executed by a team of Pre-Raphaelite artists including Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones. The paintings depict scenes from 
The process of painting the murals was notoriously chaotic. Ruskin said that the artists were "all the least bit crazy and it's very difficult to manage them." As the murals were painted directly onto the wall without plaster or adequate underpainting they began to suffer decay very quickly. William Morris later completely repainted his design for the ceiling.
Rossetti's main work was ''Sir Lancelot's Vision of the Holy Grail''. Burne-Jones painted ''Nimue brings Sir Peleus to Ettarde after their Quarrel''. Morris executed ''Sir Palomides' jealousy of Sir Tristram and Iseult'', though his work has been described as “poorly and clumsily painted, but the background of leaves and flowers” revealed his skills in design.C. Wood, ''The Pre-Raphaelites'', London: Seven Dials, 1981, p. 110
Jane Burden, who would later marry William Morris, first appears as a model in the Oxford murals. Burden was noticed by Rossetti and Burne-Jones when she was visiting an Oxford theatre with her sister. Struck by Jane's beauty, they sought her to model for them.
In 1906 Rossetti's Pre-Raphaelite colleague William Holman Hunt, who had not been directly involved, wrote a book on the history of the decorations.
The Oxford Union murals (1857–1859) are a series of mural decorations in the Oxford Union library building. The series was executed by a team of Pre-Raphaelite artists including Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones. The paintings depict scenes from Arthurian myth
The Matter of Britain is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. It was one of the three great Western ...
.
The murals were commissioned by John Ruskin and the subject was probably chosen as a result of earlier Pre-Raphaelite interest in Arthurian themes, such as the illustrations to Edward Moxon's 1857 edition of Tennyson. In addition to Rossetti, Morris and Burne-Jones, several other artists agreed to contribute. These were the painters Val Prinsep
Valentine Cameron "Val" Prinsep (14 February 18384 November 1904) was a British painter of the Pre-Raphaelite school.
Early life
Born in Calcutta, India, he was the second child of Henry Thoby Prinsep, a civil servant of the British Raj, and ...
, Arthur Hughes, J. H. Pollen, John Roddam Spencer Stanhope and the sculptor Alexander Munro.Clare A. P. Willsdon, ''Mural painting in Britain 1840-1940: image and meaning'', Oxford University Press, 2004, p.258.
The process of painting the murals was notoriously chaotic. Ruskin said that the artists were "all the least bit crazy and it's very difficult to manage them." As the murals were painted directly onto the wall without plaster or adequate underpainting they began to suffer decay very quickly. William Morris later completely repainted his design for the ceiling.
Rossetti's main work was ''Sir Lancelot's Vision of the Holy Grail''. Burne-Jones painted ''Nimue brings Sir Peleus to Ettarde after their Quarrel''. Morris executed ''Sir Palomides' jealousy of Sir Tristram and Iseult'', though his work has been described as “poorly and clumsily painted, but the background of leaves and flowers” revealed his skills in design.C. Wood, ''The Pre-Raphaelites'', London: Seven Dials, 1981, p. 110
Jane Burden, who would later marry William Morris, first appears as a model in the Oxford murals. Burden was noticed by Rossetti and Burne-Jones when she was visiting an Oxford theatre with her sister. Struck by Jane's beauty, they sought her to model for them.
In 1906 Rossetti's Pre-Raphaelite colleague William Holman Hunt, who had not been directly involved, wrote a book on the history of the decorations.
Notes
{{Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood Murals in the United Kingdom Paintings by Dante Gabriel Rossetti Paintings in Oxford 1850s paintings 19th-century murals Pre-Raphaelite paintings Paintings by Edward Burne-Jones Works by William Morris