Edward Burne-Jones: Pre-Raphaelite Visionary


Excellent exhibition at Tate Britain looking at the work of the Pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones.

I loved the fact this exhibition included all mediums he worked in not just paintings but also tapestries, furniture and book illustration. They were shown together and given equal weight. There was a great phrase in the commentary which summed up his ethos,  he “remained committed to the ideal of beauty throughout his career. For him it represented the antidote to the crude ugliness and rampant materialism he believed was degrading modern Britain”. Can we have him back please?!

The paintings were beautiful and I loved the detail in them however after a while they can feel a bit overwhelming. It was nice to have the room of portraits in the middle of the show to rest your eye from the mass of flowers, drapery and languid figures. I was also impressed by his drawings which were realistic and detailed. “Going to the Battle” in the first room was a stunning example.

It was a lovely idea to use the large room to show pictures he’d shown at the Grosvenor Gallery which was established as an alternative to the conservative Royal Academy. As many of these show men as the victims of female power they were seen as controversial at the time. I’d not realised before that the women in the “Golden Stairs” were all real people including his daughter and Gladstone’s daughter. (And yes I am singing Gilbert and Sullivan’s Patience as I write this “Greenery-Yallery Grosvenor Gallery”!)

My favourite two rooms reunited two series of paintings of which he made to decorate houses. “The Briar Rose” series included the ten small panels Burne-Jones  painted once it had been purchased to join the works in the rooms and shown was with the William Morris verses that had been written beneath each picture to recreate the look of the room.

Closed on 24 February 2019

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