Burne-Jones by Frederick Wedmore
Sir Edward Burne-Jones died suddenly of angina pectoris following influenza, aged sixty-five, after forty years of laborious work. He is placed as one of the greater practitioners of the second generation of English Pre-Raphaelites, having, unlike the first generation (including Millais), never changed the direction of his tastes or methods, though his capacity varied unequally over time. He was never an absolutely faultless draughtsman of the human figure, but his figure-drawing showed poetic, almost feminine tenderness, dreamy grace rather than strength, and an elegant diffuseness never tense or terse, visible from his earliest water-colours to his latest work at this year's New Gallery. A pupil of Rossetti so far as he was anyone's pupil, he began as a water-colour painter, romantic and affluent in colour. His work spans designs for painted glass, mosaic, tapestry, decorated pages such as the Morris translation of Virgil and the Chaucer, and large pictures shown at the Grosvenor Gallery. His chief influence was the Italians of the earlier Renaissance, artists of intention more than execution rather than great draughtsmen like the Greek sculptors, Michael Angelo, Raphael, Ingres, Leighton or Bouguereau. He drew with the ease of conversation, rarely dramatic, but a master of quaint, simple, and sometimes elaborate grace, especially in his record of maidenhood seen in the "Golden Staircase" and "Venus's Looking-Glass." His girls could be radiant or doleful; his men had wistfulness but little energy or decision, and were even somewhat sexless; childhood held little interest for him. He painted an imagined world rather than his own day or Kensington, fed by mid-Italian art, legend, and classic lore. His middle period, including the "Chant d'Amour," showed a wonderful gift of colour, and he was a patient draughtsman of flower and herb, with backgrounds of mystic quaintness recalling Dürer. His greatest accomplishment was his composition of line, filling space without overcrowding, and his faculty of patterning faultless webs of subtle line over his surfaces.
By Frederick Wedmore · First published 1904 · Genre: Art Criticism, Biography, Obituary · 1,379 words
First lines
Unexpectedly and suddenly, from an attack of _angina pectoris_, following upon the pest of influenza, Sir Edward Burne-Jones died yesterday morning. He was sixty-five years old, and he looked worn for his age -- a man of delicate appearance, and certainly of great sensitiveness; yet, as it had seemed already, of much staying power, -- a ‘creaking gate,' as his friends thought, not so very regretfully, since destined, in all probability, to ‘hang long. ' But now his work and life have been arrested; the laborious days which he had lived for forty years of manhood are for ever over, and the wan face of the untiring craftsman, which bent eagerly over his task, and brightened with quick sensibility in the relaxation of the social hour, is for ever still. ‘Finis' is written to the volume of achievement of one of the greater practitioners in what we may call the second generation of the English Pre-Raphaelites.
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Genres
- Art Criticism — The work extensively analyzes Burne-Jones's artistic techniques, style, draughtsmanship, composition, and use of color, examining his strengths and weaknesses as a painter with detailed critical assessment.
- Biography — The piece chronicles Burne-Jones's life, career trajectory spanning forty years, his evolution as an artist, his influences, and his historical significance within the Pre-Raphaelite movement.
- Obituary — The work opens with and is framed around Burne-Jones's death, serving as a memorial piece that reflects on his life and legacy immediately following his passing.
- Art History — The essay contextualizes Burne-Jones within the Pre-Raphaelite movement, the second generation of the movement, and his relationship to Italian Renaissance influences and other artistic traditions.
Tags
Pre-Raphaelite movement · Victorian painting · English art · art criticism · obituary · figure drawing · decorative design · water-color painting · stained glass design · tapestry design · Renaissance influence · romantic aesthetics
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Burne-Jones is listed on Textopian as an essay by Frederick Wedmore, dated 1904 CE.
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- Work type: Essay
- Author: Frederick Wedmore
- Date: 1904 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Art Criticism, Biography, Obituary, Art History, Literary Essay
- Length: 1,379 words
- Structure: 1 section, 7 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Difficult (College Level)
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