Muse 4: Cover Artist

The Golden Stairs, Sir Edward Coley Burnes-Jones (1833–1898)

               

Year: 1880
Medium: Oil paint on canvas
Dimensions: 2692 x 1168 mm
3162 x 1637 x 122 mm (with frame)

Credit: Tate Gallery, London, UK
Bequeathed by Lord Battersea 1924

Photo credit: Tate Gallery, London/Art Resource, NY

 

Sir Edward Coley Burnes-Jones, 1st Baronet, was a British artist and designer closely associated with the later phase of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, who worked closely with William Morris on a wide range of decorative arts as a founding partner in Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. Burne-Jones was closely involved in the rejuvenation of the tradition of stained glass art in Britain. In 1877, he was persuaded to show eight oil paintings at the Grosvenor Gallery (a new rival to the Royal Academy). These included The Beguiling of Merlin. The timing was right, and he was taken up as a herald and star of the new Aesthetic Movement. In addition to painting and stained glass, Burne-Jones worked in a variety of crafts; including designing ceramic tiles, jewellery, tapestries, and mosaics.

For more on Burnes-Jones' The Golden Stairs, see: 

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/burne-jones-the-golden-stairs-n04005