Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones

The son of a gilder and framer, Edward Burne-Jones was born in Birmingham where he received his first education. In 1852 he went to Exeter College, Oxford, with the intention of entering the Church. Here he met William Morris who became his life long friend. Inspired by reading Ruskin and fascinated by Pre-Raphaelite paintings, they decided to devote themselves to art. Burne-Jones never finished his studies at University and he settled in London in 1856, where he was introduced to Rossetti who gave him his first painting lessons. Five years later Burne-Jones founded, together with Madox Brown and Morris, the firm Morris Marshall Faulkner and Company, inspired by Ruskin's theories on Art.