Vespertina Quies

1891

“The Star of Bethlehem” is exhibited

The huge watercolour, painted for the corporation of Birmingham and dated 1890, was exhibited in 1891.

winter 1892 – 1893

New Gallery exhibition after a long illness

A long illness checked his work for a time; when he resumed, he was mostly occupied with decorative projects. In the winter of 1892–1893 an exhibition of his work was held at the New Gallery in London; his comparatively few portraits belong to this period.

1892–1898

Designs books for the Kelmscott Press

Between 1892 and 1898 he designed books for the Kelmscott Press; among the books with his illustrations is “The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer” (1896).

1893

Resigns as an Associate of the Royal Academy

Elected an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1885, Burne-Jones gave up the title in 1893.

1894

Sets and costumes for “King Arthur” at the Lyceum

Henry Irving commissioned him to design the sets and costumes for J. Comyns Carr’s “King Arthur”, with Irving as Arthur and Ellen Terry as Guinevere. Burne-Jones accepted with enthusiasm but was disappointed with much of the result, confiding to his friend May Gaskell that he hated the stage.

3 May 1894

Created a baronet

In November 1893 he was sounded out about a baronetcy on the recommendation of the outgoing Prime Minister, Gladstone; in February 1894 he legally changed his name to Burne-Jones, and on 3 May he was created a baronet of Rottingdean and of the Grange. The honour made him unhappy, disgusted his socialist friend Morris and was scorned by his wife; only his son Philip, who would inherit the title, truly wanted it.