The Blessed Damozel

1855–1856

Discovers Malory’s “Le Morte d’Arthur”

At twenty-two Burne-Jones discovered Thomas Malory’s “Le Morte d’Arthur”. The book became an inexhaustible source for him: he went on making drawings and paintings of its subjects for the rest of his life.

1856

Meets Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Admirers of Rossetti’s work, Burne-Jones and Morris met him by recruiting him as a contributor to the “Oxford and Cambridge Magazine”, founded by Morris in 1856 to promote the ideas of their Oxford “Brotherhood”. Under Rossetti’s influence both decided to become artists, and Burne-Jones, who had meant to enter the Church, left Oxford without taking a degree.

1856

Engaged to Georgiana MacDonald

Burne-Jones became engaged to Georgiana (Georgie) MacDonald, the sister of an old school friend, who was training as a painter; they married on 9 June 1860. Through her sisters he became brother-in-law to the painter Edward Poynter and uncle by marriage to Rudyard Kipling and Stanley Baldwin.

1857

First stained-glass cartoon, for Bradfield College

For Bradfield College he made the first of what became an immense series of cartoons for stained glass. Windows from his designs are still found in churches across the UK, with examples in the US and Australia.

1860

Married: Georgiana Burne-Jones

1861

Co-founds Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co.

William Morris founded a decorative-arts firm with Burne-Jones, Rossetti, Ford Madox Brown, Philip Webb, Charles Faulkner and Peter Paul Marshall as partners. It undertook carving, stained glass, metalwork, wallpapers, printed fabrics and carpets, and from the first the decoration of churches.