Fig. 1. Burne-Jones glass by Morris & Co. at St Martin, Brampton, 1880–81, window nIII.
An exhibition of drawings by Victorian artist Edward Burne-Jones (1833–1898) opens at the Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight this month. The exhibition includes designs for stained glass windows. Featuring twenty-six drawings, seen together for the first time and drawn entirely from the collection of National Museums Liverpool, the exhibition will be on view from 14 June to 12 January 2014.
Burne-Jones assisted William Morris in founding Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. in 1861 and worked closely with Morris on a range of decorative arts. He was closely involved in the rejuvenation of the tradition of stained glass art in Britain and supplied the company with large numbers of designs for stained glass.
The exhibition is divided thematically, with one section presenting a number of designs for stained-glass windows, including two watercolours of St Gabriel and St Raphael. These are designs for the stained-glass windows of St Margaret’s Church, Rottingdean (Sussex), which Burne-Jones donated to the church to commemorate the marriage of his daughter.
Samples of Burne-Jones’s work can be found in buildings around Merseyside, including Ullet Road Unitarian Church in Sefton Park. Other examples can be seen all over the country, including – but not limited to – in the Cathedral Church of St Philip, Birmingham; St Giles, Edinburgh; All Saints, Cambridge; St Michaelʼs, Macclesfield; the Church of St John the Baptist, Busbridge, Surrey; the Red House, Bexleyheath; and St Michael and All Angels Church, Berkshire. More of Burne-Jones’s designs can be seen online on the CVMA website.
