I've been reading The Memorials of Edward Burne-Jones by Georgiana lately. What a delight it is to read about Ned's life from someone so close to him! I'm relishing every detail. One thing I found especially sweet was an illustration enclosed that Ned did for a book called The Fairy Family. It was one of the first sketches he did around college age, trying to decide if he could really make a go of art for a living. And look...he included a pattern on her bed drapes that look quite a bit like William Morris' Daisy pattern! I'm not sure whether the chicken or the egg came first, but I always find it so charming to see bits of blending between the works of Morris and Burne-Jones...their friendship fused them together so completely.
Also, I have to share the beautiful words Burne-Jones wrote to a friend in college about Morris:
He is full of enthusiasm for things holy and beautiful and true, and what is rarest, of the most exquisite perception and judgment in them. For myself, he has tinged my whole inner being with the beauty of his own, and I know not a single gift for which I owe such gratitude to Heaven as his friendship. If it were not for his boisterous mad outbursts and freaks, which break the romance he sheds around him--at least to me--he would be a perfect hero.
How I am grinding you, poor fellow! well, briefly, come and see him and hear him, not in the smoke room or in disputations (the smoke room of intellects) but by the riverside and on the highways, as I alone have seen and heard him -pg 96
Grace! How nice it is to see you again! Thank you for coming by; your posts are as inspiring as ever and especially literary and deep! The sketches are so cozy and make me want to just curl up to read about times past. How are you? We are back in school, and I am glad to have a job. I hope all is well on your end! Have you been doing tea-time? Take care and best wishes for a great year! Anita
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely illustration Grace and a book to look out for. Even at that age his style was clearly developing.
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