Jane Morris | |
|---|---|
_Detail.jpg) Jane Morris, 1865 | |
| Born | Jane Burden (1839-10-19)19 October 1839 Oxford, England |
| Died | 26 January 1914(1914-01-26) (aged 74) Bath, England |
| Occupation(s) | Embroiderer, artist's model |
| Known for | Embroidery andPre-Raphaelites |
| Spouse | |
| Children | Jenny Morris May Morris |
| Relatives | Elizabeth Burden (sister) |
Jane Morris (néeBurden; 19 October 1839 – 26 January 1914) was an Englishembroiderer in theArts and Crafts movement and an artists' model who embodied thePre-Raphaelite ideal of beauty. She was a model andmuse to her husbandWilliam Morris and toDante Gabriel Rossetti.[1] Her sister was theembroiderer and teacherElizabeth Burden.[2]
Jane Burden was born inOxford, the daughter of astableman, Robert Burden, and his wife Ann Maizey, who was a domestic servant or a laundress. At the time of her birth, her parents were living at St Helen's Passage, in the parish ofSt Peter-in-the-East, offHolywell Street in Oxford which has since been marked with ablue plaque.[3] Her mother Ann wasilliterate and probably came to Oxford as adomestic servant. Little is known of Jane Burden's childhood, but it was certainly poor.[4]
In October 1857, Burden and her sisterElizabeth, known as Bessie, attended a performance of theDrury Lane Theatre Company in Oxford. Jane Burden was noticed byDante Gabriel Rossetti andEdward Burne-Jones who were members of a group of artists painting theOxford Union murals, based onArthurian tales. Struck by her beauty, they asked her tomodel for them. Burden sat mostly for Rossetti as a model for QueenGuinevere and afterwards forWilliam Morris, who was working on an easel painting,La BelleIseult, now in theTate Gallery.[5][page needed] During this period, Morris fell in love with Burden and they became engaged, though by her own admission she was not in love with Morris.[2][page needed]
She became a skilled needlewoman, self-taught in ancient embroidery techniques, and later became renowned for her own embroideries.[2][page needed]
Jane married William Morris atSt Michael at the Northgate in Oxford on 26 April 1859.[5][page needed] After the marriage, the Morrises moved to the quasi-medievalRed House inBexleyheath, Kent.[6] While living there, they had two daughters,Jane Alice "Jenny," born 17 January 1861, andMary "May" born 25 March 1862, who later edited her father's works.[5][page needed] They moved to 26 Queen Square in London, which they shared with the design firm ofMorris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co., and later boughtKelmscott House inHammersmith as their main residence.[5][page needed]Although Jane, her daughters Jenny and May, and her sister Bessie all supervised and embroidered for Morris & Co., credit for the designs were given to William Morris himself "in the interests of commercial success."[2][page needed] The three embroidered panels depicting the illustrious women ofChaucer andTennyson's writing now atCastle Howard were produced by Jane and Bessie in the 1880s.[2][page needed]
In 1871, William Morris and Rossetti took out a joint tenancy onKelmscott Manor on the Gloucestershire–Oxfordshire–Wiltshire borders. William Morris went to Iceland, leaving his wife and Rossetti to furnish the house and spend the summer there.[5][page needed] Jane Morris had become closely attached to Rossetti and became a favourite muse of his. Their romantic relationship is reputed to have started in the late 1860s and lasted, on differing levels, until his death in 1882. They shared a deep emotional connection, and she inspired Rossetti to write poetry and create some of his best paintings. Her discovery of his dependence onchloral hydrate, which was taken for insomnia, eventually led her to distance herself from him, although they stayed in touch until he died in 1882.[7]
In 1883, Jane Morris met the poet and political activistWilfrid Scawen Blunt at a house party given by her close friend,Rosalind Howard (later Countess of Carlisle).[5][page needed] There appears to have been an immediate attraction between them. By 1887 at the latest, they had become lovers.[8] Their sexual relationship continued until 1894 and they remained close friends until her death.[citation needed]
A few months before her death, she bought Kelmscott Manor to secure it for her daughters' future. However, she did not return to the house after having purchased it. Jane Morris died on 26 January 1914, while staying at 5 Brock Street inBath. She is buried in the churchyard of St. George's Church inKelmscott.[5][page needed]
Jane Morris's embroidery:
Paintings of Jane Morris byDante Gabriel Rossetti:
Photographs of Jane Burden by Rossetti are available at[1].
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