Edward Coley Burne Jones:

Edward Coley Burne Jones was born in 1833, into the Birmingham middle-class. His mother died a week after his birth and he spent his childhood as a lonely and introspective child, drawing pictures from Shakespeare, the Greek myths and romantic poetry. He never lost his love of knights, beautiful damsels in distress and fae subjects. He went to Oxford university, intending to study to enter the church but became a fervent worshipper of Beauty. He honestly wanted to leave the world a better place than he found it and he worked to create beauty wherever he could.

At the age of 22 he became a pupil of Rossetti and his painting style was indistinguishable from his tutor's. But later, after a trip to Italy, he devloped his own vision. For the rest of his career, he painted scenes and characters from Le Morte d'Arthur. He also joined William Morris' textiles company, producing pictures which were turned into tapestries and even stained glass windows for churches in Birmingham.

Often, his paintings had no subject at all and were allegories of beauty, nostalgia and whistful sadness. He said, of painting, "I mean by a picture a beautiful romanitc dream of something that never was, never will be -- in light better than any light that ever shone -- in a land no one can define, or remember, only desire".

In his 40's he became the centre of the aethetic movement. He was both lauded as a great artist and genius and laughed at by people such as Gilbert and Sullivan and George du Maurier. But he took no notice of either blame or fame, and preferred to spend his time alone, painting his beautiful pictures. His last painting was "The Last Sleep of Arthur", which now hangs in Puerto Rico. He began it in 1881 and worked on it up to his death in 1898, leaving it still unfinished.