Jane Morris

Jane Morris, born Burden (* October 19, 1839 in Oxford, † January 26, 1914 in Bath ) was model and muse of the Pre-Raphaelites.

Life

Jane was the eldest daughter of Robert Burden and his wife Ann Maizey. In 1857 she met the painter and later married William Morris ( 1834-1896 ) as a waitress in a tavern know. Morris earned her quite a bit of education at, including manners, music, dance, French, Italian and mathematics. He also introduced her to the circle of the Pre-Raphaelites, where it was enthusiastically received and various artists stood a few times model. With her ​​pale skin and the coppery red hair Jane corresponded completely to the former ideal; she was regarded as a woman of great beauty with a magical aura.

On April 26, 1859 Jane Burden married in Oxford William Morris, he gave her to the wedding, the Red House in Bexleyheath, the Philip Webb had designed for them. All friends carrying something in to the other. So Edward Burne -Jones painted for example, three murals. Because Morris did not like the traditional furniture, he built this himself. The women embellished the house with embroidery work. Again came the first designs for tapestries, because at that time Morris might not have any wallpaper. From the common connection went two daughters, Jenny Jane Alice (1861-1870 by epilepsy) and Mary May (1862-1938), out. Between the years 1871 and 1874 lived Morris ' friend and fellow painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti at Kelmscott Manor, who chose Jane as a model for portraits and with whom she had a year-long affair. Her husband escaped this situation to Iceland, where he acquired knowledge of Icelandic legends. This later formed the basis of his novels and seals. When Jane Morris in 1876 discovered the extent of chloral addiction of Rossetti, she broke the relationship with him from eventually.

In the following years, Jane Morris, developed a remarkable pianist. After the death of her husband in 1896 she withdrew more and more from the public. Jane Morris died on January 26, 1914 in Bath, where she stayed for curative treatments with a lung condition. She was buried beside her husband in the cemetery at Kelmscott in Oxfordshire.

Jane Morris, photographed by John Robert Parsons ( 1865)

Photography by John Robert Parsons ( 1868)

Rossetti: Reverie (1868 )

Study for Mariana (1870 )

Sketch of Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1870 )

Evelyn De Morgan: Mrs. Jane Morris, 1904

Mrs. Jane Morris Kelmscott Manor in the background