Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris

Oxford, 1853: How Burne-Jones and Morris Met

According to the Victoria and Albert Museum, Burne-Jones and Morris first met in 1853 as undergraduates at Exeter College, Oxford. The V&A records that the two went on to collaborate on many artistic and decorative projects.

The records do not describe the circumstances of the meeting itself, only the fact of it. Readers who want the fuller chronology of Morris's own life can follow the William Morris biography, which sets the Oxford years in context.

A Drawing of the Friendship: William Morris Reading Poetry, 1861

The clearest object record of the friendship is a pen and ink drawing that the Victoria and Albert Museum attributes to Burne-Jones, titled 'William Morris reading poetry to Burne-Jones' and dated 1861. The V&A records it as executed in pen and ink on paper and holds it under museum number O16499.

The drawing entered the museum's collection in 1976. According to the V&A, it was purchased that year and had come from Maria Zambaco, a great aunt of Mrs Wyndam Milligan, who sold it at Sotheby's, Belgravia, on 29 June 1976, Lots 230 and 243.

According to the V&A, the drawing is a caricature in which Burne-Jones shows himself apparently asleep while Morris reads poetry aloud. Made in 1861, eight years after the two met at Oxford, it takes the friendship itself as its subject, seen by one of its two participants.

Frederick Hollyer and the 1874 Family Photographs

According to the Victoria and Albert Museum, Frederick Hollyer photographed the Morris and Burne-Jones families in Fulham in 1874. The V&A holds a platinotype photograph of the families under museum number O88886 and records that it was taken in the garden of the Grange, the Burne-Jones house in Fulham.

The V&A identifies the figures as Burne-Jones's father Edward Jones, Margaret, Edward, Philip and Georgiana Burne-Jones, May and William Morris standing, and Jane Morris and Jenny seated in front. Edward Jones, Burne-Jones's father, was on a visit from Birmingham when the photograph was taken.

Hollyer himself is well documented in the V&A records. He took up photography about 1860 and became popular as a professional photographer in artistic and literary circles. From the mid 1870s he collaborated with Burne-Jones on a series of commercial reproductions of the painter's work, and his studio may also have provided photographic services for Morris & Co.

The V&A also holds a platinum print photograph titled 'Edward Burne-Jones & William Morris', dated 1874, under museum number O83340, which the museum attributes to Hollyer.