How the daughter of a simple groom became the famous muse of the Pre-Raphaelites: Jane Burden

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The beautiful daughter of the groom, Jane Bearden, became the favorite muse of the English Pre-Raphaelite artists. In addition, her unconventional appearance - aristocratic pallor and golden brown hair - paved the way for new standards of beauty of that era. As the Pre-Raphaelites happily transferred her magical beauty to their canvases, Jane's appearance paved the way for a new standard of beauty. Rossetti has managed to masterfully capture her reserved character in his written and artistic works.

Who was Jane Burden?

The story of Jane Bearden, the beautiful daughter of a groom who has featured in many world-famous paintings, is truly gripping. Jane Burden was born in Oxford on October 19, 1839. Her father, Robert Burden, was a groom, and her mother, Anne Maisie, was a laundress. Her mother was illiterate and came to Oxford to work as a domestic servant. Little is known about Jane's childhood, but it is known that her family was poor and disadvantaged. It seems not a very good pedigree for successful prospects in the future. Quiet by nature, Jane was of the same humble background. However, in one thing Jane was unambiguously lucky - she had a fabulous beauty. Her unconventional appearance favorably distinguished her - a long pale face with a mass of brown hair. She represented a beauty alternative to the traditional, golden-haired and pink-cheeked girls of the era.

Acquaintance with the Pre-Raphaelites

One evening in the fall of 1857, sitting with her younger sister Elizabeth (Bessie) in the auditorium of the improvised Drury Lane Theater in Oxford, 17-year-old Jane Burden was spotted by Rossetti and Edward Burne-Jones, members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. They were simply amazed at her beauty! Rossetti has always hunted for "stunning" girls to use as models for his paintings. He decided that this sultry young woman would become the ideal queen of the Pre-Raphaelites. Jane, who was then living with her parents and two siblings in a tiny cottage behind a pub, soon posed in the living room where Burne-Jones, Rossetti and William Morris, the man who would be her fiancé by next spring, lived. “I was a saint to them,” she recalled her early days with the Pre-Raphaelites. It was her first work as a model for "Guinevere" and "Fair Isolde" that marked the beginning of her iconic career.

Jane and Morris

Jane married William Morris, poet, novelist, translator and designer, on April 26, 1859, at St Michael's Church in Northgate. In the marriage, two daughters were born, Jenny and Mary. She didn’t love William, but she couldn’t turn down a marriage proposal from a fellow groom. At 24, having inherited a fortune from his father, Morris was very wealthy. Outwardly, he was short, lush and did not care much about personal hygiene. At the same time, he was rude and, of course, not as charming as Rossetti. But William adored Jane. At the beginning of their acquaintance, William wrote "Fair Isolde," depicting Jane as a tragic Arthurian princess. On the finished canvas, he wrote: “I cannot paint you, but I love you” - a shy, sweet, romantic gesture. The fact is that "Fair Isolde" is the only oil painting that Morris ever painted. In 1871, Morris went to Iceland. Jane remained to work as Rossetti's model.

Jane and Rossetti

Jane was probably in love with Rossetti from the very beginning, but he was already engaged to Elizabeth Siddal. And after Morris left, the time came when Jane became closely associated with Rossetti and became his favorite muse. She inspired Rossetti to write poetry, and he showed his affection for Jane in his works. Rossetti's paintings depict Jane, who finds herself in an unhappy marriage and longs for a fulfilling relationship with her true love. Jane and Rossetti's extramarital affair was not hidden from William Morris; in fact, it seemed public.

The famous painting with Burden as Proserpine, the goddess of spring, sold at Sotheby's for almost £ 3.3 million, was twice the pre-sale estimate. Rossetti would be really pleased. Proserpine, which he created in eight versions, was his favorite creation, the most complete realization of the artistic pursuit of his passion for Jane. Rossetti painted with Jane until his death in 1882. Rossetti wrote about her: "Such beauty as hers is brilliant."

Famous muse

Since in childhood, Jane did not have the opportunity to get an education, after marriage, she seriously engaged in self-development. Her sharp mind allowed her to recreate herself. Bearden mastered the French and Italian languages, and also became an accomplished pianist with a mainstay in classical music. Bearden was also known for her embroidery, becoming a skilled needlewoman. Her manners became so sophisticated that contemporaries began to call her "queen". The acquired skills helped her to communicate freely in higher circles. She became a significant figure in the societies of poets, politicians and aristocrats.

Writer Henry James was delighted to meet her. She had her own unique style, wearing a medieval dress and dozens of chains with outlandish beads instead of corsets and crinoline of the time. Rossetti and his entourage put forward an ideal of feminine beauty, completely contrary to the standard tastes that in the early Victorian era preferred petite blondes with childish features and hourglass figures.

Jane, pale and black-browed, once immortalized by the Brotherhood, launched a real revolution. Biographers revel in the fateful circumstances of her being lifted out of poverty to become the embodiment of the Pre-Raphaelite style and one of the most famous muses of all time.