Artist 39: Edward Burne-Jones

Edward Burne-Jones was born in 1833 in England. He was apart of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, and upon seeing his works as of recently, I think I can firmly say I have a favorite artist. The detail he uses is just enough, not going overboard, and it is beautiful. Also, there is just something about his figures that seem so much more, I suppose beautiful is a good word for what I want to say. All of his drawings and paintings seem so elegant, after seeing each and every one all I can think of is "beautiful!" After my last post, I figured I could keep going with my "Annunciation" obsession, and so here is Burne-Jones' "Annunciation." I love this piece, not only because of his style, but because it is done differently any other Annunciation I have seen. The Virgin Mary seems a bit startled, however unlike all of the other pieces of this subject, she is not reason, but it seems that she was walking down the hall to be greeted by Gabriel. Gabriel almost appears to be materializing out of a large tree inside of the lavish hallway that both of the figures now occupy. The clothing of Gabriel is so elaborate and so well detailed it is incredibly difficult to look away. However compared to Gabriel, Mary seems plain. That being said, the simple white dress she wears really allows her natural beauty to show and that she doesn't need an elaborate costume to prove who she is. I am certainly going to do more research on this artist!