From Library Journal
Usually identified with the Pre-Raphaelites, Burne-Jones (1833-98) was actually a latecomer to the Brotherhood. As Ash ( Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema , Abrams, 1990) maintains here, he was finally regarded as the leader of the subsequent Aesthetic movement, a percursor of Symbolism. Described as the "first monograph in 20 years" on Burne-Jones, this work is art publishing at its most sumptuous. In the 40 oversize plates (14" 11"), Burne-Jones's dark woods and dreaming maidens appear at their most compelling. Each plate includes the exact size of the original, narrative on the subject matter, and current location. Highly recommended.- Joseph Hewgley, Nashville P.L.Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Book News, Inc.
A glorious, gorgeous volume. Ash analyzes the life and work of Burne- Jones (1833-1898), a leading Pre-Raphaelite painter and pivotal figure in late 19th-century British art, and presents a stunning selection of his most enchanting paintings in a large format and high quality that would be suitable for framing if it weren't for the substantial informative commentary opposing each colorplate. 10.5x14" Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Almost a century after his death, the name of Sir Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1898) has become synonymous with the history and achievements of the Pre-Raphaelites, yet he was a relative latecomer to the movement and in many respects transcended its aspirations.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

Usually identified with the Pre-Raphaelites, Burne-Jones (1833-98) was actually a latecomer to the Brotherhood. As Ash ( Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema , Abrams, 1990) maintains here, he was finally regarded as the leader of the subsequent Aesthetic movement, a percursor of Symbolism. Described as the ``first monograph in 20 years'' on Burne-Jones, this work is art publishing at its most sumptuous. In the 40 oversize plates (14'' 11''), Burne-Jones's dark woods and dreaming maidens appear at their most compelling. Each plate includes the exact size of the original, narrative on the subject matter, and current location. Highly recommended.-- Joseph Hewgley, Nashville P.L.

BookList - Ray Olson

Burne-Jones (1833-98) was the most Pre-Raphaelite of painters. His best-known paintings--e.g., "King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid", "The Mirror of Venus", "Laus Veneris"--possess to the nth degree the otherworldly medievalism signified by their closed- or enrapturedly open-eyed figures, often peering out at us rather than at another figure in the painting; by their classical Greek drapery and Michelangelesque nudity; by their rich colors; by their crushed perspective; by their meticulously rendered backgrounds of floral patterns or stylized landscape; by their passion for floral symbolism; and, of course, by their mythological, legendary, and biblical subject matter. In this tall album, 40 plates of Burne-Jones' paintings and watercolors appear gloriously on as many full pages, with commentary on facing left-hand pages. Ash's introduction (well proofed but with several curious grammatical gaffes) sketches the artist's life and melancholic personality, including the surprising (to those who don't already know it) information that Burne-Jones had virtually no formal training and so must be reckoned "one of the greatest of all self-taught artists."

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