William morris biography artist jane

English embroiderer and artists' model (1839–1914)

For her daughter, the embroiderer, see Jane Alice Morris. For the English judoka, see Jane Morris (judoka). For the American actress, see Jane Morris (actress). For the Welsh writer, see Jan Morris.

Jane Morris (née Burden; 19 October 1839 – 26 January 1914) was an English embroiderer in the Arts and Crafts movement and an artists' model who embodied the Pre-Raphaelite ideal of beauty.

She was a model and muse to her husband William Morris and to Dante Gabriel Rossetti.^[1] Her sister was the embroiderer and teacher Elizabeth Burden.^[2]

Life

Jane Burden was born in Oxford, the daughter of a stableman, Robert Burden, and his wife Ann Maizey, who was a domestic servant or a laundress.

At the time of her birth, her parents were living at St Helen's Passage, in the parish of St Peter-in-the-East, off Holywell Street in Oxford which has since been marked with a blue plaque.^[3] He