# Edward Burne-Jones artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/edward-burne-jones/
Profile generated: 2026-05-02T21:29:10.400Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1833-08-28
- Death date: 1898-06-17
- Nationality: British, English
- Movements: Pre-Raphaelite, Symbolism, Arts and Crafts
- Common media: oil painting, watercolor, gouache, pen and ink drawing, stained glass design, tapestry design, pastel

## About Edward Burne-Jones

Edward Coley Burne-Jones (1833–1898) was an English painter, designer, and illustrator who became one of the most celebrated figures of the second generation Pre-Raphaelite movement. Born in Birmingham, he studied at Exeter College, Oxford, where he met William Morris and developed a lifelong artistic partnership. Though never a formal member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Burne-Jones adopted and extended their ideals through richly detailed paintings drawn from mythology, Arthurian legend, and classical literature. His work helped shape the British Aesthetic and Symbolist movements and extended into stained glass, tapestry, and book illustration through his collaborations with Morris & Co. He was created a Baronet in 1894. Major holdings of his work are held by the Tate, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and museums worldwide. Collectors encounter his paintings, drawings, watercolors, stained-glass cartoons, and decorative designs at auction and in institutional collections.

## Common works and media

Burne-Jones is commonly encountered in appraisal and auction contexts as oil paintings on canvas, watercolors, gouaches, pen-and-ink drawings, and pastels. His stained-glass designs and cartoons—many produced through Morris & Co.—are also widely held by institutions and occasionally appear at auction. Subject matter spans Arthurian and mythological narratives, allegorical female figures, religious scenes, and literary illustrations. Prints and reproductive engravings after his compositions circulated widely in the Victorian era and may also be encountered.

## Market and appraisal context

Edward Burne-Jones maintains a liquid and well-documented secondary market spanning more than two decades of public auction records. Appraisily's auction-record index tracks 81 lots attributed to the artist, of which 58 carry realized prices. Sales date from January 2003 through February 2026, with activity at ten or more auction houses including Christie's, Sotheby's, Lyon & Turnbull, Olympia Auctions, Dreweatts, and Swann Auction Galleries. Price dispersion is wide but structurally predictable: the lower quartile sits at approximately £900 / $900, the median near £2,300, and the upper quartile around £10,000. The observed ceiling is substantially higher—£170,000 for a major Morris & Co. collaborative tapestry panel ('The Poets,' Christie's, June 2023, $163,800 USD) and £19,050 for an oil study ('Juno,' Sotheby's, December 2023). Recent-12-month lot count (6) is below the prior-12-month count (10), suggesting a mild softening in auction frequency, though this may reflect cataloguing cycles at the major houses rather than reduced collector demand. Works on paper—drawings, studies, and preparatory sketches—anchor the middle of the market (£1,000–£7,000), while autograph oil paintings, major narrative subjects, and Morris & Co. collaborative designs command the top tier.

## Auction-house-backed market evidence

Edward Burne-Jones maintains a liquid and well-documented secondary market spanning more than two decades of public auction records. Appraisily's auction-record index tracks 81 lots attributed to the artist, of which 58 carry realized prices. Sales date from January 2003 through February 2026, with activity at ten or more auction houses including Christie's, Sotheby's, Lyon & Turnbull, Olympia Auctions, Dreweatts, and Swann Auction Galleries. Price dispersion is wide but structurally predictable: the lower quartile sits at approximately £900 / $900, the median near £2,300, and the upper quartile around £10,000. The observed ceiling is substantially higher—£170,000 for a major Morris & Co. collaborative tapestry panel ('The Poets,' Christie's, June 2023, $163,800 USD) and £19,050 for an oil study ('Juno,' Sotheby's, December 2023). Recent-12-month lot count (6) is below the prior-12-month count (10), suggesting a mild softening in auction frequency, though this may reflect cataloguing cycles at the major houses rather than reduced collector demand. Works on paper—drawings, studies, and preparatory sketches—anchor the middle of the market (£1,000–£7,000), while autograph oil paintings, major narrative subjects, and Morris & Co. collaborative designs command the top tier.

### Appraisal notes

An Appraisily appraisal for a work attributed to Edward Burne-Jones would combine the auction-record index above with photographs (front, back, signature details, any inscriptions or labels), measured dimensions, confirmed medium (oil on canvas, watercolor and gouache, pen and ink, pastel, or stained-glass cartoon), condition report (noting foxing, fading, tears, overpainting, or relining for canvases), and documented provenance. Attribution is a critical first step: the source pack shows lots ranging from autograph paintings and drawings to reproductive giclée prints and lithographs after Burne-Jones, whose prices fall to $35–$175. An appraiser would isolate comparable lots by medium, subject, scale, and sale date from the priced lot pool, weighting recent results at Christie's and Sotheby's most heavily. For stained-glass cartoons or Morris & Co. collaborative pieces, the appraiser would note the co-attribution (e.g., 'Edward Burne-Jones and John Henry Dearle' or 'Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris') since co-attributed works can command premiums at the decorative-arts crossover market. Edition details, exhibition history, and inclusion in known series (Perseus, Briar Rose, Days of Creation) further refine the comparable set.

### Valuation factors

- Medium and format: autograph oil paintings and major narrative works sit at the top of the range; preparatory drawings and watercolors form the solid middle market; reproductive prints and giclées after Burne-Jones fall to the low end ($35–$175).
- Scale and completeness: large-scale canvases and complete multi-panel series (e.g., Briar Rose, Perseus) are significantly more valuable than individual studies or fragments.
- Attribution and workshop distinction: works co-attributed with William Morris or John Henry Dearle (Morris & Co. productions) are appraised in the decorative-arts context; purely autograph paintings carry fine-art premiums.
- Subject matter: Arthurian, mythological, and literary narrative subjects ('The Finding of Medusa,' 'Juno,' 'Sir Galahad') outperform portrait sketches and figure studies at auction.
- Provenance and exhibition history: documented ownership trails, exhibition records, and inclusion in published catalogues raisonnés materially affect value.
- Condition: Victorian-era works on paper are prone to foxing, fading, and acid migration; canvases may show craquelure, relining, or overpainting. Condition issues directly compress realized prices.
- Currency and market venue: major London and New York sales (Christie's, Sotheby's) in GBP or USD establish the strongest benchmark; regional house results (Olympia, Dreweatts) in GBP or CAD provide secondary comparables.

### Collector notes

- Burne-Jones has a deep and geographically dispersed auction footprint with regular appearance at both tier-one houses (Christie's, Sotheby's) and respected regional specialists (Lyon & Turnbull, Olympia, Dreweatts, Waddington's). The wide price range ($35–$170,000) reflects genuine market stratification: collectors entering at the lower end should verify that the lot is an original work and not a reproductive print or modern giclée, which the source data shows appearing repeatedly at smaller houses. The strongest value signals come from autograph works on paper and oil paintings sold at Christie's or Sotheby's London with full catalogue entries. Collaborative Morris & Co. pieces occupy a crossover niche—tapestry panels, stained-glass cartoons, and embroidery designs—that can outperform standalone drawings when marketed to both fine-art and decorative-arts buyers. Liquidity is good: the median gap between auction appearances is measured in weeks, not months, and the 81-lot record base provides ample comparable data for pricing.

### Market caveats

- The Appraisily auction-record index includes lots across multiple currencies (GBP, USD, EUR, CAD); direct price comparisons require currency normalization at the sale date.
- Several recent lots in the source pack are explicitly described as giclée prints or lithographs 'after' Burne-Jones (Greenwich Auction, Premier Auction Galleries); these are reproductive works and should not be used as comparables for original paintings or drawings.
- The lot count dropped from 10 in the prior 12 months to 6 in the most recent 12 months; this may reflect normal cataloguing variation rather than a demand shift, but the trend should be monitored.
- Burne-Jones's extensive output through Morris & Co. means many stained-glass, tapestry, and embroidery designs exist in workshop or posthumous editions; distinguishing autograph from workshop production is essential and may require specialist connoisseurship.
- The source pack does not include private-sale or dealer asking prices, which can differ materially from auction realizations for major works.
- Price-omitted lots (priceRealised: null) in the recent data set are excluded from distribution calculations; their inclusion could shift median and quartile figures.

### Market evidence sources

- Appraisily auction record index: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/edward-burne-jones/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0
- Invaluable: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-edward-burne-jones-british-1833-1898-reclining-male-nude-study-444-c-2e16901a67
- Invaluable: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-edward-coley-burne-jones-british-1833-1898-20-c-e6449888c8
- Invaluable: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-edward-burne-jones-british-1833-1898-42-c-4f45af77be
- Invaluable: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-edward-burne-jones-1833-1898-and-william-morris-1834-1896-the-poets-54-c-838492caf2

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine artist identity research from museum, library authority, and scholarly sources with available auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots. For Edward Burne-Jones, this page draws on holdings and artist records from Tate, the Museum of Modern Art, the RKD, VIAF, the Library of Congress, and the Getty ULAN.

## Sources

- RKD: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/14292
- Tate: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/sir-edward-coley-burne-jones-bt-68
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/879
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q216406
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Burne-Jones
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/59120251/
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n79120945
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500001381