Editing Edward Burne-Jones (section)

===Painting===
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[[Image:Beguiling of Merlin.jpg|right|thumb|''[[The Beguiling of Merlin]]'', 1874]]
In 1864, Burne-Jones was elected an associate of the [[Royal Watercolour Society|Society of Painters in Water-Colours]]—which is known as the Old Water-Colour Society—and exhibited, among other works, ''[[The Merciful Knight]]'', the first picture which fully revealed his ripened personality as an artist. The next six years saw a series of fine watercolours at the same gallery.<ref name="EB1911" />

In 1866, Mrs. Cassavetti commissioned Burne-Jones to paint her daughter, [[Maria Zambaco]], in ''Cupid finding Psyche'', an introduction which led to their tragic affair. In 1870, Burne-Jones resigned his membership following a controversy over his painting ''Phyllis and Demophoön''.'' ''The features of Maria Zambaco were clearly recognisable in the barely draped Phyllis, and the undraped nakedness of Demophoön coupled with the suggestion of female sexual assertiveness offended [[Victorian era|Victorian]] sensibilities. Burne-Jones was asked to make a slight alteration, but instead "withdrew not only the picture from the walls, but himself from the Society".{{sfn|Roget|1891|p=116}}{{sfn|Wildman|1998|p=138}} During the next seven years, 1870–1877, only two works of the painter's were exhibited. These were two water-colours, shown at the Dudley Gallery at the [[Egyptian Hall|Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly]] in 1873, one of them being the beautiful ''[[Love Among the Ruins (Burne-Jones)|Love Among the Ruins]]'', destroyed twenty years later by a cleaner who supposed it to be an oil painting, but afterwards reproduced in oils by the painter. This silent period was one of unremitting production.{{cn|date=August 2022}} 

Hitherto, Burne-Jones had worked almost entirely in watercolours. He now began pictures in oils, working at them in turn, and having them on hand. The first ''Briar Rose'' series, ''Laus Veneris,'' the ''Golden Stairs,'' the ''Pygmalion'' series, and ''The Mirror of Venus'' are among the works planned and completed, or carried far towards completion, during these years.<ref name="EB1911" /> 

The beginnings of Burne-Jones' partnership with the fine-art photographer [[Frederick Hollyer]], whose reproductions of paintings and—especially—drawings would expose an audience to Burne-Jones's works in the coming decades, began during this period.{{sfn|Wildman|1998|pp= 197–198}}

At last, in May 1877, the day of recognition came with the opening of the first exhibition of the [[Grosvenor Gallery]], when the ''Days of Creation,'' ''[[The Beguiling of Merlin]],'' and the ''Mirror of Venus'' were all shown. Burne-Jones followed up the signal success of these pictures with ''Laus Veneris,'' the ''Chant d'Amour,'' ''Pan and Psyche,'' and other works, exhibited in 1878. Most of these pictures are painted in brilliant colours.{{cn|date=August 2022}} 

A change is noticeable in 1879 in the ''Annunciation'' and in the four pictures making up the second series of ''Pygmalion and the Image''; the former of these, one of the simplest and most perfect of the artist's works, is subdued and sober; in the latter, a scheme of soft and delicate tints was attempted, not with entire success. A similar temperance of colours marks ''[[The Golden Stairs]],'' first exhibited in 1880.{{cn|date=August 2022}} 

The almost sombre ''[[The Wheel of Fortune (Burne-Jones)|Wheel of Fortune]]'' was shown in 1883, followed in 1884 by ''[[King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid (painting)|King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid]],'' in which Burne-Jones once more indulged his love of gorgeous colour, refined by the period of self-restraint. He next turned to two important sets of pictures, ''The Briar Rose'' and ''The Story of Perseus,'' although these were not completed.<ref name="EB1911" />