Love Among the Ruins – Edward Burne-Jones (1870–1873)

Two lovers cling to each other in the ruins of a forgotten city. In Love Among the Ruins, Edward Burne-Jones seats a young couple on a fallen stone: the man, in a dark robe, rests his cheek against the woman’s head with his eyes closed, while she, in a deep blue gown, holds him tight and looks out towards us. A harp lies forgotten at their side. Around them, briar roses climb over a ruined doorway carved with playing cherubs, and broken columns lie in the grass. Time has destroyed the buildings, but not the tenderness between them.

The title comes from Robert Browning’s poem “Love Among the Ruins” (1855), in which love outlasts the vanished glory of an ancient city. Burne-Jones first painted the composition between 1870 and 1873 as a large watercolour, worked with gouache to give it the depth of an oil painting. In 1893 the watercolour was badly damaged in Paris when it was mistakenly varnished with egg white. The artist then repeated the design in oil (1894, now at Wightwick Manor, National Trust), and restored the original himself in 1898, only weeks before his death.

Burne-Jones, the dreamer of the Pre-Raphaelites

Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1898) was a leading figure of the second generation of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, and the lifelong friend of William Morris. His elongated figures, jewel-like colours and dreamlike scenes drawn from legends and poetry made him one of the most admired painters of Victorian England.

• Artist: Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1898)
• Date: 1870-1873 (watercolour), 1894 (oil version)
• Technique: watercolour and gouache, later repeated in oil
• Format: horizontal
• Theme: love, ruins, Pre-Raphaelite painting

A romantic print for a bedroom, a living room, or as a gift for someone you love. Find more Pre-Raphaelite dreamers in our Pre-Raphaelite collection. Printed on thick matte archival paper. Free shipping, no minimum order. Shipped rolled in a sturdy tube.