Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, Bt., A.R.A., R.W.S. (1833-1898)

Burne-Jones executed comic drawings throughout his career, often for children but, as Lady Burne-Jones observed, 'really for the child that was always in himself'. Many of Burne-Jones' cartoons are concerned with obesity and he drew a long series of 'fat ladies' caught in embarrassing situations, which were said to have been inspired by Lady Lindsay, wife of Sir Coutts Lindsay, the founder of the successful Grosvenor Gallery. However the deterioration of his friend William Morris' health, caused by his obesity, provoked almost revulsion in Burne-Jones, and a general concern with the tyranny of flesh over spirit.