Jane Morris (nee Burden)  was an English embroiderer in the Arts & Crafts movement and artists' model. She embodied the Pre-Raphelite ideal of beauty and was a model and muse to her husband William Morris and to Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

In October 1857, she was spotted by Dante Gabrirl Rossetti and Edward Burne-Jones who were members of a group of artists painting the Oxford Uniion Murals, based on Arthurian Legends.  Struck by her beauty, they asked her to model for them. During this period, Morris fell in love with Burden and they became engaged, though by her own admission she was never in love with him.

Burden's education was limited, but her keen intelligence allowed her to recreate herself. She was a voracious reader who became proficient in French and Italian, an accomplished pianist and also a skilled needlewoman, self-taught in ancient embroidery techniques and later becoming renowned for her own embroideries.

It was the process of decorating their new marital home, Red House, which led to the birth of Morris and Co in 1862. Jane was actively involved in  production for the company from the beginning, working as embroiderer and going on to manage the embroidery department as the company quickly expanded.

Alongside her work for Morris and Co. Jane continued her modelling work for Rossetti.  Their relationship was to develop into a love affair that lasted from 1865 until 1876.   Rossetti painting her obsessively during this period.  She finished the affair due to his addictions and related psychosis.

Her broodingly sensual look - thick wavy hair on a low brow, square jawline, fleshy plumped lips - came to define an era in art.  But I think it is those deep set grey eyes and that far away, powerful gaze that still today inspires a sense of deeper human connection.  She claimed no one ever told her she was beautiful…