Charles Fairfax Murray (1849-1919) is an important and influential figure in the history of the Pre-Raphaelite movement and in the Victorian art world; painter, collector, dealer and benefactor, he was also an elusive and private man with a fascinating personal history. On his 17th birthday John Ruskin arranged for his joining Edward Burne-Jones, another Ruskin protege, as his first studio assistant. He assisted Burne-Jones, painted glass and illuminating manuscripts for William Morris and copied for Rossetti. In 1903 Fairfax Murray sold a collection of 260 Rossetti and 226 Burne-Jones drawings to the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. Next year he gave 35 Burne-Jones stained glass cartoons, and in 1907 he again sold them more than 300 Madox Brown, Millais and Sandys drawings at a low valuation, adding substantially to what is regarded as the greatest Pre-Raphaelite collection. [Summary of Fairfax's biography from David Elliot's website]
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