early life and education

charles fairfax murray, a renowned english painter, dealer, collector, benefactor, and art historian, was born in 1849 in bow, near london. he grew up in sudbury, suffolk, where he studied drawing, possibly under thomas gainsborough's great nephew, gainsborough dupont.

artistic career

at the age of 12, murray was employed in the drawing office of the railway entrepreneurs peto & betts and was taken into sir samuel morton peto's home to draw portraits of his family. he was later introduced to john ruskin at the age of 16 and installed as edward burne-jones's first studio assistant in 1867. murray rapidly became one of the circle of pre-raphaelite founder dante gabriel rossetti, and a friend of william morris and philip webb.

notable works and associations

• mandolin player (24 x 24 cm, oil on panel), a painting by murray, showcases his skill as an artist. (view on TopImpressionists)
• his association with the pre-raphaelites led to contributions to giovanni cavalcaselle's history of north italian painting.
• murray also partnered with dr wilhelm von bode, director of berlin's gemaldegalerie, and london dealers thomas agnew.

legacy and philanthropy

murray's aim was always to put his works into public collections. in 1904, he sold his collection of over eight hundred pre-raphaelite drawings to the birmingham museum and art gallery. he also gifted several notable paintings, including titian's tarquin and lucretia, to the fitzwilliam museum in cambridge. notable donations:

• the kings' daughters (26 x 37 cm, oil on panel), a painting by murray, is now part of a museum collection. (view on TopImpressionists)
• more than a dozen constables and four early gainsboroughs were donated to the fitzwilliam museum.
• a collection of 46 english portraits was given to the dulwich picture gallery.

later life and death

charles fairfax murray died in london in january 1919, following a series of strokes, leaving behind a legacy as a connoisseur and benefactor of the art world. view charles fairfax murray's profile on TopImpressionists oxford's history on wikipedia