Georgiana Burne-Jones, their children Margaret and Philip

Georgiana Burne-Jones, their children Margaret and Philip, painted in 1883, is a family portrait of the artist's wife and two surviving children — a rare purely personal subject in Burne-Jones's output. Georgiana Macdonald Burne-Jones (1840–1920) was a central figure in Victorian cultural life in her own right: a woman of intelligence and principle who endured the public humiliation of her husband's affair with Maria Zambaco with considerable dignity. The 1883 date places the portrait in a period of established domestic stability, after the crisis of the early 1870s had passed. As a family portrait by an artist not primarily known for portraiture, the work has particular biographical significance. The presence of both children — Margaret (b. 1866) and Philip (b. 1861) — grounds it in a specific domestic moment that Burne-Jones's mythological works systematically exclude.

Oil on canvas in a relatively naturalistic mode appropriate to family portraiture. Burne-Jones's characteristic elongation and idealisation are moderated by the demands of likeness and domestic warmth, though the smooth surface finish and careful tonal harmonies remain constant features of his technique.