Charles Fairfax Murray (1849-1919) made almost 40 copies of Italian masterpieces for the Guild of St George. He was a very well known and popular figure in the late Victorian art world.

He began his artistic career by drawing diagrams in a railway engineer’s office. In 1866 he became an assistant to Edward Burne-Jones before becoming a designer and painter for the William Morris firm. Ruskin provided Murray with further artistic education and in 1873 sent him to Italy to copy works by Botticelli. After starting a family in Florence, Murray worked in Italy until 1886 when he returned to work in London.

Despite his skill as a draughtsman and painter, Murray was perhaps, by the end of his life more famous as an art collector, connoisseur and picture dealer.