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One of nearly thirty versions of a window designed by Burne-Jones and executed by the company founded by William Morris (1834–1896), Saint Cecilia is a product of the Arts and Crafts movement they initiated. Friends at Oxford, Morris and Burne-Jones became disciples of John Ruskin and the Pre-Raphaelite movement and put into practice his vision for the renewal of art. They sought to counter the effects of the machine age by reviving medieval crafts, abolishing distinctions between fine and decorative arts, and beautifying objects of everyday life. Morris wrote on the philosophy of art and founded a company to execute textiles, wallpaper, and other objects, while Burne-Jones, in addition to painting and sculpting, studied with the Pre-Raphaelite painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti and designed murals, tapestries, and stained glass for Morris’s company.

The Gothic Revival style in architecture created a market for stained glass, especially in the 1870s, when Burne-Jones was a particularly prolific designer of windows. The first Saint Cecilia window, at Christ Church, Oxford (1875), shows the influence of the early Renaissance art he had seen in central Italy, most recently in 1871. The flat, abstracted, linear style and the wilting pose of the impossibly tall, graceful woman make reference to the work of Botticelli (Florentine, ca. 1445–1510), while the tapestry-like screen of pomegranate trees and fruits and the richly patterned brocade fabric recall the latest Gothic phase of Italian art, about 1400.

Saint Cecilia, an early Christian Roman virgin martyr, became the patron saint of music and was portrayed with an organ — here, a portable organ of the fifteenth century. Although water organs existed in the ancient world, pipe organs date from the fourteenth century, so we must assume Cecilia is singing the praises of God in heaven, not during her earthly life. In the window at Christ Church, she is flanked by lancet windows with music-making angels; scenes from the life of a fellow martyr saint, Valerian, and her own martyrdom are shown below. In Chicago, a Saint Cecilia window was included in the stained glass of the Second Presbyterian Church (1904); there, the fabric behind the saint is blue, and the tree bears lemons, demonstrating the permutations that could occur among these windows.

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Burne-Jones and Morris devoted their lives to social change through the arts—Burne-Jones as a painter and Morris, originally trained as an architect, as founder of the design firm that, in 1875, became Morris & Co. In their quest to improve the level of taste in interior furnishings, the firm designed stained-glass windows, murals, furniture, metal-and glassware, jewelry, and other decorative items, in addition to the textiles and wall coverings for which Morris & Co. is best known. Burne-Jones was Morris & Co.’s foremost stained-glass designer, creating windows for both ecclesiastical and domestic use.

The organist of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, commissioned the initial Saint Cecilia design in 1875. The cathedral is famous for its choir, so the patron saint of music is an apt subject for the window. Cecilia, occupying the central vertical panel, plays the organ. At Oxford, two angels in flanking panels hold other instruments, and the story of Cecilia’s martyrdom is depicted in the three rectangular panels below. Burne-Jones’s cartoons, or full-scale designs, were reused for a number of window commissions, even after his death; the figure of Cecilia changes only slightly from window to window, but the colors and backgrounds vary. The Museum’s window perhaps originated as a private domestic commission, perhaps for a dining room, an entertainment space where the musical motif would be suitable.