A piano designed by Morris & Co, with candlesticks and an open book displayed above.

Starting Out

Explore Morris's early influences

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Morris shocked his family when he decided to devote his life to art. With no formal artistic training, his early years were shaped by those around him, including the Pre-Raphaelite artists and the art critic, John Ruskin.

This room explores Morris’s early influences and displays the heartfelt letter he wrote to his mother in an attempt to explain his artistic calling. Take a look at some of Morris’s first drawings and discover how he and his young friends experimented with decorating the Red House, Morris’s first home with his wife Jane that sparked his passion for interior design.

A piano designed by Morris & Co. Books and candlesticks are displayed on top of the piano.

Gallery highlights

Helmet, 1857
Helmet, 1857
Jane Morris in Medieval Costume, 1861
Jane Morris in Medieval Costume, 1861
Design for Trellis Wallpaper, 1862
Design for Trellis Wallpaper, 1862
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Helmet, 1857

Designed by William Morris, this helmet was made as a model for the mural paintings in the Oxford Union in 1857. It is a type of ‘bascinet’ and was based on historic helmets that were common in the fourteenth century. The helmet was made for Morris along with a sword and suit of chainmail by a blacksmith near Oxford Castle. It features an adjustable visor and red-painted neckpiece supporting chainmail gorget. John William Mackail's ‘Life of William Morris’ contains an extract from Edward Burne-Jones describing the story of how Morris came to design these props during their days together at Oxford University. “For the purposes of our drawing we often needed armour, and of a date and design so remote that no examples existed for our use. Therefore Morris, whose knowledge of all these things seemed to have been born in him, and who never at any time needed books of reference for anything, set to work to make designs for an ancient kind of helmet called a basinet, and for a great surcoat of ringed mail with a hood of mail and the skirt coming below the knees. These were made for him by a stout little smith who had a forge near the Castle. Morris's visits to the forge were daily, but what scenes happened there we shall never know ; the encounters between these two workmen were always stubborn and angry as far as I could see. One afternoon when I was working high up at my picture, I heard a strange bellowing in the building, and turning round to find the cause, saw an unwonted sight. The basinet was being tried on, but the visor, for some reason, would not lift, and I saw Morris embedded in iron, dancing with rage and roaring inside.”

Jane Morris in Medieval Costume, 1861

This portrait of Jane Morris posing in medieval costume was drawn by William Morris, likely as a study for a mural depicting the Trojan War which was planned for the staircase at Red House. In the drawing Jane is climbing a small ladder to enter a ship, an expected reference to Helen of Troy whose great beauty, according to legend, triggered the Trojan War. Morris’s interest in pattern is already evident in the elaborate detail of the sleeve lining shown in this piece. Jane Morris was a talented needlewoman and may well have made the costume herself. Originally it was thought this work depicted Iseult boarding a ship from the classic chivalric romance, ‘Tristan and Iseult.’ Morris had chosen the subject of ‘Tristan and Iseult’ for the mural he painted in the Oxford Union library building from 1857-1859. He created various sketches for the scene over the summer of 1857 and began working on a similar theme, ‘La Belle Iseult’, for his only attempt at an easel painting, now in the Tate collection. However, the paper of the drawing is watermarked with the date of 1861 which places it after the Oxford Union murals were completed.

Design for Trellis Wallpaper, 1862

'Trellis' was the first wallpaper ever designed by William Morris, and the third to be printed by his company, Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. The design was inspired by the rose trellises in Morris’s garden at Red House, the home designed for him and his wife Jane by Philip Webb. Webb collaborated with Morris on this wallpaper design, supplying the birds which add a sense of movement to the composition. This early work reveals Morris’s interest in flat, abstracted patterns, which he layered to create depth. Morris’s Arts and Crafts movement would have been impossible without the modest, thoughtful and hardworking architect and designer, Philip Webb, whom Morris met while training as an architect in Oxford. Although primarily an architect, Webb was an avid sketcher of plant and animal life. In addition to his role as a designer of furniture, metalwork and glass, Webb was also instrumental in the administration of Morris & Co., balancing the accounts and on occasion sacrificing his own wages to keep the business solvent.

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