Great Totham Village Hall, Essex

Details

Date: c. 1906-09
Dimensions: 48.5 x 55.9
Object Type: design
Catalogue number: A153a
Artist: Mackmurdo | Arthur Heygate | 1851 | 1942
Credit notes: Mackmurdo bequest, 1942

In the process of seeking funds to build this Village Hall for his local village of Great Totham, Maldon, Essex, Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo discovered the work of Rural Community Councils, and was involved in the forming of a similar initiative for his own community. The RCCs sought to protect and nurture the close-knit rural communities, in part by providing and maintaining communal spaces. This work was a response to the perceived encroachment of development from nearby towns and cities. Great Totham Village Hall was built c.1909 and is still in use today.

Details

Date: c. 1892
Dimensions: 29.9 x 39.4
Object Type: design
Material: pencil, pen and ink on tracing paper
Catalogue number: A147c
Artist: Mackmurdo | Arthur Heygate | 1851 | 1942
Credit notes: Mackmurdo bequest, 1942

Architectural drawing for Hogarth Cloisters in Ealing, London, showing the first floor plan of Block B. Mackmurdo’s progressive design envisioned a large block of flats with a central courtyard which would be open in summer and enclosed with glass in winter. The building was to be heated with steam, and electric lighting installed in all flats. The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner noted in his 1968 book ‘Studies in art, architecture, and design’ that Mackmurdo’s plan also included a central club-house for its residents which would include a dining hall, children’s ding hall, kitchens, laundry, gymnasium, swimming pool and nursery. The ambitous building was never realised.

Details

Date: c. 1892
Dimensions: 29.9 x 36.2
Object Type: design
Material: pencil, pen and ink on tracing paper
Catalogue number: A147b
Artist: Mackmurdo | Arthur Heygate | 1851 | 1942

Architectural drawing for Hogarth Cloisters in Ealing, London, showing the fiirst floor plan of Block A. Mackmurdo’s progressive design envisioned a large block of flats with a central courtyard which would be open in summer and enclosed with glass in winter. The building was to be heated with steam, and electric lighting installed in all flats. The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner noted in his 1968 book ‘Studies in art, architecture, and design’ that Mackmurdo’s plan also included a central club-house for its residents which would include a dining hall, children’s ding hall, kitchens, laundry, gymnasium, swimming pool and nursery. The ambitous building was never realised.

Details

Date: c. 1892
Dimensions: 30.5 x 43.8
Object Type: design
Catalogue number: A147a
Artist: Mackmurdo | Arthur Heygate | 1851 | 1942
Credit notes: Mackmurdo bequest, 1942

Architectural drawing for Hogarth Cloisters in Ealing, London, showing the ground floor plan of Block A. Mackmurdo’s progressive design envisioned a large block of flats with a central courtyard which would be open in summer and enclosed with glass in winter. The building was to be heated with steam, and electric lighting installed in all flats. The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner noted in his 1968 book ‘Studies in art, architecture, and design’ that Mackmurdo’s plan also included a central club-house for its residents which would include a dining hall, children’s ding hall, kitchens, laundry, gymnasium, swimming pool and nursery. The ambitous building was never realised.

Details

Date: c. 1895
Dimensions: 22.2 x 14.2
Object Type: design
Material: pencil, pen and ink on graph paper
Catalogue number: A135a
Artist: Mackmurdo | Arthur Heygate | 1851 | 1942
Credit notes: Mackmurdo bequest, 1942

Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo designed this building at 3-4 Sloane Street after the the upper section of Sloane Street was widened between Knightsbridge and Basil Street. This required the rebuilding of some of the properties, including the Swan pub which had stood on the site in some form or other since at least 1699. The owner of the property, Messrs Roberts & Gilling commissioned Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo who created this free-Baroque design, in red brick with stone dressings of four storeys. The Swan Pub was accommodated into the ground and basement floors, with flats to the upper storeys. The architect and writer Harry Stewart Goodhart-Rendel is known to have commented on Mackmurdo and this Sloane Street pub in particular in an interview with Nikolaus Pevsner. He condemned MackMurdo as he did Voysey by describing them as not serious architects, and went on say ‘he [Mackmurdo] did a terrible pub at Sloane Street, the sort of thing one’s small daughter would design.’ (Interview between Nikolaus Pevsner and Harry Stewart Goodhart-Rendel, c.1946, published in Architectural Review, 1966)

Details

Date: c. 1861
Dimensions: 73.5 x 54.2
Object Type: design
Material: ink on paper
Catalogue number: A210
Artist: Rossetti | Dante Gabriel | 1828 | 1882
Credit notes: Cecil French bequest, 1954

This is a finished design for the central panel of a stained glass window in the south aisle of All Saints, Selsley, Cloucestershire. The church was refurbished by the architect G.F. Bodley, who entrusted the making of stained glass to Morris and Philip Webb. They in turn recruited Rossetti, who was asked to make a series of designs for glass in the chancel as well as for the glass to which the present cartoon is related, showing The Sermon on the Mount, in the church’s south aisle. The standing figure of Christ is seen with hands raised as he preaches. Seated on the left of Christ, and to whom he faces, are the figures of the Virgin and Mary Magdalene, and behind them Saints John and James, while on the right, and to whom Christ turns his back, appear St Peter and Judas Iscariot. Several of Rossetti’s friends are said to have sat as models for the various figures; George Meredith, the novelist for the figure of Christ; Christina Rossetti for the Virgin, though the face is not unlike that of Elisabeth Siddal; Mary Magdelene bears a strong strong resemblance to Fanny Cornforth, whilst Algernon Swinburne and Simeon Soloman were said to be the models for St John and St James; William Morris as St Peter and Gambart, the art dealer (whom Rossetti disliked) as Judas. Another preparatory drawing for the window is in Leeds City Art Gallery.

Details

Date: c. 1863-4
Dimensions: 140 x 70
Object Type: design
Material: pencil, sepia and watercolour on paper
Catalogue number: A211
Artist: Burne-Jones | Edward Coley | Sir | 1833 | 1898
Credit notes: Cecil French bequest, 1954

This design is one of a number prepared by Edward Burne-Jones based on Geoffrey Chaucer’s ‘Legend of Good Women’, intended for an embroidered frieze for John Ruskin’s home. Burne-Jones had previously visited this subject in a series of tile panels produced for Morris & Co. in around 1861, and Morris himself had designed a series of wall hangings on the theme, intended for Red House, three of which are now located in the chapel at Castle Howard, North Yorkshire.

Here, Thisbe holds a sword and a mulberry leaf from the tree under which she is supposed to meet Pyramus, her lover. Before they can meet, she is frightened away by a ferocious lion, dropping her mantle as she flees. Pyramus arrives and, seeing the mantle, which has been torn and bloodied by the lion, he assumes the worst and kills himself with his sword. Thisbe soon returns to find her lover dead, and in her grief turns his sword upon herself.

The embroidery project was to be carried out by Burne-Jones’ wife, Georgiana, and the pupils of a girls’ school at Winnington Hall, Cheshire, run by Miss Bell, a friend of Ruskin. The work was never completed, however, as Georgiana remarked, “the joint embroidery scheme proved impracticable, and the drawings alone remained as a symbol of loving intentions”. These intentions did prove fruitful in the end, as the designs went on to be reused in stained glass windows made for The Hill at Witley, Surrey, of which six are now located in the Combination Room at Peterhouse College, Cambridge.

Details

Date: 1872
Dimensions: 105.5 x 100
Object Type: design
Material: watercolour, bodycolour and pencil on paper
Catalogue number: A258
Artist: Burne-Jones | Edward Coley | Sir | 1833 | 1898
Credit notes: WMG purchase, 1954

This watercolour composition by Edward Burne-Jones is one of four designs for stained glass windows executed by Morris & Co. in 1872. They were made for the 18th century chapel at Castle Howard, North Yorkshire, and depict the Christian story of the birth of Jesus: ‘The Annunciation’, ‘The Nativity’, ‘Adoration of the Magi’, and ‘The Flight into Egypt’. The Morrises were good friends with the then Earl and Countess of Carlisle, George and Rosalind Howard, and would often exchange letters and pay visits. The Howards extensively modernised the interiors of their stately home with Morris & Co. designs during the late 19th century, notably redecorating the chapel and perhaps controversially covering a wall of Pellegrini frescoes with ‘Bird and Anemone’ wallpaper . Much of this was later removed, but the Arts and Crafts additions to the chapel, including these windows, remain to be seen today, a testament to their friendship.

Here, we see ‘The Nativity’ or scene of the birth of Christ, with Mary and Joseph gathered around the child, watched over by a host of angels. The bold, linear style is somewhat different to the lush, delicately painted masterpieces Burne-Jones became known for, and relates directly to the final product. We can see the artist beginning to imagine how the glass will fit together, which elements will be leaded and which details will be hand painted. This image would then have been worked up into a full-size cartoon before being transferred to glass. A window using this same design was reproduced by Morris & Co. in the early 20th century, and can be seen in the Epiphany Chapel at Winchester Cathedral, Hampshire.

Details

Date: c. 1891
Dimensions: 101.6 x 68
Object Type: design
Material: pencil, ink and watercolour on paper
Catalogue number: A37
Artist: Dearle, John Henry (1859 - 1932)
Credit notes: WMG purchase, 1940

John Henry Dearle joined Morris’s employment in 1878 as an assistant in the Oxford Street showroom of Morris & Co., before being transferred to the glass painters’ studio and becoming an apprentice tapestry weaver. He eventually went on to become Art Director of Morris & Co. upon Morris’s death in 1896. After many years of training alongside Morris, Dearle began creating distinctive patterns in his own right. ‘Daffodil’ is one of his most successful early patterns. It combines the strong diagonal repeats favoured by Morris with attractive floral motifs. ‘Daffodil’ was extremely commercially popular and was used in many interiors designed by Morris & Co.

This design was for a printed cotton which was to be created using woodblocks. To the right of the image there is an instruction to the blockmaker. The William Morris Gallery also holds 10 woodblocks for the design.

Details

Date: c.1880
Dimensions: 172.7 x 57.3
Object Type: design
Material: pastel on paper
Catalogue number: A136
Artist: Burne-Jones | Edward Coley | Sir | 1833 | 1898
Credit notes: Frank Brangwyn, 1936

This design is a coloured pastel finished drawing from the Morris & Co. East window of St. Martin’s Church, Brampton, Cumbria, 1880-1881. The windows at Brampton are one of Morris & Co’s masterpieces. After the windows were complete, Burne-Jones used coloured chalks to transform his design into this highly finished work.

The pelican feeding its young with drops of blood from its breast is a Christian emblem for the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. The nest sits on top of a highly stylised tree with sinuous curves. In the 20th century, the art historian Nikolaus Pevsner published this design as a precursor of Art Nouveau.

Details

Date: 1872
Object Type: design
Material: watercolour, bodycolour and pencil on paper
Catalogue number: A259
Artist: Burne-Jones | Edward Coley | Sir | 1833 | 1898

Here, we see ‘Adoration of the Magi’, the visitation of the three kings to the newborn Christ child. This traditional biblical scene features hallmarks typical of Morris & Co. design, including figures dressed in richly coloured medieval attire and intricate leaf patterns in the trees, reminiscent of Morris’s ‘Willow’ wallpaper, also produced in the 1870s. The bold, linear style is somewhat different to the lush, delicately painted masterpieces Burne-Jones became known for, and relates directly to the final product. We can see the artist beginning to imagine how the glass will fit together, which elements will be leaded and which details will be hand painted. This image would then have been worked up into a full-size cartoon before being transferred to glass. A window using this same design was reproduced by Morris & Co. in the early 20th century, and can be seen in the Epiphany Chapel at Winchester Cathedral, Hampshire.

Object Type: design

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