Kelmscott Manor: Front View

Details

Date: 1896
Dimensions: 18.8 x 14.6
Object Type: photograph
Material: platinum print
Catalogue number: PhJ901xxxii
Photographer: Evans, Frederick H. (26.06.1853 - 24.06.1943)
Credit notes: Gift of Mary Sloane, 1962

William Morris and Frederick Henry Evans had shared interests in typography, literature and architecture. Evans was a talented photographer and had supplied Morris with lantern slides for his lectures on architecture. In 1896 Morris invited Evans to photograph Kelmscott Manor, his country home in Oxfordshire. Morris and his wife Jane shared the house with the Pre-Raphaelite painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti from 1871 to 1874, and it remained a country retreat for Morris and the artists and intellectuals in his circle until his death in 1896.

Evans was a skilled architectural photographer, in this series he captures the unspoiled craftsmanship and organic feel that first attracted Morris to Kelmscott. After Morris’s death he assembled a number of these images in a memorial portfolio.

Details

Date: c.1891
Object Type: photograph
Material: photograph
Technique: photographic cartoon
Catalogue number: BLPhA527e
Artist: Burne-Jones | Edward Coley | Sir | 1833 | 1898
Photographer: Walker & Boutall

The Summons is the first of the series: ‘The Knights of the Round Table Summoned to the Quest by a Strange Damsel’ of six narrative panels relating to the story of the Holy Grail which was designed by Edward Burne-Jones in 1891-1894 , for a series of tapestries woven by Morris & Co. at Merton Abbey for Stanmore Hall, Middlesex. Photographic enlargements to the same size as the final tapestry were made from Burne-Jones final designs by Walker & Boutall, Fleet Street, and these enlarged cartoons were then worked over by the artist in ink, with some sepia and white heightening to bring out contrasts. BLPh527e appears to have been cut from the larger cartoon whilst the latter was still in the possession of Morris & Co.
The full size cartoons for the series are held in the William Morris Gallery (BLPhA527a-e, BLPh528a-b, BLPh529, BLPh530a-c, BLPh531). The series of tapestries is now in the collection of Birmingham City Art Gallery (M60’80).

Details

Date: c.1902
Object Type: photograph
Material: photograph
Catalogue number: J1179b
Sitter: Morris, William (1834 - 1896)
Artist: Jack, George Washington Henry (1855 - 1931)
Photographer: Gardner, Fairford

This photograph shows George Jack’s carved bas-relief panel created for the Memorial Cottages at Kelmscott, Lechlade, built in 1902 and designed by Philip Webb. The panel is placed centrally on the front façade of the two semi-detached cottages, and it depicts William Morris seated beneath a tree with his satchel by his leg. The panel was worked up by Jack from a pencil sketch by Philip Webb. A photograph of a preparatory plaster panel is also in the Gallery’s collection, see J1179a.

Details

Dimensions: 28 x 22.7
Object Type: photograph
Material: photograph
Catalogue number: P754
Photographer: Walker | Emery | 1851 | 1933
Credit notes: Presented by Miss Dorothy Walker, 1955

This photograph captures the dining room of Kelmscott House in Hammersmith, home of the Morris family. Dominating the space is a magnificent 17th-century Iranian ‘Vase’ carpet, dramatically draped across the wall and ceiling. The carpet was given to the V&A by Jane Morris when she left Kelmscott House in 1897. In front stands a Cypress wood chest displaying examples of Iranian metalwork, including two brass peacocks that are now at Kelmscott Manor. Above the doorway hangs a portrait of Jane Morris by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

Details

Date: c.1929-32
Dimensions: 19.7 x 12.9
Object Type: photograph
Catalogue number: P810
Sitter: Sheldrick, Percy

The art of high-warp weaving had almost died out in Britain until reintroduced by William Morris. The tapestry being woven here at Merton Abbey by Morris & Co. employee Percy Sheldrick is one of a series of six panels illustrating the legend of the Holy Grail. The original design was drawn by Edward Burne-Jones with the workshop assistants drawing the background detail. The first set of six were produced in 1894 for W.K. D’Arcy, an Australian mining millionaire. Later on further panels were woven for other clients. Between 1929-32 Percy Sheldrick (depicted here), with the help of Sidney Mears, wove The Summons and The Attainment from the Holy Grail series for Sir Henry Beacham of Lympne Castle near Hythe in Kent.

Details

Date: 03.02.1889
Dimensions: 16 x 11
Object Type: photograph
Material: photograph
Catalogue number: P660
Sitter: Morris | May | 1862 | 1938
Credit notes: Presented by Mrs Charles Bramley from her husband's collection, 1962

This striking photograph of May Morris was taken on 3 February 1889 at Hammersmith Terrace, London. Seated with her guitar in front of a curtain made from Morris & Co. fabric, May was likely rehearsing for a Socialist League performance.

The photograph is one of a series taken that day, including one of her standing (see WMG:P652) as well as group photograph (held at The Wilson, Cheltenham) capturing May alongside Henry Halliday Sparling, Emery Walker, and George Bernard Shaw—all active members of the Socialist League. From 1885, May took part in Socialist plays and entertainments, often performing with Eleanor Marx and Shaw. She also ran a choir and remained a keen guitarist throughout her life.

May understood that music, theatre, and social gatherings were powerful tools for bringing people into the Socialist movement. She later wrote two plays: Lady Griselda’s Dream (1898) and White Lies (1903).

Details

Date: 1874
Object Type: photograph
Catalogue number: PP5/Z25
Photographer: Hollyer | Frederick | 1838 | 1933
Sitter: Morris, William (1834 - 1896)
Sitter: Burne-Jones | Edward Coley | Sir | 1833 | 1898
Sitter: Mackail (née Burne-Jones), Margaret (1866 - 1953)
Sitter: Morris | May | 1862 | 1938
Sitter: Morris (née Burden) | Jane | 1839 | 1914
Sitter: Morris, Jenny (1861 - 1935)
Sitter: Burne-Jones, Philip, Sir (1861 - 1926)
Sitter: Burne-Jones, Georgiana (1840 - 1920)
Sitter: Jones, Edward Richard (1801 - 1889)

Photograph taken in the garden of the Grange, Fulham. From left to right (back row): Edward Richard Jones, Margaret Burne-Jones, Edward Burne-Jones, May Morris and William Morris. From left to right (front row): Philip Burne-Jones, Georgiana Burne-Jones, Jane Morris and Jenny Morris.

Details

Date: 1891
Object Type: photograph
Material: photograph
Technique: photographic cartoon
Catalogue number: BLPhA527b
Artist: Burne-Jones | Edward Coley | Sir | 1833 | 1898
Credit notes: Barking Loan

The Summons is the first of the series: ‘The Knights of the Round Table Summoned to the Quest by a Strange Damsel’ of six narrative panels relating to the story of the Holy Grail which was designed by Burne-Jones in 1891-1894 , for a series of tapestries woven by Morris & Co. at Merton Abbey for Stanmore Hall, Middlesex. Photographic enlargements to the same size as the final tapestry were made from Burne-Jones final designs, and these enlarged cartoons were then worked over by the artist in ink, with some sepia and white heightening to bring out contrasts.
The full size cartoons for the series are held in the William Morris Gallery (BLPhA527a-e, BLPh528a-b, BLPh529, BLPh530a-c, BLPh531)
The full series of tapestries is in the collection of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (M60’80).

Details

Date: 1905
Dimensions: 8.6 x 13.7
Object Type: photograph
Material: photograph
Catalogue number: P680
Sitter: Morris, Jenny (1861 - 1935)
Sitter: Culmer (neé Peerless), Ada ( - 1939)
Sitter: Morris | May | 1862 | 1938
Sitter: Morris (née Burden) | Jane | 1839 | 1914
Credit notes: Presented by Mrs Charles Bramley, 1962

This postcard shows a photograph of the female members of the Morris family in the garden at Kelmscott Manor. Jane Morris is lying in a hammock, with her youngest daughter May Morris seated beside her on the ground and Jenny Morris her eldest daughter seated on a chair right. Ada Culmer (neé Peerless), Jenny’s carer is seated on the ground far left. Marie Spartali Stillman is sat on a chair on the left, dressed in black with another unidentified woman sat beside her.

Details

Date: c.1876
Object Type: photograph
Catalogue number: PP1/Z521
Sitter: Morris, William (1834 - 1896)

Photograph of William Morris wearing an artist smock and soft felt hat, c.1876. Morris had an unconventional dress sense. At university he went through a phase of only wearing purple trousers. In later years his shirts and jackets were made exclusively from indigo blue cloth. His willingness to wear a working smock in this portrait reveals a great deal about his attitude to manual labour. Unlike many reformers, Morris was a hands-on craftsman. Practical workwear such as this was as much a profession of his affinity with working people as it was a practical choice, protecting his normal clothes from the dye vats and printing ink in his factory at Merton Abbey.

Details

Dimensions: 30.1 x 85.8 x 2.7
Object Type: photograph
Material: platinum print
Catalogue number: P829.2
Photographer: Hollyer | Frederick | 1838 | 1933
Manufacturer: Morris & Co.
Credit notes: Gift of F J Lefroy, 1962

These photographs show the final two sections of The Holy Grail tapestries woven by Morris & Co. between 1891 and 1894. The tapestries were commissioned by William Knox D’Arcy for his dining room at Stanmore Hall, now in the Borough of Harrow in North-East London. Like many Morris & Co. tapestries, the design was a group effort with the figures designed by Edward Burne-Jones, the heraldic elements by William Morris and the background and floral details by John Henry Dearle.

Morris & Co. went on to produce two more versions of the tapestries with minor differences, these photographs of the original tapestries may have been displayed in the Morris & Co. showroom to advertise their tapestries. The photographs could also have been used by the Morris & Co. weavers to create the later versions of the tapestries. The photographs are part of a set of three, and at least one other set exists and is in the collection of the William Morris Society.

This set of photographs was given to the Gallery in 1962 by Miss Frances Lefroy who also donated many of fabrics and furnishings from her parent’s house, which was decorated by Morris & Co.

Details

Dimensions: 29.6 x 86.4 x 2.4
Object Type: photograph
Material: platinum print
Catalogue number: P829.1
Photographer: Hollyer | Frederick | 1838 | 1933
Manufacturer: Morris & Co.
Credit notes: Gift of Miss F J Lefroy. 1962

These photographs show the first two sections of The Holy Grail tapestries woven by Morris & Co. between 1891 and 1894. The tapestries were commissioned by William Knox D’Arcy for his dining room at Stanmore Hall, now in the Borough of Harrow in North-East London. Like many Morris & Co. tapestries, the design was a group effort with the figures designed by Edward Burne-Jones, the heraldic elements by William Morris and the background and floral details by John Henry Dearle.

This set of photographs was given to the Gallery in 1962 by Miss Frances Lefroy who also donated many of fabrics and furnishings from her parent’s house, which was decorated by Morris & Co.

Details

Date: 1896
Dimensions: 28 x 22.7
Object Type: photograph
Material: photograph
Catalogue number: 107/Z1072
Photographer: Walker | Emery | 1851 | 1933
Credit notes: Presented by Miss Dorothy Walker, 1955

Photograph of the interior of Morris’s home Kelmscott House, Hammersmith by his friend and neighbour Emery Walker. The photograph shows the drawing room with a fireplace and mantelshelves with two rows of Iznik ceramic plates (the plates on the top shelf, far right and far left are now at Kelsmcott Manor) and a metal charger. Either side of the firplace are hangings of Morris & Co. ‘Bird’ woven wool, on the left is a Morris & Co. adjustable back chair and on the right a large settle also made by the firm. To the right of the fireplace is a mother of pearl inlaid table, possible north-African or Ottoman and a Turkish style rug in front of the hearth. A handwritten note of the back of the photograph explains that the firegrate was a wedding gift of Philip Webb to Morris.

Details

Date: 1933
Dimensions: 4 x 6
Object Type: photograph
Material: photograph
Catalogue number: PhJ902xxviii
Sitter: Morris | May | 1862 | 1938
Sitter: Stefánsdóttir , Sigrún (1898 - 1896)
Credit notes: Given by Stephanie Godwin, 1998

May Morris and Sigrún Stefánsdóttir in the garden at Kelsmcott Manor. A letter in the Gallery’s collection from May Morris to Margaret Peirce written on 20 Nov 1932 mentions that an Icelandic friend is coming to stay after Christmas, it is likely this was Stefánsdóttir, and thererfore the photo was taken around January 1933. May Morris visited Iceland three times, in 1924, 1926 and 1931.

Details

Date: 1896
Dimensions: 19.3 x 15.5
Object Type: photograph
Material: platinum print
Catalogue number: PhJ901xxvii
Photographer: Evans, Frederick H. (26.06.1853 - 24.06.1943)
Credit notes: Gift of Mary Sloane, 1962

This photograph shows William Morris’s bedroom. The carved four-poster bed is hung with embroidered hangings by William’s daughter, May Morris. The bedroom walls are papered with ‘Lily’ wallpaper, designed by Morris c.1874.

Details

Date: c.1902
Object Type: photograph
Material: photograph
Catalogue number: J1179a
Sitter: Morris, William (1834 - 1896)
Artist: Jack, George Washington Henry (1855 - 1931)
Photographer: F.J. Scarlett & Co
Credit notes: Gift of John Brandon-Jones

This photograph depicts George Jack’s preparatory carved plaster panel for the Memorial Cottages built in 1902 at Kelmscott, Lechlade and designed by Philip Webb. The panel, which sits above the cottage doors depicts William Morris under a tree with his satchel by his leg. The panel was worked up by Jack from a pencil sketch by Philip Webb. A photograph of the final stone panel is also in the Gallery’s collection, see J1179b

Details

Date: 1865
Dimensions: 18.2 x 13.1
Object Type: photograph
Catalogue number: P836
Sitter: Morris (née Burden) | Jane | 1839 | 1914
Photographer: Parsons, John Robert (1826 - 1909)
Artist: Rossetti | Dante Gabriel | 1828 | 1882
Credit notes: Gift of Dr Robert Steele, 1942

Jane Morris standing in the garden of Tudor House, Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s home at Cheyne Walk, Chelsea. Rossetti posed the photograph which was then taken by John Parsons. This photograph is a copy print (possibly by Emery Walker) of an original from an album of the Rossetti series now in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Accession number 822-1942.

Details

Date: 03.02.1889
Dimensions: 16.5 x 10.5
Object Type: photograph
Material: photograph
Catalogue number: P652
Sitter: Morris | May | 1862 | 1938
Credit notes: Presented by Miss Dorothy Walker, 1955

This striking photograph of May Morris was taken on 3 February 1889 at Hammersmith Terrace, London. Standing with her guitar by a Morris & Co. Sussex chair, May was likely rehearsing for a Socialist League performance.

The photograph is one of a series taken that day, including one of her seated (see WMG:P660) as well as group photograph (held at The Wilson, Cheltenham) capturing May alongside Henry Halliday Sparling, Emery Walker, and George Bernard Shaw—all active members of the Socialist League. From 1885, May took part in Socialist plays and entertainments, often performing with Eleanor Marx and Shaw. She also ran a choir and remained a keen guitarist throughout her life.

Details

Date: 1891
Object Type: photograph
Material: photograph
Technique: photographic cartoon
Catalogue number: BLPhA527a
Artist: Burne-Jones | Edward Coley | Sir | 1833 | 1898
Credit notes: Barking Loan

The Summons is the first of the series: ‘The Knights of the Round Table Summoned to the Quest by a Strange Damsel’ of six narrative panels relating to the story of the Holy Grail which was designed by Burne-Jones in 1891-1894 , for a series of tapestries woven by Morris & Co. at Merton Abbey for Stanmore Hall, Middlesex. Photographic enlargements to the same size as the final tapestry were made from Burne-Jones final designs, and these enlarged cartoons were then worked over by the artist in ink, with some sepia and white heightening to bring out contrasts.
The full size cartoons for the series are held in the William Morris Gallery (BLPhA527a-e, BLPh528a-b, BLPh529, BLPh530a-c, BLPh531).

Object Type: photograph

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