The Dinner

Details

Date: 1873
Dimensions: 16 x 58.3
Object Type: oil
Material: oil on wood
Catalogue number: O93
Artist: Alma-Tadema, Lawrence, Sir, 1836, 1912
Credit notes: Cecil French bequest, 1954

‘The Dinner’, also known as ‘A Roman Banquet’ was commissioned from the artist Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema by the art dealer Ernest Gambart. The painting is one of a set of three, the other two being ‘Greek Wine’ (1872) and ‘The Siesta’ (1873). Originally the pictures were planned to be of a much larger size, but as no client was interested, they were executed in a smaller format.
Alma-Tadema frequently painted the theme of Romans dining, including four paintings using the same figure of the elderly man which date from 1872-1880, and a watercolour, ‘The Batchelor’ (1879). A later revised version of this painting, ‘The First Course: The Dinner’, was painted in 1880 (location unknown). A similar subject also appears in ‘Between Hope and Fear’ (1876), private collection.

Details

Date: c.1820-1830
Object Type: oil
Catalogue number: BrO31
Artist: Etty, William, Sir, 1787, 1849
Credit notes: Gift of Frank Brangwyn, 1938

William Etty was the first significant British painter of nudes and still lifes. As a consequence he acquired a reputation for indecency. Despite this, he became commercially successful and critically acclaimed. In 1828 he was elected a Royal Academician, at the time the highest honour available to an artist. Throughout his life he continued to study the human form at life drawing classes, a practice considered inappropriate by established artists of the day.
This painting was acquired for the Gallery by the artist Frank Brangwyn.

Details

Object Type: oil
Catalogue number: BrO16
Artist: Brangwyn, Frank, Sir (1867 - 1956)
Credit notes: Brangwyn gift, 1935

Study for the ninth panel in a series of 11 large oil panels representing important events in the history of the Skinners’ Guild. Brangwyn executed this commission for the Hall of the Worshipful Company of Skinners, London between 1902-1909. The picture as finally painted (illustrated in Herbert Furst, The Decorative Art of Frank Brangwyn, 1924, p.72) shows a somewhat different composition. The two men in ceremonial robes and their page remain as in the sketch but the background was changed to show Officers of the Guild on the staircase and balcony and figures of pages, some bearing baskets of fruit, were added in the foreground left, behind whom the aged figure of General Monk is seen ascending the stairs.

Details

Date: 1895
Dimensions: 188.5 x 143.5
Object Type: oil
Material: oil on canvas
Catalogue number: BrO10
Artist: Brangwyn, Frank, Sir (1867 - 1956)
Credit notes: Brangwyn gift, 1935

Also known as ‘The Pipes of Pan’ and ‘Orpheus and his lute’, this panel is one of only two remaining sections of a decorative scheme commissioned by Siegfried Bing in 1895 for the exterior of his Galerie L’Art Nouveau, 22 rue de Provence, Paris. The complete scheme comprised a decorative frieze on the exterior of the building showing eastern potters at work and oriental figures talking and playing pipes. ‘Music’ and its companion piece ‘Dancing’ were displayed just inside the main entrance of the building. ‘Dancing’ shows two semi-nude figures in a landscape dancing to the music of panpipes being played by a boy.

Both panels were illustrated in J. S. Little’s article in The Studio (1897), from which it would appear that ‘Music’ was originally much larger and has been cut down on all sides. It is possible that this was done when the painting was in the collection of M. Agache, who acquired both ‘Music’ and ‘Dancing’ and the decorative frieze when these were removed from Bing’s gallery around 1905. It is more likely however that Brangywn himself cut the panel down when he later re-acquired it, at which time he also added his initials.

Details

The Earthly Paradise is an epic poem structured as a frame story, composed of a number of different narratives. Morris published the first volume of The Earthly Paradise in 1868 after a ten year break from publishing following a poor reception to his earlier written work ‘The Defence of Guenevere’ in 1857. Despite this, the first volume of The Earthly Paradise was a great success and Morris went on to publish further volumes until 1870. This Kelmscott Press edition is the first in an eight-volume set held at the William Morris Gallery.

In Morris’s poem, a group of Norsemen flee a plague in Europe in search of the mythical earthly paradise, where they will never grow old. However, their search is unfruitful and they become ‘shrivelled, bent, and grey’ during their lengthy quest. Eventually they come to a land where the inhabitants still worship the ancient Greek gods. They decide to stay there and each month, the wanderers and the city elders exchange tales. The poem lasts a whole year, comprising twenty-four stories. Through this narrative, Morris draws both upon Greek myths and medieval romance tales, including Icelandic sagas.

The Earthly Paradise helped to forge Morris’s reputation as a poet. In fact all of his subsequent books were sold as “by the author of The Earthly Paradise”. Today we might think of William Morris primarily as a designer, but during his lifetime he was known best as a writer.

Details

This design for printed cotton showcases Morris’s ability to seamlessly create flowing patterns that capture the spirit and vibrancy of the natural world. The dense, vigorous swirls in this design show Morris at the height of his powers as a textile designer. Can you see that alterations have been made and lines rubbed out? Morris drew, revised and coloured a pattern on a single sheet of paper, believing that a harmonious piece of work should be done in one attempt.

This design was printed using woodblocks by Wardle & Co., who were based in the town of Leek, a centre of textile production at the time. In the mid-1870s Morris was deeply involved in producing textiles of all kinds. He experimented with vegetable dyes, commissioning carpets, and creating patterns for silk and cotton fabrics. His fascination with developing techniques led to some sleepless nights and in 1876 Morris wrote to his friend Aglaia Coronio, “I am drawing patterns so fast that last night I dreamt I had to draw a sausage; somehow I had to eat it first, which made me anxious about my digestion: however I have just done quite a pretty pattern for printed work.”

Archives: Objects

Pages

Archives

Categories