This magnificent pair of tapestries, only recently reunited at the Victoria and Albert Museum, derives from stained-glass designs made by Burne-Jones for twin lancet windows in the choir of Salisbury Cathedral. His account book with Morris & Company lists, between March and August 1878, "4 colossal and sublime figures of Angels £20 ea[ch] £80. nl They are certainly the most impressive of Burne- Jones's mature angel figures, displaying, in the words of Malcolm Bell, the artist s first chronicler, "his admirable use of wings and drapery alone to secure a rich decorative effect." 2 Bell describes the second pair of more earthbound ministering angels as "pausing in the path of mercy to rest awhile their weary sandal- shod feet, and bearing the palmer's cloak marked with the cockle-shell of St. Jago [Saint James or Santiago of Compostella], the pilgrims staff" and bottle and bag of meal, but so elaborate is the modelling of the garments, so skilful the arrangement of the wings, that the whole heavenly host could not produce a more complete effect of well-filled space, with- out confusion, in which each line and shadow is full of inter- est and importance." 3 Full-size cartoons for the tapestries are preserved in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, with later coloring added in chalks, in a manner similar to the enhancement of the Last Judgment cartoons (cat. no. 71). 4 These have been further amended, presumably from photographs, for translation into tapestry: an outer set of wings to each angel has been elimi- nated to make room for the kind of stylized millefleur back- grounds beloved of John Henry Dearie, who also designed the orange and pomegranate borders. The tapestries were executed in 1894 by John Martin, William Haines, and William Elliman, senior weavers at Merton Abbey. Several later versions were made, including a pair woven in 1905 as a Boer War memorial for Eton College Chapel; in these, the figures of angels are placed over depic- tions of heraldic shields hung from trees, echoing the verdure panels from the Holy Grail series (cat. no. 151). 5 1. Sewter 1974-75, vol. 2, p. 167. 2. Bell 1892 (1898), p. 65. 3. Ibid. 4. Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (699.1-2); Victoria and Albert Museum (1996, no. M.124a,b). 5. See Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery 1981, p. 108, and Victoria and Albert Museum 1996, p. 290.
This is a hand-woven tapestry depicting angels. Although unique in design and manufacture, a number of tapestries showing variations of this composition were woven by Morris & Co. in later years. The figures for this tapestry were originally drawn in 1877-1878 by Edward Burne-Jones for stained-glass lancet windows in the south choir of Salisbury Cathedral, which were made in the Morris & Co. workshops. An entry in Burne-Jones's account book between March and August 1878 lists '4 colossal and sublime figures of angels œ20 each'. The original Burne-Jones cartoon, in chalk on stretched paper, is in the collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. In 1894 Burne-Jones's cartoons were converted to tapestry with the addition of background and border designs by John Henry Dearle. This design proved popular for use in churches. J.H. Dearle was William Morris's first tapestry apprentice. He eventually became Morris's assistant and, on Morris's death, was appointed Artistic Director of Morris & Co. Made by Morris & Co's most experienced tapestry weavers, John Martin, William Haines and William Elliman, this tapestry was woven at six warp threads per centimetre. Although coarse in comparison with medieval examples, this suited the designs used and the skills of the Morris & Co. weavers. British Galleries: Morris believed tapestry to be one of the highest forms of decorative art. He did not begin production until years after other forms of textiles had become staple products of the firm. Despite this, he achieved considerable success owing to the quality of the weaving and the way in which his weavers translated Burne-Jones' figure drawings into finished tapestries.(27/03/2003)