Victorian Art & Design
Windows by William Morris, Madox Brown and
Rossetti
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William Morris's most popular designs were his St. Peter and
his Minstrels. |
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In the 1860s, the main work of Morris's firm was stained glass. During this time Burne-Jones, William Morris, Madox Brown and Rossetti all designed windows for the firm, though Burne-Jones designed the most. |
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Ford Madox Brown's designs are sometimes more suited to a painting than to the mosaic effects needed for stained glass. An example of this is his Moses in the Bullrushes at Meole Brace in Shrewsbury. He also liked to depict strong emotions, as in his Supper at Emmaus at Troutbeck, shown here. Rossetti took little trouble to make his designs suitable for the glass cutter. He once said, 'Anything will do for stained glass.' His Legend of St. George can be seen at the V & A, at Birmingham Art Gallery and at Cragside, a National Trust house in Northumberland. |
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The work of Morris, Madox Brown and Rossetti can be seen at All Saints, Selsley near Stroud, the first church decorated by the firm. This also has glass by Philip Webb who liked designing animals. Middleton Cheney and nearby Banbury both have magnificent east windows from the 1860s. Both have pairs of figures. At Middleton Cheney the figures are by Morris, Madox Brown and by the Jewish artist, Simeon Solomon and other windows are by Burne-Jones and Madox Brown. (These windows and those at Selsley are described in Ann S. Dean's Burne-Jones and William Morris.) This book also describes Burne-Jones's windows in Oxford. In 1874 Morris took sole control of the firm, now officially named Morris and
Co. Morris now devoted all his attention to designing patterns and most of the
figures in the windows were designed by Burne-Jones. |
