The glossary of terms has been created to support the understanding of terms used within the Pre-Raphaelite resource. Please contact us if you would like us to add or amend a term.
Art movement. Defined by an enthusiastic and romantic vision of the Middle Ages exemplified by the stories of King Arthur. Many of the works of the Pre-Raphaelites and their associates display their interest in the medieval. Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s depiction of medieval themes drew the attention of Edward Burne-Jones, William Morris, Arthur Hughes and others. In 1857, they worked together on murals depicting Mallory’s Morte d’Arthur for the Debating Hall, Oxford Union building.
Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co
Established in 1861 after the successful interior decoration of the Red House, built for William Morris by the architect Philip Webb. It was founded by William Morris, Peter Paul Marshall, Charles Faulkner with Ford Madox Brown, Edward Burne-Jones and Rossetti also as partners. Its products for ecclesiastical and domestic buildings encompassed mural decoration, wallpaper, tapestries, carving, stained and vessel glass, metalwork, tile painting and furniture.
Morris & Co
In 1875 Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co was re-formed under Morris’s sole direction as Morris & Co., with Morris, Burne-Jones and Philip Webb as the principal designers. Two years later a shop was opened in Oxford Street to promote and sell the products. The interior decorating service became a significant aspect of the business, with William Morris himself designing the furnishing fabrics until the late 1880’s.
The ethos of the firm was based on a rejection of mass-production and the dehumanizing effects of machine-processes. Instead, value was placed on the revival and continuation of traditional skills, recognising and respecting the artisan.
Throughout the company’s existence there was an ongoing tension between Morris’s political and social theories of work and craftsmanship, and the realities of commercial production. The firm’s clients, who commissioned design schemes, were necessarily wealthy, and their products appealed to a particular kind of informed, artistic taste.
This company was in existence for 80 years and moved premises several times. A significant group of items was purchased for the Birmingham collection after its closure in 1940.