Your order qualifies for free standard delivery
2nd April 2017
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood co-founder (along with Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Everett Millais) was born on this day in 1827, and died on the 7th September 1910.
The English painter was the only member of the Brotherhood who remained faithful to the Pre-Raphaelite aims throughout his career. As described by Art UK, “Hunt’s work was remarkable for its minute precision, its accumulation of incident, and its didactic emphases on moral or social symbolism, and he made three visits to the Middle East so he could paint biblical scenes with accurate local detail.”
If you’d like to know about the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, take a look at our past blogs where we take a deeper look! The three founders sought to revitalise art by detailed observations of the natural world in truthful portrayals.
In his personal life, Hunt married twice after a failed engagement to model Annie Miller. He married Fanny Waugh, the daughter of a prosperous London chemist and posed for the figure of Isabella. She died in childbirth in Italy and was buried in the English cemetery in Florence in a tomb he sculpted for her, placed next to the tomb of Elizabeth Barrett Browning for her final resting place. His relationship with St Mark’s Church in Florence meant he could pay to have a inscription on the communion chalice in Fanny’s memory. The second time he married was a controversial one as he married Fanny’s sister Edith. It was illegal in England at this time to marry a deceased wife’s sister and so the pair went overseas to marry which as you can imaging caused conflict amongst family members and friends. Thomas Woolner in particular fell out with Hunt- former colleagues of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, he’d once been in love with Fanny, before marrying their third sister, Alice.
It’s surprising today when his works are in famous art galleries, that Hunt’s works were not initially successful. They were deemed ‘clumsy’ and ‘ugly’ in the art community and though at the time he was recognised for his n naturalistic scenes, it’s his religious pieces that have stood the test of time to become his legacy. Most notably, ‘The Light of the World’ (1851-1853) which now can be seen in the chapel at Keble College, Oxford and a later version (1900) which toured the world and now lives in St Paul’s Cathedral in London. He even built his own house in Jerusalem.
Towards the later years of his life, he was no longer able to paint due to his failing eyesight meaning he could no longer achieve the quality he wanted. His last major works were completed with his assistant Edward Robert Hughes help- including ‘The Light of the World.’ He died on 7th September 1910 and was laid to rest in St Paul’s Cathedral.
We’ve been lucky enough to visit some of his famous art pieces in Birmingham Art Gallery- the attention to detail he remains famous to is even more astonishing in real life- he’s truly a master of his craft so it’s no surprise his legacy has lived on to ensure his place in the art world even today.
William Holman Hunt – ‘The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple’
William Holman Hunt- ‘Dante Gabriel Rossetti’ c.1882
Oil on Panel
Painted shortly after Rossetti’s death, it was created at an emotional time by Hun’s own account just after he lost a friend. The painting marks the days when Hunt was recalling, “memories of early days when, partly by the noisy blundering of followers we were driven to stand as though we were reckless in our challenges of the whole world.”
William Holman Hunt – ‘Self -Portrait’ 1945
A self portrait he painted of himself, aged 17 when he was a student at the Royal Academy Schools in London.
Let’s not forget our favourite…
William Holman Hunt- May Morning on Magdalen Tower, 1888
The painting centres around his feelings about preserving the customs traditional in England. It shows the riding sun on May Day from the Tower of Magdalen College, Oxford.
Which is your favourite Holman-Hunt works?
Posted in News by Laura
Cut this gorgeous fabric stack today- can anyone name these iconic William Morris designs? ✨
•
•
•
#williammorris #wmorris #quiltfabric #curtainfabric #floralfabric
Our fabric patchwork bundles, fabric bundles and remnants have been restocked on our website now! 🤎 With only a few available, hurry to get the designs you want, the bundles are great for smaller sewing and quilting bundles, what will you create? 🪡🧵
•
#fabricscraps #fabricstash #williammorris #fabricseller #fabriclove
Is there anything better than fresh flowers? 🌻 Bringing sunshine and nature indoors with Merton blue on the table today 🤍
•
•
•
#williammorris #wmorris #floraltable #flowerstagram #blueandwhite
In 1864, William Morris designed gorgeous Trellis- inspired by the rose trellis in the gardens of @redhousent 🌹 We’ve got a limited collection of small and large cotton tote bags that we’ve just put live on the website- the perfect accompaniment to your next day out, it’s a design that’s proved itself to be timeless, plus it’ll go with every outfit, what’s not to love! 🤍 If everyone loves our cotton totes, we could bring them out in more designs, which design would you like to see a tote in? 🌟
•
•
•
#inspiredbynature_ #williammorris #trellis #garden #floraltotebag
Perfect in every colour; it’s Brother Rabbit ✨ Our licensed William Morris Forest Green colour way of Brother Rabbit now comes in tea towel form to add some timeless floral magic to your kitchen, did you know the birds and rabbits within the design were drawn by Philip Webb? 🐦⬛
Our tea towels are all printed and manufactured in the UK, and are £10.99 each 🌟
•
•
•
#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #floral #philipwebb #floralprint
Gorgeous Mallow Forest Green in the sunshine this week ☀️ Our heavyweight fabric is so versatile with so many crafts, what will you make? 🧵
•
•
•
#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #williammorrisfabric #greenfloral #craftingfabrics
Wrap an order with us for a custom bundle of some wedding table linens 🌿 These Mallow Forest Green napkins and a custom table runner are now on their way to a customer to adorn their wedding tables, we’re so pleased to be involved in the tables of a few weddings this year! 🤍 If you are looking for gorgeous timeless William Morris florals for your tables, get in touch we’d love to discuss it with you ✨
•
•
•
#williammorris #weddingtablescape #weddingtables #weddinglinens #weddingtablescape
It’s coming home! 🏴 To celebrate, take 15% off our website all weekend with code: HOME at checkout ⚽️ Hurry it ends Tuesday 🌿
•
•
•
#williammorris #england #itscominghome⚽️ #britishbusiness #floralprint
The latest project, a little quilted jacket! ✨ Our William Morris Merton Blue cotton fabric is looking gorgeous, we’ll show you it when it’s finished ☺️ Remember if you’re quilting, our cotton fabric is perfect for the projects and we have lots of complimenting designs and colour ways within our range! 🪡
•
•
•
#merton #quiltedjacket #quiltingfabric #quiltingfabrics #fabricstack
We’re often asked what the different weights of our fabrics are and what projects they’d be good for. These are our three different types of fabrics in our Brother Rabbit red colourway - cotton on the right, heavyweight in the middle and pvc on the left ✨ As you can see on the second photo, and as the name suggests, our heavyweight fabric has a thicker, heavier weave which makes it good for projects such as curtains and light upholstery 🪡 Our cotton fabric is perfect for quilting and projects such as dress making but honestly the amount of crafts that can be made out of them both are endless! 🫶🏻 Our pvc fabric is great to put straight on the table as it won’t fray so doesn’t need a hem and is easy to maintain as it’s wipe clean! All our fabrics are sold by the half metre and if you’d like a sample of any of our fabrics in any weight just let us know and we’ll get a free sample sent to you! 💌
•
•
•
#williammorris #cottonfabric #quiltingfabric #curtainfabric #ukfabric
Our William Morris range is a gorgeous mix of colours and florals, which is your favourite? In some designs such as Strawberry Thief, Brother Rabbit, Willow Bough and Mallow we have different colour ways that we digitally print in the UK so check our website for the full range! 🫶🏻
•
•
•
#williammorris #preraphaelite #quiltingfabric #fatquarters #britishbusiness
Perhaps the most famous Morris design, Strawberry Thief was registered in 1883, inspired by Morris watching the thrushes stealing strawberries from under his fruit nets at the beautiful @kelmscottmanor 🍓 It was printed using the indigo dye technique, which was labour intensive and first attempted in 1875 but not perfected for 8 years 🎨 We also print Strawberry Thief in a beautiful red 🫶🏻
•
•
•
#strawberrythief #historicdesigns #britishdesign #kelmscottmanor
Gorgeous Golden Lily, designed in 1897, it’s been a timelessly popular design ever since but did you know that it really increased in popularity in the 1960s when the Beatles George Harrison wore a Golden Lily shirt? ✨
•
•
•
#goldenlily #wmorris #georgeharrison #englishsummer #englishdesign
Daisy is a special one to many as it was the second ever design Morris created, in 1864, made up of repeating drawn Meadow Daisies 🌼
•
•
•
#morrisandco #preraphaelite #preraphaelites #daisy #daisydesign
We print Willow Bough in this beautiful blue and also in green 🌿 First designed in 1887, it was first produced as a wallpaper design which May Morris, Williams daughter, used to decorate her bedroom before being adapted for fabric in 1895 when it was block printed in Merton Abbey 🌿
•
•
•
#maymorris #mertonabbey #mertonabbeymills #willowbough
Trellis is a special design as it was the first wallpaper he designed for his company, Morris & Co. In 1864 🌿 It was inspired by the rose trellis in the garden of his stunning home @redhousent that he co designed with his friend and architect, Philip Webb
•
•
•
#philipwebb #redhouse #trellis #rosetrellis
We print Mallow in a wine colourway and this beautiful forest green colour ✨ It was first printed in 1879 and used to hang in the wonderful Arts & Crafts home, @standennt in the Croxley bedroom 🫶🏻
•
•
•
#a
you’ve got to make everything an event, including breakfast! 🥐
〰️
On the table;
Willow Bough blue placemats- £38.99
Willow Bough blue napkins- £20.99 ✨
•
•
•
#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #willowbough #preraphaelites #floralhome
Have you seen our forest green colourways of Mallow and Brother Rabbit? 🌿 We brought them out last year and were so happy that they’re ever so popular with everyone 💚 This week we’ve also got a 10% discount running on our website with code: floralsummer 🌅
•
•
•
#williammorris #williammorrisfabric #wmorris #williammorrisdesign #preraphaelite
Did you know all our fabrics are printed and all our products manufactured in the UK? 🤍 It’s important to us that our William Morris fabrics are all high quality and the printed colours all beautiful to ensure all his designs live on timelessly to a high standard 🇬🇧
〰️
Products featured; our Daisy William Morris tea towel - £10.99 ✨
•
•
•
#williammorris #wmorris #morris #floralteatowel #floralhome
A moment for the greens! 💚 Can you name all these beautiful green William Morris designs? 🌿 All digitally printed here in the UK 🇬🇧 The good thing seeing them all together is you can see which work together for a sewing project or quilt, or layered together for your next tablescape! 🫧
•
•
•
#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #williammorrisfabric #preraphaelites #floralfabrics
Did you know we do bundles of our fabric offcuts? 🌿 Perfect for sewer and quilters, they’re various sizes and designs and available on our Etsy and website - this is our latest “almost fat quarter” bundle that all are almost 50cm pieces, you could even make double sided cushions or anything! What would you create? 🪡🧵 (message us if you’d like a link to our bundles!🫧)
•
•
•
#williammorris #fatquarters #fatquarterbundle #preraphaelite #quiltingcotton
With this hot weather upon us, if you’re like us and using it to get all your washing out and dry, we thought we’d tell you our washing guidelines! 🫧 We’d recommend folding your fabric face to face when in the wash (so pattern side to pattern side!) to protect the print and then wash at 30 degrees, hang on the line to dry! 🧺 All our fabrics are digitally printed in the UK and products manufactured in the UK 🇬🇧
•
•
•
#williammorris #goldenlily #flowerscape #wmorris #preraphaelite
All our wonderful William Morris fabrics are digitally printed here in the UK, creating high quality print in incredible colour ways, if you’re quilting and crafting from our cotton and heavyweight cotton fabrics, we thought it’d be handy to have all the pattern repeats in an easy to save post ☺️
•
•
•
#williammorris #craftingfabric #quiltingfabric #floralfabrics #patternfabric
Merton in blue is one of the most beautiful William Morris designs, a timeless blue and white, it was first designed in 1888!
•
•
#williammorris #wmorris #morrisdesign #merton #preraphaelite
If you’d like a sample of Merton, just send us a message and we’ll get one sorted out for you!
•
•
•
#williammorris #floralfabric #blueandwhite #blueandwhitefabric #tablescape
Have you seen Merton before? It’s so underrated as a Morris design we think! It was actually the first design that he printed on rotary screens under the name “Morris & Co.” After their rebrand from “Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co.’” 🌿 We’re just appreciating it during peony season!
•
•
•
#peony #peonyseason #morris #morrisandco #preraphaelites
Taking a closer look at beautiful Lily design, a timeless design Morris designed in 1874, if you’d like a sample of Lily, just let us know! 💌
〰️
The table details;
Lily napkins- £16.99 for 4
Lily tablecloths- starting from £29.99 depending on size
Also mentioned;
Lily cotton by the half metre- £9.25
Lily heavyweight cotton by the half metre- £10.25
•
•
•
#williammorris #wmorris #preraphaelites #lily #quiltingcotton
07544 094386
