Studio: international art (15.1899)

Arras Tapestry at Stanmore Hall

studies, which the workers at Merton Abbey, taught asleep, his back leaning against the stone side of a

by Mr. Dearie under Morris's supervision, translated water-cistern, his feet pointing to the door, shut

to the actual fabric. These were worked from against him and guarded by an angel warder of the

enlarged photographs of portions of the original Temple of the Holy Graal. The angel's wings,

designs touched up by Burne-Jones, who usually blue as the depths of a sapphire, harmonise with

limited his attention to the heads and hands, leaving the pale blue of his sleeves, while his white and

the purely ornamental details to Messrs. Morris and yellow brocaded robe contrasts with the rich crim-

Co. In Mr. Aymer Vallance's monograph there son surcoat of the mailed knight, whose limbs are

is a description of the tapestry so accurate and encased partly in plate, partly in chain armour. . . .

sympathetic that it seems better to quote lite- The whole composition is in a subdued tone of

rally in place of describing it anew. colour, with beams of strong light streaming

" The scheme of this decoration is to illustrate through the chinks of the door, where they fall

the Arthurian romance, more particularly that part upon armour and blades of grass."

of it which deals with the quest of the San Graal. Other panels .represent The Arrival of Sir

The main division consists of a series of figure- Galahad to take his place in the Siege Perilous,

subject panels. Their height is uniformly eight The Knights Departing on the Quest, The Failure

feet, but they vary in width according to the of Sir Gawaine, The Vision of the Holy Graal,

dimensions of the several spaces they have to fill and a ship at anchor.

round the room. Of these panels it will suffice to Below several of the panels is hung, by way of a

describe one which, though neither the largest nor dado, other tapestries bearing scrolls with legends

the most conspicuous, is yet, in point of beauty, in Gothic characters describing the subject above

second to none in the set. The subject is the it. The design of these is a thicket with deer,

Failure of Lancelot. It contains but two figures, and on the branches of its trees hang the shields

In the foreground Sir Lancelot is represented lying of the Knights of the Round Table with their

proper heraldric charges.

The illustrations here reproduced

show, for the first time, the effect of
the tapestries in silk, and give suffi-
cient idea of the other decorations of
the room, the lightly-wrought ceiling
in moulded plaster, the panelled em-
brasures, doors, and buffet, and its
simply designed furniture.

With hangings as sumptuous as
these tapestries it is obviously essen-
tial that the rest of an apartment of
this size should.be kept simple; or
rather it is more in accordance with
modern taste, for precedents to the
contrary exist both in Gothic and
Renaissance. Indeed, it may be left
an open question whether pattern and
colour as sumptuous as are these
efforts of Morris and Burne-Jones do
not need rather ornate treatment of
the accessories to keep it in its
rightful place. Be this as it may, the
whole room is a noteworthy monu-
ment to the art of the two great men
who produced it, and to the energy
of the one who not merely revived
the ancient craft but reared up a
number of trained workers to carry

arras tapestry at stanmore hall on its best traditions. Among the

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