Howard Family Residences Kensington 1 Palace Green - Wikipedia Page 1 of 3 WIKIPEDIA Coordinates: 51°30'10"N0"11'2 1 Palace Green 1 Palace Green is a Grade II* listed house on Palace Green, Kensington, London. [1] It was built by Arts and Crafts architect Philip Webb, completed in 1870 with additions in 1874, and decorated by Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Company. 0 Contents Construction Furnishings and art Later history Notes References External links 1 Palace Green, east front with porch and bay window Construction Webb designed the house over 1867-68 as a studio house for George Howard, a painter and the future 9th Earl of Carlisle, and his wife Rosalind Howard. [2] The couple were associated with the Holland Park Circle of artists, and close friends of the artist Edward Burne-Jones. [3] Webb saw his design as a return to London building traditions. His use of plain red brick, sash windows and a large gable on the street front provoked opposition from James Pennethorne, the surveyor for the Commissioners of Woods, Forests and Land Revenues, whose approval was needed as the site was leased from the Crown Estate. [2] Pennethorne could not understand the Arts and Crafts architect's nonconformance to any traditional style or period of architecture, and thought the design vulgar compared to those of neighbouring developments, which Webb in turn despised. [4] After a long dispute which grew to include other prominent architects, Webb agreed to add some more Portland stone dressings and redesign the gable. The house was constructed over 1868-70. [2] The L-plan [1] house was tall compared to the neighbouring properties, having a kitchen basement level and three residential levels, with gables above. On the front elevation there is a two-storey bay window, projecting over the ground storey, surmounted by a parapet and the large, stone-faced gable. [2] The porch incorporates a pointed arch. [1] Webb positioned Howard's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1_Palace_Green 5/3/2020 1 Palace Green - Wikipedia Page 2 of 3 studio on the north side of the top residential storey, with its own staircase which led down to the garden, opening into a two-storey pointed-arch recess. In 1873-74 Webb returned to add a schoolroom next to the studio, over another tall pointed-arch recess, in the south elevation. [2] Furnishings and art The house was furnished by Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Company, in a style with painted ceilings and panelling which was similar to that of the Green Dining Room furnished by the company at the South Kensington Museum. [5] William Morris worked on decorating the ceiling and walls of the house's dining room until 1881. This room also featured Cupid and Psyche, a frieze of 12 canvases started by Burne-Jones in 1870, based on the The north side, showing the arched story in Morris's epic poem The Earthly Paradise. [6] recess below the studio Burne-Jones completed it in 1882. [7] Burne-Jones's painting Dies Domini hung in the drawing room. The decoration of Rosalind Howard's boudoir was entirely based around the hanging of his large 1879 painting The Annunciation. [8] The Howards later employed the company to decorate their other residences, Naworth Castle and Castle Howard, and their influence led to the commissioning of Webb as architect and the company as decorators for St Martin's Church, Brampton. [9] Later history Widowed in 1911, Rosalind Howard sold the house in 1920, moving along and across the street to 13 Kensington Palace Gardens. [10] In 1957 the Crown Commissioners broke the house up into apartments. [11] Notes 1. Historic England. "1 Palace Green (1065945)" (https://HistoricEngland.org.uk/listing/the- list/list-entry/1065945). National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 28 August 2014. 2. Kirk (2005), pp. 71-74. 3. Dakers (1999), p. 83. 4. Dakers (1999), pp. 89-91. 5. Parry (1996), p. 142. 6. Dakers (1999), pp. 97-98. 7. MacCarthy (2011), p. 268. 8. Dakers (1999), pp. 101-102. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1_Palace_Green 5/3/2020 1 Palace Green - Wikipedia Page 3 of 3 9. MacCarthy (2011), pp. 265-270. 10. Dakers (1999), p. 105. 11. Kirk (2005), p. 297. References Dakers, Caroline (1999). The Holland Park Circle: Artists and Victorian Society (https://archive.org/details/hollandparkcircl00dake). New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-08164-2. Kirk, Sheila (2005). Philip Webb: Pioneer of Arts & Crafts Architecture. Chichester: Wiley- Academy. ISBN 0470868082. MacCarthy, Fiona (2011). The Last Pre-Raphaelite: Edward Burne-Jones and the Victorian Imagination. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-22861-4. Parry, Linda (1996). Parry, Linda (ed.). William Morris. London: Philip Wilson Publishers. ISBN 0-85667-442-7. External links Media related to 1 Palace Green at Wikimedia Commons Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1_Palace_Green&oldid=914421035 This page was last edited on 7 September 2019, at 11:35 (UTC). Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1_Palace_Green 5/3/2020 Category: 1 Palace Green - Wikimedia Commons Page 1 of 3 COMMONS Category:1 Palace Green Good pictures From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository English: This category contains media relating to 1 Palace Green in Kensington, London Media in category "1 Palace Green " 1 Palace Green [Hide] house on Palace Green, Kensington, London The following 5 files are in this category, out of 5 total. 1 Palace Green 1 Palace Green 1 Palace Green 01.JPG 02.JPG 03.JPG 1,944 x 2,592; 2.04 1,944 x 2,592; 2 MB 1,944 x 2,592; 2.06 MB MB Upload media (https://commons.wikimedi a.org/w/index.php? title=Special:UploadWizard &categories=1_Palace_Gre en) Wikipedia Instance of house 1 Palace Green 1 Palace Green Material brick (facade) 04. .JPG 05.JPG used Portland 1,944 x 2,592; 2.1 1,944 x 2,592;2.25 limestone MB MB Location Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Greater London, London, England Street Kensington address Palace Gardens Architectura Arts and I style Crafts movement Architect Philip Webb 200 m Wikimedia maps I Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:1_Palace_Green 5/3/2020 1, Palace Green W8, Campden, London Page 1 of 6 (/) MENU British Listed Buildings (1) History in Structure HOME (/) / ENGLAND (/ENGLAND) / KENSINGTON ANDCHELSEA(/ENGLAND/KENSINGTON-AND-CHELSEA) / CAMPDEN WARD (/ENGLAND/CAMPDEN-WARD-KENSINGTON-AND-CHELSEA) / 1, PALACE GREEN W8 This site is entirely user-supported. See how you can help (/site/donate). Fed up with the cold and wet already? Time to think about your 2020 beach holiday! (https://britishbeaches.uk/beach- cottages?ak=bc0) 1, Palace Green W8 A Grade II* Listed Building in Campden, London A X Watch Video (Free) To View Videos, Download Here HowToSimplified warwick Avenue Baker Marylebone werna Street Westbourne la Park Westbang Westway Edgware Road (Circle, Green District and-Hammersmith &'City, Paddington lines) A4380 A420G Raddington (Bakerico) Circle and District Bayswater lines) A402 Marble Arch F Bayswater tting Hill Lancaster Gaté Queensway A4202 Notting Hill Gate Hyde Park Kensington Holland Park Guidens Sergencing Hallond A4204 Past A315 Hyde Y Corn Knightsbridge High Street Imperial Kensington Kensington 9325 London Belo A4 Port Street B316 South Kensington A3216 https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101065945-1-palace-green-w8-campden-ward 5/3/2020 1 Palace Green by Philip (Philippe) Speakman Webb Page 1 of 2 1 Palace Green by Philip (Philippe) Speakman Webb George P. Landow, Editor-in-Chief, the Victorian Web The VICTORIAN Web literature, history, & culture in the age of Victoria Victorian Web Home Visual Arts ->Architecture -> Philip (Philippe) Speakman Webb -> Domestic Architecture ->Next] Photographs by the author. You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one. 1 Palace Green, Kensington Palace Gardens, London W8. 1868-67. [Click on images to enlarge them.] Jones and Woodward comment that this building, which Webb designed for the Hon. George Howard, the important Pre-Raphaelite patron, is the architect's "most important town house." Initially rejected by the the Commissioners headed by Pennethorne "because of the absence of stone as a relief to the brick façade" (158), it was built after Webb added some of that material. Jones and Woodward also point out that "the combination of tall Queen Anne style windows and pointed arches considerably pre-dates Norman Shaw's use of them" (158). Left: Use of stone. Right: Ironwork on entrance gate. [Click on images to enlarge them.] http://www.victorianweb.org/art/architecture/webb/8.html 5/3/2020 PICTURES AT PALACE GREEN 53 on its deep lines and steru contours. The head is has simply made a quiet little shered of a friend. noble, quiet, and sad. The artist has tried to paint On comparing it with the more elaborate works of a serious portrait rather than to give a "view," and Mr. Woolner or Mr. Whistler 11 is olivious that he has succeeded. the draughtsman has been laily with the The pieture (5) by Mr. Watts-the "painter of Features, but that he has not been equally happy secrets "-is emphatically a "view," Granting, how. with the expression. One thing Carlyle was at all ever, that Carlyle looked like this at times, we times, and beyond all question, and that is a Seotch- may still ask that the portrait-painter should show man. Nor Mr. Howard has almost contrived to us what he was at all times-as far as that is possible make an Englishman of him. -and not what he was at a given moment. It is, of Mr. Legros' etching (1), one of his three or course, obvious that nobody who cannot speak from four studies-on vanvas and on copper- Carlyle, intimate personal knowledge can critieise the accuracy shows him as he was in extreme old age, when his of Mr. Watts's portrait properly. Those of us who bean had finally become white. It is the Carlyle have to form an idea of the man by comparing a up the very last years. This face is longer and thinner number of portraits n£ him can only do it by a species than any of the others, a difference which is perhaps of deduction. The questions we have to ask ourselves due to the action of time on the original. Cartyle's are-does this head give us an accurate idea of the portraits show his nationality most undeniably, and man? or is it only a rendering of a preconceived this one reminds 11% curiously of that one of his idea in the mind of Mr. Watts? One thing, how- countrymen whom he would have been most pleased ever, is certain, whether or not it is wanting in the to resemble. There is something in the migular for ordinary virtues of a portrait : it is beyond doubt a mation of the eyebrow, in the shape of the nose, and masterly and striking picture The colouring is above all in the month, which brings to mind the rich and sober. The hale and vigorous face may Somerville portrait of John Knox. Carlyle has left stand, if not as an absolute presentment, at least as a it on record that he was a tiem believer in the authen- "symbol," artistically complete, of a man who was tieity of this portrait, which certainly has a better above all things a massionate believer, as he looked pedigree than any other. Of the purely technical in moments of heartfelt and eager talk. merits of Mr. Legros' portrait it is scareely necessary The pencil sketch (3) by Mr. Howard, again, is the to speak. The Rembrandtesque arrangement of the agreeable work of a skilled draughtsman. It does not light and the artistic balance of the masses of shade profess to be a complete portrait, or to give a poetie will always give it a high place among the etchings version of Carlyle's gesture and aspect. Mr. Howard of our time. DAVID HAXNAY. PICTURES AT PALACE GREEN. CANY of our readers will be very dissimilar painters, neither of them popular with familiar with the aspect of the majority, but each among the most gifted of the striking and ingeni- the time-Mr. Burne Jones and Professor Legros ously designed tall red- The fascinating dream-pictures of the one and the brick house which stands others austere presentments of reality combine to on the left hand just with- give the collection its especial stamp. In addition in the south entrance of to them are to be noted. first. some of the chrisest Palace Gardeus, Kensing- works of the Italian painter and teacher of painters ton. Internally it is full Costa, whose fastidious and classical talent and of beautiful and characteristic things, some of peculiar power of expressing the charm whether of which are the subjects of our illustrations to-day. Campagna (0) Carrara scenery made themselves Telt Its accomplished owner, Mr. George lloward, is at the exhibition of his collected works in London not a collector in the ordinary sense, but an two years age. Then, a brilliant portrait of a bril- artist and the friend of artists, who paints pictures liant lady by Sir Frederick Leighton a couple is as well as occasionally buys them; and in The drawings by Rassetti; one of Mr. Trustrong's best decorations of his house the evidences of critical compositions of Riviera coast securery. and by the and personal predilections are agreeably visible same hand an agreeable family portrait group of First in number and importance among the pictures children: another portrait group of children by adorning the rooms and staircase are those of two Mr. Edward Hughes: a water-colour partnut his The llagazine of Art 7 (Jan. 1884) 80-88. 81 THE MAGAZINE OF ART. Mr. Poynter; and a few landscapes by various hands, of beauty in design, and untiring elaboration and rieh- including one of English autumn scenery by Mr. A. ness of workmanship, are nowhere better exemplified. W. Henley; besides one or two Old Masters, and This pale and slender white-robed virgin, aware with among them a fine Venetian portrait. awe of sonie new thrilling visitation descending upon Our first illustration is from Signor Costa's her, this beautiful herald angel dropping quietly down LERICI. (Painted In ('osta.) "Leriei," fl landscape of which the subject derives beside the boughs with wings folded and unparted for Englishmen an especial charm from its associa- feet, are presences which no one who has once looked tion with the life and death of a great English poet. on them can forget. The student accustomed to give In its clear pearly tones, its skilful and beautiful an account to himself of his impressions will recognise arrangement of line, and the delivate adaptation of the beauty and studied completeness of the com- the figure to the landscape, it is as good an ex- position, its harmoniously severe combination of up- ample as could be chosen of the painter's manner. right and arching lines; the prim and highly wrought Next we go on to Mr. Burne Jones, who holds the design of the draperies, of the angels' wings and the first rank in the house both by the number and the foliage contiguous to them, and of the architecture interest of his works. In a place of honour in the with its emblematie carvings; he will admire the bondoir is the tall upright picture (a form much pathetic charm and power of the faces, and the in favour with the artist) of the 'Aumuneiation," finished and careful drawing of the hands and feet; exhibited in the Grosvenor Gallery in 1878. This above all he will be conseious, in the whole cha- is one of the pieces in which the painter has laid raeter and inspect of the work, of the impress of a aside the early brilliancy of his palette, and work- most marked and vivid personality. The ordinary ing almost in monochrome, has trusted to quality spectator on his part will not analyse his impressions, of colour rather than to its splendour or variety, but will be moved to pleasure or displeasure accord- and not to colour at all so much as to design and ing to his temperament, Indifferent before a work expression. The picture, notwithstanding its suber of this power hardly any one can remain. colouring, must rank, I think, as the most com- As a matter of fact, at the time of its first ex- plete which the artist has produced. Ilis peculiar hibition, Mr. Burne Jones's "Annunciation" moved originality and fervour of imagination, his high sense some beholders to admiration and the deepest pleasure, PICTURES AT PALACE GREEN while it exeited the vehement dis- approbation of others. Crities of the robust school were sadly upset by it ; they protested that it was morbid, melancholy, lamentable, and not to be endured. But what are we to say of the robustness which requires from art before all things a tonic for its nerves, and is unmanned by the sight of pale faces and troubled looks even in a pie- ture? What reasonable judges require of an artist, and especially of an imagi- native artist, is not that his work should conform to their own private standard, but that it should be good of its kind, and that its kind should be personal to himself. Now no artist ever had a more personal east of imagi- nation than Mr. Burne Jones, or one that he was less able to alter or put away. He sees things in a light of his own, which is not the light of common day, and his mind teems with images which are not those of the mart or street. Shapes of Scripture and shapes of old romance, whether Greek or Northern, shapes of myth and fable and personification, fill his thoughts. They move and group themselves before him in apparel of his own conceiving, amid a landscape of which the glades and headlands are bathed in the en- chantments of a poet's vision. Nothing is more idle than the attempt to dietate to a mind thus naturally imaginative how it shall imagine. Doubtless the characteristic genius of the race to which he belongs, the Celtic melan- choly, the Celtie inaptitude for reali- ties, and preoccupation with departed glories and unattainable ideals, counts for much in the general character of Mr. Burne Jones's work. Unquestion- ably, too, both his enthusiastic study of the earlier art of Italy, and the in- fluence and example of Rossetti, have had much to do in determining the particular east of forms and colours in which his conceptions clothe them- selves. His pieture-work is not a world of brawn and musele and lusti- hood like that of Rubens it. is not even one of dignified and contented splendour like that of Titian. It is a world, if von will, of spiritual lun- ger and strain and pining; but is is one, nevertheless, of extraordinary and 228 56 THE MAGAZINE OF ART. haunting charm to those who can l'eel its charm at excention and aspect of the pictures of unity : the all. These beautiful impassioned eyes and laces, series in not without its quaintnesses and weaknesses, this infinitely varied ginee and harmony of design but its main effect is one of great richness in the in limbs and draperies, this play and magic of colour, whole, as well as great charm and interest in detail. this touch which makes every eorner and square inch Our tinted frontispiece in the present number is from of eurvas thrill with life, and appeal to the pictorial another class of the same artist's works represented sense just as the choice and cadence of every sepa- on the walls at Palace Green, the class of nature- rate word in a fine poem appeals Its the poetical personifications. This visionary shape is the personi- sense-(i) qualities like these let such as will be lication or embodied soul of The Evening Star:"- blind or hostile : but let others wiser take delight 'Fair star of evening, splendour of the west." in them. or all the artists and poets, both of ancient and Mr. George Howard, being of these wiser, pos- modern days, who have done their best upon the sesses some of the best examples of Mr. Burne same theme, surely none has been better inspired Jones's work both in the religious and the mytho- than the painter of this calm, virgin apparition, logie vein. Of the former kind, besides the above- floating with half-seen face and with this exquisite, mentioned "Annunciation," there is in the draw- simple action, and lovely drift of hair and deppery, ing-room the round picture of Christ Coming to over the mysterious seaward-shelving land, with its Judgment." This, again, is in its seleme not far bays and promontories and hamlets lying asleep in removed from the character of a monochrome. but it the cool, blue-glinnering twilight. is a monochrome of exceptional power and beauty; Very different in force of inspiration from the a singular and admirable vision of azure and purple impassioned visions of Mr. Burne Jones, the works eherub phines in flight, and beautiful cherub eyes of Mr. Armstrong invariably give pleasure by their and faces, with the youthful Judge borne aloft upon highly studied and refined conception, and the the crowd of angelic wings. Mr. Burne Jones in his original and graceful decorative spirit which governs work often reproduces features of mediaval or earlier them. Whether in representations of the real land- Byzantine design, new-minted hs the fire of his own scape of the Riviera which he has made his own, Nineteenth Century imagination'; and this ligure with its fields of deep Mediterranean sapphire seen of Christ the Judge, with his imprised right arm, athwart elonds of grey-green spray, OF in imagi- has plenty of earlier prototypes, Yet there is about nary compositions of classical youths and maidens the modern work an unmistakable originality and among flowers and marble architecture and panelling, individuality not only or mainly in the scheme or in an exceptional instance like the present portrait of colouring, or in the peculiar richness and in- group, the same excellent artistie instincts always trieney of the design of wings and drapery; but reveal themselves. The colouring of the group in especially in the character and sentiment of the question is very quiet and pleasant, and its treatment ventral fignre. Mr. Burne Jones, who cares for the rather decorative and llat, in a manner somewhat re- mouth, along with the eves, as the chief seat of sembling that of the late J. C. Moore in similar human expression, and cannot bear that it should be works. This artist and his living brother, Mr. hilden or diagnised has departed from the usual Albert Moore, are, along with Mr. Whistler, the practice in making his Christ boardless, and has contemporaries with whom Mr. Armstrong has on wrought with all his power to express in the features the whole worked most in sympathy. Our engrav- the combined and conflicting characters of divine ing of his pieture at Palace Green will enable the justive at issue with divine compassion. reader to see for himself how, in the arrangement In the latter vein which I have named of of the three children and their dog, with the back. Mr. Burne Jones's work. the vein of classic or me- ground of paling and orehard blossom, the balance direval fable and rommee, there is also at Palace of every part and relation of every line are studied Green an extensive decorative series of pictures de- for decorative effect, while naturalness of gesture and signed by the artist himself, and executed partly naiveté of expression are not lost. by his own hand and partly by that of Mr. Passing now to the works of Mr. Legros, we Walter Crane, illustrating the story of Capid and find on the staircase two of the best pictures, cer- Psyche. This series forms a frieze round three tainly, which that master has ever painted. In walls of the dining-room, which for the rest has common with some other of the strongest artists been richly decorated by Mr. Morris Underneath of modern France, Mr. Legros has a deep and each picture by Mr. Burne Jones are written corre- vital sympathy with the lives of labonrers on field spouding lines from Mr. Morris's poetical version of or shore, and a keen artistie sense of the various the story in the Earthly Paradise." The co-upera- characters, whether of patient dignity and endurance, tion of two hands has to some extent robbed the or only of toil-worn submission and depression, which PICTURES AT PALACE GREEN. 4 their occupations imprint upon their frames and masters, such as Ribera, for his sober choice and countenances. At the same time he has also a high his broad handling of colours, and for his resolute and classical instinet of style. His work is devoid and unwavering directness of method. Devoid as of everything that startles or allures, but full on the they are of popular charm, his works have qualities other hand of it peculiar, highly-disciplined, quietly very much more valuable. In the christening scene asectie and impressive power and alignity. One of the reproduced in our concluding wondent, We have a most precise and severe of living draughtsmen, his typical scene of French peasunt life and character, studies in black and white from the life or from the interpreted with quite masterly power and feeling, antique approach in purity and severity of feeling, From the whole quiet seene and simply ordered and in certainty and voneiseness of workmanship, per- solemnity what a spirit is breathed of time-honoured haps nearer than any doue in our days to the excel- habitude and hereditary seriousness and devontness. lenees of the great Italian masters. It is this firm This is, as it were, the imaginative atmosphere of and severe standard of draughtsmanship and of style the picture and if we come to details, what truth, which makes him so excellent a teacher. It is this and at the same time what strength, in these types also which prevents his representations of toiling or of priest and peasant : what an unforced air in the dull types and characters from ever degenerating several personages of duty, patience, and composure : into commonness or offence. A certain austere and with an absence of all artifieial or deliberate pret- depressed dignity never deserts them. .1s a painter, tiness, what spontaneous dignity of gestire-over Mr. Legros technically most resembles the Spanish what grave beauty of type and character-in the THE CHILDREN OF GEO. HOWARD, ESQ., M.P. (Painted by P. Artistrong.) 88 THE MAGAZINE OF ART. elder girl who kneels in front and turns her face the scene, and made it rather a study of French to the younger one beside her. These plain white ourrier types : seen, it is true, in determined action cuifs and black cloaks, moreover, with what ad- or preparation for action, but not in any gestures mirable art and understanding are they turned to of agony, confusion, or turbulence. Several other THE BAPTISM. (Painted by Alphonse LAyro&) account, both for design of drapery and for harmony Works by the same artist are in the house, including and opposition of colour. Another picture by Pro- in Psyche reposing in a classie landscape, and, finest Pessor Legros belonging to Mr. Howard is very perhaps of all in colour and sentiment, an early study different in subject from this. It represents a fight of a mouk playing the violoneello. And so we end on the barricades of Paris. But the natural com- our notes, or rather our unnoted reminiscences, of plexion of the artist's mind, his ingrained pictorial pictures which are not properly speaking a collection quietism, SO to speak, and aversion from whatever is so much as the appropriate and familiar decoration sensational, has removed all bustle and confusion from of a home. SIDNEY COLVIN. THE STUDIO HE CUPID AND PSYCHE About the year 1865 William Morris was pro- T FRIEZE BY SIR EDWARD jecting an illustrated folio edition of his own poem BURNE-JONES, AT NO. I of "The Earthly Paradise," to be illustrated by his PALACE GREEN. constant ally Edward Burne-Jones. The scheme was taken up with the ardour that distinguished would seem a rash statement to affirm of the him, Some forty-three designs for The Story of decoration of any single apartment that it was abso- Cupid and Psyche were prepared by Burne-Jones, lutely the best example of the style it obeyed. Yet and the greater part actually cut on wood by if ever it were safe to speak thus unreservedly, it Morris's own hands. A specimen sheet of four folio might be concerning the beautiful morning-room pages, with the illustrations running as a frieze at the Earl of Carlisle's town house, Palace Green ; across the top of the double columns of well-printed representing, as it does, the united efforts of Burne- type on each page, was printed at the Chiswick Jones, William Morris, and Philip Webb. The Press ; and, as a copy still extant bears witness, house, delightfully situated in a wooded lane opening some of the compositions here illustrated appear in directly out of the busiest part of High Street, Ken- it. The work was to have been published by Messrs. sington, is itself a notable building; of which a critic Bell & Daldy, who had issued other of his writings, wrote but lately, Of all Mr. Webb's town work this but just then Morris's old friend, Mr. F. Ellis, more than any other is presageful of the architecture set up as a publisher, and the books were transferred that may become a part of the coming time to him. In the following year other drawings were the knowledge shown of the material, brick, is prepared for The Ring given to Venus, Pygmalion, more than interesting-it is a revelation." Here, and a version of the Tannhäuser legend entitled however, we are concerned mainly with the treat- The Hill of Venus. In all, it would seem that some ment of a single part of its well-planned interior- seventy subjects were designed. The original draw- the morning-room, a fairly spacious and lofty apart- ings for these passed to Mr. Ruskin (so Mr. Malcolm ment, lighted from the north by two large windows, Bell tells us) and are now in the Taylorian Museum, between which stands the fireplace, Oxford. Mr. Fairfax Murray possesses a set of The room at first sight appears by no means proofs from the engraved blocks, and many studies gorgeous, nor even sumptuous-indeed, its momen- for the designs, and tracings made from the draw- tary effect is somewhat austere; but as the eye ings for transfer to the wood-blocks. Mr. Aymer lights on the frieze which surrounds it, the coffered Vallance (writing later than Mr. Bell) says that ceiling with decorated beams above, and the panels the Taylorian collections are tracings, and that Mr. of the dado below, rich in gold and silver, the Fairfax Murray possesses the originals which is pro- whole appears to glow like a page of an illuminated bably a more correct statement. Mr. Walter Crane, missal; and yet so well is the balance kept by the whose share in the painting of the frieze we shall plain masses of peacock-blue paint that even when come to later, also owns a set of impressions from the eye has focussed all the gorgeous decoration in the engraved blocks and many tracings given to detail the breadth of treatment of the whole still him by Burne-Jones. retains a splendid simplicity. Shortly before the death of William Morris the The frieze, occupying the space between the dado blocks were brought to light, and examined with a and the ceiling, is divided into thirteen compart- view to their being printed and published at the ments (including one in a niche below), without Kelmscott Press ; whether in fulfilment of the counting two very small panels in the angle by the scheme of thirty years before, as decorations of a. right-hand window. All these (except the smallest, folio edition of the poems, or as a book of pictures, wherein is a single figure) are shown in the illus- does not appear to have been decided. It is a. trations. But before examining them in order, it matter of keen regret that once more (this time by will be well to look back; for the old-time story of the unlooked-for death of the great craftsman) the Cupid and Psyche as it is pictured here did not publication was stayed, for few works would be first take shape as decoration for a room. more prized by amateurs and collectors than a set: TheStadro , XV. No. 67.-OCTOBER, 1898. PP-3-13 3 The Cupid and Psyche Frieze And must I lose what would have been delight, dado, windows, and door is in plain blue-green Untasted yet amidst immortal bliss, paint. The panelling of the ceiling itself is enriched To wed a soul made worthy of my kiss, Set in a frame so wonderfully made with a Morris design painted in soft colours. A very fine chimney-piece, grate, and fender, after Mr. Philip Webb's designs (page 5), a superb gilded cassone Underneath the last sections of the frieze to the with old Italian painting in its panels, and an old right are these two inscriptions : painted metal coffer, are the most notable objects in the room, where no superfluous furniture or " She, looking through the pillars of the shrine, Beheld therein a golden image shine." bric-d-brac intrudes to destroy the air of repose. On the landing of the great staircase is an organ, " There, waking at the dawn, did she behold, with a panel painting of St. Cecilia, and in the Through the green leaves, a glimmer as of gold." drawing-room are the Dies Domini, The Annun- ciation, Fatima, the Evening Star, Theophilus and Here the door breaks the sequence, and we come the Angel(?), and St. George, all by Burne-Jones to the panel where sit the three Graize. and delightful landscapes by Signor Da Costa, Daughter, leave portraits by Leighton, and some charming Roman The beaten road awhile, and as we weave subjects by Mr. Walter Crane. Superb examples Fill thou our shuttles with these endless threads." of Professor Legros's earlier manner, exquisite por- traits of the Earl of Carlisle's children by Mr. Below the panel with the boats the following extracts Edward Hughes, and a statuette by Dalou are on the staircase or in other parts of the stately appear : house. In Lord Carlisle's study hangs a set of o living soul, that thus among the dead sketches in colour on a small scale for the whole Hast come, on whatso errand, without fear, Know thou that penniless none passes here " of the Cupid and Psyche frieze, a very early study in monochrome for Venus's Mirror, and a beautiful O daughter, I am dead, and in this tide landscape background (for The Merciful Knight), Forever shall I drift, an unnamed thing, with other drawings by the artist whose work Who was thy father once, a mighty king," entitles this article. Yet all these objects of art do but play their part And in the last panel of the southern wall, which in adorning a quiet and restful home. The house ends the story, these two excerpts is in sharp contrast with the average town mansion, But what was there she saw not, for her head where Louis XIV., XV., and XVI., varied by a trace Fell back, and nothing she remembered of Adams, reign supreme. Compared with the Of all her life." average Park Lane palace it looks severe and simple; but it is pre-eminently an artist's home, which " Rise, Psyche, and be mine for evermore, For evil is long tarrying on this shore." not only genius has enriched, but good taste has controlled. Nothing astonishes a visitor-room after These close the quotations from the poem which room continues the initial idea and seems exactly surround the room. The scheme of the paintings, what might be expected only as you study each although frequent use of white in the robes of the do you find how cunningly the architect has wrought figures keeps the whole fairly light, is not in a high his part, and how admirably the effect has been key here and there, as for Pysche's box and for her preserved, so that splendid things fall into the lamp, raised and gilded gesso is used, but only scheme simply and unobtrusively. Even its good sparingly. The panels below are filled with a taste is not unduly evident, but becomes the more beautiful design by Morris, worked in flat gold apparent the more closely you observe it. By thus and silver. The corbels and the "styles" of the avoiding emphasis of all kinds, the treasures it decorated panelling immediately below the frieze holds seem but ordinary fittings, until more curious are covered with a simple diaper in red, upon a inspection shows many of them to be unique mas- burnished gold ground. The spandrels of the terpieces. The majority of these are modern- brackets supporting the beams of the ceiling are a singularly pleasing exception to the average painted with conventional foliage, the free acan- "palace" of to-day, which, if it holds masterpieces thus-like leaf which Morris loved, in golden browns of any kind, is singularly careful that they shall be and russets. Except in the ribs of the ceiling, of goodly age, hall-marked as it were with official which are decorated, all the rest of the woodwork, approval of their sterling value. 13 Apollo. 102 (Nov. 1975): 338-341 Painter and Patron The Hon. George Howard (1843-1911), later ninth Earl of Carlisle, was an intimate of the Pre-Raphaelite circle The Palace Green Murals from the mid-1860s; at that time he was an aspiring painter who worked in a detailed naturalistic style that derived from an intense admiration of Ruskin. BILL WATERS He was a frequent visitor to Little Holland House, that gathering place of Victorian genius, which was presided over by Mrs. Thoby Prinsep and, because of his talent and social position. he quickly got to know Rossetti, Morris, Burne-Jones and, of course, Ruskin and Watts. As a wealthy man The panels he was in a position to patronize illustrating this Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Co. article are by Sir from its early days. It was an obvious Edward Burne- decision. therefore, for him to choose Jones (1833-98), except The the Company when he was furnishing Procession to the (his newly built house, No. I Palace Unknown Monster Green, on its completion in 1872 (Fig. 11) 11 in Figure 3, which George Howard's choice of archi- is by Walter Crane with later touches tect was also inevitable; Philip Webb was by Burne-Jones a close friend, he typified the group's (1845-1915). ideas on architecture and was a founder They are oil on member of the Morris firm. The style canvas and are now of the house, which was begun in 1868, in the Birmingham City Museum and was almost revolutionary in its day: Art Gallery built in brick, instead of the near statutory facing of Portland Stone or cement, it anticipated the popular Norman Shaw' style of ten years later. 1, No. 1 Palace Green at the time The house is typical of Webb's unhis- of its completion torical almost functionalist approach. It in 1872. The has three stories and the dining-room. dining-room is on where the murals once hung, was on the first floor at the side of the the first floor) Howard was also res house, The building ponsible for another important work stands in the road by Philip Webb. This was a church in now known as the town of Brampton, near one of his Kensington Palace country seats. Naworth Castle in Cum- Gardens, directly off the High Street, berland. Here, too. Morris and Co. Kensington was commissioned to decorate the f interior and they supplied the altar- 2 frontals and the complete set of stained glass windows designed by Burne- Jones in 1880. (Although Howard was too much of a connoisseur to allow Morris to have complete control of the decoration of the interior, he gave him considerable freedom to select the furniture and wall decorations. Like the house itself the interior decoration was ahead of its time) Against a background of Morris wall-papers and carpets. the furniture was chiefly black and gold, colours much beloved by the 'Aesthe- tic* designers of the later "seventies and "eighties, The dining-room had ceiling spandrels and dado from designs by 2. The drawing-room at No. 1 Palace Green in 1872. Rosalind, George Howard's wile Burne Jones by Sir Edward Poynter (1838-1919) is lying on a day-bed. A portrait of Lady 338 on the wall of the window arch Morris and green and gold Morris rush-seated simulated bamboo chairs surrounding a table designed by Philip Webb. The subject chosen for the murals, which ran around the room above the dado. was the Cupid and Psyche story which Morris had included in his poem The Earthly Paradise. Originally, Morris's book was to have been profusely illustrated with black-and-white designs by Burne- Jones. These were begun in 1864, but after four years Morris published it without decorations. and the designs were laid aside. 1868 was the year of 3. Part of the west wall in the dining-room, No. 1 Palace Green, The panels seen here are The Procession to the Unknown Monster 1.19 X 3.25 m.) and Psyche Asleep outside the House plans for the Palace Green house and. (1.19 x1.24 as Howard would have known about the abandoned designs, it is likely that he suggested their use as a mural scheme in his new house.) The Cupid and Psyche designs were the most complete set to any of The Earthly Paradise stories; approximately forty~ three are known to have existed. These had to be condensed into twelve panels suitable as murals. Burne-Jones`s experience with murals was limited at this date; he had studied examples by Giotto, Signorelli, Carpaccio and Mantegna in Italy and had worked on the abortive scheme in the Oxford Union under Rossetti in 1857. Lack of experience showed itself in the rapid deterioration of the paintings. He had begun a series in 1860 for Morris's Red House at Bexley but did not complete it. The Morris firm included mural decoration in its prospectus but little was executed; the only secular example still to be seen is the Green Dining-Room in the Victoria 4. The east wall in the dining-room, No. 1 Palace Green. The panels seen here are Psyche entering and Albert Museum, executed in 1866. the Portals of Olympus (1.98 X 3-28 m.); above Psyche gazing at the Sleeping Cupid and Kneeling The unsatisfactory execution of the as Cupid flies away through the Doorway (1.19 x 3.30 m.); top right Psyche at the Shrine of Cares: panels-a series of the Months designed Psyche at the Shrine of Juno (1.19 X 1.24 m.) by Burne-Jones--led the firm's manager, Warrington Taylor, to exclude mural painting from the firm's activities. Consequently, the commission to supply The south and west walls of the dining-room, No. 1 Palace Green, The panels seen here and are a scheme for No. 1 Palace Green was Psyche 5. giving the Coin to the Ferryman; The Dead Man rising from the Water (1 19 2.67 m.) given directly to Burne-Jones and not Psyche receiving the Casket back from Proserpine (1-19 X 1-83 m.) through the firm. The artist's small knowledge of the technique impelled him to paint the murals on to canvas and install them on completion. (Only later in the century were British artists experienced enough to paint in tempera; Joseph Southall (1861-1944) was encouraged by Burne-Jones to study tempera, and Spencer Stanhope (1829-1908), Burne- Jones's intimate friend and disciple, began to pioneer a tempera revival in 1880). At this time it was usual among the artists working in a post-pre- Raphaelite tradition to utilize this method. even in large architectural settings. Henry Holliday used it for 339 small-scale incidents, which confuse decorate his London house, No. 4 the design of the central theme, and in Carlton Gardens. Once again the some cases the main episodes are too artist chose The Earthly Paradise illus- cramped to give a satisfactory visual trations as a starting point, in this case effect. It is significant that the two the story of Perseus. As in the Palace most successful panels represent proces- Green murals an assistant was sions and thus enable the artist to make employed, but even so the project a design that fully occupies the space was never completely installed and two available. Another factor contributes of the eight panels were unfinished at to the impression of confusion. The the artist's death in 1898. The evolu- early 1870s was a difficult period for tion of the Perseus series shows how Burne-Jones; he was changing his Burne-Jones's ideas changed about style, becoming discontented with the mural painting. No secondary incidents old works, and the designs for the occur in the final eight paintings; each murals are definitely from an earlier panel has a single foreground figure period. His sense of insecurity was design. while the background has not helped when Phyllis and Demo- become a formalized, almost two- phoon was censured and had to be dimensional, landscape in which the withdrawn from the Old Water Colour fragmented patterns throw the massive Society's 1870 exhibition on the grounds figures into relief. In fact the figures of of indecency) The artist's turbulent the Perseus series have been given such affair with Maria Zambacco upset him importance in the scheme that they emotionally; moreover, he was finding occupy almost the total area of the he had strong differences of opinion canvases, and show a logical advance with Ruskin over Michelangelo. (Con- over their earlier counterparts. If sequently, Howard, when realizing that mural painting is to be considered as Burne-Jones had lost interest in the the decoration of a flat surface then murals, asked Walter Crane if he Burne-Jones's development, as demon- would finish them. Crane accepted strated by these two mural series, is a and worked from small water-colours natural and inevitable process toward on to canvases which had already been a full realization of the art. prepared by Burne-Jones.) Crane writes The plan of The Cupid And Psyche in his autobiography: 'In the treatment series reflects Burne-Jones's interest in I allowed myself considerable freedom, Renaissance painters such as Piero di especially in the subjects not already Cosima, Pinturicchio and Carpaccio, is for Clifton Theatre in 1868 commenced or carried far, though I but the two later series demonstrate a ert Moore (1841-93) painted endeavoured to preserve the spirit and shift in favour of the painters of the invas in oil for his murals at feeling of the original designs'. One High Renaissance. n's, Rochdale, 1865-66. subject, however, was entirely Crane's A third secular mural scheme was twelve panels are all approxi- work: Psyche's Procession to the Un- envisaged. Roughly contemporary with forty-seven inches (1.19 m.) known Monster (Fig. 3). This was wholly the Perseus cycle it centred on Spencer's of various lengths so as to fit carried out by Crane as Burne-Jones The Faerie Queen and was to have spaces allowed by the support- wanted to retain his original panel to shown The Masque of Cupid. R. H. dreis, except for one which is develop into a separate easel painting Benson commissioned the work, but it to fit into an arched recess. for himself. In spite of Burne-Jones's never went beyond preliminary drawings. e designs were made for the later painting over the panels when they These show that the scheme would also irne-Jones was in the throes of were in situ, to bring about a greater have been more suited to mural e in style. abandoning the stylistic continuity, the finished murals technique than The Cupid And Psyche style inspired by Rossetti and suffer because of the two artists' involve- series. into a more classical one in- ment in the scheme. (Burne-Jones as a mural painter is his study of the Elgin Marbles, Immediately below the paintings, something of a disappointment. It is a and The Hypnerotomachia a copy of which he possessed. the dado consists of a characteristically perhaps regrettable that the first of his als display a conscious classi- concise design by Morris, the panels in projects was the only one to reach any d. in fact, are Burne-Jones's silver and gold and the surround in a sort of conclusion: and it demonstrates red diapered pattern. Burne-Jones the transitional nature of his thinking ssical mural projects, in which losest to his "aesthetic" contem- considered the dado to be out of at the time it made. Yet the was such as Albert Moore, Henry harmony with his work and felt it dining-room at No. I Palace Green must Thomas Armstrong and even necessary to add touches of gold. The have been impressive and when seen Yet unlike them he did not scheme was completed in 1881 and within its complete decorative setting frieze-like composition parallel remained in position until the family the faults of the panels would have been painting surface. His pre- gave up the house, when Howard's far less noticeable than they are today on with the narrative hampered daughters presented the murals to Below the dado Morris bad inscribed in gold letters is is a weakness in the scheme Birmingham City Art Gallery. passages from the appropriate sections of The s how the artist was compelled Burne-Jones*s subsequent mural Paradise. nse the images. schemes also fell short of the artist's original intentions. In about 1874 Catalogue bree penels there are distant A. J. Balfour The series now belongs to Birmingham by George Howard's daughters in 1922. The 6. Opposite: panels are oil on canvas and some are shaped Psyche gazes in 10 tit the architectural setting. Despair at Cupid 187'22. Cupid finding Pysche asleep by a flying Away into Fountain. 1.19 & 1.24 m. (47 49 ins.j. the Night, 188'22 The King and other Mourners preceded 123 is 22.9 cm. by Trumpeters, accompanying Pysche to the This and Figure "y Mountain, where She is to be Abandoned to the are also part of the Monster, according 10 Apullo's Oraele, 1.19 x decorative scheme 3-25 m. (47 128 ins.). 189'22. Zephyrus bearing Pysche from the Mountain to Cupid's Valley and the House of Gold: Pysche entering the House; Pysche 7. Psyche passes asleep outside the House. 1.19 1.24 m. (47 / Safely through the ins.). Shadowy Meads, 190'22. Pysche's Sisters visit her at Cupid's 1.19 x 2.67 m. Of that most mournful music sore afraid. House: Pysche unrobing, listens to the Voice of But on the way a marvel did they see, Love Invisible Pysche's Sisters bidding her for. passing by, where wrought of ivory, Furewell after their second Visit, 1.19 2.67 m. There stood the Goddess of the flowery isle. (47 105 ins.). 8. The Procession All folk could see the carven image smile. 191'22 Pysche holding the Lamp gazes to the Unknown Q But when anigh the bill's barc top they came. Enraptured on the Face of the Sleeping Cupid; Monster. A trial Where Psyche must be left to meet her ebame, Pysche kneels, with Arms held Out in Supplica- page from a book They set the litter down. and drew aside lion, as Cupid flies away through the Doorway, which Burne-Jones The golden curtaine from the wretched bride, 1.19 3.30 (47 x 130 ins.). was supervising Who at their bidding rose and with them went 192722 Pysche gazes in Despair at Cupid with Morris in the Hfoot amidst her maids with head down/bent, flying Away into the Night, 123 X 22.9 cm. 1890s. It never Until they came unto the drear rock's brow: 148 X ins.). reached any final And there she stood apart, not weeping now, 19322. Cupid flying Away from Pysche, end owing to the 119 x 23.5cm (47 / 91 ins.). But pale ae privet blossom is in June. deaths of the 194'22 Pysche at the Shrine of Ceres; Pysche artists. William at the Shrine of Juno, 1.19 2 1.24 m. (47 49 ins.). Morris Gallery, Walthamstow, 19522 Pysche sent by Venus with a Casket to London Proserpine, pusses Safely through the Shadowy 8 Meads, disregarding the Call for Help from the Shadowy Men trying to Load an Ass, and the 198'22. Pysche entering the Portals of Olympus Charles Roberts, The Radical Countess, 1962 Three Old Women weaving Who are Set to with Cupid. preceded by Mercury, is Welcomed Joseph R. Dunlap. The Book That Never Was empre Her, 1.19 X 2.67 m. (47 X 105 ins.). by the Gods, and is Offered the Cup of Immor~ 1971. 196'22. Pysche giving the Coin to the Ferryman tality by Hebe, 1.98 x 3:28 m. (78 X 1291 ins.). Walter Crane, An Artist's Reminiscences. 1907 of the Styx: the Dead Man in the Form of G. B. Jones, Memorials of Edward Burne Pysche's Father rising from the Water as Jones, 1904. Pysche is ferried Across to Hades. 1.19 x 2.67 Bibliography A. Lys Baldry, Modern Mural Decoration. m (47 105 ins.). The Cupid and Pysche Frieze by Sir Edward 1902. 197'22 Pysche rereiving the Casket back from Burne-Jones, at No. 1 Palace Green', The Martin Harrison and Bill Waters, Burne-Joner, Proterpine: Pysche brought Back to the Upper Studio, XV (67) October 1898. 1973. Regions by Charon, having opened the Casket in W. R. Lethaby, *Philip Webb and His Work- Kurt Locher, Der Perseux-Lyhlus Von Edward the Hope that the Beauty it contained might VI', The Builder, 5 June, 1925. Burne-Jones, 1973. Become Hers, lies Unconscious on the Ground: John Woodward, Catalogue of Paintings, City Arthur James, First Earl of Balfour. Chapters Cupid, warned by the Phoenix of Pysche's Museum and Art Gallery. Birmingham, of Autoblography, 1930. Danger, flies to her Rescue, 1.19 1.83 m. William Morris, The Earthly Paradise, 1868 70 December 1960. 7 141