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King René's Honeymoon
Brown, Ford Madox, born 1821 - died 1893 - Enlarge image
King René's Honeymoon
- Object:
Panel
- Place of origin:
London (made)
- Date:
1862 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Brown, Ford Madox, born 1821 - died 1893 (designer)
Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. (maker) - Materials and Techniques:
Stained and painted glass
- Museum number:
CIRC.516-1953
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, Room 122d, case WE
Object Type
Decorated glass windows have long been associated with ecclesiastical buildings but, from the latter part of the Middle Ages, domestic interiors were also furnished with such windows. Medieval-style stained glass windows were revived in the 19th century and the firm of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. was commissioned to create windows for both ecclesiastical and domestic settings. This panel comes from Myles Birket Foster's library window.
Places
In 1861 the artist Myles Birket Foster (1825-1899) embarked upon the building of his Surrey home, 'The Hill', in Whitley. He chose the recently established firm of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co., who promoted functionalism in design and high standards of craftsmanship, to design its interior.
Subject
Depicting 'Architecture', this window is one of a series of four imaginary episodes from the honeymoon of King René of Anjou, said to have been inspired by Sir Walter Scott's popular novel 'Anne of Geierstein'. Though the novel was a favourite of Foster's, the series was originally designed to decorate a cabinet commissioned by the architect John P. Seddon (1827-1906). The cabinet was among the furniture shown at the International Exhibition of 1862.
People
The King René series was devised, and this particular panel designed, by Ford Madox Brown (1821-1898), one of the original partners of Morris & Co. Fashioned in jewel-like colours, it encapsulates the principles of 'invention, expression and good dramatic action' that Brown considered so important to stained-glass art.
