wall tile

William Frend de Morgan 1839 - 1917

Summary

Panel of twenty-four plastic-bodied earthenware tiles consisting of twenty small square border tiles and four larger square central tiles. The border tiles are decorated with a blue/turquoise monochrome glaze. The larger tiles are coated with white slip and decorated with hand-transferred underglaze 'Persian' colours: green, dark blue and turquoise blue. Each tile has two round stylised carnations in the two shades of blue, one in each corner; the other corners are filled by green foliage.

Display Label

Gallery text panel The Pre-Raphaelites in their Time Britain's first and best-known radical art movement emerged from within the Royal Academy in 1848. Its original members were rebellious art students who were disillusioned with contemporary practice. They looked back to Italian art before Raphael, seeing the pre-1500 period as one of great sincerity. They called themselves the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. In an age of rapid industrial and urban expansion, Pre-Raphaelite artists like Rossetti, Hunt and Millais, and pioneering design reformers such as William Morris, sought a return to pre-industrial values of art and design in truth to nature and materials, and good workmanship. In addition, the arts of the Middle Ages and Middle East were important sources of stylistic inspiration. The Bible, literature and contemporary life were preferred over subjects derived from classical mythology. The Brotherhood also rejected contrived studio lighting and took canvases outside to paint directly from nature. Although attempting to convey exactly what they saw, they created a heightened reality of dream-like intensity with minute details and bright, dazzling colours. Their art was a new kind of history painting for a new age.