Top five pre-raphaelite houses
Art historian Dr James Fox shares his favourite places to enjoy artworks from the Pre-Raphaelite movement. All discounted entry with a National Art Pass.
The Arts and Crafts movement was hugely popular in the 19th century, and inspired countless homes and gardens across the UK. Dr James Fox visits five of those houses that are not only still standing, but pay homage to the works of artists in the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood such as Burne-Jones and Rossetti.
From a Wolverhampton wonder inspired by an Oscar Wilde lecture on 'the House Beautiful' to the Arts and Crafts 'mecca' of William Morris's childhood home, now a gallery dedicated to his life and work, you can take in beauty of the era at any one of these spectacular venues, all free or discounted entry with a National Art Pass.
Top five pre-raphaelite houses
Red House Bexleyheath
Completed in 1860, the south east London residence of William Morris is filled with examples of furniture, tapestries and stained-glass windows created by members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, of which Morris was a close associate.
The house, a work of art in its own right, includes a mural discovered in 2013 that is believed to have been worked on by prominent artists of the movement, Edward Burne-Jones, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Ford Madox Brown and Morris himself.
Wallington Hall
In the far north of England lies the ancestral home of the liberal minded Lady Trevelyan, a great patron of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. The house boasts a parlour that is decorated with original William Morris wallpaper and adorned with paintings by Turner a Ruskin, and an impressive entrance hall that charts 2000 years of Northumbrian history through eight large wall paintings by William Bell Scott.
Wightwick Manor
This timber frame manor house built in 1880 was populated with Pre-Raphaelite delights by its first owner Theodore Mander, including wallpaper and fabrics designed by William Morris and his Arts and Crafts contemporaries. These were later added to by Mander's son, Geoffrey, with a collection of paintings by artists including Rossetti and Burne-Jones.
William Morris Gallery
Housed in Morris's childhood home in Walthamstow, the gallery is the perfect place to lose yourself in the Arts and Crafts pioneer's textiles, wallpapers, furniture, stained glass, ceramics, metalwork and books.
Explore Morris's work as a designer, author, businessman and political activist through the permanent collection that celebrates his life and career, you can even see the coffee cup he used when taking a break from it all.
Knightshayes Court
Built in 1869 and inhabited by wealthy lace factory owner Heathcote Amorys, Knightshayes is an example of grand country living. Built by William Burges who was inspired by the Pre-Raphaelites and Arts and Crafts movement, this rare paragon of Gothic Revival architecture and beholds delightful curiosities as well as opulent elegance.
The more you see, the more we do.
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