The Arming of a Knight

The Arming of a Knight
The Arming of a Knight

The Arming of a Knight

Date1857-1858[?]
Artist (English designer, writer, and activist, 1834–1896)
Artist (British Pre-Raphaelite painter, 1828–1882)
MediumPainted deal, leather, and nails
Dimensions55 5/8 × 18 3/4 × 19 1/2 in. (141.3 × 47.6 × 49.5 cm)
Credit LineAcquired through the Bequest of Doris Wright Anderson and through the F. V. du Pont Acquisition Fund, 1997
Object number1997-12
On View
On view
ClassificationsDECORATIVE ARTS
Label TextAt the end of 1856, William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones moved into Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s old rooms in Red Lion Square, London. Morris ordered a suite of furniture from a local cabinetmaker, based on his own designs, including these two chairs. He and Rossetti decorated them together. Collaboration was an aspect of the medieval guild system that they admired and wished to imitate.

The earliest chair, painted at the end of 1856, is taken from Morris’ poem “Rapunzel” and depicts Gwendolen in the witch tower with the Prince below kissing her long golden hair. This chair includes Morris’ calligraphy, which reads “Glorious Guendolen’s Golden Hair,” referring to these lines from his poem:

Woe! That any man could dare
To climb up the yellow stair,
Glorious Guendolen’s golden hair.

The second chair was probably not decorated until early 1857. The subject matter is unclear, although it may be based on Morris’ poem “Sir Galahad: A Christmas Mystery” (1858). The scene depicts a medieval woman bestowing her glove upon a knight. These chairs signify Morris’ turn towards the decorative arts and the beginning of the Arts and Crafts Movement in England.

Glorious Guendolen's Golden Hair
William Morris
c. 1856-1857
© Estate of Richard Pousette–Dart / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Richard Pousette-Dart
c. 1950
© Estate of Robert Goodnough. Photograph and digital image © Delaware Art Museum. Not for repro…
Robert Goodnough
1963
'Cinderella flees the ball, leaving one of her glass slippers'
Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. (1861–1875)
c. 1865
'The Awakening Castle' from 'Sleeping Beauty'
Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. (1861–1875)
c. 1865
Parlour Cabinet
Bruce James Talbert
c. 1871
© Holly Trostle Brigham. Photograph and digital image © Delaware Art Museum. Not for reproducti…
Holly Trostle Brigham
2020
© Artist or Artist's Estate. Photograph and digital image © Delaware Art Museum. Not for reprod…
Morris Atkinson Blackburn
1948
© Artist or Artist's Estate. Photograph and digital image © Delaware Art Museum. Not for reprod…
Morris Atkinson Blackburn
c. 1948
© Morris Brown II. Photograph and digital image © Delaware Art Museum. Not for reproduction or …
Morris Brown II
1976
© Morris Brown II. Photograph and digital image © Delaware Art Museum. Not for reproduction or …
Morris Brown II
1976