The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood not only challenged conventional definitions of beauty within the fine arts, they also rejected many of the fashions associated with the mid and late Victorian home. Inspired by their admiration for the middle ages and the medieval guild, they believed that artists should also be craftsmen, as capable of decorating furniture as painting on canvas. And for Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones, a beautiful home was “the most important production of art” and they expended considerable time and energy on beautifying their own homes. Morris’s work, first at Red House, then at Kelmscott House Hammersmith and Kelmscott Manor Oxfordshire, exemplifies his ideas about the synthesis of art and design. This lecture explores the decoration and lifestyles associated with these and other famous Pre-Raphaelite homes
Jo Banham is a freelance lecturer and researcher. She has worked for over 40 years at Tate Britain, the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria & Albert Museum. She has published on many aspects of 19th and 20th century interiors and is currently writing a book on the history of wallpaper.