Thursday, August 1, 2013




The Legend of Good Women', derived from Chaucer's poem. Worked by Jane Morris and her sister Bessie Burden.

Castle Howard

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upper picture

One of the goals of all Janey research is to find a photo of her sister Bessie. She never married and William found her boring but she was no fool. Anyway this is Aphrodite from a scheme of 12 envisioned for the dining room at Red House. This panel depicts Aphrodite, and turned up in an auction in Edinburgh in 2007. Out of the remaining six, 3 can be found at Kelmscott Manor, and 3 at Castle Howard (the only ones with embroidered backgrounds). Jane worked on some of them.

This is Bessie's Penelope
http://www.bridgemanart.com/asset/278246/Morris-William-1834-96/Penelope-worked-by-Bessie-Burden-c.1860-embroid?search_context=%7B%22url%22%3A%22%5C%2Fsearch%5C%2Fcollection%5C%2FKELMSCOTT-MANOR%5C%2F1788%22%2C%22num_results%22%3A15%2C%22search_type%22%3A%22supplier_assets%22%2C%22supplier_id%22%3A%221788%22%2C%22item_index%22%3A11%7D

and the fascinating story of the Aphrodite auction is here:
http://www.antiquestradegazette.com/news/2007/jul/23/aphrodite-to-return-to-red-house/

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