THE HOLY GRAIL TAPESTRIES

The Holy Grail tapestries are some of the jewels of BMT’s collection and we are fortunate to have the most complete set in the UK. How the tapestries came into being is itself a fascinating story.

William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones met at Exeter College, Oxford in 1853. They shared a love of the medieval and the romantic, reading the romantic poets to each other and later Malory and his ‘Le Morte D’Arthur’. Originally they intended to take Holy Orders, but they discovered Rossetti’s work and art became their obsession.

Morris soon decided that his forte was not painting and became an architect, but he was drawn towards craft, establishing Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Co in 1861 to pursue decorative work. This became Morris and Co in 1875, showcased by a shop on Oxford Street. Morris was a committed socialist and felt strongly that 19th century industrial working methods produced poor quality goods and were destroying the working man. He felt that “nothing should be made by a man’s labour that is not worth the making” and that human beings needed to find pleasure in everyday surroundings.

He very much wanted to bring hand-crafted work to the working people but was quickly to discover that the time taken in handworking put the products out of the reach of the working classes.

He pursued the medieval style of weaving, known as high-warp. The art of high-warp weaving had almost died out in Britain until reintroduced by William Morris. In the 1880s, most tapestry weaving was low-warp where the frame and warp were parallel to the floor. Morris felt that this resulted in poor quality design.

In high-warp looms, the warp threads are set vertically in a vertical frame. The weaver has to manually lift the warp threads to pass a bobbin through them. High-warp meant that Morris could achieve the highly detailed designs that he wanted. This was the method used at his tapestry works at Merton Abbey.

The technique of high-warp weaving required the design to be placed against the warp, the main elements were traced on using Indian ink. Weaving took place from the reverse of the work, with the design being created sideways. The coloured designs were on benches behind the weavers – if they had been placed in front of the work they would have blocked the light. Mirrors were suspended in front of the tapestries to enable the weavers to follow their progress. Morris had a team of apprentices to carry out the weaving, they joined as young boys and Morris felt that their small, flexible fingers were most suitable for the work.

The tapestries had cotton warps, the vertical threads. The weft threads were more varied. Wool was standard, silk gave shimmer and glisten and was used in flowers and garments. Mohair and camel hair were used to give texture, especially for animals – these yarns gave a 3D effect. Natural dyes gave the colours.

The Holy Grail tapestries were commissioned in 1886 as part of a scheme to decorate Stanmore Hall, the home of William KnoxD’Arcy. Originally from Devon, he made his money in Australia, first as a solicitor and later as the sole investor in a gold mine.

The commission was for a set of six tapestries telling the story with a further six decorative tapestries or verdures that hung below with captions explaining the subject of the narrative piece above. Burne-Jones created the main design, John Henry Dearle (originally an apprentice and later manager of the tapestry works) made recommendations of colours based on dyes and added foreground and background details. They cost £3500 (£318,000 today); Burne-Jones received £1000 as his fee for the design. They were woven between 1892 and 1895.

Although a socialist, Morris was something of an intellectual snob in relation to design and he didn’t like Stanmore Hall or the architectural changes made to the house, but it was a very large commission, so he accepted it.

The set of tapestries were never remade in full again, but there were later weavings of some of the designs. In 1895-6: ‘The Arming and Departure’, ‘The Failure of Sir Gawaine’ and ‘The Attainment‘ were made for Laurence Hodson, Compton Hall, Wolverhampton. They were acquired by BMT in 1907. Those made for Mr Hodson were the last works that Morris himself supervised and it was felt (by Morris) that they were technically superior to the Stanmore Hall set.

In 1898-99 a complete set of narrative panels and one verdure were made for George McCulloch, London – he was a colleague of Knox-D’Arcy and had presumably seen the originals in situ. ‘The Summons’ from this set was acquired by BMT in 1980, the other four were bought by Andrew Lloyd Webber in 1994. In 1900 ‘The Ship’ and a verdure were made for Mrs Mary Middleton and these were some of the last tapestries made by Morris and Co. They were acquired by BMT in 1947. The fate of the original set is unknown.

What is the story of the Holy Grail or Sangreal? For a full account, I suggest reading ‘The Light Beyond the Forest’ by Rosemary Sutcliffe. The tapestries give a slightly abbreviated version of the story. They tell the tale of a damsel appearing on Pentecost eve who summons the knights to search for the Holy Grail, the cup used at the Last Supper and to collect Christ’s blood at the crucifixion. It was brought to England by Joseph of Arimathea. (‘The Summons’ or ‘The Knights of the Round Table Summoned to the Quest by the Strange Damsel’)

The knights set off on the quest (‘The Arming and Departure of the Knights’). Sir Uwaine and Sir Gawaine spend weeks without meeting adventure. At a ruined chapel they are given a vision of an angel who tells them that they have led too sinful a life to find the grail and their quest ends (‘The Failure of Sir Gawaine’). Lancelot received a vision of the grail, but he was unable to find it due to his infidelity with Guinevere (‘The Failure of Sir Lancelot’). This is the tapestry missing from BMT’s set.

The remaining knights then travel to Sarras, the land of the soul; this transition is represented by ‘The Ship’. Here, Sir Bors and Sir Percival are able to come to the grail chapel, but not enter. Only Sir Galahad is pure enough to enter the chapel. The quest ends with Galahad’s death, for to see the grail is death for it is seeing the face of God (‘The Attainment’). Not long after the grail quest comes the battle with Mordred and the death of Arthur. BMT’s verdure panel is from a later weaving and was designed by JH Dearle combining elements from the verdures from ‘The Summons’ and ‘The Arming and Departure’ (‘Verdure with deer and shields’). The heraldry on the shields was designed by Morris – the knights were all fictional and so had no specific coats-of-arms, but he felt that they should have appropriate heraldry.

At first sight the tapestries look wonderful and it’s true that they are in good condition. Closer inspection reveals that they have a number of problems. Firstly, they are very dirty! Whites are rather grey; the garments of the figures have lost their sparkle; and the differences between the textured animals and the figures and flowers have been lost. Secondly, the Velcro used to hang the tapestries is well past its useful life and might fail allowing the tapestries to fall from the wall. All of these factors together mean that conservation is needed now to keep the tapestries looking amazing.

We plan to send them to the De Wit tapestry works in Belgium where there is a specialist wash bath. A spray arm sprays water and detergent onto the tapestry, whilst the perforated table sucks it through – the tapestry is washed without sitting in water. Rinsing then happens in the same way and finally air is drawn through the tapestry to dry it. Washing and drying with this process takes just 24 hours. New linings and Velcro will be added by a textile conservator based in the Midlands. This work should ensure that the tapestries retain their glow and sparkle for many more generations to enjoy. n By Jane Thompson-Webb Conservation Team Leader, Birmingham Museums Trust

We are continuing to fundraise for the conservation of ‘The Holy Grail Tapestries’. To ensure these magnificent tapestries can be displayed in 2024 please donate here: justgiving.com/campaign/BurneJones.