ALCESTE

From original hand-painted tiles in the William Morris Gallery collection

Designed by Sir Edward Coley BURNE-JONES Bt (1833-1898) and painted by Lucy FAULKNER ORRINSMITH (1839-1910) for Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Company.

Alceste was designed as part of a series of 2-tile panels depicting the heroines of Geoffrey Chaucer's poem The Legend of Good Wimmen. Burne-Jones's designs date from in 1861-2 and several versions of the series were made by the Morris firm. This figure of Alceste was part of the tiled fireplace in the hall at Sandroyd, home of the artist John Roddam Spencer Stanhope (1829-1908) and the second building (after Red House) designed by Philip Webb (1831-1915). The Sandroyd tiles are the earliest known to have been painted for Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Company by Lucy Faulkner. Lucy and Kate Faulkner (the latter also a tile-painter and designer for Morris & Co.) were the sisters of Charles Faulkner, one of the founding partners of 'the Firm'.

Alceste £29.99 framed and £19.99 unframed