Description
depicting a Classical figure, allegorical of Time, wool embroidery on a linen ground, framed
Dimensions
49 x 37cm
Footnote
Literature: Victoria & Albert Museum E.1843-1934
Note: This needlework panel is based Crane's designs for 'Alcestis', his first block-printed paper frieze produced by Jeffrey & Co. from 1876. Alcestis was the mythical queen of Thessaly, wife of King Admetus, who came to personify the devoted, selfless woman and wife in ancient Greece and the design shows her attended by Amor and the domestic virtues Alcestis, Diligentia, Regmarita, Providencia and Hospitalita.
Walter Crane was an artist and illustrator known for his embroidered illustrations of children's stories. In 1875, the Royal School of Needlework commissioned Crane (along with other pioneers of the Arts and Crafts and Aesthetic Movements, including Morris and Burne Jones) to design works some of which were sent to Philadelphia to be shown at the International Centennial Exhibition in 1876 taking needlework to the United States for the first time. Similar figures appear in the demi lune cabinet exhibited by the Royal School of Needlework at the exhibition this cabinet was sold by Paul Reeves and is now in the collection of The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, California.