HERBERT HORNE (1864-1916) FOR THE CENTURY GUILD
'PRAISE OF THE SOUL', RARE FABRIC PANEL, CIRCA 1884
£2,000
Auction: Day One: 20 April 2022 | From 11:00
Description
block-printed velveteen, manufactured by Simpson & Godlee, Swinton, Manchester, later framed
Dimensions
panel 112cm x 80cm
Footnote
Literature: Livingstone, K. et al., C.F.A. Voysey: Arts and Crafts Designer, V&A Publishing, London, 2016, p. 65, pl. 79 illus.
Parry, L. British Textiles from 1850 to 1900 V&A 1993, pl.103 illus.
Note: Herbert Horne was a writer, architect, designer and member of the Century Guild. He was apprenticed to Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo in 1883 and the two were business partners from 1885 to 1890. The Century Guild was established in 1883 by A. H. Mackmurdo and Selwyn Image with several others, including Horne. This design is one of the most recognisable designs produced by the Century Guild. Known as 'Angel with Trumpet' or 'Praise of the Soul' it was exhibited at a number of exhibitions for the Century Guild. Not all contemporary critics were impressed, one reviewer of the 1897 Manchester Royal Jubilee exhibition in the Journal of Decorative Art described it as 'at the best a very weak effort'. Nevertheless, it is now seen as exemplifying the Guild's swirling designs that pre-empted the Art Nouveau era. As well as velveteen it was also produced as printed cotton. The two differ in one detail; in the cotton, the angel's halo contains a cross (usually signifying Jesus Christ), in the present velveteen example it has a dot, which may suggest that Horne amended the design, and that the velveteen was produced after the cotton.