Liberty Panel from the David Healey Memorial Window from the Unitarian Chapel, Heywood, Lancashire

Designerdesigned by Edward Burne-Jones (British, 1833 - 1898)

Maker Morris and Company (British, 1861 - 1940)

Collections

William Morris Collection

ClassificationsDECORATIVE ARTS

Date1898

Mediumglass and lead

Dimensions75 7/16 x 19 in. (191.6 x 48.3 cm.)

DescriptionFull figure of Liberty in blue with yellow sleeves and green halo on green background, taking off wings. Above is a banner bearing the name " Liberty". The panel is divided into three pieces.

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Label TextThis panel representing Liberty is one of ten panels for an eighteen-foot high memorial window illustrating the virtues Truth, Faith, Love, Courage, Generosity, Charity, Justice, Mercy, and Humility. The Liberty window demonstrates the firm's use of the mosaic principle in medieval stained glass. Morris stated that "the more the design will enable us to break up the pieces, and the more mosaic-like it is, the better we like it." In the eighteenth century, stained glass makers generally painted the picture directly on the glass rather than using separate colored glass pieces. However, the enamel only made the glass darker, which in Morris's opinion did an injustice to the glass's natural translucency. In Morris & Co. windows, colored glass was used with enamel limited to details such as hair, facial features, and folds of drapery. The firm also developed decorative backgrounds to highlight the central figures. In this case, the darker shade of blue in the drapery behind Liberty sets off the light blue and white of her gown.

Status

On view

Object number2000.5.530.5