Old Dispensation

Maker John Henry Dearle (British, 1860 - 1932)

Maker Morris and Company (London, British, 1861 - 1940)

Additional Title(s)

Design for Tapestry

Collections

William Morris Collection

ClassificationsDRAWINGS

Dateca. 1925

Mediumwatercolor and ink on paper

Dimensions25 5/8 x 12 in. (65.1 x 30.5 cm.)

DescriptionNine panels, three in each row, showing tales from the Old Testament. Top- The creation . Adam and Eve with the serpent. The Sacrifice of Isaac. Middle - Moses and the tables of the law. The Israelites in bondage. Elijah and the priests on Baal. Bottom - Christ before Pilate (a link between Old and New Testaments). Samuel and Eli. Solomon instructing David in the building of the Temple.

Signedlower left: "J. H. DEARLE"

Inscribedlower right: "MERTON ABBEY" unable to see verso

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Status

Not on view

Label TextBy the early decades of the twentieth century, the firm was making a concerted attempt to alter its style to meet the changing demands of fashion. The onset of the First World War further added to the difficulties faced by the firm's tapestry works, which was forced to close in 1916. Four years after the war, they reopened and were able to obtain a few important tapestry commissions, including one from George G. Booth (1864-1949) of Michigan for a church he was building in Cranbrook. Booth requested two tapestries illustrating stories from the Old and New Testaments, which were to be called "Old and New Dispensations." The tapestries, which were woven on the largest carpet loom at Merton Abbey, were each twenty-two feet high.

Object number2000.5.518