03 — ARTWORK
Spring and Summer panel
- MEDIUM
- Coloured silks on silk damask, 131 x 72 cm
- TYPE
- Mythological
PALETTE
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- FILE
- 463 × 821 px · JPEG
COMMENTARY
UNDERLINED TERMS ARE DEFINED IN THE GLOSSARY.
The 1880s saw a reaction against the machine age, with a revalorisation of traditionally hand-crafted pieces made by designer-makers. The new aesthetic, soon named the Arts & Crafts movement, favoured stylistic simplicity combined with high quality in designs inspired by pre-industrial examples. May Morris was part of the first generation to study fine crafts in art schools like the National Art Training School in South Kensington, which later evolved into the Royal College of Art. Her specialisms were textiles and embroidery - notably Opus Anglicanum, a form of fine, rich needlework that developed in medieval England, used primarily for church vestments. At the age of 23, she took over management of the Morris & Co embroidery department, supervising the production of altar cloths, portières, fire screens and bed covers commissioned by clients, all in the Morris house style.
This panelTerm in painting for a support of wood, metal, or other rigid substance, as distinct from canvas. Until the adoption of canvas in the 15th century nearly all the movable paintings of Europe were executed on wood, and even up to the beginning of the 17th century it is probable that as much painting was done on the one support as on the other. Painters who worked on a small scale often used copper panels (Elsheimer is a leading example), and in the colonial art of South America copper and tin and even lead and zinc were used. On a larger scale, slate has occasionally been used as a support, notably by Rubens for his altarpiece for Sta Maria in Vallicella (the Chiesa Nuova) in Rome; the picture he originally painted was said to reflect the light unpleasantly and slate was used for the replacement to produce a more matt finish. For wood panels the Italian masters of the Renaissance preferred white poplar, while oak was the most common wood used in northern Europe. Many other types were used, however; analysis of the contents of art galleries has yielded a long list, including beech, cedar, chestnut, fir, larch, linden, mahogany, olive, and walnut. In the 20th century cedar, teak, and dark walnut are favourites, and modern painters have also used plywood, fibre-board, and other synthetic materials as supports. was designed and embroidered by May Morris. The embroidered mottofrom the Middle Ages, a saying usually associated with a visual symbol. The invention of personal mottos, as distinct from those that were inherited in a family's coat of arms, was particularly widespread in the Renaissance period. translates as: "When the summer's gentle season makes leaves and flowers and field green again".
CITE THIS RECORD — BIBTEX
@online{wga-rd83b9424a2af0c,
author = {Krén, Emil and Marx, Daniel},
title = {Spring and Summer panel by MORRIS, May},
organization = {{Web Gallery of Art}},
date = {2026-09-09},
url = {https://beta.wga.hu/artists/morris-may-r2becf5835696aa/spring-and-summer-panel-rd83b9424a2af0c},
urldate = {2026-09-09},
langid = {english}
}ACCESSED 2026-09-09. REPLACE THE AUTHOR FIELD WITH THE COMMENTARY AUTHOR WHERE ONE IS NAMED.
OTHER WORKS BY MAY MORRIS
The archive catalogues no further works by this artist.
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