Artemis, 1861

Artemis 1861 by William Morris (1834 - 1896). Ink, red chalk and brown wash.

This embroidery design depicts Artemis, the Ancient Greek Goddess of hunting. She wears a short robe and sandals and stands with her bow resting in her left hand whilst reaching over her shoulder to take an arrow from an elaborately decorated quiver.

William Morris is best known for his textile designs for embroidery, printed and woven fabrics, rugs, carpets and hangings. His fascination for textiles lasted throughout his life. Textiles gave him the opportunity to design on a very large scale and were intended to improve the appearance of the home which was very important to him. In the early years of the firm embroidery was the only way they could decorate textiles. It was only sewn domestically by Jane, her sister Bessie and friends and was really for personal use.

Morris designed an ambitious scheme for the dining room at Red House in 1860 featuring a series of large heroines based on his favourite medieval romances, Chaucer’s late fourteenth-century poem the Legende of Goode Wimmen and other heroines from the past. Unfortunately the scheme was never completed. This is one of Morris’s original designs for this scheme. One of the main reasons why the scheme was never finished was because Morris wanted medieval embroidery techniques used: each figure worked on linen, cut out, and applied to wool. Morris’s wife, Jane, her sister Bessie and Georgiana Burne-Jones, amongst others, embroidered the panels, but they found the techniques difficult. When Morris and his family left Red House in 1865 they gave the various panels to the embroiderers. George Howard, purchased three panels in 1889 and had them made into a screen which is now at Castle Howard, near York. They depict Lucretia with a sword, Hyppolyte with a sword and lance and Helen.