''The Adoration of the Magi'' is a Morris & Co.

tapestry Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike most woven textiles, where both the warp and the weft threads ma ...

depicting the story in

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...

of the

Three Kings The biblical Magi from Middle Persian ''moɣ''(''mard'') from Old Persian ''magu-'' 'Zoroastrian clergyman' ( or ; singular: ), also referred to as the (Three) Wise Men or (Three) Kings, also the Three Magi were distinguished foreigners in the ...

who were guided to the birthplace of

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and relig ...

by the

star of Bethlehem The Star of Bethlehem, or Christmas Star, appears in the nativity story of the Gospel of Matthew chapter 2 where "wise men from the East" (Magi) are inspired by the star to travel to Jerusalem. There, they meet King Herod of Judea, and ask hi ...

. It is sometimes called ''The Star of Bethlehem'' or simply ''The Adoration.''

Commission

Edward Burne-Jones Star of Bethlehem 1887

The original tapestry was commissioned in 1886 by John Prideaux Lightfoot, rector of

Exeter College, Oxford (Let Exeter Flourish) , old_names = ''Stapeldon Hall'' , named_for = Walter de Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter , established = , sister_college = Emmanuel College, Cambridge , rector = Sir Richard Trainor ...

, for the

Gothic revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

chapel built for the college in the 1850s by

George Gilbert Scott Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he started ...

. Lightfoot approached

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He w ...

and

Edward Burne-Jones Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, (; 28 August, 183317 June, 1898) was a British painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood which included Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Millais, Ford Madox Brown and Holman ...

, both former students at Exeter, and suggested the subject matter for the tapestry, to which Morris agreed readily in a letter to Lightfoot dated 4 September 1886.Wildman, pp. 293–294Parry 1996, pp. 292–293 The overall composition and the figures were designed by Edward Burne-Jones, who completed a 26 × 38 inch

modello A modello (plural modelli), from Italian, is a preparatory study or model, usually at a smaller scale, for a work of art or architecture, especially one produced for the approval of the commissioning patron. The term gained currency in art circl ...

or design in watercolour and bodycolour heightened with gold in 1887. Large-scale

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of imag ...

s for the tapestry weavers were created from photographically enlarged panels of Burne-Jones's watercolour. In a letter of 7 September 1886, Morris had suggested that the tapestry's colouration should be "both harmonious and powerful, so that it would not be overpowered" by the chapel's brilliantly coloured

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

. Morris and his assistant John Henry Dearle chose a vibrant colour scheme and added background and foreground details including the flowering plants characteristic of Dearle's tapestry work. All in all, the tapestry took four years to realise, including two years' work by three weavers at Morris's

Merton Abbey Mills __NOTOC__ Merton Abbey Mills is a former textile factory in the parish of Merton in London, England near the site of the medieval Merton Priory, now the home of a variety of businesses, mostly retailers. The River Wandle flowing north tow ...

. The tapestry was completed in February 1890 and displayed in Morris & Co.'s Oxford Street showroom in London that Easter before being presented to Exeter College. Lightfoot did not live to see the finished tapestry; he died at the Rectory at Exeter College on 23 March 1887.

Versions

The Adoration proved the most popular of all Morris & Co. tapestries for both church and domestic settings. Ten versions were woven, each with a different border design: *1890 for Exeter College, Oxford, still in the chapel there. *1890–94, for

Wilfred Scawen Blunt Wilfrid Scawen Blunt (17 August 1840 – 10 September 1922), sometimes spelt Wilfred, was an English poet and writer. He and his wife Lady Anne Blunt travelled in the Middle East and were instrumental in preserving the Arabian horse bloodlines ...

*1894, for the Corporation of

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

, now in the

Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has over 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Educat ...

*1895 for the

Eton College Eton College () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI of England, Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. i ...

Chapel, still ''in situ''. *1900 for the

Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg The Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg (''Museum of Art and Design Hamburg'') is a museum of fine, applied and decorative arts in Hamburg, Germany. It is located centrally, near the Hauptbahnhof. History The museum was founded in 1874, fol ...

, still ''in situ''. *1901 for Sir

George Brookman Sir George Brookman KBE (15 April 1850 – 20 June 1927) was a South Australian businessman who made a fortune from a gold discovery in Western Australia, and is remembered as a generous benefactor of the South Australian School of Mines and Ind ...

, now in the

Art Gallery of South Australia The Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), established as the National Gallery of South Australia in 1881, is located in Adelaide. It is the most significant visual arts museum in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of ...

*1902 for Sergei Shchukin, in the

Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the larges ...

, St Petersburg *1904 for Guillaume Mallet of Le Bois des Moutiers, Varengeville-sur-Mer, Haute-Normandie, France, now in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris *1906 for the Colman family of

Carrow Abbey Carrow Abbey is a former Benedictine priory in Bracondale, southeast Norwich, England. The village on the site used to be called Carrow (there are many alternative spellings) and gives its name to Carrow Road, the football ground of Norwich F.C., ...

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

, now in the Castle Museum, Norwich *1907 for St Andrew's Church, Roker, in Sunderland, still ''in situ'' The 1904 version, lately in the collection of Yves Saint Laurent and

Pierre Bergé Pierre Vital Georges Bergé (; 14 November 1930 – 8 September 2017) was a French industrialist and patron. He co-founded the fashion label Yves Saint Laurent, and was a longtime business partner (and onetime life partner) of its namesake des ...

, was to be auctioned in February 2009, but at the last minute was withdrawn from the sale by Bergé and donated to the Musée d'Orsay.(London) Times Online
February 21, 2009. See als

''The Star of Bethlehem''

In 1887, Burne-Jones revisited his tapestry design as a full-scale painting titled '' The Star of Bethlehem''. The colour palette with its rich blue-greens differs greatly from both the original watercolour modello and the Morris tapestry, and its large size allowed him to add a wealth of fine detail not possible in the tapestry version, especially in the clothing. ''The Star of Bethlehem'' was completed in 1890 and exhibited at the New Gallery, London, in the spring of 1891 before being sent on to the

Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BM&AG) is a museum and art gallery in Birmingham, England. It has a collection of international importance covering fine art, ceramics, metalwork, jewellery, natural history, archaeology, ethnography, local h ...

, where it remains.

Notes

References

*Parry, Linda, ed., ''William Morris'', Abrams, 1996, *Parry, Linda, ''William Morris Textiles'', New York, Viking Press, 1983, *Parry, Linda, ''Textiles of the Arts & Crafts Movement'', Thames and Hudson, revised edition 2005, *

Pevsner, Nikolaus Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

and Jennifer Sherwood: ''

The Buildings of England ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

: Oxfordshire'', 1974 *Wildman, Stephen: ''Edward Burne-Jones: Victorian Artist-Dreamer'', Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1998,

External links

Christie's catalogue
English notes below the French.

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20080701025524/http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/03/hm3_3_2_6b.html ''The Adoration of the Magi''tapestry at the Hermitage Museum {{William Morris Morris & Co. tapestries Adoration of the Magi in art Collections of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery Exeter College, Oxford 1890 works 1890 in art