The Red House is the only house commissioned, created and inhabited by William Morris, founder of the Arts & Crafts movement in England. It is a construction of extraordinary importance for the international artistic community around the entire world. Completed in 1860, it was recently acquired by the National Trust of the United Kingdom for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty as an important part of its historic patrimony. The rooms at the Red House offer a unique look into the designs and decorative mosaics created by William Morris during his early career as a painter. The original finishes as well as the furniture designed by Morris and Philip Webb, the glass works and paintings by Burne-Jones, along with the exquisite architecture and garden designed to "decorate" the house, have made this place a fascinating destination to visit.
An attempt by the National Trust to restore a blurry image that for a century was concealed behind a huge closet built-in to the wall in Morris's bedroom, led to the removal of layers of paint and wall paper that revealed an entire wall painted by Morris's young friends, today prominent representatives of Pre-Raphaelite Art. It is believed that the life-size figures painted on the walls of the Red House—located in the suburbs of London—represent the joint work artists Edward Burne-Jones, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and his wife Elizabeth Siddal, Ford Madox Brown and Morris.
James Breslin, Manager of the property, affirmed: "We had no idea what the figures or the inscriptions that we gradually found represented, but if they were in the Red House, they had to be part of Arthurian Mythology or the bible…" So they decided to publish an online tweet with images of the inscription with the hopes that an expert would look at them and identify the writing. An hour after the tweet was posted someone associated the images with verse 30:6 from the Book of Genesis in the Bible that reads: "And Rachel said, God hath judged me, and hath also heard my voice, and hath given me a son."
In this manner the figures were identified as characters from the bible that among others included: Rachel, Noah holding a mockup of the ark, Adam and Eve, and Jacob with the ladder—this latter figure attributed to Morris—all of which appeared to be part of a tapestry that covered the entire wall.
The conservation work continues to show surprises to the restorers as it appears that there are still more works painted on every wall of the house, even in the ceiling. Wood panels were extracted from the drawing room that revealed paintings by Burne Jones, and probably by Rosseti—one of the badgers he would kept as pets was portrayed under a chair—an Morris with his singular roses over a blue background in that which could very well represent his first mosaic attempt. These designs manufactured by his company would have covered more than half of the walls and sofas of the British homes of the time.
With the findings in the master bedroom, the conservation budget ascends to at least 110,000 pounds, as even more artworks of immeasurable value are expected to be found in the other rooms of the house.