The Holy Grail is a sacred object figuring in literature and certain Christian traditions, most often identified with the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper and said to possess miraculous powers. The connection of Joseph of Arimathea with the Grail legend dates from Robert de Boron's Joseph d'Arimathie in which Joseph receives the Grail from an apparition of Jesus and sends it with his followers to Great Britain; building upon this theme, later writers recounted how Joseph used the Grail to catch Christ's blood while interring him and that in Britain he founded a line of guardians to keep it safe. The quest for the Holy Grail makes up an important segment of the Arthurian cycle, appearing first in works by Chrétien de Troyes. The legend may combine Christian lore with a Celtic myth of a cauldron endowed with special powers.
|
|
|
|
|
William Morris (1834–1896) was an English architect, furniture and textile designer, artist, writer, socialist and Marxist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement. Morris wrote and published poetry, fiction, and translations of ancient and medieval texts throughout his life. His best-known works include The Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems, The Earthly Paradise, A Dream of John Ball and the utopian News from Nowhere. He was an important figure in the emergence of socialism in Britain, founding the Socialist League in 1884, but breaking with the movement over goals and methods by the end of that decade. He devoted much of the rest of his life to the Kelmscott Press, which he founded in 1891
Jessie Marion King (1875–1949) was a Scottish painter and illustrator of Children's books. She was born in Bearsden, near Glasgow. Her father was a minister and she received a strict religious education and though she was discouraged from becoming an artist, she began training as an Art teacher in 1891. In 1892 she entered the Glasgow School of Art, where she received a number of awards and was made Tutor in Book Decoration and Design at Glasgow School of Art in 1899. She was influenced by the Art Nouveau of the period and her works juxtaposed in mood with that of The Glasgow Four. She married E.A.
Taylor in 1910 they moved on to Paris, where they soon opened the Shearing Atelier School. Her works are considered as highly influential to the creation of the Art Deco movement.
|