The history of over sea by William Morris 1894

This is Louis Rhead’s illustration for William Morris’s “The History of Over Sea.” It was made in the United States at the end of the 19th century. The composition shows a damsel with a sword and a bound man, and the artist has used the forms of Art Nouveau to evoke an idealized medieval past that speaks to the aesthetic and political concerns of the present. In the 1890s, many artists, writers, and socialists looked back to pre-industrial times for alternative social models. They saw in the guilds and crafts of the medieval era a possible template for a more just society. Rhead’s illustration gives us an important insight into the cultural milieu of the period and the institutional and social contexts that underpinned the Arts and Crafts movement. To fully understand it, we need to look at the poetry of William Morris and at publications such as “The Craftsman,” edited by Gustav Stickley.