Platinum Print by Frederick Hollyer of The Quest for the Holy Grail Designed by Edward Burne-Jones

'The Knights of the Round Table summoned to a quest by the strange damsel' (later known as The beckoning) and 'The arming and embarking of the Knights in the quest for the Holy Grail' (The departure) - prints of tapestry panels designed by Burne-Jones and produced by Morris and Co. The Holy Grail tapestry series illustrates the story of the search for the Holy Grail by the Knights of the Round Table, based on Sir Thomas Mallory's Arthurian legend 'La Morte d'Arthur'. The project was an ambitious collaboration between William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones and John Henry Dearle, initially designed and produced by Morris & Co. between 1890 and 1895 as part of the interior decoration commissioned by William Knox d'Arcy for Stanmore Hall, Middlesex. These photogravures of the Holy Grail series, produced by Frederick Hollyer, remain in their original Morris & Co. frames, stamped on the verso and numbered, and are believed to have hung in the showroom at 449 Oxford Street. This is frame 1 of 3, see also PH6 and PH11 in the collection. Frederick Hollyer trained as a mezzotint engraver, became known for photographing paintings and drawings, and did much to establish photography as a fine art. He also took studio portraits and specialised in interior and exterior photos of houses. His sitters included the artists Walter Crane, William Morris, G. F. Watts, and Burne-Jones; the writers John Ruskin, H. G. Wells and George Bernard Shaw. He was elected as member of the Photographic Society of London in 1865. His work was widely acclaimed in his own day. See 'Highlights from the William Morris Society Collection' (London: William Morris Society, 2015) and https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person.php?search=sa&sText=Frederick+Hollyer&LinkID=mp07119&role=art&page=1 and http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/f/frederick-hollyer-biography/