In 1861 the architect John Pollard Seddon (1827-1906) commissioned Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Co. to produce ten decorative panels, depicting the Fine and Applied Arts, for an oak cabinet of his own design (now at the V&A). On Brown's suggestion the four door panels were decorated with scenes from the honeymoon of the medieval King René of Anjou, an enthusiastic patron of the arts, whose life had been popularised by Sir Walter Scott in his novel 'Anne of Geierstein' (1829) (John P. Seddon, King René's Honeymoon Cabinet, London, 1898, p.6). This is a study for 'Architecture' showing King René sitting with his new wife, surrounded by architectural plans and instruments. Burne-Jones designed 'Painting' and 'Sculpture' and Rossetti painted 'Music' and 'Gardening,' one of the four smaller panels. The cabinet was made by the furniture firm owned by Seddon's father and exhibited in the Medieval Court at the 1862 International Exhibition in London. The design was reused in 1863 as a stained glass cartoon for the windows of 'The Hill,' the Surrey home of the artist Myles Birket Foster (1825-1899). Although there are several other copies of the design at the Ashmolean, the British Museum and the Tate, this study is the earliest and must relate to the original Seddon commission.
LM