Mary of Bethany

Many of the firm's partners contributed designs for the figures while Morris alone designed nearly all of the tracery. Morris's figure drawings often demonstrate a preoccupation with the fall of the fabric on the figure, perhaps foreshadowing his later interest in textile design. This drawing for Mary of Bethany was made for an early commission but, like many of the firm's figure designs, was reused in Bradford Cathedral. For a brief period during the firm's early years, Morris produced many such figure drawings, intended as designs for stained glass, painted furniture, or embroidery. The Huntington William Morris Collection contains over 140 of these rare figure drawings.