Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Art and Architecture Commons^™

The Medieval Ideal: Utopian Medievalism In The Life, Thought, And Works Of William Morris, Benjamin Michael Kimball

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Interpreting the past often reveals as much about the interpreter as it does about the subject they interpret. This was the case with William Morris and his utopian mythologization of the Middle Ages. His art, writings, politics, and philosophy are suffused with a utopian vision of the medieval past. It runs through the whole body of his work and even in affected his personal life. It became a lens through which he could understand the world around him, a source on which he could draw for his political, social, and artistic critiques of Victorian Society. Through three different vantage points, …