Later Victorian Portraits Catalogue
Philip Speakman Webb (1831-1915), Architect
- Gallery portraits
- All known portraits
- Biography and References
Architect; born 12 January 1831, in Oxford, son of a physician. Articled to John Billing, Reading 1849; assistant to George Edmund Street 1854; close friend of Morris, whose Red House was his first independent commission and whom he joined in founding the design partnership known as Morris & Co.; major works include Rounton Grange, North Yorkshire (1873–90), Clouds, Wiltshire (1877–81) and Standen, Sussex (1892–7); with Morris and others founded the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings 1877; joined the Socialist movement 1880s; died 17 April 1915, in Sussex.
He is described as ‘tall, slim and handsome’, with ‘a gentlemanly manner leavened by a ready wit’. [1] Extremely modest and retiring by nature, he assiduously avoided all manner of publicity, including portraiture. According to May Morris, ‘a certain dryness of manner veiled a kindliness easily divined by those who knew him’. [2]
Dr Jan Marsh
He is described as ‘tall, slim and handsome’, with ‘a gentlemanly manner leavened by a ready wit’. [1] Extremely modest and retiring by nature, he assiduously avoided all manner of publicity, including portraiture. According to May Morris, ‘a certain dryness of manner veiled a kindliness easily divined by those who knew him’. [2]
Dr Jan Marsh
Referencesback to top
Dakers 1993Dakers, C., Clouds: The Biography of a Country House, London and New Haven, 1993.
Elliott 2000
Elliott, D.B., Charles Fairfax Murray the Unknown Pre-Raphaelite, Lewes, 2000.
Henderson 1986
Henderson, P., William Morris: His Life, Work and Friends, [London, 1967] rev. ed. 1986.
Kelvin 1984, 1987, 1996
Kelvin, N., ed., Collected Letters of William Morris, 3 vols, Princeton, 1984, 1987, 1996.
Kirk 2004
Kirk, S., ‘Webb, Philip Speakman (1831–1915)’, ODNB, Oxford, 2004.
Kirk 2005
Kirk, S., Philip Webb: Pioneer of Arts & Crafts Architecture, London, 2005.
Lethaby 1935
Lethaby, W.R., Philip Webb and His Work, Oxford, 1935; repr. 1979.
MacCarthy 1994
MacCarthy, F., William Morris: A Life for Our Time, London, 1994.
Marsh 1998a
Marsh, J., The Pre-Raphaelites (NPG Character Sketches series), London, 1998.
Marsh 1998b
Marsh, J., ‘Rupes Topseia: A New Suggestion’, The Journal of the William Morris Society, vol.12, no.4, Spring 1998, pp.3–6.
Marsh 2005a
Marsh, J., The Pre-Raphaelite Circle (NPG Insights series), London, 2005.
Rose 1981
Rose, A., Pre-Raphaelite Portraits, Yeovil, Somerset, 1981.
Surtees 1971
Surtees, V., The Paintings and Drawings of Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882): A Catalogue Raisonné, 2 vols, Oxford, 1971.
Tilbrook 1986
Tilbrook, A., Truth, Beauty and Design, exh. cat., Fischer Fine Art Ltd, London, 1986.