Mosaic Roundel At Octavia House

MOSAIC ROUNDEL AT OCTAVIA HOUSE

This is a large mosaic roundel, dating from 1896, set into the wall of a 1950s building that lacks special interest. The roundel is located at Ayres Street in Southwark, next to Redcross Cottages (Grade II listed) and overlooking Redcross Gardens.

The roundel is composed of tesserae of coloured glass and gilt. It depicts the sower scattering seed on the ground, taken from the biblical parable of the sower found in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 13, verse 3. The words "The sower went forth to sow" are picked out in gilt lettering against a blue background. In the Pre-Raphaelite idiom typical of the period, the sower wears a tunic and medieval-style cape and carries a woven basket full of seeds. The design emphasises the moral of the parable — that seed falling on fertile ground will flourish while other seed is lost — through the inclusion of thorns in the ground (representing those that choke the seed in the parable) and two birds in the background (representing those that eat seed falling on stony ground). The roundel is surrounded by a border of flowers, vines, and ribbons on a green background, with a small banner at the bottom inscribed "AD 1896".

The roundel was donated to Redcross Gardens in 1896 by Julia Minet, a member of a public-spirited family of landlords who funded a library, church, and park for their tenants in the Camberwell area. The design was created after a sketch of 1896 by Louisa Anne, Marchioness of Waterford, and was manufactured by the glass-making firm James Powell and Son.

Louisa Anne, Marchioness of Waterford (1818–1891), was a watercolour painter and philanthropist. Raised mostly in Paris, where her father served as British Ambassador to the French court, she received drawing instruction from an early age. Art, religion, and philanthropy were her principal interests throughout her life. She was an accomplished amateur watercolourist but did not exhibit at professional galleries until the 1870s. Her strong interest in the welfare of tenants on her Northumberland estate led her to rebuild the village of Ford, establish a school, and found a temperance society. Her greatest artistic achievement was the decoration of the village school with life-sized scenes from the Old and New Testaments, using children and adults from the village as models. The school, now known as Lady Waterford Hall, is Grade II* listed. Many other buildings sponsored by the Marchioness in Ford are Grade II listed. "The Sower" exemplifies her interest in religious subject matter within rural genre scenes, hinting at the biblical parable. The sketch was first exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery, London in 1881 and is now held in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

James Powell and Son was Britain's longest-running glassware manufactory, beginning operations in London in the 1830s. The firm's principal period of activity was the late 19th century, when the emerging Arts and Crafts movement prompted renewed interest in glassware alongside the continuing demand for stained-glass windows for churches throughout the 19th century. Powell and Sons worked closely with leading Victorian architects and designers, including T. G. Jackson, Edward Burne-Jones, William De Morgan, and James Doyle. The firm also manufactured glass for William Morris's revolutionary Red House, designed by Philip Webb. Under Harry James Powell, grandson of the founder, the firm achieved international renown and remained at the forefront of glassmaking design and technology. Powell, an adherent of John Ruskin's principles, regularly lectured on glass and glass technology at industrial seminars. The firm's reputation continued into the 20th century, producing designs in Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles. It was selected to represent modern British industry at the Festival of Britain in 1951. When it closed in the 1980s, it had been in operation for over 150 years.

The roundel was originally installed in the wall of a warehouse building that overlooked the north-western corner of the garden. It has since been re-sited in the wall of the current 1950s building, positioned roughly where it originally stood. A second mosaic, "The Good Shepherd" by Antonio Salviati, was introduced at the same time but has since been lost.

The buildings and gardens at Ayres Street owe their existence to Octavia Hill (1838–1912), a pioneering figure in the model housing movement. Hill selected this site for a garden, laid out by Julia, Countess of Ducie in 1887, a hall, and twelve cottages designed by Elijah Hoole and built between 1887 and 1890. The hall was intended to serve as "a kind of parish parlour" for the poor, and the garden was created to bring fresh air and beauty to "the tired inhabitants of Southwark," which at that time was one of the poorest and most overcrowded parts of London. The cottages were tenanted according to principles Hill had pioneered at Paradise Place in Marylebone: residents lived in clean, well-ventilated buildings with weekly rent collection managed by quasi-social workers who ensured buildings were well-maintained and that tenants, particularly their children, were content. Hill believed that the home and family, rather than the State, should be the primary providers of social stability and well-being. The cottages were consequently designed in a small-scale Arts and Crafts style. Like other social reformers of her era, Hill held that art and beauty could transform the lives of working people. In 1889 she commissioned Walter Crane to decorate the interior of the hall with ten murals depicting "Deeds of heroism in the daily life of ordinary people"; only three were executed and these survive in the hall.