The Months of the Year. Tiles designed by Albert Joseph Moore, ARWS (1841-1893). Designed c. 1861. Watercolour and gouache. Twelve squares each measuring 6 1/8 x 6 1/8 inches (15.5 x 15.5 cm). Collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, accession no. 180-1894. Image courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, reproduced for purposes of non-commercial academic research. [Click on the images on this page to enlarge them.]
These designs were originally made in conjunction with a series of twelve panels of the months of the year for a painted ceiling in a dairy designed by Moore's friend William Eden Nesfield for William Philip Molyneux at Croxteth Hall, near Liverpool. When used as tile designs, they feature male and female labourers engaged in appropriate agricultural activities for the month they represent. Robyn Asleson has discussed the possible influences on these early designs by Moore:
In style, the drawing recalls the simple naturalism and linear fluidity of designs executed on fifth-century Greek white ground pottery, but the vignette of the Christmas ox also recalls sculptural motifs in the north and south frieze of the Parthenon, in which draped male figures lead bulls to sacrifice. Moore had studied casts of the Parthenon sculptures at the York School of Design and had ample opportunity for seeing the marbles while living just a few streets away from the British Museum…. The other scenes in Moore's series of the months of the year are less obviously classical in inspiration. Certain passages are as reminiscent of medieval woodcuts as Greek vase painting…. There can be little doubt that Moore, in the same spirit, based his allegorical figures on close observation of nature. [45 & 47]
Minton, Hollins & Co. Tile Panel. 15 1/2 X 34 1/4 inches (39.5 X 87 cm) including frame. Private collection, image courtesy of Woolley and Wallis.
Surviving examples of tiles based on these designs appear to be extremely rare. A set of such tiles can be found as decoration at Coll Earn House in Auchterarder, Perthshire, Scotland:
The Months of the Year, designed c. 1861. Twelve Minton, Hollins & Co. tiles in a Tile Panel in an oak surround. Collection of Coll Earn House, Auchterarder, Perthshire, Scotland. Photograph by the author.
These tiles are unusual in that they have a gold background. They are set in an oak surround with the French proverb "A chaque oiseaux son nid est beau" [To every bird its own nest is beautiful] carved into it. Another set of hand-painted tiles for the Months of the Year, designed by Moore and composed primarily of these designs, sold at Woolley and Wallis auctions on 19 June 2024, lot 101.
Related Material
Bibliography
Asleson, Robyn. Albert Moore. London: Phaidon, 2000. 45-47.
Baldry, Alfred Lys. Albert Moore. His Life and Works. London: George Bell and Sons, 1893. 1 44. 69, 88.
Fine Arts and Crafts. Salisbury: Woolley and Wallis (19 June 2024): lot 101.
Created 10 October 2026