Tuesday Talks - Gallery Guide Helen Bulis discusses The Adoration of the Magi, by William Morris and co.

·34 min·3 clips

Gallery guide Helen Bulis reveals the Bible never mentions three wise men, only their three gifts.

The looking starts with ornament. Bulis points to the three wise men first as figures in medieval costume. Robes, slippers, buckles, chain mail, and folded patterns give the surface plenty to chew on. Even the number is less settled than it looks. Her research goes back to the Bible, where the wise men are not counted as three. That idea grows out of the three gifts: frankincense, myrrh, and gold. The names come later too. Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar enter the story after the biblical account, a point she handles with art-historical care and a quick aside about champagne. Then Brookman comes in. Bulis places him through Adelaide landmarks, wealth, overseas travel, Merton Abbey, and the wish to bring a tapestry like this back for Ivanhoe at Gilberton. The gift sounds generous, and she lets it sound that way, but she also keeps the awkward bit in view: Brookman wanted it quickly, even after a weaver's death delayed the work by six months. The tapestry then moves into public life. It was sold to the Art Gallery of South Australia, drew crowds when first shown in Town Hall, and later received a centenary tribute in 2017. Its wider circle matters too. Bulis connects other versions to the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, Yves Saint Laurent, and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, so the Adelaide work feels local without feeling small. Morris stays near the centre of it all. Bulis treats him as radical partly because he turned backward, choosing traditional making, repetition, and design discipline against parts of his own time. May matters as well. The close notes that women were not even considered as managers, which gives May's gratitude to her father a sharper social edge. The talk returns to the tapestry's beauty, but does not leave it there. Decorated cloth becomes a story about scripture, medieval revival, money, labor, gender, public ownership, and people standing in front of a grand woven surface.

As heard by us

A close reading of Morris's tapestry opens onto medieval imagery, Adelaide history, labor, and social ideals.

The episode treats Morris's Magi tapestry as something to be read slowly: the medieval robes, buckles, chain mail, dense patterned folds, and the guardian angel looking toward a crown.

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Why you'd press play

You can follow a richly patterned tapestry from decorative slippers and buckles to Morris's wish for real social change.

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