Esther Lafferty talks to Oxfordshire’s ‘mosaicist extraordinaire,’ Becky Paton, about her work and her journey getting to know Jane Morris, whom she has recreated in glorious detail. Although best known for her mosaic portraiture, Becky has long been inspired by flowers, blossom, bees, birds and fun pieces for the garden. Increasingly inspired by William Morris designs, the backgrounds of her larger mosaic works have been becoming more intricate and very designed.
“Although it seems surprising, until 18 months ago I’d never visited Kelmscott Manor [near Lechlade] which William Morris rented from 1871 until his death in 1986. He spent as much time there as he could, calling it his ‘heaven on earth’, and any visitor quickly sees why,” Becky smiles. “It’s a fabulous old house tucked in a bend of the Upper Thames, and I was so excited to explore where he lived and soak up the atmosphere. But, we’ve all heard the quote ‘throughout history, behind every successful man, there is a woman’: I went in search of William Morris and came away with his wife Jane.
I'd always loved the Pre-Raphaelites so I was very aware of Jane’s ‘look’ because she appears in so many of the Pre-Raphaelite paintings. However, I hadn’t realised who the model was. When I was very young, I used to wonder why all Rosetti’s women looked the same; now I realise it’s because they're mostly the same woman. Jane Morris was the muse. She had a long friendship and affair with Dante Gabriel Rossetti, a founding father of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and he lived at Kelmscott Manor with her.
After my trip to Kelmscott, I was keen to find out more about Jane, and I was delighted to realise that I often passed a blue plaque just round the corner from the Bridge of Sighs in Oxford, on the way to the Turf Tavern which is where she was born. I was thrilled she was an Oxford girl.
William Morris is famous for his incredible designs and the ethos behind his company Morris and Company, but you never hear how Jane was also driving force, as a co-founder of the company. She headed up the embroidery section.
However, once you know to look, you see her everywhere. I was recently in Manchester and found her in the art gallery there in a huge Rossetti painting; she’s in the National Portrait Gallery twice in a photo of the Morrises and the Byrne-Joneses, and in a painting – the only painting of her by William Morris. And she’s also in Tate Britain, not simply as a muse for someone else but as an artist her own right with a massive, beautiful, intricate piece of embroidery displayed on a wall of its own.
I felt compelled to bring this incredible woman to the notice of more people. She was a creator, she was a mother, she was a beauty and she was an inspiration and I simply had to mosaic her”.
Nearly a metre in diameter, Becky’s Jane Morris is breathtakingly beautiful, the tesserae glittering in indigo and gold, like a Thames-side garden. She now hangs in Eleven Bibury, a beautiful arts and crafts building, now artisan shop and cafe, in the heart of Bibury. It’s a building William and Jane Morris would have known.
“I was primarily inspired by one of Rossetti’s paintings, Persephone, of which he painted several versions – she’s not a direct copy,” explains Becky. “I have made subtle changes. In Rosetti’s depictions, she's holding a pomegranate and her head is down. I've lifted her head and by lowering her arms I have been able to include more flowing material. I've also brought Jane into the 21st century with some beautiful blue eyeshadow that matches her dress, and her lips are redder than in the original painting.
Last but not least, I added a beautiful mosaic hairpin in her hair which is a very ‘Becky’ touch as I make brooches in that style. One of my friends called it product placement,” she laughs, “and I’m proud she’s wearing it.
The design of the border and the background was instinctive: I was trying to channel Jane’s embroidery, William Morris designs and also my own style, organically fusing the three elements.”
Jane is Becky’s tenth Warrior Woman. The series includes Queen Elizabeth I, Mary Anning, Marie Colvin and Gentleman Jack, as played by Suranne Jones, each of which has taken months in the making. With the exception of Joan of Arc, these are feisty women who don’t fight in a physical sense, and whom Becky broadly defines as someone with great strength and fortitude, driven by fire and passion for what they do.
“They’re all warriors in spirit,” she explains. “This year I’m starting work on Warrior Women 11 and 12. They are Archangel Ariel – her name translates as God’s Lion – and Sally Wainwright’s Riot Women from the great recent BBC series which showed the strength and vitality of women, particularly those in the demographic often dismissed as ‘of a certain age’. I hope my mosaic will do justice to their joy, colour and vibrancy”.
Becky’s book Mosaic Secrets: Project-based Tips and Techniques for all Abilities (Herbert Press) includes project ideas and examples of Becky’s mosaic portraiture.
Becky will be exhibiting in Sandford-on-Thames during Oxfordshire Artweeks, the county’s giant festival of open studios and pop-up exhibitions which runs from 2-25 May 2026. Visit artweeks.org
