W. E. Gladstone – tried, trusted and true – peeks out of this image with his trademark grimace, amongst a bouquet of lurid flowers. Silk pictures made by Thomas Stevens of Coventry, known as Stevengraphs, became popular from the late 1870s onwards. They created portraits of royalty, politicians, sports stars and military figures, as well as pictures of sporting events, historical and classical subjects, buildings and transport. The Herbert has probably the finest collection of woven silk pictures and bookmarks in the country.