Acanthus by William Morris: The Story of the Wallpaper

Acanthus at a glance

The table below collects the documented facts about the wallpaper in one place. Every entry comes from the Victoria and Albert Museum's records of the surviving specimens.

One caution on the date: the V&A gives 1875 as the design's primary date and as its production date, but the records consulted here do not state a separate first issue or registration date. Where other Morris designs have a documented registration day, Acanthus does not, at least not in the evidence used for this page.

What the wallpaper shows: layout and repeat

Acanthus is a large-scale design built from scrolling acanthus foliage. The V&A's wallpaper article names it as an example of Morris's luxuriantly naturalistic style, and attributes the success of his wallpaper designs to his close observation of nature. That is the museum's characterisation of the pattern, and it is the most secure description available.

A note on plants: the evidence used here does not securely identify specific plant species within the wallpaper design itself. Firm plant identifications exist only for the related embroidered wall hanging, described below, where the V&A lists carnations, peonies, tulips and briony among the motifs. For the wallpaper, the safe description is luxuriant acanthus foliage on a grand scale, and no more.

The acanthus leaf recurs across Morris's work in several forms, and its use in this wallpaper is part of a longer pattern of returns to the motif. For more on that motif across the designs, see the page on the Acanthus Leaf in William Morris designs.

If you are thinking about how a large leafy repeat behaves on a wall, the guide to decorating with Acanthus covers colour palettes and room pairings in practical terms.

When Acanthus was designed and issued

The V&A records the Acanthus wallpaper as designed by William Morris with a primary date of 1875. The same record gives the production date as 1875 and the place of production as London. Because the museum's entry carries the attribution and the dating, both are stated here with that source named.

There is a small conflict in the records on place: one V&A record gives the place of production as London, while another describes it only as Great Britain. The more specific London attribution fits with the documented involvement of Jeffrey & Co., a London printing firm, so this page follows London while noting the broader record.

No separate first issue or registration date for Acanthus appears in the evidence. The 1875 date should therefore be read as the V&A's dating for the design and its production, not as a documented registration day.

How it was printed: blocks, colours and Jeffrey & Co.

Acanthus is block-printed. The V&A records that Acanthus required thirty wood blocks to print the full repeat.

The colour count is the design's most striking documented statistic. The V&A records fifteen subtly different colours, more than any previous design by Morris.

According to the V&A, the wallpaper was printed for Morris's company by the London firm Jeffrey & Co., who specialised in high quality 'Art' wallpapers. The firm's name appears on the museum's record of the second specimen as well.

The surviving specimens and the pattern book

Two wallpaper specimens of Acanthus are recorded by the V&A, and both survive in pattern books rather than as loose rolls. The table below sets out the two records side by side.

The ink inscription on O78222, recording title, number and price on the back, shows how the firm's pattern books were kept as working documents. The evidence does not give the actual price or the dimensions of either specimen, so those details are left out here rather than guessed.

The O119047 record is also the clearest single statement of the commercial arrangement: the V&A describes the specimen as published by Morris & Co. and printed by Jeffrey & Co., which confirms the division between the firm that sold the design and the firm that printed it.

Colourways

The V&A records that Acanthus was issued in two colour combinations: one in shades of green, the other in predominantly reddish-brown tones. These are the two documented colourways of the design.

No later reissues of the Acanthus wallpaper are documented in the evidence used for this page. If a twentieth-century or modern reissue exists, it would need a separate source before it could be stated here.

Large patterns in small rooms

Acanthus is a large-scale repeat that would appear most appropriate for large rooms. The V&A, however, records Morris's contrary view: he believed a large pattern worked well in a small room because, if well designed, it was more restful to look at. This is the museum's paraphrase of Morris's position, not a verbatim quotation from him.

The V&A's wallpaper article places Acanthus among Morris's grand-scale patterns, naming Acanthus and St James's as examples of designs on a grand scale from his later work. The same article notes that Morris felt his larger patterns worked well in smaller rooms, against the prevailing view of Victorian tastemakers, and records that Oscar Wilde apparently disliked Morris's work. Again, these are the museum's statements, and the word 'apparently' is the museum's own hedge.

For readers weighing a large repeat against a small room today, the broader guide to William Morris designs discusses how pattern scale and room size interact across several of his wallpapers.

The embroidered Acanthus wall hanging

The V&A holds a wall hanging titled Acanthus, museum number O89352, designed by William Morris around 1880 and made of cotton embroidered with silks. It shares the design's name and its acanthus imagery, but the evidence does not confirm that it is a direct adaptation of the wallpaper, so the relationship is best left described rather than asserted.

The wall hanging's design contains a central ogival shape formed by four touching acanthus leaves, set within a symmetrical but haphazard pattern of curving leaves and flowers. The V&A identifies carnations, peonies, tulips and briony among the motifs, along with others. This is the only place in the evidence where plants in an Acanthus design are securely named.

The borders are described in detail by the museum. An outside border on three sides shows a wavy line of pale and mid-green on pale and light blue. The lower border carries a central artichoke motif with trailing tulips and acanthus leaves, edged with stripes and castellated decoration in peach, pale blue, brown and white.

The embroidery techniques are recorded too: stem outlining and one type of leaf are worked in laid and couch work, with raised flowerheads effected with French knots. These are the standard stitches of Morris's embroidery workshop practice, though the evidence here does not name individual embroiderers.

Acanthus in Morris's wallpaper work

Acanthus belongs to the period when wallpaper was a central concern for Morris. From the early 1880s onwards, wallpaper became less of a central concern as his energies focused on textile production at Merton Abbey Mills. The V&A dates the design and its production to 1875, so it sits in the years before that shift.

Within that body of work, Acanthus stands out on the documented evidence for its technical ambition: thirty blocks and fifteen colours, more colours than any previous Morris design. To see how it sits among the other patterns and dates, the [complete list of Morris wallpaper designs](L1) is the useful next reference.

What we cannot yet confirm

Several questions remain open on the current evidence, and it is better to list them than to paper over them.

Open questions about Acanthus:

• No documented statement by Morris specifically about Acanthus. The remarks about large patterns in small rooms reach us through the V&A's paraphrase, not as a verbatim Morris quotation.
• No documented later reissues of the wallpaper.
• Plant identifications are secure only for the embroidered wall hanging, not for the wallpaper design itself.
• The V&A records the embroidered wall hanging titled Acanthus (O89352) as designed by William Morris around 1880, but the evidence does not confirm that the wall hanging is a direct adaptation of the wallpaper, despite the shared title.
• No dimensions, price or client information for either wallpaper specimen beyond the note that O78222 is inscribed with title, number and price.

If any of these points matter to your research, check the museum records directly, since new cataloguing can settle old questions.