Design Profile · Dearle & Later Designers
Arcadia by John Henry Dearle for Morris & Co.: History and Design
Arcadia survives as two colour woodblock-printed wallpaper specimens in the V&A, dated to about 1886. The museum records the designer as May Morris, though the attribution is not settled.
On this page
Arcadia is a wallpaper design known today from two specimens in the Victoria and Albert Museum, colour woodblock prints on paper that the V&A dates to about 1886.
This page sets out what the specimens look like, how they were made and where they sit in Morris & Co.'s wallpaper work. It also states plainly what the records do not establish, including a first issue date and a confirmed printer.
What the Arcadia specimens look like
The V&A describes Arcadia as a pattern of intertwined flowers and foliage. One of the two specimens is cream and brown. Both are colour woodblock prints on paper, made in England.
Because both examples are flat, even specimens rather than photographed room installations, the description above is what the records themselves offer. The V&A's catalogue does not identify the individual plants in the pattern, so no plant names can be given here with confidence.
Who designed Arcadia: the attribution question
The V&A records the designer of the Arcadia wallpaper as Mary (May) Morris. This is a single-source attribution in the evidence available for this page, so it is stated here with that qualification rather than as a settled fact.
Dating Arcadia and the Volume 2 pattern book
The V&A dates the Arcadia specimens to ca. 1886. No separate design date and no first issue or registration date for Arcadia are documented in the available records, so the ca. 1886 date applies to the specimens themselves rather than to a documented moment of first sale.
Both specimens belong to a V&A pattern book called Volume 2, which contains 27 Morris & Co. patterns. No date range for the pattern book is stated in the records supplied for this page.
How Arcadia was made
The specimens are colour woodblock prints on paper, made in England. This is the extent of what the technique record states: the printer or manufacturer of the Arcadia wallpaper is not identified in the available evidence, so no printer can be named.
The provenance of the specimens is straightforward. They were given to the V&A by Morris & Co., and each is inscribed on the back in ink with its title, number and price.
Arcadia in the context of Morris & Co. wallpaper
Arcadia falls within a documented stretch of the firm's wallpaper output. The V&A states that between 1882 and Morris's death in 1896, Morris & Co. issued a further 35 new wallpaper designs. The specimens' ca. 1886 date, as given by the V&A, falls within that period.
The same record notes that from the early 1880s wallpaper became less of a central concern for Morris, as his energies focused on textile production at Merton Abbey Mills. The V&A also states that Morris described wallpaper as a "makeshift" decoration.
makeshift
Where Arcadia survives today
Both known examples are in the V&A. They carry museum numbers O248687 and O248682, and both are bound into the Volume 2 pattern book, registered as E.530-608-1919. No other holdings are documented in the evidence available for this page.
| Institution | Museum number | Medium | Date | Pattern book |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Victoria and Albert Museum | O248687 | Colour woodblock print on paper | ca. 1886 (V&A) | Volume 2 (E.530-608-1919) |
| Victoria and Albert Museum | O248682 | Colour woodblock print on paper | ca. 1886 (V&A) | Volume 2 (E.530-608-1919) |
According to the V&A, she left the museum a sizeable collection of her father's work on her death in 1938, including 30 designs for wallpaper, textiles and embroidery. The Arcadia specimens themselves were given by Morris & Co., but the 1938 bequest shows the family's wider role in building the museum's Morris holdings.
For readers who want to compare designs from the same period, the next step is the reference list of designs by John Henry Dearle for Morris & Co., or a closer look at more on Golden Lily, another Morris & Co. wallpaper with its own attribution questions. The William Morris Original Designs collection gathers designs available as prints.
Sources & further reading
- Victoria and Albert MuseumV&A O248687: ArcadiaMuseum collection databaseRead source
- Victoria and Albert MuseumV&A O248682: ArcadiaMuseum collection databaseRead source
- Victoria and Albert MuseumWilliam Morris and wallpaper design · V&AMuseum articleRead source
- Victoria and Albert MuseumWilliam Morris and the V&A · V&AMuseum articleRead source
