Larkspur
1874 · Block-printed wallpaper on paper · Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
📦 Free shipping on every order, arriving in 4–9 business days with production included. Express ($14.90) at checkout arrives in 4–6 business days.
About this work
- Artist
- William Morris (1834–1896)
- Year
- 1874
- Medium
- Block-printed wallpaper on paper
- Original size
- 72.5 × 52.5 cm
- Collection
- Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
- Movement
- Arts and Crafts
Long, curving pale-green fronds sweep across an off-white ground stippled with tiny circles, carrying sprays of blue larkspur, peach double blooms and clusters of small pink flowers. William Morris designed Larkspur in 1874. The V&A records that it was first issued in 1875 as a single-colour paper, and that a one-colour version was registered as a printed textile in April that year; this multicoloured printing came later. It comes from the productive middle of the 1870s, when Morris, now fully in command of the technique, was layering lush flowers over finely worked backgrounds. Morris named Larkspur among the 'positive patterns' he advised for clients who wanted bold walls. This block-printed sheet is in the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.
This print fills the sheet edge to edge with the pattern, cropped from a high-resolution museum scan of the original, so it reads like a panel of the wallpaper or fabric. The exhibition poster shows the whole sample. The design is in the public domain.
Where it works
Blue larkspur and peach blooms among pale green fronds feel airy and soft in a bedroom, bathroom or light sitting room. Pair it with Willow (Green on Cream) at 16×24 in natural wood.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Arts and Crafts pattern
- Era
- 19th century (1874)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Mood
- decorative, classic
- Rooms
- bedroom, bathroom
Size. We'd hang this one at 16×24. Prints at 12×18, 16×24 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway.
Framing. Printed edge to edge: a slim black or natural wood frame right to the pattern, or let the canvas wrap do the framing. Also available gallery-wrapped on canvas, ready to hang with no frame.
Pairing. Hangs alone or as a matched pair; three or more prints are 10% off.
