'Venetian' wallpaper

‘Venetian’ is one of two Morris & Co. wallpaper designs attributed to the Gothic Revival architect George Frederick Bodley, the other is ‘Queen Anne’. Bodley became acquainted with William Morris in the late 1850s; by the 1860s he was commissioned by the latter's firm to create designs for stained glass and ecclesiastical decoration. The wallpaper is a traditional repeating pattern of flowers and leaves and is based on a historic wallpaper design. Unlike Morris's wallpaper designs the pattern is on just one plane, with a plain background.

The pattern repeat size is 26.7 x 57.2 cm. Amongst one of the earliest wallpapers produced by Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. the first examples were printed with one colour on a white background. In later years the firm produced the pattern in an ever-increasing number of colourways such as this version in two shades of pink.