Violet and Columbine by William Morris

What Violet and Columbine shows

Violet and Columbine by William Morris presents a dense, mirrored arrangement of garden flowers, branching stems, and foliate ornament. In the center, large radiating blossoms anchor the pattern, crowned by outward-curving acanthus leaves and upright petal buds. Around these central forms, bell-shaped columbine blossoms hang downward, interspersed with small rosettes, rounded violet-like blooms, and tiny seed pods. The composition balances strong bilateral symmetry with organic curves that carry the eye up and across the surface.

The background remains closely packed with curling foliage, giving the fabric a rich texture where ground and foreground weave together. In the woven original, the weave creates a fine crosshatched surface that softens line edges and blends adjacent tones. The pattern repeats across a grid of roughly 10.4 by 12.8 inches, producing a continuous floral rhythm across larger wall expanses.

Who designed it and when

William Morris designed Violet and Columbine in 1883. The design was registered that same year by his manufacturing firm, Morris & Co., during an ambitious period of textile production at Merton Abbey in Surrey, England. To explore other textiles and wallpapers created during this era, you can view the complete index of patterns in our catalogue of William Morris patterns.

While museum records at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Cleveland Museum of Art credit the design directly to William Morris, a fragment record at the Cooper Hewitt lists the designer as unknown. Such differences occasionally arise in historical collections, but standard registers and contemporary records attribute the pattern firmly to Morris. To understand how this work fits into his broader creative career, read about William Morris and his decorative work. That same year, Morris also produced his famous discharge-printed cotton textile, the Strawberry Thief pattern.

How it was made and used

Unlike printed chintzes, Violet and Columbine was constructed as a heavy woven textile. It was woven at Merton Abbey on a jacquard loom as a weft-faced twill double cloth, using a mixture of wool and mohair. Morris favored natural organic dyes over contemporary synthetic chemicals, seeking softer tonal shifts and improved resistance to light and washing. Surviving museum lengths reveal warp threads in blue and green, with multi-colored weft yarns in red, pink, yellow, and blue crossing behind the face.

Morris intended textiles like Violet and Columbine to hang in heavy, structural folds. In domestic interiors, the substantial weight of the wool and mohair helped insulate rooms, while the layered floral pattern suggested the lush growth of an enclosed garden wall. Pieces were woven in continuous lengths that could be trimmed for portieres, curtains, or loose hangings.

Colourways

This site presents four distinct colourways based on public-domain museum scans:

• Indigo: Features warm peach, coral, and golden-yellow flowers set over twining foliage against a dark indigo ground.
• Indigo on Cream: Highlights soft tones of green, salmon, orange, and pale pink with delicate details across a deep blue background.
• Black: Presents an earthy palette of olive greens, russet flowers, and cream accents set over a deep, dark ground.
• Dark Green: Displays rich forest-green foliage with mustard-gold stems and dusty-rose blossoms across a shadowed ground.

Violet and Columbine as a print

Prints of Violet and Columbine are printed and shipped by ArtsyWall in three formats: Archival Paper, Premium Canvas, and Framed Canvas. The Archival Paper option uses 100% cotton rag fine art paper, capturing the fine thread lines of the original weave. The Premium Canvas and Framed Canvas formats wrap the pattern across textured canvas stretched on solid wood bars.

Framed Canvas choices include floating wood frames in black, white, gold, silver, walnut, and oak. When framed, the dense floral structure serves as a commanding focal point on any wall. The architectural symmetry draws the eye inward, while the subtle weave texture provides visual depth in a living room, hallway, or study.