“Step into a Victorian garden with this charming wallpaper design. It captures a love for nature and craftsmanship, transforming a simple trellis into a vibrant, repeating pattern for the home.”
This wallpaper design, "Trellis," draws you into a meticulously ordered garden, a vision of nature tamed and celebrated. The pattern features climbing roses and honeysuckle vines, their leaves and blossoms intricately woven around a geometric lattice. Notice how the birds perch among the branches, their forms rendered with a charming, almost naive simplicity that contrasts with the detailed botanical elements. Created in 1864, this piece reflects a desire to bring the beauty of the outdoors inside, transforming domestic spaces with artful, natural motifs. The block-printing technique, using distemper colors, gives the design a soft, matte finish, enhancing its hand-crafted feel and emphasizing the flat, decorative quality that was central to the aesthetic of its time.
- Artist
- William Morris
- Date
- 1864
- Medium
- Block-printed in distemper colors
- Location
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 27 x 21 1/2 in. (68.6 x 54.6 cm)
- Collection
- Drawings and Prints
- Credit line
- Purchase, Edward C. Moore Jr. Gift, 1923
What to Notice
Five details hide in plain sight. Here’s where to look.

The delicate pink and red roses climbing the trellis.
Small, perching birds with simplified forms.
The intricate green leaves of the honeysuckle vines.
The repeating geometric pattern of the wooden trellis.
1 more detail is waiting.
See all 5 in Art Whisper →Stand in front of it and listen
The full narration walks you through Trellis — the story behind it, the details most visitors miss, and why it matters. Free in the Art Whisper app.
More from Arts and Crafts movement
More works to explore
Beyond Morris and Arts and Crafts movement: works from the same years.
Same era · 1840s–1870s
Barks Fleeing Before the Storm
Léon-Victor Dupré · 1870 · Art Institute of Chicago
Same era · 1840s–1870s
Paris Street; Rainy Day
Kawabata Gyokushō · 1877 · Art Institute of Chicago
Same era · 1840s–1870s
Alfred Sisley
Pierre-Auguste Renoir · 1864 · Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection
Same era · 1840s–1870s
Peasants Bringing Home a Calf Born in the Fields
Jean-François Millet · 1864 · Art Institute of Chicago
Same era · 1840s–1870s
Sea View, Calm Weather (Vue de mer, temps calme)
Édouard Manet · 1864 · Art Institute of Chicago
Same era · 1840s–1870s
A Woman Seated beside a Vase of Flowers (Madame Paul Valpinçon?)
Edgar Degas · 1865 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Same era · 1840s–1870s
Cliffs on the Sea Coast: Small Beach, Sunrise (Falaise au bord de la mer, vu Petite Plage, soleil levant)
Gustave Courbet · 1865 · Art Institute of Chicago
Same era · 1840s–1870s
Mirope Savati Gaye
Mariano Fortuny Marsal · 1865 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Same era · 1840s–1870s
Valley of the Bedford
William Hart · 1865 · Fogg Museum
Same era · 1840s–1870s
The Banks of the Marne in Winter
Camille Pissarro · 1866 · Art Institute of Chicago
Same era · 1840s–1870s
The Beach at Sainte-Adresse
Claude Monet · 1867 · Art Institute of Chicago
Same era · 1840s–1870s
Mountain View at Bormio (from Switzerland 1869 Sketchbook)
John Singer Sargent · 1869 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art


