There’s a joyful attention to the leaves of the marigold in this 1875 William Morris design. The way they meander, interlace, and weave together, is testament to how closely William Morris must have observed these plants that were native to Victorian Britain at this time.
The flourishing linework of the foliage, meandering in sinuous curves, feels reminiscent of scrolling leaves within Medieval illuminated manuscripts. These books were something that William Morris paid special attention to in his artistic practice. Perhaps he also might have known how the name of the plant comes from ‘Mary’s Gold’, after the Medieval practice of placing the flowerheads over sculptures of Mary in churches if you couldn’t afford to give a gold coin.
Either way, the choice of flower was unlikely to be by chance. Morris tended to favour the humble, native flowers of Victorian Britain, like the marigold. The flowers’ natural dyeing properties would have also intrigued Morris, who was working that year, 1875, with Thomas Wardle on dyeing and printing techniques.
