Decorating the Drawing Room
Posted
4th December 2024
in blog, blogsNnews, Collection
The Drawing Room wallpaper at Elizabeth Gaskell’s House has always held a fascination for me, and a few weeks ago I had the pleasure of talking to two members of the team from Bruce Fine Papers who produced this beautiful heritage paper.
It also seems very apt that during our 10-year anniversary we look back on aspects of the restoration and our current exhibition Elizabeth Gaskell’s House from Dereliction to Delight includes some original fragments of wallpaper discovered during the restoration.
Dearle Damask
The wallpaper is named Dearle Damask after John Henry Dearle, William Morris’ trainee who later became his chief designer.
The pattern is an old Italian design, 1756 to be precise, and it became the inspiration for William Morris’ Rose and Lily adapted from the original by John Dearle.
As you can see from the images below, in Dearle’s design the crown becomes a rose, the central flower becomes a lily while the vines, which are slightly more abstract in the original, become much more fluid, natural elements in Dearle’s creation, accentuating the floral nature of his pattern.
The original Italian design is on the left, Morris’ version on the right.
Bruce Fine Papers is a family business and Ellie Bruce and her cousin, Lucie Gray are passionate about their craft. I use the word craft as all the rolls of wallpaper are hand-blocked.
Our paper is in the colour Victorian Drab and to create this effect the background colour has to be applied first by hand with a paintbrush. Once dry, the dark purple colour is added then allowed to dry before the light colour is finally applied. This method of application creates a shadowing effect on the light areas which is an old printing technique. Certainly as you move round the room or in different light, this paper seems to change colour, sometimes having more of a brown cast, at other times it looks greyish green or has a blueish tone, which brings it to life.
Choosing the Wallpaper
Finally we should ask the question why choose that design at all as John Dearle’s years with Morris did not coincide with Elizabeth Gaskell’s time living at Plymouth Grove? There are a number of reasons. During the restoration scraps of wallpaper were discovered on the Drawing Room wall which had some elements of this design.
From photographs we know that Meta and Julia had a William Morris design in the Drawing Room in 1898. (This photograph is on displayed in the hallway at Elizabeth Gaskell’s House). It was a willowy pattern and a similar paper can be seen at Speke Hall near Liverpool. The family’s connections were also a possible factor. The Gaskell family knew Ruskin well and admired his work. Meta, also took advice from him on her own painting techniques, and of course, both he and Morris were well known for their pioneering new approaches to design and the decorative arts as well as their belief in the superiority of Mediaeval crafts. Therefore it seems appropriate that we should represent these two great Victorian figures in the manufacture and design of our Drawing Room wallpaper.
Bruce Fine Papers are now celebrating 30 years in business, and as they move forward, the next generation are involved in creating an archive of their projects over that time, of which Elizabeth Gaskell’s House is one. We wish them every success in the future.
Blog by Diane Duffy, Volunteer and Trustee at Elizabeth Gaskell’s House
Pictures by kind permission of Bruce Fine Papers, Lincolnshire.
Find out more about the current exhibition – Elizabeth Gaskell’s House, from Dereliction to Delight
