Wallpaper was first developed during the sixteenth century, but it was very expensive. Wealthy merchants used it as decorative lining paper for the insides of cupboards and for smaller rooms in their homes. However, the wealthy aristocracy did not have wallpaper in their stately houses. Typically their walls were decorated with carvings in wood and plaster, or hand painted murals. But by the twentieth century, patterned wallpaper was used in every room. Even halls, kitchens and bathrooms were wallpapered, as well as bedrooms and reception areas. Because wallpaper was so popular and ubiquitous, it ceased to be taken seriously as a form of fine art.
A Very Early Wallpaper
The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) holds a very early portion of wallpaper dating from 1550-1575 in the Prints, Drawings and Paintings Collection (Accession No. E-3593-1913). The black and white pattern is formed with decorative panels featuring the English coat of arms, with the royal insignia and the emblem of St George, patron saint of England. There are also vases of flowers, medieval-looking masks and Tudor roses. This portion was produced by woodblock printing on paper, and is 42cm high by 57.2cm wide. The artist or maker is unkown, but the wallpaper originates from Besford Court, Worcester. It was preserved as the lining of a deed box and given to the V&A by Mrs Randell Wells.
Re-printing the Design
In 1951 this early fragment was developed, hand-drawn and silk screen-printed onto rolls of paper. This was undertaken by one of the Goldcrest Gallery artists, who worked at the Royal College of Art at the time. The new rolls of wallpaper were then used to decorate the Overseas Visitors Lounge at the 1951 Festival of Britain. A framed portion of this re-developed wallpaper hung above the fireplace in the artist’s Tudor cottage for more than 40 years. As an original Tudor design, it was perfectly in keeping with its surroundings!
The Goldcrest Gallery archive now includes this re-developed wallpaper from 1951, and we posted it on Instagram for the King’s Coronation Day. It gives a fascinating glimpse of how a small room in a Tudor court house might once have been decorated!