Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo — Acanthus [design] | Ornament Plate Print

Pale grey-white acanthus leaves scroll symmetrically down the sheet against an olive ground, their curling tips rendered as speckled, lightning-bolt shapes. Clusters of spiralling rosettes sit at the upper centre and the lower right, and narrow black zigzag bands cross behind the central leaf form. A monochrome design study for a carved or printed acanthus ornament.

Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo (1851–1942) was a British architect and designer whose work anticipated Art Nouveau. Trained under the Gothic Revival architect James Brooks, he came under the influence of John Ruskin, whom he accompanied to Italy in 1874, and in 1882 founded the Century Guild with Herbert Horne and Selwyn Image to unite architecture, furniture, textiles and metalwork under a single design hand. The title page he drew for his 1883 book Wren’s City Churches, with its whiplash, flame-like foliage, has been called the first work of Art Nouveau. His designs are held by the Victoria and Albert Museum and the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow.

Printed as a museum-grade giclée on Hahnemühle fine art paper using 12-ink archival pigment printing. Available handframed in FSC-certified wood with optional float glass, or unframed. Ships worldwide with free delivery to 30+ countries.