I know the Essex Linen went through a very popular phase a few years ago and while I love seeing the texture of it, everything I've read about using linen or linen blends in quilts has made me very wary of using them. Quilting is hard enough without the fear of your hard work unraveling after a few washes!
I have no affiliation with this blogger but I really love her writing and she wrote this wonderful post years ago about quilting with linen after her own experience:
https://www.stitchedincolor.com/blog....html?rq=linen
What about black for a background? TP uses such saturated amazing colors and black can really make those pop! Even gray could work well depending on the pattern.