Thursday, November 12, 2009

William Morris and The Woodpecker Tapestry

The Woodpecker tapestry by William Morris is very often seen in a special light by many Morris fans, as it was a decorative piece that was entirely designed by him. Very often Morris tapestries were joint efforts, particularly with his lifelong collaborator Edward Burne-Jones, with Morris usually designing the profuse background foliage while Jones designed the foreground figures. Morris himself was never as accomplished or as confident a figurative painter as Jones and it is perhaps the lack of any major figurative work on this tapestry that gave him the confidence to pursue it as a sole project, at least in the planning and cartoon stages.

The tapestry is typical Morris and indeed typically English with the themes of native birds, trees and foliage being foremost in the composition. However, perhaps seen by some as somewhat untypical for Morris, the subject is actually one based on a classical legend from the Mediterranean, rather than that of an English Arthurian romance. Morris produced a relatively modest amount of classically inspired design and decorative work, including a relatively high percentage of tapestry work including the likes of Flora and Pomona, though as far as Morris tapestries were concerned the classically inspired compositions and titles tended to be somewhat subservient to that of the English or at least north European decorative tapestry tradition.


The story that inspired The Woodpecker tapestry comes from Ovid's Metamorphoses and deals with an ancient Italian King Picus, who was turned into a woodpecker by the sorceress Circe, as she was jealous of Picus faithful love for his wife. An interesting subject for a man who was troubled throughout his life by his wife's flagrantly public affairs first with Dante Gabriel Rossetti and then later with Wilfred Scawen Blunt. It would be conjecture to make suppositions about why Morris chose this subject and why he made it into his own personal project. Perhaps he just enjoyed the story, or saw it as an interesting idea for a composition, or perhaps there were more fundamental and underlying emotional reasons of which we will probably never know the details.

The tapestry has woven into it the verse:

 i once a king and chief, now am the tree-barks thief, 
ever twixt trunk and leaf, chasing the prey.

Interestingly, if the reference to Ovid and the ancient classical world was unknown, then the tapestry would be seen to reflect an idyllic English country scene and would be placed within the framework of much of Morris English inspired work. However, perhaps the large acanthus style leaves that twist themselves around the central tree are a reference to the compositions classical Mediterranean origin.

The tapestry is still in one piece and is now on permanent display at the William Morris Gallery at Water House, Walthamstow, in London, which interestingly was Morris family home during his youth between 1848 and 1856. The gallery has its own website with information about opening times and various exhibitions including one devoted to the relationship between Morris, Thomas Wardle and Indian textiles. The gallery can be found here.



Further reading links:
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