A bird and a woodpecker are shown in the Woodpecker tapestry, which was entirely created by William Morris.
The tree is decorated with flowers and writhing leaves. The Latin poet Ovid’s Metamorphoses serves as the inspiration for the topic. It alludes to the story of Picus, an ancient Italian king who resisted Circe’s advances and was, as retaliation, transformed into a woodpecker.
Morris collaborated with artists like Philip Webb and Edward Burne-Jones to create the majority of his most well-known tapestry patterns. However, the timeless design for the Woodpecker Tapestry is entirely the result of his creativity and technical mastery.
The three-meter-tall piece was created on a grand scale with the original intention of hanging it in a London pool room. Two scrolls, one above and one below the birds, are inscribed with the following words, which would later be printed as one of a number of Verses for Pictures in Morris’ Poems By the Way (1891):
I once a king and chief
Now am the tree bar’s thief
Ever twixt trunk and leaf
Chasing the prey
The design of this piece makes it abundantly clear how much Morris was influenced by medieval sources, not only in the gothic lettering and busy patterning but also in the choice to use tapestry as a creative medium. In the Middle Ages, royal courts’ halls were lined with hand-woven fabrics, but by the 19th century, tapestry had completely lost its appeal.
Morris fixed this by developing several contemporary interpretations of medieval tapestry designs and by becoming an expert in the field. He produced a decorative design that is both intricate in its thematic association and exquisitely pleasing by fusing these antiquated sources of inspiration with a contemporary attitude toward nature.
In other words, the combination of words and image invites the viewer to consider the illustration’s allegorical significance in addition to following the curves of the trunk and branches. Perhaps there is a hint of Morris’ socialist worldview in the poem. The king appears to be lamenting his loss of authority, but it is simple to doubt the veracity of his wailing: how can he mourn in such a beautiful natural setting?
