Crisis

This colourful painting illustrates Morris’s remarkable ornithological and horticultural knowledge. It shows a tree-like plant with red rosehips based on rosa moyesii on which perch ten birds. The goldcrest sits near the top, further down the central trunk is a male bullfinch with a lesser spotted woodpecker and at its base is a green woodpecker. On the left are a yellowhammer, a linnet, nuthatch, and chiffchaff or willow warbler. On the right is another yellowhammer and a hawfinch. The flowers, which appear in late summer or early autumn, are also painted from nature. A six petalled pink flower is a Jersey lily, joined by yellow evening primroses, associated with inconstancy, crocuses and yellow verbascum, the latter representing health and wisdom. Crisis has been described as an allegory of contemporary events in 1938, a critically tense period in European history. The date was inscribed when the painting was still wet.

On loan from a Private Collection, courtesy of Lyon & Turnbull, Edinburgh