Do you think the artisan would have ever thought people would still enjoy his peacock illustration over 500 years later? Could he have even imagined there would be a year 2021? In 1497, much of the world was still only being explored.
This peacock woodcut is from Aesop’s Peacock and the Crane fable. A prideful peacock shows off his tail proclaiming, “I am dressed in all the glory of the rainbow.” But, while his feathers are quite lovely, they are not as useful as those of the crane who can use his feathers to soar in freedom in the blue sky.
You can colorize this peacock drawing any way you like. You could reunite it with the crane drawing. (I split them and removed some of the extras in the original to make them more versatile – and hopefully, useful for you.)
The drawing is quite large, what you see here is only a smaller version. Just click on the peacock woodcut to access the full-sized version.
This image is copyright free and in the public domain anywhere that extends copyrights 70 years after death or at least 120 years after publication when the original illustrator is unknown.
