Picking of the Red and White Roses (Shakespeare, King Henry the Sixth, Part 1, Act 2, Scene 4)
first published 1795; reissued 1852
Medium
Stipple engraving
Dimensions
Plate: 19 9/16 × 25 in. (49.7 × 63.5 cm) Sheet: 21 7/8 × 27 15/16 in. (55.5 × 71 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gertrude and Thomas Jefferson Mumford Collection, Gift of Dorothy Quick Mayer, 1942
Accession Number
42.119.547
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the dramatic world of Shakespeare's *Henry VI, Part 1* with this captivating stipple engraving, *Picking of the Red and White Roses* (Act 2, Scene 4). The scene depicts the fateful moment at the Temple Garden where English nobles choose between red roses (House of Lancaster) and white roses (House of York), igniting the Wars of the Roses—a symbol of dynastic rivalry that Shakespeare immortalized. Produced by publishers John and Josiah Boydell, with engraving by John Ogborne, it captures the tension among men and women in period attire, their choices foreshadowing civil war. First pu...
About the Artist
Josiah Boydell|John Ogborne|John & Josiah Boydell|William Shakespeare · 1752–1817
Comment on works: Portraits; History