The Rose And The Rose Stalk
Signed Print

An exquisite study of a rose, this nature mort relates to the story of Fundevogel, or the Foundling Bird, in David Hockney’s celebrated series, Illustrations For Six Fairy Tales From The Brothers Grimm. The story tells of a little girl who becomes fond of her foundling brother who was discovered in a bird’s nest by her father. One day the cook threatens to boil this foundling boy in a large pot so he can be eaten like the bird she believes him to be. The boy and his sister run away and transform themselves in order to escape the cook’s servants who have been sent to chase after them. The girl becomes a bush and the boy a rose upon it. They manage to slip away from their pursuers but the chase continues and eventually the girl turns into a lake and the boy a duck who manages to drown the cook. As well as simplifying the fairy tale to a single symbol, here Hockney also refers back to his own work where he regularly draws and paints flowers, as part of portraits or still lifes, and the long tradition of preserving nature and the ephemeral in works of art.