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Provenance: Property from a Deceased's Estate

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Exhibited: National Gallery, 1899;
Bradford, 1900.

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Literature: Toll, Simon, Herbert Draper 1863-1920: A Life Study, Antique Collector's Club, 2004, p.98, catalogue number 93, black and white plate 53.

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Notes: Painted in 1899, the present lot was, as Simon Toll points out, Draper's "only loosely religious painting". However, if seen primarily as "a wondrous display of roses", it can be related to a small number of works "connecting feminine beauty with the beauty of the rose", such as 'Go Lovely Rose!' (1893), 'Que Sait ou sen Vont les Roses?'(1896) and 'Pot Pourri' (1897, sold in these rooms, 19th June, 2001, lot 50).

Dorothea, a Christian Saint and martyr, was condemned to death in the 4th century AD, for refusing to recant her beliefs. According to legend, Dorothea was taunted by a young scribe called Theophilus, who asked her to send him roses and apples from the garden of her heavenly father. Before her execution, an angel appeared to Dorothea with a basket containing three red apples and three red roses, which Dorothea asked to be delivered to Theophilus. When he received the basket, Theophilus was so amazed that he immediately converted to Christianity. St. Dorothea's Feast Day is 6 February. She is the patron saint for gardeners, brewers of tea, midwives, lovers and young married couples.