The romance of the rose

"Love is like a rose, the joy of all the earth" – Christina Georgina Rossetti From erotic passion to chaste devotion, love in all its forms has been depicted over the centuries by the image of the rose. This exquisite gift book brings together the most affecting of those images, in paintings that span four centuries, and in poetry that dates from ancient Greece to modern times. Beginning with fine examples from Dutch still lifes, and including the work of Maria Sibylla Merian, Vincent Van Gogh, Marc Chagall, Tamara de Lempicka and Max Beckmann, these paintings and numerous details of roses are as lovely and diverse as the flowers themselves. They are complemented by a selection of poetry from Shakespeare, Goethe, Dickinson, Frost, and others. Brought together in one volume that will delight rose lovers, these words and pictures convey the many facets of the rose’s singular beauty, its lyric power, and its enduring importance as a symbol for a deep and abiding love.