I discovered this truly magnificent specimen of a rose at the Lyndoch Hill rose garden in South Australia and I had to take note of the name because it has that classic hybrid tea rose form which I just love to paint.

This rose is Princess Margaret and it is described by Treloar Roses as “a large luminous bright pink rose of excellent form, with 30 unfading petals. Growth is vigorous and upright, the green foliage is of great hardiness”.

I’ve called the painting ‘Portrait of a Princess’ taking inspiration from the grand tradition of royal portraits.  And just like royal portraits we see the façade but can never begin to imagine what it means to live a life in the public arena.

This rose stands stately and proud but looks wistfully towards the background.  And if the title ‘Portrait of A Princess’ sounds vaguely familiar, there is a painting by that name in the Musée du Louvre  in Paris believed to be painted around 1435 by Pisanello.  It is rather a severe portrait in profile but softened by a decorative background of columbine flowers and butterflies.

My ‘Portrait of a Princess’ rose painting is now available for purchase in my Awakening Around Roses gallery.