Image Details:

"Rosa damascena / York and Lancaster Rose"--a hand-colored etching from Mary Lawrance's A Collection of Roses from Nature (London, 1796-99), which the artist dedicated to Queen Charlotte (the wife of King George III), with the result that "the demand for this book on roses was far in excess of the number of copies printed." The illustrations were etched and colored by Lawrance herself. An esteemed teacher of botanical drawing who exhibited at the Royal Academy, Lawrance (later Mrs. Kearse) was active from the mid-1790s through 1830, the year of her death. Nurserymen often sent her their new flowers to be drawn; it was said "to be an honour for the owner as well as the flower when Miss Lawrance painted its portrait."