Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May (1908)

Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May is an oil painting in the Pre-RaphaeliteGroup of English artists formed in 1848 to counter what they saw as the corrupting influence of the late-Renaissance painter Raphael. style by John William WaterhouseEnglish artist known primarily for his depictions of women set in scenes from myth, legend or poetry. He is the best known of that group of artists who from the 1880s revived the literary themes favoured by the Pre-Raphaelites. (1849–1917), created in 1908 and exhibited at the Royal Academy that year. It was the first of two paintings he produced with the same title,^[1][2] inspired by the poem “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” by Robert Herrick (1591–1674), which begins:^[3]

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying.

Waterhouse associated women with the beauty and decay of flowers, as both are vessels for the seeds of new growth. Between 1908 and 1914 this idea was a recurring theme in his series of “flower women”, which along with Gather Ye Rosebuds included The BouquetPainting in the Pre-Raphaelite style by John William Waterhouse (1849–1917), one of his series of "flower women" created between 1908 and 1914. and The Soul of the Rose.^[3]

The painting was purchased from the artist in 1909 by the barrister Sir Frederick M. Fry. It remained in Fry’s possession until his death, after which his estate was dispersed at Christie’s in 1943. Waterhouse was by then unfashionable, and so the painting, offered for sale under the title A lady, in green dress, holding a bowl of roses, was sold for only 18 guineas, equivalent to about £1,100 as at 2024.^[3][a]Calculated using the retail price index.^[4]

Gather Ye Rosebuds was again offered for sale at Christie’s in 2003, where it sold for £966,000. It is now in the hands of a private collector.^[3]

See also

• Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May (1909)Painting in the Pre-Raphaelite style by John William Waterhouse (1849–1917), the second of two paintings he produced with the same title.