Courageous Wonder
30”x40” x1.5"
The red rose has many meanings but typically the first one that comes to mind when you think of a red rose is love. I wanted to look beyond the common “love” meaning and dig deeper into the symbolism of the red rose when naming this painting; I found courage as another symbol. The red rose became a symbol of courage from the War of Roses, the courage to fight for what you love. The War of Roses was a series of civil wars for the throne of England in the mid to late fifteenth century between two competing royal families, the House of York and the House of Lancaster. The name "Wars of the Roses" refers to the heraldic badges associated with the two rival families, the White Rose of York and the Red Rose of Lancaster. King Henry VII (Henry Tudor) ended the War of Roses and the long feuding families, when he married Elizabeth of York. This union ended the Wars of the Roses and gave rise to the Tudor Dynasty.