colour drypoint, spit-bite aquatint printed in crimson ink and plate-tone
Measurements
(1) 22.2 × 22.2 cm (plate) 59.4 × 48.2 cm (sheet) (2) 22.2 × 22.1 cm (plate) 59.2 × 48.0 cm (sheet) (3) 22.2 × 22.1 cm (plate) 59.0 × 48.0 cm (sheet) (4) 22.2 × 22.1 cm (plate) 59.0 × 48.0 cm (sheet) (5) 22.2 × 22.0 cm (plate) 59.1 × 48.2 cm (sheet) (6) 22.2 × 22.2 cm (plate) 59.0 × 48.2 cm (sheet) (7) 22.2 × 22.0 cm (plate) 59.0 × 47.8 cm (sheet) (8) 22.3 × 22.1 cm (plate) 59.1 × 48.1 cm (sheet) (9) 22.4 × 22.2 cm (plate) 59.1 × 48.2 cm (sheet) (10) 22.4 × 22.2 cm (plate) 59.2 × 48.2 cm (sheet)
Edition
ed. 3/15
Inscription
(1) inscribed in pencil l.l.: 3/15 inscribed in pencil l.c.l.: O Rose I inscribed in pencil l.r.: KHeadlam '96 (2) inscribed in pencil l.l.: 3/15 inscribed in pencil l.c.l.: O Rose II inscribed in pencil l.r.: KHeadlam '96 (3) inscribed in pencil l.l.: 3/15 inscribed in pencil l.c.l.: O Rose III inscribed in pencil l.r.: KHeadlam '96 (4) inscribed in pencil l.l.: 3/15 inscribed in pencil l.c.l.: O Rose IV inscribed in pencil l.r.: KHeadlam '96 (5) inscribed in pencil l.l.: 3/15 inscribed in pencil l.c.l.: O Rose V inscribed in pencil l.r.: KHeadlam '96 (6) inscribed in pencil l.l.: 3/15 inscribed in pencil l.c.l.: O Rose VI inscribed in pencil l.r.: KHeadlam '96 (7) inscribed in pencil l.l.: 3/15 inscribed in pencil l.c.l.: O Rose VII inscribed in pencil l.r.: KHeadlam '96 (8) inscribed in pencil l.l.: 3/15 inscribed in pencil l.c.l.: O Rose VIII inscribed in pencil l.r.: KHeadlam '96 (9) inscribed in pencil l.l.: 3/15 inscribed in pencil l.c.l.: O Rose IX inscribed in pencil l.r.: KHeadlam '96 (10) inscribed in pencil l.l.: 3/15 inscribed in pencil l.c.l.: O Rose X inscribed in pencil l.r.: KHeadlam '96 chopmark l.r.: (Viridian Press monogram)
O rose quotes ‘The Sick Rose’, a poem by William Blake from his collection Songs of Experience (1794): ‘O Rose thou art sick / The invisible worm, / That flies in the night / In the howling storm: / Has found out thy bed / Of crimson joy: / And his dark secret love / Does thy life destroy’. Kristin Headlam endows her prints with the deathly atmosphere of Blake’s poem by using dark red shades and coarse lines. The splattered form of the red acquaint suggests a violence that contrasts with the rose, often considered a symbol of femininity.