How you can use this image
This image can be used for non-commercial research or private study purposes, and other UK exceptions to copyright permitted to users based in the United Kingdom under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised. Any other type of use will need to be cleared with the rights holder(s).
Review the copyright credit lines that are located underneath the image, as these indicate who manages the copyright (©) within the artwork, and the photographic rights within the image.
The collection that owns the artwork may have more information on their own website about permitted uses and image licensing options.
Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.
Buy a print or image licence
You can purchase this reproduction
If you have any products in your basket we recommend that you complete your purchase from Art UK before you leave our site to avoid losing your purchases.
Notes
Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.
In this small and intimate painting, everyday objects appear monumental and take on a mystical intensity. On a tabletop or ledge, a ceramic cup of water with delicately curved handles sits in the centre of a silver plate. A thornless rose in full bloom balances on the plate’s edge. That these objects have religious significance would have been immediately obvious to devout Spanish viewers in the seventeenth century. The cup of water and the rose were seen as symbols of the Virgin Mary’s purity; the fact that the flower is thornless may refer to the Immaculate Conception (the belief that Mary was conceived without sin). Zurbarán’s painting encourages meditation and quiet contemplation; an approach not dissimilar to that which he adopted in his religious paintings.
Title
A Cup of Water and a Rose
Date
about 1630
Medium
Oil on canvas
Measurements
H 21.2 x W 30.1 cm
Accession number
NG6566
Acquisition method
Bought for the National Gallery by the George Beaumont Group, 1997
Work type
Painting
The National Gallery, London
Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England
-
Jacob Auckland Castle -
Judah IIII Auckland Castle -
Naphtali X Auckland Castle -
Levi III Auckland Castle -
Simeon II Auckland Castle -
Asher VIIII Auckland Castle -
Joseph XI Auckland Castle - 21 more