Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May (Waterhouse painting 1909)

Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May is an oil painting on canvas created in 1909 by British Pre-Raphaelite artist, John William Waterhouse. It was the second of two paintings inspired by the 17th century poem "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" by Robert Herrick which begins:

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

Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May
Artist	John William Waterhouse
Year	1909
Medium	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	100 cm × 83 cm (39.5 in × 32.5 in)
Location	Fairlight Art, UK

The artwork was valued at $1.75–2.5 million by Sotheby's prior to auction in April 2007, although the painting went unsold.[1][2]

Lost for nearly a century, this painting was in an old Canadian farmhouse bought by a couple who requested the painting stay with the house because "It looked nice on the wall." They had no idea of its worth. When they took it to an art dealer to be appraised nearly 30 years later, he "nearly fell off his chair." Nobody knows how the painting ended up in the Canadian farmhouse[3]