File:Choosing the Red and White Roses.jpg

This is the preliminary painting for a mural in the East Corridor of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Westminster" class="extiw" title="w:Palace of Westminster">Palace of Westminster</a>,^{<a href="#cite_note-1">[1]</a>} presented by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Lygon,_7th_Earl_Beauchamp" class="extiw" title="w:William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp">Earl Beauchamp</a>.^{<a href="#cite_note-2">[2]</a>} The painting is of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare" class="extiw" title="w:William Shakespeare">William Shakespeare</a>'s version of the splitting of nobles into the factions of York and Lancaster, sparking the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wars_of_the_Roses" class="extiw" title="w:Wars of the Roses">Wars of the Roses</a> in 15th-century England. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Plantagenet,_3rd_Duke_of_York" class="extiw" title="w:Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York">Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York</a> and his followers select the white rose, while the Duke of Somerset and his sole companion took the red. Copies of this painting were made available to English society; Sir John Holding had a copy,^{<a href="#cite_note-3">[3]</a>} and it was reproduced in various publications.^{<a href="#cite_note-4">[4]</a><a href="#cite_note-5">[5]</a>}