Creed Gallery in Ascot, Berkshire, offers The Older Rapunzel (1969) by David Hockney (1937–2026), an etching and aquatint from his Illustrations for Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm, priced at £3,500. Our team can advise on edition, framing and documentation for collectors across Berkshire, Surrey and London. Private viewings are by appointment.
About David Hockney (1937–2026)
David Hockney was born in Bradford in 1937 and studied at Bradford College of Art and the Royal College of Art in London. He appeared alongside Peter Blake in the Young Contemporaries exhibition in 1961, had his first solo exhibition at Kasmin Gallery in 1963, and moved to Southern California in 1964, where he painted swimming pools including A Bigger Splash (1967). His work covered painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, stage design and, later, iPad drawings, and he returned to Yorkshire landscapes in the 2000s. Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) sold for $90.3 million at Christie's in 2018. Major retrospectives included the Royal Academy in 2012, Tate Britain in 2017, which travelled to the Centre Pompidou, the Metropolitan Museum and LACMA, and the Fondation Louis Vuitton in 2024. He was appointed to the Order of Merit in 2012, having declined a knighthood in 1990, and died at home in London on 11 June 2026. He signed off his letters "Love life".
The Brothers Grimm Etchings
In 1969 Hockney drew 39 etchings to illustrate six Grimm tales: The Little Sea Hare, Fundevogel, Rapunzel, The Boy Who Left Home to Learn Fear, Old Rinkrank and Rumpelstilzchen. He drew the plates in London between May and November 1969, and they were proofed by Maurice Payne and printed by Piet Clement on W.S. Hodgkinson paper. Petersburg Press published them in 1970 in association with Kasmin Gallery. Hockney later said it was the stories' simple, direct language that attracted him.
The Older Rapunzel
Hockney drew three plates for Rapunzel, showing her as an infant, an adolescent and, here, as a mature woman. She stands in profile holding a lily, a detail that recalls Leonardo's Annunciation, against a fine grid background, with the drapery and shadows drawn in precise detail. Ours is an etching and aquatint priced at £3,500.
Collecting David Hockney at Creed Gallery
The Grimm etchings were issued in more than one edition, including a signed and numbered edition of 100 and an unsigned larger edition. We state which edition an impression belongs to, its signature and number, its size, framing and documentation.
Why Collect David Hockney
The Grimm etchings are among his best-loved print projects, and The Older Rapunzel is one of the suite's most graceful plates. As with any artist, individual pieces vary in demand and value, so our team is happy to talk you through the specifics of any work you're considering.
