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Museum-Quality Matte Paper Print available in two sizes: 
12" x 16" (30cm x 40cm): $35.00 
24" x 32" (60cm x 80cm): $48.00
 
“‘I see,’ said Frodo: ‘you want to get married, and yet you want to live with me in Bag End too? But my dear Sam, how easy! Get married as soon as you can, and then move in with Rosie. There’s room enough in Bag End for as big a family as you could wish for.’” - The Return of the King, Book 6, Chapter 9: The Grey Havens
 
It’s a beautiful early spring day in 1420. Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee have come to do a day’s work on Farmer Cotton’s land, ostensibly in thanks for the family having sheltered them while Bag-End was being put to rights, but in truth, the time has come at last for Sam to speak to Rosie.
 
In this original, hand-done painting, Sam has seen Rose walking along the wagon lane. He has just left his place in the woad field beside Jolly to follow her over the bridge and ask if she’ll do him the honor of becoming his bride. We can be sure of her answer, for Rosie has waited long and patiently for this day, and Sam has come to it only after surviving incredible peril. Until lately, Sam has been torn between wanting to wed Rosie and not wanting to leave his loving service to Mr. Frodo, but Frodo’s invitation to Sam to bring home his bride to Bag End has cleared the way, to the happiness of all.
 
The story of Sam Gamgee and Rose Cotton may feel like it exists to one side of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, but I believe it is as pivotal to the story as any of the other famed loves in the legendarium, and I’ve always been sorry that friends dissuaded the Professor from publishing the epilogue that would have made plainer the centrality of this relationship. In painting this scene, I hoped to honor this beloved hobbit couple.
 
This is the famous spring of 1420, that Sam helped make so glorious with his little box of earth, after the scouring of the Shire. Growth is rampant on and around the farm, as Farmer Cotton comes up the lane with a load of extra wild woad he’s gathered with Frodo, who is looking on at Sam and Rosie with satisfaction in his heart. Because of Tolkien’s famous wordplay with “Gamgee” and “Cotton”, revealed in his letters, I decided that it would be fitting to make the Cotton farm a textile farm.There is a great flax field for making linen, and Mrs. Cotton is dyeing yarn from the weld, woad, madder, nettle and other plants the family grows and which produce the beautiful, bright colors hobbits love to wear. Young Tom Cotton is hoeing amongst the blue flax flowers and Nick is up ploughing by the smial, but Nibs is resting in the shade of a tree, as a hobbit might do on such a sunny day. All are experiencing a happiness unlooked-for, thanks to the sacrifice of Frodo and Sam and the return of peace to the Shire.
 
We see the lane Sam ran down at his homecoming, off the Great East Road, beyond, and we look north from Cotton’s farm towards Bywater in the far distance. A neighbor’s pear orchard blooms in the dale below the hill. The first roses are blooming in the hedgerows, perhaps hinting at how Mrs. Cotton chose her only daughter’s name. It’s a very special day for Sam and Rose, and for readers, a vital one when we remember that their union will eventually give us the Fairbairns who keep the lore books for us that we think of as Tolkien’s legendarium. Bringing home a museum-quality print of this lovely view of Cotton’s farm on the day Sam asked Rosie to wed him could be your way to honor and thank the couple for all they’ve given to the Tolkien-reading community. I humbly suggest choosing the larger size for this piece, so that you can fully enjoy all the fine details of this busy, happy farm.