The Prince’s Progress
Artist: Dante Gabriel Rossetti
1865
Pen and ink, pencil
155 x 73 mm
This study is one of Rossetti’s experiments with the Prince’s gestures, with his left hand over his face, as he responds to news of the Princess’s death. It is undeniably moving, though in the final version (fig. 7), the artist chooses to activate the character’s right hand, a change that intensifies the effect by bringing the gesture closer to the picture plane and makes it intrude into the viewer’s space.
Image from the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery Picture Library. Reproduced under the terms of Creative Commons. Caption material and formatting by Simon Cooke.
