The Prince’s Progress
Artist: Dante Gabriel Rossetti
1865
Crayon
166 x 119mm
This group-study is a final choice, with the figures appearing as they do in the completed engraving, but (unlike the other preparatory drawings) is in reverse, an approach in contrast to Rossetti’s other studies in which he draws them as they would appear on the page. The girls’ faces and hairstyles are identical, but Rossetti endows them with subtly differing expressions as they look, mainly in wonderment, at the raw drama of the attendant’s grave reproach and the Prince’s heart-stricken weeping. The maidens’ silent audience deepens the illustration’s dramatic and psychological effect by offering a strong contrast to the main situation. Their status as maidens also reminds us that the Princess died a virgin as she waited for her unreliable suitor to arrive.
Image from the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery Picture Library. Reproduced under the terms of Creative Commons. Caption material and formatting by Simon Cooke.
