My Lady Greensleeves - Dante Gabriel Rossetti
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Description
A romanticised watercolour portrait by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, depicting a woman holding a knight's helmet, inspired by the traditional English folk song.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti painted My Lady Greensleeves in 1859, a period during which he moved away from the strict historical narratives of his early career towards more romanticised, singular female figures. This watercolour depicts a woman dressed in medieval-inspired attire, holding a knight's helmet. The composition draws inspiration from the traditional English folk song of the same name, yet Rossetti focuses on the psychological presence of the subject rather than a literal retelling of the ballad.
The figure is rendered with the characteristic attention to detail associated with the Pre-Raphaelite style. Her expression is melancholic, a common trait in Rossetti's later portraits, which often featured models such as Fanny Cornforth or Elizabeth Siddal. The green fabric of her dress, from which the title derives, is painted with soft, layered washes that suggest the texture of velvet. The inclusion of apple blossoms at the base of the frame introduces a naturalistic element, contrasting with the metallic, cold surface of the armour she holds.
Rossetti's use of colour is deliberate, balancing the deep, muted greens of the clothing against the warmer, flushed tones of the subject's skin and the red plume of the helmet. The background is dark and indistinct, which pushes the figure forward and forces the viewer to engage directly with her gaze. This work demonstrates the artist's interest in the intersection of poetry, music, and visual art, a theme that occupied much of his creative output during the mid-nineteenth century. The painting remains a clear example of his ability to imbue a static portrait with a sense of narrative tension, inviting the viewer to imagine the story behind the subject's quiet, contemplative state.
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Because every print is made to order, we don't offer change-of-mind returns, refunds or exchanges. If your order arrives faulty, damaged or incorrect, we'll replace it free of charge — just contact us within 48 hours of delivery. See our refunds page for full details.
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Each print is produced to order using 12-colour giclée printing on FSC-certified archival paper. Designed in Britain and printed at your nearest production hub to reduce waste and speed up delivery.
Care and materials
Specific Features
Every Solis piece is made to order with archival, gallery-quality materials built to last.
- Museum-grade giclée printing for rich, fade-resistant colour
- Archival matte fine-art paper, FSC-certified
- Multiple sizes and framing options available
- Frames in black, natural wood, dark wood or white
- Framed prints arrive ready to hang
Care & Cleaning
To keep your artwork looking its best:
- Dust gently with a soft, dry cloth
- Avoid prolonged direct sunlight
- Never use liquid cleaners on the print or canvas surface
- Keep in a dry, room-temperature space
- Handle prints with clean, dry hands
Materials & Sizing
Museum-grade giclée on FSC-certified archival matte paper, with framed and canvas options.
- Paper sizes: A4, A3, A2, A1, A0 and B2 (50×70 cm)
- Canvas: XS (20×30 cm) to Large (60×90 cm)
- Frames: black, natural wood, dark wood or white
My Lady Greensleeves - Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Artist Biography
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
He was born in London to an Italian political exile and named after the author of the Divine Comedy. His father was a professor of Italian at King's College. The household ran on poetry, politics, and argument. Rossetti wrote verse throughout his life and considered himself a poet as much as a painter.
His early paintings are small, bright, and meticulously detailed in the Pre-Raphaelite manner. The Girlhood of Mary Virgin and Ecce Ancilla Domini have the flat, jewelled quality of medieval altarpieces. After 1860 the style changed. The paintings became larger, more sensual, and dominated by the face and figure of Jane Burden, who was William Morris's wife.
The relationship between Rossetti, Morris, and Jane is one of the more uncomfortable triangles in art history. Morris married her. Rossetti painted her obsessively. She modelled for Proserpine, La Pia de' Tolomei, and dozens of other works in which she appears as a mythological woman trapped in an unwanted situation. Whether the affair was physical remains debated. Morris, characteristically, said nothing publicly and channelled his feelings into wallpaper.
Rossetti buried a manuscript of his poems in his wife Lizzie Siddal's coffin when she died of a laudanum overdose in 1862. Seven years later he had the coffin exhumed to retrieve them. He published the poems. He was addicted to chloral hydrate by then and increasingly paranoid. He died in 1882, at fifty-three.
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