The Beautiful Hand - Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Archival giclée
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Description
A late-period oil painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, featuring a ritualistic scene of a woman washing her hands, rendered in his signature romantic style.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, a founding member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, produced this work during his later period. The composition features a central female figure, whose elongated neck and auburn hair reflect the artist's characteristic aesthetic preferences. She is depicted washing her hands in a basin, assisted by an attendant figure. The scene is filled with symbolic objects, including a brass sphere and a citrus plant, which contribute to the atmospheric, dreamlike quality common in Rossetti's mature output.
The painting demonstrates the artist's focus on sensuality and mood rather than strict narrative clarity. The use of deep, saturated tones and the careful rendering of textures, from the heavy fabric of the woman's gown to the reflective surface of the metal basin, show his technical approach to oil painting. Rossetti often used his models, such as Alexa Wilding, to embody these ethereal, romanticised figures. The mirror in the background adds a layer of spatial complexity, drawing the viewer into the private, ritualistic moment occurring between the figures.
This work reflects the shift in Rossetti's career toward more decorative and symbolic subjects. By the 1870s, he had moved away from the moralising themes of his earlier years, favouring instead the exploration of beauty and melancholy. The lighting is controlled, creating a sense of intimacy that isolates the subjects from the outside world. The attention to detail in the foreground, particularly the leaves of the plant, provides a grounding element to the otherwise stylised and poetic arrangement. This print captures the depth of the original oil painting, preserving the tonal transitions and the specific colour palette that defines Rossetti's contribution to British art.
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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
The Beautiful Hand - 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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