#41112 Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882)

The drawing presents a female head in profile, executed with pastel on paper. The subject is positioned facing left, her gaze directed towards the same direction. A sense of quiet introspection pervades the work.
Here we see a careful rendering of form and volume. The artist employed a limited palette of browns, creams, and subtle pinks to model the face, creating a soft, almost melancholic atmosphere. The hair is depicted as a dense mass of short curls, carefully shaded to suggest texture and depth. It frames the face, emphasizing its contours.
The facial features are rendered with precision; the nose is prominent, the lips gently curved, and the chin possesses a slight prominence that contributes to an impression of quiet strength. The eyes, though not directly visible due to the profile view, seem to convey a sense of pensiveness or perhaps even sadness.
The background remains largely unadorned, allowing the focus to remain entirely on the subjects face and expression. This simplicity enhances the feeling of intimacy and invites close scrutiny. A signature and date (1870) are visible in the lower right corner, rendered in a delicate script.
Subtly, the drawing suggests themes of introspection and perhaps even vulnerability. The lack of context or narrative elements encourages viewers to project their own interpretations onto the subject’s expression. It is possible that the artist intended to capture not merely a likeness but also an emotional state – a fleeting moment of quiet contemplation. The overall effect is one of restrained elegance and understated emotion, characteristic of late 19th-century portraiture focused on psychological depth rather than overt display.