The Soul of the Rose

The Soul of the Rose, painted by Waterhouse in 1903, depicts a young woman pressing her face into a full-bloomed rose, apparently lost in the flower's scent. The subject was inspired by Tennyson's poem Come into the Garden, Maud, in which the narrator addresses the eponymous Maud as 'Queen rose of the rosebud garden of girls.' Waterhouse painted literary subjects drawn from Tennyson throughout his career, and this image captures the poem's heady, almost intoxicating atmosphere of romantic longing. The painting's private ownership has attracted substantial attention at auction.

Waterhouse renders the rose with botanical care — the petals are individually observed, their pink tones ranging from deep carmine at the center to pale blush at the outer edge. The woman's face, partially obscured by the flower, is handled with his characteristic sensitivity to skin tones in indirect light. The background garden setting is treated with looser, more atmospheric brushwork.