The Soul of the Rose
John William Waterhouse (1849 to 1917), 1908
$150
Print check at 12 x 18 in: 162 dpi, good. Trimmed 2.4% to the shape of the print.
Shipping to a US address: $25.90 for this piece, from the print room in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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A woman in a wine-red gown presses her face to a rose on a sun-warmed garden wall, eyes shut, lost entirely in its scent — the whole painting is that single act of breathing in. The title comes from Tennyson’s poem Maud (“she is coming, my own, my sweet… the soul of the rose went into my blood”), and Waterhouse distils the poem’s swoon into one hushed, private moment among the climbing flowers. There is no myth and no drama here, only pure absorbed pleasure. It is one of the most quietly romantic images the Pre-Raphaelite tradition ever produced — a painting about the simple, total joy of a beautiful smell.
- Maker
- John William Waterhouse (1849 to 1917)
- Date
- 1908
- Medium of the original
- Painting
- Original held by
- Private collection
- Credit
- Private collection · via Wikimedia Commons
- Rights
- Public domain, verified
- Catalogue number
- PA-00662
| Picture | 12 x 18 in |
|---|---|
| Outside size | 13.6 x 19.6 in |
| Depth | 0.9 in (22 mm) |
| Weight | [[REAL PROOF NEEDED: shipped weight per size and frame]] |
| Hanging | [[REAL PROOF NEEDED: hanging hardware Prodigi fits to this frame]] |
| Material | Enhanced matte art paper, 200 gsm; acrylic glazing |
| Made in | Charlotte, North Carolina, by Prodigi |
Before a size goes on sale, the file is measured against it: pixels per inch at that size, how much of the picture a crop would lose, tone and sharpness. A size that fails is not offered, so there is nothing to choose wrong.
| Size | dpi | Grade | How it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 x 12 in | 243 | Excellent | Trimmed 2.4% |
| 12 x 18 in | 162 | Good | Trimmed 2.4% |
| Size | Why |
|---|---|
| 8 x 10 in | Wrong shape: a 19% crop |
| 11 x 14 in | Wrong shape: a 17% crop |
| 12 x 16 in | Wrong shape: a 13% crop |
| 16 x 20 in | Wrong shape: a 19% crop |
| 16 x 24 in | 121 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 18 x 24 in | Wrong shape: a 13% crop |
| 20 x 30 in | 97 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 24 x 30 in | Wrong shape: a 19% crop |
| 24 x 36 in | 81 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 30 x 40 in | Wrong shape: a 13% crop |
| 36 x 48 in | Wrong shape: a 13% crop |
| 40 x 60 in | 48 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
- Scanned
- 2026-10-07
- Master file
- 1,951 x 3,000 px, srgb
- Tone
- Darks 13, lights 170 of 255; 0% clipped light, 0% clipped dark
- Colour
- 0% vivid
- Sharpness
- 47.09
- Notes
- Neutrals lean warm (yellow): the paper and varnish of the original, kept as scanned
Shipping for this piece to a US address is $25.90, the print room’s own rate, charged per piece. Checkout shows the total before you pay.
Every piece is printed after you order it, in Charlotte, North Carolina, and ships from there. For now we ship to US addresses only.
A piece that arrives damaged, misprinted or in the wrong size is replaced at our cost. The details: shipping and returns and replacements.
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