In an exploration of the celebrated Victorian poet's significant connection with visual art, Christina Rossetti: Vision & Verse will bring together paintings, illustrations, works on paper and photography.
Presenting portraits of the poet and highlights of the many visual images inspired by her words - alongside Rossetti's own intriguing and virtually unknown drawings - this exhibition will consider Christina Rossetti's complex attitude to visual art, recognising the enduring appeal of Rossetti's verse to visual artists from the 1850s through to the present day.
Born in 1830 into an intellectual Anglo-Italian family, Christina Rossetti was the youngest of four children, who all had successful careers as writers and artists. This exhibition unites portraits of Rossetti (including two made by her brother, Dante Gabriel Rossetti) with works inspired by her words as well as the poet’s own drawings, revealing Rossetti’s connections to the art world and fervent interest in how her work was illustrated. The exhibition explores poet’s collaborations with artists, through illustrations made by her brother Dante for Goblin Market (1862/65) and The Prince’s Progress (1866), as well as Arthur Hughes and Frederick Sandys. While visiting, don’t miss the red brick Watts Cemetery Chapel, a masterpiece of Arts & Crafts architecture.
Christina Rossetti: Vision & Verse. Watts Gallery, Artists’ Village, 13 November 2018 – 17 March 2019.
