Born into a highly intellectual and creative family, Christina Rossetti (1830–1894) was one of the greatest English Victorian poets, known for her lyrical, intense and expressive work that inspired plenty of visual interpretation. She is especially famous for writing Goblin Market and ‘Remember’, but perhaps less well known for the words of the Christmas carols ‘Love Came Down at Christmas’and ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’. Alongside her work, the exhibition includes many connected objects, such as her own annotated prayer book, paintings by her brother, Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–82), and illustrations made for her poetry by artists such as Arthur Hughes and Frederick Sandys.
There are also photographs by the pioneering Victorian photographer Julia Margaret Cameron.
Inspiration and muse