The UK has has a strong history of creative powerhouse families, from the Brontës right through to the Adenugas (possibly the first time Skepta, JME and Julie have ever been mentioned in the same breath as the Brontë sisters – but that doesn’t mean we’re wrong!). And now another inspiring clan is about to return to the spotlight.
This is because the National Trust has acquired Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s haunting 1877 portrait of his sister, the famous poet Christina Rossetti. The painting is to go on display at Wolverhampton’s underrated Wightwick Manor and Gardens.
Dante, who in 1848 founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (alongside William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais), is often associated with portraits of women whom the National Trust describes as ‘ethereal’ and ‘idealised’. In contrast, his portrait of Christina – perhaps best known for her 1862 poem Goblin Market – is naturalistic and melancholic. Aged 46 at the time of the sitting, she was deep in mourning for their sister, Maria (the painting is photographed up top).
The previously portrait portrait has never been exhibited before. Created on the Kent coast at a time when Dante himself was struggling with depression (and addiction to the downer chloral hydrate), it’s being shown at Wightwick as part of The Rossettis – Siblings and Spouses, a new exhibition on this most creative of families. The show also includes rarely seen artworks Dante made as a teenager, as well as works by Elizabeth Siddal and Lucy Madox Brown, talented artists who were married to Dante and his younger brother William respectively.
National Trust says of the painting of Christina: ‘The artwork is both a tribute by the artist to his famous poet sister, and a reflection of their shared grief… It is a deeply personal image: an artist portraying not a muse, but a sister, collaborator and intellectual equal.’
The exhibition is currently underway and will run until November. It’s a satisfying development in Wightwick’s history with the Rossettis, as Lady Mander, who donated the property to the National Trust in 1937 with her husband Geoffrey Mander, was a friend of the family. She also wrote a book on Dante and collected his paintings.
If you’ve not had the pleasure of visiting Wightwick, it’s an absolute gem with a whole host of Pre-Raphaelite paintings on display. With a cracking café and grounds to explore, it’s a top day out well worthy of its National Trust endorsement.
Wightwick Manor’s property experience curator, Helen Bratt-Wyton, said of its latest exhibit: ‘The portrait of Christina is thoughtful, private and quietly powerful. It shows a woman who had lived, worked, sacrificed and endured, and whose poetry continues to resonate today. Yet it also reflects a shared world – that of a family bound by creativity, radical ideas and deep affection.’
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