★★★☆☆
First impressions are everything, and the opening room of The Rossettis doesn’t exactly wow. I admire what I assume is the intention — to kick off an exhibition associated with one of art history’s best-known brotherhoods with the voice of a fiercely talented woman — but the execution is muddled. Christina Rossetti published more than 900 poems during her lifetime, and here are a handful, printed on beige walls and sounding from speakers activated by beige patches on beige carpet. A beige cacophony.
There is good stuff here. If, like me, you take some persuading when it comes to the way the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB) painted women, with their copper-coloured hair and tantalisingly loose clothes, you can breathe easy. While far-off looks and pillowy
