Unseen artwork to go on display in Wolverhampton

A total of 30 pieces are taking pride of place in a new exhibition at the National Trust's Wightwick Manor from Monday.

Visitors will have a rare glimpse of Mr Rossetti's developing interests and skills – years before he founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 alongside William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais.

The exhibition, titled Rossetti – Pre the Pre-Raphaelites, will show pieces drawn by the artist between the ages of 16 and 20, in 1844 to 1848, while he was receiving his art education.

Helen Bratt-Wyton, the National Trust’s house and collections manager at Wightwick Manor, said: “Here is Rossetti the teenager – an artist on the cusp of what would become an astonishing career. It’s fascinating to have this glimpse into his style before he became an internationally renowned artist and to be able to better understand his development and influences.”

The selection of pictures reflect Rossetti’s experimentation with various artistic mediums such as charcoal and pen-and-ink.

The National Trust acquired a total of 52 early drawings, which originally belonged to Alexander Munro – a sculptor and close friend of Rossetti.

They were given to the nation in lieu of inheritance tax upon the death of Munro’s granddaughter, Mrs Katherine MacDonald, and allocated to Wightwick Manor by the Arts Council in early 2018.

The Mander family, who owned and built Wightwick Manor, were keen collectors of Pre-Raphaelite art from the 1930s onwards.

Many later Rossetti pictures and objects now form part of the house’s permanent collection.

Lady Mander, who was a specialist in the Pre-Raphaelite, wrote in her biography "Portrait of Rossetti": "He wanted to put down his feelings, his reactions to life, in drawing or in verses."

The exhibition will be on display in the Daisy Room in Wightwick Manor, Wolverhampton, from Monday (March 4) to December 2019.