Free Thinking

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Free Thinking: The Rossettis and Walter Pater

The Rossettis and Walter Pater

BBC Radio 4 - Free Thinking, The Rossettis and Walter Pater

Matthew Sweet and guests visit a Tate Britain show and look at Pater's Renaissance ideas.

From the poetry of Christina Rossetti to the artworks of her brother and the Pre-Raphaelite group and Walter Pater's writings on Renaissance art. Matthew Sweet hosts.

What is that people hate about the Pre-Raphaelites? From the 19th century to the present day their detractors have been remarkably consistent in the language that they have used to the describe their visceral dislike of these artists and their works.  Dinah Roe, Greg Tate and Lynda Nead join Matthew Sweet to examine what makes Dante Gabriel Rossetti and his gang such a polarising force in art history. They also delve into the powerful and sensual poetry of Christina Rossetti and Walter Pater's scandalous book about the Renaissance.  

The Rossettis runs at Tate Britain from April 6th to September 24th 2023 

Dr Dinah Roe teaches at Oxford Brookes University and is currently editing the Collected Poems of Christina Rossetti. 

Dr Gregory Tate teaches at St Andrews University and is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council 

Professor Lynda Nead teaches at Birkbeck University, London 

You might also be interested in a Radio 3 Sunday feature presented by Lily Cole called Plot 5779: Unearthing Elizabeth Siddall https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0009c67 

And Radio 3 listeners wrote a new carol inspired by Christina Rosetti's poem Love Came Down at Christmas https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/309PX0cDlP1wZpy4JkHTL1Y/radio-3-carol-competition-2021 

Producer: Torquil MacLeod

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