Christina Rossetti, in her sonnet In an Artist's Studio, talks of obsession, fantasy and idealism.

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Christina Rossetti, in her sonnet In an Artist's Studio, talks of obsession, fantasy and idealism. Her criticism of both personal and aesthetic problems inherent in the relationship between male artist and female model is discussed effectively. The final judgment of Rossetti regarding the "truth" of the painter's works is difficult to ascertain, especially when considering the definition of "truth". Taking both Keats' idea of "beauty is truth, truth beauty" and the idea of "truth" being the honesty of the male artist's painting, Rossetti's view is extremely censorious.

It was stated by William Michael Rossetti, Christina's younger brother, that the sonnet referred to their older brother, Dante Gabriel Rossetti's studio. Dante Rossetti in the mid nineteenth century headed the Brotherhood of Pre-Raphaelites, an art movement that developed from a deep dissatisfaction with the art of the period. Rossetti and seven of his contemporaries, disheartened by the historic scenes and drab realism of Victorian art decided to revive the art of the Middle Ages. They drew their inspiration from medieval times and the art of Raphael. They saw this time period as being more honest in their representation of their art and more alive in colour and form. The