Laing Art Gallery reveals the Pre-Raphaelites' love of poetry

Newcastle's Laing Art Gallery was born from an act of generosity. In 1900 Alexander Laing, a successful wine and spirit merchant, offered to build a gallery "for the free use and enjoyment of the public in perpetuity". It opened in 1904 to huge crowds, and on that day Laing was awarded the Freedom of the City. Remarkably, the gallery opened without a collection, trusting the people of Newcastle to fill it. They did, and today Arts Council England recognises its collection as one of national importance.

This autumn and winter the Laing is staging Pre-Raphaelites: Art and Poetry, which it describes as the first large-scale exhibition to explore the connections between Pre-Raphaelite art and poetry. Running until 13 February 2027, it brings together more than 100 masterpiece paintings, drawings and objects, some never shown in Newcastle before.

The Pre-Raphaelite circle included artists and writers alike. John Everett Millais, William Holman Hunt and Dante Gabriel Rossetti bonded over their admiration for John Keats, and the exhibition shows how they were inspired by poets including Dante, Chaucer, Keats and Tennyson, as well as Christina Rossetti from their own circle. Work by Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris features too, with an emphasis on women artists including Elizabeth Siddall, Kate Bunce and the pioneering photographer Julia Margaret Cameron.

Alongside paintings and works on paper, visitors can see embroidery, metalwork, stained glass, tapestry and illuminated manuscripts. Loans have come from Tate, the V&A, the Ashmolean, the Fitzwilliam Museum, the William Morris Gallery and many more, supported by a grant from the Weston Loan Programme with Art Fund.

Two of the Laing's own treasures take centre stage: Hunt's Isabella and the Pot of Basil, a lush narrative painting of love, grief and obsession, and Burne-Jones's Laus Veneris, widely considered his greatest achievement.

There is plenty more to see. Sublime Landscapes, with dramatic waterfalls, ruins and stormy seas, runs until 5 December, and the gallery holds the world's largest collection of works by the North East-born painter John Martin.

The Laing on New Bridge Street is open Monday to Saturday, 10am to 4.30pm, with free general entry and special Sunday openings in the run-up to Christmas. An admission charge applies for the Pre-Raphaelites exhibition, with free entry for visitors aged 21 and under. Full details are on the Laing Art Gallery website.