Goblin Market

Margaret Agnes Rope|Laurence Housman

1905 · Painted, stained and leaded glass · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

The central roundel of this small panel depicts a scene from the disturbing and evocative narrative poem "Goblin Market" by Christina Rossetti (composed in 1859 and first published in 1862). Although the composition is essentially Rope’s own invention, she was clearly looking very closely at the illustrations by Laurence Housman to the 1893 edition of the poem, published by Macmillan, a copy of which is in the Museum's collection (42.72bis). Unlike the more famous illustrations by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (which concentrated on main protagonists Lizzie and Laura’s love), Housman developed the curious scene they witnessed of "wicked, quaint fruit merchant men", envisioning goblin figure types, swathed in voluminous mantles, with disconcertingly veracious rodent, feline and avian features peering out beneath wide-brimmed, shallow hats. Rope originally intended this panel to be one of a series; another piece, representing the goblins’ failed efforts to tempt steadfast Lizzie with their fruits, remained in Rope’s family’s collection. In 1905, she was awarded a silver medal in the National Competition for her Goblin Market designs.

Artist

Margaret Agnes Rope|Laurence Housman

Date

1905

Medium

Painted, stained and leaded glass

Culture

British

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Purchase, Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, by exchange and funds from various donors, 2014