Martin Monahan

Safe in his excavated gallery

Christina Rossetti

Lady Lassetter sits at her mirror; presented as a woodland frieze in May, her drapery is appliquéd with specimens of British botany. On the dresser’s marbled top a signed invitation can explain this flowered and zoomorphic frock, designed to be a favourite verse sartorialised.

So, astride her décolletage squirrels skip and...