Dante Gabriel Rossetti: Study of Jane Morris for Mnemosyne, 1876

The largest exhibition of Pre-Raphaelite drawings ever held includes unseen works and highlights the movement's extraordinary legacy. Terry Kirby has a sneak preview

Victorian society was outraged by their rejection of convention, but the Pre-Raphaelites became one the most influential art movements in British history. Now many of their works – most never or rarely seen in public – are to feature in an exhibition of almost 300 works at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.

The movement's leading artists were racked by sexual obsession, tragedy and drug addiction. Yet using models discovered from among the poor, they created an accepted ideal of English feminine beauty.

In a special preview of The Poetry of Drawing, The Independent on Sunday was shown the largest exhibition of Pre-Raphaelite drawings and watercolours ever staged, taken from the 2,000-plus works in the gallery's archive.

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