The Victorian era was named after Queen Victoria and started when she began her reign in 1837 and ended when she died in 1901. If you’d like to know a bit more of an overview, this Wikipedia entry is a brief but good source. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_era The two women we discussed, Christina Rossetti and George Sands, show the changes taking place in society. The most significant changes in that era were people moving from the country into cities. One of the things cities provided was more freedom.
This newfound freedom was expressed in all of the arts. It included things as diverse as the Pre-Raphaelite moment and impressionism in painting. A prominent member of the Pre-Raphaelite movement was Dante Rossetti, Christina Rossetti’s brother. In music, it was the romantic composers. Ranging from Rossini to Chopin, George Sands lover.
It’s easy to think of the Victorian era as old-fashioned and moralistic to a fault. Still, it was also an era when significant changes were taking place, as reflected in the arts.
