When Wombats Do Inspire

Poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti was obsessed with wombats, as were his siblings and the members of the Pre-Raphaelite movement he founded. Top, the wombat Rossetti acquired in 1869, became legendary in their circle, inspiring poems and drawings and myths that linger to this day. But as so often happens, there was a disconnect between the idea of a wombat and the real creature that all-too-briefly shared Rossetti’s home.