ROME - Tourists at the famed Spanish Steps rarely notice an inconspicuous door that opens into a shrine for the great poets Keats and Shelley. 

 

The Keats-Shelley House, a beautifully restored pensione in which Keats spent his last days, dedicates itself to preserving the memory of two of the major English Romantic poets. 

 

For the next two months the museum will house a new exhibition - it is however, Mary Shelley, Percy's wife who is its subject. With the changing times has come a change in focus and Mary Shelley has now become the more intriguing half of the English literary couple. With Mary's works, notably Frankenstein, becoming increasingly popular as works studied in English schools, the museum has opened this exhibition to examine fragments of her life, as well as other female figures connected to her.

 

The exhibition begins in the small cinema room, where a series of short videos are played, outlining the history of the house and looking at the Romantic era. After the viewing, you head upstairs to the salone. Once divided into two apartments by a curtain, the salone is now one large room, with tiled floors and mahogany furnishings including near ceiling high bookcases in which you can see the colourful spines of up to 8000 volumes devoted to Keats, Shelley, Byron and Leigh Hunt. 

 

The main feature of the room however, is the exquisite replica of the dress worn by Mary Shelley in her most famous portrait by Richard Rothwell in 1840. Created by famed costume designer Andrea Sorrentino, the reproduction is an example of true craftmanship. The use of two toned silk in order to recreate the rather undiscernible, dark fabric colour from the portrait, means that at every angle and in differing lights, the dress changes colour, producing a stunning piece.

 

The curator of the house, Giuseppe Albano, leads the exhibition's introductory talk and catering for the majority of English speakers in the room, speaks with commendable knowledge about the female writer. Signor Albano covers the entire span of Mary's life, focusing on both before and after the death of her beloved husband. 

 

You have the chance to see eight manuscripts, on loan from the Bodleian Library of the University of Oxford, which include some true treasures written in Mary's own hand. In a curtain drawn room, illuminated by hidden lights, these various letters and manuscripts are displayed - Mary's handwriting on age old paper can be seen alongside short synopses. A particular favourite is the last letter ever written to Mary by Percy Bysshe Shelley, before he drowned in 1822.  In the heartfelt letter sent from Pisa, Percy wishes Mary well whilst living in the isolated Villa Magni in the Bay of Lerici, weeks after she tragically miscarried.

 

Once viewing the main exhibition, you have the chance to wander freely throughout the other rooms in the house, where various other exhibits such as letters by Byron and Wordsworth can be seen - all the time surrounded by one of the finest libraries of Romantic literature. The last room to enter is narrow, rectangular and strangely cold, overlooking the Palazzo and is the location where Keats died - an eery copy of his death mask is displayed in the far corner of the room.

 

Running until 22 November 2013, "Ladies in the Spotlight" is an exhibition than not only enables you to delve into the life of a female author, haunted by loss that is captured in her work, but also to linger in a building which has an elegance and beauty of a period that has long since passed.