ARTIST Peter Howson will launch a major exhibition in Glasgow tomorrow celebrating the life and work of Robert Burns.

ARTIST Peter Howson will launch a major exhibition in Glasgow tomorrow celebrating the life and work of Robert Burns.

Inspired, which is being staged at the Mitchell Library, is one of the highlights of Homecoming Scotland, a year of events to mark the 250th anniversary of the Bard's birth.

Work from around 50 contemporary artists, including Tracey Emin and former Glasgow School of Art graduate Howson and , will be displayed alongside relics from the life of Burns.

These will include the horn of the cow that inspired his poem Tam O'Shanter, a series of letters to Burns' neighbours the Tennants, and books belonging to the poet.

The Mitchell Library houses one of the world's largest collections of Burns material.

It has more than 4000 items, including about 900 different editions of his poetry and the original manuscript of Auld Lang Syne, which was bought in 1998.

Liz Cameron, chairwoman of Culture and Sport Glasgow, said: "Inspired is bound to be one of the highlights of the Year of Homecoming. The mix of relics relating to Burns and the contemporary works should help give people a fresh insight into the man and his works.".

Exhibition curator is Sheilagh Tennant, whose family had connections to Burns as neighbours.

She said: "The relics have been handed down to me through the generations from when the Tennants were living on a neighbouring farm to Burns in Ayrshire.

"I hope the exhibition will attract people who will be interested in the relics first and then become interested in the art - and the other way round too.

Inspired, which is funded by Culture and Sport Glasgow, will run from April 4 until September 20.