Artwork Related to John Keats

 

Portraits

Consider how the following portraits relate to Keats' concern with the transitory nature of human existence and how beauty (whether natural or artistic) might be capable of transcending time and change to reach an eternal ideal.

Reading Portraits
The many portraits depicting Keats reading testify to his avid interest in literature and his belief that the beauties of literature might provide one way for humans to transcend the evils and sufferings of this world and capture eternal truth. See Keats' attitude toward the continuing power of classic literature in his poems "On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer" and "To Homer." Keats himself hoped to make a lasting contribution to literature and be numbered among the great English poets after his death.

Keats Reading
This portrait was painted by Keats' friend Joseph Severn, who nursed Keats during the final weeks of his life.

Miniature of Keats Reading (1819)
Joseph Severn painted this miniature of Keats 2 years before Keats' death.

Miniature of Keats Reading
That Joseph Severn painted another version of this miniature after Keats' death (and that this image of Keats inspired another painting by a later artist) suggests the idealization of Keats as the literary genius cut off in his artistic prime. In his early death and tragically short poetic career, Keats himself became for many of his readers the embodiment of the themes expressed in his poetry. He is popularly conceived of as the sensitive, beautiful soul crushed by the cruelties of this world but longing to leave behind something that will transcend earthly suffering.

Painting of Keats Reading
Yet another version of Severn's original portrait, this time as a full canvas painting by William Hilton.

 

Images of Death

Sketch of Keats on His Death Bed
Joseph Severn drew this sketch of Keats as he nursed the poet just hours before Keats died. Severn made the sketch in an attempt to occupy himself while watching over the dying man. Again consider how Severn's art idealizes and immortalizes the poet and remember how Keats' poetry questions art's ability to triumph over time and capture human experience for eternity--ironically in this sketch the writer is immortalized at the very moment of his destruction. Is art victorious or ineffectual in the face of death and decay?

Keats' Death Mask
This plaster cast was made of Keats' face after his death. Making a "death mask" of the deceased was a common memorial practice of the nineteenth century.

 

"Ode to a Nightingale"

Keats Listens to a Nightingale (1845)
Joseph Severn's rendition of Keats hearing a nightingale on Hampstead Heath was painted many years after Keats' death, again demonstrating the continuance of Keats' role as an artistic icon. Note the strong light/dark contrasts in the painting and consider how they reflect the theme of "Ode to a Nightingale": can the beauty of the nightingale's song help us to triumph in the struggle between irreconcilable opposites (youth/age, beauty/ugliness, growth/decay, life/death)?

 

"Ode on a Grecian Urn"

Keats' Drawing of the Sesibios Vase
Keats' sketch of this Grecian urn suggests his concern with the power of art to depict human experience. The human experiences captured in Greek art are further immortalized by Keats' artistic renditions of the urn in his sketch and his famous Ode. Compare the sketch of this actual urn to Keats' description of the imaginary urn in his poem. What is depicted on the urn in the poem? Why does the speaker address the urn as a "Cold Pastoral"? What is the poem's attitude toward the relationship between art and life? Does art indeed have the power to immortalize human life?

 

"La Belle Dame Sans Merci"

"La Belle Dame Sans Merci" by Sir Frank Dicksee
This painting by Victorian artist Sir Frank Dicksee was inspired by Keats' poem. How does the painting depict the contrasts evident in Keats' text regarding the delights and dangers of love? The painting depicts a moment of tremendous beauty and ecstasy, but how does it likewise imply the threat to the knight offered by his lady love?

"La Belle Dame Sans Merci" by Frank Cadogan Cowper
This 1926 painting in the PreRaphaelite style takes a less subtle view of the results of the knight's love affair than does Dicksee's painting but still contains ambiguities. Note the knight lying at the lady's feet--is he dead or asleep? (Remember the knight in the poem describes having a "dream"). Is the knight of Keats' poem a wandering ghost or a forlorn lover? How does the painting depict the "beautiful lady without pity"? What features of the painting indicate that she may be a femme fatale? (Special thanks to Dr. Elizabeth Scala for identifying the artist of this painting).

"La Belle Dame Sans Merci" by John William Waterhouse
Waterhouse was also a PreRaphaelite artist. The PreRaphaelites were famous for their sensuous depictions of female beauty. In the 19th century when the PreRaphaelites painted, a woman's long hair was considered one of her greatest physical beauties. Note the depiction of the lady's hair in this painting of Keats' poem. How does the hair symbolize both the delights and the dangerous power of beauty?

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