Joseph Severn
Encyclopedia
Joseph Severn was an English
portrait and subject painter
and a personal friend of the famous English poet John Keats
. He exhibited portraits, Italian genre, literary and biblical subjects, and a selection of his paintings can today be found in some of the most important museums in London
, including the National Portrait Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum
and the Tate Britain
.
, and apprenticed at the age of 14 to William Bond, an engraver. Severn was one of seven children; two of his brothers, Thomas (1801-1881) and Charles (1806-1894), became professional musicians, and Severn himself was an adroit pianist. During his early years he practised portraiture as a miniaturist.
, Hermia and Helena, a subject from A Midsummer Night's Dream
, along with a portrait miniature, "J. Keats, Esq", in the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1819. He probably first met the poet John Keats in the spring of 1816.
In 1819, Severn was awarded the gold medal of the Royal Academy
for his painting Una and the Red Cross Knight in the Cave of Despair which was inspired by the epic poem The Faerie Queene
by Edmund Spenser
. It was the first time the prize had been awarded in eight years and the painting was exhibited at the Academy in 1820. This award also allowed Severn to apply for a three years' traveling studentship
, paid for by the Royal Academy.
According to a new edition of Severn's letters and memoirs, Severn fathered an illegitimate child named Henry (b. 31 Aug. 1819) about a year before leaving England for Italy. In 1826 there were plans for father and son to reunite, but Henry died, aged 11, before he could make the journey to Rome.
. Keats and Severn had known one another in England, but they were only passing acquaintances. Yet it was Severn who agreed to accompany the poet to Rome when all others could, or would, not. The trip was intended to cure Keats's lingering illness, which he suspected was tuberculosis
; however, his friends and several doctors disagreed and urged him to spend some time in a warm climate. After a harrowing voyage, they arrived in the Bay of Naples on 21 October, only to be placed in quarantine for ten days. The two men remained in Naples for a week before heading off to Rome in a small carriage, where they arrived mid-November 1820 and met Keats's physician, Dr. James Clark. In Rome they lived in an apartment at number 26 Piazza di Spagna, just at the bottom right of the Spanish Steps
and overlooking Bernini's famous Barcaccia fountain.
Severn had left England against his father's wishes and with little money. In fact, his father was so incensed by his departure that, as Severn reported in a late memoir, "in his insane rage he struck me a blow which fell me to the ground." He was never to see his father again. While in Rome during the winter of 1820-21, Severn wrote numerous letters about Keats to their mutual friends in England, in particular William Haslam and Charles Armitage Brown
, who then shared them with other members of the Keats circle, including the poet's fiancée, Fanny Brawne
. These journal-letters now represent the only surviving account of the poet's final months and as a consequence are used as the primary historical source for biographers of Keats's last days.
Severn nursed Keats until his death on 23 February 1821, three months after they had arrived in Rome. As he reported to John Taylor two weeks afterwards, "Each day he would look up in the doctors face to discover how long he should live -- he would say -- "how long will this posthumous life of mine last" -- that look was more than we could ever bear -- the extreme brightness of his eyes -- with his poor pallid face -- were not earthly --" Severn's ordeal was recognized by Keats himself, who, a month before his death, said, "Severn I can see under your quiet look -- immense twisting and contending -- you dont know what you are reading -- you are induring [sic] for me more than I'd have you -- O! that my last hour was come --" He was later thanked for his devotion by the poet Percy B. Shelley in the preface to his elegy, Adonais
, which was written for Keats in 1821. It was also at this time that Severn met, among other notables, the sculptors John Gibson
and Antonio Canova
, and Lord Byron's friend, the adventurer Edward John Trelawny
. Severn made a sketch of Trelawny in 1838.
Severn was also instrumental in helping to found the British Academy of the Fine Arts in Rome, which drew the support of such influential figures as the Duke of Devonshire, John Flaxman
and Sir Thomas Lawrence. Indeed, Severn's spacious apartment in the Via di San Isidoro became the busy center of Academy life. Among those who joined the academy were Charles Eastlake
, Richard Westmacott (the younger)
, William Bewick
and Thomas Uwins
. Perhaps the most dedicated patron of Severn's work in the 1830s was William Gladstone, who was drawn to Severn more for his reputation as a painter than as Keats's friend.
On his return to England in 1841 Severn fell on hard times, trying desperately to earn enough money to support his growing family by painting portraits. Although he was never able to match his early artistic success in Rome and eventually had to flee his creditors for the Isle of Jersey in 1853, it should be noted that between 1819 and 1857, Severn exhibited 53 paintings at the Royal Academy in London.
In 1861 Severn was appointed British Consul
in Rome
during the ferment over Italian unification. A few months before his arrival Garibaldi had seized the Kingdom of Naples, and all of Southern Italy and Sicily had been annexed to the new Kingdom of Italy. Many of the kingdoms, principalities and dukedoms in the Italian peninsula had come together under the leadership of Victor Emmanuel II, but Rome and Venice had remained separate papal states. This was the case throughout the majority of Severn's tenure as Consul, as Pope Pius IX
managed to retain a fragile hold on power, relying on a garrison of French troops to control Rome. Although the official position of the British government on "The Roman Question" was neutrality and nonintervention, Severn often took diplomatic action that his superiors viewed as exceeding his mandate as Consul. On several occasions, such as when he used his office to liberate Italian political prisoners in 1864, he was rebuked by the Foreign Office. His knowledge of the Italian language and his affability and good humor, however, often helped in mediating between the papal regime and the British government, and he was able on many occasions to offer advice and protection for British visitors who found themselves in awkward scrapes. He eventually retired as Consul in 1872.
, who married the archeologist and Keeper of Antiquities at the British Museum, Charles Thomas Newton
. Mary had a successful painting career in England, supporting the family for a time and executing a number of portraits of the Royal Family. Her tragic early death from measles at the age of 32 came as a terrible blow to Severn and adversely affected his own health. In 1871, Arthur Severn married Joan Ruskin Agnew, a cousin of the Victorian art and social critic John Ruskin
. The Severns had another child, Henry, who died as an infant in a crib accident. He is buried between Keats and Severn in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome.
Severn died on 3 August 1879 at the age of 85, and was buried in the Protestant Cemetery
alongside John Keats
. Both gravestones are still standing today. Shelley and Trelawny are also buried side by side in the same Cemetery.
in 1826. The latter picture likely influenced J. M. W. Turner
's major work, The View of Orvieto. One of his most remarkably inventive works is the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner (1839) based on Samuel Coleridge's famous poem, which recently sold at Sotheby's for ₤27,000. Another historical subject, The Abdication of Mary, Queen of Scots, sold for ₤115,250 at Sotheby's Gleneagles sale on 26 August 2008.
Severn also painted such works as Cordelia
Watching by the Bed of Lear
, Shepherds in the Campagna, Shelley Composing Prometheus Unbound, Isabella and the Pot of Basil, Portia with the Casket, Ariel, Rienzi, The Infant of the Apocalypse Saved from the Dragon, a large altarpiece for the church of San Paolo fuori le Mura at Rome, and many portraits of statesman and aristocrats, including Baron Bunsen and William Gladstone. The last picture he exhibited at the Royal Academy was a scene from Oliver Goldsmith
's The Deserted Village in 1857.
Links to images and descriptions of Severn's drawings and paintings
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
portrait and subject painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
and a personal friend of the famous English poet John Keats
John Keats
John Keats was an English Romantic poet. Along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, he was one of the key figures in the second generation of the Romantic movement, despite the fact that his work had been in publication for only four years before his death.Although his poems were not...
. He exhibited portraits, Italian genre, literary and biblical subjects, and a selection of his paintings can today be found in some of the most important museums in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, including the National Portrait Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...
and the Tate Britain
Tate Britain
Tate Britain is an art gallery situated on Millbank in London, and part of the Tate gallery network in Britain, with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is the oldest gallery in the network, opening in 1897. It houses a substantial collection of the works of J. M. W. Turner.-History:It...
.
Background
The eldest son of a music teacher, Severn was born at Hoxton, near LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and apprenticed at the age of 14 to William Bond, an engraver. Severn was one of seven children; two of his brothers, Thomas (1801-1881) and Charles (1806-1894), became professional musicians, and Severn himself was an adroit pianist. During his early years he practised portraiture as a miniaturist.
Early years in London 1815-1820
In 1815 he was admitted to the Royal Academy Schools in London and exhibited his first work in oilOil painting
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil—especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body...
, Hermia and Helena, a subject from A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
, along with a portrait miniature, "J. Keats, Esq", in the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1819. He probably first met the poet John Keats in the spring of 1816.
In 1819, Severn was awarded the gold medal of the Royal Academy
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...
for his painting Una and the Red Cross Knight in the Cave of Despair which was inspired by the epic poem The Faerie Queene
The Faerie Queene
The Faerie Queene is an incomplete English epic poem by Edmund Spenser. The first half was published in 1590, and a second installment was published in 1596. The Faerie Queene is notable for its form: it was the first work written in Spenserian stanza and is one of the longest poems in the English...
by Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser was an English poet best known for The Faerie Queene, an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognised as one of the premier craftsmen of Modern English verse in its infancy, and one of the greatest poets in the English...
. It was the first time the prize had been awarded in eight years and the painting was exhibited at the Academy in 1820. This award also allowed Severn to apply for a three years' traveling studentship
Studentship
United StatesIn the US a studentship is similar to a scholarship but involves summer work on a research project. The amount paid to the recipient is normally tax-free, but the recipient is required to fulfill work requirements. Types of studentships vary among universities and countries....
, paid for by the Royal Academy.
According to a new edition of Severn's letters and memoirs, Severn fathered an illegitimate child named Henry (b. 31 Aug. 1819) about a year before leaving England for Italy. In 1826 there were plans for father and son to reunite, but Henry died, aged 11, before he could make the journey to Rome.
Journey to Italy with John Keats, 1820–1821
On 17 September 1820, Severn set sail onboard the Maria Crowther from England to Italy with the famous English poet John KeatsJohn Keats
John Keats was an English Romantic poet. Along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, he was one of the key figures in the second generation of the Romantic movement, despite the fact that his work had been in publication for only four years before his death.Although his poems were not...
. Keats and Severn had known one another in England, but they were only passing acquaintances. Yet it was Severn who agreed to accompany the poet to Rome when all others could, or would, not. The trip was intended to cure Keats's lingering illness, which he suspected was tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
; however, his friends and several doctors disagreed and urged him to spend some time in a warm climate. After a harrowing voyage, they arrived in the Bay of Naples on 21 October, only to be placed in quarantine for ten days. The two men remained in Naples for a week before heading off to Rome in a small carriage, where they arrived mid-November 1820 and met Keats's physician, Dr. James Clark. In Rome they lived in an apartment at number 26 Piazza di Spagna, just at the bottom right of the Spanish Steps
Spanish Steps
The Spanish Steps are a set of steps in Rome, Italy, climbing a steep slope between the Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by the Trinità dei Monti church at the top. The Scalinata is the widest staircase in Europe...
and overlooking Bernini's famous Barcaccia fountain.
Severn had left England against his father's wishes and with little money. In fact, his father was so incensed by his departure that, as Severn reported in a late memoir, "in his insane rage he struck me a blow which fell me to the ground." He was never to see his father again. While in Rome during the winter of 1820-21, Severn wrote numerous letters about Keats to their mutual friends in England, in particular William Haslam and Charles Armitage Brown
Charles Armitage Brown
Charles Armitage Brown was born in Lambeth on 14 April 1787.He was a very close friend of the poet John Keats, as well as being a friend of artist Joseph Severn, Leigh Hunt, Thomas Jefferson Hogg, Walter Savage Landor and Edward John Trelawny...
, who then shared them with other members of the Keats circle, including the poet's fiancée, Fanny Brawne
Fanny Brawne
Frances Brawne Lindon is most known for her betrothal to 19th-Century English Romantic poet John Keats, a fact largely unknown until 1878, when Keats' letters to her were published...
. These journal-letters now represent the only surviving account of the poet's final months and as a consequence are used as the primary historical source for biographers of Keats's last days.
Adonais
Adonaïs: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats, Author of Endymion, Hyperion, etc. , also spelled Adonaies, is a pastoral elegy written by Percy Bysshe Shelley for John Keats in 1821, and widely regarded as one of Shelley's best and most well-known works...
, which was written for Keats in 1821. It was also at this time that Severn met, among other notables, the sculptors John Gibson
John Gibson
John Gibson may refer to:*John Gibson , British architect*John Gibson , English cartographer and engraver*John Gibson , English cricketer...
and Antonio Canova
Antonio Canova
Antonio Canova was an Italian sculptor from the Republic of Venice who became famous for his marble sculptures that delicately rendered nude flesh...
, and Lord Byron's friend, the adventurer Edward John Trelawny
Edward John Trelawny
Edward John Trelawny was a biographer, novelist and adventurer who is best known for his friendship with the Romantic poets Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron. Trelawny was born in England to a family of modest income but extensive ancestral history...
. Severn made a sketch of Trelawny in 1838.
Life and work after the death of Keats
Until recently, it was believed that Severn's life culminated in his association with Keats and that he lived on this fame for the rest of his long life. In reality, Severn launched his own successful artistic career soon after Keats died, becoming a versatile painter in Rome during the 1820s and 1830s. He painted miniatures and altarpieces, landscapes and frescoes, historical and religious scenes, and subjects from the Bible, Greek mythology and Shakespeare. His pictures of Italian peasant life and pastoral genre scenes became very popular with British visitors on the continent and generated multiple commissions for his work.Severn was also instrumental in helping to found the British Academy of the Fine Arts in Rome, which drew the support of such influential figures as the Duke of Devonshire, John Flaxman
John Flaxman
John Flaxman was an English sculptor and draughtsman.-Early life:He was born in York. His father was also named John, after an ancestor who, according to family tradition, had fought for Parliament at the Battle of Naseby, and afterwards settled as a carrier or farmer in Buckinghamshire...
and Sir Thomas Lawrence. Indeed, Severn's spacious apartment in the Via di San Isidoro became the busy center of Academy life. Among those who joined the academy were Charles Eastlake
Charles Eastlake
Charles Locke Eastlake was a British architect and furniture designer. Trained by the architect Philip Hardwick , he popularised William Morris's notions of decorative arts in the Arts and Crafts style, becoming one of the principal exponents of the revived Early English or Modern Gothic style...
, Richard Westmacott (the younger)
Richard Westmacott (the younger)
Richard Westmacott - also sometimes described as Richard Westmacott III - was a prominent English sculptor of the early- and mid-19th century.Born in London, he was the son of Sir Richard Westmacott , and followed closely in his father's...
, William Bewick
William Bewick
William Bewick was an English painter. Born in Darlington, County Durham, Bewick was the son of an upholsterer. He went to London to be trained under the painter Benjamin Haydon at the age of 20....
and Thomas Uwins
Thomas Uwins
Thomas Uwins was an English portrait, subject, genre and landscape painter , and a book illustrator...
. Perhaps the most dedicated patron of Severn's work in the 1830s was William Gladstone, who was drawn to Severn more for his reputation as a painter than as Keats's friend.
On his return to England in 1841 Severn fell on hard times, trying desperately to earn enough money to support his growing family by painting portraits. Although he was never able to match his early artistic success in Rome and eventually had to flee his creditors for the Isle of Jersey in 1853, it should be noted that between 1819 and 1857, Severn exhibited 53 paintings at the Royal Academy in London.
In 1861 Severn was appointed British Consul
Consul (representative)
The political title Consul is used for the official representatives of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, and to facilitate trade and friendship between the peoples of the two countries...
in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
during the ferment over Italian unification. A few months before his arrival Garibaldi had seized the Kingdom of Naples, and all of Southern Italy and Sicily had been annexed to the new Kingdom of Italy. Many of the kingdoms, principalities and dukedoms in the Italian peninsula had come together under the leadership of Victor Emmanuel II, but Rome and Venice had remained separate papal states. This was the case throughout the majority of Severn's tenure as Consul, as Pope Pius IX
Pope Pius IX
Blessed Pope Pius IX , born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, was the longest-reigning elected Pope in the history of the Catholic Church, serving from 16 June 1846 until his death, a period of nearly 32 years. During his pontificate, he convened the First Vatican Council in 1869, which decreed papal...
managed to retain a fragile hold on power, relying on a garrison of French troops to control Rome. Although the official position of the British government on "The Roman Question" was neutrality and nonintervention, Severn often took diplomatic action that his superiors viewed as exceeding his mandate as Consul. On several occasions, such as when he used his office to liberate Italian political prisoners in 1864, he was rebuked by the Foreign Office. His knowledge of the Italian language and his affability and good humor, however, often helped in mediating between the papal regime and the British government, and he was able on many occasions to offer advice and protection for British visitors who found themselves in awkward scrapes. He eventually retired as Consul in 1872.
Marriage and Family
In 1828 Severn married Elizabeth Montgomerie, the natural daughter of Archibald, Lord Montgomerie (1773-1814) and the ward of Lady Westmoreland, one of the artist's patrons in Rome. Together they had seven children, three of whom became noteworthy artists: Walter and Arthur Severn, and Ann Mary NewtonAnn Mary Newton
Mary Newton , painter, was the daughter of Joseph Severn, the artist and friend of Keats. She was taught to draw by her father, and then on the Severn family's return to England in 1841, studied with George Richmond. In 1857 she received lessons from Ary Scheffer in Paris...
, who married the archeologist and Keeper of Antiquities at the British Museum, Charles Thomas Newton
Charles Thomas Newton
Sir Charles Thomas Newton was a British archaeologist. He was made KCB in 1887.Newton was born at Bredwardine in Herefordshire, and educated at Shrewsbury School and Christ Church, Oxford. He entered the British Museum in 1840 as an assistant in the Antiquities Department...
. Mary had a successful painting career in England, supporting the family for a time and executing a number of portraits of the Royal Family. Her tragic early death from measles at the age of 32 came as a terrible blow to Severn and adversely affected his own health. In 1871, Arthur Severn married Joan Ruskin Agnew, a cousin of the Victorian art and social critic John Ruskin
John Ruskin
John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...
. The Severns had another child, Henry, who died as an infant in a crib accident. He is buried between Keats and Severn in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome.
Death
Protestant Cemetery, Rome
The Protestant Cemetery , now officially called the Cimitero acattolico and often referred to as the Cimitero degli Inglesi is a cemetery in Rome, located near Porta San Paolo alongside the Pyramid of Cestius, a small-scale Egyptian-style pyramid built in 30 BC as a tomb and later incorporated...
alongside John Keats
John Keats
John Keats was an English Romantic poet. Along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, he was one of the key figures in the second generation of the Romantic movement, despite the fact that his work had been in publication for only four years before his death.Although his poems were not...
. Both gravestones are still standing today. Shelley and Trelawny are also buried side by side in the same Cemetery.
Paintings
Severn is best known for his many portraits of Keats, the most famous being the miniature portrait in the National Gallery (1819), the pen-and-ink sketch, Keats on his Deathbed (1821), and the oil painting of the poet reading, John Keats at Wentworth Place (1821-23). A later painting, Keats, at Hampstead, when he first imagined his Ode to a Nightingale (1851), is also notable. In the 1860s Severn produced a number of copies and memory portraits as Keats's reputation continued to grow. The most influential of Severn's early Italian genre paintings are The Vintage, commissioned by the Duke of Bedford in 1825, and The Fountain (Royal Palace, Brussels) commissioned by Leopold I of BelgiumLeopold I of Belgium
Leopold I was from 21 July 1831 the first King of the Belgians, following Belgium's independence from the Netherlands. He was the founder of the Belgian line of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha...
in 1826. The latter picture likely influenced J. M. W. Turner
J. M. W. Turner
Joseph Mallord William Turner RA was an English Romantic landscape painter, watercolourist and printmaker. Turner was considered a controversial figure in his day, but is now regarded as the artist who elevated landscape painting to an eminence rivalling history painting...
's major work, The View of Orvieto. One of his most remarkably inventive works is the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner (1839) based on Samuel Coleridge's famous poem, which recently sold at Sotheby's for ₤27,000. Another historical subject, The Abdication of Mary, Queen of Scots, sold for ₤115,250 at Sotheby's Gleneagles sale on 26 August 2008.
Severn also painted such works as Cordelia
Cordelia
Cordelia is a common first name in English. It is an elaboration of the word 'cor', which means 'heart' in Latin. In Celtic usages, the name is generally understood to mean 'daughter of the sea' or 'jewel of the sea' , due to its association with the mythological Welsh figure of...
Watching by the Bed of Lear
King Lear
King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...
, Shepherds in the Campagna, Shelley Composing Prometheus Unbound, Isabella and the Pot of Basil, Portia with the Casket, Ariel, Rienzi, The Infant of the Apocalypse Saved from the Dragon, a large altarpiece for the church of San Paolo fuori le Mura at Rome, and many portraits of statesman and aristocrats, including Baron Bunsen and William Gladstone. The last picture he exhibited at the Royal Academy was a scene from Oliver Goldsmith
Oliver Goldsmith
Oliver Goldsmith was an Irish writer, poet and physician known for his novel The Vicar of Wakefield , his pastoral poem The Deserted Village , and his plays The Good-Natur'd Man and She Stoops to Conquer...
's The Deserted Village in 1857.
Links to images and descriptions of Severn's drawings and paintings
- Keats on his Deathbed at the Keats-Shelley house in Rome
- Ophelia
- A copy of Severn's Portrait of Keats painted in 1819 kept in The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge
- Severn's portrait paintings of himself, Keats, Edward John Trelawny and John Hamilton Reynolds kept in the National Portrait Gallery in London
- http://images.vam.ac.uk/indexplus/result.html?_IXFIRST_=1&_IXSS_=_IXFIRST_%3d1%26_IXINITSR_%3dy%26%2524%253dIXID%3d%26_IXACTION_%3dquery%26%2524%253dIXOBJECT%3d%26_IXMAXHITS_%3d15%26%252asform%3dvanda%26%2524%253dIXNAME%3d%26_IXSESSION_%3d4TB_P9_xHbI%26%2524%253dIXPLACE%3d%26_IXadv_%3d0%26search%3dsearch%26%2524%253dIXMATERIAL%3d%26%2524%253ds%3djoseph%2bsevern%26%2524%253dop%3dAND%26_IXFPFX_%3dtemplates%252ft%26%2524%253dsi%3dtext%26%2524%253dIXFROM%3d%26%2524%253dIXTO%3d&_IXACTION_=query&_IXMAXHITS_=1&_IXSR_=N9zszQHwvaa&_IXSPFX_=templates%2ft&_IXFPFX_=templates%2ft"Ariel"] kept at the Victoria and Albert MuseumVictoria and Albert MuseumThe Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...
in London - http://images.vam.ac.uk/indexplus/result.html?_IXFIRST_=7&_IXSS_=_IXFIRST_%3d1%26_IXINITSR_%3dy%26%2524%253dIXID%3d%26_IX£ACTION_%3dquery%26%2524%253dIXOBJECT%3d%26_IXMAXHITS_%3d15%26%252asform%3dvanda%26%2524%253dIXNAME%3d%26_IXSESSION_%3d4TB_P9_xHbI%26%2524%253dIXPLACE%3d%26_IXadv_%3d0%26search%3dsearch%26%2524%253dIXMATERIAL%3d%26%2524%253ds%3dsevern%26%2524%253dop%3dAND%26_IXFPFX_%3dtemplates%252ft%26%2524%253dsi%3dtext%26%2524%253dIXFROM%3d%26%2524%253dIXTO%3d&_IXACTION_=query&_IXMAXHITS_=1&_IXSR_=0aB6LXW2sQN&_IXSPFX_=templates%2ft&_IXFPFX_=templates%2ftAriel - Where the Bee Sucks...] kept at the Victoria and Albert MuseumVictoria and Albert MuseumThe Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...
in London - Ariel riding on a Bat kept by the Ashmolean MuseumAshmolean MuseumThe Ashmolean Museum on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is the world's first university museum...
in Oxford - The Infant of the Apocalypse Saved from the Dragon kept by the Tate BritainTate BritainTate Britain is an art gallery situated on Millbank in London, and part of the Tate gallery network in Britain, with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is the oldest gallery in the network, opening in 1897. It houses a substantial collection of the works of J. M. W. Turner.-History:It...
museum in London - Portrait of Keats kept at The New Art Gallery in Walsall (on the website, chose from the dropdown menu to see the image)
- View of a bay through trees from the Courtauld Institute of Art Gallery, London
- Sketch of a mountain landscape from the Courtauld Institute of Art Gallery, London
- Portrait of John Crossley of Scaitcliffe kept at the Christchurch Art gallery in Christchurch, New Zealand (use searchbar on website to look for the image)
A New Edition and Biography
In 1892 the first significant collection of Severn's papers was published by William Sharp in The Life and Letters of Joseph Severn. Modern critics have cast doubt on the accuracy of Sharp's transcriptions and noted important omissions and embellishments. In 2005, Grant F. Scott published Joseph Severn: Letters and Memoirs in which he re-edited the original material, added hundreds of newly discovered letters, included numerous reproductions of Severn's paintings, and prefaced this material with a critical introduction and commentary. Sue Brown's recent biography (2009) uses this new information to provide a reassessment of Severn's character, his friendship with Keats, and his own subsequent artistic and diplomatic career.Further References
- Hyder E. Rollins, ed. The Keats Circle: Letters and Papers 1816-1878 (Cambridge, MA.: Harvard UP, 1948; rev. ed. 1965)
- Cecil Roberts, The Remarkable Young Man (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1954)
- Sheila Birkenhead, Illustrious Friends: The Story of Joseph Severn and His Son Arthur (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1965)
- Noel Blakiston, "Joseph Severn, Consul in Rome, 1861-1871," History Today 18 (May 1968): 326-336.
- Sue Brown, "Fresh Light on the Friendship of Charles Brown and Joseph Severn," Keats-Shelley Review 18 (2004): 138-148.
- Sue Brown, "The Friend of Keats: The Reinvention of Joseph Severn," in Eugene Stelzig, ed., Romantic Autobiography (Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2009)
- Grant F. Scott, "After Keats: The Return of Joseph Severn to England in 1838," Romanticism on the Net 40 (November 2005).
- Grant F. Scott, "Sacred Relics: A Discovery of New Severn Letters," European Romantic Review 16:3 (2005): 283-295.
External links
- Website of the Keats Shelley house museum in Rome, Italy where Severn lived 1820-1821
- Transcripts of some of Severn's letters about Keats
- Detailed history about Severn and Keats in the years 1819-1821
- Guardian newspaper article on Grant F. Scott's new book about Severn
- "'Once More the Poet': Keats, Severn and the Grecian Lyre". Article by John Curtis Franklin about Severn's role in the design of Keats' tombstone, Protestant Cemetery, Rome