John Keats

1 portrait on display in Room 18 at the National Portrait Gallery

John Keats

by Joseph Severn
oil on canvas, 1821-1823, dated 1821
22 1/4 in. x 16 1/2 in. (565 mm x 419 mm)
Given by S. Smith Travers, 1859
Primary Collection
NPG 58

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Sitterback to top

John Keats (1795-1821), Poet. Sitter in 15 portraits, Artist associated with 2 portraits.

Artistback to top

Joseph Severn (1793-1879), Painter; friend of John Keats. Artist associated with 14 portraits, Sitter associated with 3 portraits.

This portraitback to top

Severn, who had nursed his friend in Rome, described the circumstances recreated in this posthumous portrait: 'This was the time he first fell ill & had written the Ode to the Nightingale on the morning of my visit to Hampstead. I found him sitting with the two chairs as I have painted him & was struck with the first real symptoms of sadness in Keats so finely expressed in that poem.'

Linked publicationsback to top

Audio Guide
Holmes, Richard, Insights: The Romantic Poets and Their Circle, 2005, p. 94
Holmes, Richard; Crane, David; Woof, Robert; Hebron, Stephen, Romantics and Revolutionaries: Regency portraits from the National Portrait Gallery, 2002, p. 24
Holmes, Richard; Crane, David; Woof, Robert; Hebron, Stephen, Romantics and Revolutionaries: Regency portraits from the National Portrait Gallery, 2002, p. 59
Ribeiro, Aileen, The Gallery of Fashion, 2000, p. 162
Saumarez Smith, Charles, The National Portrait Gallery: An Illustrated Guide, 2000, p. 113
Saumarez Smith, Charles, The National Portrait Gallery, 1997, p. 113
Saumarez Smith, Charles, The National Portrait Gallery, 1997, p. 113
Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 346
Walker, Richard, Regency Portraits, 1985, p. 290
Woof, Robert; Hebron, Stephen, Romantic Icons, 1999, p. 91