Isabella and the Pot of Basil

Works by Millais, Holman Hunt, Waterhouse and John White Alexander

Nov 9, 2009

John Keats' "Isabella; or The Pot of Basil" inspired works by painters John Everett Millais, William Holman Hunt, John William Waterhouse and John White Alexander.

John Keats’ poem "Isabella; or The Pot of Basil" was published in 1820 and recounted a story from Giovanni Boccaccio’s Fourth Day/Fifth Tale of the Decameron. In this tale, Isabella and Lorenzo were young 14th century Florentine lovers. Lorenzo worked for Isabella’s two greedy brothers, who had planned to marry their sister off to a nobleman and who definitely did not approve of the romance.

The Murder of Lorenzo

Not surprisingly, Isabella’s brothers took it upon themselves to kill Lorenzo and bury his body in the woods. They told Isabella that Lorenzo had gone away traveling, and while Isabella was shocked by his sudden departure, she nonetheless resolved to wait for him.

She had a dream that Lorenzo was dead, however, and went into the forest and found his corpse. In a great show of grisly grief and devotion, Isabella brought Lorenzo’s decapitated head back home with her and put it in a pot of basil, which she watched over obsessively and watered with her tears.

The Pre-Raphaelite Isabella

The elements of Keatsian verse along with 14th century love, death and obsession made Isabella and her basil pot a favorite of Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood artists. The famed John Everett Millais, William Holman Hunt and John William Waterhouse painted scenes from the poem, and lesser-known Pre-Raphaelite John Strudwick also depicted his variation on the Isabella theme.

Millais’ Lorenzo and Isabella

John Everett Millais’ Lorenzo and Isabella was completed in 1849, before Millais was even twenty years old. Millais approached the poem early on, setting Isabella’s supercilious and bullying brothers at a table with Lorenzo, Isabella, and other family members.

Lorenzo and Isabella seem caught up in their own secret world while Isabella’s one brother haughtily examines the contents of his glass. The other brother sprawls forward in an aggressive manner, causing the family dog to cringe toward Isabella and giving the impression that the dog associates this brother with cruelty and abuse.

Holman Hunt’s Isabella

William Holman Hunt’s Isabella and the Pot of Basil was Hunt’s own ghostly tribute to his wife Fanny, who died following complications from childbirth in 1866. Hunt painted Isabella in Fanny‘s image and depicted Isabella in an earthy manner, surrounded by rich Italianate tapestry, marble, and intricate woodwork. Hunt’s Isabella is barefoot, and her long dark hair covers the thriving basil pot that contains Lorenzo’s head—although the only obviously morbid detail is the skull motif on the pot itself.

Waterhouse’s Isabella

John William Waterhouse’s strongly green-toned Isabella was done in 1907, toward the end of the Pre-Raphaelite era. Waterhouse’s tragic lover is more stagy than Hunt’s, however, and her face is pale and expressionless as she stiffly clings to her basil pot. Waterhouse includes the skull detail in his painting as well, making it part of the plant's pedestal base. The skull seems more effective here due to the overwrought Isabella amid the painting's cemetery-like backdrop.

John White Alexander

American John White Alexander was not a Pre-Raphaelite but he too was inspired to recreate Isabella’s unique vigil. White began his career as an illustrator for Harper’s Weekly and eventually became a respected artist and portrait painter. White’s 1897 Isabella is particularly striking because of the strange netherworld she seems to be lost in, full of pale tones and dark shadows. The basil is not seen sprouting from the pot; there is only the pot and Isabella and her own private grief.

In the end, Isabella faded away because her brothers had stolen the basil pot from her. They were suspicious about why she kept hovering around the plant and when they dug up the soil, they found Lorenzo’s head and immediately took off, knowing that they would be connected with Lorenzo’s murder. As Keats wrote, Isabella "died forlorn/Imploring for her Basil to the last"—basil traditionally being an herb associated with prosperity and love, yet the desire for one clearly destroyed the other in this tragic tale.

Sources

The copyright of the article Isabella and the Pot of Basil in Modern Art History is owned by Meg Nola. Permission to republish Isabella and the Pot of Basil in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.