"Isabella; or The Pot of Basil" - The Stolen Basil Plant

 

And So she pined, and so she died forlorn,

Imploring for her Basil to the last.

No heart was there in Florence but did mourn

In pity of her love, so overcast.

And a sad Ditty of this story born

From mouth to mouth through all the country pass'd:

Still is the burthen sung-- Oh cruelty,

To steal my Basil-pot away from me!'

John Keats’ Poem “Isabella; or The Pot of Basil” tells a story of two lovers, Isabella and Lorenzo, who have to hide their affection for each other.  Isabella is from a high class family, while Lorenzo is from a lower class family.  In the time period this poem is written, it was atrocious for two people of different classes to see each other.  Isabella’s brothers discovered the affair between Lorenzo and Isabella and made Lorenzo leave town, then they killed him.  The Brothers told Isabella “Lorenzo had ta’en ship for foreign lands” (line 226).  Isabella believed them and fretted for some time about what could be keeping Lorenzo for so long.  Lorenzo then came to Isabella in a dream, telling his sweet Isabella he was a shadow now, and berries fell on his head and there was a stone at his feet.  In the morning, Isabella went to find her lover’s corpse; when she did, she cut off his head and put his head in a pot and planted basil in the pot and watered it with her tears.  The pot of basil prospered, and the brothers wondered why Isabella bothered so much over this plant, and they hated seeing their sister so distraught.  The brothers stole her pot of basil, seeing Lorenzo’s face in it, and left to never return.

 This painting by John Melhuish Strudwick (1879) shows Isabella mourning over the loss of her pot of basil after her brothers steel it.  The brothers can be seen in the back round with the flourishing basil plant.

Strudwick’s works were inspired by musical pieces and poems.  Many of his works of art have a musical correlation.  His style was unique, and once he discovered his style, he never altered it.  His works show an Italian link, although Strudwick studied in London and had never been to Italy.  Toward the end of his career, the style of paintings that people preferred had changed, resulting in a loss of interest of his paintings.  Strudwick quit producing paintings, even though he lived for another thirty years.  During this time he started a painting, but deliberately never finished it, to represent the quick end of his career and his confusion.