John Keats
John Keats (1795-1821), Poet.
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.'
1821-1823
Oil on canvas
565.0 x 419.0mm
NPG 58
Image and text © National Portrait Gallery, 2022
Where you'll find this
National Portrait Gallery
Permanent collection