Isabella and the Pot of Basil, 1867 William Holman Hunt

Isabella and the Pot of Basil

William Holman Hunt, 1868 // Arthur Trevethin Nowell, 1904 // John William Waterhouse, 1907 // George Henry Grenville Manton, 1919

Pre-Raphaelite Dove Advent Calendar 15

The Festival of St. Swithin (The Dovecot), 1866, William Holman Hunt

William Holman Hunt - The Birthday (1868)

William Holman Hunt (English,1827-1910) 

Strayed Sheep, 1852

Oil on canvas

Title: The Light of the World

Artist: William Holman Hunt

Date: 1851

Style: Symbolism

Genre: Religious Painting

Details

the glass essay by anne carson / fleabag / my love by florence + the machine / the scapegoat by william holman hunt / 100 years by florence + the machine, / waiting for god by simone weil

William Holman Hunt (English, 1827-1910) Female Nude - Study from behind, 1858 Birmingham Museums Trust

The Haunted Manor (William Holman Hunt, 1849)

William Holman Hunt • Isabella and the Pot of Basil • 1868 Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, England

Keats’ Isabella or the Pot of Basil (published in 1820) is based on a story from the Renaissance author Boccaccio’s Decameron. It explores the traditional theme of star-crossed lovers. The poem tells the tragic tale of Isabella and Lorenzo, who is employed by Isabella’s brothers. Unhappy with the blossoming love between the pair, the brothers send Lorenzo on a trip and have him killed, but Lorenzo appears to Isabella as a ghost and tells her where to find his body. Isabella digs up the body, cuts off Lorenzo’s head and buries it in a pot of basil, which she waters with her tears. Eventually her brothers become suspicious, steal the pot, and flee. Isabella goes mad with grief and dies. Like the narratives of so many Victorian paintings, the course of true love does not run smoothly.

~ Khan Academy, khanacademy.org

William Holman Hunt (1827-1910), Our English Coasts (Strayed Sheep), 1852, Oil paint on canvas, London, Tate Gallery.

William Holman Hunt, The Light of the World (1851–1854)

* * *

Lead Kindly Light

“Lead, Kindly Light, amidst th'encircling gloom, Lead Thou me on! The night is dark, and I am far from home, Lead Thou me on! Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see The distant scene; one step enough for me.

I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou Shouldst lead me on; I loved to choose and see my path; but now Lead Thou me on! I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears, Pride ruled my will. Remember not past years!

So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still Will lead me on. O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till The night is gone, And with the morn those angel faces smile, Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile!”

— John Henry Newman

detail from Isabella and the Pot of Basil, 1867, William Holman Hunt

William Holman Hunt - The Hireling Shepherd (1851)

William Holman Hunt, The Hireling Shepherd, 1851, oil/canvas (City Art Gallery, Manchester)

Title: Distant View of Nazareth

Artist: William Holman Hunt

Date: 1860

Style: Romanticism

Genre: Cityscape