拍品專文
The picture illustrates The Merchant of Venice, Act II. Portia is seen holding the golden casket, one of three, the others being of silver and lead, by which she selects a husband from her many suitors. The Prince of Morocco chooses the gold one and fails, as does the Prince of Arragon, who chooses the silver. Bassanio chooses the leaden one, containing her portrait, and thereby wins her hand.
The picture was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1840 and was one of a number of Shakespearean subjects to be painted by Severn. He had made his debut at the RA in 1819 with a Hermia and Helena from A Midsummer Night's Dream, and a Titania Sleeping from the same play was only a year or so later. These were followed by a Cordelia watching by the Bed of Lear (RA 1828), an Ophelia (c.1831; Pre-Raphaelite Inc.), a Puck (RA 1836) and numerous Ariels, of which two are in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Severn's interest in Shakespearean subjects reflects conversations which he had as a young man with Keats, Shelley and their circle. The Hermia and Helena of 1819 was the direct outcome of his reading A Midsummer Night's Dream 'at the instigation of Keats.' A letter of c.1817 from Keats's brother George, telling him that The Tempest was a 'masterpiece of fanciful Poetry', was perhaps the starting point for the many Ariels of later date; and an argument between Severn, Keats, Shelley and Leigh Hunt about whether Shakespeare was a Christian, Severn claiming that he was and quoting 'the utterances of Portia, Hamlet, Isabella and numerous others', establishes at least a tenuous link with the present picture (see William Sharp, The Life and Letters of Joseph Severn, 1892, pp.18, 23, 117).
If the picture owes a debt to sixteenth-century Italian painting, particularly Raphael, this is hardly surprising in view of Severn's long residence in Italy. Having accompanied Keats to Rome in 1820, and nursed him through his fatal illness, he remained in Italy for twenty years. He then returned to England, but in 1860 he was appointed British Consul in Rome. He died there in 1879, and was buried beside Keats in the Protestant Cemetery.
The picture was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1840 and was one of a number of Shakespearean subjects to be painted by Severn. He had made his debut at the RA in 1819 with a Hermia and Helena from A Midsummer Night's Dream, and a Titania Sleeping from the same play was only a year or so later. These were followed by a Cordelia watching by the Bed of Lear (RA 1828), an Ophelia (c.1831; Pre-Raphaelite Inc.), a Puck (RA 1836) and numerous Ariels, of which two are in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Severn's interest in Shakespearean subjects reflects conversations which he had as a young man with Keats, Shelley and their circle. The Hermia and Helena of 1819 was the direct outcome of his reading A Midsummer Night's Dream 'at the instigation of Keats.' A letter of c.1817 from Keats's brother George, telling him that The Tempest was a 'masterpiece of fanciful Poetry', was perhaps the starting point for the many Ariels of later date; and an argument between Severn, Keats, Shelley and Leigh Hunt about whether Shakespeare was a Christian, Severn claiming that he was and quoting 'the utterances of Portia, Hamlet, Isabella and numerous others', establishes at least a tenuous link with the present picture (see William Sharp, The Life and Letters of Joseph Severn, 1892, pp.18, 23, 117).
If the picture owes a debt to sixteenth-century Italian painting, particularly Raphael, this is hardly surprising in view of Severn's long residence in Italy. Having accompanied Keats to Rome in 1820, and nursed him through his fatal illness, he remained in Italy for twenty years. He then returned to England, but in 1860 he was appointed British Consul in Rome. He died there in 1879, and was buried beside Keats in the Protestant Cemetery.