Ariel: 'Where the Bee Sucks...'

Joseph Severn's Ariel: "Where the Bee Sucks" depicts the airy spirit from Shakespeare's The Tempest singing his song of freedom, a subject that combined the Victorian cult of Shakespeare with the Romantic fascination with fairy and spirit subjects. Severn is best remembered as the devoted friend who accompanied John Keats to Rome and nursed him during his final illness. His paintings of literary and classical subjects reflect the artistic culture of the Anglo-Roman community.

Severn's oil-on-canvas technique creates a luminous, ethereal quality suited to the fairy spirit subject, with delicate flesh tones and soft atmospheric effects. The graceful figure and fantasy landscape demonstrate his ability to translate Shakespearean poetry into visual terms.