WILLIAM HOLMAN HUNT,
O.M., R.W.S. (1827–1910)
Isabella and the Pot of Basil (£5-8 million) Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2014 UPDATE: IT SOLD FOR £2,822,500, A RECORD PRICE FOR THE ARTIST AT AUCTION
One of the best known and loved Pre-Raphaelite masterpieces by William Holman Hunt (1827-1910) depicting the tragic heroine of John Keats’ epic poem Isabella and the Pot of Basil will lead Christie’s sale of Victorian, Pre-Raphaelite and British Impressionist Art in London on June 17 . The picture depicts part of the story after Isabella’s brothers have murdered her lover Lorenzo. She has disinterred the corpse and buried the head in a pot of basil:
And she forgot the stars, the moon, and sun
And she forgot the blue above the trees,
And she forgot the dells where waters run
And she forgot the chilly autumn breeze;
She had no knowledge when the day was done
And the new morn she saw not; but in peace
Hung over her sweet Basil evermore
and moisten’d it with tears unto the core
William Holman Hunt was a founder member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. It is sold to benefit the Delaware Art Museum in America and is estimated at £5,000,000-8,000,000.