01/10/2026
William Holman Hunt (1827—1910) is best known today as one of the founders of the PRB (Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood). In ‘Isabella and the Pot of Basil‘ he illustrated a John Keats’s poem, after Isabella’s brothers have murdered Lorenzo and she has disinterred the co**se, decapitated it with the help of her nurse, and buried the head in a pot of basil. Hunt pours all his emotion into the portrayal of Isabella, who now takes centre stage.
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, Isabella and the Pot of Basil, 1867, Private collection. Sold for £2.8 million via Christie’s in June 2014.
