Artwork
Ariel
Ariel is an oil painting by the Romanticist artist Joseph Severn. It dates from 1826 and is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
About this work
Overview
Joseph Severn’s oil painting titled Ariel presents an allegorical scene drawn from Shakespeare’s The Tempest. The work depicts the airy spirit Ariel, recalling the character’s lyrical verses about nocturnal owls and bat‑borne flight. Rendered in the early nineteenth‑century Romantic idiom, the canvas employs symbolic elements to evoke the ethereal nature of the sprite.
Subject & Meaning
The composition centers on the mythic figure Ariel, a servant spirit who sings the lines “There I couch when owls do cry; On a bat’s back I do fly.” By choosing this excerpt, Severn underscores themes of transience, freedom, and the interplay between the natural and supernatural, inviting viewers to contemplate the fleeting essence of poetic imagination.
Technique & Style
Severn balances delicate tonal gradations with a muted palette, allowing the figure of Ariel to emerge from a softly illuminated background.
Executed in oil on canvas, the painting reflects Romantic sensibilities through its atmospheric lighting and fluid brushwork. Severn balances delicate tonal gradations with a muted palette, allowing the figure of Ariel to emerge from a softly illuminated background. The handling of light suggests a nocturnal setting, while the ethereal rendering of the sprite emphasizes his otherworldly character.
History & Provenance
Severn created Ariel while residing in Rome, where he maintained a close friendship with the poet John Keats. The work was shown at the Royal Academy, where Severn displayed several variations on the Ariel theme. A second version of the painting entered the Victoria and Albert Museum’s collection, catalogued under reference 1416‑1869.
Context
The painting belongs to the broader Romantic movement, which prized emotion, nature, and literary inspiration. By invoking Shakespeare’s drama and aligning with the era’s fascination with the supernatural, Severn’s Ariel exemplifies the period’s interdisciplinary dialogue between visual art and poetry, reflecting the artist’s personal connections to contemporary literary figures.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Joseph Severn (7 December 1793 – 3 August 1879) was an English portrait and subject painter and a personal friend of the English poet John Keats.
