Isabella and the Pot of Basil (1907), by J.W. Waterhouse The theme of this

Isabella and the Pot of Basil (1907), by J.W. Waterhouse 

The theme of this painting originates from one of the 100 tales from Il Decamarone by Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375).  It tells the story of Isabella who was supposed to marry a high nobleman, but instead fell in love with one of her brothers’ employees.  The poor Lorenzo is killed because of this, but Isabella hides his head in a pot and out of the water from her tears sprouts a basil plant.

The pose of the kneeling young woman resembles earlier paintings by Waterhouse (Mariana in the South, 1897 and The Missal, 1902) and also the transformation of a human into a plant/tree was used earlier by Waterhouse.

The story from Boccaccio was reworked in a poem by John Keats:

“…

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.

…”