Romanticism1856
The Death of Chatterton
Henry Wallis
Curator's Eye
"The poet lies on a narrow bed in a London attic, his pallid silhouette contrasting with his red hair and purple satin breeches. Through the window, the dome of St Paul's Cathedral stands as a silent witness to the tragedy."
An icon of Victorian Romanticism and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, this work by Henry Wallis immortalizes the suicide of the "marvellous boy" Thomas Chatterton, becoming the ultimate symbol of the artist's sacrifice.
Analysis
The Death of Chatterton by Henry Wallis, presented at the Royal Academy in 1856, constitutes a masterly study of literary martyrdom. The subject, Thomas Chatterton, was a 18th-century prodigy poet who committed suicide at seventeen by drinking arsenic, after being accused of forgery for poems written under the medieval pseudonym of Thomas Rowley. Wallis aligns himself here with the Pre-Raphaelite aesthetic through almost manic attention to detail and a striking colored truth. The historical context is that of Victorian England in the midst of the Industrial Revolution, where the image of the "damned artist" became a form of spiritual resistance against prevailing mercantilism.
Technically, Wallis uses the Pre-Raphaelite method of painting on a still-wet white ground, which gives the colors an almost stained-glass luminosity. The morning light entering through the attic window is not merely a lighting artifice; it symbolizes the dawn of a fame the poet would never know in his lifetime. The treatment of textures, from the raw wood of the floor to the crumpled folds of the torn manuscripts, testifies to rigorous naturalistic observation. The psychology of the work lies in the violent contrast between the youthful body, full of promise, and the rigidity of death, highlighting the tragic irony of Chatterton's fate.
Deep analysis reveals that Wallis does not merely illustrate a historical event; he constructs a myth. The poet is represented as a secular Christ-like figure, a martyr for beauty. The choice of purple satin for the clothes, though historically unlikely for a destitute poet, serves a symbolic purpose: it evokes the nobility of spirit of the young man in the face of his material poverty. The empty arsenic phial on the floor and the torn papers are the only clues to the fatal gesture, transforming the crime scene into a funeral chapel of poetry. The work questions the responsibility of critics and the public in the destruction of genius.
Finally, the mythological context of the "sacrificed genius" is brought to its climax here. The city of London, visible in the distance, represents the cold and distant outside world that rejected Chatterton. The pot of flowers on the windowsill, with falling petals, acts as a traditional vanitas, recalling the brevity of life. Wallis succeeds in making death beautiful without obscuring its sadness, creating an image that defined for generations the archetype of the Romantic poet: young, beautiful, misunderstood, and eternal.
One of the most famous secrets of this painting is the identity of the model: it is the young writer George Meredith. The irony of history is that shortly after the painting was completed, Henry Wallis eloped with Meredith's wife, creating a major scandal in Victorian society. Recent X-ray analyses have revealed that Wallis took extreme care with the view of London through the window, using a telescope to ensure that the silhouette of St Paul's was perfectly accurate from the supposed location of the Brooke Street attic where Chatterton died.
Another secret lies in the choice of colors. The flamboyant red of Meredith's hair (and thus Chatterton's in the work) became a visual signature of the movement, although the real Chatterton did not necessarily have this hair color. Researchers have also noted that Wallis visited the actual site of the suicide to soak up the atmosphere, although the building had been modified since 1770. The precision of the arsenic phial is such that toxicologists could identify the type of glass used at the time, reinforcing the documentary realism of this highly theatrical staging.
The painting also contains hidden messages in the torn papers. Although the fragments seem random, some critics suggest that Wallis included clues to his own artistic philosophy, advocating emotional sincerity against academic rules. A mystery remains about the faded rose: some see it as a reference to a lost romance of the poet, while others see it as a metaphor for the medieval poetry Chatterton had tried to resurrect. The preservation quality of the work is exceptional due to the use of stable pigments, a major concern for Wallis.
Finally, a little-known anecdote tells that when the painting was exhibited, it was so realistic that a lady reportedly fainted, believing she saw a real corpse. This reaction highlights the psychological impact of the work in its time. The painting was bequeathed to the Tate Gallery, but there is a smaller replica made by Wallis himself, proving the immediate and lasting success of this iconography. The work remains a testament to the Victorian fascination with death and posthumous glorification.
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What are the pieces of paper scattered on the floor next to the poet's body?
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