Editing Joseph Severn (section)

== Journey to Italy with John Keats, 1820–1821==
[[File:Joseph Severn - Posthumous Portrait of Shelley Writing Prometheus Unbound 1845.jpg|thumb|''Posthumous Portrait of [[Percy Shelley|Shelley]] Writing [[Prometheus Unbound (Shelley)|Prometheus Unbound]]'' (1845)]] On 17 September 1820, Severn set sail aboard the ''Maria Crowther'' from England to Italy with the English poet [[John Keats]]. Keats and Severn had known one another in England, but they were only passing acquaintances. Yet it was Severn who agreed to accompany the poet to Rome when all others could, or would, not. The trip was intended to cure Keats's lingering illness, which he suspected was [[tuberculosis]]; however, his friends and several doctors disagreed and urged him to spend some time in a warm climate. After a harrowing voyage, they arrived in the Bay of Naples on 21 October, only to be placed in quarantine for ten days. The two men remained in Naples for a week before travelling to Rome in a small carriage, where they arrived mid-November 1820 and met Keats's physician, Dr. James Clark.  In Rome they lived in an apartment at number 26 [[Piazza di Spagna]], just at the bottom right of the [[Spanish Steps]] and overlooking Bernini's [[Fontana della Barcaccia|Barcaccia fountain]].

Severn had left England against his father's wishes and with little money. In fact, his father was so incensed by his departure that, as Severn reported in a late memoir, "in his insane rage he struck me a blow which fell me to the ground."<ref>Scott, ''Letters and Memoirs'', p. 639</ref> He was never to see his father again. While in Rome during the winter of 1820-21, Severn wrote numerous letters about Keats to their mutual friends in England, in particular William Haslam and [[Charles Armitage Brown]], who then shared them with other members of the Keats circle, including the poet's fiancée, [[Fanny Brawne]]. These journal-letters now represent the only surviving account of the poet's final months and as a consequence are used as the primary historical source for biographers of Keats' last days.

[[Image:EJTbySevern1838.jpg|right|thumb|Edward John Trelawny, by Severn]]
Severn nursed Keats until his death on 23 February 1821, three months after they had arrived in Rome. As he reported to John Taylor two weeks afterwards, "Each day he would look up in the doctors face to discover how long he should live -- he would say -- "how long will this posthumous life of mine last"—that look was more than we could ever bear—the extreme brightness of his eyes—with his poor pallid face—were not earthly --"<ref>Rollins, ''Keats Circle'', vol. 1, p. 107</ref> Severn's ordeal was recognised by Keats himself, who, a month before his death, said, "Severn I can see under your quiet look -- immense twisting and contending -- you dont know what you are reading -- you are induring {{sic}} for me more than I'd have you -- O! that my last hour was come --"<ref>Scott, ''Letters and Memoirs'', p. 120-121</ref> He was later thanked for his devotion by the poet [[Percy B. Shelley]] in the preface to his elegy, [[Adonais]], which was written for Keats in 1821. It was also at this time that Severn met, among other notables, the sculptors [[John Gibson (sculptor)|John Gibson]] and [[Antonio Canova]], and [[Lord Byron]]'s friend, the adventurer [[Edward John Trelawny]]. Severn made a sketch of Trelawny in 1838.