The Funeral of Shelley

"The Funeral of Shelley" by Louis Édouard Fournier (1889)

 Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, United Kingdom

The Story Behind the Artwork

This 1889 painting by Louis Édouard Fournier captures the dramatic moment of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s cremation on the Italian coast. Shelley, one of the great Romantic poets, tragically drowned at the age of 29 when his schooner, the Don Juan, sank during a storm in 1822. His remains washed ashore near Viareggio, Italy, where quarantine laws dictated that his body be cremated.

The scene is not historically accurate but is rich with symbolism. Lord Byron, Mary Shelley (Shelley's wife), and Leigh Hunt are depicted mourning, though records indicate Mary Shelley was not present. Fournier paints the desolate beach and pyre as a solemn tribute to Shelley’s Romantic ideals—emphasizing his life as fleeting but profoundly beautiful, like the poetry he left behind.

Source: Stories Behind Art