Near Viareggio, where Shelley's Body was Found

William Blake Richmond 1842 - 1921

Summary

Epic view of a landscape showing the Tuscan coastline with the Carrara Mountains in the background. The painting was intended as a memorial to the English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, who drowned off the Tuscan coast in 1822. His body was drowned on the shore at Viareggio, near where this painting depicts. This vision is tainted by the association with death and supernatural life, lending the picture a dark and sinister mood.