The death of Chatterton

The subject of this painting comes from the iconic painting by Henry Wallis (1830-1916) ' The Death of Chatterton', 1856, now in the Tate Britain. Thomas Chatterton (1752-1770) was a late 18th Century poet whose short life ended at just 17 when he poisoned himself with arsenic. In the 19th Century, Chatterton became synonymous with the struggle and subsequent defeat of the artistic soul: in the painting, his poetic endeavors have been fruitless and thus the poems lie discarded in tatters beside the bed; the empty bottle by his hand alludes to the nature of his death.