A new bronze sculpture of the English Romantic poet John Keats will be unveiled next week, close to his birthplace in Moorgate in the City of London.
The sculpture by British artist Martin Jennings will be revealed at midday on 31 October, on what would have been Keatsâs 229th birthday. Keats was the son of an ostler at a City inn and livery stable called The Swan and Hoop, which stood just south of the modern-day Moorgate station.
Jenningsâ sculpture is a bronze cast of an enlarged life mask of Keats, mounted on a plinth above a slate base inscribed with words from Keatsâ Ode on Indolence. A plaster cast of the life mask â which was taken when Keats was 21, and is owned by Keats House in Hampstead â was digitally scanned for an enlarged 3D print, which provided the form for the sculpture.
âThere couldnât be a closer portrait of Keats than the mask of him that was taken during his lifetime, which I have enlarged and cast in bronze,â said Jennings. âThis apparently dreaming head seems apt for his birthplace, while also illustrating the state of mind he sought for the writing of poetry.â
Jenningsâ previous sculptures include those of John Betjeman at St Pancras station, George Orwell outside the BBC Broadcasting House and Philip Larkin at Hull Paragon railway station. âI hope that, in a busy thoroughfare, this quiet sculpture will give people a momentâs pause, while also drawing them back to the works of one of our greatest writers,â added the artist.
Despite the fact that Keats died of tuberculosis aged just 25, he is considered one of the most influential English poets.
The sculpture was funded by former City of London Corporation alderman, Bob Hall, who was previously patron of Nigel Boonhamâs sculpture of John Donne, installed outside St Paulâs Cathedral. Keats and Donne âwere born in and worked in the City of London and it is important to commemorate each of these outstanding poets by sculptures in the public realm in the city of their birth, for all to seeâ, said Hall. The artworks âalso acknowledge their groundbreaking poetry, which demonstrates the extraordinary breadth and richness of the English language.â
The arrival of the Elizabeth line tube has meant increased footfall to the area. âI hope that workers, visitors and residents travelling through Moorgate will enjoy engaging with this beautiful sculpture of Keats,â said Munsur Ali, chairman of the Culture, heritage and libraries committee at the City of London Corporation, the governing body of the Square Mile.
The sculptureâs inscription comes from the fifth stanza of Ode on Indolence:
My sleep had been embroiderâd with dim dreams;
My soul had been a lawn besprinkled oâer
With flowers