Gusto
Keats-Shelley House, Rome, to 31 May 2021“I am certain of nothing but the holiness of the heart’s affections and the truth of the imagination.”
– John Keats
In 1820 the British poet John Keats spent 10 days quarantined in the Bay of Naples on the Maria Crowther. With his artist friend Joseph Severn, Keats settled in the harbour, tied down by the country’s rigorous quaranta giorni – the origin of our word quarantine – before setting off for Rome, his final resting place.
In 2019, the Keats-Shelley House in Rome commissioned Cadogan to create a series of paintings that celebrated the life and legacy of Keats and to mark the 200th anniversary of his death. It was a surreal process to enter the studio and create a show about quarantine and illness, just as the world entered lockdown. This mirroring is reflected in the work.
In 2020 Cadogan finally presented Gusto in London at Browns Hotel. The show opened in Rome on 31 October, Keats’s birthday.
Gusto by Nancy Cadogan at Keats-Shelley House, Rome, 31 October 2020 – 31 May 2021.
Ways To Tell a Story
The Progress of The Day
The Light is Outside IV
The Light is Outside III
The Light is Outside II
The Light is Outside I
Small Thought III
Small Thought II
Small Thought I
My Anchor
Full of Sweet Dreams
Dreaming of Rome II
A Realm of Gold
An Airy Citadel
An Endless Fountain of Immortal Drink
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By Night
