The Poet's Dream: 'The Pursuit of the Ideal'

Born in Greek Street, Soho in 1853, Henry John Stock studied at the St. Martin's School of Art and the Royal Academy Schools. During his early career, Stock supported himself by painting portraits, building up an impressive clientele among the aristocracy, but his main area of interest was always imaginative subjects. This interest was almost certainly ignited as a result of his going blind as a child. His eyesight was miraculously restored after being sent to live at Beaulieu, Hampshire. He drew inspiration from a wide variety of artistic and literary sources such as the Bible, Dante, Shakespeare and Wordsworth, the Pre-Raphaelites, Rembrandt, Blake and G. F. Watts.
Stock often chose to depict moments of divine inspiration and otherworldly vision. The present lot is similar in subject to his 1893 work The poet in the flames of first love, sold in these Rooms, 11 July 2017, lot 30. Here Stock explored a similar theme, where a young poet is visited by the beautiful muse of love, the source of his torment. Stock himself was a prolific author, and published several volumes of poetry. It is therefore likely that he personally identified with the poet protagonist of his paintings, choosing to illustrate the longed-for moment of sublime inspiration.