The Kids of Love

The subject of this painting is taken from Keats poem of 1819.  The predominant mood is one of enchantment, intensified by the idyllic setting of the English countryside: 'I met a lady in the meads, Full beautiful  a faerys child, Her hair was long, her foot was light, And her eyes were wild I set her on my pacing steed, And nothing else saw all day long; For side long would she bend, and sing A faerys song.' A fascination with chivalry had lasted throughout the nineteenth century.