The 'Protestant' Cemetery

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Map

Graves of John Keats and Joseph Severn

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The 'Protestant' Cemetery stands in the shadow of the ancient Pyramid of Gaius Cestius (c. 12-18 BCE). The first recorded burial took place in 1716, but the earliest grave of which traces have been found is that of George Langton, who died in 1738. The earliest stone monument is that of George Werpup, who died in 1765. 

Tombstone of John Keats

The cemetery, which is officially known as the Cimitero Acattolico di Roma (Non-Catholic Cemetery of Rome), is famous for being the final resting-place of the young English poet John Keats (1796-1821). ​

Tombstone of Percy Bysshe Shelley

The ashes of his friend and fellow poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) are also interred here. ​

Tomb of Devereux Plantagenet Cockburn

​One of my favourite tombstones is that of the splendidly named Devereux Plantagenet Cockburn (1828-50), who is depicted, book in hand, casually reclining with his dog. Cockburn, is hailed as a man 'of deep and unpretending piety; of rare mental and corporeal endowments'. 

Tomb of Devereux Plantagenet Cockburn

Cockburn was only twenty-one when he died and the fact that he is wrapped in a blanket indicates the precarious state of his health. The tomb was carved by the English sculptor Benjamin Edward Spence (1822-66). ​

Tomb of Rosa Bathurst

The tragic circumstances of the death of Rosa Bathurst (1808-24), who was only sixteen years old when she drowned in the river Tiber, are recounted in both English and Italian on her tombstone, the work of the English sculptor Sir Richard Westmacott (1775-1856).

Tomb of Rosa Bathurst

Her epitaph (the longest in the cemetery?) reads:
BENEATH THIS STONE ARE INTERRED
THE REMAINS OF
ROSA BATHURST
WHO WAS ACCIDENTALLY DROWNED IN THE TIBER ON THE
ELEVENTH OF MARCH 1824 WHILST ON A RIDING PARTY, OWING
TO THE SWOLLEN STATE OF THE RIVER AND HER SPIRITED
HORSE TAKING FRIGHT. SHE WAS THE DAUGHTER
OF BENJAMIN BATHURST, WHOSE DISAPPEARANCE
WHEN ON A SPECIAL MISSION TO VIENNA SOME YEARS
SINCE WAS AS TRAGICAL AS UNACCOUNTABLE; NO
POSITIVE ACCOUNT OF HIS DEATH EVER HAVING BEEN
RECEIVED BY HIS DISTRACTED WIFE. HE WAS LOST
AT TWENTY SIX YEARS OF AGE.
HIS DAUGHTER, WHO INHERITED HER FATHER'S
PERFECTIONS, BOTH PERSONAL AND MENTAL, HAD COMPLETED
HER SIXTEENTH YEAR WHEN SHE PERISHED BY AS
DISASTROUS FATE. 
READER
WHOEVER THOU ART, WHO MAY PAUSE TO PERUSE
THIS TALE OF SORROWS, LET THIS AWFUL LESSON
OF THE INSTABILITY OF HUMAN HAPPINESS SINK DEEP
IN THY MIND. IF THOU ART YOUNG AND LOVELEY
BUILD NOT THEREON, FOR WHO SLEEPS IN DEATH 
UNDER THY FEET WAS THE LOVELIEST FLOWER EVER CROPT
IN ITS BLOOM. SHE WAS EVERYTHING THAT THE FONDEST
HEART COULD DESIRE OR THE EYE COVET
THE JOY AND HOPE OF HER 
WIDOWED MOTHER 
WHO ERECTS THIS POOR MEMORIAL 
OF HER IRREPARABLE LOSS.
EARLY, BRIGHT, TRANSIENT, CHASTE AS MORNING DEW
SHE SPARKLED, WAS EXHALED, AND WENT TO HEAVEN.

Grave of Constance Fenimore Woolson

The grave of the American writer Constance Fenimore Woolson (1840-94) sports nothing more than her name and the year of her death. Woolson, who was a good friend of Henry James, died in Venice on January 21st 1894. She either fell or jumped from the fourth-floor window of the 14th century Palazzo Orio Semitecolo Benzon in Venice. 

Angel of Grief

The Angel of Grief, perhaps the most famous monument in the cemetery, was created by the American sculptor William Wetmore Story (1819-95) for his wife Emelyn Story (née Eldredge), who died on January 7th 1894. 

Angel of Grief

William Wetmore Story died in the following year on October 7th. He is buried in the same tomb as his wife. 

Tombstone of Richard Wyatt

The cemetery is the final resting of other 19th century sculptors, such as Richard Wyatt (1795-50) and his rival and friend John Gibson (1790-1866). Both studied with Antonio Canova (1757-1822) and the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldesn (1770-1844). When Wyatt died Gibson asked to carve his tombstone. 

Tombstone of John Gibson

Gibson's own tombstone proclaims his membership of the Royal Academy. 

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