Severn nursed Keats until his death on 23 February 1821, three months after they had arrived in Rome. The two men remained in Naples for a week before heading off to Rome.

After a harrowing voyage, they arrived in the Bay of Naples on 21 October, only to be placed in quarantine for ten days. Severn who agreed to accompany the poet to Rome which was intended to cure Keats's lingering illness. Keats and Severn had known one another in England, but they were only passing acquaintances. On 17 September 1820, Severn set sail onboard the Maria Crowther from England to Italy with the famous English poet John Keats. In 1819, Severn was awarded the gold medal of the Royal Academy for his painting Una and the Red Cross Knight in the Cave of Despair. He probably first met the poet John Keats in the spring of 1816. Keats, Esq', in the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1819.

In 1815, he was admitted to the Royal Academy Schools in London and exhibited his first work in oil, Hermia and Helena, a subject from A Midsummer Night's Dream, along with a portrait miniature, 'J. He exhibited portraits and a selection of his paintings can today be found in some of the most important museums in London, including the National Portrait Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum and Tate Britain. Joseph Severn (7 December 1793 – 3 August 1879) was an English portrait and subject painter and a personal friend of the famous English poet John Keats. exhibited in 1874 at Agnew's Gallery in Bond Street In 1852 he entered the Civil Service, and was for thirty-three years an officer in the education department, while also maintaining a interest in various branches on art. Twenty J/22s descended on Severn Sailing Association in Annapolis, MD during the. He was the the eldest son of Joseph Severn and his wife Elizabeth. (22) And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder. Walter Severn (12 October 1830 – 22 September 1904), was a professionally a civil servant and a watercolour artist.

Dream Gold by David Severn