"Two lovely berries moulded on one stem."

—William Shakespeare

Playwright William Shakespeare, who was born and died this day, inspired the works of many American artists.

So close were the young Hermia and Helena—the two protagonists from Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream—that the playwright declared them "two berries moulded on one stem." Allston may have been thinking of this phrase when composing his luminous image of these companions, whose bodies visually merge as they share a book in the enchanted woods.

At a time when artists generally chose historical themes to express the character of a young nation, Allston looked instead to literary sources for inspiration, such as Shakespeare and the Romantic poets. A poet of some recognition himself, Allston was said to possess a rare philosophical and imaginative talent. Distinguished as a conversationalist whose "tongue wrought on his associates like an enchanter's spell," he used his imagination to convey spiritual and personal values. Hermia and Helena, seated together in a landscape of warm tones that highlight their intimacy, become the beautifully rendered symbols of tried but true friendship.

Source: Amy Pastan. Young America: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, (New York and Washington, D.C.: Watson-Guptill Publications, in cooperation with the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2000).

Pictured: Washington Allston, (1779–1843), Hermia and Helena,before 1818, oil, 30 3/8 x 25 1/4 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program and made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson, Catherine W. Myer, the National Institute Gift.