Allusions to the story

In 1820 a poem called “Isabella; or, The Pot of Basil” by the writer John Keats was published, which was heavily influenced by Boccaccio’s novella. Besides the main difference between the two versions being that Boccaccio’s version is written as a novella in prose and Keats’ is written into poetic verse, there are other aspects that differentiate them from each other. First of all, Boccaccio’s writing is more factual, whereas Keats takes a more imaginative path when it comes to description. Another difference can be found in the focus of the story. Boccaccio focuses on the treacherous act of the brothers and the story revolves around murder. Keats instead emphasizes the lovers right from the start and bases the whole poem around their love.

At one point in the story, Keats directly mentions Boccaccio:

O eloquent and famed Boccaccio! Of thee we now should ask forgiving boon;

With this line, the author puts the story on hold to apologize to Boccaccio for all the changes he has made to the story, adding later on that those changes were necessary to make it more suitable for poetry.There is a thorough annotated version of the complete poem on Genius.com(https://genius.com/8520886)

Other than poets like John Keats, painters were also inspired by the novella of Lisabetta. It was an especially popular subject among Pre-Raphaelite painters who were part of a reform movement that sought to return to the Italian art of the Quattrocento (that is, the 15th century) by applying detail, intense colors and complex compositions. They particularly believed that the academic teaching of art had been corrupted by the classical poses and compositions of Raphael, which is where their name Pre-Raphaelites comes from.

Filmmakers, including Pier Paolo Pasolini, have also used Boccaccio’s story as an inspiration. Have a look at the video in the above.