Surely you have also read Oscar Wilde's famous work, «The portrait of Dorian Gray». Few literary characters have been so revered and admired, few have represented that image of the Adonis de la perfect beauty that squeezes its life to the fullest, falling into the purest corruption, but in turn, projecting those sins in another dimension "very special", in a place that is hidden in the eyes of society.
It can be considered Oscar Wilde's top work, but what many do not know is that Dorian's character was based on someone very special in his personal circle: John Gray .
John Gray, the poet, the lover and the priest who died for love
John Gray was an exceptionally cultured and attractive young man.Two dimensions certainly adorable for someone of Oscar Wilde's exquisite and original mood.To give you some small strokes of how this young man was, we will tell you that thanks to him he met in Ing later to the French symbolist poets. John Gray was a reputed translator who swam on both sides of the lyric and the translation, performing both arts with the same efficiency.In addition, he was a successful career official.

Oscar Wilde said that he was fortunate that his poetry was even more beautiful than his physique, hence that among the London circles of artists, the young Gray was the object of desire for men and women.Good conversationalist, intelligent and attractive, undoubtedly extolled that image that Wilde wanted to convey in his novel "The Portrait of Dorian Gray".There was only one difference: John was of humble origin, but With his skill, intelligence and particular skills, he had managed to climb positions in London society with great efficiency.
John GrayWilde, described him as «the adonis of ivory and rose leaves.”He always looked like an innocent teenager.No matter the years that passed, John Gray seemed immune to maturity and even to the effects of that life of lightness and ostentation in which he used to move.It is known, that he was very close to Oscar Wilde between the years 1891 and 1893, but then the thing cooled when this last beginning an intimate relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas.
This relationship with the young Lord Douglas was raised as a scandal, in fact, long before Oscar Wilde was sentenced to jail for "corruption" and moral indecency, society has already begun to criticize and despise that kind of behavior.It was so intense this persecution and repudiation of homosexuality, that John Gray felt very impressed and gone, immediately seeking refuge in religion as a means of escape and personal form of penance.

His way of writing, his lyric and literature changed thereafter, he became more mystical, more delicate, more ascetic.However, when Wilde entered prison, his emptiness and fear were greater, and he ended up leaving his job to ordain a priest in Rome.Later, he served as rector in Edinburgh.It is also said that the years always treated him well, he was a man of exquisite beauty, who not only had Oscar Wilde's faithful admiration, but also his true love: Marc Andre Raffalovich, another poet and defender of homosexuality , which, to support the option Gray had chosen, also converted to Catholicism.
They were together for many years, even building a temple between the two in Morningside, where Gray served as a priest.Raffalovich ended up dying suddenly in 1934.And John Gray, that Dorian Gray of great beauty but with a good heart, died 4 months later broken in pain for not being able to bear the death of his secret companion.

A curious story that deserves to be part of our space.And now tell us what do you think of the novel« The portrait of Dorian Gray »? Are you a fan Oscar Wilde? If you liked this article, you also know Mary Shelley and her dark creature.
Image: Luigi Montebello, Molly Elizabeth Beth
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