Is this Romeo and Juliet painting the most romantic painting of all?

London: It has been said that romance is dead in the modern age – but our hearts are still hankering for it, it seems.

This painting of a stolen kiss between the most famous star-crossed lovers of them all has been voted the most romantic artwork in Britain.

Experts say that Romeo and Juliet, painted in oil by Frank Bernard Dicksee in 1884, remains popular because we all still crave ‘passion and faithfulness’.

It shows the Shakespearean couple sharing a kiss after their wedding night, not realising it is to be their last, the Daily Mail reported.

Art critic Godfrey Barker said: ‘It creates the impression death is close but love will never die. Romance is a dream that still lives in the hearts of millions.’

The painting, at Southampton City Art Gallery, received 71 per cent of votes in the Art Fund survey to mark Valentine’s Day. Rodin’s The Kiss, at the Turner Contemporary in Margate, Kent, was the runner-up.