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William Blake

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Songs of Innocence and of Experience, 1794/ca.1825. William Blake (British, 1757–1827). Copy Y ca.1825. Plate 49: A Poison Tree. Relief etchings printed in orange-brown ink, heightened with watercolor and shell gold, with hand-painted decorative borders. Rogers Fund, 1917 (17.10.49)

Chronology of William Blake's Life

1757
On November 28th, William Blake is born in Soho, London, to the haberdasher and hosier, James Blake, and his wife, Catherine; William is the third of their seven children.

1767–68
Blake enters Henry Pars' drawing school in the Strand, London.
Robert Blake, William's favorite brother, is born.

1772–79
Blake trains as an apprentice to the reproductive engraver James Basire (1730–1802), with whom he resides in Lincoln's Inn Fields, London.

1779
Blake is admitted to the Royal Academy Schools (as an engraver), where he meets Thomas Stothard (1755–1834) and John Flaxman (1756–1826).

1780
Blake first exhibits at the Royal Academy.
Blake witnesses the Lord George Gordon "No Popery" riots in London.

1782
On August 18th, Blake marries Catherine Butcher, or Boucher (1762–1831), the daughter of an impoverished market gardener.

1783
Blake's Poetical Sketches are printed, financed by the Reverend and Mrs. Harriet Mathew (hostess of a progressive salon), and John Flaxman.

1784
Blake opens a short-lived print shop with James Parker (1750–1805), a fellow apprentice of Basire.

1787
Robert Blake dies, probably of tuberculosis, attended by his brother William.

1788
Blake begins to experiment with relief-etching.

1789
Blake publishes the Songs of Innocence and The Book of Thel.

1790
The Blakes move to 13 Hercules Buildings, Lambeth.

1793
On October 10th, Blake publishes a Prospectus advertising ten works available for sale at his house and workshop: two engravings (Job, and Edward and Elenor), six illuminated books of relief etchings (America a Prophecy, Visions of the Daughters of Albion, Book of Thel, The Marriage if Heaven and Hell, Songs of Innocence, and Songs of Experience) and two books of engravings (The History of England [lost], and The Gates of Paradise).

1794
Blake publishes the illuminated books Europe a Prophecy and The First Book of Urizen.

1795
Blake publishes the illuminated books The Book of Los, The Song of Los, and The Book of Ahania.

1795–97
Blake is commissioned by the London bookseller Richard Edwards (1768–1827) to prepare 537 designs for an illustrated edition of Edward Young's Night Thoughts; forty-three of Blake's engraved plates are published in 1797.

1799
Blake receives his first commissions from Thomas Butts (1757–1845), a minor civil servant and Blake's most important patron, for a series of designs from the Bible.

1800
At the invitation of the poet and man of letters William Hayley (1745–1820), the Blakes move to Felpham, on the Sussex coast.

1803
On August 12th, Blake confronts Private John Scofield, a drunken soldier loitering on his property in Felpham. Scofield accuses Blake of having cursing the King during their altercation, and Blake is charged with sedition.
In September, the Blakes return to London.

1804
On January 11th, Blake is acquitted of the sedition charge in Chichester.
Blake begins work on Milton and Jerusalem.

1805
Blake is commissioned by the London publisher Robert Hartley Cromek (1770–1812) to prepare the designs and engravings for an illustrated edition of Robert Blair's The Grave; the book, with engravings by Louis Schiavonetti (1765–1810) after Blake's designs, is published in 1808.

1808
Blake is commissioned by Thomas Butts to prepare illustrations to Milton's Paradise Lost.

1809–10
Blake holds an exhibition of his own paintings at his brother James's shop, 28 Broad Street, London, which attracts little notice.

1810
Blake publishes the engraving after his painting of Chaucer's Canterbury Pilgrims.

1812
Blake exhibits four works as a member of the Associated Painters in Water Colour, London.

1818
Blake meets his last great patron and friend, the artist John Linnell (1792–1882).

1819
Blake begins to draw "visionary heads" at seances held by the artist and amateur astrologer, John Varley (1778–1842).

1821
The Blakes move to Fountain Court, the Strand, London. Blake's illustrations to Thornton's Virgil, his first wood-engravings, are published.
Blake sells his collection of Old Master prints to Colnaghi's.

1822
Blake is awarded aid in the amount of twenty-five pounds sterling by the Royal Academy to relieve the distress of his poverty.

1823–26
Blake is commissioned by John Linnell to engrave twenty-two designs for The Book of Job.

1824
Blake is commissioned by John Linnell to prepare illustrations to Dante's Divine Comedy; he engraves seven of the 102 watercolor designs.

1827
On August 12th, William Blake dies at Fountain Court, London.

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