|
|
|
|
 |
|
Newton, 1795/ca.1805. William Blake (British, 1757–1827). Color print finished in pen and ink and watercolor on paper. Tate; presented W. Graham Robertson 1939.
|
More about Highlights of the Exhibition
"William Blake" also featured the only surviving fragment of a relief-etched copperplate by Blake, two of his original copperplates and one original woodblock, a bronze cast of the artist's life mask, his manuscript notebook, an autograph letter, and examples from all of his vibrantly colored illuminated books. Among the rare loans, The Man Who Taught Blake Painting in his Dreams, ca. 1819–20, and Portrait of the Young William Blake, ca. 1827–31, by Catherine Blake (1762–1831), both from the Syndics of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, were on view. The exhibition placed special emphasis on the artist's intense period of work, ca. 1791 to 1800. During this time, Blake invented his extraordinary method of relief etching—a process that allowed for the simultaneous development of word and image directly on the copperplate—which has only recently become fully understood by scholars.
Blake's designs for Milton's poems, and his important late illustrated poems— Milton (1804/1811, The British Museum), The Four Valas (c.1797–1807, The British Library Board), the Book of Los (1795, The British Museum), the Song of Los (1795, The British Museum), and Europe a Prophecy (1794, Glasgow University Library and The British Museum)—are masterpieces of the artist's maturity and were highlights of "William Blake." Several plates from Jerusalem (1804–20, The British Museum, The Pierpont Morgan Library, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art), Blake's largest and arguably most ambitious work, were also on view.
View a checklist of works on display in "William Blake" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
|
Back to main page for this exhibition
Back to expanded page for this exhibition