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William Blake
King Sebert, the North Front of his Monument, 1775
William Blake (British, 1757–1827)
Watercolor, pen and black ink, and shell gold over traces of graphite on paper; 15 3/8 x 11 3/8 in. (39 x 28.9 cm), image 14 1/2 x 11 in. (36.8 x 28 cm)
Society of Antiquaries of London
Description
DescriptionWhile apprenticed to the engraver James Basire, Blake prepared an exquisite series of watercolors depicting monuments in Westminster Abbey. Blake's designs served as the basis for engravings used to illustrate various publications of the Society of Antiquaries. (Although the sheets are undoubtedly Blake's work, Basire's signature, as master of the shop, appears on them.) The elegant, serene, and elongated medieval figures would have a profound impact on Blake's mature artistic style. Here, he presents a monument, newly discovered in 1775, of the 7th-century East Anglian king believed to have founded Westminster Abbey.
Henry III, from the Wall-Painting in the Sedilia above the Monument of King Sebert, 1775
Watercolor, pen and black ink, and shell gold on paper; 15 5/8 x 10 1/4 in. (39.8 x 26 cm)
King Sebert, from the Wall-Painting in the Sedilia above his Monument, 1775
Watercolor, pen and black ink, and shell gold on paper; 12 3/8 x 4 3/4 in. (31.5 x 12 cm)
The Angel of the Divine Presence Bringing Eve to Adam, ca.1803
Watercolor, pen and black ink over graphite on paper; 17 7/16 x 13 1/8 in. (41.8 x 32.3 cm)
Genesis 2: 22
Rogers Fund, 1906 (06.1322.2)
The Angel Gabriel Appearing to Zacharias, ca.1799–1800
Pen and black ink, tempera and glue size on canvas; 10 1/2 x 15 in. (26.7 x 38.1 cm)
Luke 1: 5–13
Bequest of William Church Osborn, 1951 (51.30.1)
The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins, ca.1805
Watercolor, brush and gray wash, pen and black ink over graphite on paper; 14 1/8 x 13 1/16 in. (35.6 x 33.1 cm)
Matthew 25: 1–13
Rogers Fund, 1914 (14.81.2)
The Angel of the Revelation, ca.1803–5
Watercolor, brush and gray wash, pen and black ink over graphite on paper; 15 7/16 x 10 1/4 in. (39.2 x 26 cm)
Rogers Fund, 1914 (14.81.1)
Beatrice addressing Dante from the Car, ca.1824–27
Pen and black ink and watercolor on paper; 14 5/8 x 20 3/4 in. (37.2 x 52.7 cm)
Purgatorio 29: 92–129; 30: 31–33, 64–81
Tate; purchased with the assistance of a special grant from the National Gallery and donations from the National Art Collections Fund, Lord Duveen and others, and presented through the National Art Collections Fund 1919
Songs of Innocence and of Experience, 1794/ca.1825
Copy Y ca.1825
Plate 1: Combined Title-page
Relief etchings printed in orange-brown ink, heightened with watercolor and shell gold, with hand-painted decorative borders; 6 1/8 x 5 1/2 in. (15.7 x 14.1 cm)
Rogers Fund, 1917 (17.10.1)
Catherine Blake, ca.1805
Graphite on paper; 11 1/4 x 18 11/16 in. (28.6 x 22.1 cm)
Tate; bequeathed by Miss Alice G.E. Carthew, 1940
DescriptionBallads, Blake sketched his wife in a moment of quiet industry, perhaps stitching the bindings of a book.
Oberon, Titania and Puck with Fairies Dancing, ca.1785
Watercolor over graphite on paper; 18 3/4 x 26 5/8 in. (47.5 x 67.5 cm)
A Midsummer Night's Dream 5.1: 385–416
Tate; presented by Alfred A. de Pass in memory of his wife Ethel, 1910
DescriptionPity, also on display in this exhibition.) This elegant, luminous design shows the final scene in A Midsummer Night's Dream, in which the king and queen of fairies observe the whirling dance of their train, driven by the rhythm of Puck's clicking bones.
The Ghost of a Flea, ca.1819–20
Tempera heightened with gold leaf on mahogany panel; 8 7/16 x 6 3/8 in. (21.4 x 16.2 cm)
Tate; bequeathed by W. Graham Robertson 1949
Pity, ca.1795
Color print finished with pen and ink and watercolor on paper, second impression; 16 5/8 x 20 3/4 in. (42.1 x 52.8 cm)
Gift of Mrs. Robert W. Goelet, 1958 (58.603)
And Pity, like a naked new-born babe,
Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubin hors'd
Upon the sightless couriers of the air,
Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye,
That tears shall drown the wind.
Macbeth 1.7: 21–25
When finishing this impression of Pity, Blake reversed the direction of the falling rain from the first copy of the print and altered the expression on the face of the foremost rider. The position of the babe's left arm is similar to that in the smaller trial print, also on display in this exhibition.
Newton, 1795/ca.1805
Color print finished in pen and ink and watercolor on paper; 21 1/2 x 30 in. (54.5 x 76 cm), platemark 18 1/8 x 23 5/8 in. (46 x 60 cm)
Tate; presented W. Graham Robertson 1939
In the large color print above, the great philosopher and mathematician Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727) appears engrossed by his diagram, and fails to see the fantastical, apparently underwater world that surrounds him. Blake faulted Newton for systematizing the universe and thus forever separating reason from imagination, mind from spirit. As Blake wrote elsewhere: "God is not a Mathematical Diagram." Newton, enslaved by reason, appears to be the pendant to Nebuchadnezzar, who is enthralled by his senses.
Nebuchadnezzar, 1795/ca.1805
Color print finished in pen and ink and watercolor on paper; 21 1/2 x 28 1/2 in. (54.5 x 72.5 cm), platemark 17 5/8 x 24 3/8 in. (44.6 x 62 cm)
Tate; presented by W. Graham Robertson 1939
Europe a Prophecy, 1824
Plate 1: Frontispiece, The Ancient of Days
Relief etching finished in gold, watercolor and gouache on paper; 9 1/4 x 6 5/8 in. (23.4 x 16.8 cm)
The Whitworth Art Gallery, The University of Manchester, Great Britain
DescriptionEurope, was also issued as a separate print that later acquired the traditional but inaccurate title The Ancient of Days. It recalls Blake's pithy epigram:
If you have formed a Circle to go into
Go into it yourself & see how you would do