Painter and poet, he made the two disciplines one and the same. He was a man so far ahead of his time that that time never caught up with him. He died penniless and when alive made a meagre living working for publishers as an engraver. Says it all really.

He loathed slavery, believed in the American and French revolution and subscribed to racial and sexual equality. Sexual equality extended into his own life where his wife of nearly 45 years (only death parted them) Catherine was an important part in the production of his work. To Blake humanity was universal as all men were alike. He recognised no form of imposed authority even that of the Church.

And one small thing to me shows that Britain of that time was unworthy of him: he was a vegetarian! I mean, 200 years before Paul McCartney, Blake was there!

His greatest works are the twenty-one large watercolours illustrationg the Book of Job, the firsts et of which was probaly made c.1818/20, and a second set commissioned by the artist John Linnell and produced from 1821 and engraved in 1823-5; 102 illustrations to Dante (also suggested to him by Linnell), six of which were engraved at Blake's death; and his colour-printed drawings, which include Nebuchadnezzar, Hecate and Elijah in the Chariot of Fire. These were made by printing off a design prepared in distemper on millboard, and then finishing each individually. Most of his designs were carried out in normal watercolour technique, but are in a highly unorthodox form of tempera which has deteriorated badly.

Biog. II

Dateline:

• 1757: Born August 12 into a middle-class family. 1 of 4 children. The family were Dissenters

• 1760s: First recorded Blake visions. Began engraving and writing poetry

• 1772: Apprenticed to an engraver, James Basire of Great Queen, until the age of 21

• 1779: Became a student at Royal Academy

• 1780: Involved in the rioting of Newgate Prison in London (the Gordon Riots)

• 1782: Met John Flaxman who would become his patron. Met Catherine Boucher. They married on 18 August 1782 in St. Mary's Church, Battersea

• 1783: First collection of poems, Poetical Sketches, published

• 1784: Death of father. He and his brother Robert opened a print shop in 1784, working with the publisher Joseph Johnson. Through Johnson met mant of the leading dissidents of the day

• 1788: Illustrated Mary Wollstonecraft's book Original Stories from Real Life. Wollstonecraft was the leading feminist of the day, Started experimenting with relief etching

• 1789: Published himself Songs of Innocence

• 1793: Published Visions of the Daughters of Albion

• 1794: Published himself Songs of Experience

• 1800: Moved to a cottage at Felpham near Bognor in Sussex to take up a job illustrating the works of the poet William Hayley. Wrote Milton: A Poem. Among the circle of Hayley were John Flaxman and George Romney. Blake had an uneasy relationship with all of them

• 1802: Returned to London. It was around this time that he met the artist John Linnell. Through Linnell he met Samuel Palmer

• 1803: Cleared by the Chichester assizes of charges of uttering seditious and treasonable expressions against the King

• 1804-20: wrote and illustrated his great prophetic book Jerusalem

• 1818/20: Started worked on the Book of Job

• 1825: Taken severely ill

• 1827: In March his brother James died. Worked on the illustrations to Dante's Inferno. He died penniless on August 12th. Buried five days later

• 1831: Wife Catherine died in October

Collections:

• London (Tate Gallery)

• Aberdeen
• Boston
• Brighton
• Cambridge (Fitzwm)
• Cambridge Mass. (Fogg)
• London (British Museum, V&A)
• Manchester (City Gall., Whitworth)
• Melbourne
• New York (Met. Mus., Morgan Library, Brooklyn)
• San Marino Cal. (Huntingdon)
• Yale (CBA)

//Quotes//

A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees.
William Blake

A truth that's told with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent.
William Blake

Active Evil is better than Passive Good.
William Blake

Always be ready to speak your mind, and a base man will avoid you.
William Blake

Art can never exist without naked beauty displayed.
William Blake

Art is the tree of life. Science is the tree of death.
William Blake

As a man is, so he sees. As the eye is formed, such are its powers.
William Blake

Better murder an infant in its cradle than nurse an unacted desire.
William Blake

Both read the Bible day and night, but thou read black where I read white.
William Blake

Can I see another's woe, and not be in sorrow too? Can I see another's grief, and not seek for kind relief?
William Blake

Christ's crucifix shall be made an excuse for executing criminals.
William Blake

Do what you will, this world's a fiction and is made up of contradiction.
William Blake

Energy is an eternal delight, and he who desires, but acts not, breeds pestilence.
William Blake

Eternity is in love with the productions of time.
William Blake

Every harlot was a virgin once.
William Blake

Excessive sorrow laughs. Excessive joy weeps.
William Blake

Exuberance is beauty.
William Blake

For everything that lives is holy, life delights in life.
William Blake

Fun I love, but too much fun is of all things the most loathsome. Mirth is better than fun, and happiness is better than mirth.
William Blake

Great things are done when men and mountains meet.
William Blake

//Gallery//

William Blake
Infant Joy
Large Canvas Print

William Blake
Experience
Large Canvas Print




William Blake, 1757-1827, life mask made in 1823
From the extraordinary book, The Somnambulists by Joanna Kane
Available at amazon.co.uk
© Joanna Kane

View a bigger scan here.

BIOG. II









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