WILLIAM BLAKE (1757 - 1827)
William Blake was born into a humble family and he is considered as a pre-romantic author.
In the beginning, he was trained as an engraver, which was practised until his death: one of his work is “portrait of
Newton” in which there is something strange:
↬Former, the landscape. It is weird according to the condition of the scientist: we know he would have never studied in
that situation.
↬Latter, the representation of the body: the anatomy is typical of Michelangelo. In fact, in Blake’s works, there is much
influence of Michelangelo and Raphael ideas.
After he studied at the Royal Academy of Art where he applied for study monuments in the old churches, particularly
Westminster Abbey.
Blake created a new kind of art which emphasised the power of imagination → He created his own method
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illuminated printing
born between the connection of visual arts and writing ↵
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In fact, he said that to understand poetry, we need to understand the images first.
Above all, he also made illustrations for other’s authors, such as Milton’s Paradise Lost.
Blake was deeply aware of political and social issues of his age → He supported the French Revolution and remain
radical throughout his life.
He has a strong sense of religion, for this Bible brought much influence in his life, till to admit that he had visions
That’s a typical word for romanticism, and it’s why we named Blake a pre-romantic. ↵
Blake as poet
His experience as visionary and radical contributed to highlighting the struggle between the role of law and reason
and in the meantime the power of love and imagination.
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Utterly linked to the concept of imagination, there are symbols as part of a deliberate attempt to avoid any kind of
realism. → it is the concept of reality that prevents a man from perceiving the greater Reality that lies behind him.
Coming back analysing Blake as an artist, we saw many paintings dealt with religious subjects.
Let’s take a look at illustrations for the Bible and a cycle of drawings about the Divine Comedy:
I. The Ancient of Days → in which god is represented in an unusual position is like if he was using a compass
drawing the world ↔ that’s means the act of creation, and highlight that clouds and light belong from Him as a
symbol of the Divine act. Last, the light symbol of energy and divine power.
II. The Whirlwind of Lovers → The subject is taken from Dante’s Commedia: there are pathos and dramatic
representations of the dead souls. The colours are duller and darker than those of the previous picture, and the
dynamism of the painting is no longer positive and lively, but pitiful and sad.
About his prophetic books such as the marriage of heaven and hell or visions of the daughters of Albion (first name in
the myth for England), Blake created personal mythology and his own characters which represent his social interests,
which were Romantic and revolutionary beliefs.
Prophets were published as printed sheets containing prose, poetry and illustrations after the plates were coloured by
Blake.
I. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell → The book describes the poet’s visit to Hell, a device adopted by Blake from
Dante’s Inferno and Milton’s Paradise Lost. The principal difference between Dante and Milton representation of
Hell is that it was not a place of punishment, but merely a place of freedom, liberty and energy; opposite to
heaven whose is a place of lawgiving (= leglislativo).
