© Tate
The Four and Twenty Elders Casting their Crowns before the Diving Throne
Artist: William Blake (1757 - 1827)
Location: Tate
Date: circa 1803-1805
Materials: watercolour
Dimensions: 35 x 28 cm
Bequest:
Review number: 1538 (1949)
Provenance:
From the collection of Graham Robertson.
Description:
The vision of the Revelation is portrayed. God sits on a throne, a scroll with seven seals in his right hand. Before him are the Lamb and seven lamps (angelic heads with flames). The Elders cast down their crowns. The four Beasts are also shown. This watercolour is part of a collection of works by William Blake belonging to the late Graham Robertson and was included in his sale at Christie's in 1949. Graham Robertson, painter, author and theatrical designer, was widely known as a Blake collector. At his death in 1948 he bequeathed 4 Blakes to the Nation; the rest of the collection was to be disposed of by auction. He had, however, left a very considerable estate to be given to charities. This allowed his Executors to instruct the auctioneers that some of the drawings should be acquired for certain museums up to defined limits. In this way 20 works, totalling £40,281 were given by the Executors, through The Art Fund, to 6 public collections.
There are no comments on this artwork
To add comments please login or register.
The Art Fund may edit your comments and not all comments will be published. The Art Fund cannot be help responsible for views expressed by visitors of this website.