These 8 hand-coloured relief etching are drawn from his illustrated books, The First Book of Urizen, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell and The Book of Thel.
1-6) Plates from The First Book of Urizen; 7) Plate from The Marriage of Heaven and Hell; 8) Plate from The Book of Thel by William Blake, 1796
© Tate
Details
- Medium:
- Etching on paper
- Dimensions:
- Various
- Art Fund grant:
- £141,070 ( Total: £441,570; Tax remission)
- Acquired in:
- 2009
- Vendor:
- Private collection
They offer a sublime and physical drama involving a range of characters and poetic motifs. Six of the eight plates are drawn from the First Book of Urizen, the 'illuminated book' considered by scholars to be Blake's most insistent and powerful meditation upon the body, one which connects with the contemporary culture of the Gothic. Perhaps nowhere else in Blakes printed works is it possible to encounter, with such perfect directness, the essential viscerality of his art.
Provenance
The artist's widow; Frederick Tatham. The work has been vetted by the Art Loss Register.